Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 212: Featuring Brent Sopel

Episode Date: October 24, 2019

On Thursday's episode of Spittin' Chiclets the guys are all in Chicago for a Pink Whitney event and are joined by former Blackhawk and Stanley Cup winner, Brent Sopel. Brent joins to talk about his foundation for dyslexia, his time in Russia and some insane stories. The guys then talk some NHL news, some recent injuries and discuss RA's recent viral moment. The boys wrap up with a gambling corner and a major announcement for Canada.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 our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka. Boys, we are in Chicago, one of the best cities in America, the world, whatever. Getting some unreal interviews. How we feeling, Biz? You're looking pretty good. A little glassy-eyed right now. Wow, we went outside and treated ourselves before this one, aren't we?

We absolutely did. We had to fire up for the fucking show. Can we tease the interview we did? Well, first thing we should tease, and this is first and foremost why we came to Chicago. We have a little— Spend Dave's money. What's that? Spend Dave's money.

We're staying at the Ritz, so we're definitely spending Dave's money. But we have an appearance for Pink Whitney at a liquor store. Where's exactly the address there? The address is 1720 North Marcy Street in Chicago, Illinois, and it will be at Binney's Lincoln Park. Binney's Lincoln Park. And the reason. Conor McGregor was at this place on St. Paddy's Day. Conor McGregor was there.

We're not going to be throwing liquor in people's faces. We're not going to be assaulting old people there. We're just going to be shaking hands, kissing babies. Don't speak for yourself. You don't take a shot of my drink and I offer you one. You might get a little bitch slap. Yeah, that's true. If you don't. It's just you wouldn't. Yeah, that's true. If you don't...

It's just you wouldn't feel it because it's me. Now, we're going to be there. And the reason why we decided to come to Illinois is when we had our brief meeting with New Amsterdam Vodka, they said in the state of Illinois that Pink Whitney in the month of September was the second highest selling liquor in the entire state. So we have a lot of, as I like to call them, degenerate, crazy fans here. That disgusting Malort, number one. You know her Malort, that local shot?

It's supposed to be disgusting. The Barstool Chicago guys made me take it the first time I came here, and it was a nightmare. Well, let's put it this way. It's the complete opposite because we know Pink Whitney's delicious. Yes. And we are very honored that the state of Illinois has received Mr. Whitney's vodka

himself over here to my left. So nicely. So we're here and we decided why not bank some interviews while we're at it. I got some stuff to say first off. Yeah. Squirrels don't have feathers. Okay? Okay?

They have fur or whatever. Is it even fur? Probably not even fur. They have gross hair. Squirrels are like bigger rats. I misspoke with feathers. If you think, though, that the math guy wasn't purposely seen, if you guys were catching on, I know 14 plus 40 is 44.

I said it was 43 just to throw it out there. Just make sure you guys are listening. So listen, I had one fuck up. Squirrels don't have feathers. I wasn't able to put a squirrel's feather in my cap. It did jump over my shoulder and I was scared to shit. But the math, just don't exactly underestimate me.

I don't make mistakes with math, especially 14 plus 40. That's 44. 43 is just to see how many people are listening. And boy, did you guys get some feedback. You let me know. All right. I knew it was a trap. 100%.

It was way too close to the other one. You could tell. You could tell. That's how I tee you guys up. I give you the hard one first, and I say, sorry, once again, let me just mess up here. So in response, you say on this this podcast 40 plus 14 is 44 40 plus 14 is 44 50 plus 27 77 it's you know i don't fuck that up i fuck it up when i feel like it's oh i get it just test the list i get it i want people listening you know closely it's not about just cruising around in your car and maybe

sort of half listening and being on your phone. No, no, no. I'm going to test you once in a while with the math. All right, man. Good job. 40 plus 14, 44. Now, shifting away from that on the podcast today, R.A., who do we got coming up? We have a returning guest, Brent Sopel.

And like I tweeted out last night, it was a roller coaster ride. And I don't mean it in a bad way. We were laughing. We were close to sadness. He really opened up. I think it was something kind of like you had to get a lot of stuff off his chest and i think people are gonna like kind of really see into a guy who's not in the game anymore and you know what like people human beings go through shit after after the lights are off man it's it's a different fucking it's a different fucking world and and i think we got a glimpse of that with soaps i I mean, you're a professional athlete.

You won a Stanley Cup. You played so many years in the NHL. And you get put on this pedestal when, in fact, on the inside, in the real world, so to speak, he feels so small. He's still a human being, man. Yeah. Last time we had him on, we dipped into the dyslexia discussion because he was diagnosed with it 10 years ago. Found that out. It got very serious.

Now, we won't talk about it much now, but the Spittin' Chicklets crew and myself, we're going to find a way to help this thing out because there were some things that I learned about it where I'm like… I think people would be amazed. It's amazing. And to go to the discussion we had once we stopped recording was people with dyslexia, they should be the opposite of shunned away because the amount of brilliance they have in their mind and the way they see things, if given the proper resources, they could change the world. I won't ruin it anymore. There's a couple stats he says in it that my jaw dropped and I was unaware of, and I'm sure you will be too. Yeah, so I hope one or two of the ripple effects of this will be some good that comes out of it absolutely

let's talk about what's going on since the last episode some injuries of significance we want to note Miko Rantanen week to week with the LBI I would say it's maybe the worst fall in hockey when you don't even get hit like it looks like non-contact injuries are always the worst exactly you see wide receivers in football you see same thing hockey if a guy goes down and nobody's near you there's always something seriously wrong now i shouldn't say always hopefully the round two news is different and it's something that's sort of minor but it's like something usually tears when you're just by yourself and you go down and that's what we saw with him look like he caught an edge maybe i caught a yeah maybe yeah um i'm trying to think of my experiences i would guess mcl and considering how it opened up

might be a problem here worst case scenario it's an acl also like let's not i mean let's not rule out a high ankle sprain which guys yeah i mean i i think uh i believe cal clutterbuck had one early in his career and i was training with him at the time we used to train at the saint cathars together and he was saying how he had a high ankle sprain and this thing lingered on for like four or five months till he was like somewhat normal so so sometimes that could be the worst case scenario i mean acl and that would be maybe worst case if you sprain your ankle at any point in the season, obviously it's going to affect you if it's any point second half of the year. If you do it 10 games into the season, it will bother you the entire year.

Until you get a full summer of recovery, I've been through it. And my experience with non-contact injury was basically what ended my career is that during the middle of just a dominant year I was having in Edmonton, 35 games in 27 points jesus christ how are you have a season i just went to take a stride at home against buffalo took a stride felt something pop thought it was my skate looked down skates not broken went to step again nothing there the ligament had dislocated over the side of my bone and then i was like fuck that was on my own nobody hit me that is what

that is when I knew it was real serious so yeah the non-contact ones are scary and what sucks is the start Colorado's had and oh my god the start McKinnon's had along with with Rantanen but it's gonna really hurt that team excuse me to miss that guy yeah and we know the only reason we're talking about Colorado right now

is because the one guy on social media and RA you had some fun with him the guy saying we're talking about Colorado right now is because the one guy on social media and RA, you had some fun with him. Wait, what? The guy saying we never talk about Colorado. We've been stroking off McKinnon all summer. I know. You guys call him.

Speaking of injuries, my wrists are killing me. We've been stroking McKinnon off since fucking, what, August? Early August? Yeah, it's like, all right, guys, one fucking week we went with all Colorado. But anyway, the injury, it might be a concern going forward, which that's a concern for Colorado. Maybe it's nothing.

Hopefully that's the case. Yeah, exactly. We obviously want the stars to be out there playing. Devin Dubnik, he's day-to-day. Ugly collision. Teddy, no. Ryan Donato collided with Brandon Manning. Totally fucking incidental.

They both fucking took out Dubnik like a bowling ball. He was in some pain, but they said day-to-day. They didn't even put him on the ice. So it wasn't one like Luchich, Klosline, Ryan Miller? No, no, no. It was the complete opposite of that? No, it was complete fucking incidental. It was like, I don't know if Danado caught, just fell, or if they got tied up,

but definitely an incidental thing. David Krejci, key part of the Bs. He went to the IR. Bruins also lost Carson Kuhlman for four weeks for a non-displaced fracture of his right tibia. What's up, Iz? So that's why Marshawn was wearing an assistant captain letter the other night? You know what? I was flying, and the internet on JetBlue sucked,

so I didn't get to see much of the game. Because Krejci's out. Because Krejci's out. I like seeing a letter on Marshawn. I like seeing a letter on Marshawn. I guess I could understand why he doesn't have one because he's a bit of a wild card. But I think that everyone on the right mind – imagine having a team – and here we go. I'm going to stroke off your Boston Bruins.

So now throw me on the Bruins train. Imagine having a team with so much depth in leadership where a guy like Marshawn doesn't have a letter on his sweater. That's how much leadership there is in that Bruins locker room. And I don't know. I don't know if he had this jotted down R.A., but Posta might be in the running for the heart right now. Oh, I said that last night. He's right there.

And that goal, first of all, he got the goal taken away that we're watching. He went bar down after Marchant got it out. I think Hutchinson was playing for the Leafs last night, correct? It wasn't Anderson. Either way, it might have been. Yeah, I think it was Hutch. Either way, it was a great goal. They end up getting called back.

Bergeron had been off sides. What does he do then? He gets a pass from down low, goes in between the legs, shelf his 10th of the year. He has 17 points, which is second in the league in scoring. And he is looking like an early season MVP candidate. Keep in mind, he went between his legs on the goal that was disallowed no wait not not on the goal but when he came over the blue

line yes yes yes you he did yes the start of the whole first goal got disallowed he dangled somebody and then that started the play i get that the goal didn't happen because of between the legs but he said you're gonna take a between the goal legs away from me so he get that the goal didn't happen because of between the legs, but he said, you're going to take a between the goal legs away from me. So he also, between the goal legs, between the goal legs, between the legs goal from me. So he also after the goal, ends up doing this spinorama cross

ice dart pass to Marshawn who buries one. It's just been incredible hockey to watch. It's been like the Bruins top line. They've had issues with the other line scoring, but when those guys are out there, it is no joke. So Pasternak right now has just come off on fire. I love watching him play.

It's been impressive. And that turnaround pass, like there wasn't a huge lane there. He gave that little look, though. It was on a string. He gave a little look, and he saw him. And that's a mustard on him, too. Oh, he fired that thing off. If that's hitting my blade, it's going into the crowd.

Somebody's losing their teeth in the lower deck. Marshawn, cradle it like the egg. Or just knocks the stick out of your hands. Mighty Ducks 2, which was one of the sequels we forgot to mention. We don't need to get into that, though. No. But how many times do you think Marshawn gets tripped by the team? What's the A for?

Asshole. He's probably heard that 80 times. Nobody says that. Nobody says that. No, no. Okay. Why don't you just figure it out? What about Mars okay well i just figured let's put it this way it could be a guy on a one way in the other team saying that he might get sent down yeah it's basically marshawn's like dude i got a good trip also

to his tucaras 500th game against the team who traded him fucking 13 and what i was very impressed to read this morning was the fact that if you look at Tuukka Rask's career, it's 500th game. He got his 269th win in his 500th game. Through 500 games, Martin Brodeur had 271. Wow. So you're looking at what's shaping up and people might jump down my throat. Hall of Famer. He's on the track that it takes to become a Hall of Famer.

And fuck, do I ever want Tuca to... We're a biased podcast. Such a good guy. Because I know him, I'm friendly with him. I want him to get his Stanley Cup. Tim Thomas got that other cup. Tuca's been to two finals now. And it's just been a great ride for Bruins fans.

I know there's some morons that don't like him, but he has been fantastic. And to get a win against Toronto at home, that's pretty special in your 500th. And I think his career SP is like a 927. That's ungodly. Is it that high? I think it is. You know what's a classic case of a city that's been spoiled?

Taking someone for granted. Yeah. How many Super Bowls? How many Stanley Cups? How many NBA championships? He is top five in the league And it's also a crowd in Boston That's easily stirred up by talk radio Which is a big part of it

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Code CHICKLETS. Wow. All right. That was brilliant. I've been using Kettlebell Kitchen. They've been sending it to my apartment. It's unbelievable. Okay.

So I never told a story when we did the ad on the last one. I opened my door, and there was a big bag out front. I thought it was supposed to be for my neighbor. I'm like, oh, they must have got the wrong address, but I still took it inside. Oh, food I won't have to pay for?

Yeah, perfect. So then I open it up, and there's all these wonderful meals, and I was fucking hungry. I think it up and there's all these wonderful meals. And I was fucking hungry. I think it might have even been after we recorded a podcast one night. And I threw one of them in the microwave and ate it. I made the steak one. The steak with like...

The steak is unbelievable. There's a green sauce on the steak. I crushed it. So I crushed one of the meals. And then on the bottom of the thing was the letter. And obviously then I found out it was to me oh so you actually

crushed one thing and it was your name and you're such a dirtbag but it was great I crushed a meal and I crushed the girl who delivered it it worked out perfect

time out time out because we hadn't had them as a sponsor yet so when no I texted Grinnelly I go does anyone do you know

why there's food at my door I never texted Grinnelli. In the next episode, R.A. did the read. I go, that's why that thing got – That was that steak I had. Is that a shitty move that I was that hungry? Oh, yeah, you're a dirtbag.

I would have put the five – I respect it. I think I got six meals, and I would have put five meals back under my neighbor – or by my neighbor's door. We hired a film crew outsourced out of Chicago. These guys are shaking their head. So basically the complete opposite of the audio that we hired for our live show here. And they're disgusted by the fact that I would have stole a meal from my neighbors. But wait, we were talking about how the fact he's the second highest scoring player in the league in Pasternak.

We need to talk about the league's leading scorer right now. We do not talk about him nearly enough. John Carlson. And as the offensive defenseman of the bunch with i said on nhl network um he doesn't get that much credit and who was with us the other night that mentioned well maybe it's because he's or sople he's like well he's passing it to ovechkin and backstrom and kuznetsov and and that's true but still to be the guy up top of a power play like that there are tons of responsibilities yeah it looks like

you're just sliding over OV1 tees. Well, they have to be in the perfect spot. Yes, they do. You have to have head fakes. You have to have quick puck movement to be able to pull it off because they're obviously everyone's cheating towards his one-timer, yet Carlson is the one distributing the puck and it's still working. And then the fact that he has his own canon of a one-timer,

I mean, he scores goals where he's one knee down, similar to how Crosby and other guys do it. He's a special shooter. He is a special shooter of the puck. I mean, he's, I think, averaging right around 27 minutes a game. So he's not just offensive. He's playing penalty kill.

