Vegas, Hockey and Hockey Moms

The title says it all. Just KG and John chewing the fat.

Transcript

0:19

Ooh, welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where once again, we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota kindness that it desperately needs. It's just me and KG today. Kg, where are we calling you at? I am in between Minnetonka and St. Paul. Got a function down in the, uh, beautiful city of St. Paul tonight, so I thought it'd be a perfect time to little. Conversation on the front end of this week's show. And, uh, you know, there's no, there's no intern, there's no Steve Brown, so we can probably talk sports, we can talk a whole bunch of Seinfeld. We really don't have anything planned for today, but we recently returned from, uh, a three day excursion to Las Vegas. Your thoughts? Well, small doses for Vegas, uh, for me, um, had just been there for a total of nine days on two different trips with the wild. So the actual spot, it's fine. Uh, there are places like New York, Boston, and Chicago I would much prefer to travel to. However, the company was great and the Kenny Cheney show at. Everything I hoped it would be as far as the aesthetics go. Now the sound needed some work. Um, I'm sure being, it's a new facility, they all, uh, figured that out. Um, it was awesome and I, and I love seeing that facility. It's, it's like going into the future. Like I walked in there with you, John, and I felt like I was. 20 years down the road. Like I, I've never seen anything like that. Yeah. The, uh, you know, visually it did, it felt like we were on the Jetsons a little bit. Yes. And then at the beginning of the show, when, uh, just the, I'd love to know who's responsible for the, the graphics on the, the biggest screen you've ever seen. And I could sit in there. It's, it's like the biggest IMAX theater that's ever been created. It's just, it's nuts. It's, it's, you know, that that IMAX experienced is kind of a mind warp. And I felt the same way watching that like you're transported to a different place and our seats, um, if we're being honest, were probably not the absolute best for taking the video screen in. We were in the lower bowl, but the top side of it, so the second deck kind of hung over our seats. So when we go back, and I think we will at some point. I'd, I'd rather be in one of those upper decks so I can take in the, yeah. The absolute video surround experience. Um, it's a hell of a facility. Yeah. I like to call the experience a night with Kenny's crotch because the video that was projected behind Kenny, we actually had good seats to see Kenny, and my favorite part is when Kelsey Ballerini came up. And, uh, sang that song Half of My Hometown, which I just love that tune, but you could only see from about Kenny's waist down. So yeah, I have coined the term. Come enjoy a Night with Kenny's crotch. Um. But it was quite an evening, but Las Vegas, very interesting. This is the kindest Chronicles, but I'm about to go down a road that isn't exactly very kind'cause it, just go for it.'cause I think, you know, we talked about the difference between being nice and being kind. If I were being nice, I would say, oh, everybody I. Should take their shirt off at the pool. That is not exactly true. Um, you know, the minute you, you hit 60, 65, no more belly button piercings, that's, let's not do that. Right. I mean that's, I agree. Being kind is just saying, you know what, just stop that. I don't know. It's um, it's great people watching in Vegas. Oh my. Is it, it's kind of like the state fair on steroids. That's how I explain it, because nobody believes there are any rules out there. And to your point, they let it all hang out, literally. Ugh. I mean, you're gonna see things you wanna see, you're gonna see things you don't wanna see. Um, people are. It's just, it's a lot. And the older I get, and I don't mean this disrespectfully to anybody, but the more I enjoy more intimate settings, whether it's a double date with you and Becky or maybe four couples at a, at a, at a spot where they can hunker down and really connect with people, the more people you get into one space. And it's hard to go anywhere and not feel crowded, and that doesn't do it for me. Yeah. The one thing that I did like, so we stayed at the Venetian and I told Becky I wouldn't have to leave this place. There's like 50 restaurants in there. Mm-hmm. Every shop that you could ever want. The place is absolutely massive. I think there's 15 pools. Um, but she made me go out onto the strip and take a walk down to something'cause she had to go shopping at some store that was at the Crystal Courts or whatever it is. Um, and that's, that's very interesting adventure. The days of going to Vegas and finding, you know, the 1599 buffet. Those days are long gone. I think that the price, I mean, fortunately you and I don't drink, but the rest of the people we were with were drinking and they were putting away some pretty expensive beverages. you know, Vegas used to