Inside the NFL Owner’s Meeting + Gretzky on Ovechkin's Scoring Record, GOATs & NHL Playoffs | EP 141

32:05Because a Fruitopia was$1. at the end they had one like drink machine like vending machine you could go and get a fruitopia and uh instead of like the milk or the water that they were giving us in the lunch line and it turned into me just going and buying 50 cent uh honey buns like a ridiculous like five worth of fucking honey buns on monday so good and i came home one day with like i like threw my book bag on like the couch or something yeah and mom was like what the fuck is in this bag mom didn't swear but she's like what the hell is in this bag she opened up the bag and it was like a grocery are you stealing honey buns from the gross from the store i'm like no mom i'm using the money you gave me i'm stocking up so i can have these all day every day that's great yeah and that's when my mom stopped giving me five dollars for four fruitopias because i was turning into a big boy yeah she's all right gotta love it shout out to mothers all right well well so what's yours i said fruitopia was my uh if they could bring it back what are you that i could taste right now too i could taste the fucking green one man it's so good it's like a kiwi strawberry some shit what are you going with i don't know man dunkaroos are a close second for sure you're going choco tacos it sounds like yeah i'll go choco taco there you go way to get out of there that's it for notum questions brought to you by perplexity let's get to this wayne great ski interview this is the longest one i've ever had to do so just be prepared okay All righty, our guest today is one of the favorite athletes of all time.

33:55For both of us, this is a true honor. 15-time NHL All-Star, 9-time NHL MVP, 10-time scoring champion, 2-time Conn Smythe trophy winner, 4-time Stanley Cup champion. Still holds the records for most points and assists in a career, most goals, assists, and points in a single season. And nearly 60 other NHL records. God damn. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, member of the Order of Canada, the first player to ever have his number retired league-wide. God damn. These are a lot of stats. God damn. He is the star of the greatest hockey game Travis and I have ever had the joy of playing. Please welcome the great one, Mr.

34:41Wayne fucking Gretzky. Yes, sir. Hell yeah. I didn't know what to say after that. Dude, absolutely epic, man. The exact same way I scripted it, but well done. Well, that felt like it took forever, but it could have taken so much longer. I mean, the amount of records you hold in the NHL record books is truly remarkable. Unreseeable. Do you have one that, like, you means the most to you? Like, which of all of your records are you the most proud of, if that's easy? Well, first of all, hey, it's a pleasure for me to be here on your show. I love you guys. It's an honor for me to be part of being with you guys for a day.

35:26Thank you again very much. Oh my gosh. The man. As you guys know, being a professional athlete is such a thrill. Anytime you get any record, it's a thrill. It's an honor. For me, each and every one felt the same. If I had one record that I cherish the most, it's a record that I think is going to be hardest to break and that was i scored 50 goals in 39 games and i think for 38 games as you guys know the athletes get better every year the equipment's better the coaching's better training's better it's just sports is better today than it was but that's not knocking what we did back in the 70s and 80s and 90s 20 years from now it's going to be better than today so i'm proud of all my records heck yeah 50 goals and what that is insane oh my gosh did you just feel unstoppable that year i mean just everything you sent at the net went in so the record was 50 and 50 and then mike came along and he tied the record 50 and 50 he scored two goals in the last seven minutes in his 50th game to get 50 and 50 epic and i remember watching it and seeing his face and and the jubilation and the joy he felt.

36:40So I was driving to the rink with my roommate, and I had 45 goals in 38 games. I was a little more edgy than normal heading to the arena, and my buddy turned to me and he said, are you okay? And I said, you know, I just thought of this. If I don't get 50 and 50 now, people are going to say I choked.

37:01So I'm thinking before the game, I'm thinking during the game, I'm like, gosh, I got to get to the 50 and 50, I'm going to look like a miserable fool. There's no way. I scored two goals. I got three goals. All of a sudden, I had 49 goals. And I'm like, all right. And I scored the 50th goal. My buddy turned to me and said, well, I guess you don't have to worry about that 50th goal anymore. That's awesome, man. Recently, Alexander Ovechkin, ironically, just around the same amount of games, just, you know, passed you in most career goals ever scored. and it was awesome to see you show that respect and that class to him.

37:39When you set that record, or at the end of your career in 99, did you ever expect that that thing could be touched? It was mind-blowing that anybody is even around that realm, man. We all hooked up, but listen. So I remember the night I broke Gordie Owens' record, or the night before, I was having dinner with my dad, and I said to my dad, I said, you know, in some ways I'm kind of embarrassed because it's a different era and a different time from when Gordie played. He was such an icon, and he was my idol. In some ways, I'm feeling kind of guilty. I'll never forget my dad saying, listen, you just have the same dignity and respect that Gordie Howe has for you because he's truly happy for you.

