Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 211: Featuring Brett Kissel + Scottie Upshall

Episode Date: October 21, 2019

On Monday's episode of Spittin' Chiclets the guys are joined by country music star Brett Kissel and longtime friend of the podcast, Scottie Upshall. The Updog joins to talk about his tweet at the Dallas Stars, his PTO with the team and what is next for him in his career. Brett joins to talk about his career as a country music singer, the potential for a pink whitney song, and his love for the Edmonton Oilers. The guys also talk some NHL news, including the players only meeting the Minnesota Wild had along with a cool underdog story out of Arizona. The boys wrap up with a gambling corner and we have a disagreement this week with the picks.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello, everybody. Welcome to episode 211 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney, the pink lemonade-flavored vodka from our friends over at New Amsterdam Vodka. What's up, gang? Another fun Saturday night in the NHL. We also have a big week on tap with the Chicklets boys and traveling on deck. Let's say hi to them first before we get cracking. As always, producer Mikey Granelli. What's up, brother?

What's up, fellas? Only two sleeps till I get to see you boys and two great interviews on tap for today. So great episode ahead. Absolutely. Let's say hi to our boy, Ryan Whitney. You hitting the clubs this weekend, buddy? Is it too cold yet or what?

I was swinging the clubs. I was swinging the clubs. I got to play today, actually. Wonderful round. Final round of the year at Old Sandwich Golf Club. Just a beautiful day. Quick little story to start off the beginning of my day and how it went. So last night I pulled on, went to my buddy's kid's birthday party. You know, I had a couple of beers hanging out. So I pull in, bring Ryder and he's snoozing, get him upstairs. And I had left the trunk of my car open and left

the garage door open. I'm like, I'll go outside. I'll, you know, I'll shut that in a couple minutes after I put them down. Well, obviously I forgot, ordered some Chinese food, went down on real, had a little wine. So I wake up and I opened the door to the garage. I'm like, motherfucker, there was a, there was a bag of trash that hadn't been put in the, in the trash barrel. That wasn't me. Needless to say, you know who it was. So what do I do? What do I do? I'm like, shit, my car's freezing cold.

The trunk's open. The garage is open. Let the animal in. So I go shut it. No worries. I go back inside. About two hours later, I leave to go golf. I'm walking out in a great mood.

I open my car door. Dude, a squirrel jumped over my shoulder. 100 miles an hour. I screamed. I go, ah! It had come in the car during the night, and it was chilling in the front seat driver's seat. So I opened the car and just saw these feathers flying by.

I actually heard the speed of the squirrel in my ear, the way you hear it. Hey, you're Clark Griswold. Oh, my God. I was like, yeah, except for I actually got the pool. He never got the pool finished, I don't think. But it was just to open a door and just have this furry animal scream by your ear.

I was like, oh, my God. So that was the beginning to my day. But needless to say, went a little off the rails there. And it's great to see you guys. Nice little Sunday night recording here. A lot of good hockey this weekend. Well, luckily, because what if it landed on your face? Then all of a sudden it's going to start scratching.

Probably helped me. I'd honestly probably look better anything at this point it's good it's tough to deny that this is the last member of the crew paul bisonette biz nasty what's going on brother what's going on the what's going on west coast wagon tour uh second Edition coming right at you. The fucking Arizona Coyotes. By the way, you are welcome to all you listeners who listened to me for once. I know I'm a clown. I can't read. You guys fucking shirt me forever.

You guys make fun of my clothes when we post Instagram clips online. Thanks a lot, Grinelli. But you better start fucking giving me a little respect in the gambling corner because I told you to parlay that Nashville and Ottawa beat down by the Arizona Coyotes. I did say Phil Kessel was going to get a hat trick in that Nashville game. He didn't, but for most of you intelligent gamblers, it's usually two or more goals, and guess what he did? He potted two, and unfortunately, something was up with him.

I don't know if it was an equipment issue or maybe a little boo-boo but he was not out there for the empty netter and believe me he would have fucking had that empty netter and it would have been three goals but i digress it kind of was a phil kessel hat trick you know why you know why a hot dog after no because he scored the fourth goal of the game, which got everybody in the arena free tacos. So he had two fucking goals and got everyone tacos. That's a Phil Kessel hat trick. So fucking keep the change.

The Coyotes are on the way up. Jump on the wagon now. The stock is going to the moon, ladies and gentlemen. So for everyone listening at home, Biz said that he said Kessel was going to get a hat trick. ladies and gentlemen. So for everyone listening at home, biz said he, you know, that he said Kessel was going to get a hat trick. Well, we don't know if biz was smoking the pen.

We don't know if he was micro dosing. We don't know if he was micro dosing. We don't know what was going on, but Ryan Whitney, yours truly. The wit dog was working at NHL network the day of the Phoenix coyotes hosting the national predators game. And I hadotes hosting the National Predators game. And I had to make a prediction on the game.

And I said, the Coyotes are going to win. And Phil Kessel's going to score a goal. You know what, EJ? EJ Radek. Actually, he's going to score two. And for everyone at home wondering, Mikey, I have that clip. So maybe we could post that. Because it's just me making a goddamn veteran call before Kessel's first two-goal game as a Coyote.

So, Biz, you can say what you want. You can say what you told the guy that cleaned your car or the lady who cleaned your apartment that you probably roast on the side, but I got my predictions on video. So we're going to post that. Thank you very much. Go ahead, R.A. Well, now time out. We can have them on video as well

because Grinnell, why don't you post it to the Instagram channel, the Zoom clips? So yes, you'll be up there in a fancy suit, but I'm going to be in my living room with my big schnoz and that fucking little camera hole there from my Macintosh. Humble brag, not a big deal. Big boy computer. Fuck all you Android users. But, hey, listen.

Listen, we were both making good calls. And you know what, RA? I like how if you don't have a pick and you're not feeling comfortable, you're not going to give somebody bad advice. You stepped off. Pussy! Pussy! Pussy, pussy.

Pussy! Now that we have a sponsor, so I got to find a winner now. But we'll get to the corner a little bit later. Hey, I want to ask you, Biz. Kessel must be so fucking sick of hearing about hot dogs because that story was basically proven to be a lie, right? Like Steve said. Yeah, he's not even a big hot dog guy. Yeah. He likes

burgers way more. And you just mentioned Instagram. Fucking, dude, spitting chiclets, memes. Like, he has me in fucking stitches, dude. Did you see Fred Durst did me the other day? No way. You do look like Fred Durst right now. My Astros had dude he

he found like the perfect audio to match up because i talk a mile a minute so it looked like i was actually fucking singing limp biscuit dude you got to check it out afterwards it was fucking hilarious the wizard of all right we're not going to give up his name i i would take that you like like being fred durst is a good for you right like it could be way worse. I mean, having Britney Spears on your fucking checklist isn't the worst thing in the world, so I guess that. But I was never a Limp Bizkit guy. I mean, I heard the song Nookie a zillion times like everybody else. But, oh, then people wrote underneath the picture,

I did it all for the bookie. Get the fuck out of here. Oh, man, some of the people who creep on there are fucking awesome. Also, that's beautiful. Also, Grinelli mentioned in his introduction that we have two interviews today, one of them being Scotty Upshaw, which is great. We got to talk to him. He didn't make the Dallas Stars, but he talks about the team,

about their early season struggles, and basically what's going on with his life these days. It was a lot of fun. And our second was pretty special to us, and we're interested to hear what all you guys think. But Brett Kissel, who's a Canadian country music artist, who's an absolute beauty. I got to know him a little bit through Jordan Eberle,

and he mentioned he'd love to come on. He's a big hockey fan. And we ended up not knowing what it was going to be like, and it was one of our favorite innings. It was about 45 minutes. He came to New York City, so I hope everyone enjoys that. Not a hockey player, but somebody who loves the game. And we kind of get into all aspects of life,

whether it be his recording and music or our hockey living. And I hope all you guys like that. But those are the two coming your way in a little bit. Good stuff. Yeah, I had a lot of fun talking to him, too. It was a lot of correlation between hockey and country music that kind of became a theme of the interview, so it was fun. It was definitely, I didn't know what to expect

going in and had a blast with him. Biz, you just mentioned the West Coast Wagon. Well, we're not doing it this year, but we're doing a little Midwest Uber this week. We're going to be heading to Chicago this week. We've got a bunch of interviews on tap. We've got another release party, right? Another launch party in Chicago.

Is that correct? We do, yeah. Let's get the information for that out, Grinnell. Yeah, we'll get that. We're going to the game Thursday night. So we're going to be in Chicago all week basically recording stuff. We'll be around. We'll probably get together with the Boston Chicago guys hopefully

because they're fucking hilarious. So keep an eye out in Chicago this week for us. Saturday night, man. These NHL Saturday nights are fucking unreal lately. Another night full of action. To me, the biggest story of the night was Marc-Andre Fleury gets an absolutely incredible shutout in his old stomping grounds. He had 29 shots, saved them all, and a lot of them were tough.

I mean, he probably had five or six 10-bell saves. His 58th career shutout. He still needs 68 more to break Marty Brodeur's record of active players. He's only behind Hank Lundquist. But, boys, these Saturday nights, man, it's fucking unreal. Like last night, probably six or seven stories. Biz, what was your favorite story from the night? Man, there are so many good storylines, like you said.

The NHL is in a wonderful place early on in this 2019-2020 season. Well, just going back to the Fleury stuff. So, of course, before the game, him and LeTang are, you know, playing quote-unquote tummy sticks. But I think I mentioned this a while back. Anything flower-related with the Penguins, there's no tummy sticks. It's all exempt. He's done enough for that organization.

What has he brought him? Three Stanley Cups, and then he passes the baton off to Murray, and even they were playing, quote, unquote, Tummysticks before the game. That was before him and Letang were playing the little give-and-go thing going on. So, no, we're going to exempt him from Tummysticks. There's a few other ones. The Hughes brothers, if it's brothers, first NHL game head-to-head,

no Tummysticks. They're exempt as well. There's a few other ones. The Cues brothers. If it's brothers, first NHL game head-to-head, no tummy sticks. They're exempt as well. And the last one being Oliver Ekman-Larsen. I forget what Swedish guy he took a picture with before the game, but Oliver Ekman-Larsen is like a prince in Sweden. He's like one of the biggest names, not even just in hockey, but in the country. So he's exempt because he had to take a picture with the swedish kid from winnipeg's

first nhl game so that was uh i just had to clear the air there i don't know about uh what the best moment for you was this uh for for this weekend was for you with well there was a bunch of different things that stuck out and i wanted to bring it up before uh when you mentioned the coyotes right right at the beginning but this conor garland biz mean, for people who don't know much about him, which I don't think the hockey world does, one is because he was a late draft pick, and two is because he's on the Coyotes, and you really don't hear that much. But he's from my hometown, Scituate, Massachusetts,

and he is a kid who's one of the coolest, like, underdog stories I can remember. And I talked to a buddy of mine who knows him real well. And Billy Ryan, I've brought him up a bunch. Scout for the Panthers. And this kid is so dedicated. And his whole story of how he's made it to where he is now is really interesting. He grew up around here from situate. Like I said, he's a 96 birthday. So that's like him and Jack Eichel. Like they, you know, they played together growing up, Boston junior Bruins, and this kid's really undersized.

I don't know how tall he is now, but he can't be more than 5'8", 5'9"? I'd say 5'8". Okay, so you're looking at when he's 15 years old. He might have been 5'4". He might have been 5'5", undersized. He wasn't getting looks from any of the local schools, Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern. So he ends up committing to Penn State, and he goes out to the USHL,

but he's so undersized, not necessarily ready, ends up leaving the team after six games, comes home for a little while, ends up going to the Quebec League the same season. So right away, he's given up the chance of playing at Penn State. He's decided, I'm going to play major junior. Right away, he's given up the chance of playing at Penn State. He's decided, I'm going to play major junior. And he goes to Moncton, finishes the year, plays 26 games.

There he does pretty good, 17 points, 26 games. Well, the next season he goes back, and he plays a solid year, 51 games, 54 points in the Quebec League. That's his draft year. Well, he doesn't get drafted, so he's undersized. He didn't exactly light up the Quebec league over a point per game, but in that league, it's not like that good as crazy as that sounds. So he comes back the year after that 67 games, he gets 129 points, dude. Then in the playoffs plays 16 games, gets 25 points that summer. He ends his second chance at being drafted, goes in the fifth round of theoyotes. Well, he's completely turned his game into where he's now a legit NHLer.

He is not big. He plays physical as hell for his size, though. He spent pretty much two full years in the AHL, I believe, and then last year split a little bit but played real well when he was called up. Now, this year, seven games, four goals, one assist. So it's a random guy that I'm talking about right now, but it's somebody who hasn't been the route of the high draft pick, hasn't been the route of the full ride to any college he chooses,

is undersized, and just what he's doing is really cool. There's a bunch of stories like that around the league. But I watched his goal the other night. He comes in the zone, tight turn, ends up feeding someone cross-ice, great pass. The guy's one-timer, rebound right to guard. Brad Richardson. Brad Richardson.

And it's just really cool. And, yeah, he's from my hometown, a small, small town, a situate Massachusetts, so I like talking about it. But I think it's pretty neat to hear about. It's cool to hear about guys who haven't had the easiest road to get there. And as much as you hear about the people who do have that route, it's way more common to hear about the guys grinding in different leagues. So also the funniest thing about this kid, I know this is long, is he skates in the summer, he'll rent ice.

And he's done this for quite a while around here. Well, guys will come state, Ryan Donato skates, he'll get other local pros. Dude, this kid keeps stats, biz. Ask him about it when you see him. He'll be like, Connor Garland, 23 games played, 116 goals. I'm talking he's keeping stats in his head of the three-on-three games they do. So people come in, and they see their stats on the board, and he's got, like, the wit memory for golf. Whoa, whoa, whoa. He remembers all the other guys' points, too? Dude, say they have 10 guys skate, and they do a three-on-three game.

He'll remember everyone's stats. He'll send an email out, or he'll put them up on the wall when you come in. Get the fuck out of here. I'd love to hear his side of this. I'm hearing this secondhand, but I know that I can trust the guy telling me. And it's just a kid who loves hockey. And I know it's kind of a random story, but I love watching him play. So, it was fun for me to see that.

And the one other thing, I know I've been talking a lot here on NHL Saturday night was watching Casey Middlestad and this Buffalo Savers team, man. I know they got the 10 in a row in November that Grinnelli fucked them on. Well, they're on a little run right now. They're 7-1-1, and they beat San Jose in San Jose last night. They go out west. They lose to Anaheim. Then they beat L.A., beat San Jose.

What a road trip out west. And Middlestad's just that kid where you hear about Darlene. You hear about Eichel. You hear about a bunch of guys there. But he's a top pick who I think is going to end up becoming a legitimate second-line center, if not a top power play guy. So to get him going and to get his season going on a nice little West Coast trip was huge for the Sabres.

And they continue to surprise with a going on a nice little West Coast trip was huge for the Sabres, and they continued a surprise with a hell of a start in Buffalo. I mean, I'm going to go back to what I think the most exciting storyline was, was the fact that, well, in the last week at least, is the fact that Dowdy and Kachuk are still continuing this beef where we thought maybe it was going to start to fizzle off. But I tell you what, L.A. wins another one, and Calgary's had a tough time against

him so far this year and i mean i'm sure you guys have all seen the clip of uh dowdy and kachuk getting tied up i forget it was it was it clifford who came in and grabbed kachuk and then all of a sudden giordano ends up coming over the fucking top ropes like vince mcmahon couldn't be scripting this shit any better like superman it looked like superman man like this is this is the type of bad blood our game needs right now and i i'm not talking necessarily on the violent side of things but just the pure hatred within the rules and and it makes regular season games way more interesting and as we said at the top of the segment i think the nhl is the the best regular season as far as the major sports hands down now and and it's continuing to get better i do love

the parody some people complain about it but it's really tough to gamble on but it is exciting as hell and and that that was a that was a fun effort pretty shitty uh game for calgary they i mean that was four nothing when that all went down. I think they got one after that. But, yeah, those two despise each other. You got to respect it. You guys mentioned Hughes a few minutes ago. I won't call him Phil.

