Episode 15: Playoffs, Patriotism & Powerful Anthems feat. Cantor Gideon Zelermyer

The playoffs are heating up and so is Menschin’ with the Boys! This week, Yannis Harrouche, Matthew Cutler, and Jordan Stoopler break down all the biggest stories across the Jewish sports world.

The boys dive into Quinn Hughes’ dominant NHL playoff run with Minnesota,  Zach Hyman and the Oilers’ disappointing exit, and the shocking NHL Draft Lottery result that sends the first overall pick to Toronto. 

In the NBA, they unpack Deni Avdija’s breakout postseason despite Portland’s collapse against San Antonio, debate his future as the franchise centerpiece, and discuss the latest around Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.

Also on the show: Daniel Peretz and Southampton’s promotion push, Jake Retzlaff’s NFL opportunity with the Jets, and a full MLB roundup featuring Max Fried, Alex Bregman, Spencer Horwitz, Zach Gelof, and a tribute to legendary Yankees broadcaster John Sterling.

The crew also celebrates the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026, including Julian Edelman, Omri Casspi, Nancy Lieberman, Al Michaels, Marv Albert, and more.

Then, Jordan sits down with Cantor Gideon Zelermyer of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim — beloved anthem singer at Montreal Canadiens games and passionate sports fan — for a conversation about music, hockey, fandom, and representing the Jewish community on some of sports’ biggest stages.

All that and more on this episode of Menschin’ with the Boys.

Follow us @menschinwiththeboys on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content and much more Jewish sports news. 

Transcript

Intro

SPEAKER_06 0:13

Live from Studio 5, powered by Federation CJ and the Coming Center. Welcome back to Mention with the Boys, the podcast where Jewish pride meets the playing field. I'm Yannis Haroosh.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

I'm Matthew Cutler.

SPEAKER_07 0:27

And I'm Jordan Stupler. On today's show, we're bringing you the very latest when it comes to the ongoing NHL and NBA playoffs.

SPEAKER_06 0:33

We will fill you in on who's being inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame this summer in Israel.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Plus an interview with cantor Gideon Zellemeyer, one of the anthem singers at Montreal Canadiens Games and a very avid sports fan.

SPEAKER_07 0:47

There's a whole lot to get to this week on Mention with the Boys, so let's get started.

Current Events

SPEAKER_06 0:54

So, guys, uh, let's get going with the NHL playoffs. I know we talked about it when the trade happened.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Wait, we're not gonna talk about the draft. No, just kidding. Later, later, later. Oh, we're looking back, sorry.

SPEAKER_06 1:05

Yes, exactly, exactly. So, I mean, like we talked about it when the trade happened. I guess Minnesota that they did, it was a pretty good trade for them to get Quinn Hughes.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

It's funny how that series went, eh? It was the first game, Minnesota destroyed them, everybody was giving them the cup. Yeah. Dallas comes back and wins the next two. And isn't that what we said? We said this was I have to say, Matthew, it is what you said. Exactly what I said. They're up 2-1. This is where they sometimes let the teams back into the series historically. They've done it with Edmonton the last couple years and with Vegas the year before that. And they did.

SPEAKER_06 1:41

When if memory serves me well, game four went into overtime. And as soon as double overtime, and as soon as Minnesota scored. I mean, the entire overtime was just thinking about what you said. Like, this is the moment, they have to score, they have to take a 3-1 lead in this series. And as soon as Minnesota scored, I'm like, there we go, Matthew was right.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Minnesota walked into Dallas, won game five, and then they went home and put them away, right? And that's it. Like Dallas, I don't know what it is. It's the yeah, something's up with the makeup. And obviously, this year they're not blaming Pete De Boer because he's not there. Yeah. This year it was Gus Golatson's fault or whatever. They're not gonna fire him after one year. So what changes on that team? I know this is not what we were we were talking about, Quinn Hughes, but it's it's interesting to note because Dallas, what did they finish? Were they third in the NHL in points? Second even? They were close to the first time.

SPEAKER_06 2:31

I mean, yes, they they can't point so so can Tampa Bay about the fact, like, oh, we were not supposed to play such a strong team, such as they did.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

At some point, you have to go through them, whether or not it's first rounds, exactly through them.

SPEAKER_06 2:43

And they fired the board, and yes, we want to go back to Queen Hughes, but they fired the board thinking like maybe we can take that next step. Now they regressed. It's I mean, before they were choking in the conference final, now it's round one.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

So I don't know what that the makeup of that team has to significantly change. Yeah, it seems like.

SPEAKER_07 3:02

I I had Dallas in my bracket as the Stanley Cup champion, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

It's funny, I had Minnesota up against Carolina. So I mean it can still happen. We'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_07 3:13

Um, Quinn Hughes. Uh so you know, they they win, as we mentioned, six in six games against uh the Dallas Stars, uh, due to the Minnesota Wild. Quinn Hughes dominant. It's two goals, six assists in those six games. Yeah, he's definitely I would say up there. Um he had the series clinching goal also. We forget in the game six, the shot that goes off um Ilyel Lebushkin. And I think it was probably planned that way. You know, people were saying, you know, he shot to hit the guy and it pinballed in. Like I feel like it was premeditated there. I mean, that's what he's saying.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

Look, he was dominant in that first round. He he definitely controlled the tempo and the pace of the game, especially those last three games, and and that's why they came out on top of it. And full credit to them, by the way, we're talking we went back to talking about the trade. They pulled the trigger early, they didn't wait till the trade deadline, they didn't wait till they didn't wait till the first freeze in in uh February. Sorry, the first freeze was December. They did it right before that first freeze in December because they said that's it, we're not waiting around, we want to get them integrated. He played close to half the season with them. Set records, right? Set records for the team.

SPEAKER_06 4:25

It's the first time because we're talking about Dallas choking, but it's also it's for Minnesota, this is a big deal. It is the first time they've won a playoff series since 2015 when we were talking about like what team needs to do to take that next step. He was clearly the next he brought the next step because I don't think they're winning that series without him. Yeah, there's no way.

SPEAKER_07 4:46

And I I guess you know, we talk about the the stats and his and everything. I mean, it goes without saying the first wild defenseman to score a series clinching goal, three points, two goals, and an assist in the game six, which matches the franchise record for most points in a series clinching game. Overall, in his playoffs, now he's uh surpassed 30 assists, tying Adam Fox for the second fewest games by a defenseman to reach 30 assists, 36 games. Uh Brian Leach did it two games faster. But I mean, yeah, like obviously they they don't beat Dallas without Quinn Hughes, it goes without saying. Like and and then now I guess we're we're in the midst of this uh round two battle with the Colorado Avalanche, the president's trophy winners, and I guess it hasn't it was a one-out first game. I mean, that was insane. Insane 9-6.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

I kept dozing off that game. I saw them up 3-0, all of a sudden they came back, so it was 5-5. I'm like, what is going on?

SPEAKER_07 5:41

I thought you'd be dozing off during the game seven that was before that, because that was saying it was hard to doze off.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

It was hard to stay up and watch. I was so I was like, I couldn't believe it.

SPEAKER_06 5:51

I was at the Bell Center to watch the game on the table. And after obviously we're celebrating, I'm looking at the score of Colorado, Minnesota on my phone, and then we walk to a bar, and like by the five minutes that we walked, like five goals happened or something like that, and then at some point Minnesota is up. And I mean it was absolutely crazy. It was a wild game.

SPEAKER_07 6:15

And I guess like, you know, the series is being pitted. You know, you have Quinn Hughes against Kale McCarr. Yeah. And like, you know, they both obviously in a 9-6 game put up uh three points, I believe, in game one. Uh I think Quin Hughes was uh shut out in game two. I don't think Macar did much either. Yeah, it was a low-scoring game by definitely by comparison. They had that in the first five minutes as the first game.

SPEAKER_06 6:39

Yeah. I mean, but there were there were two goals in six seconds. Like Colorado scored, then Minnesota tied it up six seconds later, and it felt like okay, it's about to be another like all of a sudden the two coaches said, okay, we gotta learn to play defense.

SPEAKER_03 6:55

Look, this is where it's gonna get interesting. Game three, you're never, you know, the old adage, you're never out of a series, or you never have to panic in a series until you lose at home. Well, that's it. Minnesota's gotta hold court in their two games.

SPEAKER_06 7:07

And look, the um if we remember, last time Colorado won the president's trophy, it was in 2021, and they also were up to nothing against Vegas in their second round series. Vegas came back and won the next one. Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 7:20

And we know the curse of the president's trophy, right?

SPEAKER_06 7:24

I think it's the 2013 Blackhawks with the last the last one. Yeah. Uh and worse than that, I saw stats the last what seven or eight teams that won their first six playoff game. None of them made it to the cup final.

SPEAKER_03 7:38

Yeah, so give them credit. They've now won their first six, sweeping the first round and winning the first two here. So, yeah, you know, let's see. It's gonna be very interesting. Minnesota definitely has, I mean, it's a must-win game three, no question. And and yeah, we'll see.