38:20So when somebody breaks your record, you be as classy as Gordie Howe. And I remember I looked at my dad and I said, well, can I just enjoy it for a little bit? already talking about getting broken i had so much fun the nhl took care of my wife and i we flew up there we were at the game i remember saying gosh playing chicago tonight he might get three tonight we got to go he's got two goals and tied it my good friend is the assistant coach kirk muller went for dinner after the game and i said why didn't no vets can go on the ice in the last minute you had the empty net you're one of the coaches why didn't you put him out there and he said we tried to and he said he didn't want to break the record on an empty net goal so showed you the class that he has which was wonderful so we got to go to manhattan uh spend a couple days there my son lives in new york so we spent a few days in manhattan got to see him play on the island and when he did score the goal part of me was like gosh i was kind of looking forward to going back to washington they're playing thursday that week It was fun going to hockey games.

39:23You know, no stress, no pressure. We knew eventually he was going to break the record. And he's just a wonderful young man. And I think that his ownership group, Ted Leonis, and the hockey club and the coaches and his teammates and all the teammates he played with over all his years, he deserves the record and good for him. He's made so much for hockey and Washington, for the NHL, and, of course, in his own country, Russia. So I'm proud and privileged that he broke it, and I'm happy that I can say he's a good friend. Man, that is such a cool story. Just to hear how much class and respect is in the NHL and you guys have been doing it right.

39:58I believe his rookie year, you were the coach of the Coyotes. Yeah. And Ovechkin, he scored the goal in 2006. How crazy is that to come full circle? Somebody asked me the other day, they said, when did you realize Ovechkin had a chance to break your record? And he said, when I was coaching against, I think, his first year. Really? He went through the whole team twice and scored on his rear end, on his back. I remember looking around going, what just happened? And not did he beat players, he beat some good players. He beat some NHL guys and he beat a good goaltender. So, hey, listen, you know, that's what makes sports wonderful, right?

40:37When you think, oh, my God, can we get any better? Then another guy comes along and you go, wow, that guy's phenomenal. And then every sport's the same, whether it's football or basketball, hockey, baseball. And we just sit back as fans and go, you know, this is wonderful. This is great. We get to watch. We have bleacher seats here. And we get to adore these athletes. Look at Caitlin Clark, how she's kept that. Oh, yeah. Just taking over the country, and for that matter, maybe the world. And how she's encouraged so many young girls now to participate in sports, whether it's basketball or soccer or volleyball.

41:12My dad used to always say the greatest thing about sports is that you learn so much about real life. You learn how to be unselfish. You learn how to be dedicated. You learn how to work hard. You learn how to win. And then you learn how to pick yourself up off the ground when you lose. And that's what life is all about. And so I just have so much respect for so many of these athletes that come along now. And as a fan, I just love it. Hell yeah. Absolutely. And I think we both can speak to this. you know we didn't really know what hockey was that much growing up at first and i think what you guys brought in that era in particular you growing the game i mean it became so much bigger in the united states at that time and it caused both of us to start getting i mean started making movies about it slap shot came out then they had the kids moving with the mighty ducks and all of a sudden everybody's playing hockey yeah you know hockey has grown so much i would say this like Gordie Howe and Bobby Hall and Bobby Orr they were the sort of the golden age of the 60s and early 70s yeah and then you know the Islanders were so special in New York and then you know I got traded to LA and everybody goes you know like did you go to LA to help grow their sport and I really didn't I went to LA because I thought okay this is going to be really good I'm really excited with playing in LA.

42:32I want to be part of growing a franchise and helping hockey. But I didn't realize at the time when I went to LA that Steve Iserman was in Detroit and Mario Lemieux was in Pittsburgh and Brett Hall was in St. Louis and Mark Messier was in New York. Legends. Not only all those guys were really good players, but they were incredible off the ice too. And they had charisma and they loved the game. So we had a big wave that kind of went all at once. And it was a perfect storm right and then all of a sudden the mighty ducks came in i'll never forget michael the eyes they're having dinner with him right and he said you know i'm gonna have an nhl team called the mighty ducks i remember looking at him going you gotta be crazy mighty ducks well when janice says to me you know he probably is the number one marketing man in the world i think he knows what he's doing yeah right what he was doing oh yeah nothing was better than the 90s though and seeing you guys the names you just threw out there Messier Lemieux I mean you name it man you guys had that thing rocking and rolling especially for two young guys like us out of Cleveland Ohio we didn't even have a team so we were just fans of the game and the league seriously wide I played an exhibition game in Cleveland I can't even remember what year it was but it was somewhere between 87 and 91 we played an exhibition game yeah and the Gundarina yeah Gundarina and heifer and he was baron do you remember those oh yeah oh yeah we know the cleveland barons real well dennis maruk was their uh go-to guy in those days that's too good man how about the shout out to the barons baby uh we had we had a coach that actually played for the barons for a little bit we gotta ask man do you have you have so many good nicknames do you have one that you just you you chuckle at or you like the most or you got the great one we we found out that uh One of your early nicknames was the White Tornado.