be, everything was a deal. Getting out there was cheap. Hotels were cheap. To your point, food and drink was cheap. That's no longer the case. They've upgraded their facilities. These like the Venetian as a fine example. These resorts are incredibly beautiful. They're high end, the shopping is high end, the food is really good, but you're gonna pay for it and you're not gonna go out there on a shoestring budget anymore. When I first started going Vegas in the late eighties, early nineties, it was a completely different experience nowadays. It is, you better bring your wallet and, and have that, that credit card ready to get pounded because it's expensive, everything. And it's, it's, it's wonderful. You can get a great meal. You can shop and find great stuff, but, um, yeah, it's, it's not gonna be anything, uh, on a budget. It's gonna be expensive. Um, as this is the Kindness Chronicles, did you experience any kindness in Las Vegas? I. I think for the most part, every day, like, you know, we stayed at New York, New York, which I had never stayed there, and it was really nice. And like a lot of these places you can get turned around. And so a lot of times it might have been people that worked there. A lot of times there were, were patrons that were staying there. Um, and when you get turned around, they were out going outta their way to kind of help me figure out where I was going. You get out on the street, um, you see all kinds of different things on the. If you ever get into a spot where you need help, like people are very, very friendly. I thought, you know, the, some of the, the most friendly people I encountered, uh, were my Lyft drivers. I, I just, I find them to be fascinating humans. Um, so no, I, I, I thought it was great. Like, uh, it's just, it's the volume of people that, that gets me into a situation where I get uncomfortable. Yeah. The, I think that somebody, the message got out that this is a service industry sort of place. Um. And, you know, just about everybody that we encountered from the, the waiters to the people that we're serving. And the pool people, I mean, everybody, obviously, they work for tips, so they're going to, uh, they're gonna turn it on. But, you know, I was, I was surprisingly impressed by the level of, the niceties. Um, yes. Yeah, I, I mean our, our wait. Of the concert went out her way to be extra nice to your wife, that these are the kind of things, uh, that I'll take from Vegas and remember for a long time. Oh, it was fun. It no, was fun. It was fun. Like she was a young gal. She, um, living her best life for sure. Beautiful woman. And, um, you know, I mean, we're about ready to go into this concert. We're all jazzed up and we had watched the Timberwolves game. We were looking for a little levity at that point because the basketball game and all of our tickets on the Timberwolves were going down the tubes. So it was great. Yeah, it was very fun. So anyway, uh, enough about that. What do you got going on tonight? You're on your way to some big event. Well, it's not a big event. It's, it's, um, it's a live stream with the 10,000 takes. Guys, I think our listeners will remember a few years ago when the Vikings, uh, back when they had cousins, they did that really fun Christmas video, um, themed with the, the JJ and the cousin stuff and KOC who's been on their show. These, they're young kids, you know, kind of like Barstool Sports locally. Uh, they, they've taken 10,000 lakes and turned it into 10,000. Sports takes, takes and they do a podcast, they do a live stream. They have an office where, where do they do it? St. Paul. They do it kind of down by the ballpark where the Saints play. Okay. So they've got an office down there and they've got a studio. Um, it's a really nice set. They've got the bubble hockey machine right there. So whenever I, once we get done recording, uh, we play a game of bubble hockey, which is awesome. Um, they're great kids like a talented bunch. tonight, we're gonna get into the,, free agency, the draft, where this team needs to go, Marco Rossi. So I'm kind of gearing up for that type of, of conversation. Um, and it, it, I, I go down there a couple times a year. So I went down once during the season and I always go down once during the summer, and this is the day we picked out a while back. So just let's talk wild for a second. Who do we expect to lose to free agency? I. Well, I think it's more about who we might move through trades and, and Marco Rossi's at the top of that list. That's the, the big talker, John, is, you know, what's gonna happen with Rossi because it sounds like the, while they're willing to offer him, like, I'll ballpark this, but this is what I'm hearing. Five years, uh, at, at around 25 million. And his camp wants a lot more than that. Oh, they're looking for closer to seven or 8 million a year. Oh, no. And I, I, well, and if, if the while they're gonna go get a, a frontline center in free agency, and I'll use Sam, Ben as the guy they might covet who plays