SPEAKER_07 7:50

And just uh and and also, I mean, just to bring this up because I know it happened today as you record this on Thursday, May 7th, they announced the Norris trophy. Oh, right, yeah. I'm a tad surprised that Quinn Hughes doesn't get a nomination. Yeah. I mean, he's gonna finish probably high, but I mean who would you knock out? Zach Dalin and Zach Rowansky.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

Right, who would you knock out? Rowansky, who was second in points, had a phenomenal year for Columbus. They were the only reason they sniffed a playoff spot was because of him. Dalin was on a dominant team, finished first, and McCarthy. No, but he's but a president's trophy winning team. Yes, McKinnon's an MVP uh candidate. So I don't know who you would replace. If there was a fourth guy, I'm sure it was him on the list. And where's Lane Hudson? Was he fifth?

SPEAKER_06 8:33

I mean, honestly, if if there were if it was a five, a five-player final for for for that trophy. Yeah, these two. Yeah, they'll get votes. They got they clearly got votes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

You know, having heard a lot of hockey experts talk over the last few weeks about who they voted for, and they've I believe the way it works, and I don't know which one is voted by whom, but they they do vote for a top five and only the top three get announced.

SPEAKER_07 8:57

And there's like a point system, fifth place gets one point.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

Those were the five defensemen consistently talked about whatever order you're gonna put them in. Those were the five, and amazing. The leader in points for defensemen, who was it? Bouchard. Evan Bouchard at 96 points 95 or 96 points, wasn't mentioned in the top five at all. So it happened to be an exceptional year for defensemen, let's be honest. And especially they're starting to put up a lot of offensive numbers, and that's why you see what you see. I still believe at some point they may separate them the kind of way they they separate the forward. Yeah, like defensive defensemen, defensive defensemen and offensive defensemen. You know, because this really has to encapsulate points, the best plus and minus, and and time on ice and playing against some more. There's so many different factors, it's hard, it becomes a little bit harder to separate. You know, all right.

SPEAKER_07 9:47

Um shifting gears to the east, um, you know, uh Buffalo, um, they advance over uh Boston also in six games. Um Jason Zucker, right? We a bit of a limited role, so obviously you had one. Um so he beats the fellow Jew Jeremy Swayman.

SPEAKER_06 10:06

We did not had a limited roll. I mean, I think honestly, I think if without Swayman, this that series is over, it's it's open fire.

SPEAKER_07 10:14

But it was crazy the the the roller coaster ride, like you know, the game one we talked about, I think, last time, but uh you know Boston leads very late in the third and then they lose uh in regulation.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

Game two was also kind of like that.

SPEAKER_07 10:27

Game four was uh was the trouncing of this by the it was four-nothing or five-nothing after the first period.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Um but it goes to show it was really Swayman-dependent, right? If Swayman had a great game, Boston was in the middle of the year. And Pasternak, who was not he was up and down. Yeah. I mean, look, he had a nice goal. That was a pretty good thing.

SPEAKER_06 10:46

Yeah, he's got his goal in overtime, obviously extending the series another game, but without Swayman, he doesn't even get a chance to score that goal. It's over before that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:55

The game was 1-1 and Swayman was holding them in it for the whole time.

SPEAKER_07 10:58

And speaking of Swayman, you know, we mentioned Quinn Hughes getting, I guess, if you want to use the word, snubbed in a sense for the in the uh Norris nominations. Jeremy Swayman does get a nomination uh for the Vesner trophy for best goalie. First nomination for him in his career alongside um Andre Vasilevsky and Ilyas Sorokin. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

So it's funny because if you look at the top three goalies, kind of a down year for goalies. Vasilevski, who's a perennial, but Sorokin and Swayman, they haven't been around before in terms of nominations, and two teams that you know Islanders missed out and Boston barely made it in. So it was interesting. I think the goalies now that split, they've split so much time, right? They really go not 50-50, but like you know, 53-47. It's becoming harder and harder to judge for the goalies. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 11:44

And then yeah, no, guys like Connor Hallebach, who we would expect is not zero.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

And Chesterkin, who normally is perennially there.

SPEAKER_06 11:51

And the league has been going that way for a couple of years. Like we're like, we're past the time of Martin Brother, Patrick Roy, etc. Like I call that the like Jordan Bennington effect. Like the guy shows up out of nowhere in 2019, wins a cup, then disappear, comes back, disappear, comes back. It's you have to have a goalie that's gonna be good from April 1st to like June 15th-ish. And the rest you kind of manage. Get to April 1st. Yes, exactly. I mean, your team has to get you to April 1st, and then you hope that your goalie is gonna be lights out for two and a half months. And you know what? After if you want to take a year off, take a year off, we have our week.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

But it goes to show the Norris trophy, okay, Wransky didn't make it, but the other two are still alive. Vesna, they're all done. Yeah, that's true. Not one of them still alive in the playoffs. But the vote the votes obviously are done. No, no, no, for the player. It goes to show you that it's not it's not as important. Not as important, the role, right? So it's interesting.

SPEAKER_07 12:46

Uh I think the heart, I would say the heart trophy, like you hear all the time, well, you know, if the player gets their team into the playoffs, like that's the definition of MVP. Yeah. Like you hear that more for that trophy when it comes to you know the implications of getting into the playoffs. Right. But which I think why, like, you know, Celebrini.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Celebrini, I thought, should have deserved being in the nominated. Again, at least nominated. I don't think he should have been.

SPEAKER_06 13:12

I should have won because in the end the team does not make it to the play. But like, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

But then who would you again? I can't sit here and honestly say that which of the three I would take out between McDavid, uh, you know, McKinnon, and Kuturoff. It's they were all maybe, maybe it's hard to say to take out McDavid, and it's gonna be a controversial statement. But the team too didn't have a great year. Okay. I know we're jumping around here. Yeah. But the team didn't have a great year. Yes, he led the league in scoring, but the team did not have a in fact they probably underachieved. So why not Celebrini for on a team that uh just missed out making the playoffs, and he came out of nowhere to be the lead that what was he, fourth in the league in scoring?

SPEAKER_07 13:52

And when you look at the the gap between him and the second on the sharks, it's insane.

SPEAKER_03 13:58

So he probably and but it would have been impossible not to nominate McDavid, I think. Yeah. The other two are certainly deserving. Kucharov before the playoffs. A lot of people had it taken Tampa to win to go on in the Stanley Cup. And by the way, if they gotten by Montreal, they might have. We don't know. And certainly Colorado, hey, president's trophy. You can't deny McKinnon was the driver of that engine, right? As good as McCara is. Um But yes, to get back to so the Zucker is is now playing.

SPEAKER_07 14:26

Advancing to play the Montreal Canadians who somehow, some way, by the grace of God, uh managed to win in game seven with nine shots uh.

SPEAKER_06 14:34

Look, look, okay, I'll I'll say this. I know exactly. Look, I'll say I'll say this like if we go by like who played better in a particular game, yeah, the Habs didn't deserve to win game seven, but we would have deserved to win to win in probably in five series.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

They outplayed them in game five in game six.

SPEAKER_06 14:53

They outplayed them in game six, they outplayed them in game honestly four, and there was that weird penalty. They outplayed them 59 minutes into game two, also.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

And the overtime was bad to hear about the shots, okay? The shot, I honestly almost muted the TV. You were lucky you were there, but I almost muted the sport. I was so annoyed with and they have no shots, and they have okay, we get the clock already. 25 minutes, 26 minutes. We get it. Enough. Uh move on.

SPEAKER_06 15:20

Did you saw? I and I know we gotta get to something else, but did you saw like when we got like our first shot of the third period? There was a guy in like a full tempo bay lightning suit behind the goal that was clapping and being like, Hey, congrats, guy. You got one one shot. I'm like, I hope we score and they zoom on his face.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Well, we may not have gotten shots, but it's not like they were doing much either. We were keeping them to the outside, not much dangerous shots, you know. So, like, enough. It was not, you know, we get we get the style of gameplay wasn't great. We get it, move on.

SPEAKER_07 15:50

And so, yeah, so as uh game one is in the books in the Montreal Buffalo series, Buffalo takes it. Montreal had a pretty rough start, some bad breaks on goals, picked it up towards the end. So it's it's one game, so we'll we'll and I I think well one thing I did want to mention, because in our group chat, I know that it came up and before before the series started, or just in the aftermath of the game seven, Matthew was uh was saying how rather controversial in our in our conversation about how he would have uh sat Yaakob Dobesh for game one, gone with Jacob Fowler to give him uh to give him a breather. And then, you know, not like I wouldn't I wouldn't put in the blame on Dobesh for the loss in game one, but there were points where I was like, okay, maybe Matthew has a lot of things.

SPEAKER_06 16:32

I'm not gonna get into that debate because we can spend another two hours on that. We'll we'll do a side episode bonus subscriber only of a debate between Matthew and I'm gonna just give my logic.

SPEAKER_03 16:43

Having seen this before, this reminded me the first round really reminded me back of when was it, 2011 or 2010, when Halak went on his run? Yeah, it's it's so so simple. He had those first two rounds, set both game sevens, both pressure-packed game seven series, uh Pittsburgh and then Washington, and he fell so Washington then Pittsburgh. You're right, Washington. Uh no, Pittsburgh, Washington. No. Okay, fine, Washington, Pittsburgh. Okay. But then he fell flat against Philly and it was they got knocked out fast. I just felt that look, your goal, you're not starting at home. You don't have to win both games. Your goal on the road is get a split, right? Put all your eggs into game two. What happens if Fowler steals you a game wonderfully? You play with less pressure on Friday, automatically you tell Fowler you're getting one game, that's it, no matter what, you're starting game two, it doesn't matter if Fowler stops a hundred shots, he's not starting game two, and you see what happens, and and you give him an extra few days because this series now, there's no extra days off like we had in the first series. If you look at the schedule, it's seven games over thirteen days. That's a lot if we have to go a long series again. But look, they did what they did. We'll see come game two, hopefully. For the record, I disagree with Matthew, but I'll start a debate.

