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Sports sports sports...is your whole life about sports/ This week it is! KG is back and there was a lot to cover.

Transcript

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I look around the studio and I see a lot of artificial intelligence. Good for you. Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where once again, we hope to inject the world. With the dose of the Minnesota kindness that it desperately needs. We got a special guest on the line today, Kevin Gorg, the King of All podcast. Me. You know how Howard Stern was the king of all media? I think that in the Minnesota podcast landscape, you've gotta be the King of Minnesota podcast, welcome, you know, to the Kindness Chronicles. It's great to be back. Uh, missed you here for a couple of weeks. Our schedules haven't meshed well. Um, this is one of three and, um, you're a part of the other two as well with, uh, being the title sponsor for the the Wooden Sticks Project. And now with Randy Shaver, the Fantasy Huddle, uh, Minnesota Charities front and center. With both those endeavors. But, uh, this is the one podcast where I just get to kind of chill and converse. I don't have to build placards and do research and track down get, like this is the podcast where I can just be me. Yeah. And, and I love doing it with you, Johnny. So the pay is consistent with the preparation. Nothing, which is, this is gonna be a show about, about nothing. Nothing. Perfect. So first of all, I have to, uh, check it you, so you have a new podcast with Randy Shaver. It's a fantasy football podcast. It is the fantasy huddle. Um, we clever, we we go live every Wednesday morning, um, and we're gonna have updates during the regular season, like little 10 minute Snipbits on Friday. They update. Weather and injuries and our intern is none of than Will Anderson from Maple Grove. A guy you know quite well. Yeah. Crossover will. That is big news. Yep. Well, that's fantastic. He, you know, he could use an internship, you know, it's good for him. Plus he loves his fantasy football, just like I, oh yeah. So let's talk about fantasy football for a second, since we got No, uh, Steve Brown in the, uh, in the studio. Our intern, Jeff, we gave him the night off and Michael Dempsey, uh. He is offered to be in with us, but uh, we've asked him to stay home. No, I'm just kidding. Um, no, we're, uh, we're recording at kind of an unusual hour to accommodate our very busy schedules, so this is terrific. So, um, I'm assuming you have a placard made for your top, let's say 10 picks. Could we go through those? Yeah. I think a lot of people that play fantasy. Especially in the last 10 years, how like even Chrissy's family does, you know, a little$50 family league and there are little office pools popping up. So rather than giving the 10 best players in fantasy football, I mean, everybody knows that Jamar Chase wide receiver, Cincinnati is the first player you take off the board. The running back in Atlanta is probably the second player and onward you go. What I like to do when I have conversations like this is try to point people to players that are maybe off the radar that you could move up your board sleepers, as we call'em. Oh, in the fantasy world. And I've got three, I've got, I've got a tight end, a running back, and a receiver that everybody needs to jump up and pick. And I'll start with this and you're gonna love this guy. Say that three times Fast is a wide receiver for Tampa Bay. Huh? Tampa Bay, one of the best passing offenses in football led by Baker Mayfield. Two of their top three receivers are out right now with injuries. And other than Godwin and Evan, is it Godwin? Evans is there. Okay. Evans is there, but Godwin's Hurt and Jaylen McMillan now, uh, we found out actually today he's out eight to 10 weeks, so Oh, no. Amika. Buca is the guy they went and got in the draft. He's gonna blow up and he's a guy that if you're getting into a little, you know, fantasy pool here in the next couple of weeks, move up in the draft board to pick Buca of Tampa Bay. Amika. Buca. He's the guy about it. Irish guy. Is he an Irish fellow? Swedish. Let's go with Swedish. Okay. The other guy that you need to find is Trayvon Henderson in, uh, in New England. Now you're gonna have to be patient because he shares the backfill with re Stevenson, but that's only outta respect to the veteran Stevenson. This kid's electric, uh, he is blown up in the preseason, and I know the word is getting out on Henderson, but for folks that are. You know, like a family draft or a league, you know that with office buddies that maybe aren't hardcore fantasy footballers, they probably don't watch preseason football. Uh, he's had a hundred yard kickoff return. He's catching balls. Drake may, their quarterback is a guy that looks like he's on a trajectory to be a lot more relevant in the fantasy world. And Henderson is gonna be a rookie that's gonna blow up, uh, all kinds of fantasy boards at the running back position. And then my tight end is Tyler Warren. Of Indianapolis. Just today the Colts announced that, uh, Danny Dimes, Danny Jones is gonna be their starting quarterback. He loves throwing the ball to the tight end. And this kid that they drafted, uh, in Indy, this Warren kid is gonna be the primary receiver for, uh, for