June 7, 2025 • 31 mins
Ben Maller (produced by Danny G.) has a great Saturday podcast for you! Ben talks: National Days & brings in Niko, the man who made the 2025 Canadian Maller Meet & Greet possible in Vancouver! He tells his Maller story & also talks about being the parent of a soccer prodigy!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cutbooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the old Republic, a sol fastion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallard starts right now.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
In the air everywhere. The Fifth Hour with me, Ben
Mahler and a Danny g Radio production. He's putting this
thing together here as it is the Big Mallard travel
log as we look back at the weekend that was
last weekend, the Big Vancouver Meet and Greet. Had an
(00:49):
amazing weekend. Oh come, it was great. We had the
meet and greet on Thursday. Friday was just a futz
or round Vancouver day and eat as much poutine as
you possibly can and see the sites. Saturday more of that,
and we had a nice bonding dinner on Saturday night
(01:11):
and then flew back to do the show on Sunday.
It was a lot of fun. We'll get into more
details on that here on the Fifth Hour. Obviously, it
is also a celebration today. We love dope holidays. It
is National VCR Day, which is old technology, old technology.
(01:31):
If it hadn't been for Netflix, you'd still be using
your VCR. Unless that's not the case. Something else would
have come along eventually. And I did not know that
the VCR was originally invented in nineteen fifty. I remember
the VCR taking off in my childhood, and I recall
(01:53):
that being like in the nineteen eighties and then the nineties.
It was like a big deal. Blockbuster Video was the
King and all that stuff, and it was really like
the mid eighties. It was a game changing experience. But
I fell down a rabbit hole because why not. And
the VCR was actually invented in nineteen fifty three. The
(02:16):
first device was created by nor Kazu Salwazaki in nineteen
fifty three. It did not go to market until nineteen
fifty six. In nineteen seventy it started being tossed into
people's homes and there was this big battle, a tech
(02:38):
battle in the VCR, the VHS tape versus the Beta Max,
and they went back and forth and all that stuff,
and VHS came out on top and they had ninety
percent of the VCR market. It was head to head.
It was two different formats, could have gone either way.
(02:58):
You had Sony Beta MAC and VHS by JBC, and
VHS was the clear winner. And I recall my dad
passed away a couple of years ago. We were going
through all this stuff. My mom had left everything, and
of course my Dad's like, I'm not touching anything. Yeah,
you kids will take care of it when I'm gone.
So we had to go through all stuff. We had
(03:19):
boxes of VHS tapes. My mom bought like every Disney movie.
She loved Disney movies and all this stuff that were
on VHS tapes. And so we didn't have a VCR.
So it really didn't do much good. But today's National
VCR Day and the last VCR. Here's another fun fact
(03:40):
for you, because we're all about fun facts on the
fifth hour. We lived for the fun facts. The last
VCR was produced nine years ago in twenty sixteen, twenty sixteen.
And a bonus fun fact, this is for Alf the
Alien o Pinter the tops I'm selling VHS movie of
(04:01):
all time. You know what it was, Yeah, The Lion
King sold thirty five million copies. Thirty five million copies.
So the VCRs are still sold today on eBay, but
they're just not being produced, but they're still sold on eBay.
I think the average price if you want to buy
(04:23):
a VCR is like twenty bucks. That's the word on
the streets. So if you want to get one, you
can knock yourself out. Now. Is there going to be
a renaissance? There's been a bit of a renaissance in
the music world recently where people are all gung ho
because of records and they play the old school records.
The record player has been a big, a big thing
(04:46):
in recent years. And there was a documentary also speaking
of old tech on typewriters, and there's a cult group
of people that collect typewriters. And Tom Hanks, the actor,
I guess he's old, you know Tom Hanks, but he's
one of those people that was featured in the documentary
that collects typewriters. That's his thing. What about regular cassette tapes?
(05:08):
When I got into radio, we had all my air
checks on cassette tapes. Is there a group that is
obsessed with the cassette tape? Probably not, Probably not right,
Probably does not exist. It is also National Chocolate ice
Cream Day today, which is another bull crap holiday. It
is a time, though, to mention that ice cream was
(05:31):
invented ice cream, ice cream. We all scream for ice
cream five hundred BC, and we can thank the kind
people of the Persian Empire who made ice cream by
pouring a concentrate of grape juice over snow. The original
ice cream was just snow. So the snow cone is
(05:51):
the most pure form of ice cream. Now chocolate, and
I'm not a big chocolate ice cream person. I'm not, Oh,
what's wrong with you? I'm just not. I like what
I like and that's it.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
So.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
January of sixteen ninety two. January of sixteen ninety two.
Because of the precedent of frozen drinks, early ice cream
flavors that were popular beverages, including chocolate. It was a
chocolate beverage, and then sixteen ninety two frozen chocolate. The
(06:26):
first frozen chocolate recipe was published in a book, The
Modern Steward, but it was in nineteen thirty four the
first chocolate covered ice cream, the Eskimo Pie. You can't
say that that's offensive, Okay, I said it. I said that.
It's a podcast. Eskimo pie, the first chocolate covered ice
cream in nineteen thirty four, and I'm pretty sure that
(06:49):
got canceled when like Antrmiama Pancakes went away and all
that stuff disappeared back in twenty twenty so or twenty
twenty one, right around that time. So anyway, National Chocolate
ice Cream Day, I will not be celebrating today. Unfortunately,
it's also Alan Iverson's birthday, one of the all time
(07:09):
great rants in the history of the show. I'm supposed
to be the franchise player. And we in here we
talking about practice, not a game. Not a game. We
in here talking about practice. You know that whole thing.
All right, let's get back to it today. Being the
look back at the weekend that was in Vancouver, a
(07:30):
number of people reached out to me v emails. Some
of you guys who did say you were going to
show up did not show up, by the way, and
I am aware of that. I knew that was going
to happen. I knew it. I knew it. Anyway, I'm
not upset. I'm very happy the people that made it.
We had a good eclectic group of listeners from Canada
that showed up. The Number one, the number one question
(07:50):
that I have been asked is how the f did
that happen? How did you end up bringing the show
and everyone from the show going to Vancouver. People's minds
were blown. I had people coming up to me and saying,
I never thought I'd ever meet you. This is crazy,
this is like the greatest thing. It was very kind,
good for my ego. Well. The reason that we were
(08:11):
in Vancouver, the driving force, the hostess with the mostest
who had the most Canadian hospitality, and just a sweet
soul who listens to this podcast is a fan of
what we do, and he wanted us to come to
his fine city. A fine Canadian lad. His name is Nico,
and he now joins us here on the Fifth Hour podcast.