Jack Hughes, he got his first NHL tuck. Dude, it's amazing to me how, like, a skinny little kid like that has unbelievable fucking speed on his shot like that. And I thought, did you happen to catch the note? He's the ninth player in league history to get his first goal while playing against his brother. That's fucking such a weird stat. Nine times that's happened.

A guy got his first goal playing against his brother. Go ahead. The fact that two brothers make the NHL, what is the odds to make the NHL? 0.001% of the kids who play? Yeah, one in. so not only are you having your brother also make it with unreal sperm coming out of your dad's hose you also score your first goal like that is just shocking to you i would have guessed if you told me it was the second

time all right i didn't know that's that nine times as wild washinsky ended up grabbing the screen grab and that's when i i don't know did I send it over to the chat? And I was like, this is fucking crazy. The Sutter – one of the – a few of the Sutters got to be two of the brothers. Well, I was just going to say, I don't think the Sutters were because I looked at it real quick, and that was a big surprise to me. I figured, oh, the Sutters might have done it three or four times because there was 17 of them playing in the league back in the 80s. But I didn't see them on the list.

I'll try to dig it up. Yeah, that is just an insane number. Any other storylines? Maybe Grinelli, we don't usually have you chime in, but what's one other storyline that you thought kind of took the cake in this week of the NHL? I mean, Nico Hirscher signed a big old ticket. Oh, yeah.

Okay. Let's talk. Let's round table that. Seven years, 50.5 million. Yeah. I had that a little further down. They solidified a key piece of their future, a seven-year deal worth 50.75. Like you just said, Mike, that's seven and a quarter average annual value.

He'll just be 27 when the deal ends. He's only 20, this kid. The number one pick in the 17 draft has 101 points in 157 games. Obviously, we've said it before. This could be one of those deals if this kid pans out like they hope it'll be a bargain in four or five years biz i mean i can understand why he got that i mean the comparable would probably be keller and keller you know had an off year offensively now the difference being is keller has proven that he can put up those type

of numbers which would warrant you getting that much money. Now, one thing I'm hearing from a lot of people on the New Jersey side of things who watch him very closely is this defensive part of his game is severely underrated, where this guy is maybe one of the better undercover, like a Selkie-type player, where, yeah, he's not going to wow you by putting up 80, 90 points, which gets you nominated for the selkie but to an unbelievable 200 foot player great on the defensive side of the puck and a if he's going to eat 20 minutes a clock and he's going to

be responsible he's going to keep it more out of his net and more into the opposition's net i mean that's a pretty fair value to keep control of the center of the ice, boys. Yeah. I was actually with somebody today who was a Devils fan, and they did not like it. They didn't like the signing. And the argument I'll have, and I'm not even saying that's my opinion, but the argument I gave him was, all right,

so through six games this year, he has two assists. Yeah, not good. That makes it a lot harder for, I think, Devils fans i know that's it's like what have you done for me lately where you look at the prior two seasons and there's definitely promise but right now it's like what he gets that look at what's he doing right now but if you if you were to say through six games he had three goals and four assists and he was just over a point per game people people would be like, yup, yup. Two big years, two great years, an 18-year-old last year, 47 points, 69 games, and now he's trending towards point per game. So the start of his season doesn't help the public image and what they think of this contract,

but it comes down to exactly what you said, Biz, in that you look at the Keller deal, you look at locking up a guy who was the first overall pick, and it totally makes sense. Now, I think it's a pretty big question mark if he ends up living up to this deal. I haven't seen that much. It's like coming from Switzerland and playing in the Quebec League for one year. There isn't like a ton to lean on in terms of like, you know, like that, that resume of, and this may sound bad towards Swiss hockey and the Quebec League, that kind of is like, wait, what? What has this guy done yet? And he didn't even really light up the Quebec League.

I mean, 86 points in 57 games. Yeah, that's sick. But, dude, you see people at 125 points in 60 games. So I'm kind of playing both sides of the fence, which I tend to do. I just, right now. I agree with what you're saying. games so i'm kind of playing both sides of the fence which i tend to do i just no way i i agree with what you're saying what you're saying is like all of a sudden these young guys who haven't really played any type of situations where it's like i need you to fucking play well because it's do or die at this point whereas they've never risen to the occasion and showed that they can

lead you to the promised land. So it's like, well, why are you going to lock down a guy for seven and a quarter for seven years if you don't even know and you haven't even seen glimpses of the fact that this guy might even be able to get you over the hump? Where it used to be the fact of like, oh, Jonathan Taves and Kane are up. Well, yeah, they're going to get paid because they fucking put the team on their back and brought them two ships before they got that value i mean yes are they making more money but it i i feel that it is a bit unfortunate that we're in the land of the times where it's like all these all these gms just have to gamble because it essentially is a gamble you're gonna you're gonna after the

first two years are up when that player is going into their third year in his case he hasn't really produced that much they're probably thinking hey let's hope he pops off a little bit more and this will be really bang for your buck moving forward but it's like that's still a crazy amount of money say this year he ends up uh 26 and 39 right for for For 65 points, okay? You're thinking, all right, I see this. You're just trying to fucking brag about your math skills. No, that was just sick by me. That was just sick by me.

I mean, I'm just, I just do that on purpose. Well, well, well, but nonetheless, nonetheless, that'll look good. That'll be like, all right, I like what we've seen. But if it ends up being 14 and 30, and, you know, guys, sorry, once again, that's 43. You're like, what's going on here? Come on.

Look, the deal kicks in next year, and he's coming off this. So a lot will be said this year. The other thing about him is you look at the draft right now, it's so early, 3, 4, and 5. It's Heskin and Kael McCarr and Peterson in Vancouver. So those are the three guys I think you'd argue right now you're taking ahead of them. Nolan Patrick was two, and he's injured right now.

But still early in that draft, but you look around and see some extensions to come for those three guys if that's what he shears getting. Okay, and we have to stick on the devil's theme here, R.A., really quickly. Of course, last episode, this seems to happen a ton. Whenever we get a little bit critical of someone, they just bend us over, they put the sandpaper wrap on their cock, and they shove it right up our hoops, and then we need to call the fucking doctor over.

It's like the movie Seven when that guy's got that big fucking sore on his dick. What a great movie. Which one was that? That wasn't gluttony. Wasn't what's gluttony. Is gluttony one of them? What are those? Are those the seven deadly sins?

Yes. Seven. Brad Pitt. I think that was one of Brad Pitt's best. Anyway, PK Subban. We talked about him dropping the youtube channel and they hadn't won a game yet and i just gave my perspective of hey i wouldn't have done it and with i'm sure you're

in agreement and a lot and i did go read some of the comments under it where people were like yo let's get a win here and then we'll start popping off in the social media but they've won both games since uh since the last podcast jack hughes of course, got an assist, his first of his career, and then followed it up with a goal in the next game that ended up being the game winner against Vancouver. And then P.K. Subban, I believe, assisted on his first goal. So, hey, they're starting to turn the corner a little bit. Seems like there's some positive juju going in that locker room. So maybe they will be able to turn things around,

and maybe Taylor Hall won't get shipped back to Edmonton. How about his nickname little jizzy they call it come on so suban posted a picture well he says it's little jizzy we'd have to get locker room confirmation like i want to start seeing the boys wearing t-shirts and shit if he's going by little jizzy it's just i love him it ain't little cross he must have some sort of PR team that's like, Little Jizzy? Can we work with something a little different? Can we work with something less cummy?

Yeah. Hey, speaking of Heesha, with that deal. Hey, he should be Takesha86. Is that that rapper, Takesha? Tekashi. Oh. Tekashi. The one who was snitching on everybody?

The guy who was going to get, what do you get from the FBI when you rat? Whipsack. Oh, witness protection. Witness protection, yeah. Did you just call it a hard-o? Would you call it? Whipsack or something. No, Whipsack. Yeah, that's what it's called.

Whipsack. Oh, nobody fucking calls it Whipsack, dude. Either way, everyone calls it that. what it's called. Witsack. Oh, nobody fucking calls it Witsack, dude. Either way, everyone calls it that. Wait, time out. To R.A.'s defense, though, he hangs around a lot of criminals, so they have to use a lot of code words all the time. Yeah, unfortunately, some of my friends went to jail because of people who joined Witsack, so I'll call it Witsack.

Witsack, Witsack, whatever. I got a big sack, too. He was going to go and witness protection He has tattoos all over his face What are you talking about? You'll be spotted at the local 7-Eleven In no time We went from Swifties last episode

To Takesha69 Takesha? What's his name? Takashi? I don't know, you gotta ask Grinnell again Way out of my bracket Sounds like a like a mexican beer he has one he has a song with nikki minaj that i like banged to a couple times i like that yeah but that was like it's like some dirty line about a pussy in there but i don't i don't

know any other of his music oh so he so he got uh we are officially off the rails um he he got together with scott storch and he put out that album before he went to listen i'm not down with the lyrics and and like i don't i don't want to listen to takasha where the fuck his name is but scott storch puts out some fire beats man and he he's off the cocaine now. He does Strictly Weed. This is like, he was one of the leader and rap producer of beats when the game was like insane talented. When there was like 20 different rappers that were popping off where everybody,

it was like a West Coast fucking East Coast war still. Scott, you know Scott Storch, don't you? Whipian that he used to sing for. No, I know Scott Storch, don't you? What band did he used to sing for? No, I know Scott Storch. He's a producer. He makes the beats. I'm thinking of a lead singer. I'm a hip-hop weirdo. You're thinking of like Scott Tapp or whatever

his name is? Scott Stapp. Is that it? Yeah, that's who kind of... That might have been... Was it Creed? Was it Creed? Oh, it might have been Creed. That might have been... Was it Creed? Was it Creed?

Oh, it might have been Creed. We're all over the fucking road. Hey, boys, we were just talking about Nico. And with that deal, he can certainly afford some new threads because you look good, you feel good, you play good. Personal style is like a fingerprint. Everyone has their own. Whatever your style, the expert stylists at Stitch Fix

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How do you like it now? Keep it in your box. It's all that box talk. What are you talking about? Hey, I got to read the – Puppies over there. It's Stitch Fix. Hey, I'm really liking these organic ad reads.

I think our sponsors are going to like them more. We had an internal conversation. Obviously, we had to talk them off the ledge for me doing them live, so I'm going to have to prerecord them. But, hey, maybe one of these days we try to do it if I practice it quite a bit before the actual show. So if you practice something, it's supposed to be organic? No, practice the actual read itself.

I can organically transition it. Come on, I'm not as stupid as I look, Whit. Boys, before we send it over to Scotty Upshaw, I think we've got to give our own opinions on this Dallas situation right now. And, R.A., I'll just start with you. I mean, I know you watch a lot of hockey. Like, I mean, what are you seeing here? Oof.

I see a lot of lost money because I was betting the shit and the farts out of them up until they finally won a game. But, you know, there was no one thing you can really point your finger to. I mean, you know, what's his faith? Bishop wasn't great, but he wasn't bad. He wasn't the reason they were losing. I know Hedobins had a rough start. I know he's a backup, but he's usually a lot better than that.

I think, actually, what we talked to Uppy about, what we're bringing him on in a minute, is a lack of intensity. They're just kind of like, basically, I know it's such a hockey cliche, but they're not bearing down. They just look like they're getting out-hustled, outplayed. The games I've seen them play, they did beat Philly Saturday. You know, like you just talked about Jersey. You wonder if they did turn the corner.

You know, but they got to get out of it quick because before you know it, it's December and you're 20 points out. They're, what, 2-7-1. They only get five points. Next game they got is Ottawa Monday night. So that's a game they should win. I mean, that's a game they could build a little confidence on. But, yeah, I just think they're getting out-intensified right now

more than anything else. I don't even know if that's a word. I don't know if they have so many big-name players that it's hard for them to just get up for games at the beginning of the season. I mean, you saw it last year. They got off to a bad start too. And then I don't know if it was the chief financial officer or the president.

I forget what the title was, but he had to call out the team. I would assume he was the owner's puppet at that point. Yeah, he was like the number two guy. Yeah, just get the boys going. But you can't really go back to that same bag of tricks. I mean, you've already done that once, but I don't know. I feel like it's hard. You go to playoffs last year.

They had that great second half of the season. They got all the confidence in the world, and they thought they were just going to stroll in this year because everybody thought they were going to be one of the teams because of not only the personnel, but now that they've proven themselves in the second half of the season last year, they've got to fucking show up. It looks like they have no confidence from the games I've seen,

and it's just like they're just waiting for something bad to happen. So I'd imagine – we're going to talk about it in this interview coming up too. I see them turning things around and being the St. Louis of last year. Now, I don't think if it gets as bad as it was for St. Louis last year, I would say that there's no fucking – not a chicken dick's chance in hell that they're going to do what St. Louis did. They got to stop the bleeding soon and figure this thing out. But I would imagine with that type of leadership in the locker room, eventually they're going to have to fucking figure this thing out. So without further ado, I think we should kick

it over to Scotty Upshaw and get his opinion on it. Of course, once again, very insightful. and get his opinion on it. Of course, once again, very insightful. And just it was unfortunate that he didn't make the team, but he's a very positive guy, and you're going to get to hear his message. And before we get to that interview, I want to talk to you folks for a second about DHM Detox. Are you guys tired of being hungover?

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while you're drinking. This allows you to avoid nausea, brain fog, headaches, and anxiety after a night out, and it's backed by science. Biz, why don't you tell us that science? We know you're a big science guy. I mean, this is one of the companies that I rep. One of my buddies who used to work for Tesla started this thing.

It's got everything that most of these other products have, other than the fact that it has that Chinese plant extract, which is scientifically proven the only natural thing to break down the toxins of the alcohol before it gets in your liver. Guys, I love it. All right, I'm going to bring some to Chicago. You can try it if you haven't already. All my friends that I've given it to, I had a wedding this summer. All these guys were like, what was that pill you gave me the night before? So they love it. I carry them around all the time so hopefully when i see some of you fans out sometime and you're like oh dhm detox i can allow you to try it because you guys

are spending money on this type of stuff and you're you're questioning hey will this work or not i love it i fucking rock it i'll uh and then of course we're going to give you what a chicklets 20 promo code yeah yeah i was gonna get to that in a second like you said busy what you take two capsules after your first couple drinks and if you're gonna if you're gonna really tie one on you take a couple more right i always double up like if i'm gonna have about 10 drinks i have two packs just to kind of you know overcompensate but they say two two pills which is one pack for every 10 drinks and you just drink it in the midst of drinking or if even if you forgot take them before you uh when you get home before you go to, take it with like a half glass of water.

And, but my anxiety is I can't drink like I used to. So I get the, I get the booze blues. This stuff, if I have it, I'm usually pretty good, especially if I double up. Like you just said, Biz, they stand behind the product. If you don't feel better after taking it, they'll refund you. Just shoot them a message. It's a no brainer. And of course, you're going to get hit with a promo code. Just

head over to dhmdetox.com. Use the promo code biz20 for 20% off. That's dhmdetox.com. Also, has free shipping on all US orders or if you buy more than a couple. Also, they've got better international shipping now and their customer service is on point. Feel free to fire over any questions to them on Instagram by DM to at H, I'm sorry, to at DHM Detox. Again, on Instagram, hit them up at DM at DHM Detox. Well, one of the topics of conversation early in this NHL season, boys, is the Dallas Stars, and they've gone off to a slow start. Luckily, they ended up beating the Flyers on Saturday night

to improve their record to 2-7-1. And now we're going to bring on a guy who went to training camp there who, unfortunately, was released off his PTO. I've been there before. So has Witt. We've been released off PTOs. It's a bit of a pee-pee whack, and it sucks because the per diem packs aren't coming anymore.

And even after that 1-7-1 start, he wrote this tweet. Hey, Dallas Stars, I know a guy who's fired up and ready to get you guys out of that 1-7 funk you're in. He's 2-0 wearing victory green with a highlight game winner. Scotty Upshaw, who's now joining us us did have a goal in his last preseason game with the dow stars welcome to the spit and chicken podcast for what the third or fourth time this is number three buddy the magic three thanks for having me fellas i appreciate it well we wanted to get you on because i mean you were there in training camp i mean this was one team that a lot of people thought were going to come out of the gate strong. I know Witt's probably lost his fucking –

a couple mortgage payments to these guys so far. What do you think's the problem right now? It was – you know what? I was having a few drinks the other night, obviously, when you send out a tweet like that. You're having a couple glasses of vino. Things are going good. You know what?

