Vegas, Hockey and Hockey Moms

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

Episode Transcript

(00:19):
Ooh, welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world with adose of the Minnesota kindness
that it desperately needs.
It's just me and KG today.
Kg, where are we calling you at?
I am in between Minnetonka andSt.
Paul.
Got a function down in the, uh,beautiful city of St.

(00:39):
Paul tonight, so I thought it'dbe a perfect time to little.
Conversation on the front end ofthis week's show.
And, uh, you know, there's no,there's no intern, there's no
Steve Brown, so we can probablytalk sports, we can talk a whole
bunch of Seinfeld.
We really don't have anythingplanned for today, but we
recently returned from, uh, athree day excursion to Las

(01:04):
Vegas.
Your thoughts?
Well, small doses for Vegas, uh,for me, um, had just been there
for a total of nine days on twodifferent trips with the wild.
So the actual spot, it's fine.
Uh, there are places like NewYork, Boston, and Chicago I
would much prefer to travel to.

(01:26):
However, the company was greatand the Kenny Cheney show at.
Everything I hoped it would beas far as the aesthetics go.
Now the sound needed some work.
Um, I'm sure being, it's a newfacility, they all, uh, figured
that out.
Um, it was awesome and I, and Ilove seeing that facility.
It's, it's like going into thefuture.

(01:47):
Like I walked in there with you,John, and I felt like I was.
20 years down the road.
Like I, I've never seen anythinglike that.
Yeah.
The, uh, you know, visually itdid, it felt like we were on the
Jetsons a little bit.
Yes.
And then at the beginning of theshow, when, uh, just the, I'd
love to know who's responsiblefor the, the graphics on the,

(02:09):
the biggest screen you've everseen.
And I could sit in there.
It's, it's like the biggest IMAXtheater that's ever been
created.
It's just, it's nuts.
It's, it's, you know, that thatIMAX experienced is kind of a
mind warp.
And I felt the same way watchingthat like you're transported to

(02:29):
a different place and our seats,um, if we're being honest, were
probably not the absolute bestfor taking the video screen in.
We were in the lower bowl, butthe top side of it, so the
second deck kind of hung overour seats.
So when we go back, and I thinkwe will at some point.
I'd, I'd rather be in one ofthose upper decks so I can take
in the, yeah.
The absolute video surroundexperience.

(02:51):
Um, it's a hell of a facility.
Yeah.
I like to call the experience anight with Kenny's crotch
because the video that wasprojected behind Kenny, we
actually had good seats to seeKenny, and my favorite part is
when Kelsey Ballerini came up.
And, uh, sang that song Half ofMy Hometown, which I just love

(03:12):
that tune, but you could onlysee from about Kenny's waist
down.
So yeah, I have coined the term.
Come enjoy a Night with Kenny'scrotch.
Um.
But it was quite an evening, butLas Vegas, very interesting.
This is the kindest Chronicles,but I'm about to go down a road

(03:32):
that isn't exactly very kind'cause it, just go for it.
'cause I think, you know, wetalked about the difference
between being nice and beingkind.
If I were being nice, I wouldsay, oh, everybody I.
Should take their shirt off atthe pool.
That is not exactly true.
Um, you know, the minute you,you hit 60, 65, no more belly

(03:54):
button piercings, that's, let'snot do that.
Right.
I mean that's, I agree.
Being kind is just saying, youknow what, just stop that.
I don't know.
It's um, it's great peoplewatching in Vegas.
Oh my.
Is it, it's kind of like thestate fair on steroids.

(04:15):
That's how I explain it, becausenobody believes there are any
rules out there.
And to your point, they let itall hang out, literally.
Ugh.
I mean, you're gonna see thingsyou wanna see, you're gonna see
things you don't wanna see.
Um, people are.
It's just, it's a lot.
And the older I get, and I don'tmean this disrespectfully to
anybody, but the more I enjoymore intimate settings, whether

(04:38):
it's a double date with you andBecky or maybe four couples at
a, at a, at a spot where theycan hunker down and really
connect with people, the morepeople you get into one space.
And it's hard to go anywhere andnot feel crowded, and that
doesn't do it for me.
Yeah.
The one thing that I did like,so we stayed at the Venetian and
I told Becky I wouldn't have toleave this place.