(08:33):
He is a Vancouver right. I don't even know if
the thing, but he lives in Vancouver and he reached
out to us a while back, and at first I thought, wow,
this is probably not legit. That's my knee jerk reaction.
But it turned out to be totally legit. It was
like better than I ever imagined. It was the most
amazing weekend I've had in a long time, and it
was all made possible by our friend Nico. Who is
(08:54):
a listener and I consider now a friend of mine
a friend of the show obviously, and so so, Nico,
you made a lot of people very happy that got
to go to the event and it was just a fun,
fun time at the Mallor meet and greet, the first
ever Canadian Mallard meet and greet there in Vancouver. So
we'll start with this. What inspired you to make this
(09:15):
Vancouver meet and greet happen? Nico?
Speaker 4 (09:18):
Well, then I can honestly tell you that it was
probably just a once in a lifetime opportunity. I don't
foresee you sort of coming back to Canada, and I
definitely knew you had a huge following.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Up here, so I wanted to make sure it happened.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, it was great. No, No, I have only I
told you I'd only been to Canada for like a
couple hours, maybe even not that much. I was in
Niagara Falls and I crossed over and this was like
back in the days, Nico, where you just showed your
driver's license. You didn't, you know, it was long ago,
and so I just I walked over and it was
like the same stuff, and then that was it. But
(09:55):
I actually have wanted to visit parts of Canada and
I just have never never gotten around to it and
all that stuff. And the other thing which I thought
was interesting here is that years ago, when I started
in radio, these consultants would come in they say, well,
you know, you got this many people listening, and you
know most you do talk radio, and most people they
(10:17):
kind of eaves drop in and they don't they don't
really interact. And so this is back when people were
using fax machines and stuff but to send the facts
there or whatever. And they said, like, it's like less
than two percent or less than one percent of people
that are listening will ever interact with the show. And
even in the age of social media where it's very
(10:37):
easy with all the different platforms to interact, it really
hasn't changed all that much. It's still about the same.
It's still about him. And I bring that up because
I think you are a perfect example. Up until a
couple of weeks back, or maybe a month or two ago,
you would not really interact, Is that correct, Nico, Like,
(10:58):
I don't think you've called the show as far as
I know, and you haven't really interacted. So this is
this is something that is in line with that Is
that accurate.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
That's one hundred percent accurate.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
YEP.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
That is definitely a telling sign.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
And I listen on the podcast and obviously your weekday
show and your Fifth Hour as well.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Here in Canada.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Unfortunately we don't get your NBC syndicated show, which we
are all hoping that we'll get renewed for season three
as well.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yes, fingers crossed on that fingers. I'm actually I just
had a conversation this week with one of the big
muckety MUCKs over there, and they're like, well, we're still
in the process of putting all that together and all
that stuff. So I was going to ask you because
when we did the meet and greet, there were several
fans and they were like, hey, you know, we listened
(11:48):
on the iHeart app or the podcast or whatever because
we used to be on in Vancouver and then the
station I guess went out of business that we were
on back in the day. Did you first hear the
show on the radio and then you kind of whished
over how did it? How did that work?
Speaker 4 (12:03):
No, just I've always been a podcast listener for you,
so all the way, you know, with Roberto obviously doing
the drops and just following it from there, I just
fell in love with your show. I think that just
everything you hit on is great. And I think the
way Coop and you bust balls against each other for
(12:24):
the Clippers and the Lakers, I love that. And obviously
your your die harders. You're p ones with Jed who
Fled and Blind Scott. I love Blind Scott's stories. They
intrigue me, They make me think, can that actually be real?
And then Real Talk, who doesn't really call anymore, but
when he does on the podcast, you can hear his
(12:46):
uncensored version, and I think that is just absolutely amazing.
Back up, back up up.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, Real Talk left for four years, he came back
for like how long he was back, maybe a couple months,
and then he's vanished again. However, though, Nico, I still
get I still get people that will send me emails saying, hey,
I heard Real Talk. You know, he lives in the
New York area and he'll call some other show late
at night or whatever, and so there's there's that. And
(13:17):
so when you first started hearing the podcast was a
blind Scott's been calling the show forever. I can't get
rid of blind so well, I do get rid of
blind Scott. I should send you, Nico, some of the
emails that blind Scott sends me when he every once
in a while something will go wrong and he will
send me the most vile emails and it'll be one
after another for like literally a day or two, and
(13:38):
then after that it's like a quick apology and it's
like nothing happened. It's it's fascinating, it's absolutely fascinating. And
also I wanted to mention some of the misconceptions I
had about your fine city, Nico, as you live there
in Vancouver, and you actually brought this up. And then
I went to a store after we had this conversation
(14:00):
at the meet and greet the US either that or
the dinner. But everyone in Canada had milk that was
bagged milk, and I had always heard that, and so
I went to one of your fine grocery stores near
in Vancouver, and I did not maybe I missed it,
but I did not see any bag milk. I guess
I missed that, Aisle Nico, So that that is nonsense?
(14:23):
Is that correct? And you confirm, as a proud member
of the Vancouver community there and a proud Canadian, not
everyone has bag milk. In fact, most people don't have
bag milk. Is that accurate?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
That is one hundred percent accurate.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
And bag milk is in the residential side, is not
on in the business side within restaurants. Yeah, absolutely there
is an abundance of bag milk, but from the residential
side for normal consumers, no, bag milk does not exist
in normal grocery stores.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yes, and would be I think we can all agree,
very inconvenient for the day to day life, right, if
you have a bag of milk, it's it just would be. Now,
I guess if you're in a restaurant, obviously it's different.
But if you're living your day to day life, probably
not that great. One of the other things, uh nico
is that and this was this was something that came
up with the meet and greet. And everyone in Canada
(15:14):
loves hockey. It's a religion and that's it. And you
have to love hockey if you're Canadian. Like, there were
a bunch of guys that were at the meet and
greet that like, they like hockey, but it's like they're
basketball fans or they like football, whether it's the Canadian
Football League or the NFL. So what is the real story,
boots on the ground, Nico, there is it. You have
(15:36):
to be a hockey fan in Canada, Like, what's your
experience with that, Ben.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
So, Hockey is still the number one sport in Canada,
but it's definitely not a full following. Every single Canadian
you mean, is not going to be a hockey fan.
