Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 69: Featuring Amanda Kessel
Episode Date: March 9, 2018On this week's episode, Team USA Women's Hockey gold medal winner Amanda Kessel joins the show. She opens up about her huge shootout goal, the endless tour after winning the gold, whether there was an...y fear that USA Hockey would challenge the Women's Team boycott threat, the sick OT save by Maddie Rooney that saved their bacon, and much more. RA and Whits open up with the crazy KHL thread that went viral overnight on Wednesday, the David Backes suspension, Ron Francis getting kicked upstairs, and the NHLPA players poll. They finish up with #ARH questions and some Oscar talk.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
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.
This week's episode is brought to you by MyBookie.
What's up, guys and gals?
It's time to talk to you about a boatload of money you can make this week betting at MyBookie.
If you haven't checked them out yet, it's the perfect time of year to get into the action because, you know why?
March Madness is here.
Conference championships already started up.
That's the ball rolling for you.
You know what?
The tournament's going to be here.
It's some of the best gambling action of the year.
No doubt about it.
Those first two days are insane.
Non-stop games, buzzer beaters.
It's some of the most thrilling gambling you can do.
Lay down some money and score big on college hoops this year.
Join me and thousands of online players and stop betting at mybookie.ag.
Are you sick and tired of getting the runaround from your local guy?
Local shop, you hit up a nice little pop guy, don't want to pay your poly,
whatever gives you the runaround.
None of that bullshit with mybookie today.
Go to mybookie.ag.
They take care of everything.
I'd only recommend the service that's been good to me and our listeners.
That's why I urge you to go to mybookie.
You win, they pay.
Fast, no hassles. It's really
that simple. You're wasting your time going anywhere else. The best part I love is the
in-game bet, man. Second period of a game, you think a team's going to come back, boom,
throw a few shekels on them, they win. You're sitting pretty. So join now and MyBookie will
match your first deposit with a 50% bonus. You can even enter for a chance to win the
million-dollar bracket challenge. Use promo code SPIT to activate off of.
Visit MyBookie today.
Play, win, and get paid.
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to episode...
Nice!
Of Spitting Chicklets.
Oh, 69, I'm an adult.
What up, what up, what up, what up, what up?
How's everyone doing?
You suck, Whitney. Whitney is in Florida, and he took the right week to take fucking off from Boston, man. It sucks up here.
So take fucking off from Boston, man.
It sucks up here.
You guys got crushed.
And, like, let me tell you, when I'm somewhere warm and where I live gets pounded by snow,
I couldn't be happier.
I want it to rain and snow and sleep.
Every day, I'm away from where I live.
I don't care what happens to my friends down there, you know,
except for if their houses get washed off to the sea, like in, like,
my hometown where houses are just getting crushed.
I don't want that to happen.
But in terms of snow, I'm loving that I'm down here in Boca.
I'm like an old Jewish man.
I should find Mr. Portnoy.
Wait, producer Mikey Grinelli, chime in there, buddy.
What's up, boys?
Hello, gentlemen.
What up, buddy?
The only good part is I almost saw a legit fucking Donnybrook in front of my house this morning because of the snow shit.
Dude parked his truck. I didn't know who it was.
My neighbor. I live on a dead end.
Parked his truck on the middle of the street. Left.
Didn't leave it running. He had his key so you couldn't move the car on your own.
And this other guy who
lives a street parallel, but he parks
kind of on my street. He's beeping like
a maniac. That's why I saw what was going on.
And he came to my door. Buddy, ain't my car car i don't know whose it is and he was like fucking
flipping out finally the kid cut the kid whose car was come out and it was my other neighbor
and he guys like what are you doing the old like the guy was blocked and he and my neighbor's like
get the fuck away from me he like opened the door practically he was out she goes if you weren't 108
i'd smack you in the fucking head.
I was like, oh, boy, this is fucking wild.
Like 8 o'clock in the morning.
Full fledged.
You should have recorded it and started screaming like, Worldstar, Worldstar.
It was fucking insanity.
And I'll tell you, though, the guy who was blocked in, he did nothing wrong.
But it just goes to show you, being able, because this guy, he's lived within 50 yards of my house.
I've said hi to him a handful of times.
He's just one of these people who moves to the city and doesn't want to talk to his neighbors.
Fine, if that's your prerogative, that's your prerogative.
I'd be the same way.
I wouldn't let you in my house if I moved next to you for one minute.
All right, fair enough.
I'd be the same way, this guy.
Okay, good.
So then when your car's blocked in and I know whose pickup truck it is, I'm not going to help you out because you hadn't said anything.
No, I have private parking.
I'll have private parking.
Nobody park where I park.
Body fucking die.
All right, let's go to the KHL, Wits.
Last night, a huge Twitter thread from Slava Maliamat, I think you say his name.
He's a Russian.
Who is he?
Who is he?
He always knows everything about the KHL.
He's a Russian hockey journalist.
I don't believe he's in Russia anymore if he's tweeting threads like that
because he'd probably be in the fucking Siberian River somewhere this morning.
But he tweeted out a long stream, a thread, whatever they call it,
of how the KHL is basically rigging this season.
So what is it, KSA?
St. Petersburg, so they call them SCA.
SCA. What is it? KSA? St. Petersburg. So they call him SKA. SKA.
The team that basically was the Olympian athletes from Russia
is essentially the same team that is leading the KHL.
And he was basically going into detail how refs are essentially rigging the game
so this team wins the championship because they're supposedly the pride of Russia.
When in fact, it's just Putin pulling all these strings.
I mean, if you watch the best documentary,
Icarus on Netflix, we already know Putin's a master cheater.
So I guess it's really not insane at all that this is going on.
But just to know that these guys are playing in a rigged league
that you played in, what's your fucking take, man?
I mean, I took a sip of coffee and just like was like nodding to myself like this is Russia, man.
There is no rules over there.
This place is a complete and utter mess.
You can do anything you want.
You can get away with anything.
It doesn't matter.
And it doesn't change with hockey.
And the same thing goes with everyone's taking steroids.
People are doing bad shit over there and it doesn't matter.
So to know that Putin is actually putting this team together, like,
and I think there was a, there was some other players from other teams,
but mainly, yeah, St. Petersburg. It's them and CSK.
So like Seska, they say that's the Moscow team.
They're always the two best teams. Then also there's Magnitogorsk.
That's where Malkin's from. Mike Keenan coached Moscow team. They're always the two best teams. Then also there's Magnitogorsk. That's where Malkin's from.
Mike Keane and coach that team.
They have a really good team every year.
And then there's a couple other teams that are, you know,
always involved in it.
But, you know, Ska's always one of the best.
It's always been that way.
But this year it's just gone to a complete extreme.
And the fact that, like, refs are actually –
so the one thing the Slava guy said,
one of the penalties in the games
was 24 to nothing yeah 20 yeah 24 minutes yep yeah there had been no calls and late in the game
the ref started blowing the whistle 24 minutes 12 penalties for one team and zero for the other
that's like that's almost impossible well and then he showed the replay of a goal that was a puck
clearly i mean there were three inches between the blue line and the puck.
You could see on a goal that should have been disallowed.
I mean, it made the PK Subban overruled goal in the cup last year look like peanuts.
It was so blatant, and they allowed it.
And, you know, this team that they're playing, I can't even pretend to pronounce it.
Oh, that's Sharapovic.
That's Sharapovic, Steverstahl, and Sharapovitz.
This place is the worst place.
It's disgusting.
We had a game there the year I played there on Christmas,
and I had this disgusting, like, half-cooked chicken in the morning,
Christmas morning, and then we went over and slugged over.
It was dark at, like, 2 o'clock.
We slugged over to the rink, to the shithole rink, and played the game.
It's disgusting. I mean, like, the team was terrible they actually made the playoffs this year
they were awful when i was there uh but i mean like them going up against uh scott in the first
round it's like an ahl team playing an nhl club like it's not even and they actually put they put
up a good fight they're down they're gonna get swept so putting up a good fight is basically keeping the games close
with referees calling it against you so i mean it's just it's just no surprise i mean guys
whenever anything like ridiculous happened over there there'd be like stuff you're like what is
going on right now in the airport and the russian guys would just say they just shrug at you say
it's russia it's Russia.
Like, there's no rules.
Yeah, it's, I mean, you know, when you're living under a dictatorship
who plays favorites, that's what happens.
And, you know, a lot of the guys in the NHL,
some of the guys in the NHL, the big Putin guys,
they align themselves with them because that's what people do
with powerful, corrupt people.
Like, I mean, I know Ovechkin, he doesn't really get a lot of shit
in this country, but he's aligned himself pretty pretty well with who didn't you know i mean it's
like i was if i was a famous hockey player from russia i would be too i mean i yeah he's the
local godfather you're not going against the man over there yeah exactly unless you never
plan on going back to russia i mean you know journalists have been dropping dead any dissent
is dropping dead it's it's it's fucking insanity and now to Russia. I mean, you know, journalists have been dropping dead. Any dissent is dropping dead.