SPEAKER_07 17:54

So Montreal is uh still in the playoff race, and they're the only Canadian team remaining in the playoff race because the Edmonton Oilers, um, Connor McDavid and our pair of Jews, Zach Hyman and Jake Wallman, uh were eliminated in six games at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks. Uh Hyman, two goals, uh goal in games two and in game five, minus six rating, just thirteen shots in six games. So he did look at himself. No, not like a lot of the players didn't. Um Jake Wallman, though, did have four assists in six games, and uh, you know, so he he was not but I think the the the big obviously storyline is was was the Connor McDavid thing. I know we talked about him signing that two-year deal. Yeah, and uh you know he's in now he's entering, I guess, the final year of that contract. So this was year one.

SPEAKER_03 18:48

This was he's going into year one of it, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 18:51

But where do they go from here is the question, I guess. It's a huge, huge offseason for them. Yeah. I mean, I know he was he was injured, he got injured early in the series. Dry side all two, you could argue was but they went quietly, right?

SPEAKER_03 19:04

Like they it didn't look good at all. No, I watched a lot of that series, and Anaheim was faster than them, they were bigger than them, they just completely outplayed them.

SPEAKER_06 19:14

Well, I think we talked about it a lot of times since October. Like we thought at some point Edmonton would run out of gas, and it it looked like that from not maybe from game one, but from game two, it it looked like they were out of gas. Uh yeah, they can say the overtime goal in game five, uh sorry in game four, that was a good goal, by the way. I mean, I know there's no I know there's no angle showing it in, but I mean it's circumstantial evidence we can send people to jail for that, so we can certainly allow a goal for that.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

So I was listening to a podcast, and apparently something that the NHL uses that they don't show on the broadcast or they don't show on the replays is that they actually do measure the puck. Like if the puck is this size and it's already here, they can see they can kind of superimpose it over the skate, right? Because the skate was blocking, and they use that as a factor to determine if it was actually in. It was in. It was in. No, no, it was in. It was awesome. And I I get the the process broke down, but it was it. Yeah, it was it.

SPEAKER_06 20:13

Look, there's no video showing OG Simpson killing his wife, but we know he did it. So I was not expecting that. But yeah, you know, I think Anaheim, it's close to LA, you know. Orange County. Yes.

SPEAKER_07 20:32

Um But yeah, I mean, I just like to wrap this up. I mean, but the comments that they made in the postmortem, right? Like, well, we took a step back and you drive I mean, it's pretty damning when your two guys, your two leaders are basically saying, like, like what are we doing here? Like, what's happening? They need a goalie.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

That's without bottom six depth. It's not so much the top, the top is good. They have no third and fourth line. They don't have a third and fourth line.

SPEAKER_06 20:58

It's not like it's a secret that they need a goalie and they need bottom six death. It's been it's been what three years now, if we go back to maybe even four, if we go back to when they lost to Colorado in the Western Conference final, um and everyone knows it. Every sports analyst in North America has been saying it, and pretty much the only group of people that doesn't seem to know or care are the front office of the Edmonton Oilers. So, yes, if if you're the stars at some point, you know, they probably've been thinking about that for for a while, and just at some point getting out in the first round, they had to say they had to say something.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

It'll be interesting if they don't do what they need to do. Are there st there it's going to speed up the rumors of him getting of McDavid getting traded? Yeah, there's no way. Yeah. No, I don't care what you get. No, no, no. You can't let him walk for nothing.

SPEAKER_06 21:54

I mean, but the problem then, again, if if we go towards is that does he get does he get traded? And for what? Like, and I was having this conversation with a couple of people, and they were saying, 'Oh no, he's worth this, this, this,' like five first round picks, please, plus you like your top line and everything. Like at some point, if the price that he is worth uh technically or on paper, no other team in the league has it, then I mean he is quote unquote not worth that. He is worth what someone will be able to pay for.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

But you he's never gonna they're never gonna get what he's worth. They're always gonna lose the trade. The question is how bad? Right. Because if you let him walk for nothing, that's awful.

SPEAKER_06 22:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

You have to measure at some point is it like can we keep going? Or can we do what he needs to do, or do we just have to cut bait and take what we can get out of it?

SPEAKER_06 22:42

But look, they they have they have two years, and just to to close the door, maybe. But they really don't have this year, I think. No, so so like because they have two years, this year you try, yes, you try to get a better goalie, etc. And I think the real conversation about a trade starts the second they get bounced out of the playoff or or win the cup next year. I disagree.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

I think they have to treat it like Quinn Hughes. Quinn Hughes got traded a year and a half before his contract ended. There will be no team willing to give them a huge package uh going into his final year because how can you guarantee he's gonna sign you? How do you have enough time with him that you want to resign with it?

SPEAKER_06 23:20

The window for them that is interesting is actually next summer because July 1st next year they're able to start negotiating a new contract, which they're not allowed to do right now, technically. And July 1st next year, you can tell a team, look, if you make us a good enough offer, we'll allow you to speak to his agent, and then you can have more certainty. We'll see. But obviously, if you trade him at the trade deadline of 2028, like in the middle of the season, he will not accept you and say, I can come for three months and exactly, and then I'll I'll take my chance on the open market.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

That's the ranton trade all over again. Exactly. So I think I think if they're gonna do it, they are better off trying to take the path of Hughes. I mean, Vancouver got still a decent return for him, not worth what Hughes is, but they knew they weren't gonna sign him, so they might as well try and get what they could get and go from there.

SPEAKER_07 24:14

Speaking of Vancouver, um I think the fans there are pretty upset uh because they're demanding a recount, I think. They uh NHL draft lottery was on Tuesday, and uh obviously Vancouver went in with the best odds. They not only lose the lottery to get first, they lose the lottery to get second, so they dropped the third. And the Toronto Maple Leafs somehow, some way end up with the first overall pick. Um I want to maybe is Matthew. I thought that was wondering. Matthew flew to Toronto that night. Okay. Right? So you were I don't know. There's something about that because I flew to Toronto.

SPEAKER_03 24:52

If I had it, I don't know. Okay, fine. Let's let I'll let you keep going with this. Let's see. I want to hear it. I did want to ask though, because obviously you were I mean what was the reaction like so I remember I was I forgot that the draft was taking place that night, and I my flight was 720, so I think it was just as just as they were announcing. I turned my phone on and I see I'm in a my in my hockey pool chat, I see them start to go crazy. I'm like, come on, Toronto won the draft. So I walked into my sister's place. Now, again, granted they're all Habs fans, but it was the first thing she told me also. She's like, I can't believe they won the draft. I'm like, yeah, I I don't know what to tell you. Now, listening to people over the day and a half that I was there, really, to be honest, they were talking more about the front office than they were talking about. Yeah, well, that's another story. Yeah, that's another story. They don't trust the front office, so they don't trust that they're gonna get the draft. I think they're thinking that somehow through whatever analytics are. So I think I think that what they're nervous about is that he's some sort of analytics are gonna point to not to McKenna and they're gonna they're gonna regret not drafting him. Although, to be honest, down the stretch, and I I don't know how much we want to go into this, but down the stretch, this is starting to remind me a lot of 21, no, where Shane Wright was clear and above for uh almost two years, the number one pick, and then just little by little towards the end, all of a sudden you know, Slavkowski passed him and boy oh boy, what an amazing choice. And again, new management, right? At the time, it was Hughes' first draft and Gorton's first draft also. So very similar but you know, I mean, again, you have in very inexperienced leadership in Toronto now. They've gone from you know Shanahan and um Tree Living? No, no, no. But Shanahan and uh what was the for? Dubis, who Dubis who wasn't experienced, although had a lot more experience than Cheika has, certainly, in coming up in the junior ranks to a tree living who had a lot of experience, and now you have Sandine who's never done this. I don't care that he was a hockey player. I get that. He has insight. He hasn't done this in his 17 years since he's retired, right? He hasn't had a front office nothing, not with Sweden, not in any of the elite leagues in Sweden. Nothing, nothing. At least St. Louis was coaching at a certain point. Okay, there was something there. So it's gonna be very interesting. Like, and what say does he actually have? Nobody knows the division of responsibilities. Does he have a lot of say at least? It's like Gordon Q's the best. No, but hold hold on. There's a big suite at the top of the draft, right? If he comes to Stenberg and says, no, we're going with Stenberg, what does Cheeker say? Like, does he have is he allowed to overrule? I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 27:34

So I think Cheika will make the decisions and then Sundin will have to explain them to the remote. Think so, yeah. Exactly. And like honestly, let's face it, for the first year and a half, no one's going to criticize Sandeen. And if he publicly, we don't know what happens in private, puts his seal of approval on any Cheika's decision, and it's like, okay, at least Sandeen was consulted. It can't be that bad. Because Cheeka, I mean, he hasn't made a single decision right now, and everyone wants to run him out of town already. Exactly. Yes, man.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

It's a very odd person to bring into that situation. So look, they're gonna live with it.