for the Florida Panthers, he'd be roughly. A 10 million a year guy now favors contract kicks in, you gotta re you know, resign carri, that's gonna be a, a big number, probably eight years, 120 million. So you, you have to pick and choose where you spend the money. So Bill Garrin, I think is gonna be very aggressive in trying to shop Marco Rossi around and maybe they'll package him up with one of their young prospects and then they'll try to get something back. I know, um, the name that wild fans are salivating over as a kid. Paige Thompson, he plays in Buffalo And Buffalo's had another, you know, they're coming up another season where there was expectation they would contend for a playoff spot, which they did not do. The hard thing for Buffalo is he's probably their best player and, um, he's an American kid who Bill Garrin certainly has on his radar with his time with USA hockey, they'd have to trade a lot to get him a lot more than Marco Rossi, but I, I wouldn't be surprised if they were at least trying to be creative on that front. The free agent names that keep coming up are Mitch Marner, uh, from Toronto. Uh, I mentioned Sam Bennett from Florida. You've got Brock Nelson from the auditors. You've got Brock Besser, uh, who played, um, out in Vancouver. These are all names that keep swirling around, but it's, it's a huge summer. Bill his group. So I think you're gonna see, um, you know, once the, once the Stanley Cup wraps up here in the middle of June and we get closer to that, that draft, while they're gonna be aggressive, are a couple of those guys. Minnesotans, isn't Brock Nelson a Minnesotan? So, yeah, Brock, uh, is from Burnsville and Brock Nelson is from Warroad. And, and so both of them have ties here. They're on the back end of their career, especially Brock Nelson. You know, if you remember last year, the trade deadline. He went to Colorado and played out, uh, the final, I don't know, 15, 20 regular season games and then played in the playoffs for the Avalanche. I know they both would like to play in Minnesota. I just don't know if the money's gonna match what they need to get paid and what the wild can pay them. The wild, I think their top priority is center and, and both, you know, Besser and Nelson are probably more natural wingers. Okay. And that's why the, the name Sam Bennett keeps popping up and, you know, Florida keeps winning and if. Minnesota's chances of getting him, but he's a guy that's likely gonna get around 10 million a year. He could play first line center, which would bump, you know, act down to being your second line center, which would really be a good setup for this hockey team. So I would keep an eye on the Sam Bennett team, because I think it's legit, how much, uh, Tourette is left on Spurgeon's Tire. You got a couple years left. Well, you know, Spurgeon had a good year. Yeah. And he's, and he's still got, I think at least three years left on that deal. So if, if he can, again, we're waiting for a full year of healthiness from him when he is helping, he is fantastic. The question mark remains, you know, the last two or three years he's had to deal with injuries that have kept him out for some, some significant time. And that, that to me is the bigger issue. He can still play. Um, the thing, the thing I find remarkable about that, I mean, he's a little guy and well, when you factor in, the average forward in this league goes about six, three to 10. And Spurgeon on a good day is five seven a hundred sixty. I mean, it's not real. That's like I'm being generous, like literally. Um, he is one of the smallest players in the league and he is super. He's strong with a stick. Um, he uses his body with that low center of gravity, take people off the puck. Um, you know, he's, he's really effective. And then he, of course he's a great skater because, you know, I'm getting smaller guy. He is, had to be a great skater just to get here. Yeah, he, he does an awful lot, uh, in, in a frame, that small plane that position you, you'll see smaller forwards pop up once in a while. Cole Cofield in Montreal as an electric offensive player. You just don't see a lot of defense from that size play as well as Jared Spurger does. What kind of gophers are we expecting to see, uh, in the NHL next year? Anybody noteworthy to, to look forward to? You know, they've had such a run here. I mean, you know, you know, you look at what favor's done here, you look at what Jackson McComb's done out west in Anaheim. You look at, you know, Matthew dies, what he's done with Toronto. I mean, he's another name. Up a former golfer. That's, that's just, I mean, he's taken the league by storm, so they've had a run now three or four in a row, and now you got snugger root. I guess snugger would be the name I'd give you because I don't think a lot of hockey fans caught a lot of his hockey this year. He played this past year for the golfers and then left after the the NCAA run to go play the last couple games with the blues. That's the name. Uh, now that I