August 19, 2025 • 44 mins
Sports sports sports...is your whole life about sports/ This week it is! KG is back and there was a lot to cover.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:10):
I look around the studio and Isee a lot of artificial
intelligence.
Good for you.
Welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world.
With the dose of the Minnesotakindness that it desperately
(00:30):
needs.
We got a special guest on theline today, Kevin Gorg, the King
of All podcast.
Me.
You know how Howard Stern wasthe king of all media?
I think that in the Minnesotapodcast landscape, you've gotta
be the King of Minnesotapodcast, welcome, you know, to
(00:51):
the Kindness Chronicles.
It's great to be back.
Uh, missed you here for a coupleof weeks.
Our schedules haven't meshedwell.
Um, this is one of three and,um, you're a part of the other
two as well with, uh, being thetitle sponsor for the the Wooden
Sticks Project.
And now with Randy Shaver, theFantasy Huddle, uh, Minnesota
(01:11):
Charities front and center.
With both those endeavors.
But, uh, this is the one podcastwhere I just get to kind of
chill and converse.
I don't have to build placardsand do research and track down
get, like this is the podcastwhere I can just be me.
Yeah.
And, and I love doing it withyou, Johnny.
So the pay is consistent withthe preparation.
(01:31):
Nothing, which is, this is gonnabe a show about, about nothing.
Nothing.
Perfect.
So first of all, I have to, uh,check it you, so you have a new
podcast with Randy Shaver.
It's a fantasy football podcast.
It is the fantasy huddle.
Um, we clever, we we go liveevery Wednesday morning, um, and
(01:54):
we're gonna have updates duringthe regular season, like little
10 minute Snipbits on Friday.
They update.
Weather and injuries and ourintern is none of than Will
Anderson from Maple Grove.
A guy you know quite well.
Yeah.
Crossover will.
That is big news.
Yep.
Well, that's fantastic.
He, you know, he could use aninternship, you know, it's good
(02:14):
for him.
Plus he loves his fantasyfootball, just like I, oh yeah.
So let's talk about fantasyfootball for a second, since we
got No, uh, Steve Brown in the,uh, in the studio.
Our intern, Jeff, we gave himthe night off and Michael
Dempsey, uh.
He is offered to be in with us,but uh, we've asked him to stay
home.
No, I'm just kidding.
(02:35):
Um, no, we're, uh, we'rerecording at kind of an unusual
hour to accommodate our verybusy schedules, so this is
terrific.
So, um, I'm assuming you have aplacard made for your top, let's
say 10 picks.
Could we go through those?
Yeah.
I think a lot of people thatplay fantasy.
(02:59):
Especially in the last 10 years,how like even Chrissy's family
does, you know, a little$50family league and there are
little office pools popping up.
So rather than giving the 10best players in fantasy
football, I mean, everybodyknows that Jamar Chase wide
receiver, Cincinnati is thefirst player you take off the
board.
The running back in Atlanta isprobably the second player and
(03:21):
onward you go.
What I like to do when I haveconversations like this is try
to point people to players thatare maybe off the radar that you
could move up your boardsleepers, as we call'em.
Oh, in the fantasy world.
And I've got three, I've got,I've got a tight end, a running
back, and a receiver thateverybody needs to jump up and
pick.
And I'll start with this andyou're gonna love this guy.
(03:47):
Say that three times Fast is awide receiver for Tampa Bay.
Huh?
Tampa Bay, one of the bestpassing offenses in football led
by Baker Mayfield.
Two of their top three receiversare out right now with injuries.
And other than Godwin and Evan,is it Godwin?
Evans is there.
Okay.
Evans is there, but Godwin'sHurt and Jaylen McMillan now,
(04:09):
uh, we found out actually todayhe's out eight to 10 weeks, so
Oh, no.
Amika.
Buca is the guy they went andgot in the draft.
He's gonna blow up and he's aguy that if you're getting into
a little, you know, fantasy poolhere in the next couple of
weeks, move up in the draftboard to pick Buca of Tampa Bay.
Amika.
Buca.
(04:30):
He's the guy about it.
Irish guy.
Is he an Irish fellow?
Swedish.
Let's go with Swedish.
Okay.
The other guy that you need tofind is Trayvon Henderson in,
uh, in New England.
Now you're gonna have to bepatient because he shares the
backfill with re Stevenson, butthat's only outta respect to the
(04:53):
veteran Stevenson.
This kid's electric, uh, he isblown up in the preseason, and I
know the word is getting out onHenderson, but for folks that
are.
You know, like a family draft ora league, you know that with
office buddies that maybe aren'thardcore fantasy footballers,
they probably don't watchpreseason football.
Uh, he's had a hundred yardkickoff return.
(05:13):
He's catching balls.
Drake may, their quarterback isa guy that looks like he's on a
trajectory to be a lot morerelevant in the fantasy world.
And Henderson is gonna be arookie that's gonna blow up, uh,
all kinds of fantasy boards atthe running back position.
And then my tight end is TylerWarren.
Of Indianapolis.
Just today the Colts announcedthat, uh, Danny Dimes, Danny
(05:37):
Jones is gonna be their startingquarterback.
He loves throwing the ball tothe tight end.
And this kid that they drafted,uh, in Indy, this Warren kid is
gonna be the primary receiverfor, uh, for Daniel Jones.
And the Colts are a team that'salways behind.
They give up a ton of points.
They play indoors and they scorea ton of points.
So those are my fantasysleepers.
(05:57):
And I, I, I've had three drafts.
I have four more drafts to go.
Oh my God.
The best time of year.
I, I Is it, so tell me like, isit, do, do you have financial,
investments in these and if so,how much?
A lot of these are smaller ones.
Like one of them is the familyone we do with, with Chrissy's
(06:18):
family for 50 bucks.
We did one at Talk North, uh, atthe podcast spot.
A little celebrity one with MarkRosen and La Neil and those
guys, 50 bucks.
Most of my leagues are a hundreddollars.
Like whether I play Guillotineor whether I play, uh, you know,
with a group of guys that, thatI do on the, on the Wild
traveling party, they're,they're a hundred dollars.
(06:39):
I know guys that play for muchbigger money.
I just figure if you're gonnaplay 5, 6, 7 leagues, which I
am, I don't need to go crazy onthe financial side.
By the way, Randy Shaver, whodoes that Fantasy Huddle podcast
with me, I always associated himwith high school football in
Minnesota that show iconic foryears on Channel 11 with all the
(06:59):
high school football highlights.
He's in 21 Fantasy Leagues.
Oh boy.
He, he's way beyond me and Idon't even know how you keep
your players.
Um.
You know, what I try to do is Itry to draft similar rosters and
I, I didn't tell you my ride ordie guy.
Every year I try to pick a guythat's, I have to try to get on
(07:21):
every team.
And so far, um, I'm three forthree.
His name is Chase Brown.
He's the running back inCincinnati.
Everybody's gonna try to goafter the receivers there, and I
get that.
But last year he was a, a top 12fantasy back and he shared the
backfield with Zach Moss and thesecond half of the year, this
kid was so good.
That he took over, and now ZachMoss has been jettison, so it's
(07:45):
just him.
Catches the ball, runs the ball.
I've got him on 15 to 20touchdowns.
Chase Brown is my ride or dieguy.
Every draft John I go into, Itry to figure out a place in the
draft where I can get to ChaseBrown.
So hopefully some of thelisteners that care about this
stuff.
We'll jump on the bandwagon withme.
We'll have some fun.
Well, and hopefully they're notpeople that are in the same
(08:06):
league as you, because theymight jump on it right before
you do and it'll wreck yourwhole, your whole program.
Oh, if I get smacked on ChaseBrown, I might be in the fetal
position.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Of the people in my drafts aregonna be, Hey, maybe they are
though.
You're right.
Especially, uh, in a couple ofleagues I just referenced, we
got a lot of people inChristie's family that listen to
(08:26):
this show.
And of course, uh.
I wanna be a former guest on theshow.
He tunes in once in a while too.
Of course.
Yes.
They, you have to.
Um, and the rea people might bewondering, why are we talking
about fantasy football on aKindness Chronicles podcast?
And I have something veryinteresting to share with you.
There was an article that waswritten not long ago about how
(08:47):
people are really usinggenerative AI at this point in
time.
This was back in March, 2025.
And they rank the top 100reasons people are using ai, and
sadly, the number one reason forit is companionship.
What?
Yes.
Companionship.
And you know what I, what I likeabout fantasy football?
(09:10):
So I play in one league, it's afamily league, and when we have
the draft, I have them pick thenext best available according to
the per.
You know the people that theweirdos like, like you kind of
guys you know, that know whoChase Brown is.
Never heard of him or any ofthose things, but I just, you
know, and, and when in doubtI'll, you know, pick Chuck
(09:33):
Foreman or Sammy White, um,they're probably not gonna
produce, but I just love theidea of having those two guys on
my team.
Of course you do.
Anyway, companionship, I thinkit's so sad that people are
going to, artificialintelligence means to find
companionship or to figure outhow to.
(09:55):
Participate in companionshipnumber one out of 100 top
reasons, to use ai.
Other ones.
Number two is organizing mylife.
Number three is finding purpose.
Number four is enhancinglearning.
Number five is generate code,like people that want to, you
(10:15):
know, create their own code,generate ideas.
Fun and nonsense is numberseven, but number one is
companionship.
And what I do like about fantasyfootball is it gives people an
opportunity to connect with eachother, and there is a, uh, a
comradery around fantasyfootball.
My nephew was in a fantasyfootball league and he came in
(10:38):
last place.
And what I love is the cleverways that, uh, that we.
Punish the people that come inlast place.
This wasn't like a tattoo ofBetty Boop or anything like
that, but he had to go to, Ithink, like a Taylor Swift
concert by himself.
Can you?
That's awkward.
I mean, can you imagine?
Maybe it was Sabrina Carpenter,one of those people, but he had
(11:00):
to go to a, concert by himself,Oh my God.
That's dicey.
Yeah.
And I, they are very creative.
Uh, we've seen the tattoos.
I've even seen guys with thosebig sandwich boards in
neighborhoods having to standout on a busy intersection and,
and the sign, they have the biggiant sign that says, I was last
or I suck at fantasy football.
(11:21):
And I, I get a kick outta someof that as well.