SPEAKER_07 28:12

And I know I blame Matthew, but I think maybe I'll blame Buffalo too, especially since Montreal is playing Buffalo. I mean, so 2016, the last uh Buffalo uh Austin Matthews Leafs won the draft lottery to select Austin Matthews. Yeah, draft was in Buffalo. Where's the draft this year? Buffalo. Buffalo. Interesting. So uh something about that city, it's close to Toronto.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

Look, I don't think this number one pick is as dynamic as the Matthews was a clear cut, not even close. This is the number one guy. It's interesting, it presents interesting possibilities. The one thing I did start seeing a lot in Toronto, they were already talking about trading Matthews and trying to trick not trick get San Jose to take him to get the number two pick and a package, which by the way, I think would be an amazing trade for San Jose. But to me, San Jose doesn't need another forward. I know Sternberg is number two, and even McKenna, if he drops or they flip, they need a big defenseman. So and and to draft, I think, Verhoff or Carlos, it's a little bit high at number two.

SPEAKER_06 29:07

If I'm San Jose, I'm all I'm also looking into trading back maybe to the number four or five. Yeah, because the defensemen are better in the city. Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:15

And if you can get something for the two, why not?

SPEAKER_07 29:17

Yeah. Also, I guess we have to tie this to a Jewish thing. And I know that the player here. So obviously this he's not going number one, but there's uh Ethan Belschitz, who was ranked ninth actually amongst North American skaters by Central Scouting in the final rankings. And um, so he played for the Woods or Spitfires. Uh they actually just were eliminated by Kitchener in the Western Conference final of the uh OHL playoffs.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Did you see what happened in that last game? They had to cut the intermission or something.

SPEAKER_07 29:45

What?

SPEAKER_03 29:45

Yeah, so a player got hurt, it took so long to take it, get them off the ice. They didn't have an intermission between the second and third period because it had a huge break.

SPEAKER_06 29:56

There was something that I just I remembered that happening, not for someone being hurt, but I think like a glass broke at the Bell Center like 15 years ago. There was like twenty twenty seconds left in the season.

SPEAKER_07 30:07

And the Pacaretti incident, I remember. So it was also like twenty seconds left, and they yeah. Uh I think it was the Barry Colts. That's what I remember was the this week, right? Where they they they came into the press conference and they only said the team motto for two minutes because they were mad that they wouldn't allow the whole team to come into the press conference room. So they got into trouble for just like saying nothing in the press conference.

SPEAKER_06 30:31

Anyhow, um I mean it's the Marshall and Lynch. I'm just here so I can't get to it. Um switching gender now to the PWHL with uh Aaron Frankel and the Boston Flea, they're tied one-one in their best of five semifinal series against Ottawa. Uh she stopped 17 of 18 shots in a 2-1 win in game one. They lost 3-1 in game two, uh, and another 18 saves on uh on 20 shots. The uh game three is uh is tomorrow, actually. So we're record we're recording that on Thursday, May 7th. The episode will drop on May 8th. So when you listen to that, the game is on shop at night.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

Go to Ottawa if you want to see the game. Oh yeah, you might be watching the Habs. Can I just say I think the NHL should adopt what the PWHL does, they have some interesting ideas. The playoffs is oh you oh so as a yes, you get where you're ranked. Right. Oh, you choose. You get to choose your own. If you rank if you finish first, you get to choose your own. I think this is awesome. Come on.

SPEAKER_06 31:38

No, I don't like it. Why not?

SPEAKER_07 31:40

They also do also um when you're eliminated, they they they don't do a draft lottery, but uh it once you're eliminated, you start banking points. Right. Yes, and whoever has the most points amongst the the losing team from the moment that you're eliminated gets first pick. So you get eliminated. That's eliminated earlier. You're not tanking.

SPEAKER_03 31:59

No, you you do tank, you tank right away. Yes, exactly. They get eliminated earlier, so they have more time to bank points.

SPEAKER_06 32:05

Which we know no one will tank right away. No, like it's easy to convince a player to tank in March, but like in October, yeah, stop playing. It's game two of the season. We don't get it.

SPEAKER_03 32:15

But at a certain point, you might make a decision like, okay, we're too far away, so let's start, let's try to tank for a week and a half and then we bank poor that.

SPEAKER_07 32:22

They also have this uh crazy, I don't know if you know, but uh, you know, the they call it the jailbreak, right?

SPEAKER_03 32:30

So come on, the playoff thing is awesome. Imagine getting to choose your opponent. Oh my god. I would be I would be too nervous.

SPEAKER_06 32:36

Gary Batman says everything and then it comes out. We're not changing anything. I mean, look, the playoffs are not perfect in the NHL, but this this is not the way to fix it.

SPEAKER_07 32:46

The NBA So uh uh Danny Avdia out and his Portland Trailblazers bounced by San Antonio Spurs in five games. The last time we we jinxed them, honestly. And uh series was shifting back to Portland.

SPEAKER_06 33:06

Guys, guys, I'll be I'll be honest, when they were leading in game three, yeah, I was already planning, okay, this is what we're gonna say. Like if they win this series, oh my god, we lead the episode with that. So I jinxed them. I'm sorry. Sorry, Debbie.

SPEAKER_07 33:21

Well, like so Portland led by 15 points in game three, it was 82-67 in the third. San Antonio went on a 21-5 run to take a lead into the fourth, uh, and it game ended 120-108, and this was all without Victor Wambinyama for game two. Uh he came back in game four, he cleared concussion protocol, and once again, Portland led by 19 points in game four, seventeen at the half, and yet somehow the game was tied going into the fourth quarter, and it ends 114-93 in favor of San Antonio. Portland, the unenviable position of being the first team in playoff history to trail by 15 plus points at the half. To lead. To a lead, to a lead, yeah. To lead by 15 plus points at the half and then lose by 15 plus points.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:08

Look, they say minus 30 swing at the second half.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

It was a good run for them. They weren't expected to make the playoffs. In fact, they never mind they were, you know, for the most of the season they were trending ninth or tenth. They finished eighth, they knocked off Phoenix in the play-in game, they got to be the seventh seed. I'm sure they took a game off San Antonio. They wouldn't have taken a game off Oklahoma City, probably. They were rolling. San Antonio's a good team. They're a favorite to win the, you know, they're a favorite to win the Western Conference and go on to the championship. So you know, nothing a great move forward for the entire team, for the entire organization. There will be changes. They are rumored to be the you know, the leaders in the clubhouse are getting uh Yanis from Milwaukee. Let's see. They might have they have enough young players to put in a package. Will the owner pay? I don't know. Well, that's a different story. Okay, that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_06 34:56

If if if he brings his own jersey.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

Or t-shirt. The other thing about Denny is he did not somehow win most improved player. I still don't know. Yeah, it was a Canadian that one. That's true. But still, I don't know how Denny doesn't win.

SPEAKER_07 35:09

Yeah, so uh Denny did speak after the series, so have a listen.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

I feel like that experience was needed for me for the team as a group to fight together to see how it is with playoff physicality, playoff atmospheres. I had a lot of fun, you know, and we left it all on the court. I left it all on the court. Um but you know, you gotta stay resilient, you gotta stay together, and you gotta do it together.

SPEAKER_07 35:33

No Jewish uh representation in the NBA playoffs uh remains. No.

SPEAKER_03 35:38

Um cheer who forever you want.

SPEAKER_07 35:40

Yeah. Should just for good good games, good uh good good series. Um wanted to talk about this because we talked about him in the last episode. Um, Southampton and uh Danielle Perez. So they were playing in the FA Cup semi-final. Yeah, remember they beat Arsenal uh to advance, and then they drew Manchester City in the semifinals. Lucky them to lose the one and two at the top of the table. So they did lose uh in the semis two to one to Man City. It was actually scoreless for a majority of the match. And then great match. They Southampton had a lead in the 70s, they got a goal in the 79th minute to lead, and then they gave up goals in the last two goals in the last 10 minutes to to lose. Then they they went to their uh you know, they shifted gears back to the their championship, the 2-2 draw with Ipswich Town, 3-1 win against Preston North End. That ends their the season. So they finished just on the outside on the uh the automatic entry into the uh or promotion, I guess, to playoff. So now they're yeah, they're in the playoff, championship playoffs for I guess the final promotion spot.

SPEAKER_03 36:45

So three teams get promoted, the top two automatically go, and then the last four playoff for one the last spot. Yeah. Rand Rexham just missed out on being promoted for the fourth year in a row, it would have been. They finished seventh, so they finished out of that playoff like by one.

SPEAKER_06 37:00

After being in the spots for the majority of the season.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

Yes and no, they were up and down, six to nine, but I mean, still four years a great job by them, four years in a row. But let's get back to Southampton.

SPEAKER_07 37:09

So yeah, so they're they're playing uh middle, bro. It's a two-legged two-legg series, first game taking place uh, I guess tomorrow, Saturday, May 9th, and the second leg, Tuesday, May 12th. Um and and Daniel Perez, we mentioned, I mean, the stats are pretty crazy. He's lost just twice in 21 matches since he got there.

SPEAKER_06 37:26

I'll say this. I was watching because he's on loan from Bayern Munich, and I understand he didn't got a lot of playing time because they have Manuel Newar.

