The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Down to Irf: Kevin Bieksa

Episode Date: April 27, 2025

In this special feature interview on The Sheet podcast feed, Irfaan Gaffar sits down "Juice"! Kevin Bieksa. The former NHLer turned broadcaster sits down to discuss his career in hockey, why it is important to talk about mental health, going back to school, the relationship with his son, and much more.Recored: September 2024Watch the full interview on the Daily Faceoff YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/TbPCWKjZhRI?si=HGDLb3LAu5jrq53-TIME STAMPS3:00 - Going back to school5:00 - Moving into media7:00 - Being guarded on air8:40 - Chatting with current players9:30 - Relationship with his son, Cole12:00 - Coach Bieksa13:15 - Mental Health16:00 - Question from Dan Murphy18:00 - How did you stay so close to your former Canucks teammates?19:30 - What impressed you the most from last season?22:20 - Mean Tweets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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by visiting auraframes.com to get $45 off, plus free shipping on their best-selling Carver matte frame. That's Aura frames calm use promo code sheet support the show by mentioning us at checkout Terms and conditions apply. Hi, Jeff Merrick here. Let me tell you about cozy everyday home furnishings made easy Cozy is modern built for real life Practical and designed to make your day to day feel a little lighter. You need to refresh your living room? Cozy makes it simple.

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your living space today with Cozy. Visit Cozy.ca, Cozey.ca, the home of possibilities made easy. There's a program all of us here at The Sheet want to expose you to and share with you if you haven't listened already. It's hosted by veteran voice Irfan Ghaffar and with the elite show title, Down to Irf. It's an interview based podcast

with some of the biggest names in hockey and no topics are off limits. From Paul Bissonnette and his game-changing Twitter accounts to Kevin Bixe and the transformation from hockey player to hockey dad To Mike Gillis and Spencer Gillis a son following in his father's footsteps at hockey And Travis Green on trying to find fun in the game after getting fired as a head coach saw on the table with Earth to find fun in the game after getting fired as a head coach. Soll on the table with Irf. Today we'll hear Irfan speak with Kevin Biaxa. But first let's hear from Irfan himself. Okay Irf very much looking forward to this conversation with the man they

call Juice, Kevin Biaxa. Who I'm guessing that you first got in contact with or became familiar with when he was with the Vancouver Canucks. What do we expect to hear here? He comes as advertised. I'll put it that way. The chirps are definitely aplenty. Quick story, Jeff.

In my rookie year at Sportsnet all those years ago, BXI came up to me before the preseason started and said no interviews all season long. So for probably about three to four months, I was too scared to go up to him and ask for an interview. But again, eventually it all worked out and was able to get some of those. But you know it just goes to show you what type of guy he is. One of the greatest people I think that we have in the business. You know he's just a really good man and you'll definitely hear that in this conversation. You know it's interesting the transition from hockey player to hockey dad is a really interesting one like my kids both play and one of them plays in the in the GTHL and you know I was at the the OHL Cup

recently and there's Gary Roberts watching his son Sam play with JRC my 2012 plays against Thomas Cabralet's kid as I I see Cabralet at the rinks quite often what do you think the transition has been like for Kevin going from hockey player to hockey dad now because you know his young man is pretty talented. Yeah I mean look for the first off I can't wait to be one to be honest just hearing you talk about it and hearing you know you mentioned all these people out at the rink talking about how excited they are but Kevin I think the biggest thing is even watching Cole grow up like see him as a little kid running around the rink at Rogers Arena. And now Kevin's

saying that, you know, that's his best friend. And you know, they talk about a lot of things and you know, it's kind of coming full circle for him is now Cole is going to play in the BC Hockey League here in British Columbia. So I think for Kevin, you know, a lot of it being the hockey data, I go, what do you, I asked him, you know, what do you take away? Is there any coach that you kind of look at? And he said, yeah, you're a little bit of torts when you have to yell at the guy a little bit, but you're also a lot of a Len Vigno and the way that you have to deal with this as a parent. So again, a learning situation for all. But Kevin, yeah, definitely playing the part of it pretty well.

I love it. Okay, let's hear it. This is Kevin Biaxa on Down to Earth with Irf and Ghaffar. All right. Well, I know this man here next to me needs no introduction, but I'll take one. For those that are watching, I'm going to give you one anyway. A Bowling Green, Bowling Green state university graduate, 13 year NHL veteran, Hockey Night in Canada analyst, author of the Superman Punch, winner of a Canadian Screen Award for best sports analyst in 2024, Grimsby's own Kevin Viacsa. Welcome down to Earth. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Do you know when I graduated from Bowling Green?