Um, you know, it's, it's becomea tradition now for the last
place team to have to do some ofthat stuff.
The leagues I'm in, we haven'tincorporated that.
But I, I do get a kick outta thepeople that have to go out there
and make a complete themselvesfor running last.
And it, I think, motivatespeople to stay focused, even if
(11:44):
they're off to a slow start.
You know, because sometimes yousee this in every league where
halfway through the year, two orthree teams are hopelessly at
the bottom of the standings andhave really nothing to play for.
So they don't update theirlineup, they don't go to the
waiver wire.
Well now if, if the last placeperson has to do something like
that, or maybe go volunteer atthe toy shop at Christmas,
(12:04):
whatever, um, it keeps themmotivated to try to do their
very best, which has a bigimpact on the, on the teams that
might win the prize.
So, for it, well, I, I wouldhope that the people that you're
hanging around with would wantto go and help at the toy store.
Right.
The, my favorite one though, ofall time.
Is, I saw that there was a guythat, uh, the loser had to go
(12:26):
and get his head shaved, butjust the top, so you had to have
the cul-de-sac, you know, the,the Oh yeah.
Over the ears.
Around the back and up over theother ear.
But the, the, and you had tohave it until the next season.
Oh, come on.
Yep.
Once a week you had to go andget it.
Yes.
That to me.
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So you're spending the entiresummer.
With that melon of yoursexposed.
Not a big deal for, but ifyou're a person, if you're a
person who you know, shavestheir head high and tight, you
have to grow the sides out.
Oh no.
Can you imagine kg, how youwould look?
Doing your Yes.
(13:08):
Fantastic.
Look.
Oh, okay.
That'd be so bad.
We're gonna cover a lot ofground here today, but, uh,
thank you for giving us your,uh, your advice about a buca or
whatever his name was, and ChaseBrown.
I hope you end up having him onyour fantasy team so we can
have, again, some fun togetherthis year.
Texting on Sunday.
Yep.
The, uh, the, the computer willpick, pick the people for me and
(13:30):
if he's available, I'm hopingthat, that, uh, he'll be there.
Item number two.
We went to the Nate Bargeyconcert.
Yes, we did.
Your impressions?
Well, I, I've always been in aweof men and women that can stand
up there and make you laugh tillyou almost pee your pants, which
all five of these comedians diddo.
(13:52):
The fact that all five did it,it was almost four hours of
entertainment and not one swearword was uttered.
Nope.
Blew me away.
That is a talent.
I can't even imagine to possess.
I, I, John, I had so much fun.
How about you?
Oh, it was fantastic.
So, you know, and everythingthat they talked about was so
relatable.
It was very Seinfeld, you know,it was, it was, it was one after
(14:16):
another in each, you know, eachof the warmup acts did like 10
to 12 minutes and one wasfunnier than the next.
And they all just had such agreat shtick.
But here's what I found mostenjoyable.
Is they found humor inself-deprecation and yeah, the,
they, the, the making fun ofyourself instead of making fun
(14:37):
of others.
I mean, it's okay to make fun ofothers a little bit, but man,
they directed a lot of theirangst towards themselves.
And, uh, I just, God, I had fun,you know that Becky and I are
going to Nashville for his finalshow.
No way.
Yeah, we already got tickets.
We want to go see his laststandup show.
When is that gonna be?
(14:57):
It's, uh, December, earlyDecember sometime.
Geez, that's a long tour.
If you consider it summertimeright now.
Oh, yeah.
He's, well, and you know what Imean?
The fact that they were able tocreate a different show every
night and the night we werethere, there were some weather
in the Twin Cities, so the powerwas kind of skittish.
(15:18):
The lights were flickering.
It was a really significantstorm that night in St.
Paul.
All the comedians, includingNate, were able to play off the
weather and create some jokeswere very organic, uh, because
they couldn't have known thatweather was gonna happen.
Uh, I, I just, I, I look at thetalent they possess and the way
they're able to play off thecrowd and play off those
(15:39):
situations.
Uh, it, it's like watching againwhen you watch Scotty Scheffler
play golf, uh, back in the daywatching Wayne Gretzky play
hockey.
That's what you're watching.
You're watching the best attheir craft in the world.
What does this have to do withthe Kindness Chronicles?
I think that people that have anability to poke fun at
themselves rather than punchingdown on people, you know, on
(16:01):
others is just, it's such aquality of a person that I just
admire.
So, uh, I think it, it takessome self-confidence.
Uh, I think the, the, if you'reable to do that, and, and
especially in a public forumlike that.
You're kind of exposing yourselfwith some of the shortcomings
you obviously have.
Um, yeah.
There were a couple comediansthat, that, with that
(16:23):
self-deprecation, just, I mean,we were all, the group I was
sitting with, we, we couldn'ttalk, we were laughing so hard.
It was that funny.
Um, and they, they were reallyable to connect with, you know,
it's one thing to do it in acomedy, like a, a small venue,
like one of those little comedyhouses.
But when you think of the XcelEnergy Center and you think of
the size of that crowd, it wasprobably 15.
(16:45):
That night, John.
Um, that's a far biggerchallenge to connect with an
audience and they did itbrilliantly.
Yeah, it was crazy.
Do you have a particular bitthat he shared that, uh, was
most memorable for you?
Well, you're thinking of that,let me tell you mine, mine was,
is when he was talking about hi,how his parents are aging and
(17:05):
his in-laws are aging, and howthey.
Move them and he goes, no, wedidn't really move them.
We put them in, you know, one ofthose nursing homes.
And then he talked about his dadwanting to get one of those
bathtubs with the door.
And he like did this thing wherehe looks like he's pretending
like he's sitting down and he'slike, you know, it takes 45
(17:26):
minutes for the water to fill upand when you're done, you just
can't open the door to thatsubmarine.
I just, God, that was funny.
And just, the vision of somebodysitting in one of those tubs,
you don't think about the factthat, you know what, you gotta
sit in there until that thingdrains out before you can, towel
off and move on with your life.
But I thought that was prettydamn funny.
(17:49):
I liked, and I, I'm, I'm really.
Name, it's about a month sincethe show, but the African
American gentleman who was supertall.
Oh yeah.
And back to self deprecation,when he said, you know, people
see me and you know, you look athow tall I am and you know my
ethnicity.
And then he said, you know.
See me come walking in and findout, and they're like, oh, you
(18:10):
didn't make it, huh?
Because you know, you thinkbasketball.
And he's like, yeah, you didn'tmake it, huh?
I mean, those guys, I, I just,oh, they all were, even the
host, I thought the host, uh,that set all these comedians up
and was the guy in between.
And I, they all were so good,John, like it was.
(18:32):
Top to bottom as good as I'veseen.
I just have to respond to thetext message that you just sent
me.
The woman holding the sign overher set head that says, plan
dates with the effort you planyour fantasy football.
Um, that is, uh, I would imaginethat's a lot of people that feel
that way about their, uh, I saidmy life in Chrissy's eyes, it's
(18:58):
a hard knock life.
So it's sad you've been atCanterbury all summer.
Um, I understand there was aCorgi races this weekend.
Was that this past weekend?
Oh, you've seen those.
You should have seen it likehuge crowd.
Um, we, we do six differentheats and the rules are, you
know, each, he has 12 dogs.
(19:19):
So after the third horse race wedo three heats.
Pa did those races.
After the fifth race, we dothree more.
I did those races.
In each heat, the top two dogsthat finish one, two get to come
back on August the 31st.
And they have all these heatswith all the breeds.
So then they come back and facethe doodles, the wieners, um,
the Bassett hounds, all thebreeds come back and we run six
(19:43):
more heats on the 31st and takethe top dog out of each of
those.
And then we crown a championwith the final race of the day
that day, and people go crazy.
There's food given out fromPetco.
There's trophies, there's, uh,people like we could have
Sovereignty's, the KentuckyDerby winner, and he's the, the
big horse right now in horse,right?
(20:04):
We could have him this weekendracing at Canterbury.
We could have the next day,corgi dogs or wiener dogs,
sovereignty would bring out likefive to 10,000 people and
there'd be twice that crowd tosee the, the dogs.
That's just who we'reMinnesotans love this stuff.
And it's just bizarre becausethey cheer like they've got a
thousand dollars on the race andit's just for fun and there's no
(20:25):
betting.
No betting.
It's not a, it's not a bettingrace.
It's just a fun littleexhibition and they go crazy
like Paul and I get to, to kindof moderate this thing.
And so when I go down thereafter the fifth race, they've
already seen three Corgi heats.
I go down there and the racegets over and we're getting the
horses all back to the stablearea and.
They're doing the replays andall of a sudden they line up
(20:46):
these Corgi dogs.
They come marching down towardsthe winner circle.
All I do, I hop on the mic, Isay, ladies and gentlemen, here
come the corgis, and there'sthis scream like the Beatles
have just into the racetrack.
It's insane.
I looked at Randy Sampson and Igo, this is when it's all about.
He said, yeah.
He said, our, our crowds livefor this stuff and.
(21:08):
A big staple now for 15 years atCanterbury and it, it just keeps
getting bigger and better.
Yeah.
I know a guy that was there thisweekend and he said that he had
to park in a lot that he didn'teven know existed because he
showed up at like one 15.
Oh yeah.
And the place was absolutelypacked.
I would imagine that the, thatthe purses were pretty strong
(21:29):
because if you're gonna bethere, you might as well place a
bet.
Right.
That's the crazy, we weretalking about this on Sunday.
Well, um.
We didn't have any dogs onSaturday.
We had the same amount of racesand they, they bet actually more
money on Saturday because thecrowd that comes out Sunday,
it's a family day.
Um, so we race at one o'clockSaturday, we race at five.
(21:50):
Oh, you know, there's, there'smusic and beers flowing.
It's an older crowd Sundaypeople have kids and there's
food trucks and there it's kindof like gonna, the state fair,
you're not really there to bet.
And so, even though the crowdwas three times the size.
On Sunday, we had they actuallybet less money.
I bet you sold a lot of pizzathough.
Uh, pizza and pasta crushed it,I would imagine.
(22:14):
Good pizza by the way.
Very good.
Pretty good.
Pretty, pretty good.
Pretty, pretty good.