He's playing on the top unit. And he's finally kind of getting some of the recognition. And to lead the league in scoring, yes, you know, seven to ten games in, depending on what the teams have played. 20 points is 20 fucking points by Halloween, dude. He's a D-man. That is wild to see. Pardon? So just the – he's done it ever since he scored the OT winner,

World Juniors in Saskatoon against Canada. Suck on that biz. He came up. He dominated the AHL. I think he won a Calder Cup, if not two, with Hershey. And then he got right into the NHL. So it's been a special career. There was no surprise at all that they did re-sign him, and they did.

And now it looks like a nice deal. Look it up quick, Mikey, but I don't think his cap hits that crazy. I think it's $8 million a year. No, I think he really wanted to stay there. And that's obvious. You mentioned he's averaging 27 minutes. Right around there. To put that in perspective for you beer leaguers out there the most i ever played years you have in a game the most ice time i ever got was against the

edmonton oilers and it was just over 11 minutes you were i had two assists that night what i was third star what happened the next day i felt like the team needed to put me in a body cast because that's a lot of ice time. Why did you get that much ice time that night? Because I had two assists and I was buzzing and we were up and Tippett was like, you know what? This is the game where I can put him out there and he's not going to suck too bad on somewhat of a regular shift.

Yeah, eight-year deal at 80-year. I mean, that is – You're going to produce like that for the next – And yes, is he maybe getting some points mean that is he's gonna produce like that for the next i mean and yes is he maybe getting some points that that are are because he's sliding over to number eight and maybe he snapped it over to to backstrom or or kuznetsov first and they made the play sure but but you mentioned the pressure it does it takes to put it right in their wheelhouse a majority of the time where they're going to end up with 50 goals a season, number eight.

And knowing when to pass it, knowing when to shoot it. And business. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Sign them that fair team contract. And, Whit, you said it. All the people that are out there, ooh, he passes it to Ovi. It's not that hard.

Well, those are the same people that say, Whitney fucking passes it to Crosby, big deal. Check HockeyDB. My stats ain't never going away. They're not going away. They're there forever, baby. And so will Carlson. So they don't ask how.

They ask how many. And he does it smoothly. And keep in mind, if you're saying that, Carlson's, or sorry, Ovechkin's shot is beating to the rhythm of where that puck is landing there at that moment. That's chemistry that has been built up. Wheelhouse. You need a wheelhouse. is landing there at that moment. That's chemistry that has been built up.

You need a wheelhouse. Yes. If you think he's overpaid because he's collecting free assists, well, he's really not because he's earned the right to put him right in Ovechkin's breadbasket. And I think he's competent enough in every other area as a defenseman. A, will the criticism be he might be not that good in his own end? Well, you supplement the offense for the defense, and I think it evens out in the wash.

His last two seasons prior to this one, two years ago, 82 games played 68 points. That's including 50 in goals. Last year, he missed two games, 80 games, 13 goals, 70 points. So he's gone up, and now he's already got 20 through 11. So math guy, I think that's 158 points in his last 173 games. If I just bang that out, that's going to be so good. That's some good math.

That's going to be so good. I really hope I got that one right. 40 plus 14, 48, 282, 246. Rain, man. So, yeah, and the other guy I did want to mention quickly, and we're staying kind of Eastern Conference, but Jack Eichel. Last night, 2-2. Now he's going to get timed out.

Jack Morris during this session. 2-2, four points, including the OT winner. Last night, I mean Tuesday night. This is Wednesday night. You're listening to Thursday. It's 2-2, game winner OT. They beat San Jose. They were down 2-0 in the game.

So this Buffalo team playing for Ralph Kruger. I think I mentioned Ristolainen saying that he's the, Ralph Kruger was the best coach he's ever had in any sport. Things are buzzing in Buffalo. I'm happy for that team. And Eichel is taking that even next step to where I think people always knew he would end up. I was a year too early. You were a little too early. Everything I said is still coming true.

I was high on Casey Middlestat last year, and he didn't pan out last year, but he's panning out this year. And what a play last night. I thought we timed Grinnell out during this. I had to chime in. Casey Middlestat in that game. Tuesday night. Check out the OT winner. Casey Middlestat goes down the ice, and Eric Carlson ends up getting the puck and just blowing by

him. Now, he had full speed. Middlestat's a little bit flat-footed. Carlson's one of the most dynamic skaters in the world. He blows by him, but speed. Middlestat's a little bit flat-footed. Carlson's one of the most dynamic skaters in the world. He blows by him, but what does Middlestat do? If you watch and go watch the replay, he puts his head down, knows he's not going to catch him, and just doesn't even look. Just balls to the wall, back check to try to make the 2-on-1

a 2-on-2. Carlson goes around the defender and looks to pass it across. I don't remember the other player on San Jose. Middlestat's back check ends up breaking up the play. He goes and gets it in the corner. He goes and gets it in the corner. He carries it up San Jose. Middle stats back check. Ends up breaking up the play. He goes and gets it in the corner. He goes and gets it in the corner. He carries it up the ice.

Now it's OT. He doesn't see anything by the red line. He curls back off the red line. Curls back. Ends up deciding to wait to figure out, make a nicer play. In the meantime, San Jose has a horrible change. He's able to look up quick after curling back and fires it up to Eichel, who's on a rush with, I believe, Ristolainen. I'm not sure about who the other guy

was. They ended up scoring on that 2-on-1. So you're talking about Middlestat. He's making huge steps. Exactly what Buffalo needed. The only thing I'll say is last November is when they won 10 in a row. And then it fell apart. So it's still early in the year, but it just gives off the vibe in Buffalo on Chippewa Street, where

the people crush drinks and crush each other, that this will be different. It is a sense of a different team. It better be crushing Pink Whitney after that stroke off. Crush that Pink Whitney. Grinnell, I believe you were getting into it recently. There's a small percentage of Sabre fans who aren't crazy about you. Well, yeah, that's standard.

No, Grinnell, I mean. Oh, yeah. No, there's a big portion. I always said a big portion. Hey, there, we'll be that standard. No, Grinnelli, I mean. Oh, yeah. No, there's a big portion. I always said a big portion. Hey, there's still a bunch that like me, though. I get DMs all the time. Sure, that's fair. And I'll show you guys that and say,

you brought some support to my team. I got friends in Buffalo, man. I got a girlfriend. She just lives in Buffalo. Michael does have a bit of an unorthodox skating stride, and it may come off as if he's not skating hard or trying hard. Fuck you. He's got a different type of stride.

Appreciate it. He's got breakaway speed. Let him skate the way his mind allows his body to skate. You're talking about the tweet I sent out, right? Correct. Because there is a small portion of people who don't appreciate. They say he's lazy. They say he's lazy.

Well, there's a vibe where he can look even in practice. It's all about how he looks, where it's lethargic and big. Very lethargic. But he flies when he needs to. It's such a bullshit. And that happens to bigger guys. It happens to bigger guys. The taller you are, this is coming from a tall, skinny piece of shit.

The taller you are, it's like the slower and lazier you can look at times. Like Hal Gill, Z Charo. Those guys have been here for a whole career. It's a whole different ballgame. Skills, he wasn't skating like Jack Eichel. But I just want to put that out of the way. He is having an unbelievable start. He looks nonchalant.

He's a fan of the show, by the way. I don't know if you guys know that. Oh, he's been on. His old man was a big fan of Biz Does BC, so that's why I love Michael and his old man. He wasn't pleased with us, though, Jack. I posted that picture of all the guests on Spittin' Chicklets. He didn't make that? Spittin' Chicklets memes made.

He wasn't on there. Oh, my God. He sent me a DM, and he was upset. Jesus Christ. I don't blame him. He might be on there. Oh, my God. He sent me a DM, and he was upset. Jesus Christ. I don't blame him. He might be on there over me. Okay, well, time out. Then we're going to have to,

after this episode comes out, we're going to have to give him his own individual post and say something kind. Maybe an apology from Grinnell. If I was a bigger Beatles fan, I'd say get an album with all four Beatles on it

and just put Jack's picture four times on it. Fair enough. That's a good call. We'll get it on the memes account. You can end up selling a T-shirt and making money on it and just put Jack's picture four times on it. Fair enough. That's a good call. We'll get it on the memes account. You can end up selling a t-shirt and making money off it. Thanks, Jack. Wagon. We won't send you anything.

Moving away from Buffalo, Hutton's doing a great job there. Did he win player of the week back-to-back shutouts? No, possibly a first star of the week. So he was second or third star of the week. Yeah, I can double check. Congratulations to you, Buffalo fans. We're not going to get too excited for you yet based on the results of last season, but you are on our thoughts. And show some more love to your boy, Eichel.

He's a fucking treat. Boys, in Florida, we had one of the all-time number ransoms happen. Sergey Bobrovsky wanted that seven deuce. Frankie Vetrano's had it for a few years. He had to pay for it. Dude, he gave him a bottle of vino. A rollie.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back it up. Caymus. I'm sorry. I didn't see it, dude. Do not fuck with my drink. All right. I keep my pink wedding.

Okay, Caymus, special edition. I'll use the terminology a rollie. That's what he wrote. Nice roll of decks and a double QP for Mickey D's.

Not that kind of business. That was the best part. A double quarter pounder in the bag. That was your Whitney diet when you played, right? I didn't like Big Macs, but yeah, I was a McDonald's guy. I was a late night McDonald's guy. I felt horrific every morning after it. But, you know, the comment by Achari.

Dude, I mean, that was all time. All time. Go ahead. Yeah, Noel Achari says to Mackenzie Wieger, this could have been you. Based on the prank call, the Foley call, dude. All time one of the funniest comments I've ever seen. Oh, man. And shout out to all our fans who sent that over to us.

Weeks has had a nice little start for the Panthers, boys. He's played some good hockey, Mackenzie Wieger. He's a better player than I thought. I didn't realize. He's got some game. He got a really nice goal the other night I was watching. So happy for him. But that comment is just perfect. Wieger just got tortured. Didn't even get a fucking Rolex out of it.

That's the apple pie on top of that. What was the Foley line? I don't want to have to punch your head in again. That poor guy's done nothing to a Wieger. He's just been getting dragged into this all because of four weeks. We've got to get him again. Now, I want to know what kind of Rolex it is.

It looked from the picture like it was a Daytona. Now, if Papa... R.A.'s favorite vacation spot in Florida? Yes, correct, correct. The watch Daytona would be a little classier than the Destination, but if in fact that Bobo got him a Daytona in today's age. Well, Bobo makes 10 mil. I don't give a fuck.

How much is a Daytona? Well, if he got him like a Panda or a black one, unless I guess maybe Bobo might know a guy or two. One of Putin's buddies. But you're having to pay fucking at least 50% over market value now to get a Daytona. Really? Oh, buddy, even a Submariner. If you want to get a brand new Submariner and you have to buy it off a guy like Larry, you're spending fucking $13,500 and they're normally $9,700, $9,500.

He had his hookup in Russia. Send him one. And by accident, the guy sent the actual hand that he cut off to get it. Yeah, yeah. He opened the box and there's just some guy's wrist and hand. He's like, oh him one. And by accident, the guy sent the actual hand that he cut off to get it. He opened the box and there's just some guy's wrist in hand. He's like, oh, shit. Either way, if it's a Rolex, it's a nice gesture. But if Bobo got him a Daytona, then Bobo's

a teammate right there. I've definitely lost seven figures gambling in my lifetime, but I would never the idea of paying 10 grand for a watch. You've lost a million dollars gambling. You don't know what appreciation... Oh, yeah. Oh, my God, R.A. You wouldn't know what appreciating asset

if it slapped you in the face, though. I mean, I would, but... He's got the Gretzky. What do you mean? I mean, it's a watch. It's a watch. But your defense of gambling and losing a million... Oh, I'm not defending losing a million.

I'm just saying. Here's the thing. You're rolling the dice, whereas I know I bought a Rolex Submariner recently. I got it at cost at $9,700. I'm going to get insurance on this thing. And lose it. No, no, no. But I'm saying is like I could wear this for two years, and if I haven't lost it, I could

sell it for more than what I bought. Okay. See, I never even considered that. I just think if you buy Rolex, keep it forever because that all right that's how she works baby all right uh one other note we want to do uh bring up before we send it over to soaps tyler sagan tweeted out a picture of his former house holy fuck man that tornado down in dallas we want to send all my fucking best regards and you know i hate saying fucking thoughts and prayers because it's such a cliche but everyone everyone in Dallas who has gone through the tornado.

Dude, honestly, of all the shit Mother Nature can throw at you, I don't know if there's anything scarier than a fucking tornado. The most scary image was the one on the news. It's pitch black. And the only time you could see the thing is when the lightning would strike. And when lightning would strike, it would light up and you'd just see this tornado. So these people had no warning of it? Dude, I don't think those. I think there's tornadoes that pop up and you can have 30 seconds. So these people had no warning of it? Dude, I don't think those... I think there's tornadoes that pop up

and you can have 30 seconds. I think it's that crazy of a lot of towns down there have tornado warning sirens. But there's still the ability of those... You don't have time, though. It goes off and you just hide. This video is just... You can tell there's wind going on with the video

and then the lightning strikes and you just see this fucking massive tornado and then the lightning goes away and it's gone and then it strikes again. It's petrifying, like a horror movie. And just these people that are in your house, and all of a sudden, I mean, thank God Sagan wrote. I think he had moved out. So Sagan had moved to the house for sale.

Somebody also said it was Mike Medano's old house. It was, yes. Oh, my God, the stories those fucking walls can tell us. What a crib, by the way. The thing was a monster. I mean, it was a... Yeah, I'm looking up Tornado Alley here. It looked like a hotel.

You don't hear it in Dallas. I don't think tornadoes are particularly common in Dallas. I don't remember the last time they could hit that hard. So either way, we hope everybody down there is doing okay. They get through everything because that shit sucks, man. You got to go to insurance companies. No fault of your own. So best regards and wishes to everyone in Dallas. But boys, I think we should send it over to Soaps right about now. Yeah, we should. It's going to go to insurance companies. No fault of your own. So best regards and wishes to everyone in Dallas.

But, boys, I think we should send it over to Soaps right about now. Yeah, we should. It's going to be a long one. I hope you guys enjoy it. Lock in. Yeah, lock in. First half is a little light. We talk about funny stuff.

Yeah. And before we go to it, we have a bunch of, like, really lighthearted things on this show that we joke around about. And we do get serious. But it was hard for me. And I think I say to him at the end of the interview it was hard for all of us i mean there was a bunch of times and he's sitting right where grinelli is now where you look into his eyes and the guy's close to like breaking down and you can tell i think he'll be able to tell when he's talking about how much of a struggle it is for him and we mentioned that it is a brotherhood of

anyone who's ever played and you look out for guys after and you hope they find happiness and peace and something to do outside of hockey. So the struggles that he's mentioned and what he goes through, it was really hard to listen to at times. I know that doesn't sound great in terms of teeing up an interview, but I think it is an awesome interview to hear him. But in terms of thinking of what he's gone through, I felt really bad for him.