It's,
it's,
it's fucking insanity. And now he's,
he's got his,
you know,
dirty fingers and he's ruining,
you know,
a hockey league.
And it sucks for guys who are doing the right thing.
And guys on teams that aren't,
you know,
that aren't rigged and corrupt.
And,
you know,
guys who would like,
you know,
Americans like you,
expats who would just went over there to,
well,
for what we can call blood money now,
but like,
you know,
trying to make a living.
And it's like get some competition.
And it's a fucking rigged game, man.
It's just, I don't know.
It was kind of depressing to read on a level as well.
It's like this is crazy.
I mean, it's a fake league.
It's not.
I mean, I actually would be scared to have written that stuff if I was that guy.
Like even being in the U.S., I feel like some Russian dude would just
find me down in Boca as I'm trying to
get a little sun on my milk bag
body and just put a hit on me. Right in
Boca from a KGB guy. I'd be
scared. I really would be.
I didn't think that dude from fucking Icarus feels
every day, huh?
He could come up dead soon. Who knows?
I just think that
it would be awesome, though, if somehow, you know,
they end up playing one of those good other teams that are pretty good
and they lose.
I mean, you can only rig a game to some point, right?
I mean, like, you can call a million penalties on another team,
but a team can still win if they have another good enough team with a roster,
some guys that can kind of compete with Datsuk and the rest of the,
Kovalchuk and all those SCAR guys.
I think that theory is really
going to be put to the test in Russia
because the corruption is just so
deep and everywhere.
You just don't know what to expect.
It's a crazy situation, but
just switching gears, in the NHL,
almost to remind the world
that no hockey league is perfect,
they went and suspended David Backus for three games for a hit on Franz Nielsen,
which did injure him.
I saw the hit during the game.
I didn't even think of supplemental discipline.
It all happened quickly.
Three games for Backus on that hit.
What was up with that?
What's your take, brother?
I mean, I understand it i i do it's different now because once they once
they started calling like anything close now it seems like you're getting the game because
when i saw the hit naturally right away i'm like oh it doesn't look that bad but then once you see
right away he has the uh the hearing you're like oh he's gonna get suspended it's just it's just so much easier for for the league now to suspend guys and we saw it with Pagliano too
it's like when in question suspend that's just kind of pretty much what it's been turned into
um it sucks because guys lose so much money that's what's just like so infuriating is that
you know these suspensions aren't just you you know, they hurt the team, a guy's out, but people lose a ton of money.
And you're like, God, like, did he really deserve like three games?
I mean, maybe a game. I don't know. It's just, it's,
it happens so fast and when you slow things down,
it looks so much worse than it is. That's pretty much what happened.
The one thing I will say about Bagg is there was really no need to hit him.
I mean, it was like, he didn't need to hit that guy at all.
I mean, he's trying, I guess, to get a hit in after he moves the puck.
But he was on his way to change.
So it's like he kind of went out of his way to do that.
To get three games, probably a little excessive.
But see, what I think the issue is, again, we've been talking about it for years,
is the inconsistency.
It's that, you know, it was a hit where he kept his shoulders down.
Yeah, it was definitely late.
I don't think it was high because he made an effort to stay low.
He kind of caught him almost instantly.
Yeah, I think it caught him in a little bit of the chin.
I think it caught him in a little bit of the chin.
It definitely caught his head.
I don't think there was any intention there.
And I'll go back a week ago.
You know, Patrick Hornquist, high hit on Charlie McAvoy, blatantly catches him in the head.
And there's no supplemental discipline.
And I know Bob, I'm broken, Bruins, blah, blah, blah.
It's just two similar players.
And that's the most recent obvious one that I'm coming to.
See, I don't think they had similar hits at all.
I don't.
No, I'm similar in that the heads were hit on both of them.
That's what I'm getting at.
If the league wants to clean up head hits,
how do you give back as three games for that
and nothing to point quiz for hitting ahead of the other thing?
There's just no consistency on it.
Yeah, the consistency part is tough.
I do think that on that hit, it was mainly –
now, this is me guessing.
I don't know.
But if I'm looking at that, it is like so unnecessary and late. So it's more like maybe the hit, the actual hit part isn't that bad because the shoulder's low, maybe catch the middle of the chin. But it's just he went so out of his way and hit him so late that that's where they probably were, you know, pissed off. I'm using quotations as the disciplinary committee. I mean, but I'll tell you, it's true because you said the Hornquist hit on McAvoy.
I mean, that's different.
The puck was there, but it is tough to determine differences now.
I mean, for regular fans, I mean, it is hard to say.
Like, those look exactly the same.
So that's when I think inconsistency people talk about of just not being able to know.
Right.
You just can't figure it out on your own.
Exactly. Is the league against the hits completely or are they going to allow some to go that some incidental hits to go and others that are, you know, part of the game?
To me, it's don't be late. It was the same thing with Pagliano.
That the thing with Pagliano, they said it was late. And that's the same with Bacchus. If it's not late, I feel like they're more lenient.
It's more about doing it, you know,
at too late of a time from when the puck's been moved.
Right. Okay. That's good input.
And I guess, you know, that's what I'm guessing.
That's what you see. You see the late hits.
Those are the ones that are getting the games.
Right. Okay. That's a good point.
And I guess the other point with Bacchus is his complete lack of history.
He's never been suspended.
He's got a, yeah, he's obviously played his game with some snarl and some chippiness,
but he's never been a dirty player.
So, you know, he is a guy with no history, not even in the last 18 months where they
can give you, you know, more time.
I think that's okay.
You're going to suspend them fine.
But the three games, it just seemed excessive for what we saw.
But again, it's just the, like they call it, the NHL wheel of justice.
One other quick note, a little late, as we always do, tradition here at Spit and Chicklets.
We do have a gold medal winner joining us shortly.
Amanda Kessel from Team USA, women's gold medal winning team, will be joining us shortly.
I meant to mention that from the top.
Yeah, we just got it.
We forgot.
That's true.
We had a great, great interview with Amanda.
She's very gracious, and we probably should have mentioned that a little earlier,
but that's us.
Back to the NHL quickly.
Looking at the standings, I decided I've made a call that we have 14 of the 16
playoff teams.
I think the top seven in the East and the West are pretty much in,
and I think the eighth spot is being fought for in both conferences.
So it's pretty exciting.
I mean, you've got at least three teams on both ends of the East
of the Conference and the West of the Conference that are fighting
for that eighth spot.
So it's going to be a fun ending.
And I look to the first wildcard team in the East who I think is in,
and that's Jersey.
And Taylor Hall, dude, we have to keep mentioning him.
Maybe we can keep pushing this MVP talk.
This streak is still going.
I saw an article on NHL.com comparing it to Wayne Gretzky in 83 and 84.
He's carrying the New Jersey Devils.
Like, you haven't seen a guy carry a team in quite a long time.
I mean, when was the last time you could think of somebody dominating like this
end of the year to get his team in the playoffs
and carrying them every game? I think of
Corey Perry, the year he scored over
15 in Anaheim, and he won the MVP
that year. So I'm really
starting to believe Halsey could possibly
be the favorite right now.
I mean, obviously, Joe Thorton
getting traded to San Jose and went on to win the
MVP that year is, you know, getting traded fueled him, but it's been impressive as hell. I mean, obviously, Joe Thorton getting traded to San Jose and went on to win the MVP that year. Getting traded fueled him.
But it's been impressive as hell.
I mean, Jersey, I don't think people had them doing much this year.
Taylor Hall is almost single-handedly during the franchise round.
And if you're an Edmonton fan, how much hair do you have left in your head?
Because you probably pulled all of it out by now, right?
Oh, you're so mad.
Basically, if you're an Edmonton fan you just have to like
think of me sometimes you just like come at me on Twitter like you got you got nothing and people
try saying at Edmonton like oh no we're still looking good dude they are a slow team they are
the fastest team in the end they have they have the fastest player in the history of hockey
in McDavid and they're the slowest team in the league, I think. So, I mean, I saw a report.
Somebody tweeted out, clutch win for the Oilers
as they hold on and beat the Coyotes 3-1.
It's like Tuesday night.
I retweeted, can you please explain to me how this is clutch?
If anything, it was unclutched because now you just gave a team
who's lower than you another game in hand in terms of finishing in last place.
Like, they're just such a mess.
And Eberle's doing, you know, good things at the Islanders.
The Islanders can't get a save.
They can't not – they can't, like – they can't ever hold a team
to two goals or one goal.
It's like – so that team's – I think they're pretty much done this year.
But Eberle's still – he's had a good year.
So the Oilers are not having Hall or Eberle anymore.
It's like, if you're looking at Pete Shirella,
you have to just be shaking your head like,
what did we do?
What happened here?
We were set.
We were set up front.
And now it's like we got this guy dominating.
He's going to win the MVP, and we trade away for Adam Larson.
