Best of Schopp and Bulldog on WGR: Mar 23- Mar 27

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It's Sal Capaccio.

Filling up right behind the bills bench right now

with their flags and they're, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Let's go Buffalo Chan.

None WGR sports radio 550.

Welcome back.

I reached out to Sal this morning to tell him about a show

I watched last night that I would recommend.

Not just if you're a Yankee fan.

Maybe better if you're not.

Peacock, I said to Sal Netflix,

but I have corrected that since Peacock has Bronx Zoo 90.

And the story of how the Yankees

under George Steinbrunner in 1990 just completely fell apart.

We've talked about before how the Yankees won more games

in the decade of the 80s than any other team.

They weren't known for like winning,

they didn't win a World Series,

but they were the winningest team of the 80s.

1990, different story.

And it's a three, it's maybe four or five hours in total sale.

And you're going to love it.

I mean, unless you have sort of pains

from having lived through that team as a fan,

it's, I mean, it's, it's funny.

And you know, it wasn't funny at the time.

I'm sure for those guys and for Yankee fans,

but I recommend on Peacock, Bronx Zoo 90.

I'll have to check it out.

No, I mean, the late 80s, early 90s Yankees,

they were kind of like, man, why can't this team be better?

Kind of a couple, like kind of okay season.

They weren't that great in the 95, obviously,

was, you know, Mariners and Edgar Martinez.

And that's when you knew that there was

something brewing there, right?

For sure.

Did you hear the story that Barry Bond's told

on Netflix about the Yankees when he was a free agent?

No, I don't know that one.

I didn't hear about this.

You refresh me here.

I don't think I quite have it.

I never knew this.

But Barry Bond said on the broadcast, Adam, on.

And he said when he became a free agent from the pirates,

he said, George Stimerter called him and said,

I'm going to make you the highest paid player baseball.

Simon the Yankees, but you have to tell me

by 2 p.m. today, basically, whatever you know,

he's like, he gave him like a couple hours.

And he's like, oh, well, that's great.

But I don't know what I want to do.

Like, give me a minute.

Like, hold up the phone and thought about it.

He said he got like upset that they were giving

him a timeline.

He's like, I'm not going to do it.

I'm going to go back.

Am I going to San Francisco?

Or otherwise, he would have any Yankees.

The story I read about this said that that phone call lines up

with a time where Steinbrenner was suspended

and should not have been allowed to be conducting Yankees

business, but did it anyway, by telling that story sort

of telling me whatever he's deceased.

Yeah, but the shocker Steinbrenner

didn't really respect the rules of the suspension.

I'm going to want to check this out too.

We're going to talk to an author, a long time New York

post column, this Mike Vicaro week after Easter coming up.

He's got a book out called The Bosses of the Bronx

that say I'll after I'm done with it.

And mate, I'm going to get it to Mike

before we have Mike Vicaro on.

You might want to check that out.

I'm like a couple chapters in and really

enjoying it so far.

It's all about this time, Brenner ownership,

how he came to own the team and then I'm through.

So there's a lot of juicy stuff.

Well, it's so good.

And I didn't know so much of this when he signed Winfield.

Like Winfield gave him a hard time and sort of the way

the contract was worded had $10 million more coming

than Steinbrenner intended.

And it's like before the first press conference

when they introduced Winfield,

Steinbrenner was furious with him

and never stopped trying to aggravate him

and dig up dirt on him.

And that's eventually how he gets suspended

through a gambler and the gambler,

how he spear is on the show.

And he tells his side of that story

and how he got involved with Steinbrenner and all of this.

It's great.

So won't say too much.

But that suspension means Gene Michael replaces

Steinbrenner as manager of the general manager of the team

and sort of the overseer of the team

and Michael drafts all those guys that became a dynasty.

Winfield was my favorite Yankee when I was younger.

I loved him.

And remember, he hits the pigeon in Toronto, right?

He throws the ball and hits a pigeon.

And the famous line from George Steinbrenner was,

he couldn't even hit the cutoff man.

How was he supposed to hit the pigeon?

Yeah.

Steinbrenner just hated him publicly.

It definitely comes across here.

Okay.

The bills make a little bit of news today

bringing back Demar Hamlin.

I was glad to hear about it.

I think I always want to have Hamlin play for the bills.

But I'm sure this wasn't mostly for sentimental reasons.

What do you think of this all and sort of the fit now

under a new defensive coordinator?

He's a polarizing player.

And Mike, I think there are bills we have to do

to think they do it for sentimental reasons.