Daniel Jones. And the Colts are a team that's always behind. They give up a ton of points. They play indoors and they score a ton of points. So those are my fantasy sleepers. And I, I, I've had three drafts. I have four more drafts to go. Oh my God. The best time of year. I, I Is it, so tell me like, is it, do, do you have financial, investments in these and if so, how much? A lot of these are smaller ones. Like one of them is the family one we do with, with Chrissy's family for 50 bucks. We did one at Talk North, uh, at the podcast spot. A little celebrity one with Mark Rosen and La Neil and those guys, 50 bucks. Most of my leagues are a hundred dollars. Like whether I play Guillotine or whether I play, uh, you know, with a group of guys that, that I do on the, on the Wild traveling party, they're, they're a hundred dollars. I know guys that play for much bigger money. I just figure if you're gonna play 5, 6, 7 leagues, which I am, I don't need to go crazy on the financial side. By the way, Randy Shaver, who does that Fantasy Huddle podcast with me, I always associated him with high school football in Minnesota that show iconic for years on Channel 11 with all the high school football highlights. He's in 21 Fantasy Leagues. Oh boy. He, he's way beyond me and I don't even know how you keep your players. Um. You know, what I try to do is I try to draft similar rosters and I, I didn't tell you my ride or die guy. Every year I try to pick a guy that's, I have to try to get on every team. And so far, um, I'm three for three. His name is Chase Brown. He's the running back in Cincinnati. Everybody's gonna try to go after the receivers there, and I get that. But last year he was a, a top 12 fantasy back and he shared the backfield with Zach Moss and the second half of the year, this kid was so good. That he took over, and now Zach Moss has been jettison, so it's just him. Catches the ball, runs the ball. I've got him on 15 to 20 touchdowns. Chase Brown is my ride or die guy. Every draft John I go into, I try to figure out a place in the draft where I can get to Chase Brown. So hopefully some of the listeners that care about this stuff. We'll jump on the bandwagon with me. We'll have some fun. Well, and hopefully they're not people that are in the same league as you, because they might jump on it right before you do and it'll wreck your whole, your whole program. Oh, if I get smacked on Chase Brown, I might be in the fetal position. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. Of the people in my drafts are gonna be, Hey, maybe they are though. You're right. Especially, uh, in a couple of leagues I just referenced, we got a lot of people in Christie's family that listen to this show. And of course, uh. I wanna be a former guest on the show. He tunes in once in a while too. Of course. Yes. They, you have to. Um, and the rea people might be wondering, why are we talking about fantasy football on a Kindness Chronicles podcast? And I have something very interesting to share with you. There was an article that was written not long ago about how people are really using generative AI at this point in time. This was back in March, 2025. And they rank the top 100 reasons people are using ai, and sadly, the number one reason for it is companionship. What? Yes. Companionship. And you know what I, what I like about fantasy football? So I play in one league, it's a family league, and when we have the draft, I have them pick the next best available according to the per. You know the people that the weirdos like, like you kind of guys you know, that know who Chase Brown is. Never heard of him or any of those things, but I just, you know, and, and when in doubt I'll, you know, pick Chuck Foreman or Sammy White, um, they're probably not gonna produce, but I just love the idea of having those two guys on my team. Of course you do. Anyway, companionship, I think it's so sad that people are going to, artificial intelligence means to find companionship or to figure out how to. Participate in companionship number one out of 100 top reasons, to use ai. Other ones. Number two is organizing my life. Number three is finding purpose. Number four is enhancing learning. Number five is generate code, like people that want to, you know, create their own code, generate ideas. Fun and nonsense is number seven, but number one is companionship. And what I do like about fantasy football is it gives people an opportunity to connect with each other, and there is a, uh, a comradery around fantasy football. My nephew was in a fantasy football league and he came in last place. And what I love is the clever ways that, uh, that we. Punish the people that come in last place. This wasn't like a tattoo of Betty Boop or anything like that, but he had to go to, I think, like a Taylor Swift concert by himself. Can you? That's awkward. I mean, can you imagine? Maybe it was Sabrina Carpenter, one of those people, but he had to go to a, concert by himself, Oh my God. That's dicey. Yeah. And I, they are very creative. Uh, we've seen the tattoos. I've even seen guys with those big sandwich boards in neighborhoods having to stand out on a busy intersection and, and the sign, they have the big giant sign that says, I was last or I suck at fantasy football. And I, I get a kick outta some of that as well. Um, you