So hopefully you guys listen and enjoy and realize that it's not always that easy when you're done playing the game. Like I said, these people are human beings, and I think the fans forget that sometimes, and this is going to remind them. And you mentioned a brotherhood, and when you hear a former guy is doing better, but he mentioned

that now he's found his purpose, and you guys are going to get to that in the interview, and just to hear that and see it on him, it's like, fuck yeah. That's all you. Good. Without further ado, Brent Sopel, Stanley Cup champion 10 years ago. This interview was brought to you by Movember. Boston was proud to be working with Movember to raise funds and awareness for men's health.

Movember is the leading charity dedicated to changing the face of men's health around the world. Sorry, Long Week Chicago. This Movember, whatever mustache you dedicated to changing the face of men's health around the world. Sorry, Long Week Chicago. This Movember, whatever mustache you grow will save a bro. Your support will change the face of men's health, raising awareness and funds for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention. This year, Bastu's own Donnie Does is growing out his mo to save a bro. Join him on the Bastu Movember team and help us change the face of men's health. Mo to save a bro. Join him on the Barstool Movember team and help us change the face of Ben's help.

For every $50 that you fundraise on our team, you get an entry to win a trip for two to join us at the Army-Navy live college football show in December. Head to Movember.com slash Barstool to join our team, grow your mustache, and fundraise for your chance to win the grand prize. And now it's our pleasure here at Spittin' Chicklets to bring back a second time guest. This guy played three fucking years in the KHL. He should get a medal just for that alone. He won a Stanley Cup

10 years ago this spring, well, next spring, whatever, in this very town, Chicago. Actually, he won it in Philly, but he won it for the Blackhawks. Brent Sopel, welcome back to the podcast, man. Pleasure to have you.

What hotel are you staying at? Oh. Wait, no. Thisasure to have you. What hotel are you staying at? Wait, no. This is a National Hockey League room. So we're in Chicago, obviously. The Flyers are in town. They're staying here. We want to get a couple of interviews off those guys.

So we had Daniela at Barstool book us a room at the Ritz, and it's a suite. So we got nice little cushions here. But it was more like soaps is coming in. We have to show them. We weren't going to bring you. Oh, all right. We got it.

Hold on. I'm fucking blow the whistle. Blow the whistle. I got two minutes on Sobel for miss fucking naming me. That's Grinnelli. I'm all right. That's right. But no, it's not your fault because this is our first time in Paris.

But I can't have you call Grinnelli more. Okay. Okay. Either way. Either way. This ain't our age. You know what's funny? You messed them up, but they are. Neither one of them are at this hotel. It's just me. So it works out. Okay. Let's back way, either way. This ain't our age. You know what's funny is you messed them up, but neither one of them are at this hotel.

It's just me and Ben. So it works out. Okay, let's back it up, though. Plenty of times on the podcast, who was it who called you Ray Whitney? Was it? Oh, we interviewed Lyle Odeline, and it was good. And I don't know if you heard that one, but he's a medical miracle for what he went through and what he had to deal with.

And the whole time, he said, you know,itts, you know what I'm talking about, Witts, you know what I'm talking about, every tell a story. And then finally at the end we realized he thought he was talking to Ray, my cousin Ray, because he ended up saying, you know, Witts, you want a Stanley Cup with Carolina? I was like, I don't know, this is Witt from Pittsburgh. I got traded and they won it. But if anyone had an excuse

I mean Four months in a coma That's why It wasn't like In a sense that funny Time out Not as bad though As when we had

Darren McCarty on And he did the entire interview And he said Bye Whit Bye RA He didn't even know I was There was another person

He didn't know We had a third guy I was the one Who lined up The fucking interview No I actually heard He got into a fight Somebody said Hey you did an interview With Biz He's like No I didn't do an interview third guy. I was the one who lined up the fucking interview. No, I actually heard he got into a fight

and somebody said, hey, you did an interview with Biz. He's like, no, I didn't do an interview with Biz. He's still to this day probably doesn't

know you were on there, Biz. Gross as dick. See, I don't know fucking Paul Bissonnette. And then he wrote a grunge song about it.

What's up lately, Soaps? You been watching the league a lot? Are you a big night-to-night guy checking here and there? You know what? I'm not. The league's pretty embarrassing.

Really? You know? Why? I'm a big fan of... Too fast, not enough balls? You know, I was always named the slowest and ugliest, so I definitely wouldn't be able to play in this league. So you're resentful because of how fast and skilled it is now?

You're like, these guys are too good. This isn't the same league I was in. Yeah, but at least you could say you played in this league i never had fucking skill you just grinded it up it was fucking happy gilbert 364 more days to the hockey season right well speaking of you know you didn't have much skill and you were the slowest and the ugliest as i already mentioned in the beginning here 10 years ago you won the stanley cup here and that began a reign for the the chicago blackhawks that was pretty much a true dynasty yeah and to be here at the beginning of that and still live in this town like it it's obvious to me you

love it here yeah obviously you end up when you have kids you know when you get traded um you pack your shit and you move and doesn't you know kids dictate where you end up going to be you know my kids were older when i got here i think we were talking about this earlier my kids were closer to age in kane and tate's rookie year when i first signed here than kane and tate's were to me so i was the old i'm not hanging out with you sopley you old bastard well they're all fucking playing xbox and fucking counting their fucking popcorn as i'm you know just trying to massage my body just to get up could you sense right away when those guys came in though on their entry level deals that they were going to make a difference? Were you here their

rookie year? Yeah. So we literally came in that same year. Well, they just retired his number in London. What do you have? 165 points. You just don't get stupid numbers like that. You knew exactly where they're coming. Tate's coming out of North Dakota.

You know, there's a few. And the world junior hero. Oh, how many goals? I think he scored four. On four different moves? I don't have one move. He's got four. And then, yeah, that was legendary.

Yeah, so they both came in. You knew right away. And that was your first year on the team? Yeah. And you were coming from Vancouver? No. I missed a spot. So I finished off in Vancouver.

Nobody would give me a deal, so I signed a tryout with the Detroit Red Wings. Oh, yeah, yeah. Red Wings. Number 75 in training camp. Hal Gill. Hang on a second. What? There's no chance I'm making this deal.

When you're up in that high, you know you're not going anywhere. I'm like, what the fuck? 75? You're just happy to get a per die When you're up in that high, you know you're not going anywhere. I'm like, what the fuck? 75? You're just happy to get a per diem pack with that number. Jacked. That per diem was the best thing ever. So go to Detroit.

Oh, yeah. Kenny Holland calls and says, hey, we're looking for Lidstrom's partner. I'm like, why the fuck are you looking at me? Lidstrom's also like, why are you looking at me? I don't want this guy. Ian White stepped in and had a pretty good year with him. Well, it's not hard. You just hand the puck over to him. He's down there.

Put your gear on. Oh, he's unbelievable. What a nice guy to have over, too. He's standing there. That's what he says. They end up offering me a one-year deal. And I talked to my agent. We're driving to the airport.

You know, the old training camp, exhibition games. Fly the same day. We take off you know i talked to my agent i'm like listen call we're talking to chicago like tampa and i'm there's some other teams they were giving the old uh we want to see what our rookies can do so i said give them all call back and see where they're at because the final line was well you're gonna end up being with chelly's partner we're gonna flip you in and out all right fuck chris chelos or brent sopal brent sopal's not gonna play he'sopal? Brent Sopal's not going to play.

He's going to be in Europe next year. That's not going to be a 50-50 deal. There's no, no. I don't care how good your math is. It's not, you know. So I landed in Toronto. We're on the bus. And my agent calls.

He says, you know, Chicago said they'll give you a one-year deal, but I guarantee you top four minutes. I'm like, tell him I'm done. The money was very close. It wasn't the money. It was the opportunity. You know, play again. You know, I didn't play well in Vancouver coming out of the playoffs.

The last couple years, it was bad. You know, yeah, it just wasn't the numbers weren't there. You know, I had a lot of injuries. So I'm like, you know, if I go to Detroit, I might win, but my career is over. You know, I'd have to go to Europe or whatever. So I'm like, I'll take the top four minutes. Driving to the ACC, and he's calling Kenny Holland. Can't get a hold of anybody.

Go to the dressing room. Guys are getting undressed. I'm not playing tonight. Guys are warming up. They're like, what are you doing? Ah, you know, I just signed in Chicago. Good job. Congrats.

Five minutes before warm-up, I call my agent. I'm like, all right, what the fuck? He's like, well, you've got to go in the coach's office and tell him. I said, what? That's not normal protocol, right? No. You just get to go to the airport. Yeah.

Yeah. That's the GM's fucking job. I'm an intern. So I walk in there. I said, you know, Mike Babcock, you know, under this circumstances, I'm not going to play. You motherfucker. Where's the fucking...

Oh. And I blew a top. Kicked me out of the dressing room. And by't and by saying i listen i just signed a contract with you know i didn't even i didn't say that i said just under the circumstances i think i didn't know what i'm like walking into fucking this little four five by five office no i'm gonna get my ass i remember you telling the story in the first one and then and then what did the assistant coach say yeah paul and then he's like get your fucking suit on and get the fuck out of here kick me out of the dressing room i'm in toronto by myself with nothing i got my bag and my sticks no no not you know nothing else so i had to

fucking find a ride to the buffalo airport stay overnight go back to detroit to get my shit and then i think i flew to st louis to eat the blackhawks. So then you were with the Blackhawks all of a sudden. So right away, I would imagine that Dustin Bufflin was also on that team. Yeah, Big Buff was. What the fuck was that guy like early on? He was a forward then. He is a specimen on all levels. One of the fucking funniest guys ever.

You ever see him give the ref a high five during the game? In the midst of the play? No, fucking your rap puts his hand up for last change oh yeah oh or fucking he's got a guy in the corner you know looking at everybody in the first row just he's a fucking guys look he's looking at the with what they're eating they're not oh stuff Hey can I have Some of those nachos You think he comes back This year

You know what Or is it just Is he the type of guy That might just be able I mean we've already Heard he probably is But he seems like The type of guy to me

That could just shut it down And have no problem Yeah 100% Yeah You know There's Enough money He's made enough money

You know He wants to go and fish And do his thing But Rich he can go He's got It's a grind You to go and fish and do his thing. It's a grind. You know how it is. You've got to absolutely love it to be battling the way we have to battle year after year.

Another thing, too, he's in Canada. He's kind of the center of attention with that team, too. He's one guy that ends up in the news. He's got to answer to the media. And he hates that. Maybe he's got to answer to the media. And he hates that. Some guys, the day they retire, they just want to go away. Yeah, I know. Mike Richards, he doesn't want the attention. He just wants to go away.

Buff never wants to look at the media. He doesn't want to answer questions. He wants none of that. He loves the game, but he hates all that other stuff. The other stuff. And it's in Winnipeg. Like you said, it's a small town. What's he like in the locker room?

I know you were with him when he was younger, but is he the guy who's joking around, or is he really quiet and you kind of had the conversation side by side with him? There's nothing quiet about Buff. There's nothing small about Buff. Everything is over the top. Trying to say he's got a huge wrench. That's the second time he said it. He's got a weapon on him?

He's a big boy all the way around. Oh, let me show you my surprise face. Have you seen my new Rolex? So can you walk around the city? When you do, do you get recognized every day because you want a cup here? Or because you don't have your helmet on, your hair's a little shorter? The hair throws everybody off. You know, I can get away with it. You had on, your hair is a little shorter. The hair throws everybody off. Yeah.

You know, I can get away with it. You had the greasy long hair back in the day. I actually went to games one and two that year. I was out at the Cup that year. I remember, yeah, I remember watching him play both ones and one and two. Soaps looked like a character at a break and bad. With that greasy long hair. If he's calling you one of the guys that cooks meth, that's a slap in the face. I'm in.

Here's my resume. I'm in. Jesse Pickman first episode. Done. Straight up cooks math. Seriously, I'm in. Here's my resume. I'm in. Jesse Pickman, first episode. Done. Straight up junkie. So, all right. The other guy that I wanted to ask about on that team, and we're hopefully getting a chance to talk to him on this same trip,

but it's Duncan Keith. Is that who you were paired with for most of that run? You know, I was – we had – Brian Campbell was hurt, so it was playoff time. We ended up – everybody was everywhere. You know know I was the PK guy that kind of

sat there like an idiot and had just Shane Weber you know one takes at me and you're eating him for breakfast oh it's just

fucking so good little breakfast burrito little ketchup on there fucking boom it's like a coffee cake are you saying like come on motherfucker like when that happens

like are you just saying don't hit me dude what the fuck am I doing? Like this is 110 mile an hour. Yeah, I know. It's you know, when I got on the ice and this has got a lot to do with, you know, with my dyslexia, you know, we're talking about. I played in fear of the real world.

So, you know, I found out 10 years ago dyslexia. But so reading, writing, all that is fucking awful for me. So I would rather stand in front of those slap shots today all day long than having to go out and, you know, read and write. So I had no problem. You know, I came to Chicago as an offensive defenseman. Right. You know, I think I had 42 points was my highest.

Came to Chicago, they're like, ah, you're not going to play a power play. I'm like, okay, how the fuck do I stay in the league? Yeah. We talk about that a lot on here. Eat bombs from Weber. That's exactly right. I literally switched my mentality. All right, eat bombs.

I didn't care. Banana bread. That's great. Feed me these bombs. Whatever it took to stay in the league, I did to not have to be the real world. Okay, so I have a question for you. So I play with a guy named Boyd Gordon, and he was well aware that his role in the NHL was going to be he was going to be a penalty kill guy.

He was going to win face-offs. He was going to win face-offs. He was a repairman. He would go take out the fences on face-off. And I noticed that because his role was so demanding physically and it was such a mental grind knowing that he was going to have to eat pox night in and night out, it made him a lot grumpumpier did you go from being a happier type player playing the power play to when you started blocking shots where you were a little bit grumpier around the rink well let me ask you this

question would you rather score goals or play your role i mean i didn't grumpy to be fair is i'm genuinely not a grumpy guy but i i would rather fist fight fucking guys like McGratton and Jody Shelleys and guys like that than block shots. Blocking shots is. Wow. I'll fucking take a one time before I square off with McGratton. I would rather break my nose than take a fucking shot off the ankle like a hard one yeah but how about break your orbital listen i'm being genuinely honest when i say that and and and of course obviously having to get to that mental state not necessarily being

a like a hardcore fighter was was it miserable or like you said you were just all survival mode i was in it was all survival mode. You know, I'm sure if you ask guys that I play with, like Duncan Keith, I had the most fucked up rituals. Like what? Superstitions? Is it true you ate? Well, I want them to, I want them to explain these rituals.