The, uh, Vikings footballseason, it's fun to talk sports,
you know,'cause Steve Brownalways looks just sort of
confused when we talk sports.
I know Jeff is over there doinglike research when we're talking
about the Vikings.
You know, Dempsey can handleJohn.
(22:35):
You asked Steve Brown, who JJMcCarthy was.
Would he know this?
I mean, I know he'd know he'sthe quarterback for the Vikings,
but would he know the backstory?
I, I dunno.
Would he know the Michigan, theNational Championship?
No, not a chance.
Okay.
Not a chance.
Okay.
But you know what?
Alright, you should, he andJeff, the intern were, we were
in the studio last week with,uh, Billy McLaughlin.
(22:57):
You know, the guitar player?
Oh yeah.
world famous guitar player andthose two guys who are both
musicians were virtually wettingthemselves.
They were so excited and Billycould not have been a better
guy.
What a sweet man.
Um, he just, how'd youfacilitate that?
Jeff?
Jeff calls these, these nationallevel people, you know, like,
(23:22):
uh, Yogi Bear's daughter forexample, and get some booked for
these shows and, um.
No reaction to the Yogi Bear'sdaughter comment.
It's, I know it's on your list.
See his granddaughter?
No, it's his granddaughter.
It's his granddaughter.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
Um, no, but it's, um, he's just,you know what, he's, he's, he's
(23:42):
into it.
He's, and oh, he's into it.
You should see we've got the, wegot the text messages to prove
it.
Oh, we do, do we ever?
Yes.
He's equipped us with, uh.
All kinds of, hang on, likethings like this.
Why don't you have your mic upto your mouth anymore?
That was a good laugh.
I felt almost legit.
(24:04):
It was a mock is a long story.
I did not know that.
What's the deal with nobodyleaving voicemails anymore?
Leave one for us and maybe.
So that's the kind of stuff, youknow, we didn't have that
before.
I mean, that's high tech.
No, he's upped our game bigtime.
Yeah.
He has.
That is, you know what that is.
That is, technical ability thatI do not possess.
(24:25):
Um, me too.
And, yeah.
So when, when does the, uh, theCanterbury season come to a
close September 20th?
Uh, we, we race all the waythrough that date.
The get a little in inSeptember, we don't race on
Sunday.
Once NFL football starts, that'sa battle we can't win.
And so it's a lot of times justgonna be a Thursday or, or a
(24:48):
Wednesday and a Saturday type ofdeal twice a week.
Okay.
But we do go through, uh, the20th of September and um, you
know, I've said this for a longtime.
I dunno how your stance is, butI've lived in Minnesota now for
almost 60 years.
I will take our Septemberweather.
That we have up against anyother place, any other month,
(25:11):
anywhere in the world.
Like I think September,Minnesota is the perfect
weather.
I guess the folks in San Diegoget that.
12 months a year because I feellike it's upper sixties, low
seventies, no humidity, mostlysunny, hardly ever rains.
Um, so maybe we just get SanDiego weather for that one
month, but September, Minnesotais perfect.
(25:32):
Oh, nothing, nothing compares.
It's, oh, the only thing is, isit's the leaf start to fall and
you know, I'm kind of obsessedwith having the leaves picked
up.
I know lot.
I get too much exercise thattime of the year.
It's like enough already.
Exactly.
Although I might be hiring thatout, you know, here going
forward.
I just, you know, it's just,it's too much.
It's too much.
(25:53):
Um, you gotta keep that lawnperfect and you can't keep up
with all the stuff you havegoing on.
That's right.
Very, very, yeah.
Air out.
Very busy time.
Um, the Minnesota Wild we'recreeping up on the Minnesota
wild season.
How do feel did, did you knowthey really didn't make many
moves this, this off season?
They didn't, and I'm year.
(26:17):
The last two years specifically,they had so many injuries and I
wanna see some of these youngguys.
I, I didn't want them to go outthere and money for the of
money.
Like Brock's a burn guy.
I love Brock.
I just don't think whatVancouver paid him would've been
smart for Minnesota to pay himwith what they have in the
pipeline right now.
I wanna see what can do.
(26:38):
I wanna see the kid Europe thatjust came over from Russia on
the blue line.
I wanna see.
Z Boy at age 19 now, uh, take abig step forward.
Uh, I wanna see the goalie.
I wanna see Yesper get a chanceto play at the NHL level.
So I'm excited.
I, I know wild fans are sittingon pins and needles with the cap
contract.
(26:58):
I think it's gonna happen hereas camp gets going in September.
I think the wild right now, thelast thing you wanna do right
now as football seasons gettingstarted is try to make a splash
with.
That big name, even if they havesome kind of a gentleman's
agreement right now, you'regonna wanna make that
announcement when you can sellsome tickets around it.
Sure.
So I'm sure they're waitingeither way, uh, to get that
(27:20):
heated up and then we'll figureout what they're gonna do with
Marco Rossi.
I think at this point, um, both,I think Rossi and the Wild,
they're gonna have to find somecommon ground here.
Let's get to the season.
But no, I have high hopes forthis year.
I think they're gonna be reallygood.
I do.
I will be here.
I have no worry yet.
If we get into training camp andnothing's happened, then I'll,
(27:43):
I'll change my stance, but wehave a month to get that figured
out.
What do you think about thetwins unloading, 42% of their,
25 man, roster?
How do you feel about that?
I understand the angst from the,I say that, um, the, for the.
Every other, you know, you lookat the four major men's teams in
(28:03):
town, the Wild, the Woves, theVikings, and the twins.
The other three owners all seemto be fully committed to
spending everything they can.
Yeah.
To win.
And I know that the twins can'tbe Boston, they can't be the
Dodgers or the Yankees, but whennext door neighbor in Milwaukee
has the best record in baseballand, and they spend more than
(28:24):
the.
There's a better way to do this.
And if you don't wanna win, thensell the team.
And, you know, I, that's, that'sthe part where I'm frustrated
because I still think the twinshave some good young talent.
Um, I look at, at Royce Lewis asa guy that when I go to the
ballpark and he's in the lineup,I, I really enjoy watching him
play baseball.
(28:44):
Now, he took a step back thisyear.
I still think he's good baseballplayer.
Um.
And I don't mind the Korea thingat all because no good, good
riddance what they were payinghim.
I, I just don't think this teamis ready to win right now, but I
wanna see them at least try tobe competitive.
What frustrates me, John, is, acouple years ago they were on
(29:05):
the cusp of being a, a prettygood, you know, play off
potential World series potentialteam and you had Sonny Gray,
your game one starter.
You go out, you beat the BlueJays, you win a playoff series.
You got all this young talent,Royce Lewis had all those home
runs and the first thing you dois say, you're not gonna bring
him back.
(29:25):
You don't wanna spend the moneyon him.
Yeah.
And that sends the message rightaway, not just to the fans, but
to the guys in that clubhouse.
But you don't give a crap.
And so that, that's where it allstarted for me.
That was a couple years ago.
They were really good.
And if you can look at that.
With, uh, Pablo Lopez and JoeRyan.
Have a Sonny Great at the frontend of that.
Oh boy, that, that gives youthree pretty damn good starters
(29:48):
right there in every series.
You're gonna have a chance.
And so I'm, I'm frustrated justlike a lot of the twin fans are.
My hope is that, that the polladdon't wanna keep hearing these
chants of sell the team at theballpark, and they're finally
gonna wave the white flag and,and sell the team and give it to
somebody that wants to win.
Well, clearly the children ofCarl Pollad and the
grandchildren of Carl Pollad donot have the business acumen
(30:11):
that grandpa had.
You know, no problem.
The,, How do you, uh,, become amillionaire?
Well, you start like abillionaire and then start
making terrible decisions, andthat seems, that seems to be
exactly what's going on with thePollad family.
I heard something about the, thetwins, they took a loan out on
the twins for$400 million tohelp underwrite some of their
(30:32):
losses in their other businessesand Oh, no.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, that's, that's part ofthe issue.
I just have to address the one.
Trade that upset me was gettingrid of Louis Varland.
They had Louis Varland.
No.
Why would you do that under teamcontrol till 2031.
He's a Minnesota guy.
(30:53):
He was their seventh inning guy.
He had an ERA less than two andhe just, he dominated and he's
one of us.
We love having us.
I, I just, you have to at leastnot be that tone deaf, uh, to
make that move.
I mean, yeah.
And that wasn't that like at theend of all the moves to the last
salt?
Yeah.
Yep.
The last move.
(31:14):
So you get rid of your ninthinning guy, Duran, you get rid
of your eighth inning guy Jacks,which I'm fine with.
Every time I watched him, he'dlose.
Um, and you get rid of Arland,you get rid of Brock, Stewart,
you got rid of all of those.
I mean, their whole bullpen,they crushed, they got rid of
their whole bullpen.
Uh, I was told working 20 orwhatever his name is.
Yes, yes.
(31:35):
Sub one ERA for the season andlike 60 innings pitched and Oh,
let's get rid of him.
We don't need him.
We don't need that.
Yeah.
It's, you know, the Aspen partis, um, Brock Stewart was
drafted when I was working andhe was a high, high draft pick.
In fact, he was number one ortwo, kind of like foxman.
You spend all that timedeveloping and pitchers take
(31:55):
longer.
They're like goalies in hockey.
You finally get this guy up, buthe looks like he's gonna be
halfway decent.
And then the first thing you dois dump him.
I mean, and the same thing withLin, like homegrown guy not
making a, a big contract full ofmoney.
And that's what you want to do.
Like, I, I don't understand thatmentality at all.
I, I don't get, um, and thePoland seem to be their own
(32:20):
worst enemy.
Totally.
You turn a twins game on rightnow.
I feel bad for Tim Launder.
He's working a post game show.
He trying to make a point andhe's got his hometown fans
screaming, sell the team.
They're all around the set, likechanting.
Sell the team, sell the team.
And launder can't acknowledgethat on the broadcast.
He's gotta just kind of move onwith what he's trying to
(32:41):
address.
But I.
This is the venom they'vecreated.
I've seen people, um, inpictures on social media with
target bags on their head.
I mean, come on guys.
We didn't need to be quite sodramatic.
I, I do chuckle when I say thatbecause it's, you know, it's
target field.
It's kind of funny.
But, um, it's too bad though.