I've kept a pretty good eye on their squad. Obviously, I felt like I had a great camp. I felt part of the team. They got great guys there. And that tweet was not addressed to anyone playing hockey for their organization. It was more just kind of addressed to what I think is going on with them and to hockey itself. And that's just, you know, a team built like that who's ready to win,

who, you know, Witt puts fucking all his money on every night to win these games. You expect them to win, but they're kind of missing just like that, kind of that attitude and that, you know, that grit, that experience, that kind of that fuck you attitude and that's kind of what they've got with Perry coming back in the lineup the last couple games it's the point it's the point I was making it was it wasn't that I need to be on their team or whatever it's more you know I want to see their guys you know I think they can just go

into these games and and what Oliak uh you know did with Chris Stewart yesterday in their win against Philly was exactly what their team needs. They need guys stepped to the plate bringing that fight to the dressing room. Quite frankly, I think they're going to get things moving. I like

their team. I like what they're all about. They need to add that little more grit, which is what Perry's brought to their team. I like what they're all about. And they just, you know, they need to add that little more grit, which is what Perry's brought to their team. What was the vibe with Montgomery? Because everyone, like, has mentioned they love playing for him. Guys I know that played with him really enjoyed being around him. Was he kind of let the boys go?

Was he a player's coach? Was he a little hard-ass? What's his whole vibe as a coach? I liked his attitude. He kind of, you know what, he's a little bit, he likes to joke around a little bit, but he demands guys be serious. Like he's one of the boys is what I got from him. I got the introduction through one of my old teammates

and best friends, Vern Fidler, who was on their coaching staff the last couple of years. It was kind of the intro into my pto uh this year and he uh him and monty stay in touch um you know monty calls him with player issues and fids being a new young coach for the colonna rockets gets you know coaching experience tips from from monty and uh what monty was brought to that team is just a fresh face. They had Hitch. You know, all of us know what Hitch was all about. He's, you know, he's high demand, wears on you, fucking screams at you on the bench.

That team, you know, they learned a lot from Hitch, and they took it and kind of went forward with Monty, a new face. You know, I thought they were a team that could have easily get by St. Louis last year. They fucking, they marched their way right probably to the Stanley Cup final, and then who knows what happens. They're one shot away, one goal away from being where every team wants to be at the end of the year, and that's playing playoff hockey. I like Monty.

John Stevens, who I had in Philly, was, if you were to ask me, some of my best coaches or guys that had ever played for him in L.A. or in Philly, Johnny Stevens would be one of them. He he got added as a, you know, as an assistant coach brought a new fresh face kind of demands again, like hard work guys would fucking play hard every night, which is the way the Kings have always been, which is the way Philly fucking demands their players to play. So, you know, I had a great experience there. The coaching staff was great. It was,

I think they enjoyed what I brought to the table as a 36-year-old coming off an injury, you know, helping young guys, you know, and just showing my dedication to fucking the game itself. You know, when you're in there battling your ass off on a tryout, it sends a message to, you know, not only your teammates, but the whole organization. So those coaches really appreciated kind of that whole effort that I brought. Appi, I wanted to ask when, you know, how upfront a team is with you when you go on a PTO?

Do they kind of tell you before camp, this is what you need to do to stick? If so, what did they tell you? Did they give you like a percentage? How upfront were they and what did they tell you? In my experience with them, R. right, they usually do have those talks. This situation with Dallas this year was a little bit different. I didn't really talk to anyone going in. The opportunity itself, guys, to be honest,

and I'll tell this to the whole hockey world, I was literally just happy to get a fucking tryout. You know, I came off a knee injury. I wanted to go prove that i could still play and compete uh and that i didn't you know i didn't finish say if my career is over i didn't finish my career with you know an injury and an excuse uh this i put forth all my effort to come back and be healthy uh i fucking i played great i skated well to me that was that was all for me and for you know for me as a person to move forward,

to give it my best shot, to lay things all on the line, which is the way I've always played the game, as you guys know, fucking head first. And it was just a great experience. Just like your cock, eh? I love it. Just like in the bedroom, too, you peckerhead. I love the road.

I fucking love the road, which is, again, why I was playing the game. I love per diem like Biz does. I like drinking wine with the boys. I like fucking laughing and telling stories and keeping guys, keeping that mojo, you know, vibing over an 82-game season, which is important, which I think is missing in our game with a lot of the younger stars that really don't have a whole lot of older guys to look up to and follow and, you know, learn how to be good adults, good pros.

These kids are, you know, they're gifted and they played hockey their whole lives in these hockey academies. And they've had coaches who, you know, just treated them like these stars that they are and even into their first couple years of pro. So they kind of need to know what it takes. They need to see another side of things, which is a guy just battling his ass off and working through things. I think it teaches kids a lot.

A lot of the younger players look up to guys like you, Biz, guys like Whit, me. So it's important that you you find a good mix and i think that's what championship teams have st louis washington they are great vets who who lead by example and and that's basically winning winning recipe for for good teams up dog it's really funny you mentioned that because a couple people have said to me oh is it nice to kind of figure out you know something to do once you're done playing in the podcast and all that i'm like well believe it or not this isn't really where i'm hoping to end up post career i plan on running a fantasy camp for guys who want to play in the nhl and the testing at the camp is can you skate in the morning after a hard night out can you put up a

lot of money on the board it's like it's like almost a test camp for like living life out of here that's unbelievable that's a great idea. I want guys to get drafted and then come to Witt's Fantasy Camp, but instead of lifting and skating, you're basically getting after it golfing and then showing up when the practice starts. You're going to get Terry Ryan training them on how to answer

GMs at their NHL draft meetings. They think the day is over and then at 10 o'clock, I'm like, all right, guys, have a great rest of the night. They're like, what do you mean? And then Upby walks in and he's like, alright guys, now the night begins. All of a sudden we just take all the players. Welcome to the room.

We take all the kids, Crosby, his fantasy camp players. They all started to come to our wit, upshall business. He's playing fantasy camp. And they get bought out. They all get bought out. That whole game just deteriorates.

It will be as bad as the States. Now, anyway, moving on from that, that was a quick jab at the United States hockey team there. Yeah, we've done pretty good lately, Biz, so why don't you fucking suck it? Okay, fair enough. Uppy, you were, pretty good lately, Biz, so why don't you fucking suck it? Okay, fair enough. Uppy, you were – and that's not bullshit because you were pretty positive right after I talked to you.

I was actually surprised how positive you were about the overall experience. You were more just like, hey, I proved that I could come back and play at an NHL level. I didn't even think I was going to get a PTO. So you were pretty fired up afterward. Good for you, Uppy. Which is awesome. That's such a positive way to...

But I want to ask, Pavelski and Corey Perry are two of the new faces. How did you feel that those guys came in the locker room? And, I mean, now there's quite a few older guys, you know, making quite a bit of money. Who's got dominance of the room? Did they fit in really well? Yeah, you know what? They did.

I really enjoyed – so Pairs and I have known each other for years, obviously me living in Newport. And, you know, I was really – it was upsetting to see, you know, the injury he dealt with right away. Obviously his knee last year bothered him. And then coming in with high expectations for himself and to join the team, you know, the little setback, the broken foot was upsetting. Although I thought, fuck, he breaks his foot,

I might have a fucking chance here, which is not a bad way to think for me at the start. But he, you know, now that he's back and doing his thing, he's a guy that's going to, you know, really help out the leaders in that room. And the leaders are, you know, guy that's gonna you know really help out the leaders in that room and and the leaders are you know ben does carry you know a lot of that team on his shoulders he's you know we used to play him and every time we'd play him hitchcock would be like boys this fucking ben's the head of the snake on this fucking team you gotta get

head of the snake it was it was hitch's word he'd always use, but it's true. He was, fuck, he would put his body on the line every game. You know, if his team was down a goal, he'd go grab someone on, some of the best players on the other team and make a statement that, like, you know, he's going to get his team fired up. And so Ben, Seggs, they both, they really do a good job of having the room. They're two good guys that lead by example. And, you know, obviously their reputation speaks for itself.

And then Pav, I got to golf with Pav, like, when I first got in, we played golf. Unreal golfer with. Stick. Unreal guy. I really like Pav. I was hoping I'd get to know him a little bit better. But, you know, he is making a lot of money, and there's going to be a lot of people demanding, you know,

some performance out of him. So although he hasn't done much lately, he's a guy that, you know, when he gets streaky, he plays well. He's a leader. He's brought his team to the Stanley Cup Finals last, you know, couple years. So I see him, you know, once he fits in and once he gets his feet wet, he's going to be all right.

But definitely a lot for Pairs and Pavs to come into after a slow start. So I don't know much about Pavs and how he was in the locker room in San Jose. Is he the type of guy who likes to get up and say something like, hey, we need more here? Or is he more just keeps quiet and leads by example type? I didn't get a play. So the upsetting part in camp was I didn't get to play in any exhibition games with the big boys, which is, it was different.

I played with a lot of the younger kids. That's when you know, you're a pigeon. Totally. I'm like, you're the head pigeon though. Yeah. You're the pigeon in charge. So I did see Pat the way he carries himself.

He's, you know, he's first at the first at the rink. He's great with the younger guys. You know, he's out on the ice first working on tips, which is, you know, it's pretty amazing to see a guy who is that skilled doing that on a consistent basis. He works at it all day long. So I didn't get a chance to see it, Biz, but from his reputation, as we all probably know, he led a team with Joe Thornton and Patty Marlowe. When he took over the captaincy,

you must know he's doing something right, helping his teammates out. So I expect him to just help that team down the stretch. It's a big contract, but he's a good guy, and I think he's got a lot to give. Yeah, no, I mean, I was i wasn't like digging for anything but i was just curious because that's a type of locker room where all of a sudden there's a lot of guys who are leaders so it's it's weird because pal's probably coming in is like you know i'm a natural leader but i know this is jamie ben's team so maybe he has to kind of adjust his role in the locker room as far

maybe not being the guy to step up and talk when he would have normally before you know you don't want to really step on guys toes so it's a it's a different situation there in Dallas and probably one why a lot of people are surprised that things got off to such a shit start well look at look at St. Louis last year when O'Reilly came in I mean they had a shit start they had a lot of guys fighting for ice time, figuring out line combos. Then all of a sudden, the veteran part of them and the experience just set in. They were like,

we're a good team. Let's just go play hockey, do what we do. We don't need the coaches grinding us all the time. I think that's where Dallas is right now, too. I think the coaches are really trying to let the players figure this shit out. You're convinced they're going to turn it around figure this shit out. Oh, sorry. I was just going to ask. So you're convinced they're going to turn it around kind of like St. Louis did?

I think they should. I mean, look at – yeah, on paper, they should. They haven't played well. I think Bishop's going to be better. I mean, and you know what? I like the guys in the room, and they should be a better team. So 10 games in, they've got an uphill battle to climb. But, I mean, there's definitely worse teams out in the NHL.

And I think the Dallas Stars definitely have something to prove. Updog, you know, we try to talk about the young talent around the league, some new faces people don't know. And we mentioned Rupe Hintz before the year. But, I mean, this goal in Philly the other night, just a sick start. Like, can you give me a comparison for somebody we kind of grew up playing with and against around the league that maybe still is playing, but something that kind of shows what type of player he is?

Because I watch him and I see just a sick power forward who's pretty fast too. He's a bit, I was, sorry, I was thinking about this before we chatted. I'm like, on who really impressed me and who kind of just surprised me, stood out. And it was 100% Rupe. He's an absolute beast. He's a fucking massive man. So just for example, skating, if this guy wheels and grabs a puck, he is literally no one's stopping him. He's gone.

So when I think about who could do that back in the day, size-wise, I mean, fuck, he's like an Eric Lindros kind of thing. Lindros would wheel up the puck, and someone would try to hit him, and they'd kind of bounce off him. Oh, he's a truck. He's a cigarette machine flying around. Yeah, he's a cigarette machine. I mean, he's shaped like Medano, kind of.

Like, he flies, his jersey, like, flaps up. I don't know how they do that. They should patent that Medano fucking shooting style. But, you know, he's just a guy that's getting better, and I think his elevation for the way he's going to play is it's continuing going to grow it's going to continue to grow and he's uh he's a good young kid they got good fins there the Heskinen obviously you guys talk about him all the time he's a good kid with such upside and uh the Norris Trophy caliber kid who's going to be good for years and

years so uh two good fins on that team who I like. They walk around with smiles on their faces. They play good hockey, and they're good teammates. Funny you should mention that. I don't know the difference between a copyright or a trademark, but Madonna should figure out whichever one applies to him. And anyone who ever skates with their jersey flapping, if it's on NBC Sports, he should get like 10 cents.

Just a little check sent to him every time it's like your bottle of pink whitney that i was just drinking over at due west here today hey not bad hey those turned out great they did not too bad yeah with the due west crew over here in new york uh andy mclaughlin and loophole put it in these nice little uh one hitter bottles and yeah sipping chiclets on thereipping chiclets on there, yeah. Is that what they're called? Get a little buzz going. I love it.

Hey, for those of you, it's called Due West, and me and Grinnelly went there, what, was that like December last year? Like a month ago. Yeah, we've been a few times. Yeah, but the first time I went, I ended up getting my pee-pee wet. Last time, I was just so distracted, but there are rockets everywhere. Oh, yeah. It was rockets everywhere. Oh, yeah. It was a joke.

Oh, yeah. I just left there. Yeah, it was crawling, Biz. I would have said we should have did this meeting there first and then maybe just got on the mics a little bit after, but we could have used your help. We're a little outnumbered. So for those of you in NYC, head up, do Wes.

Lupo, you said McLaughlin's part owner? Andy McLaughlin. Mac L is the man. Just ask for him at the door. Oh, yeah. They got a nice little set up there, boys. Good Sunday watching football. It was perfect.

So, Updog, I know you may just be kind of hanging out, figuring what you're going to do, but is there any chance you go play in Europe? Is there any kind of direction right now, or are you just still waiting to see how it all comes down in a month or two? I am, Whit. It's obviously a position I haven't been in before. I've been skating.

I've skated a couple times a week, stayed in shape out in Newport. I actually need to train. It's kind of part of my gig. Got to stay in shape. You never know when, you know, your shirt's going to come off at an after party and you're going to need to do a couple headstands to, you know, fire shit up. So, anyway, I'm sitting here in New York. I've been here for a week, played a little golf with some friends,

and I'm kind of on the horn. I got an agent over in Germany who's looking at some teams over there. I would only go play if it made sense and the city worked. But I think playing in that Spangler Cup would be somewhat – it's kind of my goal. You should definitely do that, bud. Fucking right, Oppie. You should definitely. 100%. So, anyway, great opportunity. You should definitely do that, bud. Fucking right, Oppie. You should definitely.

100%. So anyway, my body's as healthy as it's ever been. I've never felt better. So why not go play and give the hockey world a little more up dog? And for people who don't know, the Spangler Cups played over in Davos right around the time of the World Juniors every year, Christmas, New Year's. And what an experience that would be to get.'s some club teams and Team Canada always sends a team to just shit kick everyone so they'd be they'd be crazy not to take you on that one up

dog and you'd have a time for yourself New Year's Eve in Switzerland yeah yeah totally no it's uh it's something so I talk to my agent once a week he's got some some things popping up every now and then but as you know in Europe like you know the uh if you're a out of towner or what do they call it the uh import if you're an import yeah so some of their guys they drop some get hurt it's uh you know just if the fit's right i'll go and uh that might happen in the next month or so how about how about this i'll be um i i think it's pretty cool that you're getting kind of like a second kick at the can because I would imagine that if you did play this year, it would probably be your last.