know, it's, it's become a tradition now for the last place team to have to do some of that stuff. The leagues I'm in, we haven't incorporated that. But I, I do get a kick outta the people that have to go out there and make a complete themselves for running last. And it, I think, motivates people to stay focused, even if they're off to a slow start. You know, because sometimes you see this in every league where halfway through the year, two or three teams are hopelessly at the bottom of the standings and have really nothing to play for. So they don't update their lineup, they don't go to the waiver wire. Well now if, if the last place person has to do something like that, or maybe go volunteer at the toy shop at Christmas, whatever, um, it keeps them motivated to try to do their very best, which has a big impact on the, on the teams that might win the prize. So, for it, well, I, I would hope that the people that you're hanging around with would want to go and help at the toy store. Right. The, my favorite one though, of all time. Is, I saw that there was a guy that, uh, the loser had to go and get his head shaved, but just the top, so you had to have the cul-de-sac, you know, the, the Oh yeah. Over the ears. Around the back and up over the other ear. But the, the, and you had to have it until the next season. Oh, come on. Yep. Once a week you had to go and get it. Yes. That to me. So you're spending the entire summer. With that melon of yours exposed. Not a big deal for, but if you're a person, if you're a person who you know, shaves their head high and tight, you have to grow the sides out. Oh no. Can you imagine kg, how you would look? Doing your Yes. Fantastic. Look. Oh, okay. That'd be so bad. We're gonna cover a lot of ground here today, but, uh, thank you for giving us your, uh, your advice about a buca or whatever his name was, and Chase Brown. I hope you end up having him on your fantasy team so we can have, again, some fun together this year. Texting on Sunday. Yep. The, uh, the, the computer will pick, pick the people for me and if he's available, I'm hoping that, that, uh, he'll be there. Item number two. We went to the Nate Bargey concert. Yes, we did. Your impressions? Well, I, I've always been in awe of men and women that can stand up there and make you laugh till you almost pee your pants, which all five of these comedians did do. The fact that all five did it, it was almost four hours of entertainment and not one swear word was uttered. Nope. Blew me away. That is a talent. I can't even imagine to possess. I, I, John, I had so much fun. How about you? Oh, it was fantastic. So, you know, and everything that they talked about was so relatable. It was very Seinfeld, you know, it was, it was, it was one after another in each, you know, each of the warmup acts did like 10 to 12 minutes and one was funnier than the next. And they all just had such a great shtick. But here's what I found most enjoyable. Is they found humor in self-deprecation and yeah, the, they, the, the making fun of yourself instead of making fun of others. I mean, it's okay to make fun of others a little bit, but man, they directed a lot of their angst towards themselves. And, uh, I just, God, I had fun, you know that Becky and I are going to Nashville for his final show. No way. Yeah, we already got tickets. We want to go see his last standup show. When is that gonna be? It's, uh, December, early December sometime. Geez, that's a long tour. If you consider it summertime right now. Oh, yeah. He's, well, and you know what I mean? The fact that they were able to create a different show every night and the night we were there, there were some weather in the Twin Cities, so the power was kind of skittish. The lights were flickering. It was a really significant storm that night in St. Paul. All the comedians, including Nate, were able to play off the weather and create some jokes were very organic, uh, because they couldn't have known that weather was gonna happen. Uh, I, I just, I, I look at the talent they possess and the way they're able to play off the crowd and play off those situations. Uh, it, it's like watching again when you watch Scotty Scheffler play golf, uh, back in the day watching Wayne Gretzky play hockey. That's what you're watching. You're watching the best at their craft in the world. What does this have to do with the Kindness Chronicles? I think that people that have an ability to poke fun at themselves rather than punching down on people, you know, on others is just, it's such a quality of a person that I just admire. So, uh, I think it, it takes some self-confidence. Uh, I think the, the, if you're able to do that, and, and especially in a public forum like that. You're kind of exposing yourself with some of the shortcomings you obviously have. Um, yeah. There were a couple comedians that, that, with that self-deprecation, just, I mean, we were all, the group I was sitting with, we, we couldn't talk, we were laughing so hard. It was that funny. Um, and they, they were really able to connect with, you know, it's one thing to do it in a comedy, like a, a small venue, like one of those little comedy houses. But when you think of the Xcel Energy Center and you think of the size of that crowd, it was probably 15. That night, John. Um, that's a far bigger challenge