44:25Not going to lie, that's pretty good. Because I wore white gloves. Oh, yeah. And I was playing well, and I went to this tournament in Quebec City, and they drew really well. We were drawing 15 ,000 people a game to watch us play. And I wore white gloves, and somebody wrote in French, she's the White Tornado. My dad hated that one. He hated the great one. I think my favorite nickname was Doc. and the golf world through Dustin and all his friends I've known anywhere on the golf course is doc and one of the things I said was I became an honorary doctor at the University of Alberta very cool I remember I said to somebody one day you know Dr.

45:07Buss wasn't really a doctor but he's an honorary doctor and they call him Dr. Buss and I was like can somebody call me doc Doc. My kids sometimes even call me Doc. I love it. So that's probably my favorite. I'll forever call you Doc, we got it. For sure. There you go. Let's shift to the current Stanley Cup playoffs. Right now, four teams left. Obviously, we got Edmonton leading 2-1. The Panthers are up 3-0 on the Hurricanes. Who do you think is going to shape up? Is it going to be a finals rematch? Yeah. Well, listen, I want you to know I'm the only guy at TNT on that panel that picked Edmonton to get to the finals.

45:49Are you? Hey! There you go. I'm wondering now. I picked Tampa Bay from the east, but part of my pick at that point in time was Tachuk was hurt, and he's such a big part of the success of the Panthers, and I wasn't sure he was coming back, but he's such a great player and such a good team player for that team. Tough guy, man. Listen, you guys know how it is. when you win a championship, it's hard to knock off the champions. I mean, they know how to win. They know what it takes. They focus. They know how to keep the distractions away. Now, I will say this. Edmonton learned a great lesson last year losing in the finals.

46:27They'll be a little bit different, a little bit more prepared, and some of the things that won't be surprised is off the ice. But they still got to get through Dallas because Dallas is so well coached. Branton and Dre, This kid is a tremendous hockey player. Their goaltender, Ottinger, is really good. They're big. They're well-coached. That series, I still think, is going to go seven games. Florida looks like they're in a great position. They win tonight. They're going to get a nice break. As you guys know, you get those breaks. It's more mental than physical sometimes. You get that mental break, right?

47:02And so Florida, they'll regroup. They know what it takes to win. They'll know how many days they have off before they play the first game. Again, they're well-coached, well-managed. I'd be hard-pressed not to think that it won't be a rematch in Florida-Edmonton. The difference is this year, Edmonton would have home ice advantage, which in the playoffs, four to seven is a big difference. Yeah. Hell yeah. I'll tell you what, man. That back and forth that they talked about last year going seven games or whatever from Edmonton all the way down to Miami. and that time difference is like a seven-hour flight.

47:38It's absolutely ridiculous. It's crazy, but I'll tell you something even crazier. Times have changed. In 87, we played the Stanley Cup Finals, seven-game series, Edmonton-Philly, and we flew commercial, the Edmonton Oilers. We flew. Oh, no way. You're like, you're sitting in coach? The next morning after game two, we flew from Philadelphia to Toronto, trotter at Edmonton, went to the arena, practiced, but we didn't know any different. We loved it. Oh, yeah. Like, you know, what else are you going to do? We didn't think we were being treated any worse or poorly. We loved it. We were all together.

48:17It was just part of our life, right? We had no complaints about it whatsoever. And in those days, you could sit in the middle of the airplane. You know, they had smoking sections in those days. You got the plane guys choking and say, oh, my gosh. I've spoken her eyes getting out on the ice but that was all the teams did it that's the way we that's we didn't know any different right it was fine I'll tell you what whenever we go uh whenever we go overseas or we do like an international game a lot of the international like travel you got to go through international customs so you're going through the main concourses of a lot of these big airports uh overseas and um I'll tell you what man some of the best memories and stuff are after you win a game and you get to go enjoy walking through the concourse, joking around with all the guys.