That's a pretty fair assessment, my friend. So, I mean, it would be cool for Spittin' Chicklets fans to kind of get a behind-the-scenes look where maybe we have you on every couple weeks or something just to check in. If, in fact, you do end up going to the Spangler cup, just talk about maybe the training and you know, your experience there. Maybe we come over there and we,

and we go over there or if you end up getting on with a team, it'd be cool for you to like blog about it and like, you know, pictures and like talk about these, like these funny characters that you have on your team that nobody would have ever heard of otherwise. So I don't know, maybe you can do that for us.

Yeah. Yeah. I would, I would be totally open to that. Tell you how the know. Maybe you could do that for us. Yeah, yeah. I would be totally open to that. I'll tell you how the nightclubs are in Berlin or something. Hey, Uppy, I can hear my wife now. Like, are we going to have everyone over for Christmas? I'm like, no, actually, I got to head over to Switzerland. I'm covering Uppy in the Spangler.

So I'll see you in 2020, though, babe. Love you. I got to go to where the meetings are, honey. I'll bring my snowboard and skis. It's going to be great. What's this 24-pack of rubbers for? Uppie, I want to go back. Those are for Uppie.

He can only bring over a couple Costco-sized garbage bags. Uppie, I want to go back to camp for a second. You've been around for a while. When you walked in that room, were there any guys in the room that you had a bad history with that you had a kind of smooth control over? Oh, yeah, great question. I love that. That is a good question. All the times I battled against these guys in Dallas, there wasn't one guy who didn't,

who obviously didn't, like, show any respect or kind of, you know, turn a cold shoulder. I really don't see that. And you guys know, you get traded into a locker room. Like, I got traded from Nashville to Columbus one time, and I absolutely hated everyone in that room before I got there. And when I got there, you're like, you kind of put it aside, and it becomes more camaraderie.

Blank slate. Blank slate. It's crazy. It's a weird thing. It's a weird thing. It's a weird dynamic for us. But, no, I mean, the first day, Benner grabbed me and said, Hey, we got a tee time tomorrow. I went in like 10 or 12 days early, right?

So I wanted to get to know the guys. I think it was important, too. And, you know, next thing you know, I'm golfing with all the boys who I used to slash in the back of the legs and fucking face wash in front of the net. And it's just kind of this, it's the way of the beast in hockey. But no, all those guys showed respect. There wasn't one guy who I wanted to kind of fucking take a clapper at the back of his leg

in practice or anything like that, no. Then you walk out of the room, Matthew, like, pussies thought so. like that. Yeah, you walk, then you walk out of the room after you're like, pussies thought so. Hey,

can you come to Dallas for the winter classic to serve as a human flair for us? Yeah, we'll be there. If you're not playing, that is,

uh, if I ain't playing, I'm going to be somewhere else. I'm going to be, I won't be in Dallas for, for New Year's Eve. I tell you that much.

I'll be somewhere a lot. I'll be somewhere a lot more fun if I'm not playing hockey. Hey, we'll do a content piece where we stalk the GM at their hotel asking why he didn't pick you for the team, and we just fucking grill him. Jim Nill was good. He was good with me.

And like I said, giving me the opportunity to come out and prove I was hot. I think I surprised everyone just how good I was skating and stuff. So not only them, but myself, which was good. I know we've been going long here, but I ask you about one more guy. Fuck, he looks like a farm animal, Radulov. Is that guy out of control or what? He's an absolute mess is what he is.

And by mess, I mean he's fucking screaming in Russian the whole time, even in practice. He'll go in and score a goal and he just starts yelling into the corner like you don't know what he's saying i i've known rad since i was like 22 i think we drafted him in nashville uh probably you know my last year i played there but he was this crazy kid back then his dad would run him through practice drills like after our practice it was like the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. His old man would be on the bench with him after skates, teaching him, hit the net, fucking carry the puck off the wall,

do this, do that. So it was a really unique way to see a father-son connection, actually, back then. And then obviously playing against him in world championships and seeing just how good he is and how cocky he can be. When he's on your team, it's great because he's a great team. I actually think he's a great teammate and he works hard. So he's a disaster.

He's a full-on Russian disaster. Well, Updog, I don't know if people who never played hockey or didn't play at a high level will appreciate what you said in that all the training and the rehab was really meant to kind of prove to yourself. I came back from it, whether I played a game or not. I got a PTO, and I

respect the hell out of that, dude. It means a lot coming from you, knowing you. So, thanks for coming on, and I'm happy you were able to get in there, play well, and we'll see what happens this year. But everyone that played with you knows you're one of the best to all-time do it, dude. So I'm watching a game right now, Washington at Chicago, and I think of Upby when I wonder,

I wonder if Washington's staying over after the game tonight. So thanks for coming on, buddy. We appreciate it. We'll stay in touch. Hopefully things work out, and we'll see what happens the next couple months. Awesome, boys. Thanks for having me. Thanks, Rocky. Oh, yeah'll see what happens the next couple months. Awesome, boys. Thanks for having me.

Thanks, Rocky. Oh, yeah, and congrats on your new house. Atta boy. Thanks, fellas. And we'll throw a little spit and chiclets after Shaker. Oh, Pink Whitney party. Oh, yeah. A Pink Whitney party, you bet.

All right, boys. Big thanks once again to that handsome bastard, Scotty Upshaw. He's such a good-looking fellow, man. I even get a little lost in his eyes once in a while. He's always a great guest. I was bummed out for him. I was hoping he made it, but he seems pretty content. He sounded like he gave it his best shot, and he's not happy with the result,

but like I said, he's content with it. Before the season started, I did mention, Witt, if teams come out of the gate slow, sometimes their odds will go up in your favor. Well, Dallas was 17-1 to start the season. They're up to 28-1. So if you like the Stars, you think they still got a shot at the cup and can turn this around, there's some pretty good value on them right now. Just want to let the gambling community know about that.

A couple of the little notes we didn't get to yet. The Leafs will be missing a key part of their lineup, but it's only short term. Toronto captain John Tavares will miss two weeks with a broken finger. He was hurt versus the Caps Wednesday. He's got three goals, four assists in eight games so far. Brian Boyle signed

in Florida a one-year, one-way deal, $940,000. He's going to be 35 in December, but he brings that veteran leadership, versatility, all those, what do you call them? Intangibles, that's the word I'm thinking of. In a couple episodes back, Biz, we talked about Jake DeBruskin.

We called him Spidey. He was nicknamed Spidey when he was a little kid, I guess. Well, we almost had a real-life Spider-Man situation in Pittsburgh. I don't know if you caught this. Alexander Galchenyuk, he got hurt during camp, and he had a slow recovery. They discovered he got put behind the eight ball. He got bit by a spider, and he had a slow recovery, and they discovered he got put behind the eight ball. He got bit by a spider, and he got a real bad allergic reaction to it, and he couldn't come back in time. Have you ever heard of anyone getting bit by a spider

and having a reaction like this? No. In hockey or in life? No. The weirdest shit that I've seen was that mumps outbreak. I ended up getting them. I think I've told the story on the podcast. That's when Sid was sitting there with his jar out to here,

and he's like, I don't have the mumps. They're like, uh. Well, because they wouldn't let him stay at the rink, so he's trying to lie so he can still practice. I just remember him being like, no, and everyone's like, dude, giggity, giggity. Oh, man. Oh, hey, guys, I need to clarify one thing.

Last week when I was going on my TD Garden seat rant, I kind of made a mistake. I sort of blamed the team. The Boston Bruins have absolutely nothing to do with the seat debacle. They have tenants in that building. I think in my rant, I blamed the team at a certain point. I want to take that back. The Bruins.

I thought Jacobs owned the rink. Right. And he owns the team. Right. But the Bruins have nothing to do with the seats being taken in or out. Oh, so they have no say in it. Exactly. The Bruins had no say in it, and I think what's happened in business, they're kind of victims of timing here because

the new seats came in. The Bruins are the first team back in town, so everybody's kind of venting on the Bruins. Oh, Celtics should be taking half the heat too. Well, the Celtics fans are going to go through the same thing. Anyone who goes to concerts, all the other shit, but bottom line, I apologize to the Bruins. Oh, Celtics should be taking half the heat too. Well, the Celtics fans are going to go through the same thing. Anyone who goes to concerts or the other shit. But bottom line, I apologize to the Bruins. You guys didn't screw up.

It's the other people holding the building. So Jacobs or whoever's controlling the team now is bending over all those teams. Yeah, well, they're just tenants. They're tenants or people who come in and rent. But like I said, I think people are misdirecting their anger at the Boston Bruins, and they shouldn't be doing that. It should be at the owners of the building. And speaking of the building, everybody knows that buying tickets

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right now, right from your phone. Hopefully that seat won't be too tight for you either if you're sitting at the garden desk. Once again, great organic ad read. What was one thing that I really wanted? Oh, the Minnesota players. Can we talk about the Minnesota situation? So all of you probably know by now they had a closed-door meeting.

This was after game like six, maybe seven. I don't know. Like that's pretty early in the season to be having a closed-door meeting. So things obviously haven't got – came out of the gate great for the Minnesota Wild. Then Zucker kind of in the media mentioned that everybody needs to be better from Boudreaux down and made comments that Boudreaux needs to be better. And then, of course, he rescinded his statements, which I'll say this.

Yes, it was odd hearing that because, you know, I mean, the players have most to say as to what's going on on the ice. Although I did agree with Mike Rupp, and him and Jeff O'Neill were kind of going back online a little bit about it. I agree that Minnesota doesn't have a strong roster. They do have a lot of names. They don't have a very strong roster. I think everybody knew they were going to be probably the fifth to eighth worst team in the National Hockey League this year.

You'd think that maybe with those types of names in the locker room, they would have a little bit more pride and would maybe muster up more wins and be better playing better than what they are now what I agree with Ruppert was is that like Boudreaux's job as a head coach and he's getting paid a decent amount to coach that team is to try to get the best out of your players and figure out a way to make the group that you have successful now he's made a few comments publicly where like he's like oh like yeah i'd wish our whole team was just faster basically like you know kind of taking a jab that yeah they're old and they're slowing down so like i don't know like st louis isn't necessarily the fastest team they figured out a way to you know play a style of game that benefited what they had as far as personnel so

rup was basically saying instead of making jokes every day in in the in the fucking news about how shitty your team is fucking fix it like going in there not and and listen i don't know what's going on behind the scenes but as a player i would resent it a little bit if my coach was making subtle comments taking jabs at the team where it's like yo fuckhead we're in this together like you're like you want to start making jabs like okay do you want me to tell you how you're fucking you haven't changed the pp breakout in fucking six weeks and everybody knows exactly what you know i'm saying like there could there could be a back and forth there but of course the player is not going to throw a coach under the bus, well, or at least we thought.

I still don't think what he said was that damaging, but hey, maybe it was a fucking wake-up to Boudreaux of being like, hey, I get that we're not very good right now, but you're not exactly the fucking best either. Guys, Gabby, you want me to mention to everyone that there isn't a dress shirt you own without some barbecue sauce on one of the collars? No, I think when Zucker said that, I think that –

I don't think right when he said it he realized I shouldn't have said that. I think things look so different in print. 100%. And I have experience of saying things to the media and then you read it you're like whoa like that just looks and sounds totally different where in his head and he kind of he apologized i don't know if you mentioned that sorry biz he did come out and apologize but in his head he's like yeah we got to be better bruce has to be better and i can totally see a player kind of like vibing off of how everyone's just got to do better work and do a

better job and then reading it and being like oh fuck i just i called out the coach in the paper well this could be easily a situation where zucker you know the last game maybe boudreaux made a couple bonehead plays on the bench sometimes guys get forgetful like and this isn't a shot at uh fuck who's the guy with the Islanders? Trotz. So Trotz is known as a very, very good structural coach where he is so fucking prepared, but he's known as not being a very good bench coach. He gets lost.

He hasn't called out lines. Everyone's like, who's up? He gets lost in watching the game and making adjustments, which is fine, but you have to be able to fucking – so, like, players will be looking back like, yo, who the fuck's going here? Like, we don't know who's going. Which line's up? And, like, so he's not necessarily known as the best bench coach.

So – and listen, everyone's going to have their imperfections and their perfections. Like, obviously, he's known – Trotz's resume speaks for itself. He's an excellent coach i'm just saying is like that'd be just being like well yeah biz has shit hands well yeah that's what i have you know i mean it's just like you gotta call a spade a spade at some point it's not a dig it's just that's that's their negative so i i'm and once again i don't know the internal situation going on in minnesota but jeff o'neill who has a lot way more credibility

than i do because of his resume and he probably has a little bit more than rup although rup has a pretty good one himself so i'm not i don't want to step in the middle of that it was just interesting to see two different perspectives where o'neill was like oh it's his fault that team's shit like look at their roster where rup's like yeah i mean rup was arguing that they're like the night there's nine or ten other rosters that are worse than theirs and i i maybe wouldn't go as far as saying that but i wasn't i wouldn't have dismissed what rup was trying to get to as far as like yo budro needs to take some accountability too where where o'neill kind of just like dismissed that where i was i i agree more with rupper on that side but not about the amount of teams

that are better than them or that they're better than I ran into Ryan Callahan former Rangers captain and a great dude heart and soul player he's now working at NHL Network so I ran into him at Starbucks actually I didn't know we were going to be there at the same time and the reason I bring him up is it was funny what he mentioned about this I just happened to watch him after after the the session i was on four to six i was watching him and he's doing great on tv he's pretty natural at it but he said it was unprecedented and i i was laughing because i was like i i actually can't remember the last time it is unprecedented i can't remember the last time a guy just called

the coach out do you remember that ever happening in the media i would yeah i would never in a million years do i don't remember it yeah it was a little odd but but once again once that hits the twitter that's going viral every time and i it might have just been a fuck up on his part but once again we don't know what happened like boudreaux might have made a few bonehead fucking plays where it was in the back of his mind where the frustration and the mics in your face and you're having a bad day maybe you're dealing with personal shit at home guys people think people hang their their hats on like little quotes like that there might be Minnesota Wild fans that'll never get over that and hate Jason Zucker till they're blue in the face I want to ask you a question biz how do these meetings

kick off like literally like like does one does one captain decide does he talk to the other assistants like who decides i wait we need to fucking um players only meet him and who tells the coach screw from from my experience when shane don't would do it it would be situational where like after a game he just seen enough where it was like hey boys we needed a response game and we lost two in a row and we're gonna go and put that type of effort fuck off sit in the room let's fucking talk this out and don't donor was awesome because donor the reason what made donor was such a good leader was he would open it up he before he would even talk he'd see he'd say verby what are you seeing vermet what are you seeing hansel what are you seeing what are my you seeing? What are you seeing? What are my leaders seeing? What do we need?

And yeah, sometimes just some of the same shit get regurgitated a little bit. But I think in the midst of opening it up and letting everyone talk, I think that some guys, when they take the floor, are going to say it so genuine and from their heart that it will resonate with the group. And they're going to say, yeah, that's the way I wanted to bottle it up and say it now let's go fucking do it. And in my experience in those also, there's a little bit of a leader or anyone bringing up guys. I know we don't love so-and-so coach, right? And guys, you know,

you'll complain about this guy running the power play, but fuck like enough, right? We know all, you know, you'll complain about this guy running the power play, but fuck, like, enough, right? We know all – you know, we know there's – we're getting together for dinner and we're bitching about this and bitching about that. And in a sense, at some point, you're like, dude, this isn't helping, right? Let's try to at least change attitudes leading up to games and practices. But, yeah, Biz, you pretty much described how those go. Hey, I'll go a little bit more in depth with the situation when I was in Arizona. So when Tip came in, he'd squeeze blood out of a rock.