And for me myself, my number one sport is not
hockey as well. You know Vancouver obviously back in the
day we had the Grizzlies, which we've lost.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
But there's a lot.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Of Canadians that follow the NFL like a religion, as
do most Americans. So we do have the CFL up here,
which is a version of the NFL. It is a
great product, but nowhere close to being on an NFL version.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I wonder if these CFL, I I know they've fetched
around it. They remember they put teams in America years ago.
They tried to yes, and it didn't really didn't really
connect like they could put a partnership together. The NFL's
never had a like a real minor league, and I
don't know, I don't know if the Canadian football they
would even want to be that. I could be like,
(16:41):
we're our own entity. We have our own history and
all that stuff. But if they could form some kind
of partnership, I think that would be perfect. And maybe
they did in the past, and I don't know, maybe
I'm just bringing something up that happened. Do you think
that would ever fly though? If the team in your
area in British Columbia that my favorite team, as you know, Nico,
I always mentioned the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, if they were
(17:03):
like with the Green Bay Packers or you're like, you're
a cowboy fan, right, Nico. You mentioned you're a cowboy
like a partner with these teams, Like, wouldn't that make
sense for everyone involved? I think it would. What do
you think?
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Yeah, you know, I can definitely tell you that there
was talk about this, and I can't remember how long
ago it was, but our CFL commissioner at that time
had some discussions about this, and the bottom line is
the CFL is only three downs.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
NFL is four downs.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
CFL has a bigger football, They have shorter fields than
the NFL, and the field goal posts are in to
the end zone, they're not at the back end. So
CFL didn't want to change any of that in order
to adapt to the NFL. There had to be a
lot of changes and CFL didn't want to lose their identity.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
So I think those talks had sacked and I don't
foresee it. I think it would be a great idea, But.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Then it goes back to you had discussed this recently
on your podcast as well. It is a very different
tax bracket up here, and most Americans they don't I'll
tick the raptors. They don't view the raptors of coming
up here. We were lucky to get Kawhi Leonard obviously
with what with a trade, but he didn't stick around.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
He didn't want to.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
He wants to go back to his hometown for his
kids in La Obviously lucky for the Clippers. But you know,
most Americans when it comes coming out of college, I
don't foresee them wanting to come up to Canada to
play any type of professional sport.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah. Well, they do get paid like in American money though, right,
and some of the guys have loved it, especially like
in baseball and playing for the Blue Jays back you know,
years ago. Man have been thirty years when they were really, really,
really good back back in the day. Some of the
other stuff here at Nico just you know, rapid fire here.
I did not realize. I know, in Quebec you have
(19:07):
to know French. In that whole thing. I did not realize.
Even in Vancouver, like taking the plane up to visit
your fine city and all the announcements on the plane
were also in English and French. And then also there's
a lot of just day to day stuff like when
you're in school. I assume you have to learn. If
you're going to school in Canada, you have to learn
both language. You have to be bilingual. Is that accurate?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
That is correct?
Speaker 4 (19:30):
So when you're going through schooling kindergarten through grade eight,
your mandatory is French. And once you get into high
school you can go off to like German or Spanish
or anything like that. But all we have to grade
eight you're learning French. In order in Canada, if you
want any type of government job or to become a
(19:50):
police officer, you have to know French.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah, I would not be I would not be able
to do that. I barely know English, Nico. I don't.
I mean, that's you know, I would be in trouble.
Another thing about this is something I had no idea
about Stanley Park amazing. This is an absolute treasure in Vancouver.
And I granted I didn't know much about your fine city,
(20:17):
but this park was just amazing. It's literally this forest
surrounded by water, and you got this amazing view on
one side of the skyline, which is a very impressive.
I love the city skyline and I love big trees,
(20:37):
which is an odd juxtaposition because I do. I love
going to. One of my favorite places to go is
the giant forest in Sequoia here in California, and it's,
you know, it's two thousand year old trees and all
that stuff, but I love being it out there and
then also being in the city and you could stand
in this giant forest at Stanley Park and it's better
(20:59):
than Central Park in Manhattan, which me know, my brother
lives in New York and I go back there every
couple of years, and it's like, me know, everyone in
New York brags about Central Park and how amazing it
is and all this stuff. It's like, No, Stanley Park
is just great. How often are you able to go?
I know you a little bit outside the city, Nico,
but are you able to get over there and enjoy it?
Because You've got the city on one side, this beautiful skyline,
(21:22):
and then the other side you've got like a nice
body of watter. There's a couple of bridges there. It's
just perfect the way they did that. It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah, Stanley Park is absolutely, absolutely stunning.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
You get to walk the sea wall, and that seawall
basically goes on forever, and it is on a beautiful day.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It's a great walk.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
It is something that Vancouver doesn't necessarily promote enough. But
you know, when people come there, they are stunned, they're
amazed by just how beautiful it actually is. And you're
absolutely right, the skyline, there's nothing like that within with Canada.
I know, the other epicenter is sort of Toronto, but
(22:04):
the Vancouver is on its own.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
It's it's absolutely beautiful there.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yeah, it is. It's it's amazing, and I believe I'm
correct on this. I was wandering through, futzing around Stanley
Park and I came across the statue of Lord Stanley,
which I'm ninety nine percent that's the same like the
Stanley Cup, right, the same, dude, is It's the same deal, right,
That's wild. That's crazy to me. Yeah, yeah, Also, you've
(22:29):
got another interesting story a Nico here, and you were
telling me about it when we got together. There you
have your son is not just a soccer player. He
seems like a world class soccer prodigy guy who is
working his way up the ranks here, and you were
telling me a little bit about that. And I think
it's fascinating how this works because I didn't know a
(22:49):
lot about it. You were kind of explaining some of it.
But what's it been like for you to navigate your
your son who's like you're start of playing, Like, is
it semi profess? What what we were able to go
to one of your your son's games? What is it
like semi pro or minor leagues? I'm not even sure
what it was, but it was. It was very intense.
(23:10):
It ain't in a shootout, I know that. So kind
of explain, like, what's that been like for you?