49:08I can see that being a hell of a time, especially if you're playing for the cup. It doesn't matter how. You get bused there and back, you know? No, we didn't complain one second. We were loving it. We're all together. I wouldn't have traded it into the world. That's cool. But you're right. Florida-Edmonton is a lot of travel. That's crazy. It's like an eight-hour flight. And not to mention if Florida gets off the plane, they've got to go against McDavid and Dreisaitl. The fastest guys ever, yeah. Let's go, baby. It's something different watching hockey in person than watching it on TV. And I'll tell you what, I went to a Stars playoff game last year and seeing the action and seeing how fast those guys are, man, it's mind-blowing.

49:52It is so unique. I always say our sport, if you watch it one time in person you're gonna sit there sit back and go oh my gosh i didn't know it was like that when i retired in 99 we had two more children and about the age of eight and we were in thousand oaks california not a lot of hockey out there and about the age of eight my son said can we go to a hockey game so i called my friend luke robertai and he got us seats on the ice my wife and i and my son and a friend and that you know on the ice how big and fast they are like they run around and it's physical like your sport crazy it's it's more physical than people even see or believe oh yeah my son got up and he turned to my wife and he said be really honest did my dad really play in this league

50:45it's a whole different level when you're there oh yeah you respect um the players have each other I don't know if you guys followed the Winnipeg-Dallas series really close, and it was physical, and you had to be a man to play in that series. And unfortunately, one of the players on Winnipeg's father passed away the night before game six. But one great thing about our sports is the handshakes after a series. But the pure compassion that the players had for him and his family was incredible because they just spent the last six games trying to kick the crap out of each other and to see the emotions and the true emotions of, you know, hey, it's a game, but we're family and friends.

51:28That's what's really important in life and in sports. And so it was really great to see and be part of. I was there and I thought it was so emotional. Absolutely. I mean, I can believe it. There's two things you touched on that I think have always been true for me with hockey. And one of them is I've been hit all over the field on a football field. The hardest I've ever been hit in my life is open ice on a hockey ring. Like, you get a hospital pass going where you're looking back and the defenseman can have a clear run at you, man. Oh, my gosh. That is going to hurt. That is going to hurt. Excuse me.

52:00You never look back. And secondly, you never have a defenseman that bad that passes a puck that bad. Yeah, there you go. There you go. I always said this. I never played football. But I would watch the games. My son played in California, and it was always fun because Joe Montana was always at the games. his son and my son played together. I could sit with Joe and nobody ever bothered me at the games because Joe was there. Everybody wanted to talk to Joe, but just to watch the game. The one thing that I see the difference in hockey and football, they're both physical, but in hockey, you kind of knew where the guys were in football.

52:34Guys come out of nowhere to hitch it from the side. At least we know where the guys are. There's only four of the guys coming at you, or five guys. You guys, you've got 11 guys that are trying to get you. Half of them, you don't know where they are. And that's what always amazed me about football. That's right. You got to have that head on a swivel. Oh, yeah. Always. You talked about the guys in the Winnipeg and Dallas series. And, like, hockey has such a culture to it that is just everybody is truly, I don't even know how to describe it, but I felt like it was like that way even growing up. There's such a tight-knit culture to the sport, to the NHL.

53:12Like, you're waiting around to go to Ovechkin's time when he's going to break your goal. And it just – that's something I've always appreciated about the sport. Even growing up, the parents, like, it feels like there's, like, just a culture to the sport that is inclusive to everybody and just – I don't know. Yeah. You've got guys throwing haymakers on the ice at each other than afterwards shaking each other's hand. There's such a class and respect, but such a toughness to defending and being there for your teammates. People ask me – sometimes I don't even have the answer because I watch these guys, and a lot of them, I'm very proud to say, I don't have any enemies of players I played with or against.

53:52And I would think that I would help to try to do anything for guys that were ex-players, were all eventually alumni. That's the one thing we have in common. I used to do a fantasy camp in Vegas. I had a friend there one day, and I had all these guys. I bring in 14 NHL guys, and I put two or three of them on each team so that the campers could get a chance to hang around with them, see how they work, get to know them personally. It was just remarkable. And one day I said to my buddy I grew up with, I said, come here, I want to show you this locker room. And I had Chris Chelios in there and Marty McSorley and Shane Corson and all these guys.