I went my first year in 2000. Guess what year I graduated. Probably was a long time after that. 2018. 18 years. And the only reason I did it was because, well, because my kids were talking and my wife's a double major, master's, very smart woman. And the kids were saying, dad, pretty soon when we go to university, you're going to be the dumbest one in the family. So I said, why is that? Like, well, we're going to graduate from universityest one in the family. So I said, why is why is that like, well, we're gonna graduate from university, you haven't

graduated because I was two classes short. Yeah. So I went back and I took my last two courses online to graduate just because my kids and at that point, like my kids were probably only like 15 and 12 and they were heckling me. So that's why I did it. That's why I graduated. Just by your kids. Yeah. So how did you get back into that mindset? We'll get into a lot of things, obviously, you're on the show, but how did you get back into that mindset? We'll get into a lot of things obviously here on the show, but how did you get back into that mindset 18 years after

you're in school to go back to school on my classes to graduate? It was tough, but luckily they allowed me to do it online. And so I remember I was coaching, I was coaching my son's team at the time and we're at a tournament in Scottsdale. I had to take my exam in a certain range, but it's Eastern time.

I had to take it up Bowling Green. So I'm on Eastern time and I'm doing my final exam at midnight. I started at midnight and he was sleeping and it was like a three hour exam. And I remember finishing it and like fist pumping and celebrating and he's like sleeping right next to me. He's got a big game in the morning. So that's kind of the way it happened, but just something where like I had to do it. And as you get older, you actually enjoy learning things. Kind of funny way right when you're in school you kind of be graduate a bit like ah school but you know after the fact I got a lot more out of it yeah I think one of those things as well you definitely said like you got more out of it but going and doing that I guess your mental headspace of going to do that was I just need to get this done yeah well you want, you want the finished product for sure. Like you want the degree and you want the completion, the finality of it all. But again, you enjoy it. You enjoy the process probably a little bit more because I'm a lot more mature now.

Definitely a lot more mature. We're going to get to your maturity in a little bit, but I want to talk about you transitioning from player into broadcaster. I mean, why were you always so good and why did it come so naturally for you? I remember my first year at Sportsnet, honestly, I'm scared to talk to you, right? We didn't have those interviews, I'm pretty sure. We got me a couple times, I got you a couple times, but why did those things come so naturally to you? I think just those interactions that I had with you and with Dan Murphy and Shorty over the years made me very comfortable with it. And I didn't think I'd get into media to be honest with you afterwards. I thought I'd kind of be more on the coaching side, but the media

opportunities were presented to me. I was told when I retired don't say no to anything, try everything once. And if you don't like it, you don't have to. When I was still kind of trying to figure out if I was going to continue to play, I had sports that kind of asked me if I'd worked the All-Star game. And that was kind of the first thing it was in San Jose. It was close. I was living in California and I said, if I'm not playing, I'll do that. So I went there and that was kind of my, other than doing a couple of things with

Scott Oak that, you know, I don't want to belittle that, but it was just a couple of little hits during a game. The All-Star game was my first real jump into this, and I was doing a three-way color with Craig Simpson and Jim Hussin, and like two pros, two of the best. And that was kind of the start for me to do that. And then I liked it, and I tried a few more things. I had a really unsuccessful podcast with Ryan Kessler. Not just kidding.

It was good. We had about 13 episodes. We had some good players on and that also warmed me up to the, uh, the possibility of view of media, but I don't know, it was just something that kind of fell in my lap. I liked it. I ran with it. I loved the flexibility it gave me.

I was still able to be around my kids at home during the week, which was important because I've missed so much of their lives from playing. So here I am, I'm going on year six now. You're on hockey night every Saturday, everyone knows who you are, millions watching, obviously during the playoffs, the Oilers in the most recent playoffs. You're not afraid to speak your mind,

you never have been in my experience with you, obviously on the ice and off the ice, but do you ever say anything or you do kind of feel like you maybe have to be guarding some of the things you say? For sure I catch myself sometimes under my breath and for me the worst times are not when I'm prepared on a subject it's when I get hit with like a curveball or Elliot throws like something at me like a chirp and my natural reaction is to hit back. And I have to remember I'm not in a locker room. I'm not at home, not on the golf course. I can't hit back the way I want to hit back.