to connect with an audience and they did it brilliantly. Yeah, it was crazy. Do you have a particular bit that he shared that, uh, was most memorable for you? Well, you're thinking of that, let me tell you mine, mine was, is when he was talking about hi, how his parents are aging and his in-laws are aging, and how they. Move them and he goes, no, we didn't really move them. We put them in, you know, one of those nursing homes. And then he talked about his dad wanting to get one of those bathtubs with the door. And he like did this thing where he looks like he's pretending like he's sitting down and he's like, you know, it takes 45 minutes for the water to fill up and when you're done, you just can't open the door to that submarine. I just, God, that was funny. And just, the vision of somebody sitting in one of those tubs, you don't think about the fact that, you know what, you gotta sit in there until that thing drains out before you can, towel off and move on with your life. But I thought that was pretty damn funny. I liked, and I, I'm, I'm really. Name, it's about a month since the show, but the African American gentleman who was super tall. Oh yeah. And back to self deprecation, when he said, you know, people see me and you know, you look at how tall I am and you know my ethnicity. And then he said, you know. See me come walking in and find out, and they're like, oh, you didn't make it, huh? Because you know, you think basketball. And he's like, yeah, you didn't make it, huh? I mean, those guys, I, I just, oh, they all were, even the host, I thought the host, uh, that set all these comedians up and was the guy in between. And I, they all were so good, John, like it was. Top to bottom as good as I've seen. I just have to respond to the text message that you just sent me. The woman holding the sign over her set head that says, plan dates with the effort you plan your fantasy football. Um, that is, uh, I would imagine that's a lot of people that feel that way about their, uh, I said my life in Chrissy's eyes, it's a hard knock life. So it's sad you've been at Canterbury all summer. Um, I understand there was a Corgi races this weekend. Was that this past weekend? Oh, you've seen those. You should have seen it like huge crowd. Um, we, we do six different heats and the rules are, you know, each, he has 12 dogs. So after the third horse race we do three heats. Pa did those races. After the fifth race, we do three more. I did those races. In each heat, the top two dogs that finish one, two get to come back on August the 31st. And they have all these heats with all the breeds. So then they come back and face the doodles, the wieners, um, the Bassett hounds, all the breeds come back and we run six more heats on the 31st and take the top dog out of each of those. And then we crown a champion with the final race of the day that day, and people go crazy. There's food given out from Petco. There's trophies, there's, uh, people like we could have Sovereignty's, the Kentucky Derby winner, and he's the, the big horse right now in horse, right? We could have him this weekend racing at Canterbury. We could have the next day, corgi dogs or wiener dogs, sovereignty would bring out like five to 10,000 people and there'd be twice that crowd to see the, the dogs. That's just who we're Minnesotans love this stuff. And it's just bizarre because they cheer like they've got a thousand dollars on the race and it's just for fun and there's no betting. No betting. It's not a, it's not a betting race. It's just a fun little exhibition and they go crazy like Paul and I get to, to kind of moderate this thing. And so when I go down there after the fifth race, they've already seen three Corgi heats. I go down there and the race gets over and we're getting the horses all back to the stable area and. They're doing the replays and all of a sudden they line up these Corgi dogs. They come marching down towards the winner circle. All I do, I hop on the mic, I say, ladies and gentlemen, here come the corgis, and there's this scream like the Beatles have just into the racetrack. It's insane. I looked at Randy Sampson and I go, this is when it's all about. He said, yeah. He said, our, our crowds live for this stuff and. A big staple now for 15 years at Canterbury and it, it just keeps getting bigger and better. Yeah. I know a guy that was there this weekend and he said that he had to park in a lot that he didn't even know existed because he showed up at like one 15. Oh yeah. And the place was absolutely packed. I would imagine that the, that the purses were pretty strong because if you're gonna be there, you might as well place a bet. Right. That's the crazy, we were talking about this on Sunday. Well, um. We didn't have any dogs on Saturday. We had the same amount of races and they, they bet actually more money on Saturday because the crowd that comes out Sunday, it's a family day. Um, so we race at one o'clock Saturday, we race at five. Oh, you know, there's, there's music and beers flowing. It's an older crowd Sunday people have kids and there's food trucks and there it's kind of like gonna, the state fair, you're not really there to bet. And so, even though the crowd was three times the size. On Sunday, we had they actually bet less money. I bet you sold a lot of pizza though. Uh, pizza and