54:30Oh, man. So cool. And I said, you know, it's amazing. Those guys fought each other for 15 years. Not like one time in their careers, but they fought each other and whacked each other. every time I see Chris Shelley I'll see how we doing I said well good my wrist isn't as sore as it was last time I saw you but I was hockey you know you battling to try to win today thank you for sure it's all been done we're all on the same page we're all trying to help each other do things for each other and help this person's charity or that personal charity and that's what makes our sport so wonderful but that starts back in the 60s and 50s from guys like Gordie Howe and Bobby or and then they pass it on right and the guys pass it on 20 years from now their kids are gonna be saying yeah I remember Crosby and Ovechkin I remember uh McDavid and you know those guys really showed me the way and that's the way hockey is our culture has always been like that I'm very proud of it absolutely that's awesome man we mentioned that you were uh the coach for the Coyotes how How much different is it trying to coach and not necessarily have the ability to go out there and make things happen, but try and just be a coach, be a leader?

55:43What was the biggest difference in terms of leading a team in that aspect outside of just not being able to get out on the ice with the guy? Well, listen, first of all, I loved coaching. And I had a tremendous group of older guys like my captain, Shane Doan, and my goaltender was Curtis Joseph. Oh, yeah. guys like Joe Bulacchi they were just wonderful guys I never one time ever said gosh why can't you do this or didn't you see that I didn't even do that with teammates I had one teammate who always said to me every time we come off the ice he said Gretz you didn't see me I was wide open Gretz you didn't see me I was wide open finally I said if I see you trust me I'm going to give you the pop I started calling him 7-Eleven

56:34I said, he's always open every time I come off the ice. I want you to score as badly as you want to score. So if I see you, I'll get you the puck. So I never really overly concerned about, I wish that guy could do that. I loved coaching. I loved helping kids become better professional athletes and professional hockey players. I truly enjoyed it. You know, I've tried everything in hockey. I was a player. I was fortunate enough to run Team Canada in 2002. We won a gold medal in Salt Lake City. It was one of the great thrills of my life. I played in the Olympics in 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Unfortunately, we didn't win, but it was such a great experience.

57:21And staying in the Olympic Village, we had so much fun being with all the other athletes, curling, figure skating. I can only imagine, man. It was like going back to high school, right? Yeah. So my point is, if you get asked to be on the flag football team, do it. You're going to love it. Dude, I got to find it. Even if I'm just like an assistant coach or something, I got to get in there somehow. No, no, it is the greatest thrill being part of the Olympic Games you're ever going to have. I mean, it truly, it will be, if you get a chance to play, if they ask you to play, do not turn it down, trust me.

57:56And stay in the village. It's overwhelming. That's awesome. Noted. All right. We want to start here with you growing up and your dad, because I speak for Travis and I, our father has been such a huge inspiration for us in our lives. It was so impactful on us just having joy for sport and competing. He was there a step of the way he was our baseball coach. He fueled it. So involved in the stories of your dad and his involvement in the backyard ice rink. Like, first of all, how did the backyard ice rink come about? Like, where did that even come from? Well, it's interesting because everybody thinks that my dad built this backyard ice rink.

58:36That's the legend, yeah. That's not true. So my folks came from, one came from Minsk, Belarus. My grandmother came from Ukraine. They met in Manitoba, Winnipeg, moved to southern Ontario. and they bought this farm in 1924 and the farm had a river that ran through the back and at two and a half years old I started skating on the Spurgeon River well my dad would take me out there and Saturdays and Sundays when he wasn't working and I would skate all day on Saturday and Sunday so then as I got a little bit older three and four he'd take me to the park they had these outdoor parks and I would skate for hours you know at that time I'm not in school yet he didn't start school or five years old or six years old.

59:19So my dad got mad one day. He was so cold that he decided, look, I'm going to build a reef in the backyard, and I can sit in the kitchen and drink my hot tea. I'm not going to creep. So every late November, early December when it first started to snow, my dad would say to my mother, listen, go over to Woco, the store, and buy me a sprinkler head. And my mom would say, you're an idiot. And if you think I'm going to go ask for a sprinkler head in December when it's snowing, they're going to think I belong in a home. Right now we go over to get this sprinkler and he put it at the middle of the yard and it go back and forth for an hour.