SPEAKER_03 37:33

Didn't they win the Bundesliga also? They ran away with it, so it's not like they have a bad team.

SPEAKER_06 37:38

But but I'll say this Manuel Neur in the semifinal, the first leg against PSG in the Champions League.

SPEAKER_07 37:45

I was looking at he was not gonna I was thinking, you know what, maybe they would have wanted to make a switch had they had Parrots uh there, but uh uh just quickly, I mean uh the other um football um wanted to mention American football um Jake Ratzlaff, who I guess now we're in the point where Tulane.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

He's gonna be former, former, former still.

SPEAKER_07 38:11

It's the season, I guess, of NFL camps, yeah, mini camps, mini camps and stuff. He was interesting because he I think he was initially supposed to go to Seattle's camp, I saw, and then I guess I don't know what happened. Then it he ended up going to the New York Jets. Yeah. So you went undrafted.

SPEAKER_06 38:31

No. You know, you you figure maybe if I have a good camp, who knows what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_07 38:35

He did go, so he went undrafted. Probably at home in the 12th, yes. Yeah, he was the 12th best undrafted prospect at the conclusion of uh the NFL draft through seven rounds. Um I mean we touched on it, but do you think like does he have a shot maybe at getting a contract like with the Jets or normally for those types of guys when they're undrafted or if they're late round, it's situational, right?

SPEAKER_03 38:59

So if the Jets don't have a great quarterback room, they are still looking for a quarterback. I don't think they didn't draft one in the uh top round this year, right? They bypassed, there weren't a lot of good quarterbacks available at the top of the draft. So why not?

SPEAKER_06 39:12

They're gonna probably bring him in for a year, see what they get, and if they get lucky, they get uh I think his shot should be like I try not necessarily to make it to the season, but to make it to the preseason, you get maybe one quarter of play in game one or two of the preseason, and then you have you have a play on tape that the 31 other teams can see. Someone gets hurt, we obviously don't wish that, but that will happen, and maybe you get a shot somewhere else after you get caught by the Jets.

SPEAKER_03 39:44

Someone's gonna be someone's gonna be the next Brock Purdy, right? Yes, exactly. So and then he'll inevitably get added to Mr. Ireland, okay, but he's okay. So he's one pick off of that.

SPEAKER_07 39:56

I was saying he'll he'll inevitably get added to some CFL team's uh negotiation list and whatever.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

Yeah, Tom Brady was a six-round pick, number 199. I mean, it's you know, it ha they miss. It's you give the time, you give the guy the proper time to develop, and if he's with people that can develop quarterbacks, you don't know what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_06 40:15

Sorry, he's with the Jets. You're right.

SPEAKER_03 40:18

I didn't say it was gonna be there. Okay, yes. You never know what could happen. And if not, there's the uh arena football league too. I'm sure come back.

SPEAKER_07 40:26

There's an IFL now, too. IFL, wow. A lot of football. There's so many leagues.

SPEAKER_03 40:30

Okay. I don't think we're gonna be giving updates about those leagues. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_06 40:34

There's a limit. There can be an IFL podcast. If someone wants to start it, please do it. So go for it. Now switch to baseball. Baseball, yes. Um Yankees. Yankees.

SPEAKER_07 40:44

But I think right, so like he uh Alex Cora wasn't fired right yet, but when we last recorded, I think he was after. Yeah, it was after.

SPEAKER_02 40:51

They had won the game because 17 to 1. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:54

Exactly. We I think we mentioned that and then we texted each other like three hours after our podcast that we got fired.

SPEAKER_03 41:01

How do you fire a guy after he wins a game 17 to 1? Yeah, because your record looks like the record, but can someone check for me if that was the largest winning game. Yeah, largest winning game to then get fired after. Probably that'd be hysterical.

SPEAKER_06 41:18

Honestly, even if we include probably the NFL, it's probably the largest largest margin of victory before being fired.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

Fired. Love to know.

SPEAKER_07 41:28

Um so yeah, I mean, things are going well for the Yankees. Um it's not even September yet. No. Uh, but uh I mean, Max Fried, four and one, two point three ninety array, 43 strikeouts um so far. Um last time out was a bit of a struggle. Um, you know, he he gave up three earned runs, three walks, six strikeouts, uh six hits in just over five innings. Um he's been playing well, and I know you know they're getting uh Carlos Rodan back this weekend. Garrett Cole is still a little bit a ways away, but probably back uh you know in about a month or so. So that'll bode well for the Yankees. I mean, it's just uh outside of Tampa Bay, which I don't know, it's probably not sustainable.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

I mean, the whole division is like there's only if you look at I was checking standings the other day. Really, I don't pay attention much during the event. It's early, it's early. One of them has everybody's under 500, everybody's over 500 in the NL Central. It's crazy some of the divisions. The NL East, you thought the Mets and the Phillies were gonna be at the top. No, those two are at the bottom. Phillies fired their manager also, right, in the last week or so. It's just baseball's.

SPEAKER_06 42:43

I think it's time for the MLB to adopt the NHL playoffs for. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

It feels like a very weird baseball year. All the teams that were expected, Houston, Philly, Mets, all these teams that were expected to do well are completely trash. It's Dodgers and Yankees.

SPEAKER_06 43:00

Okay, so speaking of first in the division, Alex Bregman, his Cubs are first in the division. Yeah. Uh so I mean, right after we recorded, we clearly helped him, or I don't know. And he uh had two hits in the 6-4 win, including the game-tying home run in the eighth. Um, but then a bit of a struggle, just I mean, just three home runs, but it's uh it's the just 12 RBIs on the season that that has me, I mean, that has his fans, Cubs fans, worried right now. But they're first in the division, so you know what? It's it shows that that there's depth on that team.

SPEAKER_07 43:36

And I just wanted to also uh maybe mention um Zach Gallf. I think he was on Team Israel, I believe, for the WBC and he was started the season in the minors and then got called up about uh two weeks into the season with the athletics. And uh, you know, he's been you know, hitting he's been hitting pretty well, and he's getting an increased playing time because uh this the center fielder Denzel Clark uh got injured. So he's been able to take advantage of that and get into the lineup. So I mean it's again, it's an athletics team that's uh you know ready to move Vegas. Ready to move. Yeah, the st uh the ballpark is being built. So uh so we'll see about that.

SPEAKER_06 44:15

Um it's it's gonna be a beautiful ballpark, I have to say.

SPEAKER_03 44:19

Although it'll be interesting to see. Like now you're gonna have football, you have hockey, baseball, and there's rumors of basketball coming. There's already five major sports franchise teams for a tr very transient city. It's very dependent on tourists. And if the teams aren't good, why are you going to necessarily go and watch, right?

SPEAKER_06 44:43

So I think it it's it's funny. The I went to Vegas three times since the Golden Knights uh have arrived in the league. And all the locals that I that I spoke to, they all told me um because the Raiders were there at that moment, or the first time they were about to get there, but and they all told me the same thing. Like we we have a loyalty towards hockey because they were the first one to say that like we were good enough. For years it was that it was all the leagues were saying, like, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 45:16

Well, they wanted to stay away from the betting.

SPEAKER_06 45:18

Exactly. And now they've embraced it, uh, all of them, uh some a bit too much. Uh we won't get into that. Um, so I you know what, I think the Golden Knights are still gonna be okay. Look, the Raiders, there's there's the there's the history, there's the brand, there's the history isn't there, right?

SPEAKER_03 45:36

It's not with them.

SPEAKER_06 45:38

No, but it's you know what? It's what it's a an hour and a half flights from LA. Yeah, it's a four hour drive. No, sorry, four hours drive from LA, hour and a half drive from the Bay Area. Yeah. Uh so look, and and I think like obviously the NFL is the NFL. So for them, like getting an NFL franchise in your city is basically the way we night someone in modern days. Um I mean, honestly, I'm we'll see basketball, we'll see with basketball, we'll see with the but they do have a good culture for basketball.

SPEAKER_03 46:08

UNLV has always drawn very well.

SPEAKER_07 46:11

And they always have college uh tournaments and like the the March Madness goes there.

SPEAKER_03 46:17

The summer league, they always have the summer league.

SPEAKER_07 46:20

And the finals of the in in-season tournaments help there. Yeah, that's true. So and also like there also have been talks about maybe them getting the White Caps because Vancouver was MLS. They've been talking about going to Vegas.

SPEAKER_06 46:33

So they would use the Raiders Stadium for that. Probably stadium for uh I mean BC Place is also big. It's 50k.

SPEAKER_03 46:41

Yeah, this is 70, I think, the allegiance. Yeah, interesting. I've been in how they configure it. But yeah, look, it'll be interesting. It's amazing that it's becoming a major sports town. It's another reason to go visit, right? It's becoming a little more family-centric by doing that. But again, I think that's why the Golden Knights have been good is because they felt this pressure to have to be winners from the beginning to draw that crowd and continuously draw that crowd, because otherwise people aren't going to be interested in going, right? It's not it there's a different type of loyalty out there.

SPEAKER_06 47:09

Yeah, so I mean selling hockey in the middle of the desert. Uh I mean the coyotes to ride.

SPEAKER_03 47:14

Yeah, like why leave the strip to go to see a hockey game, right? Yeah. So yeah, interesting.