So those are the times where I really have to constrain myself. But, uh, you know, for the most part, I got a great team that works around me and they give me a lot of flexibility and freedom to say what I want. And I'm, I'm a pretty positive guy for hockey. So I don't really like to get down on the negative things like I like to show if a goal happens, what what the problem was with the breakdown, but I don't really like to pick on guys necessarily. Because I remember what that was like as a player, I've done it

like one time and I still hear about it. But no, it's been good. It's a learning process too. And I'm, you know, I've learned a lot from the guys around me that Ron McClain's and Kelly Rudy's and LA Freedman's who've been doing this for a long time. Those guys have been doing it for a long time but you're also so not that far removed from the league so when you talk to guys are you getting current guys? Are you having those conversations with current players when talking to them when either preparing for broadcast or after if you said something? I still feel like I can connect with the players because I played with a lot of these guys, played against a lot of them so when we're doing the interviews I feel like I can connect with the players because I played with a lot of these guys put against a lot of them

So when we're doing the interviews, I feel like I can still kind of speak their language I don't think they look at me as a media media guy I think they still kind of look at me as like one of those old players You know, like I was old crusty players. So I have that going for me, but you know, that's that's part of it Like I have to understand. I'm a hockey player first and foremost. I'm not a journalist. I didn't go to school for this. I still make some mistakes sometimes with what camera to look at and my AFB and all that. I've actually dialed that all in now. But I have to remember that I'm a hockey player. I have to speak from a hockey player's perspective. And when I'm talking to these guys,

it's like we're in the dressing room. You mentioned your family and your kids getting older now and obviously getting churped by them is a reason why you went and got your degree. But I think you did an interview in 2011, you scored against the San Jose Sharks. There were very few people that knew that you scored that goal, but Cole was one of them, wasn't he? Cole knew it was, but so 2011, Cole was four years old. Yeah. But he was at home watching. Yeah. With our babysitter and my daughter would have been really on like two but he says that he knew right away and it's kind of a cool thing right that he was you know had that intuition and picked up on it but the funny thing is everyone always says oh like the biggest school of your career was such like a muffin it was such

a dust like it barely went in I'm like yeah but I scored every other game in that series too. And those are some nice ones. Yeah, absolutely. I was there. We're a lot of that's 100%. You opened the hockey Academy in California. Obviously the success of that, you know, Reese is obviously doing her thing as is Kate, but what's your relationship like with Cole now he's obviously growing into a young man and playing hockey and doing things at a high level.

It's great. He's a, he's literally my best friend and we hang out so much and now he's, he's turning 17. He's driving. Um, every year we drive from California back to Toronto for the summer because we are, our dog can't really fly. If we don't want to put them underneath, uh, he's kind of pampered. So we drive there and back.

So you imagine that's a lot of time in the car, 40 hours each way. And we do that, you know, twice a year. And, year and he's great. We talk about everything. I feel like we have a pretty good relationship. I've coached him now for a number of years. And I think as you guys can imagine, I'm probably not the easiest coach, especially on a son. I'm pretty, pretty demanding and he's great. He takes it and he's, he wants to be pushed and

just trying to support him and his hockey career, wherever that goes. But that was a big, you know, important thing for me when I retired is that I was a very, very it and he's, he wants to be pushed and just trying to support him and his hockey career, wherever that goes. But, uh, that was a big, you know, important thing for me when I retired is make sure that I'm around to be a good father for my kids and my daughters. Just made a competitive dance team, her high school team. So it's the first team team she's been on. So it's funny, like I'm trying to give her advice and she still

thinks I don't know anything. Right. And does that not only she really remembers, she obviously remembers I played in the NHL, but I'm like, Reese, you know, I played on teams, right? Like, I know like the dynamics because she just made a high school dance team. So there's freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. And obviously like they're a little bit on the clicky side, like the freshmen hang out with the freshmen.

And I go Reese, that's the way it is. That's the way it was in college. She goes, dad, you don't know what you're talking about. Okay. So you try, right? Well, and because of college. He goes, Dad, you don't know what you're talking about. Okay. So you try, right? Well, and because of that, do you find yourself, you mentioned you can imagine what you were like as a player and as a coach, do you, do you take anything away from anyone that you were coached by? Like, are you, are you towards on the bench to your son or you more AV?