59:57He'd move it, move it around and he'd make the ice over six, seven inches thick. We'd have the best ice and I'd skate all winter on this backyard rink. And it was just out of necessity. It wasn't to make me a better player or make me an NHL player. but the ironic thing about it was he was the worst handyman around we know a guy you have the greenest grass and the thickest greenest grass people would stop and say walter how how did you get your grass like that what what are you putting on there and my mom would just shake her head and it just comes from freezing in the winter time and you're gonna i know for some reason it works so that's how i started and like your dad my dad took me to every practice took me to games and he did the same thing i had three sibling brothers he took my brothers he took them to practice baseball i played box across track and field i don't think my mom and dad ever missed they were at something one of them was it either a practice or a game 98 of the time that's so good one of the things you talked about uh i think it was in the master class thing i saw you do with about your dad was not only you didn't just play hockey i feel like that's unique to a lot of hockey players now all they do is they just play one sport but you play baseball you play box lacrosse like yeah you did everything how much do you think that that enabled you to be a better hockey player i don't think i don't think there's any question without all that i wouldn't have been a player i began oh wow track and field helped me build my endurance i used to be a long distance runner box lacrosse taught me how to you know avoid body checks and crosschecks or roll after them.

1:01:38Baseball, you know, baseball was my favorite sport as a kid, actually. And you have to be such a thinking man. You have to be one step ahead of that pitch. You got to, you know, if you're playing shortstop or you're playing third base or you got to know where you're going to throw the ball if it's hit to you. If you're playing, if you're in first base and your guy's bunting, you got to know when to go. So you're always thinking and anticipating in baseball. And I tell parents this all the time that all those sports helped my hockey. Now, in those days, they didn't play as much hockey in the offseason.

1:02:09And I feel bad for some of these kids because their parents are thinking they're getting left behind because their son, their friend's son is skating all summer. That's not the case. I think all these sports help you. And then when you get to be 15, 16, you say, you know what, I want to be a football player or I want to be a hockey player. Then you make that decision. I don't think you just throw everything away at the age of 10, 11, concentrate on one sport. I just, I'm not a big believer in that. And I feel bad for some of these parents who can't afford to have their son or daughter play all year.

1:02:42Right. That think they're getting left behind. Trust me, they're not getting left behind. They're going to be fine. Yeah. Yeah. And it feels like a lot of times these parents get caught up in the moment. And it's like, no, no, we're building this thing for the future. Really just not. I mean, chances are nobody's going to play in the NHL. We're just trying to build the most all-around athlete and well-centered human being, right? Whoever's having fun doing this, yeah. My boys grew up in California. There wasn't a lot of hockey in Thousand Oaks area, but my son played baseball. I would go to practice, and you go to the games, and you saw these parents, and I'd be sitting there going, oh, my gosh, just hope that your son turns out okay.

1:03:21Just hope that maybe he gets a college scholarship. All right. This is one of the hot beds of the baseball country. There's about four kids that have made Major League Baseball here. Right, right, right. Let's not get too far ahead of it. It's hard to become a professional athlete. And I know first hand. I went through it and you guys know first hand. It's hard to become a professional athlete. And you've got to be a good person, be a good teammate. And then if you can get a college scholarship, hey, after that, everything's gravy. That's the way I look at it. Absolutely. man you you keep mentioning uh not a lot of hockey out there in california and i all i keep picturing is the pro beach hockey league do you remember when this thing hit as a kid as a kid that was the one of the coolest leagues ever they had crazy jerseys they had the whole arena right there on the beach it was pretty cool i gotta admit they did a spectacular job i had some friends who were actually playing in that league no way and we tried to watch a game one day and i said wow this pretty good hockey.

1:04:22That's rocking, yeah. I was very impressed about the whole style of it, the whole sale pitch, the game itself. I thought it was pretty cool. Chris Shelley was a Hall of Famer. He didn't even ice skate until the age of 13. He grew up inline skating. Really? That's crazy. I would tell parents, listen, financially it's tough to be a hockey parent. At the age of 8, 9, and 10, if your son or daughter is inline skating, it's going to be fine. you're not falling behind trust me oh yeah my mom said that was one of the best decisions i ever made for was uh in high school instead of uh continuing to play hockey and uh her having to buy all this equipment and especially at the rate especially at the rate me and jason were growing that's right it was like it was like mid-season we we'd change out skates for a new size you guys went through two pairs of skates and it's not even just the price of the equipment you got to wake up at like 5 in the morning to go to ice time.

1:05:22You're traveling. We went to Canada to go play hockey tournaments. Not many parents can foot the bill for it, but it's a tremendous sport. That's the hardest thing. I see it in Florida because we live a lot of the time there, and I see it in California. These parents are so dedicated. These mothers, they don't get enough. Look at Austin Matthews, his folks in Phoenix, getting up at 4 in the morning and practicing and then playing in the league. Can you imagine at 11 years old, you're in a league in Phoenix that you're playing against Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Denver. I'm like, oh, they're traveling more than the Phoenix Coyotes.