I mean, for all of us that, thatlove baseball and love the team,
(33:01):
I really feel bad for the, forthe hardcore fans that that
really sucks.
Oh, it is.
Absolutely.
You know, and I mean, they getthe Luke Keel or whatever his
name is, the second base, and helooks like a player.
I just have to, uh, finish upwith a great story from, uh,
from yesterday.
So yesterday I played in a golftournament for this organization
called Youth Advantage.
(33:23):
Our friends, okay, the, uh, thelobsters.
Well, hi Barbie.
My sister-in-law just walked in.
I haven't seen her in age.
You look good.
All right, see ya.
Um, she's lost like 85 pounds.
You should see her.
She's half the woman she used tobe.
So anyway, turn that light off.
We'll do.
Okay.
Anyway, back to, this eventyesterday for Youth Advantage.
(33:45):
Um, nice golf tournament, reallywell organized.
Played at Indian Hills, so itwas a, you know, course that I
know.
And at the end they had thisvideo and it was a video.
What the organization does isthey help provide opportunities
for, kids that, don't have thefinancial resources to do
extracurricular things and stufflike that.
And they talked about this, uh,this one young man who back in,
(34:10):
2005, 2006, was, uh, was veryill.
Uh, he was like, four or fiveyears old, three or four years
old at the time.
And, uh, spent a lot of time inthe hospital.
They had all kinds of picturesof him with, tubes up his nose
and attached to.
Machines and all this otherstuff, and the family was faced
with the, do we pay for him toplay travel baseball or do we
(34:35):
pay his medical bills?
Of course, they have to pay themedical bills.
So Youth Advantage comes in andI'm watching this video and I'm
looking at this kid and I'mlike, oh my God.
It was called Drew's story.
DRE W's story.
Got it.
And I'm watching it.
All of a sudden, I said to, uh,my brother-in-law, Chad, who's
(34:55):
sitting next to me, I said, Ithink they're talking about Drew
Gilbert.
And if you don't know who DrewGilbert is, drew Gilbert played
for the Stillwater Poniesincredible baseball player,
lefty pitcher, outfielder, was,recruited to play, uh, at
Tennessee.
So he was a volunteer.
Played for Tennessee was theircleanup, hitter number three
(35:16):
hitter wore the number one, justraked home runs.
Uh, ended up being a first rounddraft pick of the Houston Astros
a couple of years ago.
Got traded to the Mets andrecently got traded to the
Giants as part of a, a bigpackage deal moving some, uh,
some players from San Franciscoto, to the mats.
(35:37):
Wow.
And Drew Gilbert.
Last week had his major leaguedebut and they showed a, a, a
video of him during his firstgame making just this incredible
catch in right field.
And they concluded the video.
And, you know, the story wasthis kid who was given an
opportunity to play travelbaseball because a youth
advantage, he's now a majorleague baseball player.
(36:00):
And there was a little messagefrom him thanking people for
their support and all that otherstuff.
Little did they know that thispast weekend Drew Gilbert hit
his very first major league homerun.
What are the chances?
So, no kidding.
So awesome.
And you know, Ben used to playwith this guy and he was a
blizzard baseball player.
And we would go up and this kidwas up there working out every
(36:23):
single day when Ben was up thereworking and coaching out, uh,
Adam Barta hired him to, uh.
Shake people down for their,their, the payment for the
lessons that the kids aregetting.
He'd go around and he said, youknow, we're not running a
charity here.
Uh, did you pay for this yet?
Um, but anyways, drew Gilbertwas there constantly and he
(36:44):
sounds like he's a really goodkid.
And, uh, just what a fun storygot true for people like that.
You That's awesome.
It was very fun.
Very fun.
Well, we've given'em almost 40minutes of our best stuff.
Uh, do you got anything?
One last question.
What's your prediction for theVikings this year, since we're,
it's all sports all the time.
Yeah.
I'm gonna do a quick predictionand I, I gotta shine a little
(37:06):
light on a charity event that Iwas just at this week too.
Oh, terrific.
But I'll start.
Um, I'm a huge JJ McCarthy fan.
Yes.
Part of it is because he was ahockey player and I follow him
at Michigan.
I think he's gonna be good.
I think they're gonna be good.
I don't think they're gonna begreat.
I think they're gonna be good.
I'm gonna go 10 and seven.
I think they'll contend in thedivision, but I think they'll
(37:29):
get a wild card.
Okay.
And I think this year they'llwin a playoff game.
Kevin O'Connell, uh, has yet towin a playoff game.
I think they break through.
I think as the year goes on, ourquarterback will get better and
better.
I think he's gonna struggleearly.
I think that game in Chicago isa really hard place to start on
Monday night football, so Ithink it's gonna be a little bit
of a struggle early.
(37:49):
I think they're gonna get betteras the season goes on.
I believe in the quarterback.
I believe in the coach.
What do you think?
Well, I think they better winearly in the season,'cause
that's kind of the soft part ofthe season for him.
Just to clarify, hard schedule,JJ McCarthy didn't play hockey
at Michigan too, did he?
No.
He played hockey up until like,I wanna say maybe his junior
(38:11):
year of high school.
And then the coaches said,listen, you gotta, you're a
football player and he obviouslymade the right choice, but he.
When he got drafted by theVikings, made a point to say he
was bringing his skates and, youknow, would find his way to a
rink once in a while.
Play some pickup hockey.
He's, he's a hockey guy, sothat's kind of cool.
Now, the charity event I was at,ties into hockey because it's,
(38:35):
it's, uh, a place called theRanch.
Oh yeah, I know.
The ranch up in center.
Yeah, it's, thank see you're soplugged in.
It's connected.
It's connected to Eagles HealingNest, which is an organization
that the Mason support.
There you go.
I know.
Yeah.
And I gotta be, uh, part oftheir fundraising event on
Sunday night, um, over atMississippi Gardens, which is
(38:56):
Jordan Leopold spot, and I gottamediate for the second year in a
row.
A bunch of the guys from the1980, uh, miracle and Ice Team
because Mark Pavlik died, uh,from suicide.
He was, uh, candidate help.
Uh, from military folks tohockey players, you know, mental
(39:17):
and physical struggles thathappened to everybody in all
walks of life at this placespecifically is there to help
them.
And so it was a, an awesomeevent.
Tony Granado, uh, and I werekind of the co MCs.
It was really, really powerfulto hear the stories.
P family was, there was part of.
(39:38):
The sessions on the stage andthere were tears and emotion and
it just, you know how thoseevents are, man.
They pull at your heartstringsand there's a lot of money being
raised and you see thegenerosity that people have, but
then you hear the stories andthe, you know, clearly Pav is no
longer, he's the only guy fromthat team.
He and her Brooks are no longerwith us.
And so Herbie Herbie's brotherwas there.
(40:00):
Um, it was a very, very coolnight.
So if people wanna get involved,the ranch has their own private
website, and now you can do alittle research and if you're so
inclined, make a small donation,it's, uh, it's well worth it or
make a big donation, you know,whatever.
Exactly.
Hey, have you been, have youvisited there?
Not yet.
No.
I've only seen the videos andthey had a bunch of, you know,
(40:20):
clearly they were showing uskind of the, the look at that
place.
It looks gorgeous.
The campus is this beautifulcampus that, uh, uh, Eagles
Healing Nest, you know, theyprovide the same kind of support
for veterans and, uh, yeah,they've got a, a, a space up
there on their campus that thisranch was created.
And, you know, Pavlich was, uh.
(40:41):
Well, he, was he from Hibbing?
He was from Virginia, and heplayed at umd.
Yep.
And I, I, I do recall that, uh,when he, when the Miracle on Ice
was over, he became a New YorkRanger, and I think he scored
like five goals in a game, whichhe had one.
You're exactly right.
(41:01):
You're hundred percent right.
And he wasn't a huge goal scorerwhen he was playing on the
Olympic team.
You know what a, what a sadstory, you know, to lose that
talent to suicide.
All things.
He had a bunch of concussions.
He was a little guy and he tooka lot of hits, you know, because
he was a quick, you know,offensely skilled player.
(41:23):
He is more of a playmaker toyour point, but he was a pure
goal score.
But he took a bunch of hits andhad a bunch of concussions, and
when his sister talked to thecrowd on Sunday night, she spoke
of some of the dark places hewould end up and he just
couldn't.
Come back from, from some ofthose hardships.
And you know, you think of thefolks in the military and you
(41:45):
mentioned the Eagles nest.
You know, most of us can'trelate to that.
No.
Like where, where that paintakes you.
Um, so to have, to have a placeand it looks so peaceful and,
and we got to see some reallycool videos.
And then there was a young man,um, retired military young guy,
uh, who had gone through somereal tough times and tried to
(42:06):
commit suicide and.
He spoke to the crowd and, uh,it was, uh, it was emotional to
say the least, but kid's doingreally well.
He is married now, has a newbaby.
And you know, like, uh, one ofthe, the guys that runs the, uh,
facility.
You know, the, that you've shownand without the eagle's nest and
the help of the ranch, thatbaby's never born.
(42:28):
So they're doing good things,that's for sure.
Very cool.
Well, with that kg, I appreciateyour time.
I know you're a very busypodcaster.
I spread the good word and havefun and talking to you.
It's always a treat.
We're going to the fair togetheron Tuesday.
Is that the plan?
Yeah.
Can't, can't wait.
So excited to go.
(42:48):
Always.
Always.
We hammer some.
It's the tradition.
It is a tradition.
A tradition like none other, themasters.
Oh, we're gonna get that bootand we're gonna crush it.
Yes.
What it, remind me real quick,let's just, uh, your top three
items, number one with a bulletis the roasted corn.
Yeah.
Uh, number two is the bucket ofrigs at ves.
Right next door Almost.
(43:09):
Yep.
And number three, I know I shareone of your top three with this.
Pick the big fat bacon.
Big fat bacon baby.
Number one with a bullet.
I am a sweet Martha's guy.
I really am.
Yeah, I get that.
I like taking them home andputting'em in the freezer.
We usually come bring homebuckets of them and that's when
the, uh, the weight gets put onfor the winter season.
(43:31):
Anyways, enough about the, uh,the food kg.
Um, off we go.
Oh, you just think a drop, asound drop for this.