(04:59):
There's like 50 restaurants inthere.
Mm-hmm.
Every shop that you could everwant.
The place is absolutely massive.
I think there's 15 pools.
Um, but she made me go out ontothe strip and take a walk down
to something'cause she had to goshopping at some store that was
at the Crystal Courts orwhatever it is.

(05:19):
Um, and that's, that's veryinteresting adventure.
The days of going to Vegas andfinding, you know, the 1599
buffet.
Those days are long gone.
I think that the price, I mean,fortunately you and I don't
drink, but the rest of thepeople we were with were
drinking and they were puttingaway some pretty expensive

(05:42):
beverages.
you know, Vegas used to be,everything was a deal.
Getting out there was cheap.
Hotels were cheap.
To your point, food and drinkwas cheap.
That's no longer the case.
They've upgraded theirfacilities.
These like the Venetian as afine example.
These resorts are incrediblybeautiful.
They're high end, the shoppingis high end, the food is really

(06:03):
good, but you're gonna pay forit and you're not gonna go out
there on a shoestring budgetanymore.
When I first started going Vegasin the late eighties, early
nineties, it was a completelydifferent experience nowadays.
It is, you better bring yourwallet and, and have that, that
credit card ready to get poundedbecause it's expensive,

(06:24):
everything.
And it's, it's, it's wonderful.
You can get a great meal.
You can shop and find greatstuff, but, um, yeah, it's, it's
not gonna be anything, uh, on abudget.
It's gonna be expensive.
Um, as this is the KindnessChronicles, did you experience
any kindness in Las Vegas?
I.

(06:44):
I think for the most part, everyday, like, you know, we stayed
at New York, New York, which Ihad never stayed there, and it
was really nice.
And like a lot of these placesyou can get turned around.
And so a lot of times it mighthave been people that worked
there.
A lot of times there were, werepatrons that were staying there.
Um, and when you get turnedaround, they were out going
outta their way to kind of helpme figure out where I was going.

(07:07):
You get out on the street, um,you see all kinds of different
things on the.
If you ever get into a spotwhere you need help, like people
are very, very friendly.
I thought, you know, the, someof the, the most friendly people
I encountered, uh, were my Lyftdrivers.
I, I just, I find them to befascinating humans.
Um, so no, I, I, I thought itwas great.

(07:27):
Like, uh, it's just, it's thevolume of people that, that gets
me into a situation where I getuncomfortable.
Yeah.
The, I think that somebody, themessage got out that this is a
service industry sort of place.
Um.
And, you know, just abouteverybody that we encountered
from the, the waiters to thepeople that we're serving.

(07:47):
And the pool people, I mean,everybody, obviously, they work
for tips, so they're going to,uh, they're gonna turn it on.
But, you know, I was, I wassurprisingly impressed by the
level of, the niceties.
Um, yes.
Yeah, I, I mean our, our wait.
Of the concert went out her wayto be extra nice to your wife,

(08:07):
that these are the kind ofthings, uh, that I'll take from
Vegas and remember for a longtime.
Oh, it was fun.
It no, was fun.
It was fun.
Like she was a young gal.
She, um, living her best lifefor sure.
Beautiful woman.
And, um, you know, I mean, we'reabout ready to go into this
concert.
We're all jazzed up and we hadwatched the Timberwolves game.
We were looking for a littlelevity at that point because the

(08:30):
basketball game and all of ourtickets on the Timberwolves were
going down the tubes.
So it was great.
Yeah, it was very fun.
So anyway, uh, enough aboutthat.
What do you got going ontonight?
You're on your way to some bigevent.
Well, it's not a big event.
It's, it's, um, it's a livestream with the 10,000 takes.
Guys, I think our listeners willremember a few years ago when

(08:53):
the Vikings, uh, back when theyhad cousins, they did that
really fun Christmas video, um,themed with the, the JJ and the
cousin stuff and KOC who's beenon their show.
These, they're young kids, youknow, kind of like Barstool
Sports locally.
Uh, they, they've taken 10,000lakes and turned it into 10,000.
Sports takes, takes and they doa podcast, they do a live

(09:16):
stream.
They have an office where, wheredo they do it?
St.
Paul.
They do it kind of down by theballpark where the Saints play.
Okay.
So they've got an office downthere and they've got a studio.
Um, it's a really nice set.
They've got the bubble hockeymachine right there.
So whenever I, once we get donerecording, uh, we play a game of
bubble hockey, which is awesome.
Um, they're great kids like atalented bunch.