SPEAKER_07 47:20

Um before we're on topic. Yeah, yeah. Hopefully uh the Red Sox fans here will uh allow me to do this. But uh yeah, we got like uh sad news um early this week, the the passing of uh John Sterling. John Sterling was his stage name. Uh given name was John Sloss, so of course Jewish. Uh passed away on May 4th at the age of 87. Uh voice of the New York Yankees on the radio for 36 seasons. Um as a Yankee fan. I mean, he was like he was the soundtrack to the Yankees, and you know, uh I got into baseball a lot because of him. My my grand my late grandfather obviously was got me into it, but him and his voice and his calls made it interesting to listen to games. And I remember uh sitting in my the kitchen of my grandparents' house and there would be they would be uh my grandfather would be fiddling with the knob on his transistor radio because they would air Yankee games on a Vermont station on AM radio, and if you got the good signal in night at night, you could probably pick it up and he would be fiddling with it and trying to get the perfect sound so you could hear John Sterling and my grandmother is in the next room yelling like about all the static and the noise, and so those those are fond memories. But I mean the the career is is just in is crazy. Calling over 5,600 Yankee games, and you include five thousand and sixty consecutive ball games that he called in a row, did not miss a single game for that stretch. Yeah, called every game of Derek Jeter's career. Wow. Like I don't think there's anybody who could say that they were there for every game for Derek Jeter's career. Right. He's probably the only one. I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 49:04

I don't think even them, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_07 49:06

Um but yeah, he also called uh Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks, Nets, New York Islanders, he called uh during their heydays and with Mike Bossey and Tracey and all those guys. And he was a lifer. I mean, he 50 years uh I think on radio, sixty years even. He was hosting, he retired, and then he unretired. He was even he he hosted this one hour weekend radio show up until like December, even it's like he was he was a lifer, and so uh condolences to his family, Yankee fans, and uh uh because he'll be definitely be missed in the in the new.

SPEAKER_06 49:42

I mean to you to New York fans are like not just Yankees. I think I mean one one of the greats of baseball, that's that's for sure. If even myself growing up as a red I mean, exposed then Red Sox fans. It it's always wonders me, like you you know, when when the you have these documentaries like on Netflix or ESPN and they show you uh like World Series 2001 or ALCSO4, yeah, I had to plug that. Um and they show you the image, obviously, from the TV, but they don't the but the sound is his voice. That that's how big he was.

SPEAKER_07 50:21

So I mean his calls, right? Because he had a thing, right, where every player who would hit a home run for the Yankees would get a home run call, you know, A-Bomb from A-Rod for Alex Rodriguez, Burn Baby Burn was for Bernie Williams. Um, you know, there were so many, and there were some were better than others, some were very, very creative. Like one of my favorites, you know, Mark Teshera. Yes. So he had um, you're on the Mark Teshera, and then he would say, you know, his nickname was Tex, so he said Mark sends a text message to write the center field. Like it was just creative stuff like that, and you know, it just brought people in. So um, yeah, so it was really good. And the Yankees, rightfully so, they're gonna be wearing uh patches on their jerseys, I think starting on uh May 18th to the remainder of the season to honor him and the impact that he had uh for Yankees baseball for 36 seasons.

SPEAKER_00 51:14

He is part of the fabric of baseball in the biggest city in this country.

SPEAKER_05 51:19

For many generations, there will only be one: the voice of the New York Yankees, the Golden Pipes, John Sterling. Stepping up to the microphone is the voice of the New York Yankees. Here is John Sterling. Well, Susanna, thank you. And once again, good afternoon, everyone. That's basically that. Yankees win. Yankees win.

SPEAKER_07 54:02

Um just quickly, we touched on this off the top uh in our intro. Uh the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame um announced their honorees for 2026. Um that they induct so many people in one year.

SPEAKER_06 54:20

You're covering all sports, so it's it's different than if you have all of it. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_07 54:25

So they're doing this. Um it's uh it's gonna happen in uh I think it's Ramat Gunn in in end of June. Uh the ceremonies. Uh quickly going through the list. Obviously, some names will be more familiar than others. Uh I guess some of the headliners, you know, we have Julian Edelman, former uh New England Patriots.

SPEAKER_06 54:43

I mean, I have to say one of the few Patriots that I always liked.

SPEAKER_07 54:49

And an outspoken Morgan Pressell, uh female uh golfer, American golfer, uh Omri Caspi in basketball basketball, uh another basketball Nancy Lieberman gets it.

SPEAKER_03 55:02

Incredible coach and player.

SPEAKER_07 55:04

Incredible, yeah. Diego Schwartzmann, who we we mentioned before here, um recently retired uh Argentinian tennis pro. You know, Marv Alberts, legendary, you know uh announcer uh um in the sports world, canoe uh Naomi Fox for canoeing, another influential voice, uh Al Michaels, of course, uh football and uh so many other sports. You know, he called the 1980 Miracle on Ice. Um Carolina Dure for Argentinian boxer, Bruce Pearl, Bruce Pearl gets in, uh Andre Tippets, Lydia Hatwell Zuckerman uh a fencer, Danny Shays uh in basketball, uh Yuri Foreman, uh boxer, Jay Berger in tennis, Daron Shaziri in uh shooting, uh Zippora Rubin Rosenbaum is a Paralympian, Red Saracek basketball, Dejo Foldis, a Hungarian fencer, and Robert Fein, Austrian weightlifter. So those are the list. I think it's 20 names that are all uh going into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame uh in Ramat Gunn. Um I don't know. Do they do they go? Do the these people go to the U.S.

SPEAKER_06 56:19

I certainly hope at least some of them, and obviously depending on travel situation and all of that. I hope I hope at least some of them will go. It's it's uh well yeah, we we I mean we maybe we should go and record an episode from there. But it's crazy a lot of interviews. Yes. Be good content.

SPEAKER_07 56:36

But more than 500 individuals have been inducted already, so it's pretty crazy. You know, in Israel they have this big sports hall of fame, and uh you know it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. All right, so uh coming up next, we're actually going to bring you uh a conversation I recently had with uh cancer Gideon Zellemeyer of Congregation Shah Shemayam. Uh big, big sports fan. He's a Red Sox fan, so uh he talks a little bit about that. So why was he talking to you?

SPEAKER_06 57:03

I don't think he was happy when we gave him permission, Matthew. Checking, just checking.

SPEAKER_07 57:09

But also, of course, one of the Oh, we did it to torture Jordan. Yeah, yeah, I see. Okay, got it. Tried to indoctrinate me, it didn't work. Uh but one of the regular anthem singers, of course, at the Montreal Canadians games, and so um really interesting about how he kind of got the job and uh what it's like, you know, singing the anthem at the Bell Center with a keep on his head in front of uh twenty plus thousand people and everyone else watching. So that interview starts after this.

Interview with Cantor Gideon Zelermyer

SPEAKER_07 58:59

So welcome back inside Mention with the Boys. We're honored to have uh Cantor Gideon Zellermeyer of Congregation Shah Shemaim with us. Um you may think Cantor Sports, what's the connection? Well, in addition to his cantorial duties, he can also be heard and seen regularly at the Bell Center singing the national anthems before uh Montreal Canadians games. Gideon, thanks so much for being here. My pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 59:22

For anybody who knows me, by the way, they don't have to search very hard to find the connection between cantor and sports.

SPEAKER_07 59:27

Yeah, exactly. So I wanted to touch on that real quick. We were talking a bit off air. Your New England background, and I guess so your connection to sports, your history with sports dates back, I guess, to your childhood years.

SPEAKER_01 59:39

My dad was uh grew up in Boston and um um, you know, uh I I grew up with stories of my grandfather, a blessed memory, uh, going to see uh the Red Sox when they won the World Series in 1918. And uh sadly he never lived to see another one. And uh you know, I I attribute a lot of uh things to my move to Montreal, but one of them is that in the 25 years that I've lived here, my teams the Patriots, the Celtics, the Red Sox, have won six Super Bowls, four World Series, and two NBA championships. So come on, Habs. Like you're you're you're pulling up the rear here. Uh so I'm trying as hard as I can to motivate them. But yes, I grew up a Boston sports fan with the exception of hockey. I grew up in Hartford. I was a Hartford Whalers fan when I was a kid, and um the the the the ownership of the Whalers did to Hartford what the Expo's ownership kind of did to Montreal and taking out the heart of of the fan base and stomping on it a little bit when they left. And uh so I could not be a Hurricanes fan. And so therefore, when I moved here, I was a hockey fan without a team anymore. And so uh if you can't beat him, join him. And I became a Habs fan.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:59

Uh I'm I'm gonna say this and maybe duck under the table, but I'm bec similar to your story with your grandfather, my grandfather got me into baseball and he's from New York, so uh yeah, I'm gonna talk about that. I'm gonna I'm gonna hide. But my c my colleagues who I share the the desk with normally on this show, they're Red Sox fans. So there is uh there is a connection there. Um so you so talk about um you know singing at the the Bell Center at the Anthem. How does one get or how do you get the gig of being in that rotation of anthem singers at the Bell Center?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:35