Okay, sorry. Yeah, for sure. You know, I found out late in my career, I had dyslexia, but I had to do everything exactly the same way every single game now i think back on just because i didn't take a fucking left turn at fucking albert and clark i'm gonna play shitty like what the fuck is that that was just that was the only way i knew how to function and now that i'm now where i am today you know uh sober in my charity i can look back and it makes sense to me now.

So same home pregame every time. Oh, yeah. Same burner on the stove. Everything. Same music. Same time. Same. Same.

I try to visualize I'm fucking doing some fucking Indian dance over there. Oh, yeah. And then slowly would things get added to this regimen? Yeah. You know, then it'd get a little bit longer. Guys look at me all the time. The old make a rookie, tell a joke, or sing a song. Well, the fucking joke was me every year.

Oh, they'd pick on you. Even the rookies did. I'm like, what the fuck? What was the weirdest one the team couldn't get over in the locker room where boys would be like, dude, you have to stop doing that? And it was always the butt of the joke. I always was visualizing, but I was kind of in movement like this as I'm visualizing, with my head down, and guys are like.

That's not that weird. Jordan Wheel does that. I feel like you, and tell me if I'm wrong, were the guy who was a pain in the ass in warm-ups because you probably had to touch the glass in the same spot. Oh, no. He probably was a nightmare in warm-ups. Dude, you know the semicircle passenger? He'd come out of nowhere, be blocking the shots.

He'd be tripping the stars, and they're like, dude. He trips them once, he has to trip them again. Just make your ritual, go sit on the bench and drink some water, you fucking plumber. I wanted fucking good music, and I had long hair and good music, so I could good music so I could sing the whole music guy yeah oh okay what I mean I raised the music guy the old did you see this Metallica fucking Rage Games machine shit like that I want to ask about one one traditional ritual is it true you had a Pepsi and M&M's before every game yeah yeah did it give you I mean it must have given you like a sugar. No, it didn't give shit. Regular peanut. Regular peanut.

Either or, there was no specific on that. I'd have like 10 Red Bulls a day. I'd take a Red Bull to bed. Like that shit doesn't, caffeine doesn't do shit for me. Now, you mentioned the dyslexia. Is there something in the Venn diagram between like, say, OCD and dyslexia? Because those sound like, I got a little OCD in me, and those sound like OCD. A little. So like, do they ever tell you that, I got a little OCD in me and those sound like OCD type behaviors. A little. So do they ever tell you

that you might have a little of that too or is there a concern with that? OCD, I was never diagnosed with that. I didn't know why I was doing it. It makes sense to me now, but it was just the only way

I could basically, it was the glue keeping my life together. Is this non-game days too? Or like night before the game, you got to eat the same thing? No, it wasn't night. It was just game days. Just game days.

I didn't sleep. I never took pregame naps. What would you do that whole time? I'd go to the mall. No way. You were one of those guys? Yeah, I'm one of those guys. If I go to the mall for four minutes, I need to sit down and take a nap near the food court.

And you were walking around before NHL games? I used to get excited for fucking certain, you know, Colorado, Cherry Creek, the mall was right there. Or, you know, go to Disneyland. Should we get back to... Wait, what? Before a game? Yeah.

Hey, I'll take your son up on the ride. They're like, who is this creep? In my suit? Meanwhile, he's take your son up on the ride. They're like, who is this creep? In my suit? Meanwhile, he's playing that night. Down the log ride? Wait, but so on the road. He's like, hey, boys, check this out. He's got the picture with Minnie.

You got the printout on the roller coaster ride. I had the meeting many years. On the road, you skated, I think, 11, 11.30, Biz? Yeah. Is it 10.30, 11.30, home teams early? Either way. Yeah, something like that. You're back to the hotel at like 1245, 115,

and then until 430, you'd walk around the mall. Yeah. You know, so I came in the league. You know, you're supposed to be a rookie and have your roommate. I never had a roommate. Why the fuck would anybody want a room with me? I didn't sleep. Actually, we got to put this kid alone this guy that part it was genius yeah yeah literally never take pre-game nap walk

wherever would you sleep after games no no so just up so now i'm really starting to sympathize you for you because you went to russia for three years did that tone down are you going to do the Russian mall walks fucking I was exhausted in Russia because you know it's not quality it's quantity so the 8 week training camp literally there for fucking 8 weeks 3 days fucking 20 some exhibition games

playing tournaments couldn't imagine Whitney in Russia well I actually was going to say I went to the mall. There's a video. I tweeted it out back in the day when I was in Russia, but I used to just drive around this little kid's purple dinosaur car around the mall. You could just rent them and ride them around.

I wasn't walking, but that was my experience at the malls in Russia. They were horrible, horrible places to be at. They only had one elbow in there. So you were there three years? Three years. Why? Because you must have been making good bank, and you said at that point you were needing the money.

I went over there. I was making better money there than ever in the NHL. So you couldn't get the fourth year, or you retired on your own? Or do you want to keep playing? No, I came back here for my last year and played in the NHL for the Wolves. I wanted to get my 1,000th professional game here in North America.

That's pretty cool. So I ended up playing like 100. I got my 1,000th game, played a couple extra and retired. I actually saw Max Talbot. I think it was last year. Got his 1,000th professional game in KHL with Locomotive. And they gave him a nice presentation, which is cool because you don't know. You just see the NHL

ones, but to just have your thousandth pro game no matter how many different leagues you've been in to have it be celebrated is pretty awesome. Did the Wolves do something nice too? Yeah, they gave me away a jersey and stuff like that. I had a big night. I had my family. Brent's Opal night. I had Brent's Opal night. I had my family and then we took the whole team downtown Chicago

and had a little fun. There we go. That's perfect. Wet the beak. Last time we got going about some stuff, we talked about the Crawford situation. We didn't really dive into any of these wacky Russian stories. Now, after you came on, I know there was a few where you were like, oh, I wish I would have told that.

Are there any ones you can think of now that are in Russia? There was plenty. Did you go to Novakuznets? No, I missed that road trip. And when I got there, they had come back from Novakuznets, I'm going to say a week prior, and Eminger goes, dude, you just... He's like, not Eminger, Corey Emerton. He's like, you'll never understand what you missed.

He's like, nothing will be that bad to us now. You know where I played? I was like, what? He's like, no. You know where I played? I was like, what? He's like, no. You know where I played for a year and a half? That's where you played? I played for a year and a half. Crocodile stuff.

Yeah, it's the heroin capital of the world. Crocodile tears. Yeah, we talked about that. That's fucked up. Did you watch that? I'd say that video. He sent me the video of this documentary. I don't even remember the first time we talked. It looks like you're in Chernobyl, but they're living there and just doing drugs the entire time.

Yeah. I could see my apartment in that video. So I was there for a year and a half. What were you eating? I ate out for three years. A couple of decent restaurants? A couple of decent restaurants. Then my fridge would be full of Red Bull, Pepsi, and cookies.

Oh, shit. You're a professional athlete. Well, I was walking down the grocery store. I was walking hand in hand with about a 10-pound rat. So that was the last time I went grocery shopping. Oh, my God. Okay, so you were there for a year and a half. He's saying that it's indescribably bad.

Paint a picture for those listening. Yeah, you know what? Obviously, you talk about what we live with in North America. It's completely... I'd see babushka walking down the street with her cow on a leash because that's her only source of income you know so what we have it over here is pretty damn good oh yeah so you're in russia you have the rich of the rich and when we're talking i think per capita there's most millionaires billionaires in russia

yeah and then the rest of you know, it's bad. It's so rich or so poor. Same with the looks. It's very odd and very ugly. I said that. There's no middle ground. And then the family guy stole it from us. Would you often see poor people out and just be like, hey, come in here and grab a meal?

You know what? They didn't. They looked at me scared. I didn't speak Latin. I could speak Canadian. I haven't graduated American yet, never mind Russian. I looked at me scared. I didn't speak... I could speak Canadian. I haven't graduated American yet, never mind Russian. I'm like, fuck.

I'm like, so... So they walk up to me. They see me. They're like, all right. This is only a face to mother love. And they fucking... They run off. Even they're poor.

So it was interesting. Every day was... You wouldn't hold the door. I hold the door for an old lady. And she'd look at me like I was going to kill her. No, just trying to hold you you Your hands are full of groceries Just trying to help you out That's so odd

You must also need your head on a swivel Because you mentioned the drug problem there So with that comes a lot of bullshit And fucking crime or whatever So I mean, there must have been some dangerous areas there too I walked I never spoke English around anybody If I was on the phone

And I was walking by people You know, I'd stop talking Because I don't know. I don't know who's what. You could pass for a Russian. Biz said you look like a guy from, what was that you said he looked like? I look like Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad. I'll give you a Russian over that. You know,

fucking Barney. Fucking, uh... Were there other imports of you? So there wasn't there. I was doing an NHL network a couple years ago. He's like, you're Canadian? He's like, I thought you were fucking Czech or something for years. It's like I played against you

and had no idea you were from Canada. Not going to lie, I used to think he was from Europe as well. I thought you were, I actually think you, I thought you were from Czech.

I think Czech was the country. I was like, where is Czech? R.A.'s like, oh shit, you're not from Czech? You have no accent, man. Hey,

I want to go back to the 2010 Blackhawks for a second. I know you've been sober for a few years, and I commend you for that as a tip of bass here. But no, it's not an easy thing to kick fucking habits. But having said that, that team was like Animal House for the whole season. It was kind of before social media really became a big thing.

The next year with the Bruins, we saw it all over the place. We didn't see it with the 2010 Blackhawks. What was that year like all year? Was it like basically just the traveling party like it's been said to have been? Yeah, thank God there wasn't cell phones. Were you drinking then? Yeah. Yeah.

It was the whole team though. Yeah, it was there. You know, that was the closest knit team that I've ever been a part of. You know, going back to five years old when we started playing on the team. You know, everybody looked out for everybody. You know, it's not that day to day what, you know, solidified us that win. You know, everybody looked out for everybody. You know, it's not that day to day what solidified us that win. You know, everybody cared about everybody. No matter where we were, what was going on, everybody genuinely cared.

So it was a brotherhood, you know. Never any other team. You know, I played some good teams. It was, you know, you got half the guys. You got that clique over there. You got the French Canadians over there. But it wasn't like this. But, yeah, no, there's always alcohol somewhere.

Who was the glue in that room that kept everything together? Because if you're telling me it's like that type of atmosphere, we're such a gong show. Who is the one guy who had to like, hey, boys, we need to dial it in now. We're being a little too wacky. Who is the voice of reason? Is that ever possible? Was there one?

It wasn't for Stig. There's no way it was. I mean, there's got to be somebody who was level-headed enough to know this is so chaotic. I think it was my first year with the Blackhawks. But it didn't cue layers because you were winning. Well, guys, I'm not saying in a negative sense, but who was just the guy who would gather everyone? Who was in charge?

You know what? I was pretty worried. There was a couple older guys that would say the odd thing, but everybody was out doing it together. And like you said, Q loved it. He doesn't care what you did away from the rink. You come here and you play. Q has the legendary move of every year that you guys went to Vegas.

Dude, so we're in the second round of the playoffs. Oh, what? In playoffs? We're second round of playoffs. I think it's a Kentucky Derby. The meeting's supposed to be at like 5 o'clock. It's like 5 of 5. I was like, woo!

And Q just won a couple hundred thousand dollars. He held the meeting so we could watch his horse race. He had a twin tribe. We're all in the dressing room like, all right, what the fuck? What time is this 5 o'clock meeting? I think you told that one last podcast. Now, was that a playoff game? Yeah, second round of playoffs.

That was the year we won. Come on. I swear to God. So Q's as much in the minute. And there's a reason why he's a second-win coach, because everybody will play for him. He respects you. There's a lot of respect back and forth.

Didn't care what you did away from the rink. Just when you're here, work hard. Do you think that was because he was an NHL player back in the 70s and 80s when you really had to be a fucking man's man back then? How many guys played the league are terrible coaches? A lot. Yeah. Are they terrible?

Well, players can make great coaches or horrible coaches. They can make great GMs or horrible GMs. Wow. Wayne Gretzky, how good of a coach was he? Terrible. Not great. Not great. But was he a good player?

I think so. I don't know. I don't know his stats. I think he's got it done. I usually find the players that weren't successful usually become better coaches. Grinding players. And Q wasn't. Yeah, he wasn't a superstar.

Not at all. No, I think he made his. You know, coaching is definitely where he's going to go to the Hall of Fame. So I agree with that. You know, the more time you sit on the bench and analyze it, I think the better you get. But I think even with the camaraderie with the boys, like, hey, he did all that shit. Plus, the 70s and 80s were absolutely fucking wild in the NHL. So, hey, what am I going to tell these guys?

What's wrong with 19? What are they doing? Yoga now? Do they have team yoga? Team Fortnite. Video games. But here's where I'm going to say is I feel like the caliber of the game in the regular season is so good because these kids, all they do is train. Listen, and I get that where old school

people would see where there might be a lack of passion but i think that the the alcoholism and the amount of partying going on created this drama about it like it was wwe because guys if you fucking slash a guy in the back leg he was grumpy because he was hung over and he just reacted to react where these kids are a lot more level-headed. Would you agree with my assessment on that? And these kids are just fine-tuned athletes. Not because they're not. They're training so much harder that them not being hungover creates better hockey.

How many games did you play hungover? Right. I'm saying that overall the caliber of the game has gotten better because these guys are fucking nerds. Oh, yeah, but that's so, yeah, yeah. And I will say a lot of the chaos I feel back in the day, yes, I get that hockey was a lot more violent than now. But the fact that these guys were going to be staying over that night, they were drinking every night. Your life is chaos when you're drinking every night, regardless if you're a fucking professional athlete or not.

It's just chaos. How often would hungover players get sick? I mean, hangover sucked. Like, would guys, like, puke on the ice often, frequently, or were they young enough that they could get through it all? Really? No, never. No, I don't know about that.

You knew exactly what you had to do, and you did it. So, would you agree with me? Looking back, it's crazy the way I feel when I'm hungover now, the fact that I used to get up and go be a professional athlete. Yeah, but it's also the sense of... Youth is fucking king. Yeah, I don't even remember feeling hungover when I was 20 years old. Yeah, dude, college.

I'd be like, this is incredible. Seven years in a row. Hungover, you weren't allowed to. Yeah, I get like, we're 20 years old. Let's do this again. Hungover, grab a brew. Seriously. Or get in a fight if you missed.