1:06:01It was crazy. I'm like, oh, my goodness. So the parents, they deserve such credit for, like, hanging in there and backing their sons or their daughters. And just it's incredible, really. Our dad has always credited hockey with making both of us good athletes. Oh, there you go. Oh, yeah, 100%. The leg strength, the speed of the game, all of it, he raves about it. Understanding angles and, I mean, you name it. And I will say some of the best football players at changing direction because you get used to going on edges on the ice, those guys are always good at changing direction on a football field too.

1:06:40All righty, we're going to ask a bunch of questions. This is called We Gotta Ask. Feel free to not answer them. Tell us this. Fuck off, whatever you need. All right? All right. Favorite parting with the Stanley Cup story. Which one you got? Oh, the very first one. We're in the locker room. Nobody knew what to do with the Stanley Cup because nobody had ever won it before. I was sitting there with my dad and my little buddy, the stick boy Joey that's famous now in Canada. Hell yeah. And I said, what to do with the Stanley Cup? and he goes, you guys want it, take it. And so we took it everywhere.

1:07:15And now every time I see Phil who guards the Stanley Cup, I said, we got to do that job. You made a living traveling around the world protecting the cup. So that's probably my favorite Stanley Cup story. That's so good. Jason actually had the cup right there where he's sitting in his living room. I was so freaking jealous, man. Lord Stanley. it's even more beautiful in person did you eat or drink out of it oh yeah you always take a sip out of the Stanley Cup right one of the great days I had was of course times have changed in the 80s I called the Hall of Fame one day and I said hey I'm at home in my hometown my grandmothers are coming over and my mom's doing a barbecue in the backyard can you bring the cup down and they drove the Stanley Cup down nobody really was around except my folks my family and it was actually pretty cool that was back in the days where it was a little less crazy right yeah sure should more sports include fighting no all right hockey we were talking about hockey is unique in that aspect where it's not going to just take over the game it's like it's more of a yeah it's more of a out of respect thing and a tone setter than it is if you if you add fighting in other sports i mean guys it's literally just gonna get turned into a you don't need it somebody one time asked me is fighting in hockey real and i said well if it wasn't i'd be in more of them you know we don't need the fighting no you said you're a long distance track and field run is that what you said yeah well we got this clip brandon we got the clip ready i know what you're gonna do this ain't a long distance this is a long distance and you You are out the gate.

1:09:07Look at the white tornado.

1:09:13The football on a, on a sweep, baby. Let's see what he can do.

1:09:21Funny story behind that. You had to, if you weren't asking me to do this, it was his charity and his thing. And I said, Oh, I'm awful. That stuff, but I'll come, I'll do it. And the other five events, I had no chance. I think there was an obstacle course and whatever. And I remember I said to my dad was there, I said, geez, I better do well in this race because I'm going to come last in every other event. In every other event. I wasn't very good. I think there was a bike ride and an obstacle course. I can't remember, but I wasn't very good. That's awesome. That is awesome, man. Yeah. You smoked them.

1:09:54Well, we've got to, we've got to give you a shout out. Have you ever played your, at your game? Me and Jason played this game our entire lives. I played it, yeah. We still, we call it Wayne Brewski now. We'll play it and we'll make it a drinking game, man. How did this even come about? Did you, like, were you a video game guy or did it just kind of come to your table and you're like, yeah, let's do it? Crazy enough, one of my really close friends, a wonderful man who unfortunately passed away. It was his company. He came to me. We played a lot of golf together. And I said, honestly, I said, Jack, I don't know a lot about this stuff.

1:10:34I think we won New York Times Video Game of the Year. He created a cool game. And I remember thinking, wow, that's pretty cool. That's awesome. And my boys at the time were 8 and 6. They loved it. They played it all. Oh, man, every day. I'm proud that it was part of it. But look at the games today. Oh, yeah, no. I feel like I'm really playing hockey. Seriously. Yeah, the graphics are in sense. Well, we love that one. Oh, yeah, we appreciate you for it. Thank you. We got to know who your greatest of all times are in the NBA, the NFL, and the MLB. Well, the NBA is easy. 23, that was pretty easy, right?

1:11:12Mike, yeah. NFL. Well, I'll go with you two guys, like one and two. Let's go! Let's go! My man, I'll take it. Major League Baseball, listen, to me what Jackie Robinson did was incredible. Babe Ruth, how he created the full baseball world. But I'm going to pick George Brett as the greatest player I ever saw. There we go, baby. There we go. Keeping it in the M.O., baby. He was such a force and he was so good. And then in your sport, I mean, how can you go against Tom Brady with all the championships, right? TB. You know, the great thing about sports, we sit around and we all argue and debate. We don't have all the right or wrong answers, right?