pasta crushed it, I would imagine. Good pizza by the way. Very good. Pretty good. Pretty, pretty good. Pretty, pretty good. The, uh, Vikings football season, it's fun to talk sports, you know,'cause Steve Brown always looks just sort of confused when we talk sports. I know Jeff is over there doing like research when we're talking about the Vikings. You know, Dempsey can handle John. You asked Steve Brown, who JJ McCarthy was. Would he know this? I mean, I know he'd know he's the quarterback for the Vikings, but would he know the backstory? I, I dunno. Would he know the Michigan, the National Championship? No, not a chance. Okay. Not a chance. Okay. But you know what? Alright, you should, he and Jeff, the intern were, we were in the studio last week with, uh, Billy McLaughlin. You know, the guitar player? Oh yeah. world famous guitar player and those two guys who are both musicians were virtually wetting themselves. They were so excited and Billy could not have been a better guy. What a sweet man. Um, he just, how'd you facilitate that? Jeff? Jeff calls these, these national level people, you know, like, uh, Yogi Bear's daughter for example, and get some booked for these shows and, um. No reaction to the Yogi Bear's daughter comment. It's, I know it's on your list. See his granddaughter? No, it's his granddaughter. It's his granddaughter. Oh, okay. Okay. Um, no, but it's, um, he's just, you know what, he's, he's, he's into it. He's, and oh, he's into it. You should see we've got the, we got the text messages to prove it. Oh, we do, do we ever? Yes. He's equipped us with, uh. All kinds of, hang on, like things like this. Why don't you have your mic up to your mouth anymore? That was a good laugh. I felt almost legit. It was a mock is a long story. I did not know that. What's the deal with nobody leaving voicemails anymore? Leave one for us and maybe. So that's the kind of stuff, you know, we didn't have that before. I mean, that's high tech. No, he's upped our game big time. Yeah. He has. That is, you know what that is. That is, technical ability that I do not possess. Um, me too. And, yeah. So when, when does the, uh, the Canterbury season come to a close September 20th? Uh, we, we race all the way through that date. The get a little in in September, we don't race on Sunday. Once NFL football starts, that's a battle we can't win. And so it's a lot of times just gonna be a Thursday or, or a Wednesday and a Saturday type of deal twice a week. Okay. But we do go through, uh, the 20th of September and um, you know, I've said this for a long time. I dunno how your stance is, but I've lived in Minnesota now for almost 60 years. I will take our September weather. That we have up against any other place, any other month, anywhere in the world. Like I think September, Minnesota is the perfect weather. I guess the folks in San Diego get that. 12 months a year because I feel like it's upper sixties, low seventies, no humidity, mostly sunny, hardly ever rains. Um, so maybe we just get San Diego weather for that one month, but September, Minnesota is perfect. Oh, nothing, nothing compares. It's, oh, the only thing is, is it's the leaf start to fall and you know, I'm kind of obsessed with having the leaves picked up. I know lot. I get too much exercise that time of the year. It's like enough already. Exactly. Although I might be hiring that out, you know, here going forward. I just, you know, it's just, it's too much. It's too much. Um, you gotta keep that lawn perfect and you can't keep up with all the stuff you have going on. That's right. Very, very, yeah. Air out. Very busy time. Um, the Minnesota Wild we're creeping up on the Minnesota wild season. How do feel did, did you know they really didn't make many moves this, this off season? They didn't, and I'm year. The last two years specifically, they had so many injuries and I wanna see some of these young guys. I, I didn't want them to go out there and money for the of money. Like Brock's a burn guy. I love Brock. I just don't think what Vancouver paid him would've been smart for Minnesota to pay him with what they have in the pipeline right now. I wanna see what can do. I wanna see the kid Europe that just came over from Russia on the blue line. I wanna see. Z Boy at age 19 now, uh, take a big step forward. Uh, I wanna see the goalie. I wanna see Yesper get a chance to play at the NHL level. So I'm excited. I, I know wild fans are sitting on pins and needles with the cap contract. I think it's gonna happen here as camp gets going in September. I think the wild right now, the last thing you wanna do right now as football seasons getting started is try to make a splash with. That big name, even if they have some kind of a gentleman's agreement right now, you're gonna wanna make that announcement when you can sell some tickets around it. Sure. So I'm sure they're waiting either way, uh, to get that heated up and then we'll figure out what they're gonna do with Marco Rossi. I think at this point, um, both, I think Rossi and the Wild, they're gonna have to find some common ground here. Let's get to the season. But no, I have high hopes for this year. I think they're gonna be really good. I do. I will be here. I have no worry yet. If we get into training camp and nothing's happened, then I'll, I'll change my stance, but