Or I'm a little bit of everybody. Yeah, I'm definitely a lot of Rick bonus. Yeah, I find myself when I'm explaining a drill and then I ended, I raised my voice like this, that's Rick bonus to a T. Yeah. The way I try to connect with every player individually and have their trust is Rick bonus. I'm a very, uh, Elaine with the way I think I teach structure.

I'm very torts with like my pregame speeches and how I try to motivate and inspire the kids. So yeah, you'd be silly not to use all the the positive tools that you've got from coaches over the years. There's a lot of coaches that I, you know, not steal stuff from, but you use and you adapt. And I've had some great coaches over the years and some great older players that I've also learned from. How's Cole take the criticism? He's good. He's good. Like it's hard. Sometimes it's hard to hear that you're not playing good enough or you're not doing something well, but I'm the first guy to pat him on the back when he is.

So I tell him, Hey, it's fair. You, you know, you, and I'm never going to beat them down, but like when you need to make corrections or you have to be better at something, I'm going to be pretty honest with you, but I'm also going to be super supportive and there to help. Kevin, you're obviously here back in Vancouver for a reason. You know, this pro camp that's going on right now in support of obviously the TS-51 Foundation, but of course, Rick Rippon and his legacy and mental health. And more importantly, for you to be here,

how much have you grown or how much have you learned? And when it comes to mental health and obviously the athletes. Well, I've learned a lot. We've come a long way and it all started with relaunching mindcheck.ca and that kind of evolved into Foundry BC. Now we have the KD Men's Health Foundation that I'm trying to support as much as possible. It's all about just health and mental health and mental health and men bring stability to families, to communities.

It's such an important thing. We're taught from such a young age, at least my generation is, you're a little bit younger than me, but my generation from a young age was taught as men to be strong and to internalize things and to like push through them. And that's not necessarily the case. If you have like a knee injury or an ankle injury, you're not just going to stay strong and push through it. You're going to go see a doctor.

You're going to try to get help. And that's kind of what we're trying to say with mental health. It's the same thing. There's tools out there that can help you, but you have to ask for the help and you have to be willing to accept it. The stigma is being slowly, slowly eradicated where it's a weakness. It's not. It's not a weakness. It's his illness.

It's a sickness. You can get help and you can live a happy life. Worst case scenario not a weakness. It's his illness. It's a sickness. You can get health and you can live a happy life. Worst case scenario is a suicide. And that's what we're trying to minimize as much as possible. You know, as sad as it was with Rick and I still think about it all the time. What could have I done differently? What could have we done? Um, you know, it's something that opened up this whole conversation for me and

for a lot of people in BC and now there's all these great programs that all started from Rick Rippon. So I know he'd be proud about that and he'd be happy of the progress we've made. Have you seen a change or a shift when it comes to mental health in the national hockey league and from when you played to where things are now? Yeah, there's more of an acceptance from the players when a player is struggling and they have to take a leave of absence or they have to put themselves in the program. There's more of an acceptance now. Before it used to be probably like a little bit of a snickering like kind of a oh that guy's not mentally strong enough. That's

what you would say right? He's not mentally strong enough. Well now we know that's not the case. Yeah. So there is a little bit more of an acceptance and there's still a ways to go in society I think but there's definitely been a ton of positives in the last In 12 13 years and programs like hockey talks that sheds light on it and educates people that that's a month-long Initiative now that most of the teams in the NHL are celebrating that helps that helps a lot because there has to be information There to educate people about it That helps, that helps a lot, because there has to be information out there to educate people about it.

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Use promo code SHEET. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Dan Murphy here with a question for Kevin. Who is your all-time favorite sports net personality? And I hope there's some loyalty when you think about this answer. But in all seriousness, are you as proud about the legacy you left with your work in mental health awareness as you are about the legacy you left with your work on the ice, especially in Vancouver, because I know a lot of people appreciate it.

Cheers buddy. Is that where Murph lives? That's a nice view. No, trust me. So three takes Murph, but we got it done. Uh, I, I enjoyed my time with everybody in Vancouver as far as the first part of the question, that whole team was Shorty and Cheech

and Murph for years. And then you came in, what an amazing team. And now Dave Tomlinson and Ray Ferraro, I always kind of say that that's, that's the number one regional show for sure. And they deserve more national attention. So that's the, uh, the first part of that. The second part is yeah, super, super proud of

the legacy. It goes hand in hand. Like I'm proud of the hockey and I'm proud of the culture that we had, I think for the 10 years super proud of the legacy. It goes hand in hand. Like I'm proud of the hockey and I'm proud of the culture that we had, I think for the 10 years I was here with the Sidines and Burrows and Kessler and Edler and Corey Schneider and all those players. We had such a great call, Mason Rieman, great culture for so many years. Like I had people come up to me in Starbucks and say, oh, I loved watching that era. Like people really enjoyed it. The city was buzzing.