Uh I was very fortunate that that uh my friend Joseph Kaiser, who's a Montrealer and he's an opera singer, so he s he sang a couple times this year for the Islanders because he lives in New York now. But he's a Canadians fan, he's still a seasoned ticket holder at the Bell Center, and uh he would sing from time to time when he wasn't off performing in operas all over the world. And he connected me with uh his contact at the Canadians, and so one Sunday in uh August, I think it was of 2016. No, early 2006, yeah, 2016. I don't remember the year right now. It was a long time ago. Um they literally turned on the lights at the Bell Center for me to come and sing. And it was me and a sound person and a camera person, and that was it. And uh I had to sing through both anthems twice, and afterwards I said to them, Well, how many other people are you auditioning today? And they said, Just you. I said, Really? Why? They said, Well, Joe told us we should hear you. And so a few weeks later I sang at a a Habsflyers game. Um it was 2011, it was right right around the time that I turned 35. And um and so I did a few a a game a season for a few years, and then there was a long stretch that I didn't do it, but because of that first time that I sang at the Bell Center, one of my friends who who works at Paperman and Sons sent a recording of the anthems to his friend, who was the assistant head groundskeeper at Fenway Park, and he passed it on to management, so that summer I sang for the first time at Fenway Park. That must have been a thrill for you. Yeah, you know, it's a big look, they're both thrills. But um I can imagine that singing at the forum for a lifelong Montreal Canadians fan would have been what it felt like for me to sing at Fenway Park. You know, the the Bell Center doesn't have a lot of history. The forum and the Canadians have a lot of history. When you walk on the field at Fenway Park, you're walking where Ted Williams and Babe Ruth walked, literally. And um and and I remember the first time I went to a game when I was five years old, and and and going into Fenway with my grandfather and my uncles and my aunts and my cousins and this it it so th that that's what it felt like for me. It was incredibly special.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:52

And it lives on the the tradition or the lineage of it lives on through your pets, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:57

Through my pets, yes. My uh my my late dog Fenway, uh my new dog Wally, who is uh named after Wally the Green Monster, who's the uh Boston Red Sox mascot. And uh, you know, Fenway Park and and the Jewish people have a lot in common because the most important thing is the wall. And uh so uh yeah, it's very, very special. And um, you know, I should add a little dig to your your your uh Yankee fan friend that uh um my son Max, who is now 17, just before uh the first time that I sang at Fenway Park that spring, he came home, he was about three years old, not even three. He came home from Foundation School, which is the nursery school at Sharon Shamaim, with a very serious look on his face. He said, Poppy, Pharaoh was a very bad man. I said, Yeah, he was. He said, like Haman. I said, Yeah, kinda like Haman. He said, I like the Yankees. And I knew that I had brought him up with the right calibration of values.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:56

Um I just want to you touched on this on the last uh W360 podcast. Um subscribe wherever you get your podcast. But um the symbolism, especially in today's day and age of standing at the uh on the ice at the Bell Center, proudly with your keeper um every single time. You know, I've been at games, I've seen you perform live on TV as well. Um it's very what does it mean to you? Like I'm sure it especially now must mean even more than maybe it did in 2011 or Yeah, it it's very, very special these days.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:28

You know, I don't have to everybody knows that we're going through tough times. And um I have to say keep us off to the Canadians, they have been unbelievably welcoming. Uh the bonds that I have formed with different people in the organization have been amazing. And you know, i first of all, if you go to the press box at the Bell Center, there are a lot of Jews in the press box. Mike Cohen just wrote about this uh in the the last week. Um I'm there all and and it and it's great to be up there and see fellow landsmen up there. But uh, you know, the Canadians in an organization and Not a very Jewish organization. And the first person to reach out to me from the non-Jewish community after October 7th, 2023, was Michel Lacroix, the PA announcer at the Bell Center for going on, I think this is his 45th year. And um when I went to sing anthems for the first time, it was about that fall, it was about 10 days after. And the expressions of solidarity and concern that I got from people around the arena who gotten to know me over the years have just been really, really touching. And uh fast forward to the spring of 2025, and my son Max, who I mentioned earlier in his Yankee hatred, um was graduating from Bialik. And uh Avi Satov, the head of school, uh uh called me and asked me if I would be willing to sing O Canada on Hatikva at the graduation. And the graduation's at the Shah every year. And and I I didn't want Max to feel like I was breaking out into a cantorial concert in the middle of his graduation. So I called Max and I said, Are you cool with this? And he said, Yeah, my friends would think it's amazing. They feel like they're at a Hobbes game. So I said, you know, I got an idea. And I picked up the phone, and I called Well, nobody picks up the phone anymore, but I I called uh Dionne Bibo, the organist at the Bell Center, who has not missed a game since 1987. And I asked her if she was available. And I said the condition there are two conditions. Condition number one, you show up in your Habs jersey, and she has a great jersey with a treble clef on the back. And um the second condition is that every kid that walks across that beam, but she didn't know what a beam was, that stage, the same way that she plays a goal scored by number 20, Uri Slavkowski, pa and assist to number 13, Cole Caulfield, Papa. Every kid that walks across that stage, I want them to get a fanfare. And so she came out and she sat in the front corner of the sanctuary at the Shar and played our electric keyboard, and the people went nuts. And she played Kalinka and she played Havanagila and she had them chanting Go Habs Go. And every kid that walked across the stage got their little fanfare. And at the end of the night, she came to me with tears streaming down her face, and she said, I've never been to anything Jewish before. And I've sat here for the last two hours and I've heard you talk about family and faith and community and charity and education. Why do people hate you? I don't understand. I wish that was the case with everybody.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:31

One one last one, if I can squeeze in, because you you brought that up at the end and it it brought something back on me. I mean when I'm at the Bell Center, right, and I and I I hear you sing, you're very, very well received. Which, you know, in this day and age and the c since the Canadians, you know, they're not gonna be able to do it. On social media, it's not always the case because I know in the in the arena itself it it it's it's you know it's very positive by the looks and sounds of things. But I wanted to touch on that. I mean, because given the times we're in, obviously you're very you're you're wearing the the Keepa, you're you know, and the Canadians games are seen all over the world, they're fan base, but so maybe what are what have you kind of experienced on that side?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:12

You know, one of the one of the technology is a blessing and a curse, and the internet is a blessing and a curse, and so the curse part of it is the troll factor of people who hide behind anonymity and spew whatever they want to spew. And I have been hit with that just like anybody who is in the public eye. I can be hit with that, and it it just is what it is. They can say what they want to say, it doesn't really impact me very much. Uh what I can say is that um as I said, everyone at the Bell Center has received me unbelievably warmly, and that is from the ownership all the way on down. Um Jeff Molson in particular, I want to mention that I don't know how many people remember, but in the spring of tw uh winter, it was like February 2021, we had somebody show up at the front steps of the Shah and spray paint the swastika's on the Cote Saint-Antoine doors. And um he was subdued by a very brave member of our security forces. And um we wanted to do something special to thank him. Now, Alex, if he's listening, I hope he's listening. If he's not, I'll send it to him. But Alex is a huge Canadians fan. Huge. And so I sent a message to Jeff and I said, Jeff lives in Westmount, and he's a very proud member of the Westmount community. And I said to him, I assume you've heard about this. Well, you know, our security person is a big fan. He showed up at my doorstep a few hours later with a handwritten note on his personal stationery, uh thanking Alex for the qualities of bravery and courage that he exemplified, which is the qualities that they look for in members of the Canadians, and presented him with a jersey. When we gave it to him later that week, tears were streaming down his face. He was so touched by that. And that just gives you a little bit of a glimpse into the atmosphere that is there, the the the com the warmth that I've been received with. And um it's very special to represent the Jewish community at what is probably the biggest venue in the city and and to feel warm and to feel welcomed, just as I feel everywhere else that I've been in the 25 years that I've lived here.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:16

Wow. Uh I think that's a perfect way to end. But uh yeah, thank you so much for sharing that with us. And I think we we'll need to have you back with uh the rest of the gang uh maybe after uh Stanley Cup run.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:29

Just seat me on the opposite side of the table from the pinstripe guy.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:32

Yeah. Okay, perfect. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:34

My pleasure.

Historical Segment- Hank Greenberg Enlists

SPEAKER_03 1:11:38

All right, what a great interview that was. Now on to our historical segment. On May 7, 1941, baseball and America stood on the edge of something far bigger than a pennant race. The day before, Detroit Tiger slugger Hank Greenberg delivered what would become one of the most symbolic performances of his career. Facing the New York Yankees, Greenberg blasted two home runs and drove in three runs, powering Detroit to a 7-4 victory. At the time, no one in the stands could know those swings would echo far beyond the box score because the very next morning, Greenberg traded his uniform for a military one. He reported for induction into the US Army on May 7, 1941, becoming the first active Major League Baseball player to enter military service during World War II. The timing felt almost cinematic. He was thirty years old, in his prime and coming off an MVP season. Walking away meant sacrificing not just games, but years of greatness. Not to mention a fifty thifty five thousand dollar yearly salary, which would become twenty-one dollars a month in the Army. Let's remember that was 1941. Still that's a big big drop, right? Yeah, absolutely. Greenberg's first stint in the army as an anti-tank gunner and later a sergeant would be brief. On December 5th, 1941, he received an honorable discharge after Congress exempted men over age twenty-eight. For a moment, it looked like baseball might get its superstar back, but history intervened. Just two days later, December seventh, nineteen forty-one, a day that will live in infamy, Pearl Harbor was attacked. And instead of returning to the Diamond, Greenberg made a decision that defined his legacy. He re enlisted voluntarily, this time in the Army Air Corps, declaring simply, We are in trouble, there is only one thing to do, return to the service. He would go on to serve forty-seven months, the most of any major league baseball player, losing the heart of his career to the war effort. He would return to the baseball diamond on july first, nineteen forty-five, where he naturally hit a home run. Just a few short months later, Greenberg helped lead the Tigers to a come from behind American League pennant, thanks to a dramatic Grand Slam home run in the ninth inning on the final day of the season, and ultimately a World Series title over the Chicago Cubs in seven games. What a story. Yeah, really.