A solid D-man, a solid defense, and nothing against him.
But he's not Taylor Hall.
It's crazy.
One for one.
One for one. And one other team, they've been on Taylor Hall. It's crazy. One for one. One for one.
And one other team, they've been on a tear since basically late December, early January.
It was the Florida Panthers, man.
They're two points back at Columbus for the eighth seed with three games at hand.
They've been playing tremendous hockey.
They got Roberto Luongo back.
Alexander Dabakoff, man, he's a guy who doesn't get talked about enough, as we'll actually
get to a little later.
He's been on a ridiculous tear. Trochek, a spitting a little later. He's been on a ridiculous tear.
Tro checkup, spit and check us in one night.
He's been having an unreal season.
So I think they're going to end up taking that last eight seed,
and how good of a series would them and Tampa be for a first round?
It would be.
That would be awesome.
They played the other night.
So I actually had dinner with our boy Keith Yandel last night,
and I'm heading to the Panthers-Canadians game tonight.
This is Thursday we're recording.
So I'll be at the BB&T Center.
I'm kind of pissed.
I don't have a spitting chiclet shirt to wear,
so I was going to maybe try to interview fans from Montreal
and just shit on them in English,
hoping they didn't speak English.
But I guess that won't work.
But I think the Panthers, the whole team,
when Luongo came back from injury,
he got hot, and this team's just going to run.
Like you said, Barkov, he's top five player in the league.
Like, I'll talk to Keith Yandel once in a while,
and he says it's just insane to watch him every single night.
He scored some ridiculous goals, set people up, defensive forward,
so he can do it all.
Well, now we do have Amanda Kessel.
We did get to interview her.
Let's send it over to gold medal winning hero for Team USA, Amanda Kessel.
This week's interview is brought to you by Tommy John.
Spring is in the air.
Ball games, barbecues, and spring cleaning.
Change things up this year and treat yourself.
Throw out all those old multi-pack boxes and God forbid you're still on tighty-whities.
Get rid of those too and get the unbelievable comfort of tommy john tommy john's committed to providing unparalleled comfort not only in their undergarments but in all of their
incredible apparel as well the best pair you'll ever wear or it's free guarantee if it's not the
most comfortable underwear you or your listeners have ever worn tommy john will foot the bill
i have a couple pairs myself they're great they keep everything snug down there especially when you get a little the
guys things might hang a little lower than than they normally did gravity starts to take its
toll but tommy john keeps everything in a nice comfortable package so to speak uh definitely
the most comfortable underwear i'm wearing these days i can't recommend them enough
it's you know revolutionary clothing company for the modern man. They make the greatest underwear on the
planet. They eliminate bunching,
squishing, riding up. No more wedgies, man.
If you're a guy in your 20s or 30s,
you shouldn't be dealing with wedgies. If you've got
Tommy John, you don't have to deal with any of that.
Can your boxes say that? I don't think
so, man. I can't get rid of my
boxes quick enough. Tommy John
also completely reimagined t-shirts with
silky soft second skin
tees. Vibrant colors and modern fit premium fabrics make second skin tees a must-have.
Best of all, they're wrinkle resistant and they never shrink. That's huge if you're a big t-shirt
guy like myself. Tommy John's even got socks that stay up all night and lightweight undershirts that
never come untucked. Words can't do Tommy John justice. You got to try this stuff for yourself
and you can thanks to Tommy
John's best pair you'll ever wear, or it's free guarantee. Tommy John, no adjustment needed.
Hire you to TommyJohn.com slash chicklets for 20% off your first order. That's TommyJohn.com
slash chicklets, C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S, for 20% off the most comfortable clothing items imaginable,
only at TommyJohn.com slash chicklets.
And now we're very pleased to bring in, fresh from Pyeongchang, Korea,
gold medal winning from the U.S. women's team, Amanda Castle.
Amanda, welcome to Spit and Chicklets.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
So, Amanda, congratulations.
I want to say,
you know,
I'm so proud.
I have a silver medal.
I mean,
it's not a big deal anymore,
but just to have the gold.
Congratulations.
I can't believe it.
It was so exciting to watch.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Now that obviously you scored a huge goal during the shootout.
It wasn't the team.
U.S.
Wasn't on the,
it wasn't their final shot,
but you,
you kind of almost in a do or die situation now you know we obviously you had a
tough history with our concussions did that goal you scored in the gold medal
did that wipe away any part of like all the tough
concussion history you had or wipe any of that away or was it just
like uh you didn't even think about that because everything was so great when you
scored that goal yeah not that I connected them at all or thought about that, I guess.
Just was thinking about our team and trying to help the team in any way I could.
I was originally supposed to shoot fifth, and then I think one or two people had gone,
and they were like, oh, you're going fourth.
I don't know why that was or how that worked out, but I was just happy I could score for the team.
I mean, dumb question, but the biggest goal you ever scored in your life?
Yeah, by far.
That's my co-host.
Dumb question, but I'll ask it anyways.
That's why I love him.
But listen, I actually was shocked because leading up to the tournament,
you guys had, now I'm not exactly sure, so I'm going to ask you,
was it a seven-game with Canada yep okay and then you won the first one and was it lost the next six right
yeah in the seven game series we beat them at four nations for the championship there and then
um yeah we had a tough time with them for a few games yeah so when you're going into the gold
medal game,
I mean, the round robin game was one thing,
but are you guys so confident because the games have been so close,
or is there a part of you in your head that's like,
God, this team is dominant?
I mean, I know the attitude in the room is you're all so together
and ready to play, but was it such close games
that you knew you could beat them at any moment,
or was it like, God, this team has really had our number?
Yeah, it's actually almost the opposite.
I think that we thought that we had their number.
It was our time.
Yeah.
Our preliminary game against them, because we hadn't been playing well against them,
and that game gave us a lot of confidence, even though we lost.
I think we outshot them 2-1.
Yeah, so, I mean, I just watched Canada play in the first game in the preliminary, and and i said i can't like if the u.s were to lose this game it's so fine because
they're so due against them and that's what ended up happening but um leading into the game i mean
when the game started you get out to that one goal lead how did the team like respond when they tied
it up and going forward into the overtime what was the discussion on the bench and how did that go
i think getting out of that first period won nothing it was
I don't want to say it but the only word is a little bit lucky we had a lot of
power play opportunities and we honestly weren't playing our best hockey and I think
even when they tied it up it's when we were starting to play better midway
through the second started to kind of I thought dominate
them towards the end of the game.
Amanda, I thought one of the
most spectacular parts of the gold medal game was
the goaltending.
Maddie Rooney and Shannon Sabato
just an unbelievable
all-time effort by both goaltenders.
Now, Maddie Rooney is only 20 years old.
I believe she was the youngest member of the team.
What's it like with having
so many veterans on the team?
A lot of you ladies lost not only in 2014, but the previous one before that.
I know you weren't on the previous squad before that.
But what was the vibe like when everyone's relying on this 20-year-old kid,
the youngest kid on the team?
Was that just the utmost confidence in it because you had seen her so much?
What was the vibe going on with that?
I think she actually gave us confidence she's one
of those kids it's like the shootout and she's out there at the gold medal game in olympics and
she's out there like laughing and smiling at the biggest game of her life so that's what we thought
was really cool about our younger group is they didn't have that feeling of losing they didn't
know what it felt like so they so they i, almost had like a fresh mindset coming in the tournament.
Yeah, it was just, like you said,
you're watching her during these huge, you know, biggest saves ever of her career.
She's smiling.
She's laughing.
And one other thing, too, is that save she made in overtime with about a minute left,
I don't think that's gotten nearly enough players it should.
I mean, they gave the replay during the game right after.
But it was, to me, one of the greatest saves in olympic history and hockey
history was you know going from her left to right got a stick on a shot canadian play at a wide open
net i mean i just feel like that that save has not been talked about nearly enough yeah you're
right i think it's almost been forgotten but that save is incredible and uh save the game there i think i think the canadian girl put her arms up even thinking that it was in and but that save is incredible and saved the game there.
I think the Canadian girl put her arms up even thinking that it was in.
But that's Maddie for you.
She's just an unbelievable athlete, and she's never going to give up on a play.
So give me the immediate celebration after.
Was it family and stuff right down in the locker room?
I've always been told because I was a scrub and never won a Stanley Cup that they do a moment of where it's just the team for a
little bit when they're at least on the road so was it that or from the from the time the gold
medal was won it was uh family around and the team was really not together alone again
yeah um so there we were on the ice for probably a good hour afterwards, taking pictures and everything.
And then going through the media zone at the Olympics, especially then, was insane.
So I think it took about 30, 45 minutes by the time we had our whole team in the locker room.
So people were filing in.
And during that time, we just had music and some beers in the locker room hanging out.
And I don't know what happened, but we had non-alcoholic champagne in there.
What?
Oh, my God, USA Hockey.
What is that?
I know.
I still don't know the story of what happened with the champagne.