we have a month to get that figured out. What do you think about the twins unloading, 42% of their, 25 man, roster? How do you feel about that? I understand the angst from the, I say that, um, the, for the. Every other, you know, you look at the four major men's teams in town, the Wild, the Woves, the Vikings, and the twins. The other three owners all seem to be fully committed to spending everything they can. Yeah. To win. And I know that the twins can't be Boston, they can't be the Dodgers or the Yankees, but when next door neighbor in Milwaukee has the best record in baseball and, and they spend more than the. There's a better way to do this. And if you don't wanna win, then sell the team. And, you know, I, that's, that's the part where I'm frustrated because I still think the twins have some good young talent. Um, I look at, at Royce Lewis as a guy that when I go to the ballpark and he's in the lineup, I, I really enjoy watching him play baseball. Now, he took a step back this year. I still think he's good baseball player. Um. And I don't mind the Korea thing at all because no good, good riddance what they were paying him. I, I just don't think this team is ready to win right now, but I wanna see them at least try to be competitive. What frustrates me, John, is, a couple years ago they were on the cusp of being a, a pretty good, you know, play off potential World series potential team and you had Sonny Gray, your game one starter. You go out, you beat the Blue Jays, you win a playoff series. You got all this young talent, Royce Lewis had all those home runs and the first thing you do is say, you're not gonna bring him back. You don't wanna spend the money on him. Yeah. And that sends the message right away, not just to the fans, but to the guys in that clubhouse. But you don't give a crap. And so that, that's where it all started for me. That was a couple years ago. They were really good. And if you can look at that. With, uh, Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan. Have a Sonny Great at the front end of that. Oh boy, that, that gives you three pretty damn good starters right there in every series. You're gonna have a chance. And so I'm, I'm frustrated just like a lot of the twin fans are. My hope is that, that the pollad don't wanna keep hearing these chants of sell the team at the ballpark, and they're finally gonna wave the white flag and, and sell the team and give it to somebody that wants to win. Well, clearly the children of Carl Pollad and the grandchildren of Carl Pollad do not have the business acumen that grandpa had. You know, no problem. The,, How do you, uh,, become a millionaire? Well, you start like a billionaire and then start making terrible decisions, and that seems, that seems to be exactly what's going on with the Pollad family. I heard something about the, the twins, they took a loan out on the twins for$400 million to help underwrite some of their losses in their other businesses and Oh, no. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's, that's part of the issue. I just have to address the one. Trade that upset me was getting rid of Louis Varland. They had Louis Varland. No. Why would you do that under team control till 2031. He's a Minnesota guy. He was their seventh inning guy. He had an ERA less than two and he just, he dominated and he's one of us. We love having us. I, I just, you have to at least not be that tone deaf, uh, to make that move. I mean, yeah. And that wasn't that like at the end of all the moves to the last salt? Yeah. Yep. The last move. So you get rid of your ninth inning guy, Duran, you get rid of your eighth inning guy Jacks, which I'm fine with. Every time I watched him, he'd lose. Um, and you get rid of Arland, you get rid of Brock, Stewart, you got rid of all of those. I mean, their whole bullpen, they crushed, they got rid of their whole bullpen. Uh, I was told working 20 or whatever his name is. Yes, yes. Sub one ERA for the season and like 60 innings pitched and Oh, let's get rid of him. We don't need him. We don't need that. Yeah. It's, you know, the Aspen part is, um, Brock Stewart was drafted when I was working and he was a high, high draft pick. In fact, he was number one or two, kind of like foxman. You spend all that time developing and pitchers take longer. They're like goalies in hockey. You finally get this guy up, but he looks like he's gonna be halfway decent. And then the first thing you do is dump him. I mean, and the same thing with Lin, like homegrown guy not making a, a big contract full of money. And that's what you want to do. Like, I, I don't understand that mentality at all. I, I don't get, um, and the Poland seem to be their own worst enemy. Totally. You turn a twins game on right now. I feel bad for Tim Launder. He's working a post game show. He trying to make a point and he's got his hometown fans screaming, sell the team. They're all around the set, like chanting. Sell the team, sell the team. And launder can't acknowledge that on the broadcast. He's gotta just kind of move on with what he's trying to address. But I. This is the venom they've created. I've seen people, um, in pictures on social media with target bags on their head. I mean, come on guys. We didn't need to be quite so dramatic. I, I do chuckle when I say that because it's, you know, it's