(09:40):
tonight, we're gonna get intothe,, free agency, the draft,
where this team needs to go,Marco Rossi.
So I'm kind of gearing up forthat type of, of conversation.
Um, and it, it, I, I go downthere a couple times a year.
So I went down once during theseason and I always go down once
during the summer, and this isthe day we picked out a while
back.
So just let's talk wild for asecond.

(10:02):
Who do we expect to lose to freeagency?
I.
Well, I think it's more aboutwho we might move through trades
and, and Marco Rossi's at thetop of that list.
That's the, the big talker,John, is, you know, what's gonna
happen with Rossi because itsounds like the, while they're
willing to offer him, like, I'llballpark this, but this is what
I'm hearing.
Five years, uh, at, at around 25million.

(10:24):
And his camp wants a lot morethan that.
Oh, they're looking for closerto seven or 8 million a year.
Oh, no.
And I, I, well, and if, if thewhile they're gonna go get a, a
frontline center in free agency,and I'll use Sam, Ben as the guy
they might covet who plays forthe Florida Panthers, he'd be
roughly.
A 10 million a year guy nowfavors contract kicks in, you

(10:45):
gotta re you know, resign carri,that's gonna be a, a big number,
probably eight years, 120million.
So you, you have to pick andchoose where you spend the
money.
So Bill Garrin, I think is gonnabe very aggressive in trying to
shop Marco Rossi around andmaybe they'll package him up
with one of their youngprospects and then they'll try
to get something back.
I know, um, the name that wildfans are salivating over as a

(11:08):
kid.
Paige Thompson, he plays inBuffalo And Buffalo's had
another, you know, they'recoming up another season where
there was expectation they wouldcontend for a playoff spot,
which they did not do.
The hard thing for Buffalo ishe's probably their best player
and, um, he's an American kidwho Bill Garrin certainly has on
his radar with his time with USAhockey, they'd have to trade a

(11:30):
lot to get him a lot more thanMarco Rossi, but I, I wouldn't
be surprised if they were atleast trying to be creative on
that front.
The free agent names that keepcoming up are Mitch Marner, uh,
from Toronto.
Uh, I mentioned Sam Bennett fromFlorida.
You've got Brock Nelson from theauditors.
You've got Brock Besser, uh, whoplayed, um, out in Vancouver.

(11:50):
These are all names that keepswirling around, but it's, it's
a huge summer.
Bill his group.
So I think you're gonna see, um,you know, once the, once the
Stanley Cup wraps up here in themiddle of June and we get closer
to that, that draft, whilethey're gonna be aggressive, are
a couple of those guys.
Minnesotans, isn't Brock Nelsona Minnesotan?
So, yeah, Brock, uh, is fromBurnsville and Brock Nelson is

(12:13):
from Warroad.
And, and so both of them haveties here.
They're on the back end of theircareer, especially Brock Nelson.
You know, if you remember lastyear, the trade deadline.
He went to Colorado and playedout, uh, the final, I don't
know, 15, 20 regular seasongames and then played in the
playoffs for the Avalanche.
I know they both would like toplay in Minnesota.
I just don't know if the money'sgonna match what they need to

(12:35):
get paid and what the wild canpay them.
The wild, I think their toppriority is center and, and
both, you know, Besser andNelson are probably more natural
wingers.
Okay.
And that's why the, the name SamBennett keeps popping up and,
you know, Florida keeps winningand if.
Minnesota's chances of gettinghim, but he's a guy that's