We had a roster where people thought we were going to finish dead last in the West, and we made playoffs. Like, it was fucking crazy. We did it with Briz Golov two years in a row, and, you know, Tip came in a lot more defensive. We played to – going back to the Boudreaux thing, Tip took what he had as players and was like, this is how I'm going to have to mold them in order to squeeze out

every fucking ounce out of this group to maybe make playoffs. And he did it back-to-back years. Like, look at it. We ended up making a few big plays at the deadline, which bolstered our roster and then you even went into that third year but like as time went on we just didn't have the roster that was you didn't have the firepower we just didn't have the roster in order to make playoffs like he'd done it three years in a row where he became like obsessive over like like being he got harder and harder on the group and and and he became less and

less of a players coach because like all of a sudden what he was doing wasn't working anymore and it was probably frustrating to him and and maybe instead of taking a little bit more of the accountability and maybe just being like fuck we ain't that good and taking it a little easier on the guys he he became harder and i and it kind of fucking fuck things up a little bit but hey every good thing eventually has to come to an end and that's the we talk about the creative conflict all the time i don't hold tip i don't hold a tip accountable for that it's just how he was seeing things and you know it's like the fallout of something great and you know donor was maybe like the fallout of something great. And, you know, Doner was maybe thinking another.

Maybe Don Maloney was thinking another. And, like, Tip wanted to win, and Don Maloney's like, hey, we just don't got the group. We're trying to accumulate draft picks and eventually rebuild this thing into something what it is now. You have to go through some pains for that. And certain guys didn't want that. So I know I kind of got rambling on here,

but it's always interesting to hear about these organizational dynamics and how things ended up going in a certain directions. No, Biz, that's real good insight. I think a lot of our listeners like that. It's like the real kind of nuts and bolts of the inside of a locker room. I know you guys, it's kind of routine to you guys, but not necessarily to us, you know? And all right, just to go back to the Mike Richards interview, just interesting how, remember, like, the Flyers ultimately went with what Lavellette was thinking. And based off maybe the off-ice habits,

he didn't think that those two leaders were fit for that organization. They ended up making a drastic move based off of one guy's decision. And it alters the organization for, for many years and for forever. That's the history now of the organization. So it's always interesting to see how these different minds end up, you know, coming together and eventually having some conflict. All right.

Now we're going to send it over to country singer, Brett Kissel. You guys are really going to dig this interview. I promise. Real exciting guests for us right now here, guys, because this is a person who's not necessarily directly involved

in the hockey world, but somebody who's a fan of our show. We're a big fan of him. We got Brett Kissel in studio, superstar, country Canadian singer.

Is that correct to say? Country? Can I still say that? I mean, superstar was bullshit, but I appreciate it. In my mind, and I'm not done with the intro yet because I'm looking over here. Two-time winner.

Two-time winner of the male artist of the year. I mean, Canadian CMA Awards. That's no joke. From Flat Lake, Alberta. That sounds like an area where people just skate outside in the winter. Actually, it's probably too cold. And a huge fan of hockey. Welcome to the Spitting Chicklets podcast.

I appreciate it. I really do guys. Seriously. Of, of all the things that I've done in my career with media and in this business, it's constant. It's radio shows,

it's TV, it's press, it's all that stuff. And this is one that I've been so excited for, if not the most excited for, because all my buddies have truly said this. You're not anybody unless you've been on spit and chip. I love when guests come on and just pump our tires.

So I truly feel like a somebody now. Yeah, just hold on. Keep going here. Let me grab the lube. We love having a guy like you in because we can talk about different things while also bringing it all back to the game. And when I say bringing it all back to the game,

you're a close friend of Jordan Eberle, who is a good buddy of mine. I lived with him when we were on the Oilers together. I was like 36. He was 19. No business living with him and Halsey. I'm sure you guys had some fun, though. I went to an after party after a night out.

Yeah, you were there. You were there. You were there at the crib. I ended up bringing home a waitress. Soccer. She had the biggest bomb. She worked at that. What was that bar called?

Green Sleeves? No. The Tin Room. Oh, no. Sounds like a song you might have right here. Yeah, absolutely. I don't remember the bar. There was a country bar.

I did bring my guitar. Well, okay. So how do you and Eberly become buddies? What's the connection there? I think it's kind of funny because I think we say that we met online, actually oh yeah exactly modern day relationship we uh but we were at the canadian country awards so it was him justin schultz nuge and halsey were uh giving out an award at this at the ccmas in edmonton at rexall place at the time so we actually met backstage. And then he sent me a tweet and said, hey, when I was in Calgary at the Stampede, he said, hey, I know you're playing.

Let's get together for a round of golf or something like that. So we did. So we went golfing that day. And I think we hung out for like six days in a row in Calgary. We really liked each other off the bat. We did. And the best part about it is that when you can really solidify a friendship, because you've got the friendship that you have with the boys, but as soon as you involve your girls, that's kind of a make or break thing.

If the girls like each other, you know that you're going to be friends for life. Well, you have no choice at that point. Exactly. And if the girls don't like each other, then it's like how big can your friendship actually grow? And so Lauren and my wife Cecilia became besties immediately. There we go. and so we've been friends for a long time so you are a diehard Oilers fan huge Oilers fan man I'm sorry it's and you are if I'm not mistaken you're 30 no so yeah so I was born in 1990 so get this I was born

the day the Oilers won their last Stanley Cup. So that's what I'm saying. You're an Oilers fan right now that's never seen anything. No, I haven't. You're still holding on to those 90s titles. And it's going to happen. And it's going to happen. Okay, when?

This year. Fuck, dude. I thought we were going to have a real conversation. Why not? But why not? Why not this year? You must have a book this thick of Hank Level Williams. I know you're cheating hard.

I'm so lonesome I could cry. So were you 17 when they lost Game 7 to Carolina? No, I was 16. What was that? I thought you were a mouth guy. What were you doing? Were you drinking? No, I'll tell you exactly

What happened that night So it's June of 06 I'm playing at the Winspear Center in Edmonton Hardest gig of my life Because I'm watching On this little TV In my dressing room

And I hear all the other artists It's kind of this big It's like a multi-artist show And I'm watching And Justin Williams Scores in the empty net to make it three to one. There's no way we can come back.

It's over. And it's over. And I want to cry. I want to cry. It was the saddest day ever. And then they announced my name to go out and play on stage. And you were like a puppy dog out there.

I do not want to play. I want to sulk. I mean, I'm 16 years old, but I want to drink a dozen beers because it's the saddest day that I've ever encountered. Or smash your guitar. Or I wanted to want to play. I want to sulk. I mean, I'm 16 years old, but I want to drink a dozen beers because it's the saddest day that I've ever encountered. Or smash your guitar. Or I wanted to smash my guitar. I was so mad.

I hated Carolina. I still hate Carolina to this day. Like, seriously, all of them. Like, I was mad that Dougie Waite was an oiler, and now he's playing on Carolina. Justin Williams, he's probably a beauty. I don't know if I ever want to talk. Like, I'm so mad. So what do you think of the storm surge?

Oh, Jesus. I think it's ridiculous. Bunch of jerks, eh? It's over. I ever want to talk. Like, I'm so mad. So what do you think of the storm surge? Oh, Jesus. I think it's ridiculous. Watch the jerks, eh? It's over. I think it's over. So you like Don Cherry's thing? I like Don Cherry. And the thing is, that's what you do when you want to get fans involved in the game.

And everybody's like, yeah, I can't wait to see what happens at the end of this game. That's Carolina. What are they going to do? No, play hockey. How about you watch the sport? Fucking hate it. You're going to get some hate online. He's ready. He's Carolina. What are they going to do? No, play hockey. How about you watch the sport? Fucking hate. You're going to get some hate online. He's ready.

He's ready. You'll never play a show in Raleigh again. You would never go to Raleigh anyway. But here's my big brother. I want to give my brother Jameson a shout out. So that night, the Oilers lose. I think he's at Cook County Saloon in Edmonton. Him and his girlfriend, Michelle, who's now his wife.

So they go out and decide, well, screw this. We're just going to go see what's going on on White Avenue. And my brother ends up, he has a beer, walks out of the bar with his beer, which is dumb. So he walks out of the bar with his beer. He's walking down the street and he gets tackled by the cops and he gets thrown in jail. So my mom's at the concert with me and now trying to text my brother, okay, the concert's over. Time to pick you up.

Let's go home. No, my brother's got his phone concert's over, time to pick you up, let's go home. Nope. No, my brother's got his phone confiscated, he's in jail. So we had to wait all night and my mom's losing her mind about where the hell my brother is and finally picks him up

at five in the morning from the downtown precinct in Edmonton and we drive home and I gotta go to school the next day. Well, what about the Edmonton cop tackling him for just having a beer bottle? The Edmonton cop, I don't know if I got a jaywalking ticket,

but I got grabbed by a cop for walking across the street. I think that had to do with more about your play than anything. I was like, Jesus, guys, take it easy. Maybe you're able to catch that. I just caught that. There's that Whitney. That's Whitney. Get him. Just watch until he does anything wrong.

I had a money line tonight on the Oilers, and that fucker threw a pizza up the middle. How many times have you sang the anthem at the Edmonton Oilers game? I don't know. Maybe 30, 40? Oh, wow. Yeah, a whole bunch. So for people who don't know, in the year the season –

The only time in the last 13 years. It was a good year for us, though. So you sang and I believe the mic went out. Yeah. And then that was when the crowd took over singing, right? Everybody bailed. I was going to hit the ditch so hard on that. It was the U.S. anthem, right?

Yeah, it was against Anaheim. And yeah, everybody at Roger's place just started to sing. And what was interesting is that people kind of thought that it was faked and rigged because on tv you could hear the feed and so everybody could hear me singing oh oh like oh say can you oh and it's not working because in the stadium there was a glitch so you couldn't hear 19 000 people couldn't hear me and the same thing that happened with oh canada as well but everybody's saying oh canada anyways that actually didn't get on the news or tmz and stuff like that but it's canadian singing the

american anthem that was really cool. Were you shitting your pants when that happened? Absolutely. Like, oh, man, that's your whole thing singing now with the fucking mics busted. Under no circumstance. And you're 16, right? No, no, that was just a couple years ago. Okay, I'm sorry.

Then I was mistaken. That was the finals. Right. So, no, no, no, that was just a couple years ago at Rogers. just a couple years ago at Rogers. But what's interesting is that people, a lot of artists don't take anthem gigs because the risk-reward benefit is not there. Because if you do well, no one talks about it.

You can look bad. If you screw it up, you're all over the news. Everybody hates you because you don't screw with the anthem. And the biggest thing is then when people want to try and do their own version of the anthem, which I actually hate. with the anthem and the biggest thing is when people want to try and do their own version of the anthem which I actually hate. Sing the anthem. Sing it well.

Sing it fast. Get off the ice. Play hockey. That's my motto. So I will never sing a great anthem but I think I will always do a good job and I really hope that I don't screw it up. You were in a battle online afterward

because a lot of people were coming after you about that. I remember you and I was like, geez, the mic went out. Like, chill the fuck out. We're going to pump Canada, you motherfucker. You came to my aid. You came to my aid. I appreciate that.

Thank you. I was chiming. He did. I remember when the whole feud was going on. I'm like, Jesus Christ. The fact that there was a feud? Yeah. What the hell?

Well, it was just, I don't know why it was, but yeah, some, I mean, trolls online just got in. Like, ah, you faked it. You rigged it. You're just doing it for the publicity. I'm like, I would never risk doing something like that with the anthem as a publicity stunt. Just never do it. How do you become a country star?

How did that all begin? Go back to the start. So little kid, I was playing hockey in Glendonon alberta and i'm good oh i was so bad so i was because i was fat like i was a chubby kid oh my god you were a goalie oh yeah so like i literally so i wanted to i wanted to be a goalie and i i i wanted to play but i i would have naps on the bench and that's when my dad i think think, you know, the coach says, yeah, this isn't for you. And so my meemaw, she came to my aid and she bought me a guitar. And so I played guitar for about a year and I took lessons and I'm six, seven years old and I actually didn't like lessons.

So my parents kind of used reverse psychology on me and said, if you keep playing guitar, you don't have to take lessons. So, okay, great. So I kept playing guitar and i would just sit on the counter and i'd listen to the radio and i'd play and it was old country just like you and i were talking off the air like i'm talking johnny cash uh farron young marty robbins slower than like wow absolutely so i would i would learn that stuff and that was the the real three chords in the truth kind of thing so i would learn all these old songs and then as i i started to i guess get better then i'd learn uh stuff like george straight and garth brooks and alan jackson and then as i become a teenager now i realize okay

it's important to learn songs if you want to get the girls you got to learn to play dust in the bottle fishing in the dark uh sweet home alabama let me write these down uh keith all the keith urban songs it's like and that's the same thing with like uh uh it's funny because playing with Fishing in the Dark, Sweet Home Alabama. Let me write these down. All the Keith Urban songs. And that's the same thing with like, it's funny because playing with some of the guys in the show who can play guitar, they don't even know full songs. They just start playing a little bit of Backstreet Boys or Dust on the Bottle and they just let everybody else sing. Yeah.

And it's like, that's just how you are. Okay, so who are some guys that you know who are pretty good at playing the guitar in the NHL? Ebbs. Ebbs is a good guitar player. But when I lived with Ebbs, it was a nightmare. And let me tell you, if Halsey was in here right now, we used to be like, Ebbs, can he fucking please stop practicing the guitar?

It's so painful. He sucks at it. And then Halsey was like laughing the other day. So just the other month, he's telling me he got pretty good. He just kept sticking with it. He did. He's a good guitar player. I literally haven't heard him play since eight or seven years.

So last night, this is how things have changed in his and my friendship. So last night. Does he sing? Does he sing? He sings. Okay. Yeah. And so his wife's like a vocal coach.

Lauren is. And so he's becoming a better singer, too. I don't know if he's going to get a record deal or anything like that. Well, he could fund it himself. He could, absolutely. Another big ticket. I know he did. But we used to party our faces off

back in the Edmonton days. And here, after the game, we both don't have a drink. We sit down, we play cards, we're playing crib, and we're playing guitar. This is last night. Last night.

I felt like we were 65 years old as we're literally playing old country songs and we're playing cards. So is last night. Last night. I felt like we were 65 years old as we're literally playing old country songs and we're playing cards. So it's funny you mentioned like it's almost like a hockey player growing up. Yeah, it's great when you go to skill work and stuff which would be lessons in guitar but most of the time you learn just by yourself

out in the driveway. Exactly. And you're just messing around with the tunes. You just figured out how to do it on your own. Well, I mean look at how iconic now the stories are of Sid the Kid and his time in Nova Scotia and beating up on his garage door and shooting pucks into the dryer and stuff like that.

That's truly how you hone your craft. And I've always related my career in country music to the guys who come up through the ranks in sports because where you want to get to is the NHL. Everybody knows that. And then you want to win a cup and you want to win these awards and you want to get to is the NHL. Everybody knows that. And then you want to win a cup and you want to win these awards and you want to be on a great team.

But you've got to come up and you've got to play novice and then you go to this and then you peewee and then you start playing in some great tournaments and you get noticed. And before you know it, you're playing around the province. Before you know it, you're playing across Canada and some of these big things. And you're in midget.

Then you're drafted to junior and you're playing in the dub. And then after the dub, you're playing in the show. And stuff like that. That's exactly what I did to a degree. Traveling started changing. And now I feel like I'm a fourth liner just trying to make it in the NHL. Right?

And just trying to keep it. Okay. Well, the other thing I really wanted to ask you, and this hopped into my mind right now, is how cool of a feeling was it? Or when did you really understand like anytime the party is at a lull or at any time i want any party i'm gonna break on my guitar and everyone just stops and all girls start staring at me jamming themselves i mean 12 years old 13 it's like it must have just been any kid who brings out the guitar and it's good you're like that mother

well the worst is and i'm gonna say is is is it's the guys who are athletes who can play. Those are the guys I actually hate the most because they're handsome, they're well-built, they can play in the show, and then they can play guitar. And that really bugs me. I believe Ryan O'Reilly is a tremendous guitar player. He is. So I FaceTimed while everybody was in – Ebbs was on the team while everybody was over in, I don't know, Czech Republic or something like that in the World Cup. World, yeah.

World Championships. Yeah, World Championships. And I was like, oh, yeah, another guy. Another guy that can play guitar and play hockey. That always bugged me. Chad Brownlee is a guy. He and I are good friends, but I actually – he bothers me a lot because he's a great hockey player and he's a great musician.