(43:53):
I look around this studio and Isee a lot of artificial
intelligence.
There you go.
And off we go.
I look around the studio and Isee a lot of artificial
intelligence.
Good for you.
Welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world.
With the dose of the Minnesotakindness that it desperately
(00:30):
needs.
We got a special guest on theline today, Kevin Gorg, the King
of All podcast.
Me.
You know how Howard Stern wasthe king of all media?
I think that in the Minnesotapodcast landscape, you've gotta
be the King of Minnesotapodcast, welcome, you know, to
(00:51):
the Kindness Chronicles.
It's great to be back.
Uh, missed you here for a coupleof weeks.
Our schedules haven't meshedwell.
Um, this is one of three and,um, you're a part of the other
two as well with, uh, being thetitle sponsor for the the Wooden
Sticks Project.
And now with Randy Shaver, theFantasy Huddle, uh, Minnesota
(01:11):
Charities front and center.
With both those endeavors.
But, uh, this is the one podcastwhere I just get to kind of
chill and converse.
I don't have to build placardsand do research and track down
get, like this is the podcastwhere I can just be me.
Yeah.
And, and I love doing it withyou, Johnny.
So the pay is consistent withthe preparation.
(01:31):
Nothing, which is, this is gonnabe a show about, about nothing.
Nothing.
Perfect.
So first of all, I have to, uh,check it you, so you have a new
podcast with Randy Shaver.
It's a fantasy football podcast.
It is the fantasy huddle.
Um, we clever, we we go liveevery Wednesday morning, um, and
(01:54):
we're gonna have updates duringthe regular season, like little
10 minute Snipbits on Friday.
They update.
Weather and injuries and ourintern is none of than Will
Anderson from Maple Grove.
A guy you know quite well.
Yeah.
Crossover will.
That is big news.
Yep.
Well, that's fantastic.
He, you know, he could use aninternship, you know, it's good
(02:14):
for him.
Plus he loves his fantasyfootball, just like I, oh yeah.
So let's talk about fantasyfootball for a second, since we
got No, uh, Steve Brown in the,uh, in the studio.
Our intern, Jeff, we gave himthe night off and Michael
Dempsey, uh.
He is offered to be in with us,but uh, we've asked him to stay
home.
No, I'm just kidding.
(02:35):
Um, no, we're, uh, we'rerecording at kind of an unusual
hour to accommodate our verybusy schedules, so this is
terrific.
So, um, I'm assuming you have aplacard made for your top, let's
say 10 picks.
Could we go through those?
Yeah.
I think a lot of people thatplay fantasy.
(02:59):
Especially in the last 10 years,how like even Chrissy's family
does, you know, a little$50family league and there are
little office pools popping up.
So rather than giving the 10best players in fantasy
football, I mean, everybodyknows that Jamar Chase wide
receiver, Cincinnati is thefirst player you take off the
board.
The running back in Atlanta isprobably the second player and
(03:21):
onward you go.
What I like to do when I haveconversations like this is try
to point people to players thatare maybe off the radar that you
could move up your boardsleepers, as we call'em.
Oh, in the fantasy world.
And I've got three, I've got,I've got a tight end, a running
back, and a receiver thateverybody needs to jump up and
pick.
And I'll start with this andyou're gonna love this guy.
(03:47):
Say that three times Fast is awide receiver for Tampa Bay.
Huh?
Tampa Bay, one of the bestpassing offenses in football led
by Baker Mayfield.
Two of their top three receiversare out right now with injuries.
And other than Godwin and Evan,is it Godwin?
Evans is there.
Okay.
Evans is there, but Godwin'sHurt and Jaylen McMillan now,
(04:09):
uh, we found out actually todayhe's out eight to 10 weeks, so
Oh, no.
Amika.
Buca is the guy they went andgot in the draft.
He's gonna blow up and he's aguy that if you're getting into
a little, you know, fantasy poolhere in the next couple of
weeks, move up in the draftboard to pick Buca of Tampa Bay.
Amika.
Buca.
(04:30):
He's the guy about it.
Irish guy.
Is he an Irish fellow?
Swedish.
Let's go with Swedish.
Okay.
The other guy that you need tofind is Trayvon Henderson in,
uh, in New England.
Now you're gonna have to bepatient because he shares the
backfill with re Stevenson, butthat's only outta respect to the
(04:53):
veteran Stevenson.
This kid's electric, uh, he isblown up in the preseason, and I
know the word is getting out onHenderson, but for folks that
are.
You know, like a family draft ora league, you know that with
office buddies that maybe aren'thardcore fantasy footballers,
they probably don't watchpreseason football.
Uh, he's had a hundred yardkickoff return.
(05:13):
He's catching balls.
Drake may, their quarterback isa guy that looks like he's on a
trajectory to be a lot morerelevant in the fantasy world.
And Henderson is gonna be arookie that's gonna blow up, uh,
all kinds of fantasy boards atthe running back position.
And then my tight end is TylerWarren.
Of Indianapolis.
Just today the Colts announcedthat, uh, Danny Dimes, Danny
(05:37):
Jones is gonna be their startingquarterback.
He loves throwing the ball tothe tight end.
And this kid that they drafted,uh, in Indy, this Warren kid is
gonna be the primary receiverfor, uh, for Daniel Jones.
And the Colts are a team that'salways behind.
They give up a ton of points.
They play indoors and they scorea ton of points.
So those are my fantasysleepers.
(05:57):
And I, I, I've had three drafts.
I have four more drafts to go.
Oh my God.
The best time of year.
I, I Is it, so tell me like, isit, do, do you have financial,
investments in these and if so,how much?
A lot of these are smaller ones.
Like one of them is the familyone we do with, with Chrissy's
(06:18):
family for 50 bucks.
We did one at Talk North, uh, atthe podcast spot.
A little celebrity one with MarkRosen and La Neil and those
guys, 50 bucks.
Most of my leagues are a hundreddollars.
Like whether I play Guillotineor whether I play, uh, you know,
with a group of guys that, thatI do on the, on the Wild
traveling party, they're,they're a hundred dollars.
(06:39):
I know guys that play for muchbigger money.
I just figure if you're gonnaplay 5, 6, 7 leagues, which I
am, I don't need to go crazy onthe financial side.
By the way, Randy Shaver, whodoes that Fantasy Huddle podcast
with me, I always associated himwith high school football in
Minnesota that show iconic foryears on Channel 11 with all the
(06:59):
high school football highlights.
He's in 21 Fantasy Leagues.
Oh boy.
He, he's way beyond me and Idon't even know how you keep
your players.
Um.
You know, what I try to do is Itry to draft similar rosters and
I, I didn't tell you my ride ordie guy.
Every year I try to pick a guythat's, I have to try to get on
(07:21):
every team.
And so far, um, I'm three forthree.
His name is Chase Brown.
He's the running back inCincinnati.
Everybody's gonna try to goafter the receivers there, and I
get that.
But last year he was a, a top 12fantasy back and he shared the
backfield with Zach Moss and thesecond half of the year, this
kid was so good.
That he took over, and now ZachMoss has been jettison, so it's
(07:45):
just him.
Catches the ball, runs the ball.
I've got him on 15 to 20touchdowns.
Chase Brown is my ride or dieguy.
Every draft John I go into, Itry to figure out a place in the
draft where I can get to ChaseBrown.
So hopefully some of thelisteners that care about this
stuff.
We'll jump on the bandwagon withme.
We'll have some fun.
Well, and hopefully they're notpeople that are in the same
(08:06):
league as you, because theymight jump on it right before
you do and it'll wreck yourwhole, your whole program.
Oh, if I get smacked on ChaseBrown, I might be in the fetal
position.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Of the people in my drafts aregonna be, Hey, maybe they are
though.
You're right.
Especially, uh, in a couple ofleagues I just referenced, we
got a lot of people inChristie's family that listen to
(08:26):
this show.
And of course, uh.
I wanna be a former guest on theshow.
He tunes in once in a while too.
Of course.
Yes.
They, you have to.
Um, and the rea people might bewondering, why are we talking
about fantasy football on aKindness Chronicles podcast?
And I have something veryinteresting to share with you.
There was an article that waswritten not long ago about how
(08:47):
people are really usinggenerative AI at this point in
time.
This was back in March, 2025.
And they rank the top 100reasons people are using ai, and
sadly, the number one reason forit is companionship.
What?
Yes.
Companionship.
And you know what I, what I likeabout fantasy football?
(09:10):
So I play in one league, it's afamily league, and when we have
the draft, I have them pick thenext best available according to
the per.
You know the people that theweirdos like, like you kind of
guys you know, that know whoChase Brown is.
Never heard of him or any ofthose things, but I just, you
know, and, and when in doubtI'll, you know, pick Chuck
(09:33):
Foreman or Sammy White, um,they're probably not gonna
produce, but I just love theidea of having those two guys on
my team.
Of course you do.
Anyway, companionship, I thinkit's so sad that people are
going to, artificialintelligence means to find
companionship or to figure outhow to.
(09:55):
Participate in companionshipnumber one out of 100 top
reasons, to use ai.
Other ones.
Number two is organizing mylife.
Number three is finding purpose.
Number four is enhancinglearning.
Number five is generate code,like people that want to, you
(10:15):
know, create their own code,generate ideas.
Fun and nonsense is numberseven, but number one is
companionship.
And what I do like about fantasyfootball is it gives people an
opportunity to connect with eachother, and there is a, uh, a
comradery around fantasyfootball.
My nephew was in a fantasyfootball league and he came in
(10:38):
last place.
And what I love is the cleverways that, uh, that we.
Punish the people that come inlast place.
This wasn't like a tattoo ofBetty Boop or anything like
that, but he had to go to, Ithink, like a Taylor Swift
concert by himself.
Can you?
That's awkward.
I mean, can you imagine?
Maybe it was Sabrina Carpenter,one of those people, but he had
(11:00):
to go to a, concert by himself,Oh my God.
That's dicey.
Yeah.
And I, they are very creative.
Uh, we've seen the tattoos.
I've even seen guys with thosebig sandwich boards in
neighborhoods having to standout on a busy intersection and,
and the sign, they have the biggiant sign that says, I was last
or I suck at fantasy football.
(11:21):
And I, I get a kick outta someof that as well.
Um, you know, it's, it's becomea tradition now for the last
place team to have to do some ofthat stuff.