So I'm proud of that. And then I'm proud of all the good that came out of it. Like everybody had their thing on our team, but what they support, like Danny and Hank donated money to the children's hospital anonymously, but then it became public because they asked for that. Cause that's just who they were. Like Burroughs, you know, supported what he supported. I supported what I supported for me.

It was, it was mental health and because of Rick, obviously, and just proud that that I'm associated with that. Like moving forward, I come back and people, you know, almost as much as they talk to me about hockey, they talk to me about mental health and about Rick and about, you know, some of the programs you've created. I probably get that more than the hockey stuff now. So, yeah, that's I'm very proud of that. Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the things that, you know, you, when people talk to you and think of Kevin BX, a lot of it now is geared towards mental health. How do you guys remain

so close? You mentioned those names, Schneider, Burroughs, obviously Cass, Daniel, Daniel, Henrikstein. You guys still are all close, aren't you? Yeah. Like why do you think that translated so far into where we are today? Well, when you're close as a team and you come, you grow up together and you go through the hardships and then you have kids at the same time, you get married, you have a lot of success,

you win together, you just build. It's just like the relationship just keeps snowballing, gets stronger and stronger. And now our kids all grew up kind of together and we've all kind of gone our separate ways and Cass is back in Michigan and twins are here. Obviously I'm in California, Burr's in Montreal, but like our kids, when they see each other, when Cole seems riker, it's still like they know each other. They grew up together, right? They wrestle, like they have fun and I don't know, it was just like a good time and to stay in touch, it takes effort for sure.

When everyone's living on opposite ends of the continent and we've all done that pretty well. Alex now moved down to Manhattan Beach so I golfed with him a few days ago so we'll see each other a lot more now which is awesome. Mason's up in the ranch doing who knows what there selling cars. So it's fun to like keep in touch with people but it takes a little bit of effort for sure. Yeah, I'd be remiss if you were sitting here and I didn't ask you about the season that we just had. So it's just a couple questions. What impressed you the most about last season? Was it the Edmonton Oilers, you know, making it that far or what was the thing that impressed you the most? Of the season in general?

Yeah, season in general. Well, let's start with the Canucks. I think the Canucks kind of surprising everybody, probably not being penciled in to make the playoffs. At the start of the season, started off the year with two big wins against the Oilers who a lot of people thought were the Stanley Cup favorites. And then they're at the top of the division for the majority of the year, kind of overachieving a little bit as far as what the public's concerned. I'm so excited to see for me personally, maybe a little bit, you know, selfish,

but happy to see the Canucks back at the top and contending and being a team. And then the Oilers, like I think I want to see, and most people want to see McDavid win a cup and Dry Settle win a cup. And they came as close as they're going to probably come to, to losing. I think they get to that opportunity again and, and they'll probably be a little bit more successful, but it's, it's been quite quite some time. 1993 since the Canadian teams won the cup. So every year for me, I'm kind of looking at the Canadian teams. We cover them and I'm like, who's going to be the team this year? You know, I want, I want to see a Canadian team, certainly in my lifetime when the Stanley Cup again. So that's

kind of what I'm sure. So I was happy that going to the playoffs, we had so many good teams had a chance with Winnipeg had such a good chance when the playoffs started. And obviously that didn't happen. But you know, the Leafs had a good chance too. And you had the Canucks and the Oilers. So just hoping for the same thing coming up this year. What are you most excited for this season? What

are you looking forward to the most? A lot of change, a lot of new faces and new places, especially with the Vancouver Canucks. Don't have to talk about them, lot of change, a lot of new faces and new places, especially with the Vancouver Canucks. I don't have to talk about them, but you know, a guy like Patrick Laine, we just, we spent a lot talking about mental health now gets a chance to go prove himself in Montreal. What are you looking forward to most? Yeah, like it's a fresh start. So the first thing is to figure out who went where over the off season, right? Because there's so many changes now. It's so different, especially with the cap going up. Like now there's flexibility to move guys.