I thought we were going to do a Pink Whitney rap song, but we might have to ask this guy to help us out with a Pink Whitney country song. Absolutely. Maybe Epik gets a little appearance in there. Absolutely. Yeah, I'd love to do that. You guys heard it right now. I'm ready to go. I thought it was interesting you made the athlete comparison

because I've long said that athletes and musicians, I think it's like a natural thing. I could skate all day and go practice. I would never play in the NHL. But when you started strumming the guitar, you must have had like a natural inclination for it. I mean, you could have been that bad because I just don't think if you're not born with musical talent, you can't be at the level you're at.

So you must have been pretty good from the jump, no? Well, I think so. Looking back now, then I guess yes. I mean, as a Canadian, you don't want to pump your own tires and stuff like that. You know what I mean? Canadian day. A little bit more humble. But the reality is that I look back at my career trajectory, and even though I never

really won any contests and stuff like that, these singing competitions, the thing about it is that I just always loved to entertain. And I learned all these cover songs. And I think I know probably a million cover songs. You remember them all. I just remember them all. I don't know why, but I just got that memory. And so I would go to this crowd and it would be a rodeo and it'd be full of seniors.

Like, oh my gosh, it's grandparents, like central here. Blue hairs like I've never seen. So I, okay, well, I'm not going to play any new stuff. They want to hear the old stuff. So let's play some Johnny Cash and some George Jones. And then before you know it, I'm selling $2,000 worth of CDs. And I'm 15 years old. Granny Bloom is coming on the stage.

And so you do that. They're throwing their panties on stage. The lady's like, Gertrude, relax. And it just literally, my cheeks would be so sore from literally these grannies that would come up in their walkers and they'd pinch my cheeks and be like, oh, you're going to make it one day there, Brad. And I appreciated that. You said Johnny Cash a few times.

What did you make of Joaquin Phoenix's performance in Walk the Line? I thought he was perfect for it. I've never seen that movie in a while, though. They were outstanding. He sang. They they released an album he was the one who sang he sang in it he did so well he's he's an actor that uh what i love about him is that he gets so in character which is why i'm so excited to see him in joker because he eats sleeps and breathes that character and And that's the thing. This is one of the most iconic artists of all time.

He's got a name like Mozart. He's got a name like Beethoven. He's got a name that has power like Shakespeare. It's Cash we're talking about. You can't screw this up. JR Cash. He was just born to do that. That's a ballsy role to take, too.

I'd compare it to maybe Jamie Foxx and Ray. That was probably the top five performances I've ever seen. Well, look at, shit, of course I can't remember his name, but look at who just did Bohemian Rhapsody. Rami Malek. I thought he was good. Overall, I don't know if Oh, Rami Malek. I thought he was good. Overall, I don't know if the movie did it for me. I thought it was okay.

Yeah. I thought the best part of the movie was his performance. His performance was great. That movie was not on the level of Ray O'Walk the Line, but the performance was. Rocket Man, I thought, was outstanding. I'm a huge Elton John fan. I thought Taron Egerton did a great job. So that's the biggest thing is that you've got this career of the man in black, Johnny Cash.

It starts in 1954, Sun Records. I think you were wearing a Sun Records shirt. Absolutely. I fucked that up. I should have had it on today. You know what? That's okay because we talked about Tom Petty, which was great. But the biggest thing here is that Joaquin Phoenix nails that role.

And Johnny Cash, I've been his biggest fan for forever. I know you've been saying how busy you are. Have you caught any of the Ken Burns doc that just got released on PBS, Country Music? Yeah, I was in it. I talked about it a little bit. I haven't seen it at all. No, it's not a problem. I wasn't in it in the sense of they have at the end, they have a bunch of artists talking about the power of Nashville and the power of country music. And Ken Burns does it better than anybody else.

And so during CMA Fest, I talked a lot about it, and I think it's outstanding. It's an incredible historical document. And one thing that fascinates me all the time is the process of songwriting. And there were so many good stories. Hank Williams and his wife would have this fucking knockdown, drag him out, throwing shit at each other. He'd get drunk and pissed off, and he'd sit and his wife would have this fucking knockdown, drag him out, throwing shit at each other. He'd get drunk and pissed off. And he'd sit down and he would write this timeless ballad that is still getting sung millions of times all over the world.

It was just heartfelt. It is. I mean, you listen to all the lyrics. It might sound simple. But the way he sings them and the way he created them, they're fucking timeless. So I want to ask you about your process. How does that work for you? Do you have a co-writer?

I do a ton of co-writing. So it literally would be you about your process. How does that work for you? Do you have a co-writer? How does that work for you? I do a ton of co-writing. So it literally would be like the four of us in a room. So we've all got our different strengths. One guy's a real lyric heavy guy, a lyricist.

One guy's all melody. One guy's a producer, a track guy. So that would be like you, Grinnelly. So you're there, you're working behind your laptop. You're literally creating beats

and it could be boom, chika-pa, chika-boom, chika-pa, chika-boom, ch and it could be He's making those. Okay, so he's making that and stuff like that. He adds a little banjo and before you know it, you've got this great melody. So what are we going to write to that? If it's something positive and if it's something

that's up-tempo, you're not going to talk about how she's done you wrong and how you're so sad that she's gone. You're going to write about how it's a great day. I can't wait to drink beer with my boys on a Friday night. Just got paid kind of thing. So that's our vibe.

So now the four of us are going with that type of melody, that type of experience. And you're going to talk about, I remember I did this one thing and it was really cool. We got to add this idea to it. And da-da-da-da-da, every time she kisses me, or I can't wait until every time you kiss me, da-da-da-da-da, I can taste that pink Whitney and whatever like that. So all of a sudden, it's a great rhyme and that's the end of the course. I want to credit on that. Oh, that's fucking beautiful. Right there, dude.

That's our hook. And that's the hook. And then you write towards the hook. And before you know it, you have a couple drinks. You've got a song. You don't know if it's going to be number one or make it onto the record. But you write towards the hook and before you know it you have a couple drinks you've got a song you don't know if it's going to be number one

or make it onto the record but you can feel good about creating that and you're literally creating art in that regard let's get a bag of R.A.'s weed

and we can sit in here and just smoke and see how clouds are coming out or we might get back to the rap song after that well

my mic just went down alright what were you just saying you just interrupted my thought process no i gotta i gotta tell you guys everybody thinks that musicians are big into into weed and smoking up and i know a lot of guys do that for inspiration but i gotta i gotta tell you i on the day that weed became legal in canada So Gord Downie, God bless him. Legend. So he's got a weed company. The Hip has a line of cannabis.

And so in our dressing room in Kingston, their hometown, I played on October the 17th. And so I've got this kind of like beautiful array of all these cannabis products and paraphernalia and stuff like that. And my band, they partake products and paraphernalia and stuff like that. And my band, they partake in it from time to time and stuff like that. But I never have. I just never did. It's never been a part of my thing because I'm just a whiskey guy. I love to booze and stuff like that.

That is my thing. But I tell my wife, I say, she and the kids are in this bus. I said, I'm staying in the band bus tonight and I'm just going full throttle on this. It's the day that weed becomes legalized in Canada, and I'm just going for it. I'm going to get some inspiration. I'm getting shredded. And I'll tell you, everybody loved what they were smoking so much. But I went from laughing my face off.

I've never laughed so hard in my life. My guts were hurting. My smile went past my forehead. And then Sarah McLachlan comes on TV in the bus. And she's got little puppies. Oh, that fucking commercial. And then little kids. And that song.

And, you know, in the arms of an angel. You're just like, God damn it, Sarah. And I start to cry. Dog's missing an ear. And I'm crying. Shut off, Brett. And I'm bawling. And then my band, like, they're annoyed.

And they got me, and they're filming me. And I can't stop crying. All these dogs and these kids, and we will never make a difference. Hey, whip out the credit card. You send over a few thousand. I call that 1-800 number and everything like that. And from that day, I decided I just don't want to cry. I just don't want to cry again.

And I'm afraid that if I smoke up, I'm going to ball my face off. So that's why I booze. An emotional high guy. Because booze makes me happy. Well, the question I wanted to ask, I remembered it was like, have you ever had a song where you knew it was a hit? Because you mentioned you don't know how it's going to do, but was there ever one you're like, that's going to be big time? Or no? You know what?

My first single was called Started With A Song, and I had a really good feeling about that because it was up-tempo. It said all the right things. I wrote it with a guy named Craig Wiseman, And Craig Wiseman's got like 40 number one songs. He's written Live Like You Were Dying. He's written like every second number one hit from Florida Georgia line. Tim McGraw. Like this guy's got 40 number one songs. Multi-millionaire.

We just – and it's not that we really clicked on a personal level in the studio. In fact, I actually thought he really didn't like me because a lot of but he's such a hard writer that some of the lines i was thrown out it would be like a veteran like he's a true vet to relate it to hockey and he's literally telling me like what i was doing wasn't good it's like that's a crap line that's garbage that's trash work harder think harder so i'm doing this but we came up with a great song that was my first single went gold it was great but it's interesting i wrote a song called three two one that I never thought was going to be famous. I never thought it was going to do anything.

It was just a song that was so personal for me and my wife about our story and how nobody supported us because I asked her to marry me when I was 19 years old. And everybody thought it was the stupidest thing in the world. And what are you – like literally what the fuck are you? Is what everybody said to me, word for word. And yet we've been married, we've been together 11 years, married for eight years, got three beautiful kids, it was the right choice

and I'm so proud of that. So 321 is our song. Oh, very cool. Yet it becomes a gold record, number one and everything like that and I never thought that that song was going to be a hit. Don't you think that part of that

is that people know that that's what the song's about? Well, when I started my career, nobody knew that. So it was just a song that was relatable about i think all the couples out there that didn't have support and how you love somebody so much you just didn't give a shit when anybody thought so that was kind of the premise of the song that's deep shit aren't there a lot of factors out of control to that how effects maybe airplay or where you get stream and all those things that exactly control so you might have a fucking a number one song, but it's just because of A, B, and C.

It's not getting out where it should. Well, this is where my love for hockey, which is maybe the biggest passion that I've got as far as extracurricular activities is concerned. And me going on a podcast like this to talk about my passion for the sport, it actually could get in the way and be a negative to some stations because everybody knows how much you love the Oilers so sometimes I think people in Calgary who run Calgary radio stations are

thinking huh am I really going to support this guy and let a song go to number one or Vancouver and say because everybody knows that if you love the Oilers you have to hate the Canucks and stuff like that it's just the way that it is so no offense it's a great organization and stuff like that it's the way that it that it is. So no offense. It's a great organization and stuff like that. It's the way that it is. It's not going to matter anymore because they're going to be streaming your songs after they hear you. Well, that's what I hope because that's exactly so. So I'm trying to think to myself and my manager, Louis, here. He's like, keep it easy.

Keep it PG. Don't rag on the Flames. Don't rag on the Canucks or any of these other Canadian teams. You know, you got to be Mr. Candidate here. And I said, OK, I get it. But I'm an Oilers fan first. So hold on.

And I'm a hockey fan first. So I'm afraid. No one has said this and no one's verified this. But I sometimes think that sometimes my songs don't go number one because certain stations are like, I don't know if I can support this guy because I saw that he was ragging on the Leafs and making fun of the Leafs because they haven't won a cup since 1967. So hold on though. Are you a guy that is going to be rooting for a Canadian team in the finals if it's

not Edmonton? No. So you're not like, because I think a lot of Canada, actually, maybe I'm wrong there. I would think Canada would bound around a team. Usually, usually people do. It depends on the team. I would love for a cup to come back to Canada. I'm at the point now where I would love a cup to come back to Canada, but it basically did in St. Louis.

Look at all those Canadians. The whole team was Team Canada. In a lot of ways it was, and that's what you've got to think. But now I'm at the point where I think I know so many guys in the NHL that I root for certain guys to win. I was so happy, to be honest, for Paddy Maroon to win a cup. And he won it in St. Louis. He won it in front of his boy.

Like Big Rig was such a good dude in Edmonton and I'm happy he won it. So, you know, in that regard, I was, I got to be honest.

I was, I was in a big way hoping that he was going to hoist the cup but at the same time love him or hate him. I love Brad Marchand too and I love Patrice Bergeron.

I think those guys are beauties for different ways. And I'm like, this is a toss-up because I love for them. I was going to just ask you, who are your favorite up-and-comers, like the young guys coming in the league? I mean, McDavid's the obvious, so we can avoid that. Are you watching hockey every night, too? Every night. Okay.

Every night on the bus. When my kids go to bed and the Wiggles are off and Disney's off, I'm watching sports highlights and I'm watching the game. And how often are you on the bus? Well, last year, 2018, we were on tour for 10 and a half months. We had the biggest tour in the history of Canadian music. Played every province, every territory, 116 shows. Holy shit.

And we played everywhere. We played with you the whole time. The whole time. So Canada's your bread and butter. It is. What about the United States? How often do you venture down there? We're breaking in the States now with this first single.

So CMT USA has picked it up, which is awesome to have a video in America. We're on a press tour right now in New York where we're doing all these things. Did you do the video with Caitlin Bristow? Yeah. And Jason Tardik. Yeah. Okay. It was awesome.

Let's talk about that. She's a big hockey fan. She actually used to work at the Cactus Club in Edmonton. Ended up going on the Bachelor. She was one of the finalists because she's so cool. Down-earth Canadian girl. She gets asked to do the Bachelorette. Now her

brand has popped off. It's like 2 million followers on Instagram. And it's so well-deserved because as a personality, she's incredible. She's an outstanding person. Her boyfriend, Jason, he's a beauty. He's a great guy.

He cheers for the Sabres, which is a very weird thing. You got to sympathize for him. Yeah, but he's a great guy just an outstanding guy and so they started in our music video and we shot it in the bahamas and another like to be name droppy to be honest is brian and sarah bomber from hgtv they got this show called island of brian and now they got picked up on netflix and so they have a resort that they're rebuilding called sarula Mar in the Bahamas. And they had us down there at the resort.

So we filmed this. It was one of the best three days I've ever had. Well, name dropping. There's one other. There's a story I was told I had to ask about. And that involves Brad Paisley and you missing a flight. Oh, yeah. So what's the whole story there?

You get dragged up on stage. So I was on his tour. And we were in sault ste marie ontario and i was huge yeah yeah and and he was so kind to take a chance on me a few years ago to open for his canadian tour his arena run like this is when i had a couple songs on the radio that's it and so he brought me out on the tour we did the west took a two-week break and i went to watch the leafs or no i sang i sang the anthem for the leafs in boston at air canada center and so i did that and then the next morning i'm going to fly fly up to see saint marie from toronto and as big snowstorm every flight is

canceled so i end up calling a friend of a friend of a friend who's got a jet and i rent the jet for like 10 grand and i was getting paid two grand a show but it's brad paisley i'm not gonna miss the show that'll bury you right so yeah i i i borrowed money from my manager and i borrowed money i think from like my grandma and my grandpa because my credit limit was like 2,500 bucks and I needed to rent a plane to get to Sault Ste. Marie. So we landed Sault Ste. Marie and by the time that I finally get there because of the snowstorm, whatever, I do miss my concert. I was supposed to be on stage at seven. I land at 7.10 and I know I've missed it. And I'm so devastated because now I've spent the money and I missed it but Brad thought

that that was actually such a nice gesture to do it that he brought me on stage that night oh come on and he said sing whatever songs

you want to sing so I did one of his songs and then I did one of my songs just him and his guitar and me and my guitar and that really solidified our friendship

wow so not only did we do that but then he extended the tour and now I've done a whole bunch of shows for him and it's like that actually was the best investment I've ever, one of the best investments I've ever made because then all of a sudden

I did 25 more shows with him. That's incredible, man. That's wild how life can turn out like that. Going back to the videos, I watched a couple earlier. I like how like, I'm old school MTV generation. I like how you kind of incorporate the story into the video like yeah video should be what what what role is

your you're in that you write that out to someone else do that how's that play out yeah I always work with the director and we we come up with the concepts and that's very very important that it either is gonna follow the lyrics to a tee as best as it can or have a really cool twist at the end because I love that in videos. I had one video called Pick Me Up where it turns out that I'm so – it's like I miss the girl so much because we broke up and then it turns out that she dies. So that just kind of gets a little heavy. 3-2-1 is a video where we worked with the director and it's like I can't wait to see you again and it's because I died. It's because her dad is like a Sons of Anarchy kind of character.