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yeah, you know, there's been lots of prows and tribulations
within it. Obviously soccer, Like we were sort of just
touching bas Soccer is not even probably the top three
sports within Canada right now. Obviously you have your other
sports that dominate Canada, including baseball, even though it's just
(23:36):
the Toronto Blue Jays within Canada, but soccer has been
something where my son, it's been his passion sort of
since day one. We've put him in lots of other
sports when he was really young, and he just excelled
within within soccer and he's been going through it. He's
had great coaches from the Wolf Soccer Academy and the
(23:59):
Areas Ball Academy and he just keeps going. He is
on his way to Sweden in next month for the
Gothia Cup, which is another huge tournament. He just came
back from Spain from this MIC tournament. He's been doing great.
He had a contract presented to him out in Europe
(24:21):
and we're trying to see what other avenues are available
as well.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
It's just been tremendous.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
That's great. And your son's a It plays on defense, right,
he's a shutdown. You know, I'm not the big soccer guy, Nico,
but your son is a very good defense man. I
was watching as you were mentioning that he's so good.
Often teams will try to even avoid where he's at
right because he's been so effective at that.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Yeah, you know, he plays right back, and what I've
been telling him is obviously it's not in his generation,
but I've been saying that he's sort of the Durrell
Revis Rivis Island. You know, when Revis was at the
top of his game, quarterbacks wouldn't they throw that ball
close to his area?
Speaker 3 (25:10):
So and my son's sort of been the same.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Some teams do challenge it, and you know, he's just
been amazing his speed, his field awareness, and just the
overall abilities that he's encompassed throughout the many many years.
And it's just been absolutely something that we are so
proud of him for.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
That's great. I was telling you the story at Fox
Sports Radio years ago one of our talk show hosts,
the morning Guy, Mark Patrick, who did the show at Indianapolis,
and Mark was a casual friend of mine. I did
the show prior to him, and we struck up a
friendship and Mark would send me emails about his son,
and you know, he was in high school and then
(25:53):
he went to college for a few years and he
had been drafted a baseball player, been drafted in Major
League Baseball and then and we were kind of going
back and forth for a while and then his kid
ended up like in the Major League. I was like, whoa,
this is like wild. It was a closer for the
Washington Nationals to get a kid named Drew Storren who
played in the major leagues for a couple of years,
(26:13):
and it was really it was a cool thing. And I,
as you know, I don't have the soccer geen, but
I am going to follow your son's journey. And you
also mentioned that as a parent of a kid who's
really good at soccer, Like I know, in the globe,
soccer is the king, and we do very well if
we just talked more soccer on the show, I guess,
(26:35):
But on our show it's very very popular globally, and
there's a whole like I don't know, how do I
describe it, Like a shady, dark alley element to it, right,
if you're a top soccer player, Like, how does it
work behind the scenes. Now, you said your son was
offered a professional contract in Europe, so you've got that,
But there's also a lot of I don't know, how
(26:58):
do I describe it here? That like a dark website thing,
I guess is the way to describe it. But there's
a lot going on behind the scenes to move people around, right,
there's a lot of interesting things. Would that be correct? Niko,
How would you describe it?
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Yeah, you know, as a sportsperson myself and watching college
players in any form, when they're coming up, they're going
to have lots of different agents, and you fully know
that agents can take full advantage of the player they represent.
(27:31):
And I believe Shaquille o'mo had that incident happen to
him when he was coming up, and there's been lots
of players and you have to be very cautious. And
within soccer two. Canada is a little bit different because
outside of Canada, I can tell you Europe does not
really seek Canadian soccer as something where they can pick
(27:54):
players from. So when you go off to Europe, you
really have to have some type of skills and talent
or have a very strong learning ability to pick it
up quite fast in order to wow those European coaches
in order for them to see you as an asset.
And that is one of the biggest things. You do
(28:18):
have to be very cautious within every sport. Within soccer,
it's it is a lot tougher because agents within soccer
they like you when you're up. When you're down, they
won't give you a second look.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yeah, I had told you I had an agent in
my you know, obviously broadcasting much different when you're a
gas bag as opposed to an athlete. But I had
an agent and it was a not a good, not
a good experience. The agent kind of ghosted me. I've
been ghosted by women, but not normally, you know, an agent.
I didn't think that would that would happen. And I'm
(28:53):
sure someone's listening, like, well, what's the kid's name? You've
got to say, say the name. I want to fight out.
So if you want, it's up to unique of you want,
you know, promote your kid. Can people follow kind of
the journey? I know he's he's still a couple of
years away. I guess I'm not sure exactly the timeline
on this, but he is in the queue. He's in
the developmental states. As you said, he's traveling the globe
from Canada to to different countries to play in these
(29:16):
these European events. So if people want to follow your kid,
just gonna throw his name out. And how can people
keep track of this stuff?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah? Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (29:28):
You know so his primary social media content is on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
He does have a YouTube channel as well.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Uh, the Instagram handle is m dot militch o nine,
So M dot M I l I C zero nine
and you can follow his journey and uh, you know
he tags Ben in almost all his hosts and reels.
And definitely looking forward to, uh you see him go
(30:00):
further and let's continue this journey altogether.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, I know for sure, and I will. I'm excited.
I'm looking forward to something to keep an eye on.
And you know, these things have I've been you know,
it's not all about me, Nico, but I've been lucky
some of the people that have reached out over the
years have gone on and done amazing things, and I'm
so proud of everyone. We had a guy that used
to email me when he was going to to he
(30:26):
was in Florida going to like wrestling school, and he
became this world class professional wrestler with the WWE, and
it was like, it's just wild and this stuff happens
all the time. So I'm excited for your son and
you and and good luck, and I again want to
thank you, Nico. I had so many people come up
to me at the Vancouver meet and greet. They were
just I can't believe you're here. This is amazing. We
had people of all ages. You rolled out the red
(30:48):
carpet for me, the wife, the team on the show
and everything, and so it was just a wonderful weekend
and one of the great weekends I've had. And it's
all because of your your kindness and whatnot. So thank you, Nico.