think about it, he'll get his actual rookie season next year. St. Louis has made a commitment to, to snugger root, to be one of their top end guys. He'll be on the power play. He'll be on one of their sport. Wow. Yeah, he's really good. Really good. And the gopher's, NCAA run was more of a quick sprint, wasn't it? Or a, a weak jog. Yeah, they didn't have the run they wanted, that's for sure. I I look back at the game they lost and, and they certainly didn't get a lot of help along the way. You're never gonna blame officials for a loss that's not, you know, really acceptable. But there were some late, late misses specifically won on the game winning goal in that hockey game. But yeah, it was much shorter than the, the run before that where favoring those guys gotta the championship game. That lead and then let it slip away in the third. That was far more painful. Before I let you go, uh, I want to talk a minute. You mentioned officials and you don't wanna blame games on officials. No. And I think we should do a full episode on the way that youth hockey, basketball, baseball, parents react to officials. My brother-in-law, Chad is a, uh, a, an ice, uh, hockey, why did I say ice hockey in Minnesota, we just call him hockey. He's a, a, a hockey referee and he refs everything from, you know, junior gold all the way down to mites. And it is shocking. I've been to a couple of the games. It is shocking how. Nuts. Parents can be. And the reason I bring this up is, uh, we spent the weekend with John Turinas and, uh, Jenny Maddox and John's son. Timmy has written a, uh, a play and I think it's called The Rink. Are you familiar with this? Have they told you about this? They have not. It is about hockey moms and, you know, Timmy, I mean Timmy is, Destined for big things. The guy's just this creative, hilarious kid, and he wrote this, he wrote this play, and I cannot wait to see it because can you imagine if there, if there is a better, segment of the population to lampoon than hockey moms? I don't know, maybe hockey dads, but talk about being ripe for, uh, for making fun of. Well, they, you know, again, when you, when you think about hockey, the atmosphere at a youth hockey game, I, I would say 80 to 90% of the people in there are normal human beings. Yes, we got a, we got some kind of kerfuffle here on the freeway. Oh. And then there's the 10 or 20% that ruin it for everybody else. And there's always one or two. Not living in the real world and taking it too serious and screaming. And the problem I have with this is young people are there and they're impressionable. And we've gotten to the point now, and I've had this conversation with people that actually officiate is now, we're year by year, the numbers are continuing to go down in terms of how many officials we have that broke. But Nephew will, uh, this is a few years ago, had a basketball game. Yeah. And it was a high school basketball game. Are we talking about crossover? Will captain crossover? Yeah. Yes. Your guy. Yeah. My, your guy Will Anderson great athlete. At the time he was playing, um, out in Maple Grove, which is a normal, you know, twin cities, you know, first ring suburb. Very influential, you know. Nice, nice place. I am at the game and, and I'm gonna connect with Will at a, like we, we leave the game right when the game ends, they get beat, um, on their home court and we're gonna connect with Will, I think, for a bite to eat somewhere after. So one of those rare occasions we didn't stick around after and mingle with all the parents and wait for the kid to shower and come out. We're gonna go get the table at the restaurant, right? So we, the buzzer goes and we're out the door. All of a sudden we're going down the hall. I see this security guy and I see the officials and they, the game had literally just got over and they are shuffling these guys off to the parking lot with security, John, come on a Minnesota high school basketball game on like a Tuesday night. Oh boy. And so I asked the security guys like, oh yeah, we, we have to do this at every high school game, not Maple Grove, like every high school game all around the state because we've had some incidents. Waiting out the parking lot. I'm like, what? This is the world we live in and I'm message are reset. I think now the videos that have gone viral, you know, people now are a little more accountable than they were 10 and 15 years ago, because now people are popping out their phones and some of these people that are misbehaving are ending up on Facebook or on Twitter, and it's embarrassing. So that's the silver lining to social media. And let's get, let's take a deep breath here and get back to reality. Wow. one of my favorite things to do is when a a, a parent starts yelling about a umpire calling a ball, or strikes ball or a strike, I'll, you know, I'll turn around and I'll say, you know, the, the umps probably not gonna change his mind and the history of watching baseball, I'm not sure I've ever had a, had an um, say. Oh, you