More crazy Russian stories. You fight over there? Yeah. A couple fights. Actually, I was there when that plane crash happened. No way, man. I was sitting in a Moscow airport. Worst day in hockey history, man.

That was awful. So I was... So you had to leave russia to uh get your visa so i went to helsinki you went to helsinki so i was going to riga so it's like the best day of the year yeah noel kuznets has two flights um it lands at 6 30 takes off at 7 30 the other one lands at 7 30 takes off at like 9 or something like that. That's it, right to Moscow. And Moscow has three airports. So if you haven't been to Moscow, think of New York City on steroids. Yeah, pretty much.

Wow. Right? Really? It's crazy. Wow. So the freeways are in circle and downtown is in the middle. So there's inner circle. I think there's four circles.

So the plane crash happened. I was sitting there on my computer at Moscow supposed to supposed to fly and meet the team and then i had to switch airports so from one airport to that i'd probably say you know 50 miles maybe you know i couldn't speak russian so i couldn't get on the train so i got in a cab i was four hours in and I was halfway there. I had to take a piss. So kind of... It's the worst traffic in the world. I was four hours

into my trip and I was only, you know, only went 30 kilometers, 30 miles, something like that. Did you know when you got news

of the crash, did you like, was it, you know, right away it happened like everyone died right away? Was that, or did you kind of...

I assume that, you know, anytime you hear a plane crash, you don't... Right. I was panicking and I was actually Skyping with- I assume that, you know, anytime you hear a plane crash, you don't- Right, right. I was panicking, and I was actually Skyping with my family at that point. Skype, remember Skype?

Yeah, we used to start, started this podcast on that. And I was, you know, I hit the fucking panic button. I'm like, get me out of here, you know? So it took me some time to- A lot of guys we had played against, or especially you had played against, that was just horrible.

You know, knew a lot of those guys. It was scary. Yeah, I mean, getting on some of those planes was a little scary for sure. I mean, they were older. A lot of planes can't leave Russia. We flew on a plane that was that model. Yeah, we did too. So it's crazy.

You're like, wow, this is like that old of an actual engine and everything. And so I remember being the same way as you, just like, what the fuck? Yeah. You know, porn-style shades and carpet and look outside. They have guys riding bicycles to get to the next plane. They're not little luggage carts. The guy's on a fucking pedal bike. I can rent it to the next plane.

Or the luggage truck was a dump truck. It was? Yes. And Noah Kuznets, back up the dump truck. Man, when I started playing, I thought this would be a Brinks truck.

Somebody called DPW who had a flight coming in. It's unbelievable. You always get all your money, though? I think we might have mentioned this the first time. I got... Did you get it all? I got it all. You know, all your money, though? I think we might have mentioned this the first time. I got, you know, I. Did you get it all?

I got it all. You know, Russ, the league was, you know, everybody's good to me. You know, there's a lot of some crazy shit. Did a lot of, you know, the bars close when the last person leaves. I don't know how I know that. But a lot of crazy shit, you know, in and out of I don't know how many different countries. So it was good to me. It kept my career going a few extra years and allowed

me to get to that thousand oh my ex-wife's got all the dough anyway so there was a story recently that came out that uh khl coach threatened to uh what was it light the the referee's car on fire because he made a bad call yeah and he said i didn't say his hotel room yeah department at least i didn't say i wouldn't burn his apartment down so what were some of the craziest things you've ever heard of people threatening referees because there was a one crazy uh who was the fighting team they had the coach that and their owner oh yeah you come down with a fucking sawed-off shotgun and the uzis and you know it's it's russia that's literally the only line you hear it's russia you You know, guy gets pulled over with DUI,

pay him 500 bucks and drive off. Do you think they were really rigging those? Is it Siska, the team that got accused of getting favored? Do you think those games are sometimes rigged by the reps? In the NHL, all it takes is giving one bad call or one good call to get that power

player or whatever. Could have been happened? Yeah, for sure. Well, there was one situation where one team was given 15 minors. Because it was, was it Scott? It was Scott, right. They were in the playoffs. And it was the worst calls ever. It was so obviously fucking biased.

And it was their anniversary year. And the league wanted them to win the championship. So they could tell they were feeding them the first round which but it ended up going to game seven didn't it the first round the skill over there was unbelievable though yeah you know like guys i chased panarin around for fucking i don't know shifts fucking yelling at him i can't catch this fucking guy you know but they make some big money what people people don't understand is they come over here at 16, 17, 18 years old, don't know the language. It's fucking hard.

I went over that 32, and I'm like, where the fuck am I? Yeah, if you're coming over here, same thing, man. It's definitely easier, but for those kids still, it's like, holy shit, I can't talk to anyone. A lot of them just stay home and make big money. I want to ask you about one guy. I think you played about two, three years against him, Nikita Gusev. He was often called the best player outside the NHL in the world type thing.

We hear that all the time. Is that an accurate statement, and what's his ceiling in the NHL, do you think? You know, it's always tough to look at guys like that. You got Mozek, and you guys heard he's the number one lead. Guy's unbelievable. That big ice, that extra second or two seconds is big. You know, Gusev, is he going to turn into a Panarin? I don't think so.

You know, there's a lot more intangibles that got to come with the guy than just being that good. There's a lot of guys, you know, can go over the KHL and be fully skilled. Like with, you know, me, I hadl and be fully skilled like wit you know me i had to grind it out uh dump and chase hockey but these guys can stick handle you know and score at ease when you come over the nhl you gotta fucking work you gotta work for every fucking inch you get and aaron does panarin's a dog that's like 100 and sometimes dog can be used the wrong way but he's lazy but he i mean like he's a fucking workhorse so he does give it i see i but even him the year i was over there and was against him and he was on ska i still wasn't sure i was like this kid's nasty but i don't know he might

suck over here and he's not well so so it's like gusev's kind of like the same thing like i don't know he might be great but yeah i put teresanko i was playing against teresanko that year too you know yeah he was i guess you would say it for the same reason that certain guys can't be successful at the nhl level here from north america a prime example of that is nigel dawes nigel dawes went from being he would probably be at best a third a third line forward in the nhl level maybe even a fourth liner. He ended up going over to Russia. Yeah, I know Dodger well. I play with him.

He's probably going to make, by the end of it, like he would have had a $50 million NHL career. More than that. Yeah, he's making so much. Well, there you go. He's making $3 million a year. He's the second highest paid in KHL right now. And he just scored.

Didn't he just score his, like, 400th goal? I'm making up. Yeah, but it's 40-40 or 45 a year. I don't know what goal he just scored, but it was a big number goal. Like, it was his 40th or 45th year. I don't know what goal he just scored, but it was a big number goal. He's dominant over it. It's true. So for him, that extra split second. We've got to get him on.

Maybe some guys, if they're not good at wall work per se, where there is, in order to be good at the national hockey level, you have to add that to your bag. You've got to have everything, and then on top of everything, you've got to have one thing that's fucking unbelievable to stick in the nhl you know how many minor league guys the last couple years have led the ahl in scoring but never got called up yeah or even my there's there's always a fringe too of some players who are like too good for the ahl and just something's just like it could be this much, the smallest amount ever that can't make them like NHLers.

It's so, it's so odd to see. But I, see, I'm of the opinion that a lot of times it's like, like I think of Rob Scuderi. Michelle Terrian was the coach in Wilkes-Barre and he loved Scud's because he saw how good he was at what he did. But he had been put on waivers. Like what if Michelle Terrian never got the job with the Penguins? Like, I don't know.

Like, you never know. Like, maybe Scud's never gets called up. Instead, he gets called up. He wins Stanley Cups. He makes millions. It's like there is a fine line between some guys who I think could have made it but never got the chance. Oh, 100%.

100%. And I think that it's similar to some guys in Russia, even. That'll never come over. And if they had, they probably could have done it. Isn't that the real world, though? Yeah. It's not what you know. It's who you know.

Now, asking this, you might know better. Are there Russian players over there who are like, oh, my God, that won't come over? Like this Gusev was kind of the one guy that everyone keeps hearing about. Panarin was kind of the guy before him. No, because even Moziakin, who when I went over, he was just incredible. But you see him play, and you don't see anything like that amazing, but he just scores at will. He actually went over.

I think it was Columbus. That's kind of a guess. And he didn't make it. So I think pretty much anyone over there that is told you could make the NHL gives it a shot, right? I mean, you're crazy. It's the NHL. And especially considering in the 80s those guys couldn't even do it

earlier than that. Goose has probably got $10 million in the bank already after playing over there. Possibly more. If not more. So why not give it the wheel? The fact that he was chirping the way he does puts him in a different category than Panarin for me.

I mean, you talk about being a dog and the work ethic. You never heard Panarin saying shit. It's when it worked. The way Cheryl responded to him within the media was like, I don't give a fuck if he goes fucking here or there. No, that was Pavel Zaka. Oh, my bad. I take that back.

Oh, sorry. Stop putting the pen, though. You should have said it. Yeah, right. I want to talk about another Russian player. His, I raised the question out of nowhere. I always get goofed on. I know you weren't playing with him a long time, but Alexey Yashin.

What was he like as a teammate? No way. You played with Yash? Yeah, I played with Yash. Was he wearing the turtleneck? Oh, fuck. Nice. I love it.

Love it. What a legend. He had a tough reputation. Let's see where I began. New York Islanders. So after the lockout, I was in Vancouver. You know, granted, salary cap came in. I get my ass traded to the New York Islanders.

With the rollback. Fucking rollback. And Yashin as your captain and Mike Milbury as your GM. We ended up having a rookie party in Miami. And two of the rookies were hurt. So he gets on the bus. They were flying to meet us. We're on a road trip.

He's like, I bought the flights, guys. I need everybody to chip in their five bucks. Who's this? Yashin. And he's made probably $100 already. No, he made... His contract was $90 million? Yeah, I think I got the JetBlue taken care of for the boys.

We're going to fly him out. That's $5 for everybody. No way. Really? Brutal. So he's cheap. Alligator arms. Fuck, he couldn't reach the pocket, pay for the lock.

Look, crocodile. Oh, that hurts. That's a tough look. He's going to have to come on and defend himself. I don't reach the pocket paper. The law crocodile. Oh, that hurts. That's a tough look. He's going to have to come on and defend himself. I don't know. He doesn't care. Yeah. Well, that's the thing.

That was the clear thing. He didn't seem to care. I mean, he got that fat contract and then he just didn't give a fuck. Is that an accurate statement? I mean, that was the perception. Well, you know, I don't think you can't say, you know, he didn't care, but he cared enough to you got his points. I don't think you can't say he didn't care, but he cared enough to.

You got his points. And when you're best friends with the owner and you go to lunch with him, you're on a different level. That's fucked up. Him and Wanger? Him and Wanger and then DiPietro. They all negotiated the contracts and sat together at lunch. That is crazy. DiPietro has one of the best all-time finesses ever.

What's the guy in the Mets? Bobby Bonilla. Bobby Bonilla. the Mets? Bobby Bonilla. Bobby Bonilla. Yeah, he's the Italian Bobby Bonilla. Bobby Bonilla still gets a million bucks every July. I bet you DiPietro's still getting paid for another 10 years. Yeah. He must wake up every day and, like,

bow to the shrine of Mike Milbury for fucking hooking him up. Yeah, I think he did go to Wang. Yeah, DiPietro did. Right, to Wang, I think. No, they said they did the contract together. And Wang was on Sportsnet. I think we were in Toronto, and he did an interview with, to Wang, I think. No, they did the contract together. And Wang was on Sportsnet. I think we were in Toronto. And he did an interview with Kiprios, I think it was.

And he said, you know, Rick DiPietro left a lot of money on the table in this negotiation. Really? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So he was drinking the Kool-Aid. It was $4 million a year.

It was just the term of it. It was 15 years. It was crazy. And he hadn't performed. No, he had performed really well. There was at least one year before that he was really good. But what he had done at that point didn't warrant that contract. No, I don't think anybody at that point in the league.

That's a decent AVV. Yeah. You're only getting me four a year. Is it AAV or AVV or A-V-V? Average annual value. So what the fuck are you laughing at, Mikey? Fucking. Should we talk more about Yashin and Milbury real quick?

Milbury's blackmailing who? He was blackmailing who? How the fuck is he still on NBC? Did you get along with him? I see Milbury in the gym all the time. We give a little what's up. Did you think he was absolutely terrible at his job and just got the job because of connections or what?

Yeah, you take a look at any job in the NHL, there's nobody around that long. There's some people around a pretty long time. Behind the scenes. Kenny Holland, he has a GM, but the things he says, I'm like, where the fuck did you come up with that?

Did you get beat over the head with a shoe? Insulting players and shit? Yeah, he... I had a little incident with him and got myself shipped to L.A. What was the incident? Do you want to say it? When I was on the road trip,

my ex-wife was married at that point in time. We hired a babysitter and the babysitter came, did an interview, said, you know what? I like you. I know my skills.

I'll work for you for a couple days for free so you can see what we're doing. Day one, she comes in, works, and then I guess it was time to take, you know,

she had to get on the train so the wife dropped her off and said, I left my purse my purse I'll I'll put I'll give you the money for the train because she said I'll work for a couple days free call my wife that night ex-wife said you know if you don't have a thousand dollars in my account by eight o'clock in the morning you know I'm going to go to the New York Daily News and say that there's drugs in the house and all this shit no way this is It's the babysitter. Yeah. First off, banks don't open to nine, so I'm not sure how I'm going to get the money in your account by eight.

So she ended up suing me for $26 million. This babysitter that came over? Yeah. Where'd you find this girl? So Milbury said pay her. I said, fuck you. You said pay her $26 million? No, you said pay her the million because she wanted that $1,000. Shakedown.

Yeah, for the $1,000. So I'm like, no, I'm not paying her. So I'm like, fuck that. Where'd you find this babysitter? You know what? I wasn't there. Jesus Christ. I was on the road to Milbury.

Him and I got into it. He's like, just fucking pay her. I'm like, I'm not paying her. Well, I am a fucking painter. That's a principle thing. Principle. Yeah, exactly. Fucking right. Then I got traded to LA. NHL security

ended up getting involved. They tried to serve me at the fucking Staples Center at the rink. Wow. A complete shit show. That is fucking wild, dude. Jesus Christ. That one took a weird turn. Hey, this one got really dark. I thought nobody was going to tell him to play tougher.

Hey, man, you got to get more pucks on net here. It's an extortion story. Well, we can get into something a little bit better, and that is the work you're doing right now with dyslexia. And you mentioned before how it affected you in your life, and you have a foundation now. And along with that, this is also, you said, your first job since hockey, right?

You're selling popcorn. I've been selling popcorn. Skinless popcorn. No kernels. Good for the teeth, boys. So we got this. We got to be on the lookout for this. Well, what's the company?