I know you're actually on vacation right now. We dragged
you into this, so I'll let you get back to
the sun the beach. You're not even in your native
land there in Canada, so thank you for coming.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
I appreciate it, Nico, absolutely, and hopefully next year we
will see you in Toronto and maybe blind Scott will
actually makes the trip off.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I don't know if he's allowed in Canada, but we'll see,
all right. Thank you, Nico.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Okay, thank you. Have a great one. Thanks again, my
relation
Cutbooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the old Republic, a sol fastion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallard starts right now.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
In the air everywhere. The Fifth Hour with me, Ben
Mahler and a Danny g Radio production. He's putting this
thing together here as it is the Big Mallard travel
log as we look back at the weekend that was
last weekend, the Big Vancouver Meet and Greet. Had an
(00:49):
amazing weekend. Oh come, it was great. We had the
meet and greet on Thursday. Friday was just a futz
or round Vancouver day and eat as much poutine as
you possibly can and see the sites. Saturday more of that,
and we had a nice bonding dinner on Saturday night
(01:11):
and then flew back to do the show on Sunday.
It was a lot of fun. We'll get into more
details on that here on the Fifth Hour. Obviously, it
is also a celebration today. We love dope holidays. It
is National VCR Day, which is old technology, old technology.
(01:31):
If it hadn't been for Netflix, you'd still be using
your VCR. Unless that's not the case. Something else would
have come along eventually. And I did not know that
the VCR was originally invented in nineteen fifty. I remember
the VCR taking off in my childhood, and I recall
(01:53):
that being like in the nineteen eighties and then the nineties.
It was like a big deal. Blockbuster Video was the
King and all that stuff, and it was really like
the mid eighties. It was a game changing experience. But
I fell down a rabbit hole because why not. And
the VCR was actually invented in nineteen fifty three. The
(02:16):
first device was created by nor Kazu Salwazaki in nineteen
fifty three. It did not go to market until nineteen
fifty six. In nineteen seventy it started being tossed into
people's homes and there was this big battle, a tech
(02:38):
battle in the VCR, the VHS tape versus the Beta Max,
and they went back and forth and all that stuff,
and VHS came out on top and they had ninety
percent of the VCR market. It was head to head.
It was two different formats, could have gone either way.
(02:58):
You had Sony Beta MAC and VHS by JBC, and
VHS was the clear winner. And I recall my dad
passed away a couple of years ago. We were going
through all this stuff. My mom had left everything, and
of course my Dad's like, I'm not touching anything. Yeah,
you kids will take care of it when I'm gone.
So we had to go through all stuff. We had
(03:19):
boxes of VHS tapes. My mom bought like every Disney movie.
She loved Disney movies and all this stuff that were
on VHS tapes. And so we didn't have a VCR.
So it really didn't do much good. But today's National
VCR Day and the last VCR. Here's another fun fact
(03:40):
for you, because we're all about fun facts on the
fifth hour. We lived for the fun facts. The last
VCR was produced nine years ago in twenty sixteen, twenty sixteen.
And a bonus fun fact, this is for Alf the
Alien o Pinter the tops I'm selling VHS movie of
(04:01):
all time. You know what it was, Yeah, The Lion
King sold thirty five million copies. Thirty five million copies.
So the VCRs are still sold today on eBay, but
they're just not being produced, but they're still sold on eBay.
I think the average price if you want to buy
(04:23):
a VCR is like twenty bucks. That's the word on
the streets. So if you want to get one, you
can knock yourself out. Now. Is there going to be
a renaissance? There's been a bit of a renaissance in
the music world recently where people are all gung ho
because of records and they play the old school records.
The record player has been a big, a big thing
(04:46):
in recent years. And there was a documentary also speaking
of old tech on typewriters, and there's a cult group
of people that collect typewriters. And Tom Hanks, the actor,
I guess he's old, you know Tom Hanks, but he's
one of those people that was featured in the documentary
that collects typewriters. That's his thing. What about regular cassette tapes?
(05:08):
When I got into radio, we had all my air
checks on cassette tapes. Is there a group that is
obsessed with the cassette tape? Probably not, Probably not right,
Probably does not exist. It is also National Chocolate ice
Cream Day today, which is another bull crap holiday. It
is a time, though, to mention that ice cream was
(05:31):
invented ice cream, ice cream. We all scream for ice
cream five hundred BC, and we can thank the kind
people of the Persian Empire who made ice cream by
pouring a concentrate of grape juice over snow. The original
ice cream was just snow. So the snow cone is
(05:51):
the most pure form of ice cream. Now chocolate, and
I'm not a big chocolate ice cream person. I'm not, Oh,
what's wrong with you? I'm just not. I like what
I like and that's it.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
So.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
January of sixteen ninety two. January of sixteen ninety two.
Because of the precedent of frozen drinks, early ice cream
flavors that were popular beverages, including chocolate. It was a
chocolate beverage, and then sixteen ninety two frozen chocolate. The
(06:26):
first frozen chocolate recipe was published in a book, The
Modern Steward, but it was in nineteen thirty four the
first chocolate covered ice cream, the Eskimo Pie. You can't
say that that's offensive, Okay, I said it. I said that.
It's a podcast. Eskimo pie, the first chocolate covered ice
cream in nineteen thirty four, and I'm pretty sure that
(06:49):
got canceled when like Antrmiama Pancakes went away and all
that stuff disappeared back in twenty twenty so or twenty
twenty one, right around that time. So anyway, National Chocolate
ice Cream Day, I will not be celebrating today. Unfortunately,
it's also Alan Iverson's birthday, one of the all time
(07:09):
great rants in the history of the show. I'm supposed
to be the franchise player. And we in here we
talking about practice, not a game. Not a game. We
in here talking about practice. You know that whole thing.
All right, let's get back to it today. Being the
look back at the weekend that was in Vancouver, a
(07:30):
number of people reached out to me v emails. Some
of you guys who did say you were going to
show up did not show up, by the way, and
I am aware of that. I knew that was going
to happen. I knew it. I knew it. Anyway, I'm
not upset. I'm very happy the people that made it.
We had a good eclectic group of listeners from Canada
that showed up. The Number one, the number one question
(07:50):
that I have been asked is how the f did
that happen? How did you end up bringing the show
and everyone from the show going to Vancouver. People's minds
were blown. I had people coming up to me and saying,
I never thought I'd ever meet you. This is crazy,
this is like the greatest thing. It was very kind,
good for my ego. Well. The reason that we were
(08:11):
in Vancouver, the driving force, the hostess with the mostest
who had the most Canadian hospitality, and just a sweet
soul who listens to this podcast is a fan of
what we do, and he wanted us to come to
his fine city. A fine Canadian lad. His name is Nico,
and he now joins us here on the Fifth Hour podcast.