I agree with you.

That's not why.

You do it because you think he's gonna help your roster.

But he's been polarizing.

Part of it is because he was put in a situation a couple years ago

where quite frankly, he shouldn't have been in

because he wasn't a high level safety.

But he had to play because it's kind of all they had.

And it was just a stark difference

and unfair to him really to be compared

to Mike, Jordan, Boyer.

Or you have to didn't have those two guys.

You didn't have those guys.

And I'm quite frankly surprised too.

Like I did not think Demar Hamlin would come back.

And a big reason for me is my natural reflex

on a lot of these things over nine years has been,

oh yeah, well, he knows the system.

Well, it's a new system now.

And there's like 13 free agents that they

not not resign.

If you, when you guys laid them out,

we talked about it last week,

all the defensive guys who have,

who are still free agents who ever resign,

if you're gonna say like order them

on their likelihood to come back,

I wouldn't get to Demar very quickly for that very reason.

Like Demar represents to me a high floor guy

but low ceiling guy that you can do much better than.

But I've always said also,

like every team has players like Demar Hamlin.

If you're expecting, he's not a pro baller,

he's not an all pro.

But the fact that they have this new defensive coordinator,

the fact that they had such an overhaul and defense,

I just didn't expect it.

But I'm mostly here to tell you like, he's fine.

He doesn't even know, you might even make the team.

We don't know.

Yeah, this is where I'm waiting.

I'm waiting for you to say the thing about the 90 players.

Yeah, 90 players.

You might not make the team.

And by the way, what's his number going to be?

Probably minimum salary.

He might not even count on the top 51 salary cap books

at this point, to be honest with you.

Yeah, like the biggest criticism I could make here is,

well, we know the ceiling's low.

So if he's a depth guy, get a different depth guy,

a younger, newer depth guy that you might uncover.

Like, you know, oh wow, look, this guy can really help us.

He can really, you know, be more than just a backup

or a special team or whatever.

But they can still do that.

That's the 90 player point, right?

It's like, you know, I'm not, you know, ready to,

you know, go to the mattresses over it hardly.

I mean, like, okay, like you said, we'll see if he makes it.

Like I think he's outranked by the two guys

they signed a couple of weeks ago already

that started games in the league last year.

You know, Stone and C.J. Garden of Johnson.

And maybe Hamlin right now is their fourth safety.

And we'll see what else, you know, they end up doing.

And actually, I thought, you know,

so was it a Marham and replacement basically?

Yeah.

Like, to me, he just screams like a player like tomorrow,

which is he's not going to make these wild plays

and game changing plays.

He's not a guy you want in the field all the time.

But he's insurance state.

If you need somebody to get through a game,

you've got to start him here and there.

That's fine.

He can play a lot of special teams for you.

No problem.

I thought, okay, when they signed, you know,

Smith, that was even more of a, oh yeah.

Like, Demar's probably done, like,

not sure where he winds up.

So I'm surprised by this.

But look, I mean, if Demar Hamlin and his agent went

to the bills and said, we don't want to play anywhere else,

we're going to come back at a minimum deal.

And, you know, we love to be here.

The bills look at the roster and go, okay, what can it hurt?

It doesn't mean he has to be here, you know,

on September 9th, 10th, 11th, whenever the season starts.

So yeah, I think it's a really, but he's super polarizing.

I mean, the reaction online from fans just like last year,

super predictable, which is, oh my God,

why are they doing this?

He stinks or, oh yeah, great story.

They just like to feel good PR.

That's not why they're doing it.

They're doing it because they need players like this.

Whether his name is Demar Hamlin or Geno Smith or Joe,

whatever, these are players that every team has on their roster.

Right, Geno Stone.

I don't know how much Geno Stone.

I don't know how much PR juice is left anyway with Hamlin.

Like for anybody to sort of be outraged over it,

I think doesn't have an understanding of really

what the cost benefit is.

I mean, there's a little bit.

I, my hand is up because I think about this, you know,

what happened with him when the news breaks.

What is safety anymore for them as a draft priority?

And we might have talked about this a little bit on Wednesday

or recently I know, but with every signing at a position,

I kind of want to just double back to, you know,

not that Demar Hamlin means they wouldn't draft a safety

in the first round or anything like that.

But is that possible?

There are mock drafts that would put a safety on the bills.

I haven't mentioned Jordan Hancock before you start answering,

so that's another young guy that I'm even thinking of

that could come on and help you.