(12:55):
likely gonna get around 10million a year.
He could play first line center,which would bump, you know, act
down to being your second linecenter, which would really be a
good setup for this hockey team.
So I would keep an eye on theSam Bennett team, because I
think it's legit, how much, uh,Tourette is left on Spurgeon's
Tire.
You got a couple years left.
Well, you know, Spurgeon had agood year.
Yeah.
And he's, and he's still got, Ithink at least three years left

(13:18):
on that deal.
So if, if he can, again, we'rewaiting for a full year of
healthiness from him when he ishelping, he is fantastic.
The question mark remains, youknow, the last two or three
years he's had to deal withinjuries that have kept him out
for some, some significant time.
And that, that to me is thebigger issue.
He can still play.

(13:39):
Um, the thing, the thing I findremarkable about that, I mean,
he's a little guy and well, whenyou factor in, the average
forward in this league goesabout six, three to 10.
And Spurgeon on a good day isfive seven a hundred sixty.
I mean, it's not real.
That's like I'm being generous,like literally.
Um, he is one of the smallestplayers in the league and he is

(14:00):
super.
He's strong with a stick.
Um, he uses his body with thatlow center of gravity, take
people off the puck.
Um, you know, he's, he's reallyeffective.
And then he, of course he's agreat skater because, you know,
I'm getting smaller guy.
He is, had to be a great skaterjust to get here.
Yeah, he, he does an awful lot,uh, in, in a frame, that small

(14:20):
plane that position you, you'llsee smaller forwards pop up once
in a while.
Cole Cofield in Montreal as anelectric offensive player.
You just don't see a lot ofdefense from that size play as
well as Jared Spurger does.
What kind of gophers are weexpecting to see, uh, in the NHL
next year?
Anybody noteworthy to, to lookforward to?

(14:41):
You know, they've had such a runhere.
I mean, you know, you know, youlook at what favor's done here,
you look at what JacksonMcComb's done out west in
Anaheim.
You look at, you know, Matthewdies, what he's done with
Toronto.
I mean, he's another name.
Up a former golfer.
That's, that's just, I mean,he's taken the league by storm,

(15:03):
so they've had a run now threeor four in a row, and now you
got snugger root.
I guess snugger would be thename I'd give you because I
don't think a lot of hockey fanscaught a lot of his hockey this
year.
He played this past year for thegolfers and then left after the
the NCAA run to go play the lastcouple games with the blues.
That's the name.
Uh, now that I think about it,he'll get his actual rookie

(15:25):
season next year.
St.
Louis has made a commitment to,to snugger root, to be one of
their top end guys.
He'll be on the power play.
He'll be on one of their sport.
Wow.
Yeah, he's really good.
Really good.
And the gopher's, NCAA run wasmore of a quick sprint, wasn't
it?
Or a, a weak jog.

(15:46):
Yeah, they didn't have the runthey wanted, that's for sure.
I I look back at the game theylost and, and they certainly
didn't get a lot of help alongthe way.
You're never gonna blameofficials for a loss that's not,
you know, really acceptable.
But there were some late, latemisses specifically won on the
game winning goal in that hockeygame.

(16:06):
But yeah, it was much shorterthan the, the run before that
where favoring those guys gottathe championship game.
That lead and then let it slipaway in the third.
That was far more painful.
Before I let you go, uh, I wantto talk a minute.
You mentioned officials and youdon't wanna blame games on
officials.
No.
And I think we should do a fullepisode on the way that youth

(16:29):
hockey, basketball, baseball,parents react to officials.
My brother-in-law, Chad is a,uh, a, an ice, uh, hockey, why
did I say ice hockey inMinnesota, we just call him
hockey.
He's a, a, a hockey referee andhe refs everything from, you

(16:51):
know, junior gold all the waydown to mites.
And it is shocking.
I've been to a couple of thegames.
It is shocking how.
Nuts.
Parents can be.
And the reason I bring this upis, uh, we spent the weekend
with John Turinas and, uh, JennyMaddox and John's son.
Timmy has written a, uh, a playand I think it's called The

(17:14):
Rink.
Are you familiar with this?
Have they told you about this?
They have not.
It is about hockey moms and, youknow, Timmy, I mean Timmy is,
Destined for big things.
The guy's just this creative,hilarious kid, and he wrote
this, he wrote this play, and Icannot wait to see it because