(08:33):
He is a Vancouver right. I don't even know if
the thing, but he lives in Vancouver and he reached
out to us a while back, and at first I thought, wow,
this is probably not legit. That's my knee jerk reaction.
But it turned out to be totally legit. It was
like better than I ever imagined. It was the most
amazing weekend I've had in a long time, and it
was all made possible by our friend Nico. Who is
(08:54):
a listener and I consider now a friend of mine
a friend of the show obviously, and so so, Nico,
you made a lot of people very happy that got
to go to the event and it was just a fun,
fun time at the Mallor meet and greet, the first
ever Canadian Mallard meet and greet there in Vancouver. So
we'll start with this. What inspired you to make this
(09:15):
Vancouver meet and greet happen? Nico?
Speaker 4 (09:18):
Well, then I can honestly tell you that it was
probably just a once in a lifetime opportunity. I don't
foresee you sort of coming back to Canada, and I
definitely knew you had a huge following.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Up here, so I wanted to make sure it happened.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, it was great. No, No, I have only I
told you I'd only been to Canada for like a
couple hours, maybe even not that much. I was in
Niagara Falls and I crossed over and this was like
back in the days, Nico, where you just showed your
driver's license. You didn't, you know, it was long ago,
and so I just I walked over and it was
like the same stuff, and then that was it. But
(09:55):
I actually have wanted to visit parts of Canada and
I just have never never gotten around to it and
all that stuff. And the other thing which I thought
was interesting here is that years ago, when I started
in radio, these consultants would come in they say, well,
you know, you got this many people listening, and you
know most you do talk radio, and most people they
(10:17):
kind of eaves drop in and they don't they don't
really interact. And so this is back when people were
using fax machines and stuff but to send the facts
there or whatever. And they said, like, it's like less
than two percent or less than one percent of people
that are listening will ever interact with the show. And
even in the age of social media where it's very
(10:37):
easy with all the different platforms to interact, it really
hasn't changed all that much. It's still about the same.
It's still about him. And I bring that up because
I think you are a perfect example. Up until a
couple of weeks back, or maybe a month or two ago,
you would not really interact, Is that correct, Nico, Like,
(10:58):
I don't think you've called the show as far as
I know, and you haven't really interacted. So this is
this is something that is in line with that Is
that accurate.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
That's one hundred percent accurate.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
YEP.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
That is definitely a telling sign.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
And I listen on the podcast and obviously your weekday
show and your Fifth Hour as well.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Here in Canada.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Unfortunately we don't get your NBC syndicated show, which we
are all hoping that we'll get renewed for season three
as well.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yes, fingers crossed on that fingers. I'm actually I just
had a conversation this week with one of the big
muckety MUCKs over there, and they're like, well, we're still
in the process of putting all that together and all
that stuff. So I was going to ask you because
when we did the meet and greet, there were several
fans and they were like, hey, you know, we listened
(11:48):
on the iHeart app or the podcast or whatever because
we used to be on in Vancouver and then the
station I guess went out of business that we were
on back in the day. Did you first hear the
show on the radio and then you kind of whished
over how did it? How did that work?
Speaker 4 (12:03):
No, just I've always been a podcast listener for you,
so all the way, you know, with Roberto obviously doing
the drops and just following it from there, I just
fell in love with your show. I think that just
everything you hit on is great. And I think the
way Coop and you bust balls against each other for
(12:24):
the Clippers and the Lakers, I love that. And obviously
your your die harders. You're p ones with Jed who
Fled and Blind Scott. I love Blind Scott's stories. They
intrigue me, They make me think, can that actually be real?
And then Real Talk, who doesn't really call anymore, but
when he does on the podcast, you can hear his
(12:46):
uncensored version, and I think that is just absolutely amazing.
Back up, back up up.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, Real Talk left for four years, he came back
for like how long he was back, maybe a couple months,
and then he's vanished again. However, though, Nico, I still
get I still get people that will send me emails saying, hey,
I heard Real Talk. You know, he lives in the
New York area and he'll call some other show late
at night or whatever, and so there's there's that. And
(13:17):
so when you first started hearing the podcast was a
blind Scott's been calling the show forever. I can't get
rid of blind so well, I do get rid of
blind Scott. I should send you, Nico, some of the
emails that blind Scott sends me when he every once
in a while something will go wrong and he will
send me the most vile emails and it'll be one
after another for like literally a day or two, and
(13:38):
then after that it's like a quick apology and it's
like nothing happened. It's it's fascinating, it's absolutely fascinating. And
also I wanted to mention some of the misconceptions I
had about your fine city, Nico, as you live there
in Vancouver, and you actually brought this up. And then
I went to a store after we had this conversation
(14:00):
at the meet and greet the US either that or
the dinner. But everyone in Canada had milk that was
bagged milk, and I had always heard that, and so
I went to one of your fine grocery stores near
in Vancouver, and I did not maybe I missed it,
but I did not see any bag milk. I guess
I missed that, Aisle Nico, So that that is nonsense?
(14:23):
Is that correct? And you confirm, as a proud member
of the Vancouver community there and a proud Canadian, not
everyone has bag milk. In fact, most people don't have
bag milk. Is that accurate?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
That is one hundred percent accurate.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
And bag milk is in the residential side, is not
on in the business side within restaurants. Yeah, absolutely there
is an abundance of bag milk, but from the residential
side for normal consumers, no, bag milk does not exist
in normal grocery stores.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yes, and would be I think we can all agree,
very inconvenient for the day to day life, right, if
you have a bag of milk, it's it just would be. Now,
I guess if you're in a restaurant, obviously it's different.
But if you're living your day to day life, probably
not that great. One of the other things, uh nico
is that and this was this was something that came
up with the meet and greet. And everyone in Canada
(15:14):
loves hockey. It's a religion and that's it. And you
have to love hockey if you're Canadian. Like, there were
a bunch of guys that were at the meet and
greet that like, they like hockey, but it's like they're
basketball fans or they like football, whether it's the Canadian
Football League or the NFL. So what is the real story,
boots on the ground, Nico, there is it. You have
(15:36):
to be a hockey fan in Canada, Like, what's your
experience with that, Ben.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
So, Hockey is still the number one sport in Canada,
but it's definitely not a full following. Every single Canadian
you mean, is not going to be a hockey fan.