We'll see, there's more of a developmental guy

fifth round pick from last year.

All right, sorry, what do you think?

Safety as far as the draft goes.

Now they've got five guys here.

I wonder if they feel Jordan Hancock more as a nickel

going into this year because, you know, you have DL

for the assigned, you let Terran Johnson go,

now you've signed another safety.

So I wonder if they maybe that's where he falls

and that's why you bring back a guy like Demar.

And yes, Geno Stone.

And by the way, every time I do it, I say Geno Smith, right?

It's just such a reflex to say Geno Smith when I say Geno Stone.

But maybe that's the case.

I do think safety is still something they could do

early in the draft, even for Johnson.

Good safety class.

I just think I'm fascinated by CJ Gerner Johnson.

Like he's going to start.

Like he's got to be the starter right now.

You're paying him starters money.

He's a really good player, but he's such a wild card.

You don't know what you're going to get with him.

And the chances are that he's going to be on the team for one year

because he'll come in and you're going to have him play.

And then you're going to move off on

because that's just what happens.

That's the book on him.

Every team does this.

So you need a longer term solution.

You have cold dish up for two more years

on his rookie contract.

And then you just have a bunch of one year guys

other than Jordan Hancock to Bulldogs Point,

which is right.

Unless you feel that he can develop into something

and maybe that winds up and you don't have to revisit it.

But it would be nice to have a pair of younger safeties

that you can really rely on because I just don't know

what CJ Gerner Johnson is going to bring.

And he could wind up being honestly.

He could wind up being an all pro

or he could wind up being like not on the team

when we check.

Halloween, yeah, right?

Yeah, that's right.

Good luck with Iowa tomorrow.

All right, you're going in in Joe's thing, huh?

I mean, it sounds like if you get Iowa,

then you could chop it with a lot of people, right?

I mean, it's so chalky again,

but you have to get Iowa.

It might be a close up.

So, Lord, I have everybody open tonight.

I could take any team, which is crazy.

Great job by you.

Well, I think I'm going to take Michigan tonight

because it feels like it's just the right,

like they're going to win.

And I don't really trust any of the other teams.

I could take Duke, but man,

I can see St. John's beaten Duke.

I think I can see Alabama beating Michigan,

but I think Michigan's the play

because Alabama's a little bit depleted.

Michigan's really, really strong.

The problem is tomorrow,

literally, I have to take Iowa.

There's the only team I have left that's playing tomorrow.

Well, you've played it all the way out to the end, I hope.

Like if you take Michigan, they can't win the tournament

and they like the favorite to win the tournament.

That's okay.

And that's better if you win

because more people will be on them.

You what would happen?

Do you know what happens in this like when,

like certain amount of people left,

like you don't have to have a winner, right?

I mean, one person can't be standing all the time, obviously.

Well, if it's the semi's and there's one player left,

then that's it.

If it goes all the way to the final

and there are teams multiple guys like yourself

who have the winner, then they'll chop the whole amount.

Chop it up, yeah, for sure.

But this is really interesting and fun,

but it gets very harrowing as well.

The last two years have felt like years.

I don't know this for sure,

because I'm not playing in Joostrovsky's survivor this year,

but it's so chalky again that it probably does go all the way.

I mean, I think the winner probably does go all the way.

So figure out how best to do that, I guess.

Not to try to change your mind on tonight, but.

Oh, listen, I mean, I thought of Iowa State tonight

because I don't think I'll take them after this,

but I just don't feel like that's a, like, I mean,

I don't know, Tennessee could win.

I guess my philosophy, I guess at the end of the day,

is surviving advance, right?

And to me, the best chance to survive in advance tonight

is Michigan tonight.

Tonight, that's probably right.

Okay, good luck.

Thanks, guys.

All right, the Selkopatio on the Western hotline,

his appearances are brought to you by New York's only outlet liquor.

When you need to stock up, it's the place to buy a case.

What's your outlet?

That would definitely not use Michigan tonight.

Yeah.

I can't say what I'd say at Michigan.

Definitely, you're definitely would not do

because I just, yeah, I got it.

It sales pool, I didn't want to say it's not following it.

I'm saying Michigan, I got bounced, but it was,

I said great job just because, I mean, to get,

to get, you know, what's it been?

Like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Thursday,

is what he's won so far, right?

That's, that's pretty, I got through two days

and I was like, whoa, I get to pick on Saturday.

But it does sound like he's playing it pretty safe.

Yeah, like he's used everybody on one side,

except for Iowa.