The leagues I'm in, we haven'tincorporated that.
But I, I do get a kick outta thepeople that have to go out there
and make a complete themselvesfor running last.
And it, I think, motivatespeople to stay focused, even if
(11:44):
they're off to a slow start.
You know, because sometimes yousee this in every league where
halfway through the year, two orthree teams are hopelessly at
the bottom of the standings andhave really nothing to play for.
So they don't update theirlineup, they don't go to the
waiver wire.
Well now if, if the last placeperson has to do something like
that, or maybe go volunteer atthe toy shop at Christmas,
(12:04):
whatever, um, it keeps themmotivated to try to do their
very best, which has a bigimpact on the, on the teams that
might win the prize.
So, for it, well, I, I wouldhope that the people that you're
hanging around with would wantto go and help at the toy store.
Right.
The, my favorite one though, ofall time.
Is, I saw that there was a guythat, uh, the loser had to go
(12:26):
and get his head shaved, butjust the top, so you had to have
the cul-de-sac, you know, the,the Oh yeah.
Over the ears.
Around the back and up over theother ear.
But the, the, and you had tohave it until the next season.
Oh, come on.
Yep.
Once a week you had to go andget it.
Yes.
That to me.
(12:46):
So you're spending the entiresummer.
With that melon of yoursexposed.
Not a big deal for, but ifyou're a person, if you're a
person who you know, shavestheir head high and tight, you
have to grow the sides out.
Oh no.
Can you imagine kg, how youwould look?
Doing your Yes.
(13:08):
Fantastic.
Look.
Oh, okay.
That'd be so bad.
We're gonna cover a lot ofground here today, but, uh,
thank you for giving us your,uh, your advice about a buca or
whatever his name was, and ChaseBrown.
I hope you end up having him onyour fantasy team so we can
have, again, some fun togetherthis year.
Texting on Sunday.
Yep.
The, uh, the, the computer willpick, pick the people for me and
(13:30):
if he's available, I'm hopingthat, that, uh, he'll be there.
Item number two.
We went to the Nate Bargeyconcert.
Yes, we did.
Your impressions?
Well, I, I've always been in aweof men and women that can stand
up there and make you laugh tillyou almost pee your pants, which
all five of these comedians diddo.
(13:52):
The fact that all five did it,it was almost four hours of
entertainment and not one swearword was uttered.
Nope.
Blew me away.
That is a talent.
I can't even imagine to possess.
I, I, John, I had so much fun.
How about you?
Oh, it was fantastic.
So, you know, and everythingthat they talked about was so
relatable.
It was very Seinfeld, you know,it was, it was, it was one after
(14:16):
another in each, you know, eachof the warmup acts did like 10
to 12 minutes and one wasfunnier than the next.
And they all just had such agreat shtick.
But here's what I found mostenjoyable.
Is they found humor inself-deprecation and yeah, the,
they, the, the making fun ofyourself instead of making fun
(14:37):
of others.
I mean, it's okay to make fun ofothers a little bit, but man,
they directed a lot of theirangst towards themselves.
And, uh, I just, God, I had fun,you know that Becky and I are
going to Nashville for his finalshow.
No way.
Yeah, we already got tickets.
We want to go see his laststandup show.
When is that gonna be?
(14:57):
It's, uh, December, earlyDecember sometime.
Geez, that's a long tour.
If you consider it summertimeright now.
Oh, yeah.
He's, well, and you know what Imean?
The fact that they were able tocreate a different show every
night and the night we werethere, there were some weather
in the Twin Cities, so the powerwas kind of skittish.
(15:18):
The lights were flickering.
It was a really significantstorm that night in St.
Paul.
All the comedians, includingNate, were able to play off the
weather and create some jokeswere very organic, uh, because
they couldn't have known thatweather was gonna happen.
Uh, I, I just, I, I look at thetalent they possess and the way
they're able to play off thecrowd and play off those
(15:39):
situations.
Uh, it, it's like watching againwhen you watch Scotty Scheffler
play golf, uh, back in the daywatching Wayne Gretzky play
hockey.
That's what you're watching.
You're watching the best attheir craft in the world.
What does this have to do withthe Kindness Chronicles?
I think that people that have anability to poke fun at
themselves rather than punchingdown on people, you know, on
(16:01):
others is just, it's such aquality of a person that I just
admire.
So, uh, I think it, it takessome self-confidence.
Uh, I think the, the, if you'reable to do that, and, and
especially in a public forumlike that.
You're kind of exposing yourselfwith some of the shortcomings
you obviously have.
Um, yeah.
There were a couple comediansthat, that, with that
(16:23):
self-deprecation, just, I mean,we were all, the group I was
sitting with, we, we couldn'ttalk, we were laughing so hard.
It was that funny.
Um, and they, they were reallyable to connect with, you know,
it's one thing to do it in acomedy, like a, a small venue,
like one of those little comedyhouses.
But when you think of the XcelEnergy Center and you think of
the size of that crowd, it wasprobably 15.
(16:45):
That night, John.
Um, that's a far biggerchallenge to connect with an
audience and they did itbrilliantly.
Yeah, it was crazy.
Do you have a particular bitthat he shared that, uh, was
most memorable for you?
Well, you're thinking of that,let me tell you mine, mine was,
is when he was talking about hi,how his parents are aging and
(17:05):
his in-laws are aging, and howthey.
Move them and he goes, no, wedidn't really move them.
We put them in, you know, one ofthose nursing homes.
And then he talked about his dadwanting to get one of those
bathtubs with the door.
And he like did this thing wherehe looks like he's pretending
like he's sitting down and he'slike, you know, it takes 45
(17:26):
minutes for the water to fill upand when you're done, you just
can't open the door to thatsubmarine.
I just, God, that was funny.
And just, the vision of somebodysitting in one of those tubs,
you don't think about the factthat, you know what, you gotta
sit in there until that thingdrains out before you can, towel
off and move on with your life.
But I thought that was prettydamn funny.
(17:49):
I liked, and I, I'm, I'm really.
Name, it's about a month sincethe show, but the African
American gentleman who was supertall.
Oh yeah.
And back to self deprecation,when he said, you know, people
see me and you know, you look athow tall I am and you know my
ethnicity.
And then he said, you know.
See me come walking in and findout, and they're like, oh, you
(18:10):
didn't make it, huh?
Because you know, you thinkbasketball.
And he's like, yeah, you didn'tmake it, huh?
I mean, those guys, I, I just,oh, they all were, even the
host, I thought the host, uh,that set all these comedians up
and was the guy in between.
And I, they all were so good,John, like it was.
(18:32):
Top to bottom as good as I'veseen.
I just have to respond to thetext message that you just sent
me.
The woman holding the sign overher set head that says, plan
dates with the effort you planyour fantasy football.
Um, that is, uh, I would imaginethat's a lot of people that feel
that way about their, uh, I saidmy life in Chrissy's eyes, it's
(18:58):
a hard knock life.
So it's sad you've been atCanterbury all summer.
Um, I understand there was aCorgi races this weekend.
Was that this past weekend?
Oh, you've seen those.
You should have seen it likehuge crowd.
Um, we, we do six differentheats and the rules are, you
know, each, he has 12 dogs.
(19:19):
So after the third horse race wedo three heats.
Pa did those races.
After the fifth race, we dothree more.
I did those races.
In each heat, the top two dogsthat finish one, two get to come
back on August the 31st.
And they have all these heatswith all the breeds.
So then they come back and facethe doodles, the wieners, um,
the Bassett hounds, all thebreeds come back and we run six
(19:43):
more heats on the 31st and takethe top dog out of each of
those.
And then we crown a championwith the final race of the day
that day, and people go crazy.
There's food given out fromPetco.
There's trophies, there's, uh,people like we could have
Sovereignty's, the KentuckyDerby winner, and he's the, the
big horse right now in horse,right?
(20:04):
We could have him this weekendracing at Canterbury.
We could have the next day,corgi dogs or wiener dogs,
sovereignty would bring out likefive to 10,000 people and
there'd be twice that crowd tosee the, the dogs.
That's just who we'reMinnesotans love this stuff.
And it's just bizarre becausethey cheer like they've got a
thousand dollars on the race andit's just for fun and there's no
(20:25):
betting.
No betting.
It's not a, it's not a bettingrace.
It's just a fun littleexhibition and they go crazy
like Paul and I get to, to kindof moderate this thing.
And so when I go down thereafter the fifth race, they've
already seen three Corgi heats.
I go down there and the racegets over and we're getting the
horses all back to the stablearea and.
They're doing the replays andall of a sudden they line up
(20:46):
these Corgi dogs.
They come marching down towardsthe winner circle.
All I do, I hop on the mic, Isay, ladies and gentlemen, here
come the corgis, and there'sthis scream like the Beatles
have just into the racetrack.
It's insane.
I looked at Randy Sampson and Igo, this is when it's all about.
He said, yeah.
He said, our, our crowds livefor this stuff and.
(21:08):
A big staple now for 15 years atCanterbury and it, it just keeps
getting bigger and better.
Yeah.
I know a guy that was there thisweekend and he said that he had
to park in a lot that he didn'teven know existed because he
showed up at like one 15.
Oh yeah.
And the place was absolutelypacked.
I would imagine that the, thatthe purses were pretty strong
(21:29):
because if you're gonna bethere, you might as well place a
bet.
Right.
That's the crazy, we weretalking about this on Sunday.
Well, um.
We didn't have any dogs onSaturday.
We had the same amount of racesand they, they bet actually more
money on Saturday because thecrowd that comes out Sunday,
it's a family day.
Um, so we race at one o'clockSaturday, we race at five.
(21:50):
Oh, you know, there's, there'smusic and beers flowing.
It's an older crowd Sundaypeople have kids and there's
food trucks and there it's kindof like gonna, the state fair,
you're not really there to bet.
And so, even though the crowdwas three times the size.
On Sunday, we had they actuallybet less money.
I bet you sold a lot of pizzathough.
Uh, pizza and pasta crushed it,I would imagine.
(22:14):
Good pizza by the way.
Very good.
Pretty good.
Pretty, pretty good.
Pretty, pretty good.
The, uh, Vikings footballseason, it's fun to talk sports,
you know,'cause Steve Brownalways looks just sort of
confused when we talk sports.