And for me myself, my number one sport is not
hockey as well. You know Vancouver obviously back in the
day we had the Grizzlies, which we've lost.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
But there's a lot.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Of Canadians that follow the NFL like a religion, as
do most Americans. So we do have the CFL up here,
which is a version of the NFL. It is a
great product, but nowhere close to being on an NFL version.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I wonder if these CFL, I I know they've fetched
around it. They remember they put teams in America years ago.
They tried to yes, and it didn't really didn't really
connect like they could put a partnership together. The NFL's
never had a like a real minor league, and I
don't know, I don't know if the Canadian football they
would even want to be that. I could be like,
(16:41):
we're our own entity. We have our own history and
all that stuff. But if they could form some kind
of partnership, I think that would be perfect. And maybe
they did in the past, and I don't know, maybe
I'm just bringing something up that happened. Do you think
that would ever fly though? If the team in your
area in British Columbia that my favorite team, as you know, Nico,
I always mentioned the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, if they were
(17:03):
like with the Green Bay Packers or you're like, you're
a cowboy fan, right, Nico. You mentioned you're a cowboy
like a partner with these teams, Like, wouldn't that make
sense for everyone involved? I think it would. What do
you think?
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Yeah, you know, I can definitely tell you that there
was talk about this, and I can't remember how long
ago it was, but our CFL commissioner at that time
had some discussions about this, and the bottom line is
the CFL is only three downs.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
NFL is four downs.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
CFL has a bigger football, They have shorter fields than
the NFL, and the field goal posts are in to
the end zone, they're not at the back end. So
CFL didn't want to change any of that in order
to adapt to the NFL. There had to be a
lot of changes and CFL didn't want to lose their identity.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
So I think those talks had sacked and I don't
foresee it. I think it would be a great idea, But.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Then it goes back to you had discussed this recently
on your podcast as well. It is a very different
tax bracket up here, and most Americans they don't I'll
tick the raptors. They don't view the raptors of coming
up here. We were lucky to get Kawhi Leonard obviously
with what with a trade, but he didn't stick around.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
He didn't want to.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
He wants to go back to his hometown for his
kids in La Obviously lucky for the Clippers. But you know,
most Americans when it comes coming out of college, I
don't foresee them wanting to come up to Canada to
play any type of professional sport.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah. Well, they do get paid like in American money though, right,
and some of the guys have loved it, especially like
in baseball and playing for the Blue Jays back you know,
years ago. Man have been thirty years when they were really, really,
really good back back in the day. Some of the
other stuff here at Nico just you know, rapid fire here.
I did not realize. I know, in Quebec you have
(19:07):
to know French. In that whole thing. I did not realize.
Even in Vancouver, like taking the plane up to visit
your fine city and all the announcements on the plane
were also in English and French. And then also there's
a lot of just day to day stuff like when
you're in school. I assume you have to learn. If
you're going to school in Canada, you have to learn
both language. You have to be bilingual. Is that accurate?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
That is correct?
Speaker 4 (19:30):
So when you're going through schooling kindergarten through grade eight,
your mandatory is French. And once you get into high
school you can go off to like German or Spanish
or anything like that. But all we have to grade
eight you're learning French. In order in Canada, if you
want any type of government job or to become a
(19:50):
police officer, you have to know French.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah, I would not be I would not be able
to do that. I barely know English, Nico. I don't.
I mean, that's you know, I would be in trouble.
Another thing about this is something I had no idea
about Stanley Park amazing. This is an absolute treasure in Vancouver.
And I granted I didn't know much about your fine city,
(20:17):
but this park was just amazing. It's literally this forest
surrounded by water, and you got this amazing view on
one side of the skyline, which is a very impressive.
I love the city skyline and I love big trees,
(20:37):
which is an odd juxtaposition because I do. I love
going to. One of my favorite places to go is
the giant forest in Sequoia here in California, and it's,
you know, it's two thousand year old trees and all
that stuff, but I love being it out there and
then also being in the city and you could stand
in this giant forest at Stanley Park and it's better
(20:59):
than Central Park in Manhattan, which me know, my brother
lives in New York and I go back there every
couple of years, and it's like, me know, everyone in
New York brags about Central Park and how amazing it
is and all this stuff. It's like, No, Stanley Park
is just great. How often are you able to go?
I know you a little bit outside the city, Nico,
but are you able to get over there and enjoy it?
Because You've got the city on one side, this beautiful skyline,
(21:22):
and then the other side you've got like a nice
body of watter. There's a couple of bridges there. It's
just perfect the way they did that. It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah, Stanley Park is absolutely, absolutely stunning.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
You get to walk the sea wall, and that seawall
basically goes on forever, and it is on a beautiful day.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It's a great walk.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
It is something that Vancouver doesn't necessarily promote enough. But
you know, when people come there, they are stunned, they're
amazed by just how beautiful it actually is. And you're
absolutely right, the skyline, there's nothing like that within with Canada.
I know, the other epicenter is sort of Toronto, but
(22:04):
the Vancouver is on its own.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
It's it's absolutely beautiful there.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yeah, it is. It's it's amazing, and I believe I'm
correct on this. I was wandering through, futzing around Stanley
Park and I came across the statue of Lord Stanley,
which I'm ninety nine percent that's the same like the
Stanley Cup, right, the same, dude, is It's the same deal, right,
That's wild. That's crazy to me. Yeah, yeah, Also, you've
(22:29):
got another interesting story a Nico here, and you were
telling me about it when we got together. There you
have your son is not just a soccer player. He
seems like a world class soccer prodigy guy who is
working his way up the ranks here, and you were
telling me a little bit about that. And I think
it's fascinating how this works because I didn't know a
(22:49):
lot about it. You were kind of explaining some of it.
But what's it been like for you to navigate your
your son who's like you're start of playing, Like, is
it semi profess? What what we were able to go
to one of your your son's games? What is it
like semi pro or minor leagues? I'm not even sure
what it was, but it was. It was very intense.
(23:10):
It ain't in a shootout, I know that. So kind
of explain, like, what's that been like for you?