But, yeah, we were just having beers hanging out in the locker room,
and we saw family maybe eight, nine hours after the game,
and then we were going on tonight shows right after that.
I was going to ask, so give me the tour of, I don't know,
I guess Hollywood or media.
What have you done since this ended?
Were you on Ellen?
Yeah, our entire team was on Ellen.
We flew right from South Korea
there. Went to LA
Kings games.
Came back. We went on Jimmy Fallon.
Met
some really cool people like Megan Trainor.
She was amazing.
Serena
and Venus Williams.
I think that was probably
the biggest highlight of almost everyone on our team. Serena and Venus Williams, I think that was probably the biggest highlight of almost everyone on our team.
Serena Williams, just like huge next to you guys.
She looks like a truck.
Yeah, she's very strong.
It was amazing to watch her.
We wanted her to serve against us, but that didn't happen.
Amanda, about a year ago this time, Team USA women's team was in a much different situation.
You ladies were threatened to boycott the World Championships
because you weren't happy with the situation that USA Hockey,
the stipends and funds and what have you.
Obviously, it was justified.
Your team threatened to boycott
so not playing the World Championships.
Was there any fear that USA Hockey
would just move on from you ladies
and go with another crew?
Or did you know that you were the core
of women's hockey in America
and they couldn't go on without you?
There was a little bit of fear.
I think they, you know,
for a few days maybe thought about it
and tried to.
I think at the end of the day, though,
they wanted the best representation of their country,
and we knew that we had that leverage with the tournament and the state.
On top of the fact they weren't really being equitable
as far as doling out money.
They were giving more money to the men's team,
and they were expecting the same return from the ladies.
Yeah, and that's the thing.
It's not that any of us are expecting to make millions,
or we know we've got to continue to push the game forward
and get what we deserve,
but it's just having some kind of income
where we can train the way that we need to
when we're kind of giving up the rest of our career
because we want hockey to be our career.
It's amazing to see how you guys train now.
Now, her name's Lamereaux.
What's Jocelyn's sister's name, her twin?
Monique.
Yeah, so I think she's married to a former BU hockey trainer,
and I used to see her train.
She's so strong so athletic and girls
hockey's become so much better and I think as you say the training's so important you can't become
an elite level athlete until you're you know given the chance to actually train like one so I think
that's been that's been the major jump in women's hockey and then for you personally like are you
now thinking about playing in the next Olympics like or do you just right now you have no idea
I mean I know you're still so young.
You could if you want to.
Or is that just kind of out of your head for now?
Yeah, definitely already thinking about that.
And winning gold, I didn't even expect it to feel this great.
And, you know, our team just kind of soaked it all in.
And I want to get back there and win another gold medal.
How does it compare to winning a national championship at Minnesota, which you won three of, right?
Yeah, those are amazing, but...
Not a big deal?
Not really comparable. It's by far the best thing that's ever happened.
Amanda, as a younger sibling, you have two older brothers.
Did they ever make you play goalie
when you were a kid?
I know as I was a younger brother,
basically my brother and his friends
would always have a built-in goal
whenever they played hockey.
So did your brothers ever make you
strap the pads on?
No, they didn't.
I think all of us hated playing goalie.
So I'm not sure who we had.
Maybe my dad played goalie.
Wise choice. So what's not sure who he had. Maybe my dad played goalie. Wise choice.
So what's up for the rest of this season and next season?
You play on the New York team.
And how is the NWHL going?
I think the league's doing well.
It's continuing to move forward and kind of getting some buy-in from NHL teams,
which is huge for us.
And really, we're really appreciative of it.
Right now, I'm not on the New York team for this year.
Going to take next month off and enjoy some downtime
and then hopefully come back to the league next year.
Amanda, how long until after you won the gold did uh did it take to you know hear from
Phil and what was that conversation like I think immediately I heard from him and my other brother
um it was a he sent a heartfelt message which I don't know if I get those very often just saying
how proud he was of me so that was nice to hear and my other brother was pissed at me for making him sweat that much during the game.
Oh, I mean, yeah, I think to get like a really serious heartfelt note from Phil,
you're like, all right, I got to save this one.
These are few and far between.
But to no surprise, I mean, the careers both of you guys have had.
And your older brother, is it Blake?
Where is he playing?
Is he still currently playing anywhere?
Yeah, he's over in Slovakia.
Oh, okay, nice.
Amir, I was reading, you know, again, reading up before we had you on here
that I saw 25% of women's hockey injuries are concussions.
That number just jumps off the page at you.
And even more so, you know, when there's no checking allowed.
Why do you think that number is so high in the women's game?
I don't know.
That's a checking allowed. Why do you think that number is so high in the women's game? I don't know. That's a good question.
I don't know if girls or women are more susceptible to them.
I don't really know why that would be.
But I think now we're lucky that there's so many resources to help with concussions.
Right.
I was reading.
It was interesting.
You always hear about players being told to rest and just go at a slow pace.
And then your doctor, I believe in Pittsburgh, told you to go out and go to crowded bars and restaurants.
And it almost seemed to be the antithesis to what players are usually told to do.
How unsettling was that to be suffering from those concussion symptoms and then having a doctor say, you know, go out in public?
Yeah, at first I was like almost kind of pissed at my doctor.
I didn't understand like why he was
telling me to do that stuff and but I really needed it I needed somebody to push me and
almost push through the symptoms or fight back against it and you're feeling 100% today I mean
obviously you looked at the Olympics but you have no ill effects after the Olympics? Yeah, I feel great.
Well, that's awesome.
We thank you so much for coming on once again.
Congratulations.
You made everyone proud.
And I think that it was just exciting to see how popular the women's game,
you know, was and is becoming.
And so congrats to you.
Great job.
And tell your brother to come on this podcast.
I mean, we love him. love him, he's our favorite
Tell Phil to get in here and spit in chicken
Alright, thank you so much Amanda
Yeah, thank you guys
Amanda, one final time on behalf of Boston
Thank you, Kessel
He speaks for Boston
Thanks guys
This interview was also brought to you by keeps you know guys probably a little bit too
late for me on this end but not for all you guys hair loss isn't just your dad's problem or rare
admiral's problem it happens earlier in life than you think you know by 35 two out of every three
guys start losing their hair but it's actually easy to prevent you know again i'm a little late
to the party but but so what? You
guys who are listening out there, if you get started early, then you're good. Now, Keeps is
a new company that offers simple, clinically proven, affordable way to stop hair loss. With
Keeps, it's easier than ever for guys like you to keep your hair. It's the easiest way to do it.
Keeps offers the only two FDA approved hair loss products, clinically proven to keep the hair you have. Sign up in less
than five minutes. Keeps is entirely online and it's only $10 to $35 a month. Could be only a
dollar a day or less than average. I mean, that's, well, used to be a cup of coffee. Now it's probably
pack a bubble gum if you're lucky. And it's half of what you would typically pay at the pharmacy.
Getting started with Keeps is so easy. You just answer a few questions, snap some photos,
no waiting rooms, no doctors, nurses, any of that stuff.
Don't have to deal with it.
A licensed doctor will remotely review your information and gives you the right prescription all without ever leaving your couch.
Within two to three days, a three-month supply of your treatment will arrive perfectly packaged at your door.
Stop hair loss today the easy way with Keeps, offering customized treatment plans with only FDA-approved hair loss products for about a dollar a day from the comfort of your couch.
To receive your first month treatment for free, go to keeps.com slash chiplets.
That's K-E-E-P-S dot com slash chiplets, C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S.
That's a free month of treatment at keeps.com slash chiplets.
Keeps, here today, here tomorrow.
Thank you very much to Amanda Kessel, whose brother Phil,
maybe we'll get on Phil, but he's not a gold medalist in the Olympics
like his sister, so we loved having her on.
We wanted to thank her very much.
Moving back to the NHL, we discussed the Eastern Conference a little bit.
In the West, same thing like I said, we discussed the Eastern Conference a little bit. In the West,
same thing like I said, I think the seven teams are in. I think you're kind of pretty much guaranteed Nashville, Winnipeg, Minnesota, Vegas, Anaheim, San Jose, and Dallas looks like they have
one of the wild cards. And then you got Los Angeles, Colorado, and Calgary. Personally,
I'd like to see Calgary in. I know players would probably like to see Calgary in I know players would probably like to see Calgary in
because it's a Canadian team
which generates more money
hockey related revenue
everyone wants to get paid
but I just think Calgary is fun to watch at home
I love watching playoff games there
the Red Mile
Goudreau is one of my favorite players to watch
him and Monahan are awesome together
but that race with LA, Colorado and Calgary
Colorado they're similar to Jersey in a way nobody saw this, I didn't players to watch the league. Him and Monahan are awesome together. But that race with LA, Colorado, and Calgary. I mean, Colorado,
they're similar to Jersey in a way.
Like, nobody saw this. I didn't.
They were terrible last year.