Doesn't want me dating the daughter. So he just – like he gets his thugs and they beat the shit out of me in the video, which is really cool. That's acting. So there's a lot of these cool things. And then sometimes you just have pure fun. Like I did a video at my – at the farm where I grew up called Drink, Cuss, Fish. And we literally just had my band and their families and all my buddies come out to the farm. And we shot guns, drank beer, caught fish, drove ATVs, and were just pure hillbilly fun.

And then we just captured it and made a video out of it with no script now you were raised on a ranch correct yeah what was that like i'm a i mean well i'm a city kid what's more a suburb guy what was that like raised on a ranch like what the daily chores how was that experience it was the best it's foreign to me it was the best i i loved growing on the farm i miss it so much in fact the more i talk about it now to be honest the further away i am from it because obviously i'm in new y York today and I'm doing this promo and my grandparents are back home on the farm and still out there driving tractor and stuff like that. It was the best life. And I regretted wanting to leave so much in high school. And I butted heads with my mom and my you know not my old man that much but I couldn't wait to leave well you had aspirations that you've kind of needed to yeah so it's a little different but you'll always do you think at any point someday you'd love to go back there

100 that's awesome yeah I want to I want to George Strait or Blake Shelton that thing and I want to take over the ranch and have 500 cows again like my dad had when I was in high school. And I just want to chase cows, wear Wrangler jeans, just put a dip in and watch hockey. Like Costner and Yellowstone? Do you watch Yellowstone? Yeah. Oh, great show. Exactly. It's a great way of life.

And I think now as human nature and people get so busy – and I don't want to get all philosophical here but I think it's like farm to table restaurants are such a big thing and I live that life like I would pick a carrot out of the garden and wash it in the rain barrel and eat it my uncle and I would go shoot a deer or he'd shoot a deer I would always miss he'd call it buck fever

and because he's listening to the podcast right now and it's like literally I would like we just go hunting and we'd put a a deer in the freezer and we'd eat like real meat and stuff like that and now people are going to drop 80 on venison at a fancy restaurant in new york city and it's like no no that's just that that was a tuesday night in flat lake alberta for us oh so this year right i, how many hockey games will you get to go to in person? You live in Nashville now. We were just talking about down there and how crazy the whole fan base has gone.

Do you get to go a lot or is it just you're gone too much? I'm gone too much. On the road, can you hit games up? Often, yeah. Especially if we're doing arenas. Then what we'll do is we'll really try hard because if we're booking into the arena and stuff like that, whether I'm the headliner or the opening act, well, we're there on an off night. But like we'd go and we'd watch the show. We'd watch a game the night before and then play our show the next night.

And that's the best, to go to these great rinks. And I know that a lot of these artists are excited to meet me or excited to meet paisley and no no i'm excited to be in the building and meet these guys you know i really am so funny that's awesome you're based in nashville correct yeah so did you go to a lot of preds games a bunch of preds games yeah that's an adventure huh it really is and i i love it i love the the culture there i love how it's truly become a hockey town. It's a great rink. I love that there's so much to do in and around the rink.

I love that they've got live music in the intermissions, which is awesome. And during the playoffs, it's like, oh my gosh, holy shit, it's Def Leppard playing. Oh, wow, it's Kansas playing. And they're singing all these great songs, and it's just the intermission. Oh, it's just Vince Gill and Lady Antebellum getting up to sing a couple songs in the first intermission. And that's literally what happens. Yeah. Not to knock the Toronto atmosphere.

Cause it's a lot of suits in the lower bowl, but I find that people show up early there. They're all in the glass for a warmup. Everybody's like taking it in. It's a party. And what, what were your favorite rinks? If you don't mind me asking two of you guys,

and then what rinks did you hate? Either because it sucked to play there or because the fans were so nasty that it got under your skin. Or did that ever get under your skin? No, that's awesome. Nashville was loud, but they were respectful. They weren't like— Weber Bomb. Weber Bomb, that guy was hilarious.

They weren't like Boston fans. No, I love playing in Montreal just because, I don't know, the whole vibe there, the arena. I've always said the seats are so tall. They're so tall. It's like the Coliseum. Yeah, it's sick. So that and they had great music. Chicago is awesome.

I mean, I kind of hated being in Columbus, but I have memories of playing Columbus when they were bad and there was like 12,000 there, 15,000. Now it's pretty sick, I think. But I just remember it being empty and having memories of like, oh, this is like a tough game to get up for. Yeah, thanks for not saying the Coyotes. I knew you were right here. I didn't want to catch a beat. Well, I did an anthem

for the Coyotes a couple years ago, and the guy who dresses up like the Coyote. Yeah, Howler. Oh, Jesus. Like that guy or whatever. He heckled me. Did he really?

He heckled me, absolutely. Yeah. I had a bit of a run-in with him early on, but we patched it up. Did you? Yeah, I tried to put the Howler uniform on, but there's a strict code when it comes to the mascots. Like, that costume is...

You've heard of the code. It's the code. In the mascot. And I betrayed that. So if anything, I was in the wrong, and Howler, I'm sorry, and I'm glad we patched things up. Okay. You asked us arenas we didn't like to play in.

What about, who can't you stand in the league? Players that drive you nuts. There's got to be a guy that you're like, fuck, man. Well, he likes Marshawn. I respect Brad Marshawn. I think everybody hates him. What do you think of Matthew Kachuk as a Lakers fan? I like Matthew Kachuk.

I think he's a great hockey player. I love guys that get under your skin in that regard. I do like that part of the game. I think that there's room for that in the game. And I also identify in that myself because I would be that guy. I just feel I would be that guy. Absolutely. You know, I got to be honest, and maybe I'm going to get some hate over this,

but Ryan Kessler. Oh, okay, okay. Ryan Kessler's pissed you off. Kessler, he bothers me in a big way. He held Cam Talbot's pad, and you could just see it playing his day and stuff like that. And he's effed over my Oilers. Game seven, we were up three goals and stuff like that.

They came back, and they won the game. But that just bugs me, and he bugs me from the Vancouver days. He was all over Connor that series too. He was getting penalized a little bit because I ended up going to one of the games in Anaheim. But he was just a wet blanket all over. And you know what? And that's the thing. And he would probably – maybe he would even take this as a compliment and be like,

you know what? If the fans didn't like what I was doing, then I was doing my job. If the players didn't like what I was doing, I was doing my job. So I get it. I respect that but I just think as an Oilers fan it's just like

you know what I've decided don't like that guy and I've decided I don't like the way he plays hockey and I'll say the name Ryan

yeah no there's some Ryan's out there I like what do you have coming up for me it's all promo promo promo

promo promo until January 1st my new record comes out. And the album is called Now or Never. And I'm so jacked up for this because every song on this record kind of has its own life. There's nothing like any of the songs. I've got this – the current single is called Drink About Me. And it's straight ahead country.

It's mid-tempo, really good feel. It's a unique twist on like a classic tale about missing somebody and everything. So that's a great song. Then I got this real pop heavy song called She Drives Me Crazy. Then I got acoustic country, a song called Coffee With Her. Then a real traditional country song called That's Country Music. So there's eight songs on this project and I'm really proud because every song is not like the other. And there's a song I think you guys would love called A Few Good Stories. And it's called A Few Good Stories to Tell, basically. And it's all about getting together with your guys and having great memories.

I'll send you a sneak peek of some of these songs. See what you think. So Eberle also brought up to me, like, there's an issue with you guys play some golf. You play for money. And all of a sudden this guy just takes mulligans apparently Eb says in money matches

he'll just hit a bad one and say I'm taking a mulligan how do you even get away with that? I don't know I'm mad he brought this up I said to Eb how do you allow it?

he said he goes I don't know so who's taking the mulligans? he does oh okay I thought you meant Eberle does no Eberle probably fucking does when he's by himself How do you allow it? Well, the guy's a scratch golfer. So who's taking the mulligans? He does. Oh, okay. I thought you meant Eberle does. No, Eberle probably fucking does when he's by himself. Yeah. Well, I don't know.

Sometimes I need to get out the foot wedge and stuff like that. And I think it's important in Canada. I respect that. And in Canada, there's native grasses all over the place. We're very environmentally conscious. So sometimes if I'm in deep, heavy woods and stuff like that, I got to move it. I cannot wreck this stuff. You're thinking about the grass.

Well thought out. Absolutely. Especially if you're playing in national parks and stuff like that, you can't affect it. Yeah, you don't want to take a divot. Don't take a divot. Just go close to the fairway and get back on the green. I had another country question for you. You worked with the great legend Charlie Pryde.

That must have been an unreal thrill for you, eh? That was – thanks for saying eh too. I appreciate that, eh? Charlie Pride was amazing. He's unquestionably a legend. The year that we worked together – last year, actually – he was awarded by the Grammys. He got the Lifetime Achievement Award. And so he was the first African-American artist to ever get number ones on country radio.

He's been the male artist of the year in the 70s and stuff like that. And this guy's got stories my my favorite part about working with him wasn't actually getting you know standing as close as we are together and on the on microphones and singing a duet on my record my favorite part was he gets he's got this brand new samsung phone like a galaxy s10 and he's 80 years old and he's showing me all these photos like oh yeah oh that's me and Cash at the White House there with Jimmy Carter. Oh, that's me and Sinatra in New York City. He loved my music, whatever.

Oh, that's me and Ray Charles or whatever. Yeah, it's just guys like us. We had a real rough go there. You know, there were certain states we couldn't play and whatever. It's like I can't believe I'm literally listening to these stories. That was the best part. And seeing pictures. And seeing pictures of him.

And someone had put them on his phone. Or he had put them on. I couldn't believe it. Yeah. So he said, what are you doing tonight? Because I planned the whole day to record with him. And he does his part on one of his songs called Burgers and Fries. And he did his part in two takes.

Which is unheard of, I'm guessing. It's kind of unheard of, but it's an old school way. He's like, well, it ain't going to get any better than that. So I booked the studio for a full day and I said, well, if that's the case, I talked to my producer and said, well, let's go to the Rangers game because we

did this in Dallas. So I was going to go watch the Texas Rangers play the Mariners. And he's like, oh, I'll get you tickets. And I'm like, oh, cool. You got a contact there? He's like, oh, I'll get you tickets. And I'm like, oh, cool. You got a contact there? He's like, well, part owner of the club.

Holy shit. Like, literally. And he played in the Negro League. Played in the Negro League for a dozen years. No way. And he turned into a country star. And he turned into a country star. And his wife said, you're...

I can't believe I've never heard of him. So he played. It's unbelievable to consider the hockey comparison he's sort of like the Willie O'Ree of country music that would probably

be the most apt description but he was unreal he's a legend the pioneer you got a Wikipedia Charlie Pratt especially his time in baseball

and his claim to fame in baseball and he loves telling the story is that he was traded from a team in Kansas City to a team in montana because the team in montana had two bus had two buses no and he was a good pitcher but in kansas

city they had too many pitchers so they traded him for a bus this is his story fact check it if you want it's probably on wikipedia it for a bus it's like 1965 and that was when his wife literally said this is over pursue country music that's why you're listening to your wife

exactly once in a while yeah that's awesome anything else you want to talk about you guys want to yeah you got anything else

you want to promote on here oh what about wearing a Chicklets jersey during a concert or a Chicklets t-shirt during a show I'd love to you guys Chicklets Oh, what about wearing a Chicklets jersey during a concert or a Chicklets t-shirt during a show? I'd love to. Maybe some Chicklets stuff.

Maybe even some Pink Whitney Chicklets stuff. I would love that. It would be my honor. You got talking about that music video, Now the Wheels are Turning Again. What do we think of here? This is going to start Googling songwriting royalties. My question for you guys in this

podcast and how this turned into what it is, did you think when you started this, however long ago, that it would become such an iconic brand and how everybody who listens to this doesn't just listen to it passively, but they love it? I swear to you guys,

so many people are so excited that I'm joining you on this. Did you think that this could grow into what it is? And then the next part is, what's the future of Spick Chickens? Well, let's start with R.A. Because he was the one who shot Witt the tweet after he'd reached out to me and Remy. Yeah, quick little history. Like, me and Witt, we knew each other through mutual friends, hung out a few times.

We weren't like boys or nothing. He shot out a tweet, actually, funny enough, he named Biz. Hey, Biz, I'm bored. I'm retired. I want to start a podcast. And Biz said, hey, I'm playing for a few more years. Check back. And I kind of half-jokingly said, hey, you're looking for a partner.

He slides into my DMs. He's like, are you serious, Ari? I'm like, I'm fucking dead serious. Within two months, I learned how to podcast, basically got the equipment. We had our first episode. We were on SoundCloud. Then Dave Owens, boss, still came and said, hey, I listened. We want to, basically got the equipment. We had our first episode. We were on SoundCloud. Then Dave Owens, Boston, came and said, hey, I listened. We want to add you to the roster.

We had no expectations. I mean, it was literally me and him first episode splitting a mic, like two girls, one mic. Like, you know, Bob and I had no script. No script. Like, we're just doing it off the cuff. And it got better and better. And we had better guests. And Biz was one of our most popular guests.

And we weren't looking to add anybody that wasn't a plan. And we kind of said, hey, you know what? We should see what Biz, because we knew, I mean, obviously, you know what Biz does. He brings it a different level, so much more cachet, whatever. And we had him, and then it was like a shot of steroids to the ass. So as far as expectations, no, we had absolutely none. As far as the future, man, we just want to keep going skyward. Wits, anything you want to add?

No, pretty well said. The future, I've never thought about the future, man, we just want to keep going skyward. Anything you want to add? No, pretty well said. The future, I've never thought about the future of this at all. That's why I think biz was so important because we were doing our thing. And when Grinelli came on, it's funny, he came on after there was a time that R.A. would start the recording. And, you know, you're not looking at it as you're talking. And then he looked up. It had been 45 minutes and it wasn't recording. We said, all right, we need someone. We a kid that uh charlie right charlie yeah charlie

was charlie was with us for a bit and granelli came in yeah um then that we really started going but in terms of like future even at that point i realized all right well we're doing what we're doing it's kind of where it's at but if we were to add and i thought of him right away because he's like how do you describe i mean he's a fucking nonstop workaholic. It's crazy. Biz is always pushing towards more. So I don't really have that. And part of it is like I like to play golf and I'm a tad bit lazy on that side.

So I knew he would be like the force that along with his personality would then get us really going. And that's kind of what's happened. So he's constantly got ideas for us. Like we did this commercial for Pink Whitney. I don't know if you've seen it. There's another one coming out. We get there. I tell the story that the lines were like

written for what they thought would be funny, but it wasn't us. We're reading like we wouldn't say that. And our fans would be like, what do you got? It's like, so Biz just started telling me what to say and then what he was going to say and wrote the whole commercial and we did it for like 10 hours.

I'm like, that's one of the reasons that Biz Nasty's brought on. That Adderall you gave me. Yeah, I gave him Adderall and we went home 12 hours later and he's like, that Adderall is the best thing we've ever done.

Well, time out. We went back and recorded and then I went out to the club to meet up with Shane O'Brien and Matt Harvey and a few of the boys. But no, yeah, the future, I don't know. I would say video.

I think video, the things that Biz has been doing, like the Road Warriors with Sean Avery, Road Warriors with Terry Ryan, traveling to different destinations and showing people things like Terry Ryan in Newfoundland that we should be doing. Yeah, I think that everyone here has their own unique talent. I think Witt's an incredible storyteller. R.A., to me, drives the bus incredibly. Like that, who was the older guy? Charlie Pryde.

Like, I wouldn't have known that. He resonates with the people who are from the older era. So that helps us, especially when we get, like, older players on. I mean, we had Lyle Odeline, who will be dropping, probably has already dropped when this interview comes out. But there were some things about when he was in Montreal that I wouldn't have known, just because I was a younger player. I was still in diapers.