Let's talk about it. Pops is skinless popcorn. So there's no kernels at the bottom of the bag. And, you know, just before you have some popcorn going on a hot date, you know, stuck in your teeth. Oh, the worst. You don't have to. You don't have to. I don't know if anyone's going to be crushing a bag of these before they go

on a date. I mean, come on, man. Yeah, have you tried it? Have you tried it? Have you tried it? Have you tried it? Have you tried it? Have you tried it?

Have you tried it? Have you tried it? Have you tried it? You can't fucking say something. You're not trying it. Honey mustard and onion is no joke. Well, I might crush it after. Honey mustard and onion.

Maybe in bed after I bust my nut and then I'm eating these corn. Don't eat honey mustard and onion before the date, though, because the breath is going to be kicking into it. Well, that's what I'm saying. It has nothing to do with the kernels. Here you go. Ranch. They're sweet and salty. Okay, that's what I'm saying. It has nothing to do with the kernels. You know, ranch. They're sweet and salty.

Okay, so time out. We're a big fan. So we got to talk about the fact that you're running a foundation for dyslexia, and I was actually talking to these guys. Well, actually, R.A., it was before you showed up, and I had an idea. Because you were asking how, you know, hey, you think you guys would be okay to plug it and maybe you guys could get involved.

Everybody's been begging me to do this Cameo app. You know what this thing is, Cameo? Yeah. So it's essentially these celebrities charge people to give birthday shout-outs or messages to whoever they want to give it to, one of their friends, maybe their kids. Well, I would never do it because I don't want to charge people for my time like that.

I feel like it's a little bit sleazy. But then I caught wind that you're allowed to do it and the money gets donated to charity. Well, soaps, do you listen to every podcast? Yeah. I think you're pretty aware that I do struggle reading out loud a little bit, okay? Like any sentence. In my situation, when i'm reading to myself and in my head i can read fast and i'm fine i i'm in your head you're good shut the

fuck up just like on the ice so so i'm okay making my making fun of myself about it right so why don't we set it up through your charity where people can donate, let's say it's $50 or $100 or whatever you decide, where these people can send me a paragraph and I have to read them a paragraph. But it can be anything. It could be a soliloquy from a fucking, who's the old? Shakespeare. Shakespeare, yeah.

I feel like if you had to read, what book is it already where the first line is it's the best of times, it's the old... Shakespeare? Shakespeare, yeah. I feel like if you had to read... What book is it already where the first line is, it's the best of times, it's the worst of times? You're not talking in your mic. Sorry, I was researching. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, I believe. I don't know if it's Great Expectations, but either way... It was the best of times, it was the smirst of times.

Sorry, Simpsons. It is. Yeah, you had to do it. It's English, but it makes no sense, like hearing it. So I think for you to read it would be near impossible. And I think if we could get people, they could get a good laugh out of listening and watching Biz read and also get to donate some money to your charity. That would be a pretty good idea.

And we're going to be posting the clips to social, so the social media will grow. Listen, there's some days where I'm feeling great. I'm buzzing. And I'm reading good. And I'm not fucking words up. And I'm microdosing. I'm popping them shroomskis. And I am flying.

One out of two. It was Charles Dickens, but it was a tale of two titties. I'm sorry. That was a porn version. Tale of two titties. R.A.'s been sneaking in little dirty jokes every episode. Dirty old man. Oh, that's right.

When we mentioned Disneyland earlier and you said Mickey, I had a way for it. But hey, did you know Mickey divorced Minnie? She was fucking goofy. I've heard that one before. Excellent. All right, listen. I just remembered Crawford, he tortured you earlier in your career. You got him again later when you got traded to L.A. a few years later.

How was that relationship the second time around with him? Same thing. Just an asshole to you? You look back at a lot of those coaches back in the day. How many coaches do you have that they're the boss and they made it known? Yeah, it's starting to change a little bit, but yeah, it was different. So you saying that, do you think that's an insecurity on his level because he was actually, in fact, not that good of a hockey coach?

And do you think he's maybe a little remorseful for the way he used to treat guys? Because, like, given, like, just how, you know, everyone's kind of, like, I mean, if he did that nowadays, like, he would get fired as a coach. Yeah. It's just the climate's changed. Do you think if you guys bumped into together he'd ever be like hey man like i just want to let you know like i'm kind of sorry for the way i treated you a little bit or he's not remorseful wow i can't speak for him um i don't know if he is or

not i don't know even if he looked at it um outside the box meaning you know or this is just the only way i had to coach you know that's why you know, like my life is all fucked up. That's how I kind of held it together. Maybe that was his way of coaching. You know, I can't speak for him. But yeah, you're right. You know, obviously times have changed now. If you did that shit now, you know, you wouldn't be around.

You know, you'd be fucking, you know, pack your bags in a second, you'd be gone. Well, Keenan's another example, and he's a polarizing figure, where it's like, these guys got to look back and be like, they did and said some shitty things. I would never... I don't think so. I think that they look back and what they remember when they were

younger is even worse. They're like, I wasn't that bad. Really? Yeah, I don't know, man. It's like... Like Keenan, you won the cup? Well, that's the worst thing that can happen to those guys. So did Crawford. He was assistant coach in Colorado. So then all of a sudden they're like, well, I've won a cup,

so they're going to have a job until the end of time because it's hockey. Yeah. And they just keep doing it. So I don't think they look at themselves and say it was bad. They got the job done. Well, I meant more so now. Like even like with Keenan, like keenan's not coaching anymore is he no he's uh russia still right no he's uh i saw him recently at the scotia bank uh ball hockey it

was like a charity event and and i i would be curious to get him on and be like do you realize maybe there's like some of the negative impact you had on guys and maybe the psychological warfare you put players through and listen i i've dealt with it from coaches to a certain level where they flirted that line from the stories that i hear i'm like whoa they were going they were trying to really bury guys which is gutless that mentality back then was the normal mentality so do they look back at it and have remorse? I honestly don't think so. Scotty Bowman didn't use that approach,

and he was one of the greatest of that era. I think there was times Scotty Bowman, though, was pretty hard on guys. No, I don't think you – I mean, listen, I don't know enough, and it's all speculation, but I would not see Scotty Bowman going anywhere near what those two other guys would. But he may take it on a different level or a different way scotty bowman you know a tactical kind of a chess match guy you know he could backstab you per se in maybe a quiet way you know a fucking quick jab that might take somebody out you know harder than mike keen blowing you up. Are you – do you have any animosity toward him for the way he handled it?

Or are you at peace with it now and you're kind of like, oh, no, he was just doing that to try to get the best out of me? You know what? I'm at peace with everything. Being sober really – I can really look back and analyze things a lot better. So I'm in a good place when it comes back to all that stuff. You know, it made me survive. I am where I am.

I had to go through every struggle and every scar to get where I am today. Okay. And do you think maybe that psychological warfare and that constant everyday grind playing in those situations, do you think maybe it potentially caused you to drink or maybe do drugs more? Because you wanted to get away from that reality you would you ever blame it on that or was that just kind of you just? Want to have fun you know I obviously wanted to have fun But there was always a piece of me that didn't understand you know I didn't find out till ten years ago I had dyslexia so you So you talk about reading a book.

I'm like, I've never read a book. I never told my kids. I read books to my kids. I had four or five characters in my head, and I'd tell them bedtime stories with those characters. So there was always a piece of me wondering, what the fuck? I was reading at a grade four level in in high school and you know talk about reading out loud you know grade nine

in canada freshman year you know the teacher asked me to stand in front of class and read everybody was laughing because what i was reading what the words weren't even on that page so here i'm in just walking to high school, completely embarrassed. Still think about that day every day. And that's why you're so passionate towards the foundation that you've started. Yeah. And the work you're telling me before we started this, that you've spoke at the White House.

You're hoping to do it again. Yeah, I've been there twice. I'm going back November 13th. I think I have six or eight meetings set up with different congressmen and House of Representatives. And what was the stat you said about percentage of people that are in prison that battle dyslexia? 50%. Yeah, that's just wild. Dyslexia is one in five, and it's hereditary.

So it gets passed along, you know, in the family. You have a family without money to help treatment of it. I mean, you get no chance in a lot of aspects. You got nothing. And that's the self-esteem problem. Like, I was a bully. So I had the kid that I bullied reach out to me about a month ago. Really?

What did he say? Yeah, you know, he saw some of my posts that talk about dyslexia and God and things like that. He's like, it's good to see you've turned your life, but you caused me a ton of pain. And, yeah, it was a message that I stared at for a long, long time. Yeah, that's hard. Did you reply to him? Sorry.

Yeah, no, no, absolutely. There's no such thing as a class clown or a bully. There's a reason why. They say hurt people hurt people and that was you know i would make people laugh but you know i didn't know why i felt that way you know going to school was fucking miserable so i you know i had my charity golf tournament at the beginning of october i tried to fly him out you know make peace with him and have him part of my day um you know he didn't he come, you know, he couldn't get off work.

But, yeah, you know, so I've got to live, you know, I've got to live with that. And that's why I've started my foundation to give back and get to every kid. I never want a kid to feel the way I do every day. And the response has been unreal. You just had an unreal golf tournament recently, correct? Correct. Yeah, I know it's. Nobody talks about it. You know, like you said, you'd be shocked as you start having the conversation.

It's kind of like mental health. Nobody understands what the struggle is. You know, you've got some of the richest, Richard Branson, Tom Cruise, Jennifer Zahn, Steve Jobs. They all have dyslexia. Oh, yeah, I remember you mentioned this. I remember you saying to these people. But, you know, as you get going to school, you're in grade one, two,

you're looking around and going, why can they read? Why can't I? And not having an answer must have just frustrated the fuck out of you. I just thought I was dumb. People just know about it then, yeah. So you didn't need, yeah. You put yourself into your rink, you said back then, right? Because you had a big frozen farm.

You know, in Canada, there's a lot of outdoor rinks. So that was my escape because I knew I didn't have to read or answer a math question when I was on that ice. So, you know, every kid, there's, you know, you got one in five. So you got 20% of the population, 2 billion people struggle with this. That's great and nobody talks about it and and back to your uh wanting to help you know from the bottom of my heart it means means more than you'll ever understand because trying to raise money for dyslexia is

almost impossible really because people can't see it right like you know if you're blind you can close your eyes you know you can kind of put yourself in their position but everybody you know that's why we're told we're dumb or stupid or lazy because they can't they can't relate you know i never had cancer so i can't tell you how you're gonna feel during chemo yeah i can tell you how much it sucks not being able to read or to take take an email and take 10 minutes because I spend more time trying to talk to Siri, but she's racist because she doesn't understand my accent.

How do you think I feel? When you initially kind of found out what the diagnosis was, what was your initial reaction? Were you very open about it right away? Were you kind of like at a loss for words? Were you kind of sheltered yourself and were embarrassed by it? It took a while because I really, again, like everybody else, I really didn't even know what that word was. I didn't know what dyslexia was.

So I was happy because my daughter got tested. She had it. So that's how I found out. So I was happy to know what it is, you know, for her. Oh, yeah. To get her help. Well, that will definitely fucking help

now we're definitely going to do this thing and we're going to raise you some money people will want to people will pay to see Biz Chatterjee I promise you

my main hope we could have a read off you and me my main hope is people see the self deprecating humor side of it not as like to make fun of it

but to help it where is I I can handle it if you like to make fun of it but to help it where I can handle it. If you want to make fun of me, I'm cool. This is about raising money for people in need. And just kind of hearing the hardships you went through in life just because of this one thing. It's like – I mean it's fucking sad, man. And I talk about dyslexia.

The biggest thing is the self-esteem. I don't care about the reading or writing math or geometry or whatever the fuck it is it's that self-esteem so you've been told you're dumb and stupid forever right you know i uh i always talk about uh kind of like a gas tank so you go you know car's half full if i can go in 20 30 40 bucks you know quick bang but if it empty, it takes a long time to full. Dyslexics, self-esteem gas tanks, always on empty. So I don't think my gas tanks ever, you know, hit higher than a quarter tank. I know you just mentioned a bunch of guys,

celebrities, I should say, who've had it. One particular guy who's come out, I don't know if he's come out recently, but he's talked about it a lot lately, was Henry Winkler, aka The Fonz. Have you had a chance to meet him? I was with him two weeks ago. So you met the fucking Fonz? Yeah. Were you familiar with the legend of The Fonz?

Was he in Canada? Yeah. Where do you think he was? Fucking living in Igloo or something? I don't know. I don't know if we can convey how fucking cool The Fonz was in the 70s. Back in the 70s, there were three fucking channels on TV. 75% of North America was watching the Fonz on TV. He was like a PG-13 Dice Clay kind of.

You know, wicked cool. Every girl wanted to lay him. Every guy wanted to be him. He was the coolest guy on the planet, man. He really was. He always had the leather jacket. Everybody's faces. The chicks loved him.

And what's funny, too, like Dice, Italians loved him, but they were both Jewish. I always got a kick out of that. Two Jewish guys playing Italian. All the Gideons loved him. We go, Dice, Fonz. It's like, ah, he's Jewish, brother. He's an awesome guy, but for him to— Was he at the tournament?

No, he wasn't at the tournament. He was actually just doing a book tour. And I went to his book tour, met him before he went on stage. Anybody who will talk about this, I respect. And they can help? And they can help because it's just getting everybody to understand what it is. If you can get diagnosed at a young age, you're going to be okay. But if not, you talk about everybody in prison.

If you can't read, you can't get a job. Yeah. If you're bad at math, you can still get a job. So you got some of the richest people, some of the smartest people in the world. The IQs for most dyslexics are on the higher average. So it's got nothing to do with smarts. It's got to do with you know can you retain what you're reading you know yeah these guys go they go and sell drugs because that's what they got to

do yeah it's a survival tactic but they're brilliant businessmen because they know how to do it not get caught but that so that's the mentality of you know how um a lot of guys you know talk about fucking our phones you know why is the cell phone around from a dyslexic 50 of people nasa are dyslexic one for you well we're talking about 50 of people at nasa yeah so this will lead into this so 60 i think about 60 of dyslexic can kind of of see in a 3D image. So Mr. PGA, so fucking BJ Holmes is dyslexic. JB? So talking, they're on his ass to be slow playing, right?

Yeah. You think that has something to do with it? It's bullshit because he doesn't see the world the same way. Kind of how I didn't see the world of hockey okay so that's that's beyond like just reading that's beyond i mean because because i've always said i've always i've i've been someone to like be like hurry the fuck up jb holmes but i guess like you're saying i don't know i wouldn't know you said you don't you've never had cancer you don't know how chemo feels i wouldn't know if even if you're playing golf to do things at a quicker pace is hard.