(17:34):
can you imagine if there, ifthere is a better, segment of
the population to lampoon thanhockey moms?
I don't know, maybe hockey dads,but talk about being ripe for,
uh, for making fun of.
Well, they, you know, again,when you, when you think about

(17:55):
hockey, the atmosphere at ayouth hockey game, I, I would
say 80 to 90% of the people inthere are normal human beings.
Yes, we got a, we got some kindof kerfuffle here on the
freeway.
Oh.
And then there's the 10 or 20%that ruin it for everybody else.
And there's always one or two.

(18:18):
Not living in the real world andtaking it too serious and
screaming.
And the problem I have with thisis young people are there and
they're impressionable.
And we've gotten to the pointnow, and I've had this
conversation with people thatactually officiate is now, we're
year by year, the numbers arecontinuing to go down in terms

(18:39):
of how many officials we havethat broke.
But Nephew will, uh, this is afew years ago, had a basketball
game.
Yeah.
And it was a high schoolbasketball game.
Are we talking about crossover?
Will captain crossover?
Yeah.
Yes.
Your guy.

(18:59):
Yeah.
My, your guy Will Anderson greatathlete.
At the time he was playing, um,out in Maple Grove, which is a
normal, you know, twin cities,you know, first ring suburb.
Very influential, you know.
Nice, nice place.
I am at the game and, and I'mgonna connect with Will at a,

(19:20):
like we, we leave the game rightwhen the game ends, they get
beat, um, on their home courtand we're gonna connect with
Will, I think, for a bite to eatsomewhere after.
So one of those rare occasionswe didn't stick around after and
mingle with all the parents andwait for the kid to shower and
come out.
We're gonna go get the table atthe restaurant, right?
So we, the buzzer goes and we'reout the door.

(19:41):
All of a sudden we're going downthe hall.
I see this security guy and Isee the officials and they, the
game had literally just got overand they are shuffling these
guys off to the parking lot withsecurity, John, come on a
Minnesota high school basketballgame on like a Tuesday night.
Oh boy.
And so I asked the security guyslike, oh yeah, we, we have to do

(20:02):
this at every high school game,not Maple Grove, like every high
school game all around the statebecause we've had some
incidents.
Waiting out the parking lot.
I'm like, what?
This is the world we live in andI'm message are reset.
I think now the videos that havegone viral, you know, people now

(20:24):
are a little more accountablethan they were 10 and 15 years
ago, because now people arepopping out their phones and
some of these people that aremisbehaving are ending up on
Facebook or on Twitter, and it'sembarrassing.
So that's the silver lining tosocial media.
And let's get, let's take a deepbreath here and get back to
reality.
Wow.
one of my favorite things to dois when a a, a parent starts

(20:48):
yelling about a umpire calling aball, or strikes ball or a
strike, I'll, you know, I'llturn around and I'll say, you
know, the, the umps probably notgonna change his mind and the
history of watching baseball,I'm not sure I've ever had a,
had an um, say.
Oh, you know what?
You're right.
That was a strike.

(21:09):
You know, I apologize.
That was a strike.
It's like, what is the point ofthat?
And I think that the more ofthat that you do, the tighter
the strike zone's gonna get forwhoever the kid is that's
pitching.
I mean, it's, you know, there'ssome gamesmanship.
You gotta be smart about thesethings.
And rightfully so.
If I was an umpire, that'sexactly what I would do.

(21:31):
I'm sorry.
I mean, they're not making a lotof money.
It's just human nature.
I mean, yeah.
I just, we gotta hit the resetbutton.
I mean, and I think we'regetting there.
I do think social media isstarting to curtail some of the
obnoxious behavior.
Sometimes people lose theirmind.
Uh, there's passion involved.
You want, you know, we all wantkid have experience.
Part of that experience that'sgonna down the road.