Minyan Spread

SPEAKER_03 1:14:10

All right. Segment four, our minion spread. Very interesting. Goes back a few weeks. Let's see, where where are we standing now? Jordan. So Jordan is at minus 136.66 cents. He had a, you know, he split it. He went one for one. He had New England and into Miami. He had New England on the money line. I believe they drew on one. Yeah. And then he had San Diego and Arizona in the uh Mexican uh series of the weekend, San Diego Moneyline, and he won that one. San Diego was it was an even money. He won a thousand dollars. So he's creeping back to the uh he's creeping back to the black instead of the red, right? I guess, but no, no. See, if you were playing golf, you'd actually be okay. Oh yeah, that's right. Sorry. This is not the stableford modified stableford scoring system, okay? And had Carolina Ottawa back to the first round of the playoffs. Carolina, Ottawa under total goals of five and a half, I believe. Yeah, I mean I'll let you tell the story.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:10

I have to ask a question. Do empty net goals really count? Well, maybe not for Cole Caulfield. No.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:20

So unfortunately, that game was what, two one-nothing going into the third or something?

SPEAKER_06 1:15:25

I was feeling so confident and then auto. Yeah, and somehow it ended up at six.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:32

Somehow it ended up at six, so he lost that one. And he had leads in Chelsea on the weekend in the Premier League. He had leads with the money line, and unfortunately, they also lost. Chelsea ended up winning that game, so he went over two. He's now sitting at 76.55 and 33 cents. First time in a long time that he's not in the lead. As I had the Habs and Tampa Bay in game four, I believe it was, that Tampa Bay, that Habs would win on the money line. They did not. They lost that game in overtime, but I did have Caulfield to score that night, even though it wasn't a Saturday, it was a Sunday.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:07

He scored his only goal. Can you please bet that he scores at every game? I know.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:13

We only record this once every two weeks. I know, but your two bets should be he scores game score in game three. I understand that. I understand. That is not my bet. I had Caulfield scoring in game four. It happened to be his only goal of the series, I believe, right? On the power so far of the playoffs, but of the series, and so I won 1100 there. I now sit at 84, 21, and 37 cents. So Jordan, kick us off.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:39

All right, starting in the NHL playoffs, um, we're going back to the where we started, the Minnesota, Colorado series. Um so uh they're going back to uh St. Paul to Minnesota for game three on uh well tomorrow, Saturday, May 9th. Um and I think that we Minnesota will get a win. I think Colorado will suffer their first loss of these playoffs. Obviously, Colorado's been a juggernaut these playoffs, but it's kind of interesting, right? Because for a very rare they played on Tuesday, so they're getting three days between games, so I guess it's a chance to reset, get things in order.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:20

You can blame the Montreal Tampa series for that, I believe. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:24

And also the the storm, like did you guys see what in Denver, the 20, they got 20 to 30 centimeters of steel.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:30

Yeah, I'm I'm flying to Denver in three weeks, and I don't like the Broncos aren't playing yet.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:35

No, I mean I mean, uh but yeah, so we'll put $500 that Minnesota, I guess, underdog money line, money line. Yeah, beats uh beats Colorado. And then uh I'm going to try this again because it didn't work the first time, but the way this guy is hitting, I think I I can't not. Um Aaron Judge, uh who leads the uh entire uh all of uh MLB with 15 home runs. Um Yankees are playing the uh Baltimore Orioles uh in Baltimore. Uh so um we'll bet on the game on May 11th that Aaron Judge is gonna hit a home run. We'll put $500 on that. He had two home runs at Yankee Stadium against Baltimore last week. And if you look at his I saw this thing where they put on the broadcast, you know, of he's played like basically almost a full season against the Orioles, like 160-something games and 52 home runs, 111 RBIs, and 121 clear games against the Orioles, and his batting average I think is around 340. So like I like his odds, he does well against this team. Orioles are not doing well, Yankees are doing well, he's hitting home run basically every game. We'll see what happens here, but uh so we're gonna try it. Aaron Judge home run on May 11th.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:53

So I'm gonna try to get back on track, and uh I'm gonna go with the Spurs to beat the Timberwolves tomorrow night. I mean, tonight uh the moment when this podcast is dropping. Spurs and Timberwolves are tied at one in their series, they're going back to Minnesota. I think even with uh now having stolen home field advantage, the Timberwolves will lose it to uh to the Spurs. And uh I'm gonna I mean, you know what? I hate Barcelona and I'm gonna switch to soccer, but I'm actually not betting on Barcelona to beat Real Madrid. I'm betting on Real Madrid to lose to Barcelona because this team is such a train wreck right now. You have rumors of players fighting each other in the locker room. You have it's it's there's about to be a coup against um there's about to be a coup against the coach or against the front office. We don't know what's happening. Barcelona can clinch La Liga uh with the if they don't lose it a draw is enough. If if I don't remember if I but I think against their arch rival, they're they're wanna make they're gonna want to make a statement game, and I'm picking Barcelona to uh to beat Real Madrid, so $500 on each.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:07

Nice picks. All right. We'll go back to something we talked about earlier. I really don't even know what's going on in the English Champion League, but what the hell? We'll go with Sam Han Southampton to beat it's Middlesbrough they're playing in game one of their two-leg uh uh playoff on May 9th on the Saturday. And yes, I'm bringing back Cole Caulfield. He scored 50th for dad Sunday on Mother's Day, game three, first home game. He's gonna score game three, Mr. Sunday. They need it. They're gonna need it. Yes, he's gonna do it. He's gonna score one for mom on Mother's Day on Sunday.

D'var Torah- Parashat Behar-Bechukotai

SPEAKER_07 1:20:48

Alright, so uh this week we have a double parsha, Behar Bahukatai, um, which forces us to ask a question every athlete and really every person has to confront. What are you actually playing for? Because the Torah gives two very different frameworks. Uh in Bear, the Torah introduces Shmittah, letting the land rest, and Yovel, where everything resets, ownership dissolves, fields return, debts are forgiven. It's a radical idea. No matter how successful you are, you don't ultimately own the game. Then comes Bekuka Tai, which sounds like the opposite. Follow the covenant and you're rewarded. Ignore it and things fall apart. It almost feels like a scoreboard. Do the right things, you win, do the wrong things, you lose. In sports, it's easy to reduce everything to the scoreboard. Did we win? Did we lose? Uh, stats, the standings, that's what defines success. Think of someone like LeBron James. Early in his career, the conversation around him was dominated by one thing championships. It didn't matter how great his individual performance was. If he didn't win titles, people saw it as a failure. But over time, the conversation evolved. People began to appreciate his longevity, his leadership, his impact on and off the court. In other words, the game got bigger than just the scoreboard. Behar tells us something similar. You can build, grow, succeed, but every seven years, you stop. The land rests, and in the Jubilee year, everything resets. Why? Because it reminds us you are not the owner, you are a participant. In sports terms, you don't control everything, you don't own the outcome, you show up, you play hard, but the game is bigger than yourself. Then Bahukatai comes in and says, Your choices have consequences. This isn't about a simplistic reward system, it's about alignment. When a team practices with discipline, plays unselfishly, sticks, sticks to a system, winning tends to follow. When it doesn't, things break down. The Torah is saying the same thing about life. The scoreboard reflects something deeper about how you're living. So which is it? Does the scoreboard matter or not? Behar says, don't get obsessed with outcomes. You're not in control of everything. Mehu Katai says your actions matter deeply. There are real consequences. The balance is this: play with everything you have, but don't confuse the result with your identity. Great athletes learn this eventually. They compete fiercely, they care about winning, but they also understand one game doesn't define them, one season doesn't define them, and the game itself is bigger than any single player. That's the underlying message of Behar Behukatai. Live with discipline, act with integrity, care about the outcome, but don't let it own you. Because in the end, the goal isn't just to win, it's to play the right kind of game. Thank you so much for joining us here on Mention with the Boys. Remember, please like, follow, and subscribe so that you are kept in the loop on our episodes, which will drop every other Friday. Stay tuned because we're gonna have to do a little bit of a uh a shakeup with uh Shavuot uh upon us. So uh follow our socials and we'll we'll let you know when the next uh episode is gonna be expected.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:46

Special Thursday drop. Maybe we'll see.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:49

Maybe uh keep the conversation going with us on Instagram, of course. Follow us at Mention with the Boys. Special thanks also to Cancer Gideon Zellermeyer for joining us uh on this episode. Hopefully we can have him back uh soon enough, maybe after a Canadian's uh Stanley Cup win. Uh but until the next tip offered to reportion on behalf of my palsy and Sarusha Matthew Cutler. I'm Jordan Stupler. Keep enjoying the playoffs.