And like we've talked about, they got rid of Duchesne, and
McKinnon's had an MVP-like season himself.
So, I mean, this is the time
of the year we really kind of wait for.
Everyone's right around, you know, 15 to
17 games left, it seems.
Pretty much playoff hockey for a ton of teams the rest of the way.
It's good for us to watch.
It's interesting to see how it's going to play out
because if I'm
sitting around and I'm Nashville,
I'd much rather play LA
than I would Calgary.
Now, are you giving St. Louis no chance
to get in the playoffs?
No chance.
Maybe that's me. This could end up being St. Louis, no chance to get in the playoffs? No chance. Okay. It wasn't sure if that was a...
Maybe that's me.
This could end up being on that hot takes exposed account.
It was the trading capacity, and yeah, they've actually hooked pretty good since, but the
goaltending issues could kind of come your eye at any time.
So they're one of my teams I do not think will get in.
Interesting. I think Dallas
is the perfect
name for them as a wildcard.
Assuming they stay
as a wildcard team,
which I think they probably will.
It's just such a crapshoot.
One of their fans asked on Twitter,
what should I expect in the playoffs?
Nothing would surprise you with Dallas.
If they get Ben Bishop playing as good as we've seen him in the past, And I'm like, you know, nothing would surprise you with Dallas. Like if they get Ben Bishop playing as
good as we've seen him in the past,
they could, you know, they could make a run at West.
But if he doesn't answer the bell and if
God, if they have to go to Letton and man, they could
get swept in the first round. So I think
Dallas is like the epitome of a wildcard team.
LA, obviously they got John
Quick. They got a lot of, you
know, a team that knows how to win.
I think they're probably a favorite to steal that
last spot, but how about you, Witz? I'd like to
see Calgary get in there.
It's just a fun team to watch.
Johnny Gaudreau, it'd be great to see him in the
playoffs. I'd like to see
them get in the offense to fans of the other teams,
but it should be a battle. I'm glad we have a
couple of nice races down to the wire
anyways.
In the East, I kind of forgot.
I mean, I mentioned, you know, there's three teams fighting
for what it seems like that last spot in Columbus, Florida, Carolina.
Carolina makes some news today or yesterday, excuse me,
in not the firing of Ron Francis at the GM, but kind of the firing.
He was moved up to the director of hockey development, I think,
or player development.
But the owner, the new owner there, Dundon,
he's made it clear that the GM, the new GM reports directly to him.
And he wants to, to me, that signals I want to be, you know,
similar to Mark Cuban.
I want to be the owner who's also involved in the hockey decision.
And I can't think of a time that's ever worked because you need the owner to be somewhat
involved, obviously, and a good owner in terms of doing whatever it takes for his team to win.
But in terms of the hockey decisions, you got to stay away. I mean, I just think of Detroit.
And you think of Detroit, the model that forever has kind of been in place there
until his passing. What was his name again? I can't think of his name. Mike Illich. Mike Illich.
You know, I'm thinking that Mike Illich, by the way, is the number one guy you could think of in
terms of great hoggers. I can't remember his name. What a joke I am. But you know what I'm saying in
terms of stay out of the hockey decisions. And Dundon, he wants to be a part of all of it in Carolina.
I don't know how it's going to work.
But, I mean, Ron Francis hasn't done a great job there.
He hasn't done a horrible job either.
The team's on the up and up.
But this year, I think people expected a little bit more out of them
than what they've given.
Yeah, I think, well, first off,
you probably don't want to be compared to Mark Cuban these days.
Secondly, you know, I think it was.
You know what I meant.
You know what I meant.
I know.
I know.
I'm not talking about touching titties.
I'm not talking about touching titties.
I'm not talking about grabbing crotches.
I'm just talking sports.
And Soviet Russia punchline tell you.
No, it was a demotion.
I mean, he got what the old saying, he got kicked upstairs.
I mean, he lost his GM job.
They made him, you know, kind of a figurehead position.
I don't know. Yeah, like I said, president of hockey operations
or whatever. I think maybe
they didn't want to completely fire him from the
team, but I don't think it's so much of
a coach. I mean, I'm sorry, a new owner
wanting to get into hockey decisions. I think
it's more of a new owner wanting somebody
that he chose to work to do that position.
I don't think this guy's out there like, hey, this guy,
don't put him in the power play. Don't start this guy. I don't think he guy's out there like, hey, this guy, you know, don't put him in the power play.
Don't start this guy.
I don't think he's involved on that level.
I think he just took a look and said, you know,
they haven't made the playoffs under Ron Francis.
I mean, yeah, he was there in 2014.
This is what I think his fourth year not making it.
And I think we've seen in the NHL,
you don't need four years to turn it around.
I mean, you know, look at New Jersey, look at Colorado.
I mean, these teams we talk about all the time who had a bad year, a bad two years, and it doesn't take that long to flip it around. I mean, you know, look at New Jersey, look at Colorado. I mean, these teams we talk about all the time who had a bad year,
a bad two years, and it doesn't take that long to flip it around.
I mean, you know, I love Ron Francis as a player,
but I think he made a couple of tough decisions.
I mean, Eddie Lack and Scott Dallin, to pick both those guys as number ones,
neither one of them succeeded.
And, you know, even if he had a little bit of a better goal,
Carolina might be in the seventh or eighth seed right now. So, you know, even if he had a little bit of a better goal, Carolina might be in the seventh or eighth seed right now.
So, you know, his track record was what it was.
It was one of those moves, like I said on Twitter,
it felt like it came out of nowhere.
But at the same time, it was probably overdue with, again,
a new owner and lack of results.
So, I mean, it's going to basically boot him upstairs.
And I don't know if he'll be a figurehead,
but he's not going to be calling the shots anymore.
And if I'm a Hurricanes fan, I think I'm on a ball with the new owner.
He seems like he wants to keep the team there.
He wants to make a lot of changes to the organization.
And they haven't gotten the results.
So I'm okay with it if I'm a Canes fan.
Yeah, I just think if you're a GM and you get that job, you're like,
oh, I'm not really in charge here, even though I'll be kind of looked upon as I am.
That's just how I'm taking it.
Maybe I'll be completely wrong.
It is good to see that the Hurricanes have an owner
that really just seems invested right now.
I mean, he seems way more into the team than you ever heard of.
Carmanos and all the other issues that Carolina's had over the years.
So, I mean, I'll be interested to see how it plays out.
I mean, they could still get in the playoffs, too.
If they can get some goaltending.
Cam Ward, who actually everyone thought was done,
basically his career was done, he's been the one carrying them this year.
I mean, Darling was brought upon.
I thought he'd be ready to be a starter,
but it just hasn't been the case for him this year, unfortunately.
So I do understand.
You're right.
When you make a couple bad goaltending calls as a GM
and your team ends up missing the playoff by, you a couple points every year when you think if we had some
goaltending those turn into wins a bunch of those losses so i do understand you don't have a goal
you can't win in this in this game and that's why you better hope if you're a penguins fan that matt
murray's okay he's got this concussion he's still out they had a big win wednesday night against the
fires i took the Penguins.
Thank you.
Actually, my buddy texted me.
Who we taking tonight?
8 o'clock, rivalry night, NBC Sports, Philly-Pittsburgh.
By the way, when you see Philly-Pittsburgh, you're both minus 110.
I'm like, Crosby against the Flyers?
It's a joke.
He's dummied them his whole career.
Sure enough, he got his 1100th point on an assist.
30 years old. A little over 800 games played, 1100 points,
and the Penguins roll the flies, and I get richer.
Speaking of the flies and Sidney Crosby,
your old union, the NHL Players Association,
conducted one of their player polls that they've done.
I love these.
If you haven't checked it out, go by all means do it.
And I would suggest checking it out from the NHLPA site
because the graphics are way better to look at than reading them
in like an article form.
We'll tweet it out from the Chicklets account.
And it's funny, which player is the best role model, Wits?
And who got 33% of the vote?
Your boy, Sid.
You know, that's just about being a professional.
That's what it is. It's about being
a pro, and if you ever go out
and have a couple beers, nobody knows. You're not
loud. You're not on social media.
Hey, I'm not going to lie.
He's a role model, you know?
I love, too, how he gives
it to refs sometimes.
People usually say it's bad for kids to see that.
I love it.
It's got to be known. Refs can be real pieces
of shit. They got to catch some heat once in a while.
I think it's a perfect
role model for all young men out there.
Yeah.
You obviously took a look at the poll.
It's interesting.
Which player would you select to start a franchise?
This is, I believe, one of the ARH
we got earlier this season. Connor McDavid got 48.6 of the vote and crosby got 23.8 so obviously that's an age
thing right there but but it's a it's a fantastic poll man it's just knowing that you know it's it's
from the players and i thought it was interesting which goalie is the hottest to score on and of
the top five guys listed only 12 12 percent of them had a cup i'm sorry 12 percent of the votes had a cup of the top five it was jonathan quick there were other four goalies in the top five guys listed, only 12% of them had a cup. I'm sorry, 12% of the votes had a cup of the top five.