know what? You're right. That was a strike. You know, I apologize. That was a strike. It's like, what is the point of that? And I think that the more of that that you do, the tighter the strike zone's gonna get for whoever the kid is that's pitching. I mean, it's, you know, there's some gamesmanship. You gotta be smart about these things. And rightfully so. If I was an umpire, that's exactly what I would do. I'm sorry. I mean, they're not making a lot of money. It's just human nature. I mean, yeah. I just, we gotta hit the reset button. I mean, and I think we're getting there. I do think social media is starting to curtail some of the obnoxious behavior. Sometimes people lose their mind. Uh, there's passion involved. You want, you know, we all want kid have experience. Part of that experience that's gonna down the road. Sometimes things just don't go your way. Correct. A little Billy or a little Susie or a little whoever, you know, you know the call's not gonna go your way. Just like in life, you know, whatever office you're in, you might not get that promotion at the right time. Even though you've done all the dirty work, your time will come, it'll all work out. Like just put it in perspective. Yeah. And there is, uh, there's a lot. I always, you know, when I used to coach and the kids would be sad after the loss, I. I'd always say to'em, you know, 10 years from now, you're not gonna look back and go, do you remember that one stupid game on a Wednesday night? Nobody remembers that stuff. What they do remember are the moments that you act in a particularly. Showing good sportsmanship, for example. You know, those are the moments that, that, that stay in people's minds. Um, but also the, the, the moments of terrible behavior can also stay in minds. I have a funny, I dunno if I ever told you this, uh, story about when Jack was probably 13, 14 years old. He started umping, uh, like third and fourth grade baseball and. I'll never forget I was up watching him ump this game'cause it was a couple of Maddi teams playing against each other. And there is a dad that's sitting behind Jack. So Jack is, you know the umpire behind the catcher and directly behind him is a dad. And the dad's kid is pitching. The dad was calling balls and strikes before Jack could even call the ball or strike. So Jack, I couldn't believe it turned around and he said, you know, I'm getting paid whether I called the game or not. Do you just, do you want to have a better view? You could. I couldn't believe he did it. He did it respectfully, but wow. He made his point. And every other parent was like, he will have parents that'll come up to him and say, I remember when you told so and so. Wow. Yeah, it was, and what's super funny is, is I kind of know this guy and he didn't see that I was there. And I think he was really kind of embarrassed. And Jack's, intention wasn't to embarrass him, but it was to just say. I, come on, man. I mean, this is third and fourth grade baseball, and the, the strike zone is about the size of, a Volkswagen, if they get it anywhere near the plate, it's a strike. But we're, we're trying to get the kids to swing here. We don't need you barking out what the thing is that affects everybody, not just the umpire, the kids. Like, why would you do that? Yeah. It's, it's, it's a sad state of affairs. We're gonna take this on in one of our,, future, episodes of the Kindness Chronicles. You have a lovely evening. Have you made it to your destination? No, I'm not even close and I'm, I'm due there in less than 20 minutes. And I'm telling you this, I think is unbelievable. Now, I saw a couple of, uh, state patrols whiz by, I think you might heard, I. Fender bender up here, which obviously everybody's gotta slow down and see, but uh, yeah, this hasn't gone well. Where, where are you exactly? Are you on 94? I'm on 4 94. Oh, no. I'm an hour into my journey and I'm not even to the airport. Oh no. The construction on 4 94 is legit. It's, it's, it's brutal. Yeah. I, I find myself taking side roads more often. I don't care how long it takes me to get there. I just don't like being stopped. I, I don't like being stopped either, and I don't have the greatest patience, but I, I let the guys know I'd get there and I told them I'm leaving at four 15. I'll get there as close to five 30 as well. And let's face it possible. You're the talent. I mean, so they're you? Well, it's not like a, is it a live show that you're, uh, that they do, do they live stream it? I don't think we go live till, yeah, we live, I don't. All right. Well, it'll all be okay. Is this a, is this a paid gig? No, no. This is just a fun gig. Um, happy to do it. Wait a second. More, more fun than the Kindness Chronicles. Well, that's, this is a different kind of, this is just you and I talking. Yeah. Which I like to do. Oh, did I hit record my off time anyway? Oh, shoot. Yeah. Can't thank you enough for all the time. I'm out, Chuck. Come 5,000. All right, have fun. See you Johnny. Bye. Kg. And off we go. Bye.