I know Jeff is over there doinglike research when we're talking
about the Vikings.
You know, Dempsey can handleJohn.
(22:35):
You asked Steve Brown, who JJMcCarthy was.
Would he know this?
I mean, I know he'd know he'sthe quarterback for the Vikings,
but would he know the backstory?
I, I dunno.
Would he know the Michigan, theNational Championship?
No, not a chance.
Okay.
Not a chance.
Okay.
But you know what?
Alright, you should, he andJeff, the intern were, we were
in the studio last week with,uh, Billy McLaughlin.
(22:57):
You know, the guitar player?
Oh yeah.
world famous guitar player andthose two guys who are both
musicians were virtually wettingthemselves.
They were so excited and Billycould not have been a better
guy.
What a sweet man.
Um, he just, how'd youfacilitate that?
Jeff?
Jeff calls these, these nationallevel people, you know, like,
(23:22):
uh, Yogi Bear's daughter forexample, and get some booked for
these shows and, um.
No reaction to the Yogi Bear'sdaughter comment.
It's, I know it's on your list.
See his granddaughter?
No, it's his granddaughter.
It's his granddaughter.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
Um, no, but it's, um, he's just,you know what, he's, he's, he's
(23:42):
into it.
He's, and oh, he's into it.
You should see we've got the, wegot the text messages to prove
it.
Oh, we do, do we ever?
Yes.
He's equipped us with, uh.
All kinds of, hang on, likethings like this.
Why don't you have your mic upto your mouth anymore?
That was a good laugh.
I felt almost legit.
(24:04):
It was a mock is a long story.
I did not know that.
What's the deal with nobodyleaving voicemails anymore?
Leave one for us and maybe.
So that's the kind of stuff, youknow, we didn't have that
before.
I mean, that's high tech.
No, he's upped our game bigtime.
Yeah.
He has.
That is, you know what that is.
That is, technical ability thatI do not possess.
(24:25):
Um, me too.
And, yeah.
So when, when does the, uh, theCanterbury season come to a
close September 20th?
Uh, we, we race all the waythrough that date.
The get a little in inSeptember, we don't race on
Sunday.
Once NFL football starts, that'sa battle we can't win.
And so it's a lot of times justgonna be a Thursday or, or a
(24:48):
Wednesday and a Saturday type ofdeal twice a week.
Okay.
But we do go through, uh, the20th of September and um, you
know, I've said this for a longtime.
I dunno how your stance is, butI've lived in Minnesota now for
almost 60 years.
I will take our Septemberweather.
That we have up against anyother place, any other month,
(25:11):
anywhere in the world.
Like I think September,Minnesota is the perfect
weather.
I guess the folks in San Diegoget that.
12 months a year because I feellike it's upper sixties, low
seventies, no humidity, mostlysunny, hardly ever rains.
Um, so maybe we just get SanDiego weather for that one
month, but September, Minnesotais perfect.
(25:32):
Oh, nothing, nothing compares.
It's, oh, the only thing is, isit's the leaf start to fall and
you know, I'm kind of obsessedwith having the leaves picked
up.
I know lot.
I get too much exercise thattime of the year.
It's like enough already.
Exactly.
Although I might be hiring thatout, you know, here going
forward.
I just, you know, it's just,it's too much.
It's too much.
(25:53):
Um, you gotta keep that lawnperfect and you can't keep up
with all the stuff you havegoing on.
That's right.
Very, very, yeah.
Air out.
Very busy time.
Um, the Minnesota Wild we'recreeping up on the Minnesota
wild season.
How do feel did, did you knowthey really didn't make many
moves this, this off season?
They didn't, and I'm year.
(26:17):
The last two years specifically,they had so many injuries and I
wanna see some of these youngguys.
I, I didn't want them to go outthere and money for the of
money.
Like Brock's a burn guy.
I love Brock.
I just don't think whatVancouver paid him would've been
smart for Minnesota to pay himwith what they have in the
pipeline right now.
I wanna see what can do.
(26:38):
I wanna see the kid Europe thatjust came over from Russia on
the blue line.
I wanna see.
Z Boy at age 19 now, uh, take abig step forward.
Uh, I wanna see the goalie.
I wanna see Yesper get a chanceto play at the NHL level.
So I'm excited.
I, I know wild fans are sittingon pins and needles with the cap
contract.
(26:58):
I think it's gonna happen hereas camp gets going in September.
I think the wild right now, thelast thing you wanna do right
now as football seasons gettingstarted is try to make a splash
with.
That big name, even if they havesome kind of a gentleman's
agreement right now, you'regonna wanna make that
announcement when you can sellsome tickets around it.
Sure.
So I'm sure they're waitingeither way, uh, to get that
(27:20):
heated up and then we'll figureout what they're gonna do with
Marco Rossi.
I think at this point, um, both,I think Rossi and the Wild,
they're gonna have to find somecommon ground here.
Let's get to the season.
But no, I have high hopes forthis year.
I think they're gonna be reallygood.
I do.
I will be here.
I have no worry yet.
If we get into training camp andnothing's happened, then I'll,
(27:43):
I'll change my stance, but wehave a month to get that figured
out.
What do you think about thetwins unloading, 42% of their,
25 man, roster?
How do you feel about that?
I understand the angst from the,I say that, um, the, for the.
Every other, you know, you lookat the four major men's teams in
(28:03):
town, the Wild, the Woves, theVikings, and the twins.
The other three owners all seemto be fully committed to
spending everything they can.
Yeah.
To win.
And I know that the twins can'tbe Boston, they can't be the
Dodgers or the Yankees, but whennext door neighbor in Milwaukee
has the best record in baseballand, and they spend more than
(28:24):
the.
There's a better way to do this.
And if you don't wanna win, thensell the team.
And, you know, I, that's, that'sthe part where I'm frustrated
because I still think the twinshave some good young talent.
Um, I look at, at Royce Lewis asa guy that when I go to the
ballpark and he's in the lineup,I, I really enjoy watching him
play baseball.
(28:44):
Now, he took a step back thisyear.
I still think he's good baseballplayer.
Um.
And I don't mind the Korea thingat all because no good, good
riddance what they were payinghim.
I, I just don't think this teamis ready to win right now, but I
wanna see them at least try tobe competitive.
What frustrates me, John, is, acouple years ago they were on
(29:05):
the cusp of being a, a prettygood, you know, play off
potential World series potentialteam and you had Sonny Gray,
your game one starter.
You go out, you beat the BlueJays, you win a playoff series.
You got all this young talent,Royce Lewis had all those home
runs and the first thing you dois say, you're not gonna bring
him back.
(29:25):
You don't wanna spend the moneyon him.
Yeah.
And that sends the message rightaway, not just to the fans, but
to the guys in that clubhouse.
But you don't give a crap.
And so that, that's where it allstarted for me.
That was a couple years ago.
They were really good.
And if you can look at that.
With, uh, Pablo Lopez and JoeRyan.
Have a Sonny Great at the frontend of that.
Oh boy, that, that gives youthree pretty damn good starters
(29:48):
right there in every series.
You're gonna have a chance.
And so I'm, I'm frustrated justlike a lot of the twin fans are.
My hope is that, that the polladdon't wanna keep hearing these
chants of sell the team at theballpark, and they're finally
gonna wave the white flag and,and sell the team and give it to
somebody that wants to win.
Well, clearly the children ofCarl Pollad and the
grandchildren of Carl Pollad donot have the business acumen
(30:11):
that grandpa had.
You know, no problem.
The,, How do you, uh,, become amillionaire?
Well, you start like abillionaire and then start
making terrible decisions, andthat seems, that seems to be
exactly what's going on with thePollad family.
I heard something about the, thetwins, they took a loan out on
the twins for$400 million tohelp underwrite some of their
(30:32):
losses in their other businessesand Oh, no.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, that's, that's part ofthe issue.
I just have to address the one.
Trade that upset me was gettingrid of Louis Varland.
They had Louis Varland.
No.
Why would you do that under teamcontrol till 2031.
He's a Minnesota guy.
(30:53):
He was their seventh inning guy.
He had an ERA less than two andhe just, he dominated and he's
one of us.
We love having us.
I, I just, you have to at leastnot be that tone deaf, uh, to
make that move.
I mean, yeah.
And that wasn't that like at theend of all the moves to the last
salt?
Yeah.
Yep.
The last move.
(31:14):
So you get rid of your ninthinning guy, Duran, you get rid
of your eighth inning guy Jacks,which I'm fine with.
Every time I watched him, he'dlose.
Um, and you get rid of Arland,you get rid of Brock, Stewart,
you got rid of all of those.
I mean, their whole bullpen,they crushed, they got rid of
their whole bullpen.
Uh, I was told working 20 orwhatever his name is.
Yes, yes.
(31:35):
Sub one ERA for the season andlike 60 innings pitched and Oh,
let's get rid of him.
We don't need him.
We don't need that.
Yeah.
It's, you know, the Aspen partis, um, Brock Stewart was
drafted when I was working andhe was a high, high draft pick.
In fact, he was number one ortwo, kind of like foxman.
You spend all that timedeveloping and pitchers take
(31:55):
longer.
They're like goalies in hockey.
You finally get this guy up, buthe looks like he's gonna be
halfway decent.
And then the first thing you dois dump him.
I mean, and the same thing withLin, like homegrown guy not
making a, a big contract full ofmoney.
And that's what you want to do.
Like, I, I don't understand thatmentality at all.
I, I don't get, um, and thePoland seem to be their own
(32:20):
worst enemy.
Totally.
You turn a twins game on rightnow.
I feel bad for Tim Launder.
He's working a post game show.
He trying to make a point andhe's got his hometown fans
screaming, sell the team.
They're all around the set, likechanting.
Sell the team, sell the team.
And launder can't acknowledgethat on the broadcast.
He's gotta just kind of move onwith what he's trying to
(32:41):
address.
But I.
This is the venom they'vecreated.
I've seen people, um, inpictures on social media with
target bags on their head.
I mean, come on guys.
We didn't need to be quite sodramatic.
I, I do chuckle when I say thatbecause it's, you know, it's
target field.
It's kind of funny.
But, um, it's too bad though.
I mean, for all of us that, thatlove baseball and love the team,
(33:01):
I really feel bad for the, forthe hardcore fans that that
really sucks.