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yeah, you know, there's been lots of prows and tribulations
within it. Obviously soccer, Like we were sort of just
touching bas Soccer is not even probably the top three
sports within Canada right now. Obviously you have your other
sports that dominate Canada, including baseball, even though it's just
(23:36):
the Toronto Blue Jays within Canada, but soccer has been
something where my son, it's been his passion sort of
since day one. We've put him in lots of other
sports when he was really young, and he just excelled
within within soccer and he's been going through it. He's
had great coaches from the Wolf Soccer Academy and the
(23:59):
Areas Ball Academy and he just keeps going. He is
on his way to Sweden in next month for the
Gothia Cup, which is another huge tournament. He just came
back from Spain from this MIC tournament. He's been doing great.
He had a contract presented to him out in Europe
(24:21):
and we're trying to see what other avenues are available
as well.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
It's just been tremendous.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
That's great. And your son's a It plays on defense, right,
he's a shutdown. You know, I'm not the big soccer guy, Nico,
but your son is a very good defense man. I
was watching as you were mentioning that he's so good.
Often teams will try to even avoid where he's at
right because he's been so effective at that.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Yeah, you know, he plays right back, and what I've
been telling him is obviously it's not in his generation,
but I've been saying that he's sort of the Durrell
Revis Rivis Island. You know, when Revis was at the
top of his game, quarterbacks wouldn't they throw that ball
close to his area?
Speaker 3 (25:10):
So and my son's sort of been the same.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Some teams do challenge it, and you know, he's just
been amazing his speed, his field awareness, and just the
overall abilities that he's encompassed throughout the many many years.
And it's just been absolutely something that we are so
proud of him for.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
That's great. I was telling you the story at Fox
Sports Radio years ago one of our talk show hosts,
the morning Guy, Mark Patrick, who did the show at Indianapolis,
and Mark was a casual friend of mine. I did
the show prior to him, and we struck up a
friendship and Mark would send me emails about his son,
and you know, he was in high school and then
(25:53):
he went to college for a few years and he
had been drafted a baseball player, been drafted in Major
League Baseball and then and we were kind of going
back and forth for a while and then his kid
ended up like in the Major League. I was like, whoa,
this is like wild. It was a closer for the
Washington Nationals to get a kid named Drew Storren who
played in the major leagues for a couple of years,
(26:13):
and it was really it was a cool thing. And I,
as you know, I don't have the soccer geen, but
I am going to follow your son's journey. And you
also mentioned that as a parent of a kid who's
really good at soccer, Like I know, in the globe,
soccer is the king, and we do very well if
we just talked more soccer on the show, I guess,
(26:35):
But on our show it's very very popular globally, and
there's a whole like I don't know, how do I
describe it, Like a shady, dark alley element to it, right,
if you're a top soccer player, Like, how does it
work behind the scenes. Now, you said your son was
offered a professional contract in Europe, so you've got that,
But there's also a lot of I don't know, how
(26:58):
do I describe it here? That like a dark website thing,
I guess is the way to describe it. But there's
a lot going on behind the scenes to move people around, right,
there's a lot of interesting things. Would that be correct? Niko,
How would you describe it?
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Yeah, you know, as a sportsperson myself and watching college
players in any form, when they're coming up, they're going
to have lots of different agents, and you fully know
that agents can take full advantage of the player they represent.
(27:31):
And I believe Shaquille o'mo had that incident happen to
him when he was coming up, and there's been lots
of players and you have to be very cautious. And
within soccer two. Canada is a little bit different because
outside of Canada, I can tell you Europe does not
really seek Canadian soccer as something where they can pick
(27:54):
players from. So when you go off to Europe, you
really have to have some type of skills and talent
or have a very strong learning ability to pick it
up quite fast in order to wow those European coaches
in order for them to see you as an asset.
And that is one of the biggest things. You do
(28:18):
have to be very cautious within every sport. Within soccer,
it's it is a lot tougher because agents within soccer
they like you when you're up. When you're down, they
won't give you a second look.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yeah, I had told you I had an agent in
my you know, obviously broadcasting much different when you're a
gas bag as opposed to an athlete. But I had
an agent and it was a not a good, not
a good experience. The agent kind of ghosted me. I've
been ghosted by women, but not normally, you know, an agent.
I didn't think that would that would happen. And I'm
(28:53):
sure someone's listening, like, well, what's the kid's name? You've
got to say, say the name. I want to fight out.
So if you want, it's up to unique of you want,
you know, promote your kid. Can people follow kind of
the journey? I know he's he's still a couple of
years away. I guess I'm not sure exactly the timeline
on this, but he is in the queue. He's in
the developmental states. As you said, he's traveling the globe
from Canada to to different countries to play in these
(29:16):
these European events. So if people want to follow your kid,
just gonna throw his name out. And how can people
keep track of this stuff?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah? Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (29:28):
You know so his primary social media content is on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
He does have a YouTube channel as well.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
Uh, the Instagram handle is m dot militch o nine,
So M dot M I l I C zero nine
and you can follow his journey and uh, you know
he tags Ben in almost all his hosts and reels.
And definitely looking forward to, uh you see him go
(30:00):
further and let's continue this journey altogether.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, I know for sure, and I will. I'm excited.
I'm looking forward to something to keep an eye on.
And you know, these things have I've been you know,
it's not all about me, Nico, but I've been lucky
some of the people that have reached out over the
years have gone on and done amazing things, and I'm
so proud of everyone. We had a guy that used
to email me when he was going to to he
(30:26):
was in Florida going to like wrestling school, and he
became this world class professional wrestler with the WWE, and
it was like, it's just wild and this stuff happens
all the time. So I'm excited for your son and
you and and good luck, and I again want to
thank you, Nico. I had so many people come up
to me at the Vancouver meet and greet. They were
just I can't believe you're here. This is amazing. We
had people of all ages. You rolled out the red
(30:48):
carpet for me, the wife, the team on the show
and everything, and so it was just a wonderful weekend
and one of the great weekends I've had. And it's
all because of your your kindness and whatnot. So thank you, Nico.
I know you're actually on vacation right now. We dragged
you into this, so I'll let you get back to
the sun the beach. You're not even in your native
land there in Canada, so thank you for coming.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
I appreciate it, Nico, absolutely, and hopefully next year we
will see you in Toronto and maybe blind Scott will
actually makes the trip off.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I don't know if he's allowed in Canada, but we'll see,
all right. Thank you, Nico.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Okay, thank you. Have a great one. Thanks again, my
relation
Host
Ben Maller
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