target field. It's kind of funny. But, um, it's too bad though. I mean, for all of us that, that love baseball and love the team, I really feel bad for the, for the hardcore fans that that really sucks. Oh, it is. Absolutely. You know, and I mean, they get the Luke Keel or whatever his name is, the second base, and he looks like a player. I just have to, uh, finish up with a great story from, uh, from yesterday. So yesterday I played in a golf tournament for this organization called Youth Advantage. Our friends, okay, the, uh, the lobsters. Well, hi Barbie. My sister-in-law just walked in. I haven't seen her in age. You look good. All right, see ya. Um, she's lost like 85 pounds. You should see her. She's half the woman she used to be. So anyway, turn that light off. We'll do. Okay. Anyway, back to, this event yesterday for Youth Advantage. Um, nice golf tournament, really well organized. Played at Indian Hills, so it was a, you know, course that I know. And at the end they had this video and it was a video. What the organization does is they help provide opportunities for, kids that, don't have the financial resources to do extracurricular things and stuff like that. And they talked about this, uh, this one young man who back in, 2005, 2006, was, uh, was very ill. Uh, he was like, four or five years old, three or four years old at the time. And, uh, spent a lot of time in the hospital. They had all kinds of pictures of him with, tubes up his nose and attached to. Machines and all this other stuff, and the family was faced with the, do we pay for him to play travel baseball or do we pay his medical bills? Of course, they have to pay the medical bills. So Youth Advantage comes in and I'm watching this video and I'm looking at this kid and I'm like, oh my God. It was called Drew's story. DRE W's story. Got it. And I'm watching it. All of a sudden, I said to, uh, my brother-in-law, Chad, who's sitting next to me, I said, I think they're talking about Drew Gilbert. And if you don't know who Drew Gilbert is, drew Gilbert played for the Stillwater Ponies incredible baseball player, lefty pitcher, outfielder, was, recruited to play, uh, at Tennessee. So he was a volunteer. Played for Tennessee was their cleanup, hitter number three hitter wore the number one, just raked home runs. Uh, ended up being a first round draft pick of the Houston Astros a couple of years ago. Got traded to the Mets and recently got traded to the Giants as part of a, a big package deal moving some, uh, some players from San Francisco to, to the mats. Wow. And Drew Gilbert. Last week had his major league debut and they showed a, a, a video of him during his first game making just this incredible catch in right field. And they concluded the video. And, you know, the story was this kid who was given an opportunity to play travel baseball because a youth advantage, he's now a major league baseball player. And there was a little message from him thanking people for their support and all that other stuff. Little did they know that this past weekend Drew Gilbert hit his very first major league home run. What are the chances? So, no kidding. So awesome. And you know, Ben used to play with this guy and he was a blizzard baseball player. And we would go up and this kid was up there working out every single day when Ben was up there working and coaching out, uh, Adam Barta hired him to, uh. Shake people down for their, their, the payment for the lessons that the kids are getting. He'd go around and he said, you know, we're not running a charity here. Uh, did you pay for this yet? Um, but anyways, drew Gilbert was there constantly and he sounds like he's a really good kid. And, uh, just what a fun story got true for people like that. You That's awesome. It was very fun. Very fun. Well, we've given'em almost 40 minutes of our best stuff. Uh, do you got anything? One last question. What's your prediction for the Vikings this year, since we're, it's all sports all the time. Yeah. I'm gonna do a quick prediction and I, I gotta shine a little light on a charity event that I was just at this week too. Oh, terrific. But I'll start. Um, I'm a huge JJ McCarthy fan. Yes. Part of it is because he was a hockey player and I follow him at Michigan. I think he's gonna be good. I think they're gonna be good. I don't think they're gonna be great. I think they're gonna be good. I'm gonna go 10 and seven. I think they'll contend in the division, but I think they'll get a wild card. Okay. And I think this year they'll win a playoff game. Kevin O'Connell, uh, has yet to win a playoff game. I think they break through. I think as the year goes on, our quarterback will get better and better. I think he's gonna struggle early. I think that game in Chicago is a really hard place to start on Monday night football, so I think it's gonna be a little bit of a struggle early. I think they're gonna get better as the season goes on. I believe in the quarterback. I believe in the coach. What do you think? Well, I think they better win early in the season,'cause that's kind of the soft part of the season for him. Just to clarify, hard schedule, JJ McCarthy didn't play hockey at Michigan too, did he? No. He played hockey up until like, I wanna say maybe his junior year of high school. And then the coaches said, listen, you gotta, you're