Oh, it is.
Absolutely.
You know, and I mean, they getthe Luke Keel or whatever his
name is, the second base, and helooks like a player.
I just have to, uh, finish upwith a great story from, uh,
from yesterday.
So yesterday I played in a golftournament for this organization
called Youth Advantage.
(33:23):
Our friends, okay, the, uh, thelobsters.
Well, hi Barbie.
My sister-in-law just walked in.
I haven't seen her in age.
You look good.
All right, see ya.
Um, she's lost like 85 pounds.
You should see her.
She's half the woman she used tobe.
So anyway, turn that light off.
We'll do.
Okay.
Anyway, back to, this eventyesterday for Youth Advantage.
(33:45):
Um, nice golf tournament, reallywell organized.
Played at Indian Hills, so itwas a, you know, course that I
know.
And at the end they had thisvideo and it was a video.
What the organization does isthey help provide opportunities
for, kids that, don't have thefinancial resources to do
extracurricular things and stufflike that.
And they talked about this, uh,this one young man who back in,
(34:10):
2005, 2006, was, uh, was veryill.
Uh, he was like, four or fiveyears old, three or four years
old at the time.
And, uh, spent a lot of time inthe hospital.
They had all kinds of picturesof him with, tubes up his nose
and attached to.
Machines and all this otherstuff, and the family was faced
with the, do we pay for him toplay travel baseball or do we
(34:35):
pay his medical bills?
Of course, they have to pay themedical bills.
So Youth Advantage comes in andI'm watching this video and I'm
looking at this kid and I'mlike, oh my God.
It was called Drew's story.
DRE W's story.
Got it.
And I'm watching it.
All of a sudden, I said to, uh,my brother-in-law, Chad, who's
(34:55):
sitting next to me, I said, Ithink they're talking about Drew
Gilbert.
And if you don't know who DrewGilbert is, drew Gilbert played
for the Stillwater Poniesincredible baseball player,
lefty pitcher, outfielder, was,recruited to play, uh, at
Tennessee.
So he was a volunteer.
Played for Tennessee was theircleanup, hitter number three
(35:16):
hitter wore the number one, justraked home runs.
Uh, ended up being a first rounddraft pick of the Houston Astros
a couple of years ago.
Got traded to the Mets andrecently got traded to the
Giants as part of a, a bigpackage deal moving some, uh,
some players from San Franciscoto, to the mats.
(35:37):
Wow.
And Drew Gilbert.
Last week had his major leaguedebut and they showed a, a, a
video of him during his firstgame making just this incredible
catch in right field.
And they concluded the video.
And, you know, the story wasthis kid who was given an
opportunity to play travelbaseball because a youth
advantage, he's now a majorleague baseball player.
(36:00):
And there was a little messagefrom him thanking people for
their support and all that otherstuff.
Little did they know that thispast weekend Drew Gilbert hit
his very first major league homerun.
What are the chances?
So, no kidding.
So awesome.
And you know, Ben used to playwith this guy and he was a
blizzard baseball player.
And we would go up and this kidwas up there working out every
(36:23):
single day when Ben was up thereworking and coaching out, uh,
Adam Barta hired him to, uh.
Shake people down for their,their, the payment for the
lessons that the kids aregetting.
He'd go around and he said, youknow, we're not running a
charity here.
Uh, did you pay for this yet?
Um, but anyways, drew Gilbertwas there constantly and he
(36:44):
sounds like he's a really goodkid.
And, uh, just what a fun storygot true for people like that.
You That's awesome.
It was very fun.
Very fun.
Well, we've given'em almost 40minutes of our best stuff.
Uh, do you got anything?
One last question.
What's your prediction for theVikings this year, since we're,
it's all sports all the time.
Yeah.
I'm gonna do a quick predictionand I, I gotta shine a little
(37:06):
light on a charity event that Iwas just at this week too.
Oh, terrific.
But I'll start.
Um, I'm a huge JJ McCarthy fan.
Yes.
Part of it is because he was ahockey player and I follow him
at Michigan.
I think he's gonna be good.
I think they're gonna be good.
I don't think they're gonna begreat.
I think they're gonna be good.
I'm gonna go 10 and seven.
I think they'll contend in thedivision, but I think they'll
(37:29):
get a wild card.
Okay.
And I think this year they'llwin a playoff game.
Kevin O'Connell, uh, has yet towin a playoff game.
I think they break through.
I think as the year goes on, ourquarterback will get better and
better.
I think he's gonna struggleearly.
I think that game in Chicago isa really hard place to start on
Monday night football, so Ithink it's gonna be a little bit
of a struggle early.
(37:49):
I think they're gonna get betteras the season goes on.
I believe in the quarterback.
I believe in the coach.
What do you think?
Well, I think they better winearly in the season,'cause
that's kind of the soft part ofthe season for him.
Just to clarify, hard schedule,JJ McCarthy didn't play hockey
at Michigan too, did he?
No.
He played hockey up until like,I wanna say maybe his junior
(38:11):
year of high school.
And then the coaches said,listen, you gotta, you're a
football player and he obviouslymade the right choice, but he.
When he got drafted by theVikings, made a point to say he
was bringing his skates and, youknow, would find his way to a
rink once in a while.
Play some pickup hockey.
He's, he's a hockey guy, sothat's kind of cool.
Now, the charity event I was at,ties into hockey because it's,
(38:35):
it's, uh, a place called theRanch.
Oh yeah, I know.
The ranch up in center.
Yeah, it's, thank see you're soplugged in.
It's connected.
It's connected to Eagles HealingNest, which is an organization
that the Mason support.
There you go.
I know.
Yeah.
And I gotta be, uh, part oftheir fundraising event on
Sunday night, um, over atMississippi Gardens, which is
(38:56):
Jordan Leopold spot, and I gottamediate for the second year in a
row.
A bunch of the guys from the1980, uh, miracle and Ice Team
because Mark Pavlik died, uh,from suicide.
He was, uh, candidate help.
Uh, from military folks tohockey players, you know, mental
(39:17):
and physical struggles thathappened to everybody in all
walks of life at this placespecifically is there to help
them.
And so it was a, an awesomeevent.
Tony Granado, uh, and I werekind of the co MCs.
It was really, really powerfulto hear the stories.
P family was, there was part of.
(39:38):
The sessions on the stage andthere were tears and emotion and
it just, you know how thoseevents are, man.
They pull at your heartstringsand there's a lot of money being
raised and you see thegenerosity that people have, but
then you hear the stories andthe, you know, clearly Pav is no
longer, he's the only guy fromthat team.
He and her Brooks are no longerwith us.
And so Herbie Herbie's brotherwas there.
(40:00):
Um, it was a very, very coolnight.
So if people wanna get involved,the ranch has their own private
website, and now you can do alittle research and if you're so
inclined, make a small donation,it's, uh, it's well worth it or
make a big donation, you know,whatever.
Exactly.
Hey, have you been, have youvisited there?
Not yet.
No.
I've only seen the videos andthey had a bunch of, you know,
(40:20):
clearly they were showing uskind of the, the look at that
place.
It looks gorgeous.
The campus is this beautifulcampus that, uh, uh, Eagles
Healing Nest, you know, theyprovide the same kind of support
for veterans and, uh, yeah,they've got a, a, a space up
there on their campus that thisranch was created.
And, you know, Pavlich was, uh.
(40:41):
Well, he, was he from Hibbing?
He was from Virginia, and heplayed at umd.
Yep.
And I, I, I do recall that, uh,when he, when the Miracle on Ice
was over, he became a New YorkRanger, and I think he scored
like five goals in a game, whichhe had one.
You're exactly right.
(41:01):
You're hundred percent right.
And he wasn't a huge goal scorerwhen he was playing on the
Olympic team.
You know what a, what a sadstory, you know, to lose that
talent to suicide.
All things.
He had a bunch of concussions.
He was a little guy and he tooka lot of hits, you know, because
he was a quick, you know,offensely skilled player.
(41:23):
He is more of a playmaker toyour point, but he was a pure
goal score.
But he took a bunch of hits andhad a bunch of concussions, and
when his sister talked to thecrowd on Sunday night, she spoke
of some of the dark places hewould end up and he just
couldn't.
Come back from, from some ofthose hardships.
And you know, you think of thefolks in the military and you
(41:45):
mentioned the Eagles nest.
You know, most of us can'trelate to that.
No.
Like where, where that paintakes you.
Um, so to have, to have a placeand it looks so peaceful and,
and we got to see some reallycool videos.
And then there was a young man,um, retired military young guy,
uh, who had gone through somereal tough times and tried to
(42:06):
commit suicide and.
He spoke to the crowd and, uh,it was, uh, it was emotional to
say the least, but kid's doingreally well.
He is married now, has a newbaby.
And you know, like, uh, one ofthe, the guys that runs the, uh,
facility.
You know, the, that you've shownand without the eagle's nest and
the help of the ranch, thatbaby's never born.
(42:28):
So they're doing good things,that's for sure.
Very cool.
Well, with that kg, I appreciateyour time.
I know you're a very busypodcaster.
I spread the good word and havefun and talking to you.
It's always a treat.
We're going to the fair togetheron Tuesday.
Is that the plan?
Yeah.
Can't, can't wait.
So excited to go.
(42:48):
Always.
Always.
We hammer some.
It's the tradition.
It is a tradition.
A tradition like none other, themasters.
Oh, we're gonna get that bootand we're gonna crush it.
Yes.
What it, remind me real quick,let's just, uh, your top three
items, number one with a bulletis the roasted corn.
Yeah.
Uh, number two is the bucket ofrigs at ves.
Right next door Almost.
(43:09):
Yep.
And number three, I know I shareone of your top three with this.
Pick the big fat bacon.
Big fat bacon baby.
Number one with a bullet.
I am a sweet Martha's guy.
I really am.
Yeah, I get that.
I like taking them home andputting'em in the freezer.
We usually come bring homebuckets of them and that's when
the, uh, the weight gets put onfor the winter season.
(43:31):
Anyways, enough about the, uh,the food kg.
Um, off we go.
Oh, you just think a drop, asound drop for this.
(43:53):
I look around this studio and Isee a lot of artificial
intelligence.
There you go.
And off we go.
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