But you mentioned eventually getting back on the farm, but right now you're in grind mode. Very much so. And you're trying to make a name for yourself. At the end of the day, I wasn't able to make a name for myself in hockey. You made a name, but you didn't make enough money to sit around well yeah that and really this i want to take it to the next level and i want to put our imprint on on the hockey world over the course of history yes one day maybe it'll fade away and it'll be something that they remember but

that's my way to do it and and i guess the biggest thing is man you go to canada and even even in the states now like you walk around and these people like, how many times do we do live events? Do people come up and say, man, I was going through a really difficult time. And to the extent where some people have said, you've helped save my life. Just because you bring them out of their reality. That's very special. It's fucking special. And I mean, it's giving me goosebumps.

You're doing the same thing. Seriously. You never know the kind of impact that you're going to have on somebody. Who's listening at any given time and the shit that they're going through. We all got our shit, but it is very special.

You guys are doing that in a fashion of just real life, great stories, adding entertainment value and stuff like that. There's great substance to this. I respect this brand a lot. And Grinnell mentioned the video aspect. We're going to try new things

and we're going to try to keep expanding in order to grow. We might land it on our face. You probably write a song once in a while that you put out and you're like ah it wasn't that great but you gotta try. Well here I wrote 80 songs for this record. 8 made the record. Well there you go. Really, here. I wrote 80 songs for this record. Eight made the record. Well, there you go.

Yeah. So, yeah, you're dealing with a lot more failure than success. But when you said you never know when you're getting through to people, that was the most shocking thing. Because we come on, we do our thing, we laugh. Sometimes you're kind of grinding through an episode. We talked about this at dinner the other night. We were like, I don't really have much right now. It's only natural.

But then you see these people that love the show that is still shocking to me and they're like like what biz said and you're like holy shit like that day where we didn't think we had much or the episode wasn't our best like that person probably still really enjoyed that hour we're hard on ourselves we're big critics of ourselves where they didn't get to you know like think about what was going on the the future with the video, did you watch the golf with Crosby and McKinnon? No, I didn't. Oh, you've got to check that out. And then give me your grade on that video.

It was pretty funny because I think we could start playing golf with guys. Yeah. We come play with you and Ebbs. Film it. I like how you leveraged another episode of CCM Sandbagger Invitational with Greg Kessel and Jordan Eberle. Oh, and Eberle's coming. And if they lose, they have to serenade us on the 18th green.

One other quick note, too. They mentioned Grinnelli. I always tell people, you said about the Paisley stuff. It was a fluky thing that worked out to your benefit. Grinnelli, he sent me an email we get emails all the time

I know we can make you sound better but they'd be in a different state I read his email and he was local I said I'm going to save this one literally the next day because I was sort of the co-producer and we get in a rhythm I look over and the thing died

and I'm like shit because we didn't have an on hand producer and I said hey this kid emailed me last night let me get back to him literally the next day after I got Grinnelly's email I'm like, shit, because we didn't have an on-hand producer. And I say, hey, you know what? This kid emailed me last night. Let me get back to him. Come on. That's how I – Literally the next day after I got to know his email, whatever the shit the bed of my garage being, whatever, I'm like, all right, we need an on-site producer. So, you know, shoot your shot.

Don't be afraid to throw that email. Make that call. I agree. Spend that $10,000 on a PJ. Yeah, that helps you. Because, like, you know, nothing happens if you don't do anything. So that's, like, the best advice you can really give people. We always go back to the Joe Vitale thing.

He ended up getting told by his wife, go to that men's league game. And then he ended up getting the job for the St. Louis Blues. Gets back into a rhythm of having a purpose in life. They win the Stanley Cup. He was our most fucking download episode. Damn, we've had Crosby on. We've had McKinnon. And then we just had him on again.

And he's 10 out of 10. I love hearing stories like that. Well, you guys certainly deserve it. So on behalf of my entire fan base and my friend base, this is a huge highlight. So I can go back to Edmonton, and I won't get dummied by anyone? No problem. I've got a nice navy blue number six here that I bought when you joined the squad. So that's not a joke.

My big brother and I. Now everyone knows I paid him to say that. He's like, I got a new one on the trail. It's called Leave Whit Alone. He's like, yeah, I bought an enormous stock in Blockbuster in the year 2000. It's like just a wrong time to buy shit. But we thank you very much, dude. This was awesome. We'd love to do it again.

Catch up maybe in the summertime, but good luck. Go Oilers. We'd love to do it again, catch up maybe in the summertime. But good luck. Go Oilers. We're winning the cup this year. Oh, Jesus Christ. And we'll make sure to give a swipe-up code, maybe a Biz20 promo code for that album on January 1st. Yes, please do.

All right, buddy. Thank you. Thanks so much. Huge thanks to Brett Kessel for joining us, man. Like I said, it was such an interesting conversation. Something off the beaten path, what we usually do. I really enjoyed talking about the musical shit with him. And Biz, I know we just spent a few minutes on the Minnesota locker room.

It's a dirty place right now. There's a lot of filth going on from what we're reading. Sounds like they could use some dude wipes in there. As dudes, especially hockey dudes, let's face it. We are stanky disgusting humans so check out the dude brand for all your hygiene needs on and off the ice dude as seen on shock tank are the creators of the infamous dude wipes the first flushable wipes for guys for at home or an on-the-go situation they also offer a full range of other products to keep you fresh

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And speaking of 20, we have another 20-game suspension in the NHL. The Vegas called the Knights' Valentin Zykov, he was given a 20-game sussy without pay for violation of the NHL's PED program. He took some sort of supplement, I guess. The team's not fighting it. He's taking the suspension. He's not fighting it. Basically, he took something he shouldn't. They didn't say what it was. So another suspension, but it's completely unrelated to what Schmidty went through. That was just kind of a fluke thing. What are you going to say, Biz?

Oh, apparently he'd been taking it for the last four years. And I don't know if it's just he'd been taking more of it recently or the few other times it somehow slipped through the cracks. But at least that's what he said. I mean, I don't know. I haven't really read that much into it. We don't need to go into details, but fuck, that sucks getting dinged.

That's a heavy tag. Do you guys automatically have to piss like once a year or something, or is it just random? Random. I was doing a lot of random tests. Every Sunday morning. Every time they came, I usually had to piss oh man that's

fucking that's hilarious yeah so basically he might never been tested before and might not even have known what he was taking or could you well since we're kind of on the drug topic a funny story and it's about a player that still plays in the league but i can't tell his name because it would throw him under the bus but i got confirmation that the story is in fact true um every summer he runs a rents a nice cottage up north wherever whatever state or province he's in i don't want to give any type of information away and um they get there and on the friday they go bury a treasure box and they draw a map out and then saturday before nightfall they take a shit ton of mushrooms and then they wait till it gets dark and they get flashlights and then they go on a treasure hunt

when they're all fucked up on mushrooms and they and it's like what city is this or would that give it away no i'm not giving any information but that but then so i i was talking to a guy recently who plays with the guy i heard about and i go i go what's that guy like he goes oh man he's a fucking beauty like nicest guy he's like silky player too that's the only thing i'm gonna say about him and i i go to the guy i go hey i heard this story about him and then he's like come on he's not really good for like who told you that and i was like i can't remember who told me so he texted the guy on the spot and he goes who just told you that and and then they said this and he goes yeah it's true but like like, don't ever say my name.

You know, of course not. I wouldn't want to throw one on the bus. So this is the type of shit that silky NHL players are doing in the offseason. Maybe we should be doing more shrooms. On that note, we got a quick update, too, on that hit in the queue that we talked about last week. Valdor defenseman Peyton Hoyt, he gets suspended seven games for assault. That's assault, brother.

And I did mention that the defenseman he hit returned to the lineup. I made a mistake. He actually was released from the hospital the next day. So I knew it was somewhat positive news. But, no, he's not back in the lineup yet. Boys, gambling corner. Oh, we got a sponsor. The gambling corner is sponsored.

And this ain't fucking no schlub my bookie bums. This is fucking MGM boys, the big boys. My father's a proud papa. He's in Vegas 17 weeks out of the year. So the boys at Spittin' Chicklets have a new home for sports betting this year. And you need to check out the BetMGM sports app in New Jersey. The same guys that bring you the world's most spectacular casino resorts and top-notch entertainment have a new sports betting app in New Jersey.

You can download the app, deposit, and check out lines from anywhere in the world, but you need to be in New Jersey to place all your bets. Even if it's Pine Barrens, that works. This week, we got an absolute gong show of a deal for new customers on the BetMGM sports app when you use the bonus code CHICKLETS. Place a $1 Moneyline wager on any game from Thursday through Sunday and receive 100 to 1 odds. If that team scores a goal in the game, that's right.

If they score a goal in the game, you get $100, even if your team doesn't win. Talk about a Chicklets bump, eh? What? Yeah, dude. So if I bet Edmonton a dollar money line and they score a goal, I get a hundred bucks. Bingo. Bingo. Chicklets bump.

Oh, come to papa. Fuck. That'll be one one millionth of what I owe the guy, but still, we'll take it. You just gotta make sure you follow by these simple instructions, Whit. Sign up for a new BetMGM account. Use the bonus code chicklets. Make sure to place your first bet on any hockey game from Thursday

through Sunday this week. If your team scores a goal, boom, you got a C-note and free bets regardless of the game's outcome. So, sounds like a deal to me. Meanwhile, I got a couple tips. I did a little research, poked around a little, a couple days down the line, but I think I like a couple teams on Tuesday.

Even though I have no idea what the line's going to be, it's not going to scare me off. We're in a little bit of a heater right now. I might have just lied and said Tuesday. I meant Monday, but Monday, Vegas, Golden Knights, they're on a tear right now. If Marc-Andre Fleury's starting Monday, I'm pretty sure they're playing Philly.

Just keep pounding fucking Vegas until they lose, as long as Marc-Andre's in net. He's in a fucking zone right now. The team's playing great. Philly, Alcada Hart's been looking good one game, so-so the next game. My other pick, Colorado Avalanche also. It doesn't matter what goalie is going for them Monday night. They're on a roll too.

I'm going to ride them until the wheels fall off that wagon. So the two picks, Monday, Vegas, and Colorado, as per usual, I'll take them both on the money line and then on the puck line for half that wager as well. What's up? Okay, well, first of all, it's no surprise that all of a sudden the big gambling sponsor comes on a week after I did what I did. Business talk.

And then, of course, I went to Twitter and I said, closed-door meeting. The alarm bells went off in my brain. I said, teams coming off a closed door meeting got to be pretty fucking good in the NHL as far as winning percentage concerned mind you they were playing the Habs Minnesota Wild play the

Habs at home five o'clock start the Habs were playing on a back-to-back and then of course but before I when I tweeted it out, they hadn't named the starting goaltender. Kincaid ended up going, but hey, Minnesota ended up

pulling out a win, so I'm hot right now. Okay? And R.A., I don't mean to step on your toes here, but I don't like the Golden Knights over the Flyers, and the reason I say that is they just finished a very emotional game for Marc-Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh, in which he stood in his head.

And I just feel like after coming off those types of games for the emotional high, of course, there's more of a story leading into the game. I feel like maybe that took the wind out of their sails. So I'm actually going to fade you on that Flyers-Golden Knights pick. All right. We are imaginary wages. Sounds good to me. I know I'm a pussy because I'm not right, but I can't legally gamble because I work for an NHL team. I understand.

And again, I did say only bet them if Marc-Andre Fleury has definitely started. And just one more quick note on the MGM. Remember, bet MGM is the home for chicklets all season long. If you're a new customer, sign up with the bonus code chicklets and place your first bet for $1 or more on any hockey game again from Thursday through Sunday this week, and you get $100 if they score a goal in the game. Winnings paid in free bets.

Must be 21 or older. Must be a New Jersey to place bets. Restrictions apply. Visit betmgm.com for the full list of terms and conditions. Why'd you just change your voice for that? Because it says it like that on TV. I thought it was pretty cool. You've never seen The Simpsons?

Dramatization. You know what happened. Every time they do the voiceover, they switch into that mode. I thought it was silky. I thought it was silky. No, I actually recently heard you brought up The Simpsons. The guy, R.A. Hank Azaria, didn't he have the voice for six

different characters? At least. Yeah. So apparently there's a, I don't know if it's a podcast or a radio interview where he is having a conversation between all the characters and it's him doing all, we got to try to find that. I know, I know they did a bit on,

um, inside the actor studio a few years ago. Maybe, maybe that was it. Um, I don't really have much else to talk about other than the fact that the top four teams, well, at least on a Sunday afternoon, the top four teams in the league, three of which have new coaches this year.

So a couple of fucking new coaches really getting the job done. I actually did have a couple of notes. We said Bugsy's wife had the twins, right? Yes. I'll let Witt talk about that. Yeah, so Ryan Malone is now the proud father of four kids. He has his two sons, and he just had twin girls. So I was so happy to get a video from him of his two daughters.

And, like, it's crazy to see. His wife went through a lot. It was a tough ordeal giving birth and everything. So I'm really happy for him and his wife and I hope that they get home and everything's good. But it's cool for him. He said his older sons are just so awesome

with the two girls and I got a great video. So congrats to the Malones and I'm very happy for you, buddy. Also, we here at Spit and Chicklets want to send our best wishes to Carolina Hurricanes broadcaster Mike Maniscalco. He's a sideline reporter and a pregame host for the Hurricanes. And he was on a road trip last week.

He had to get rushed to the hospital. He had severe abdominal pain. And I guess doctors discovered a mass in his stomach. He got treatment and testing for a few days out there. Then he was cleared to return back to Raleigh for whatever procedures he'll need. So we just want to pass along our thoughts and our best regards to Mike Maniscalco. And hopefully he'll be going back again with the Hurricanes soon enough. All right. I'm glad you brought that up. I caught that.

Good luck to you, Mike. We're thinking of you here at Chico Talk. He's a close community. So hope everything goes well. Thoughts and prayers. And that's a solid episode, boys. Two great interviews. Looking forward to seeing what's going on with the Up Dog in the next couple months. And everyone, check out Brett Kissel's music because what a guy he is. He's a hockey fan through and through. And I thought it was pretty sick when he made up that little – he showed us how easy it is for him to make up a couple lines

when he just got that beat going when we were together with him. So last thing I want to say before we wrap this up is obviously thank you to all you guys and you Chicago listeners. We're actually going to be there. We mentioned that the details not weren't for sure yet, but it's on Thursday from five to six 30 at Binney's in Chicago. We'll be there. We'll talk,

be giving away some pink Whitney's having some drinks and we'll be at the Hawks game too. So thank you guys for listening as always. And hopefully we'll see if you're in Chicago and if not, we'll, we'll be here Thursday morning for you guys after you listen to this one. Yeah, very excited to get to Chicago. A few more things on this end. Subscribe to the YouTube channel.

I know Granelli's talked about that. The Fuck Cancer Foundation. We released all that pink merchandise. And lastly, I know we talked about trying to shorten these episodes now that we're back twice a week but there's just so much hockey and things to talk about we discussed internally about maybe going to three episodes a week Witt's busy I think two's the number so anytime we're going over two hours we hope for hopefully you guys enjoy it I know some of you kind of get a little cranky about it being too long but there's just that much hockey to talk about.

Yeah, there's been so much the last couple of weeks. Me and the Whit Dog haven't been able to discuss the succession finale yet. One of the greatest seasons of television I've ever seen this last few months. So we'll get to that some other week. Congrats to Milan Lucic, who played in his 900th game Sunday night. And one other note, Air Canada, I per se, TV, flight attendants will no longer greet passengers as ladies and gentlemen. They're going to say hello, everybody.

Not sure if that's a chicklets bump. We'll investigate and get back to you Thursday. Everybody have a great week. We'll see you then. Peace. And we'd like to say thank you to our awesome sponsors. Once again, if you want to check them out, please do. Also, big thanks to our listeners for supporting our sponsors.

If you want to check out Stitch Fix, go to stitchfix.com slash chicklets. If you want to use SeatGeek, you want to download the SeatGeek app and enter the promo code Hockey. For Dude Wipes, love these things, go to dudeproducts.com, and Hockey20 is the promo code for 20% off your entire order. In DHM Hangover Pill, you want to go to dhmdetox.com and the promo code there is biz20. Thanks again to our sponsors. Have a great week. Thank you. Do you drink about me? Do you drink about me? Drink about me.