It was Jonathan Quick, the other four goalies in the top five.
None of them had won a cup.
I just thought that was interesting that, you know,
these guys are so tough to score, and yet, you know,
none of them had a cup to speak of.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I looked at the poll,
and the thing that I was just shocked at every time I see this,
who is the toughest player in the NHL?
And Ryan Reeves gets 44%.
And he is the second toughest player in the NHL.
But Zidane O'Chara is the toughest player in the NHL.
He is the last person anyone would want to fight.
Because if he actually wanted to do something,
and when he fought Oleskiak, I think I'm saying his name right, that monster on Pittsburgh now,
that was a sick fight between the two biggest guys in the NHL,
and Chara still drilled him with a right.
I saw a picture.
Looked like he could have knocked out anyone else.
So, you know, Revo, animal in Vegas now, nobody wants to fight him.
Complete freak of nature.
But if I'm voting, it's's chara because if chara actually wants
to kill you you're dead just just youtube him versus brian mccabe that is not a human being
that can do that to another man in the nhl so that one kind of shocked me a little bit i mean
it's pretty cool to see all this it's it's shocking to see like you know i nick letty is the third
fastest skater in the league voted on by the
players that's something you wouldn't really know but then i think back to watching nick letty skate
it is it is a joke how easy it is for him um the most underrated player i mean barkov got six
percent and that was kind of the whole theme nicholas backstrom led it i i think barkov's
you know i thought he would have been 30 40 percent there and part of it's that nobody knows
about the Panthers.
Even players, they don't even think about Panthers.
But Barkov, like we mentioned, I mean, he's just, he's taken over that,
that most underrated player label that soon ends.
And then it's like the player that's actually talked about the most.
So he's not underrated anymore.
The old Louis Erickson disease.
Bingo.
You know, that's kind of what you're used to there.
Yeah.
It's interesting too the who
is the most underrated player and you know the the highest vote getter was only 8.6 percent
nicholas baxter at washington i mean i don't think he's underrated i think he's known as a
pretty good player out there he's a quality player i don't i think maybe because he's in
washington and you know that's not the biggest market even though they've they've been under
the bright lights for a while jayden schwartz was number two. Nikita Kucherov, number three, who's possibly the MVP.
Then Bachoff, and then Ryan O'Reilly.
And one other thing that kind of jumped out at me,
it was which D is toughest to play against.
And Shea Weber came in.
Yeah, I'm looking at that.
I'm looking at that.
Shea Weber came in third.
And what I noticed, though, the other four, Carlson was first, Dowdy, then Webber, then Burns, then Hedman.
And, you know, Webber's obviously a bastard back there.
He'll kill you.
But all the other guys are more of the, you know, the finesse puck moving type.
So it's just interesting that the peers feel that it's tougher to go against the guy who's skilled than it is more so a guy who's going to fucking bury your head into the boards like, you know, Char or Webber would.
Well, I think that kind of shows a different age in the NHL now
where it's not getting crushed in the boards.
It's like, okay, I'm a winger, and playing against Eric Carlson,
I won't get hit, but I also can't cover the guy on the blue line.
I'm going to go to hit him in the corner.
He's going to blow by me.
Every single time he gets a chance, I'm pretty much the one
that should be covering him.
And that's what's basically so hard for guys to play
against. That's why Doughty's the best defenseman
in the league overall
for me. I mean, he's so hard to play against
physically and offensively. And
that clip that went viral on our Instagram
and I think it was everywhere of
him getting in the penalty box.
I've watched that
30 times and laughed out loud
because it's like the passion
this guy plays with is unreal.
Now, granted, they're in a playoff chase, so it's playoff games for him,
but just he's flipping out on the rough.
Fuck you.
And I just love that he's slamming his stick.
People are telling him to watch his language from the crowd.
There was some good penalty box humor this week, too.
The dude, I forget his name.
I didn't have the – the guy at Buffalo. The dude, I forget his name. Yeah, yeah.
The guy at Buffalo.
Risco Lyon and then Kadri.
Kadri.
Yeah, he was telling them four games left.
And they're like, no, this is one of the games.
There's only three left.
And then you can see him understanding, like being told, like, oh, shit, yeah, you're right.
It was absolutely fucking hilarious.
And then there was another incident.
Who was it?
Was it Travis Hammond?
Which defense was it on Calgary who saw a fan chirp them coming off the ice?
And I guess the fan was kind of chubby, and he made like a fat face,
squeezed out his cheeks, and kind of like waddled a bit on his skates
to make fun of the guy.
Did people get sensitive about that?
Oh, yeah.
People, oh, that's classless, whatever.
Unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
Listen, dude, you can't chir that's classless, whatever. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Shut up, people.
Fucking from five feet away, and if
you're fat, you're going to get called fat by a hockey player.
It's that fucking simple. If you're going to chirp me,
if you're going to chirp me, I'm immediately
looking at any single thing on your
body or that you're wearing that I can chirp.
So shut up if you're fat, and don't
chirp someone unless you want them to bring up that
you're a fat slob.
Yeah. pretty much.
So, yeah, going back to the poll there, like I said,
you could look at this thing for hours.
You know, like one other question.
Well, maybe not hours.
Maybe not hours, but an hour.
Yeah, though, looking further at the poll, it's, you know,
we just said if you were starting a team,
most players would choose McDavid to start with.
But if they ask which forward is the most difficult to play against,
the vote's pretty much split between McDavid and Crosby.
It's just, like I said, you can look at this, maybe not for hours,
but for a while, and, you know, it's just a lot of interesting things
because, you know, this is in media.
There's no spin on it.
It's straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
Yeah, I mean, it's pretty cool to see players voting on that.
I just want to see who wins MVP.
I'm like, now I'm so intensely interested that I'm parading for Hall.
You know how the guys on Pardon My Take are going to get that Josh Allen drafted higher?
We have to try to get Hall MVP.
That has to be our social media push.
Can we make sure that happens, Grinnelly?
I got it. I already wrote an article
on it, so I'm working on it.
There we go. There we go. I got to retweet
that. I didn't see that.
What else we got? Actually, one more
thing that just jumped out at me. I think
it's funny. Which current player would be a great coach
once they retire?
The winner was Crosby with 5.7%
of the vote,
followed by Stepin, Spezza, Collin, and Taves.
And that's interesting because the greatest player of all time
was a terrible coach.
So it's kind of a funny question.
Yeah, no, it doesn't.
They actually can't coach.
I would say he's like the last person because you think that, like,
everyone can do what you can do.
I remember Stid would be like, hey, you got to just do that.
I'm like, dude, I can't do that. You can't tell people to do stuff that only you can do. I remember Sid would be like, hey, you got to just do that. I'm like, dude, I can't do that.
You can't tell people to do stuff that only you can do.
Maybe you don't realize that, like, hey, dude,
you're the only one that can do that.
When you ask me to spin a Rama, keep it on my backhand,
toe drag myself, then kick it up to my mouth
and then actually spit it over to you,
you're the only one who can do that.
I can only just, like, rim it around the boards. So when they coach, they try to expect
players to do these things that are so ahead of the game that you're like, dude, you weren't
a normal player. You can't now try to coach 18
of maybe 22 guys that are just overall good players, not these incredible
talents. Yeah, like I said, Gretzky had a rough
go of it. I know it was a Coyotes player back then.
He was asked, you know, so what's up with G?
Gretzky is the coach, and he said he's the greatest guy to ever play the game
and skated away.
Like, he didn't want to say anything bad about it, but he kind of was like,
yeah, you know.
Who said that?
Who did that?
I was told the story a long time ago.
I can't remember if I was asked not to say the player's name or not,
so I'm not going to.
But, yeah, he basically was a guy I was asked not to say the player's name or not, so I'm not going to. But yeah, he basically
was a guy who didn't want to say anything bad,
so he just said he's the greatest player to ever play the game
and skate it away.
I don't want to be on the
record bad-mouthing fucking Gretzky.
So anyways, that poll,
like I said, if you're an NHL fan,
definitely worth checking out. NHLPA.com
and you can't miss it. It's right
on the front page there.
After a little weak respite, we're going to bring back a favorite segment of our listeners.
All right, Hamilton.
Cue the tunes, Grinnelly.
So we got Storm Drain.
Storm Drain asks, in honor of yours truly popping as Vegas Cherry next week,
Storm Drain asks, what is your go-to casino game to
play?
Oh, dude.
Black Jack.
Black Jack.
I can only play craps with
Merle. I've told that story. I don't really
know how to play until I'm with Merle.
And then he reminds me and then I'm good.
So I'm a Black Jack guy.
When things get real bad, I've been to a couple of casinos where I'm getting crushed.
Listen, you know, it's one of those like six ATM trips back and forth.
Like this is the last time.
Crushed.
I would end up going with the last few hundred bucks and go play like war.