1:12:02Who's the greatest team? Who's the greatest individual? Who's the greatest player? We don't know. It's all opinion, right? Yeah, sure. Exactly. You just sort of pat those guys on the back that have made a difference, not only what they did, but how they've helped their community, how they help charities, how they get involved with their family, their cities. So it's hard to go against. I'm proud of the fact that I could say that George Brad and Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, and I got Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe in hockey. Those are the two greatest players ever to play. There we go. You beat me to it.

1:12:35If you were going to make a Mount Rushmore of NHL players, who would be on the Mount Rushmore? So we got Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr on it. All right. Who else is on this? Lemieux. and Merck Messier. See, Travis, the greats always leave themselves off of their own Mount Rushmore. What are you talking about? Travis infamously put himself on his own Mount Rushmore. I didn't know it was. I'd take those four guys any time. I always tell people, Merck Messier was the greatest player I played with. Mario was the greatest player I ever played against. And Gordie Allen, Bobby Orton, the greatest two players ever to play our game.

1:13:12That's awesome. Doggone, that's awesome. um who uh who owns the quote you miss 100 of the shots you don't take you or michael scott from the office now i get pushy it's my quote not his

1:13:31dad you ever like the office i go i don't even know what you're talking about oh it's pretty good quote and i looked at it and i said oh my god no that's fine i don't care No, that's too funny. If he wants to claim it, go ahead and claim it. I think that's all we got for you, Doc. Listen, Doc, I love that. I really appreciate you guys. And listen, good luck to you this year. Don't let them take your jersey away from you until you're absolutely ready to quit. Make them rip it off your back. You're the best. You're the best, big guy. Let me ask you, though. You're the absolute best. I got to ask you one more story.

1:14:07Yeah. So I've since been golfing with my brother. Right. And he has the greatest head cover I have ever seen in my life. How did you let this knucklehead get this head cover? What is the story behind that? That is the coolest thing on the planet to us. So I'll tell you this. So he was playing golf with a couple of buddies and my wife at Troubadour. Really hot that day. And I said, I don't want to play. I was in watching TV or something with my buddy who lives on the course, Randy Bernard. and my wife texted me and said, we're coming through the hole that he lives on. Come on out and say hello.

1:14:44And I said, okay. So I brought out this head cover and I brought out this head cover and I gave it to him and said, here, my son gets these made and this is mine. It's so cool too, man. It's very cool. But you know what pissed me off most about the whole thing? We took this picture and everybody sent me letters and phone calls. What are you doing golfing in bare feet? How are you golfing? I want to take a picture. I'm going to do a nice thing. You got no shoes on. I'm like, I'm not playing golf. He's just hanging, man. He was just hanging. The last one you wanted to do is play the golf, not me.

1:15:24Oh, yeah. Once it's out there on social media, man, everybody's going to comment. You're the best, though, big guy. I still got it on my driver today, man. No doubt. It brings me good luck. Good for you guys, and keep it going. thank you for everything thanks my pleasure we just fucking we just had one of the coolest conversations of my life that's pretty awesome i could have kept asking him questions i'm so pissed i didn't have my fucking gretzky skates man you have skates i have nike gretzky skates yes all white gretzky skates the white tornadoes nike gretzky skates the docks what a fucking cool ass nickname.

1:16:03It's pretty sick. I'm wearing nothing but white gloves all year. Oh, love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. No, you're not, though. That would increase your chance of holding. Don't do that. Don't do that. I'm out of there on that. All right. That wraps up this episode of New Heights. Make sure you're subscribed on YouTube, the New Heights channel. Follow New Heights in the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. That's right. Once again, New Heights, a Wondery show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment and brought Brought to you by Reese's and their new PB &J Cups.

1:16:35Follow the show on all social media. Add New Heights Show with one S. Thanks to our production and crew for always making us look better than what we are. And thank you again to all the 92 percenters for tuning in. Hope you guys enjoyed the interview with the great one.

1:17:03You guys hear that call? Yeah.

1:17:08Can you guys make out what she's saying? I can't. Sounds good, though. She's saying, I'm all done pooping. That's the call for me to go wipe Elliot's ass. Do you need to come back to us? Nana just walked up there, thankfully. I'm going to start doing that at home. That's so good. I'm all done pooping! Lauren! She just goes, what? You're not going to want to answer this. You don't want to be part of this bit. This bit's not for you. Don't worry about it. All right.