I got a question. Would you think if knowing that this is what this guy is going through and then maybe it was explained and articulated to the players that would he be able to just tee off last every day or is that some type of advantage? Yeah, you do like the lead. It's all leaders. It's a score. But, you know, the green books. Oh, yeah. It's a score. But, you know, the green books. That was stupid, yes. Oh, yeah.

If you're reading the green books, I mean, that'll add time. Maybe that's how we get rid of those things, I think. Maybe he sees the world that way. You know, that image. If I look at a picture, you know, we'll always see something different. Yeah. You know, because I just see it differently so you know so does he so he's walking up the fairway looking at the ball all right what's he you know he's

putting a lot of things more in play than you know tiger gets up there it pulls out the fucking nine iron and hits it fucking 300 yards you know so he sees the world you know sees the world differently so as his dyslexic so having the conversation and me going to the White House and there's bills I want to write and pass and I'm starting up my foundation in Canada because I want to do it over there. It doesn't matter if it's

you're Canadian, American, Russian, German it affects everybody the same way. Is there a website or info people can go to for now and stuff? And then hopefully this biz thing, that'll be great. Listen, I'm in. I mean, we're going to need somebody to help me cut the clips and post them. That's a full-time job.

That's a full-time job. You've got to tell me, obviously, if it's taking too long. I don't think it's going to cut the clips. I think it takes as long as it takes. No, as long as it takes. What do you think the price should be set at? $100? $100. $100.

Letta. You know what? I'm not going to set a price because it's a charity. That's a lot. I don't want to be that guy. You guys could set the price. The fact that you're going to put yourself out there for every struggle kid. Because I don't care about my story.

I'm doing it for every struggling kid out there. Okay, so let's say right now I think a good value would be $100 because there's a decent amount of people there with money. If people think it's too expensive just after you hear this interview, maybe lower the price and give us a more fair number that you guys would be comfortable with because the more people the better but geez I might be having to do a lot of reading

well all day they give you four things and you're like this is this is this is my whole nightmare here four paragraphs for me four paragraphs I wouldn't get it done I'd be like fuck you I'm leaving oh my god so if you mention the self esteem thing and it's funny. I mean, I didn't have the same issues as you. I

have that issue as a kid for a different set of reasons, but do you think as you get older and you're kind of having success with the foundation, are you getting self-esteem back? Is that tank getting full? You just referenced the tank. Yeah. You know what? For the first time in my life, I found my purpose. That's awesome, man.

And that's dyslexia. You know what? That's fucking great. My hockey career has given me a platform to go to the White House and speak. And I hope to be in front of Trump here shortly to have these conversations. Like I said, I'm going to do the same thing in Canada. So I know that's my purpose. It's taken me a long time, a lot of pain, dealt with a lot of shit.

So happy to have that purpose. And, yeah, you know, the self-esteem, it's climbing again. You know, I'm not going to write, you know, I'm not going to sit and write an email. All that stuff fucking sucks. Spelling sucks. But the fact that, you know, I can relate to these kids can relate to me. Yeah. You know. And see what you did. But also, you've been a very – these kids can relate to me. Yeah. And see what you did.

But also, you've been a very successful person. You won a cup. You had an unreal NHL career. I mean, you've done so many things that people dream of doing. I mean, does that help build your self-esteem? Is that like a building block, I guess, to feel good about yourself? You know, the hockey, to me – you know, you talked about what we were talking about earlier. Hockey, to me, does nothing compared to being able to have a conversation, you know, with a kid knowing that he's struggling.

Or a parent, you know, I'm on a call just about every day with a new parent struggling with the school system or how to handle the kid. Because back in, you know, if you don't have it, you know, you don't understand it. So, you know, you got to handle kids differently. And if you got two kids, one has and one doesn't, you got to handle kids differently. And if you got two kids, one has and one doesn't, you got to handle them differently. So when I get off a call, I feel great. Yeah, that must feel awesome when you're helping a kid out and you know that a conversation like that

just made the kid feel better. Some conversation that you never had when you were younger. That's got to be an awesome feeling for you. I'm happy to hear that. I really am. That's what I say. Define my purpose and know that's there. And that's what the foundation is.

So for you to put yourself out there for every one of those struggling kids, and not even kids. It's a win-win, buddy. Everyone's going to get some to chuckle. The kids are going to make some money. We're going to get this moving forward. We're going to get all these kids' tanks filled up nice. There we go.

Everyone's going to be having a good time. You know, it's amazing how far that takes a kid when they're struggling. Yeah. It's funny, like you said, I'm a little older than most of you guys here. That wasn't even a concept in the 70s, like self-esteem, self-confidence. It wasn't even a thing that existed. So in a way, it was almost good because you didn't know you were lacking it. You know what I mean? Like, oh, I was supposed to feel this way? No.

So I kind of almost escaped it. It's older, later in life when you realize, fuck, man, I had these fucking issues. And you know, you deal with them later in life when you try to figure it out. So, man, I appreciate your honesty, Soaps. It's been unreal talking to you. It's been a fucking pretty emotional interview, man.

It's been great to hear you pull your hat off. Any guy, it's such a brotherhood of the NHL, and any guy who finishes up his career, and no matter if it's easy on him into his next career or no matter if there's struggles, I'm so happy to see that you've kind of found something, found a purpose, like you said, because we know all of us, it was a long, hard run.

It comes off as very easy at times, but there's struggles, and you went through more struggles than most. So to see where you're at now, I'm really happy for you. For you guys to reach out to me. And you've got to be selling the Papa's Pops. Everyone's got to be buying it. You've got to get on that train. Not before a date.

Not before a date. Listen, I'll give you the cameos. We ain't giving you free ads at the swipe up. You eat it on Instagram every day. Now we're talking. All right, buddy. Well, thank you very much for coming by. Thanks, guys.

I appreciate it. I really appreciate your honesty. It was great. Don't have too much fun here in Chicago. That interview was also brought to you by Tommy John. There are a lot of underwear brands out there that claim to be big on comfort, but if that were true, then why are 75% of men and women dissatisfied with

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20 off your first order that's tommyjohn.com slash chicklets for 20 off tommyjohn.com slash chicklets i want to say a huge thanks to brent sobel man I don't think we ever had a guy open up to that extent. I mean, I don't remember, guys, us talking about an interview like that and just discussing it, like how much we should keep Olet out. And we were going to talk to him and say, hey, Brent, are you sure we want this? And he was like, he texted us before we even got to that. Well, that's why when he tells some of the stories and he tells the story of his falling out with Millberry,

Biz was hilarious because he's like ah we had a falling out and I got traded and you go well go into it and he told us that story and Biz you go oh whoa that took a dark turn

so granted like maybe Mike Milbury would someday want to answer to that or respond to that and maybe he did tell him yeah fucking pay her I don't know

but it'll be interesting to see if there is any stories that come out from it but thanks again to Soaps we appreciate it yeah I mean you know we got him on he interesting to see if there is any stories that come out from it. But thanks again to Soaps. We appreciate it. Yeah. I mean, you know, we had him on.

He said what he said. They're riffle effects, and people want to counter it. Milbury, you want to come on? We'll get a microphone for you. I'd love to get Milbury. My gym buddy. A little bit of quirky stat. We were talking about Joe Pavelski the other day.

We had our buddy Uppy on. He scored his 61st game-winning goal, and he's second to Hank Zetterberg for the most among players drafted in the seventh round or lower. That's a fucking just – again, one of those quirky stats. Hank Zetterberg gets 64 game-winners. But Pavelski, I mean, Uppe was saying the other day, the guy's, what, 30, fucking 234 – what is he, 34 even? I think he's 35, 36. I think he's my age.

You're younger maybe? Out there practicing tips, like first guy on the ice. So it's like absolute professional. But that was just one of those funky stats that jumps out at you. I asked you two before the show. There was a clip. Freddie Anderson looked like he accidentally on purpose knocked his net off. There's a heavy action in his end.

Well, Cam Atkinson on Colorado comes over and he puts it back on the mooring. Have you ever seen a guy actually try it and get away with it like Atkinson did? I believe I've seen Flurry rush to put it back on the mooring. Have you ever seen a guy actually try it and get away with it like Atkinson did? I believe I've seen Fleury rush to put it back on if there's a chance going the other way. But then they changed the rule where it's if the net goes off and there's an opportunity going the other way. The ref will just go take care of it. Well, they'll let the play develop, and then once the play is not a threat, then they'll blow it down.

Well, yeah, but a lot of times now you'll see net goes off in a scrum. In the meantime, puck's gone to the corner, gets broken out. The play goes on and a linesman will come over and fix it. Or the back official. Yeah, either way, a lot of times you'll see a net come off, and if the play is going out of the zone seconds after it, they'll get it done to save a whistle. Sometimes the guys want to get out. They want to get it, they'll get it done to save a whistle. Always, you know,

sometimes the guys want to get out. They want to get to the bar. They got a flight to catch. Let's play a quick game here. A couple speed bags to get after after this one, boys. Let's wrap this thing up. No more whistles, but R.A., I got to ask you. R.A. went viral, quote-unquote viral. In a good way. Yeah, not V.D.

Not the old school way. Viral. You had this crazy Rolling Stones thread with Mick Jagger. And sure as shit, it was Uncut Magazine, which couldn't have worked out any perfectly for more jokes about my uncircumcised penis. Now, tell the viewers who don't have Twitter or social media about this thread you launched on Twitter that ended up going viral. Yeah, I guess it did. It's funny. It actually happened, oh, wait, 11 years ago.

And I just put the magazine away. I forgot about it. What happened was my wife was out shopping. It was my birthday. She had already got me gifts, and she was in her checkout line. She saw a magazine, never heard of it before, saw a Led Zeppelin on it. She's like, oh, I know Brian likes led zeppelin on she's like oh i know brian likes led zeppelin i'll get it for him it's his birthday didn't even see stones written

at the top so she didn't even know stones were in this magazine she had never heard of never seen again bought one issue in her whole life brought it for my birthday so i was i i look at it and i see stones at the top i said oh why you bought me for the stone she goes oh shit i didn't even see that i saw zeppelin on it i said oh no stones i clicked i flipped through it, and there's a review for the Martin Scorsese concert documentary, Shine a Light. And I was like, oh, shit, I was at the second concert where they filmed the documentary. You were there alone, correct? Correct.

That's the funniest part. Oh, yeah, I went down. I got my cousins. You are one of a kind. Concerts alone. My cousin's grandmother on her other side of the family. They had an apartment on the Upper West Side for fucking the donut. I went down, stayed there for nothing.

It was the cheapest donut stick I've ever gotten. Like $45. And it was the best fucking show. Snuck down by the floor. He's lost a million gambling. He's talking about his room for the donut in New York City. What the fuck? Keep going. So I'm looking. I look at the picture. It's a full page picture. And they're taking the bow in the show. And I'm like, wow.

I'm like, that looks familiar. So I dig out my pictures. Like this is when you got pictures developed. Old school. And I look and I'm like, I'm looking at my picture. i'm like wow like i just let me that looks familiar so i dig out my pictures like this is when you got pictures developed old yeah and i look and i'm like i'm looking at my picture i'm like wow these must have been taken like within a second of each other and i look close in the on the photo and i see me in the magazine taking the picture of the stone so when the magazine incredible when the magazine photographer took the picture of the stones he caught me taking the same exact picture i wonder if yours was was second before or second after. That's what he said. Well, I don't know.

Well, you said it was within a minute's time. It was within like a second of each other. So, yeah, they were doing the bow. I don't know if it was before or after. And someone actually said, dude, your up picture is actually better because it's like in the crowd. And also, you're at that level. Right. So, your picture is kind of cool because you're actually – the one not, the one in the magazine was up from up top, right?

Yeah, yeah. So your one is like, you're just looking right at them. You're like, fuck, they should have fucking hired, they should have hired me to outsource the camera crew. And of course, it's Twitter. Honestly, the replies, it really, like, it sounds corny. It warmed my heart. People, like, it was like a hot one. They know a lot of musical fans out there.

Of course, it's Twitter, so there's always one. And one guy's like, oh, you're one of those people who takes down take seats i was like buddy like oh wait because he's not good someone no i had i had a mezzanine ticket like i'm by myself down here wait time out so you should have had the other picture but you ended up getting the front row dude dude that's what you do when you're at a concert by yourself at rockhead you slither down and here's the thing i didn't take anybody's seat by then they let everyone rush the stage. Everyone's standing.

I wasn't taking, I took nothing from nobody. So I stood there, got the picture, but there's all, I just fucking retweeted. I goes, shut up.

Like, he got hammered. He got hammered hard. He did get hammered. So anyways, like it was just such this, this fucking fluke thing. Like again,

the randomness of my wife buying a mag she'd never seen before and the odds of just me being in it and not pitch up my favorite band. It was wild, man. I was kind of, and i tagged jagger and hoping like the stones and as i quote tweeted it the most ra threat of all time yeah i was like the one thing i left out was i ended up getting arrested because i tried breaking into the locker and sneaking backstage i was i was saying jagger look at my tattoo on my thigh and they dragged him out but still a great story

awesome picture yeah he actually snuck into uh the stanley cup room after that too because of the Look at my tattoo on my thigh. And they dragged him out. But still, great story. Awesome picture. He actually snuck into the Stanley Cup room after that, too, because of the same night. It was when the Rangers beat the Canucks. Crazy night. It was a crazy night in June of 94. Oh, man. Hey, I don't know. Changing gears.

I don't know if you guys seen Minnesota's Jordan Greenway get bundled the other night by Edmonton's Josh Archibald. They're all getting bundled, apparently. Not sure if he lost any chicklings, but whatever he has left, he'll definitely want to clean with Quip. That's a BU, boy. Oh, shit, dog. I like that. If I was that guy, I would have

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Go right now to getquip.com slash chicklets. Boys, how about these organics? That's a palace. Hey, I will say, you bring a lot of things to the podcast, but your ability to do that. I mean, Whitney's not bad, but imagine it was me and you, and they're like, no, no, we want Biz to read it. We're going to actually pull the ad.

We're not going to pay for that. You mentioned Patrick Brigham. Oh, man. I am so happy for this guy. I remember when we originally talked about it on the podcast. I talked about the amount of respect I could have for someone to walk away from what he walked away from because truly he wasn't happy. I'm assuring most hockey fans and in former players your dream is to get to the national hockey league well patrick berlin did that and he found out of himself in an

environment where he just was not enjoying life and he left the nhl lifestyle he left his big contract and now he's back in sweden playing for a team i i don't even want to do with the disrespect of trying to pronounce it, but he's back playing in the SHL. Playing with Gergarden. Gergarden, and he's played 12 games so far. He has six goals and an assist.