So I'm just looking forward to seeing again, like who emerges and who, uh, who takes a step forward and, and the game is in such a great place right now. I think, I think there's a really good balance with the skill is as high as it ever is I'm on the ice with a bunch of guys right now and doing drills that I did as a player 10 years ago and And the pace is a lot higher now. The pucks are a lot crispier. You can't give a guy a bad pass. They shoot the puck harder, especially with the technology.

So the skill and the speed is at an all time high and there's still enough toughness there for me. It's not totally gone away. There's still the Zadorovs. There's still like the Basteron guys. Uh, the Ryan Reeves are still hanging around and there's Arbor Jack coming up from Montreal, I think is a stud and it's nice to see kind of those guys, Tom Wilson still kicking around. So for me, hockey is at its best when there's the skill and the speed

and the toughness. That's what separates it from other sports and we're at a great place right now. So looking forward to another season of that. All right, Kevin, well, it's time for our final segment and I knew you'd be happy doing this. That's why I didn't tell you ahead of time. I kind of went on X.com and found mean tweets. So I can take it. I know you take it, but I'm gonna make you read it. Or or I can't. Yeah. So we've got one here and I just want you to read the name and and this tweet.

Mitchell Underwood sounds like a pigeon. Man, Kevin Biaxa sucks. He may have one of the worst speaking voices ever. I think that's an alias for Nick Cousins. That might be, that might actually be. All right, there's another one. There's gotta be more. There's gotta be more.

There's this one, this one's good too. Hey, Earth, David Amber here. I understand you're interviewing Kevin Biaxa. I'm outside McGill University, which is a lot like Bow bowling green, but with books. But anyways, I want to ask Kevin about his great workout regimen. He's the strongest 5'11", 170 pound guy I know and I want to know how he gets so lean and fit. Thanks. Is he wearing the same shirt that Murph was wearing? They're both wearing the blue Lululemon

shirt. Yeah, I don't really know. Two for one. Two for one. Well, first I gotta ask you, five, 11, 170. That's fighting words from David Amber. So everybody always chirps me about my height because I'm six, one. I'm just, I am. What planet?

I am. Measure me. And I'm the 195 and guys always chirp me because they know that it bugs me a little bit. So that's the part of that. So I have a lot of these like workout tests that I like to do once in a while. And I bring them in.

So David Amber gave him a tester in the playoffs. There's a, there's the Murph challenge. I didn't make that up, but that's doing running a mile, a hundred pushups, a hundred squats and a hundred pull-ups. And then you run another mile, but you're supposed to do the 20 pound vest. Okay. So it's done every year in honor of Mike Murphy, the Navy SEAL who died. And so Amber's trying to do this test and, and

he's like, you can do this? I go, yeah, I can do this Dave, like professional athlete. Right. So then I gave him another one in the playoffs this year where a little bit easier one, but you're running, you're walking on a 15 incline on the treadmill for miles, as fast as you can.

So he does that. So now I gave him another one, it's called a 301. It's a, you put your body weight on the bar. So from 195, I put 195 on the bar. So 195 pounds total, you do a hundred squats and you don't stop until you're done. You can rock it, but you can't stop. A hundred bench presses, then a hundred deadlifts, then you run a mile.

So like when I tell him, he's just like, that's impossible. I'm 50 years old. I can't do this. So it's funny because he always kind of says, I like these challenges. I do, and they're good. I do them for old. I can't do this. So it's funny because he always kind of says, I like these challenges.

I do. And they're good. I do them for my, for my health, my, my, my mind first and foremost, and just like something to try to accomplish, like I played a sport, a competitive sport for almost my whole life. Right. And then now I'm not, I'm not doing anything

really competitive other than taking some guy's money on the golf course once in a while. So I like to do these challenges every once in a while just to kind of engage that part of my brain again and fills a void for me. Okay, great. Well, I'll leave you with this one because this one's actually nice. Oh, very chow. We know him, don't we?

I think so. Yeah, he's a Vancouverite. Kevin is like Ryan Reynolds of sports entertainment. Look at that haircut. Yeah. That's a comb over. That was early, I think. That was a very, that was at the old CBC building,

I believe. Yeah. I look younger there. I look a lot older now. Well, miles on the body. Kevin, thank you so much for doing this. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Appreciate the time as always. Thank you. Appreciate that. That's Irf and Gafar and the podcast Down to Irf. Check out his videos on our daily face-off YouTube channel. Thanks for listening.