That's when you know you're a degenerate sitting in a casino playing war against the dealer.
You're absolutely, you know you're in one.
War is like the heroin for gamblers. playing war against the dealer. You're absolutely, you know you're in one.
War is like the heroin for gamblers.
Like, you're just trying to get it fixed, basically, at that point.
If you're playing fucking war.
I'm like, I'm scratching my neck.
I got a whitehead on my eyeball.
Yeah, like fucking Dave Chappelle there.
Me, my game, it's funny, the more I go to Vegas,
the less I actually sit down and play table games, because, you know, you're just going to build the next, help build the next Bellagio.
But I like like games.
You could sit with a couple of boys and have a few beers and not get crushed too bad.
Three card poker.
Let it ride.
I don't play a Caribbean stud poker as much, but I those three basically three card poker.
Let it ride.
Those are fun games where you can kind of low risk, high reward bullshit with the boys.
You know, everyone's kind of rooting for the table.
Like it's no one can really fuck each other out of cards like they can in, say, Blackjack.
Those are good games to fuck around.
Roulette's another one.
Like, you know, you can buy in for a couple of hunch, play some numbers and not get creamed too bad.
But I'm a sports better.
So like that's my true degeneracy, unfortunately, is sports.
Yeah, I just I actually do like three card poker.
I mean, it's so much depends on the dealer.
Just give me a friendly dealer.
Like, you grumpy fucks that are dealing.
What do you care if I win?
You get paid the same amount.
You actually make more if I win because I'll tip you,
even though it's all, I think, you know,
shared between all the dealers.
When you get a grumpy dealer, I actually, like,
those are people I abuse.
Like, when Ebby said I was bad to waitress and waiters, that was bullshit. I mean, I've
occasionally had my instance, but I actually, when a deal is rude, I hate the person. I hate them
with everything inside me. Like, why are you being a prick? If I went be friendly for us to win,
then the table has some fun and you'll get tipped. Don't try to like be mad and grumpy and not say a word as you're flipping over.
You flip, you show me a six.
So I split every single thing I have.
I double then some of the splits.
And then you have a six, you flip over 10 and then a five and get 21.
And then you go, maybe just give me a sorry.
Maybe say, sorry, or hey, sorry, man, that sucks.
Like, yeah, you get dealers that do that.
But for a lot of them, especially in Vegas,
they're just like, well, they just collect your chips, nothing.
And you're like, fuck you.
I'm not sitting around at this table to get abused by you,
you Muppet dealer.
Yeah, it probably gets to be a miserable job
if you're on hour 80 a shift and dealing with drunks
and fucking degenerates.
And I would never, but I'm never someone
that's like mad at the dealer for getting him a car.
Those people are even bigger losers than the grumpy dealers.
When you're like, oh, fuck you.
You gave me that king.
I needed a nine.
No, you're a loser, dude.
They didn't do anything.
They flipped the card over.
Speaking of you, when you just said about going to dinner, did you happen to catch that
clip of those idiots harassing fucking McDavid leaving the restaurant with his family the
other night?
Oh, my God.
That was on God. Is that
not Edmonton to a T?
You tell us.
Connor McDavid, that's
the guy you're going to chirp?
It's like,
it doesn't surprise me.
It's not the
KHL being rigged.
It's not exactly on that level,
but it's no surprise surprise in the economy.
David's getting sure.
Yeah, that's just that's just fucking redonkulous.
So, all right.
What do we got next?
All right.
Jimmy McDonald asks if you could smack one annoying commercial spokesperson,
character, mascot, who would it be and why?
All right.
How's that?
Blow that bitch. Yeah yeah it's funny the guy who that's a
great great thing by the way a great question by the way and he did include a few to give us an
idea yeah i think it's a no-brainer with fucking float man i mean put her on a fucking nuclear
i think it's no no-brainer with the girl from the Apple commercial that goes, what's a computer?
She's got gigs there, but you know where she's like, what's a computer?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That one sucks, too.
See, this is why the DVR is such a great invention,
because I honestly don't even watch commercials anymore.
I just fucking, unless it's Spitting Chickens or a Boston podcast.
But if you watch the TV, I just skim through them.
And it's like usually only during a live game when you get them.
But yeah, that Flo from Progressive, man, like I said, she can join Slim Pickens on the fucking nuclear bomb.
Take a ride down.
See you later.
She's the worst. And they've made her a recurring character, which just makes it even more and more fucking annoying.
I can imagine she hates Flo from Progressive now, the person who plays it by this point.
I don't know.
I heard she makes like 10 sheets a year.
Yeah, she probably is.
Huge cake.
She's probably playing with herself, thinking about Flo or alter ego because she's playing with herself with money.
By the way, I should have mentioned Keith Yando at his house for dinner the other night.
He had $100 bills down for his napkins.
I wish I got invited to dinner.
Ah, shit.
I'm trying to think of other
bad
TV commercials.
You said Ronald McDonald, which is a funny
option.
Ronald McDonald?
Yeah, that's the guy who asked the question list that is like just examples.
I don't know if he particularly, but that was funny.
Dude, I like Ronald McDonald.
Dude, go look at early Ronald McDonald pitches.
He was a creepy-ass looking fucking clown or whatever he is.
But yeah, Ronald McDonald.
Dude, why do you think the pit of balls in there?
He's in the balls like diddling kids back in the early 60s McDonald's days.
Ronald McDonald, the diddler.
Did you ever actually see the movie The Founder with Michael Keaton last year
where he plays Ray Kroc?
That guy, you know what, though?
That guy, like, some people think he comes off as an asshole.
Like, I more thought the two brothers that started were just such mutants.
Like, that guy was a businessman.
Yeah, he scammed them over, but that's business, dude.
Like, those guys were pathetic.
Imagine being the two brothers, like, part of their family,
seeing what they would have now.
It's like hundreds of billions of dollars, and they have nothing.
No, they made the mistake of trusting a guy on a handshake agreement.
I mean, yeah, you could say that's their era, but that's the way they were raised.
They thought, yeah, I mean, yeah, they were. They were from New Hampshire. They weren't really business savvy, and
they got fucked out. They were from New Hampshire?
The McDonald's brothers, yeah. They were originally from
New Hampshire, yeah. Oh, I thought in the movie,
I thought, oh, in the movie, were they out in, like, California
where they started all that, though, or no?
Yeah, that's what I said. They were originally from New Hampshire.
They moved to California because they knew
there was no, you know, they weren't going to make a lot of money in New Hampshire.
So they left Cowtown and went for fucking greener pastures out in Cali.
And, yeah, I mean, you know, I don't know if you can even say maybe he swindled them.
I mean, because he lied.
I mean, he misrepresented.
He lied to them.
And, yeah, they should have hired a lawyer.
They should have read things better.
But, you know, he definitely definitely was the fucking morally best thing
I got. I don't think Ray cracked it. Anyways, it's
a good movie worth checking out.
Brinelli, did you have one more? Because I
favorited one more question on there.
Did you have another one lined up?
That's all we had.
I got a third one I just came across.
It's from JakeCo412.
Weirdest bet you ever
made?
I know you have something in made. All right, Hamilton.
I know you have something in mind.
I don't know.
What do you got, Wes?
No, nothing?
I don't know.
Weirdest bet I've ever made.
Oh, I bet my buddy he couldn't drink 48 beers in 24 hours.
And I gave him $2,500 if he did it.
And he gave me $ 500 if he didn't.
So he came over at five o'clock on a Saturday in the summer and he had his check for 500
and I had mine for 2,500 on the fridge
and we had Miller Lights for him
and he, from five to like nine or 10 at my apartment,
he had 20 and then we went out and he had 20.
We got back at like two 30 and he was had 40 and he was so buckled.
He fell asleep.
And he came back over my place in the morning.
Cause you know,
he has till 5.
PM to finish.
He needs to drink 20 more.
Dude.
He's outside my place.
He's outside my place on a beautiful Sunday morning in Charlestown and the
Navy are puking as women are walking by with their kids and their dogs and
getting their Sunday morning coffees. My buddy's puking, not only puking, thinking about what he
had done, thinking about that he still had 20 beers to go. So the day goes on, starts at like
10, 30, 11. These things are going down like rocks. He's dialing. There's no chance he's
getting to 20. He gets to have 10 left in like the final hour and a half from like 3.30 to 5 p.m.
And he's drinking them.
And literally the last four beers, every single sip, he puked up.
He chipped, and I was so mad that I didn't put in a puke, some sort of puke clause in this contract.
You know, I was like the Ronald McDonald brothers.
I got swindled by the puke job.
He ended up finishing
the last 10 in the last hour
and a half. I think he
missed three days of work.
He added $2,500 from me.
I was happy for him.
That was a tremendous
answer.