a football player and he obviously made the right choice, but he. When he got drafted by the Vikings, made a point to say he was bringing his skates and, you know, would find his way to a rink once in a while. Play some pickup hockey. He's, he's a hockey guy, so that's kind of cool. Now, the charity event I was at, ties into hockey because it's, it's, uh, a place called the Ranch. Oh yeah, I know. The ranch up in center. Yeah, it's, thank see you're so plugged in. It's connected. It's connected to Eagles Healing Nest, which is an organization that the Mason support. There you go. I know. Yeah. And I gotta be, uh, part of their fundraising event on Sunday night, um, over at Mississippi Gardens, which is Jordan Leopold spot, and I gotta mediate for the second year in a row. A bunch of the guys from the 1980, uh, miracle and Ice Team because Mark Pavlik died, uh, from suicide. He was, uh, candidate help. Uh, from military folks to hockey players, you know, mental and physical struggles that happened to everybody in all walks of life at this place specifically is there to help them. And so it was a, an awesome event. Tony Granado, uh, and I were kind of the co MCs. It was really, really powerful to hear the stories. P family was, there was part of. The sessions on the stage and there were tears and emotion and it just, you know how those events are, man. They pull at your heartstrings and there's a lot of money being raised and you see the generosity that people have, but then you hear the stories and the, you know, clearly Pav is no longer, he's the only guy from that team. He and her Brooks are no longer with us. And so Herbie Herbie's brother was there. Um, it was a very, very cool night. So if people wanna get involved, the ranch has their own private website, and now you can do a little research and if you're so inclined, make a small donation, it's, uh, it's well worth it or make a big donation, you know, whatever. Exactly. Hey, have you been, have you visited there? Not yet. No. I've only seen the videos and they had a bunch of, you know, clearly they were showing us kind of the, the look at that place. It looks gorgeous. The campus is this beautiful campus that, uh, uh, Eagles Healing Nest, you know, they provide the same kind of support for veterans and, uh, yeah, they've got a, a, a space up there on their campus that this ranch was created. And, you know, Pavlich was, uh. Well, he, was he from Hibbing? He was from Virginia, and he played at umd. Yep. And I, I, I do recall that, uh, when he, when the Miracle on Ice was over, he became a New York Ranger, and I think he scored like five goals in a game, which he had one. You're exactly right. You're hundred percent right. And he wasn't a huge goal scorer when he was playing on the Olympic team. You know what a, what a sad story, you know, to lose that talent to suicide. All things. He had a bunch of concussions. He was a little guy and he took a lot of hits, you know, because he was a quick, you know, offensely skilled player. He is more of a playmaker to your point, but he was a pure goal score. But he took a bunch of hits and had a bunch of concussions, and when his sister talked to the crowd on Sunday night, she spoke of some of the dark places he would end up and he just couldn't. Come back from, from some of those hardships. And you know, you think of the folks in the military and you mentioned the Eagles nest. You know, most of us can't relate to that. No. Like where, where that pain takes you. Um, so to have, to have a place and it looks so peaceful and, and we got to see some really cool videos. And then there was a young man, um, retired military young guy, uh, who had gone through some real tough times and tried to commit suicide and. He spoke to the crowd and, uh, it was, uh, it was emotional to say the least, but kid's doing really well. He is married now, has a new baby. And you know, like, uh, one of the, the guys that runs the, uh, facility. You know, the, that you've shown and without the eagle's nest and the help of the ranch, that baby's never born. So they're doing good things, that's for sure. Very cool. Well, with that kg, I appreciate your time. I know you're a very busy podcaster. I spread the good word and have fun and talking to you. It's always a treat. We're going to the fair together on Tuesday. Is that the plan? Yeah. Can't, can't wait. So excited to go. Always. Always. We hammer some. It's the tradition. It is a tradition. A tradition like none other, the masters. Oh, we're gonna get that boot and we're gonna crush it. Yes. What it, remind me real quick, let's just, uh, your top three items, number one with a bullet is the roasted corn. Yeah. Uh, number two is the bucket of rigs at ves. Right next door Almost. Yep. And number three, I know I share one of your top three with this. Pick the big fat bacon. Big fat bacon baby. Number one with a bullet. I am a sweet Martha's guy. I really am. Yeah, I get that. I like taking them home and putting'em in the freezer. We usually come bring home buckets of them and that's when the, uh, the weight gets put on for the winter season. Anyways, enough about the, uh, the food kg. Um, off we go. Oh, you just think a drop, a sound drop for this. I look around this studio and I see a lot of artificial intelligence. There you go. And off we go.