One of his goals ended up going viral the other day, and I saw that, and I'm just like... Sick penalty shot. Forsberg move. Forsberg move.

Shout out to... How do you... Fopa? Fopa. Fopa. Weopa. Fopa. We love to get him. He's the white. He's the.

We got a couple of white whales. He's one of the white whales. But Bergie, if this somehow message gets back to you, we love you. We're so happy you're doing better. And but if that's where you want to ride into the sunset, do it, baby. And what's cool is that at the time i didn't know and nobody really knew anything but i didn't know if maybe he didn't like hockey anymore uh maybe it was the lifestyle for me to even guess what it was isn't fair but it shows he it wasn't hockey he still loves the

game because he's back home playing maybe it was just being back home around family and friends because it looked like he was having a lot of fun now granted this clip is after a sick shootout goal or a penalty shot goal so of course he's going to be smiling but it looked like he was having a lot of fun. Now, granted, this clip is after a six shootout goal or a penalty shot goal. So, of course, he's going to be smiling. But it looked like the guy's enjoying himself. The crowd, those Swedish crowds are sick. Soccer style, chanting the whole time. So, like you said, perfectly said,

there's a hell of a player who's now found a lot of happiness and peace, it seems, in Sweden. Well, I mean, you know what? You played in a foreign land. You know what I mean? And it's like some guys just fucking, it's not for everybody all the time. There's nothing like being home i mean i don't care there's russian guys who every summer they probably just cannot wait because it's there to go home is like when you're living abroad no matter how much money you're making there's stuff that you miss in life

and then and now and yeah you live this incredible life where you get you know all these incredible flights and meals and money. But still, it's not home. It's not where you grew up. It's not where a lot of people are at their most – being their most comfortable. So I think for him right now, it's probably a great feeling to be back where he always felt like he should be. Love it.

And while we're sending best wishes, we want to send best wishes to our Hockey Hall of Fame at Dale Howichuk. He was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer. It's something, you know, we're all touched by these days. Everybody has a relative, family member who unfortunately has to deal with it. We just want to keep it short and simple. We just want to send the love and support Dale Howarchuk's way. He's got a fight on his hands, and we're fucking obviously supporting him.

And for anyone who isn't aware of hockey history, go check out Dale Howarchuk's stats. And I guarantee you, for the most part, you'll say, what? Maybe one of the most unheralded players of the last 30 years. That is a quiet 1,400 points. 1,400 points. So to do that and to know what he's battling through right now shows, as we said, Visobel brotherhood, and we're thinking of him and all of his family.

And I got one on a personal note. When I went to the 08 Cup in Pittsburgh, sorry to bring up bad memories, it was a fellow Barstool reader, Tim D. This kid reached out to me, and I never really trusted the internet before. I thought I was getting catfished. This kid was like, hey, you really coming to the game tonight?

I said, yeah. This kid was like, all right, call this hotel, say you work here. I got like a $90 room at the Holiday Inn. He picked me up at the airport, took me to the, what's's the place the primanti brothers got took me to lunch picked up the tab had a couple beers dropped me off right at the igloo he was a barstool guy best hospitality in the world it's like he was perfect representative of pittsburgh well he lost his pop the other day and he's you know he's a guy who's i've known for a long time i just want to send my the deepest condolences out to him we've had a long time relationship I just want to send my deepest condolences out to him. We've had a long time relationship. Again, 08 the Cup was

and he's like a perfect, I think, epitome of what Bostel is in a lot of ways. Like just a good guy who just off for a good time and again, it's a personal thing to me. I just want to send him my condolences. Very well said. Pittsburgh, believe me, I feel your fucking pain and no, I'm not talking about the Penguins

and the injuries and the man games lost that they're dealing with. They're most through eight games since 1990. I'm talking about the lack of Pink Whitney. Oh, fuck that. We're going to figure this out. The state of Pennsylvania is a fucking joke. I'm sorry. Philly, scumbag, dirtbag,

gross place. Pittsburgh, beautiful, wonderful people, awesome place to live. But you're still part of the same state. And there is an issue there, but it will be there in November. I'm not saying November 1st. I'm not saying November 10th. November, you'll get Pink Whitney. But I'm sorry, because I feel like Pittsburgh would be...

We owe them an appearance. We owe them... I want to go back there. No, I'm telling you, Amsterdam. I want to go back to Pittsburgh. New Amsterdam's been grinding for us, and we're very appreciative of everything they've done. And that's why we got some good news about Canada. We got some good news about Canada. Biz, I don't know if you want me to

read it or if you want to read the email we received today, but... I'll let you read it because obviously I'll struggle with that. Because Biz has been dealing with... Out of all of us, Biz gets the most heat about the Pink Whitney stuff because people see him at rinks. He's got so many... The social

media following you have. You catch the most flack of when will this be in Canada. Well, and I'm Canadian. And you're Canadian, exactly. And believe me, you Canadian listeners, you're half of our fan base.

And I said it on Instagram today. I said it eats me alive that the Canadian side can't enjoy the experience of what we're doing and the content we're creating and the interviews we're getting with guys and also share it with the drink. Because to me, I get emotional about it.

And as silly as it sounds because it's an alcoholic beverage, but a lot of your fun times are through drinking. When you're buckled. When you're buckled with your buddies. You know what? You don't have many stories after eating a couple salads with your buddies. You have stories of crushing some pink kidneys. Is that an Animal House line?

I don't know. I heard that somewhere. I recycle every line. It's fucking coming and it's coming soon. Canada, you were listening to this on October 24th. We're recording the 23rd. There's 31 days in October. So 24 minus 31, thank you, 7.

Add that on 18. Okay? 7 plus 18, 25 25 25 days nova scotia new brunswick british columbia alberta manitoba saskatchewan you will have pink whitney we are promised 11 18 it could be a couple days before it could be a couple days after hopefully not but 11 18 is your day 25 days from when you're listening to right now you six provinces will be able to crush this drink. We have been given their word, which is great for us

to hear. Now, Ontario, a wonderful province where biz was born and raised, gets a lot of kills there every summer. We're still waiting on approval. The Ontario government, whatever, who knows what's going on there. We don't have an exact date for you yet, but we're working hard on that. And Quebec, fucking Quebec biz. They tried to leave your country once. We don't have an exact date for you yet, but that is, we're working hard on that. And Quebec, fucking Quebec biz.

They tried to leave your country once. We don't have an answer for you there, for the Quebec people yet. We're trying to get Groschick, let's say, in Quebec too.

Now granted, the language barrier is probably a little bit of an issue, but trying to get a little bit bigger there. We don't have an answer for those two provinces,

but those six that I did mention, you got 25 days and it'll be there. And of course, the strictest of liquor laws BC, Ontario guys I am going to do everything I can I'm going to find out who makes the decisions at the top

I'm going to say hey we're going to be doing some good things we're going to be doing cancer charities we're going to be doing the road hockey game to conquer cancer that I did with Scotiabank a month ago we're going to try to do a collab and we want to do some good things. Let's move this thing along. Let's all have all

hockey fans enjoying this thing and let's take this thing to the fucking moon. So bear with me. That is my home province. I am now I'm putting on the paint under my eyes. What do they call that? That's called war paint. Okay. I'm putting it on right now.

Full metal jacket. Let's fucking go. Pink Whitney announcement. We're coming to camp. You kind of remind me of Gomer Pyle. The one from Full Metal Jacket or the actual Gomer Pyle? I don't know. Who's Gomer Pyle?

The Gomer Pyle. What was the TV show in the 60s? Isn't that the guy's name? Who's the fat guy who blows himself away in Full Metal Jacket? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. The two Gomer P pile, I guess. You remind me of the fucking sergeant, you asshole. Anyway.

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Yeah, it's one of the best. It's incredible. I just got a text from Adrian Acoin. We're going to be sitting down with him tomorrow morning. I know we're live in the podcast right now. So we have been banking some interviews in Chicago. Guys, we got a big dog. Go ahead.

We got a big dog. I know you're excited. Go ahead. You hear Gamma Acoin? I got to do the Gamma Acoin. Go ahead, buddy. Guys, we got a big dog. Go ahead. We got a big dog. I know you're excited. Go ahead. You got your gambling corner? I got to do the gambling corner. Go ahead, buddy. Okay, we'll do gambling corner, then we'll tease. That's kind of why I did the ad before.

Okay, all right. Sorry. All right, just a quick one this week. And again, I got a little trip the other day. I said to BetVegas, if Marc-Andre Fleury starts. He didn't start, so it should be obvious there was no action. People were like, well, how the fuck am I supposed to know? It's very easy.

What's it? Left wing lock. Daily face off. Google. Twitter. Check the goalies because that's the key to this bet. If John Gibson starts in Dallas tonight, the emphasis on if. Take Anaheim on the money line.

He got lit up last game and he got pulled. And number one guys typically respond the next game, their next start, with a pretty good start. That's what I'm expecting. Again, if Gibson gets the start. Another road team. You know what? Sometimes I don't even – it doesn't even matter.

It's just I zone in on, like, Gibson. Like, he got embarrassed, I think, the other day when you look at those numbers. And if he's starting, he's going to come back. I think he's a legit number one goalie. I'm expecting a better result, and that's who I'm going with. So I'm taking Dallas. My only player is on the money line right now. Maybe a little some on the puck line, but my official wager is on the money line.

So let's go, John Gibson, if you do get the start in Dallas Thursday night. That's the pick. All right. Whoa. We got one more gambling corner for R.A. I must... No, no, no.

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Restrictions apply. Visit betmgm.com for the full list of terms and conditions. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Sorry, I have to do that. It's a sentence thing. I got to. All right.

You shouldn't have closed Gambling Corner because there's going to be some more gambling going on on Thursday night. No, no. Yeah. That was just for now. We can talk more gambling. I just want to get the No, no. But there's a more legitimate gambling situation that's going to happen on the ice. R.A.'s hitting the NHL ice. Oh my god.

At the United Center. With a hell of a crowd. The Madhouse on Madison. So for all the people that think they're going to see a smoke show shooting the Red Lion shot, you're going to get R.A. not some smoke show. You might get big tits. You ain't getting a smoke show. Okay?

R.A.'s man tits will be hitting the ice. All of our man tits will be hitting center ice. Just pizza box ass. Tonight, because you'll be listening to this tomorrow morning, tonight at the United Center, myself, Grinnell, R.A., and Mr. Pink Whitney himself will all be shooting from center ice like Mr. T did, like Taylor Pyatt's wife's friend did when they ended up meeting in Chicago that one night at my rookie party.

And we want you guys to wager on it. I don't think R.A. hits the net, first of all. I'm very good at these little games. Grinnell, you have a little bitch wrist. There's no way you can even get it to the net. And Witt's got weak ankles, so we're going to

put up a pull. This has nothing to do with ankles. I will be snapping the puck around. They might sign me to a PTO after they see me pass tomorrow night. Yeah, down to Rockford. I'll be fucking starting with Pat and Caden. Where's their coast team? No idea, but they're not going to bring out the three-hole net. They're going to bring out the one hole right in the middle of the net.

Size of the puck. Size of the puck. And all four of us are going to get a few cracks at it. And guys can vote on twitter or on instagram or wherever the fuck granelli's going to post this thing but if you guys are wise you're going to pick pick the young stud who retired maybe a little bit early and the coyotes might want back in the lineup who had two assists one time in edmonton and got 11 minutes game i need a good lefty twig then tomorrow thursday i'm a lefty oh you guys twigs for you guys you guys pick who you got, but I tell you what, what's our rate? 10,000 to one?

I'll take that action. I mean, I'll play that action. If he sits there and shoots that shot 10,000 times, he hits one of them. That's a law. I mean, I think if you were to actually do Vegas odds, it's like 2,000 to one. I mean, it's like if you throw it down and you hit the net, boom, the chances go way up. It's like he could do it. I don't think he will, but he

could. I say for sure money would be on the fact that he's going to miss the net on one of the two shots. Oh, you get two? Oh, I'm definitely getting it. We'll have this video. We will post all of this. I'm going to come out there like Hulk Hogan. I might wear a fucking

coyote's jersey on that ice dude that's the thing like do you get i might wear it wait time out i'm gonna wear a fucking raffy torres you want to you want to see me turn that fucking building upside down sean avery you think you turned up msg got booed there oh he'll be getting the wrath i'll get a rap we also want to send a huge thank you to the Chicago Blackhawks for taking care of us this week. They're awesome Should we say who we interviewed today? Are we saving that? No, we gotta tease it. We told them we would

Dude No, no You could have said it. It's the fact that we were able to recently get Mike Richards who is the guy who is different from this player because he's retired, but quiet. The sense that you don't hear a ton from him when he does interviews. They're pretty, I don't know, like...

Vanilla? Yeah, like, just don't say much. He wants to go about his business. They answer the questions they were asked. Well, a similar guy and a future Hall of Famer, Duncan Keith, we got to interview him. And I knew him well enough to know he's a quiet guy if you don't know him. But he came on here and was hilarious. He's got that monotone voice, told some great stories.

We got about 45 minutes with him. And I'll tell you, Kirby Doc came in. We got to do him, third overall pick from this summer, who was as candid and open as a young 18, 19-year-old could be. And when he came in, we realized we kind of had to wrap it up with Keith, and we could have done another hour and a half. We didn't even really get to the third Stanley Cup. So we went through the beginning, his youth, and a lot of that.

I thought it was a blast to talk to him. So you've got some great Chicago Blackhawks content coming up, and this week in Chicago has been fabulous for us. So I think the party will be great tonight. Hopefully people swing by in the Chicago area, Benny's, and we'll see you guys soon enough. We'll see some of you Chicago fans at the Blackhawks game because we will be attending it. I believe we're in a box. Not the only box you'll be in this week, Bess.

As the camera crew we hired are like, what is wrong with these guys? They're sitting on my bed. There's enough DNA on that thing to create another human being. I hope you guys are aware of that. Jesus. All right. We got another interview coming up. I'm just kidding.

I went to bed early last night. We got to wrap up. We're going to go get something to eat. We're going to be here. We got some more interviews to do this week. I want to send a happy birthday out to Peter Fruit. Not sure if he's listening, but he'll hear about it. Love it.

As always, we would like to thank our sponsors. Guys, ladies, if you're not trying to know, please do. They're great companies. They support us, so please support them. If you want to check out Tommy John, go to Tommy John. The promo code is Chicklets. Go to KettlebellKitchen.com. The promo code there is Chicklets as well.

Go to Quip if you want their equipment. Same promo code, Chicklets. And help support Movember by going to movember.com. Thanks, everybody. Take care. I, I will be king. You, you will be queen. Though nothing, nothing will drop in the wind.

We can be heroes. Just one day. We can be here Just one day