A 5-1 bet that a guy would finish
that many beers. Wow. That's insane. It's probably a guy would finish that many beers and wow that's
fucking insane like i mean it's probably a little dangerous at that point when his body was
completely rejecting the beer huh yeah this kid is one of the best people of all time and it was
just i i'll never forget it i remember saying with four beers to go with like 24 minutes and
20 minutes and the pukes that already said i I'm like, there needs to be a puke clause.
And, like, in between, like, he's like, no puke clause.
That's hilarious.
Obviously, I'm a big Oscar bettor, but they tweeted out a guy on ESPN
tweeted out a stat that in the Oscar betting, like, favorites that were
minus 500 or higher have gone something like 36-0 in the last 9 to 10 years.
So, basically, years ago, you used to be able to maybe find a freak win here and there.
But now with the Oscars, there's really no money to be made.
You have to bet all these high things.
But what I'm getting at, that's Oscars bets aren't even close to my weirdest bets I ever made.
I bet on TV show outcomes.
I bet on the scripts, how it would spell and be a couple of years ago, whether the winner would have glasses or not.
That's probably the weirdest one I made.
I also bet the outcome of the Sopranos final season.
I bet that Tony, when the series literally ended,
that Tony would still be in power, which technically he was,
even though he gets whacked five minutes later.
But yeah, probably TV bets.
But I'd have to say that the winner of the Spelling Bee 10 years ago
would be wearing glasses.
That's pretty good.
How do you know Soprano got whacked?
Well, we don't.
That's obviously the – I mean, I think if you watch the whole series again, the whole last season,
it's very obvious that in the world of the Sopranos, he gets killed fucking five seconds after the show ends.
But because the wheels were already in motion for Tony to get whacked,
there was no way to pull it back.
And, you know, he was going to get killed shortly thereafter.
But when the series actually ends, technically speaking,
he was still in power.
He wasn't in jail.
He wasn't dead.
So, but the weird part is I never won.
I never got the pet cash because they divided that season
into two separate fucking seasons.
It's like seasons, like six part one and season six part two.
So the,
the,
the fucking,
when the account can't try to cash it,
they try to say,
call it a loss.
And I remember having to call my bookie and explain to him how HBO,
no,
they broke the season into two parts.
And this technically not over yet.
Cause the season,
the series is still going.
He's like,
what the fuck are you talking about,
dude?
I'll just take it off.
Don't worry about it.
You know?
So yeah,
I think I have to go to God. Stop calling me. All right. Uh, the Oscars, what the fuck are you talking about, dude? I'll just take it off. Don't worry about it, you know? So, yeah, I think I have to go to GA.
God, stop calling me, all right.
I have to go to GA as well.
The Oscars, by the way, I saw the three billboards sign.
I like that movie.
I would never see.
I didn't know what The Shape of Water was about.
And I saw one clip of this giant alien in a bathtub, and I started laughing.
I was like, that's the movie?
I would never see that.
I would never, ever see it after that clip.
I can't believe that was a real movie.
It looked like a joke.
It's basically a plot line from The Simpsons
with Troy McClure.
I love you, Patty Bouvier, like a La Fresca.
Oh, there we go.
Did you like it?
Honestly, I haven't seen The Shape of Water yet.
I was doing a lot of catching up on the Oscar bait before the Oscars.
That one wasn't available for rent yet, and I wasn't going to buy it,
so I haven't seen it yet.
I did watch three billboards last week.
I thought it was a really great movie, and then at the end,
it kind of ended when I didn't want it to, and I realized,
oh, the movie wasn't about one thing.
It was about something else.
Basically, you thought it was a whodunit,
but not the spoiler alert,
but it was a little bit more than that.
I thought the performances were unbelievable,
but I didn't think it was the best picture,
best picture because it didn't win.
I saw Lady Bird,
which I don't get the hype.
It was basically like a John Hughes homage,
I guess.
I mean,
which isn't a bad thing.
John Hughes is a great director. Some of the great American comedies of the 80s but it was just you know a girl in her
last year of high school fights with her mother and wants to go to college here blah blah i mean
it was a good you know a movie but i just didn't think it was anything spectacular but the florida
project was probably should have been nominated that was about about the kids who live in motels
or surrounded disney world kind of a sad theme, but it was a better movie.
But yeah, I still got some catching up to do.
I haven't seen anything.
I thought Get Out had a chance, but it didn't pull it out.
Hey, shout out to Hollywood on its big Me Too movement
to have Kobe Bryant, scumbag rapist, get an Academy Award.
That's just staying hot for the Me Too movement by Hollywood.
Good job.
Yeah, it was definitely odd because the other
movie I watched actually after the Oscars, The Disaster
Artist. Have you seen that one yet, Wits?
Oh, never heard of it.
It's excellent. It's James
Franco. This is a movie called The Room.
It's like the quote-unquote worst.
Oh, dude, I have heard of this. It's apparently the remake
of the worst movie ever. It's not a remake.
It's the story of how the worst movie ever got made.
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, and James Franco plays this guy Tommy Wiseau, who was this weird character who had an endless supply of money
and decided to make a movie with himself and other mediocre actors.
And like I said, the movie became a punchline.
Well, there was a book written about the movie, and this book was turned
into the movie The Disaster Artist. Dude, James Franco
was un-fucking-believable.
He should have definitely got a nomination
based on the work. I know allegations
notwithstanding. On the work,
he was absolutely phenomenal.
Is he a guy, too? Is he a meet? They got him?
Did James Franco get busted?
Yeah, I mean,
I know Matt Damon got shit for, like,
noting that there were various discrepancies in this whole Me Too thing.
In other words, you know, with Harvey Weinstein, probably at the top, I mean,
you know, he tried to rape you, and if you didn't let him rape you,
then he would fucking ruin your life, you know,
where then guys who grabbed asses and then guys who did this.
Well, James Franco had an act in school, and it's, you know,
he basically had sex with some of his students and used his James.
Oh yeah.
So,
you know,
it's the whole power dynamic thing.
And that's,
you know,
we're not going to have to fucking get into the meat too,
but basically what would happen to his name come out in a movie that
probably should have gotten certainly him a nomination for best actor.
And probably the movie,
it didn't happen.
And that's what,
that's to go back to your point,
the long way of getting there, they fucking giveryant an award the same night they couldn't you
know well james franco had some accusations about inappropriate behavior we're not even
going to nominate him oh but here's kobe bryant everyone in la loves him they get you know it's
like let's go suck kobe's dick who yeah you could say the charges dropped please read the case
that's all i'll say i mean please read the case if you don't think Kobe did anything.
I mean, he bought his wife like a $2 million ring after.
So there's, I mean.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
He threw Shaq under the bus for nothing.
But anyways, this week's All Right Hamilton is brought to you by Honey.
You never turn down free money, right?
Well, if you shop online without the best coupons,
you're already paying too much.
Fortunately, there's a free browser extension called Honey that automatically finds the best coupons on the web
so you always get the best prices on everything online.
Of course, we all shop online nowadays.
With this site, that site, you can buy anything online.
Going to a physical store is probably not the best call nowadays.
I'm always buying weird stuff, teabags, man.
I love to buy teabags from Europe. I go go online i find the coupons on honey boom i'm saving money up the wazoo it's pretty crazy two clicks you add honey to any browser for free shop like
you normally do honey scans and tests millions of coupons in the background at checkout honey
will automatically apply the best coupon you get to the biggest discount so if i want to buy some
you know uh yorkshire gold tea from england I'm paying a good price for it because it's quality tea coming across the pond.
With Honey, man, they're lopping some of that dough right off.
It's perfect.
It's great.
Over 7 million people use Honey every day, and together they save millions of dollars.
When Honeys get your back, you'll never overpay for anything again.
What's the last purchase you made with Honey?
How much did you save?
There's no reason not to add Honey to your browser today.
It's free. Takes just seconds to install
and will save you tons of money.
Add Honey to your browser for free right now
at joinhoney.com
slash chicklets. That's
joinhoney.com slash chicklets.
C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S.
I actually
got to run, so I feel bad ending this.
But shout out to go back to hockey.
We didn't mention him.
He split my mind.
Patrick Liner, if you get the chance to watch Winnipeg play,
this guy has more goals over the last two years
than I believe anyone else in the league.
He snipes on the reg, as the young kids say.
His stick is so long and flexible.
It looks like he has a 60 flex.
He just rips its shelf wherever he stands on the ice.
And so I just wanted to remind the hockey fans of how good he is.
And all the noise here about Austin Matthews,
the number two pick that year is just like more quietly
because he's in Winnipeg becoming dominant. I love watching
that guy play. I think he's the next Ovechkin
when it comes to snipers, but hopefully he'll
win a cup sometime in his career.
Is there a Finnish dictator
he could like follow?
No, and if, oh God, if Finns and Russians
you talk about fucking hating each other,
boy, yeah, they can't get much. Hate, hate, hate.
We can go on that another day.
Absolutely.
All right.
Great show.
Yeah, I'm off in Florida.
I'm going to go play some golf.
Suck my dick.
See you later.
Peace out.
See ya. I can't sleep at night.