(21:55):
Sometimes things just don't goyour way.
Correct.
A little Billy or a little Susieor a little whoever, you know,
you know the call's not gonna goyour way.
Just like in life, you know,whatever office you're in, you
might not get that promotion atthe right time.
Even though you've done all thedirty work, your time will come,
it'll all work out.
Like just put it in perspective.

(22:15):
Yeah.
And there is, uh, there's a lot.
I always, you know, when I usedto coach and the kids would be
sad after the loss, I.
I'd always say to'em, you know,10 years from now, you're not
gonna look back and go, do youremember that one stupid game on
a Wednesday night?
Nobody remembers that stuff.
What they do remember are themoments that you act in a

(22:37):
particularly.
Showing good sportsmanship, forexample.
You know, those are the momentsthat, that, that stay in
people's minds.
Um, but also the, the, themoments of terrible behavior can
also stay in minds.
I have a funny, I dunno if Iever told you this, uh, story
about when Jack was probably 13,14 years old.

(22:59):
He started umping, uh, likethird and fourth grade baseball
and.
I'll never forget I was upwatching him ump this game'cause
it was a couple of Maddi teamsplaying against each other.
And there is a dad that'ssitting behind Jack.

(23:20):
So Jack is, you know the umpirebehind the catcher and directly
behind him is a dad.
And the dad's kid is pitching.
The dad was calling balls andstrikes before Jack could even
call the ball or strike.
So Jack, I couldn't believe itturned around and he said, you

(23:42):
know, I'm getting paid whether Icalled the game or not.
Do you just, do you want to havea better view?
You could.
I couldn't believe he did it.
He did it respectfully, but wow.
He made his point.
And every other parent was like,he will have parents that'll
come up to him and say, Iremember when you told so and

(24:04):
so.
Wow.
Yeah, it was, and what's superfunny is, is I kind of know this
guy and he didn't see that I wasthere.
And I think he was really kindof embarrassed.
And Jack's, intention wasn't toembarrass him, but it was to
just say.
I, come on, man.
I mean, this is third and fourthgrade baseball, and the, the
strike zone is about the sizeof, a Volkswagen, if they get it

(24:28):
anywhere near the plate, it's astrike.
But we're, we're trying to getthe kids to swing here.
We don't need you barking outwhat the thing is that affects
everybody, not just the umpire,the kids.
Like, why would you do that?
Yeah.
It's, it's, it's a sad state ofaffairs.
We're gonna take this on in oneof our,, future, episodes of the
Kindness Chronicles.

(24:49):
You have a lovely evening.
Have you made it to yourdestination?
No, I'm not even close and I'm,I'm due there in less than 20
minutes.
And I'm telling you this, Ithink is unbelievable.
Now, I saw a couple of, uh,state patrols whiz by, I think
you might heard, I.
Fender bender up here, whichobviously everybody's gotta slow

(25:11):
down and see, but uh, yeah, thishasn't gone well.
Where, where are you exactly?
Are you on 94?
I'm on 4 94.
Oh, no.
I'm an hour into my journey andI'm not even to the airport.
Oh no.
The construction on 4 94 islegit.
It's, it's, it's brutal.
Yeah.
I, I find myself taking sideroads more often.

(25:34):
I don't care how long it takesme to get there.
I just don't like being stopped.
I, I don't like being stoppedeither, and I don't have the
greatest patience, but I, I letthe guys know I'd get there and
I told them I'm leaving at four15.
I'll get there as close to five30 as well.
And let's face it possible.
You're the talent.
I mean, so they're you?
Well, it's not like a, is it alive show that you're, uh, that

(25:55):
they do, do they live stream it?
I don't think we go live till,yeah, we live, I don't.
All right.
Well, it'll all be okay.
Is this a, is this a paid gig?
No, no.
This is just a fun gig.
Um, happy to do it.
Wait a second.
More, more fun than the KindnessChronicles.
Well, that's, this is adifferent kind of, this is just

(26:18):
you and I talking.
Yeah.
Which I like to do.
Oh, did I hit record my off timeanyway?
Oh, shoot.
Yeah.
Can't thank you enough for allthe time.
I'm out, Chuck.
Come 5,000.
All right, have fun.
See you Johnny.
Bye.
Kg.
And off we go.
Bye.