Yeah, right?

Yeah.

And you got to win, right?

I mean, I would be out too because I'd be trying to get cute.

Right, right.

In the first week, you didn't lose that way,

but I would have, I would have picked a nine or a 10

or somebody like that.

Yeah.

The first round and, you know, across your fingers.

But he'll, we'll see if he gets stuck.

Yeah.

I was trying to avoid teams that I thought were going to win it

myself, like that, you know, it was, you know,

I would still be doing the first two days of the tournament.

It was easy to do and, you know, but I,

I struck out on Gonzaga and that was the end of that.

I think I would still be doing that tonight.

Yeah.

You want to pick a team and I, he mentioned Iowa State.

Maybe that's picked a favorite or even Alabama's pretty,

I wouldn't do that.

Pick the favorite tonight that you think has the least chance

to win the championship, right?

Mike's open the bulldog here.

Paul Hamilton at six Sabers pregame.

This is WGR.

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Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair.

Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if?

Like, what if it doesn't fit?

Little to the line.

Don't wait.

Yep, should've gone with Wayfair.

Or what if it doesn't hold up?

That sofa was four days old.

Should've ordered from Wayfair.

Or what if it's that material that makes that noise?

It was a sofa, I swear.

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and furniture that actually fits your life.

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Testing season is right around the corner.

And this is when confidence really matters.

When kids take time to review key concepts

and strengthen their skills before assessments,

it can make all the difference.

IXL helps reinforce what they're learning right now.

So they walk into every test feeling prepared,

capable and confident.

IXL is an award-winning online learning platform

that helps kids truly understand what they're learning,

whether they're building math confidence,

strengthening reading and writing skills,

or reviewing science concepts.

Designed for students from pre-K through 12th grade,

IXL delivers personalized interactive practice

that adapts to your child's level and pace.

It's an easy, effective way to support learning

as the school year heads into its final stretch.

Studies show kids who use IXL score higher on tests,

proven in all 50 states.

IXL is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the US.

Make an impact on your child's learning.

Get IXL now.

And listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership

when they sign up today at IXLlearning.com slash audio.

Visit IXLlearning.com slash audio

to get the most effective learning program out there

at the best price.

Get more out of every mile when you share the ride to work.

With car pulling, you'll have time to relax,

save money, and pick up new friends.

Commuter connections can help you find carpool partners

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My dad's not here right now, he's still at work.

So I'm gonna bless him.

Mike Shope and the Bulldog.

I'm gonna see if there's a clean version

so that my parents and the people at my school

will not get met at me.

We've got the spritzer filled with water,

just in case if stock gets too fire.

I'm gonna set up the speaker and I'm gonna listen to it.

Mike Shope and the Bulldog.

I think this is the best Mike Shope feature

that I've heard on a long time.

I think his flow is really good on it

and I like his aggressiveness on it and the Bulldog.

Put not enough effort in it.

I think overall his flow was good,

but I don't like that mobile wrapping.

That was my review of Mike Shope and the Bulldog.

I didn't need the spritzer,

it wasn't fire enough, no spritzer P, no spritzer.

Happy Friday, happy opening day for the bison's.

Sounds out, I have a friend who went.

My car said it was 33 degrees.

I think about that, the sun's out.

You get a free ticket because it wasn't 50.

Great idea.

I found myself thinking this afternoon

standing in my backyard in the shade and then in the sun.

Like okay, I'm waiting outside with my dog

and I realize I'm in the shade.

Like that's kind of cold out.

I'm thinking about the bison so I'm gonna get in the sun.

Fine.

It's a little bit better.

That's what I was.

The sun feels good.

Leading up to.

It was probably fine.

It was definitely at most in the 40s

for the very first opening day there in 88 that I went to.

Okay.

You were at that.

Yeah.

And it was over.

It was not, there was no precipitation,

but it was not sunny.

Like it was kind of a gray kind of like spotty bits of sun.

Mix of sun and clouds, maybe they would have said.

I don't know.

You should coin that.

But not like today.

Today is like blue sky everywhere.

I mean, you're gonna feel the sun

if you're on the right side of the field.

I think it was probably fine for the people who went.

Yeah.

Put a coat on.

Right.

Right.

No shorts.

And the sun probably would feel good.

Yes.

You were at the shady side.

Yeah.

I should have remembered that.

I'm sure you've told me.

Yeah.

You were at the first ever game there.

I've got a great picture of my friend and Tom Prince.

It's Tom Prince at a solo home run.

But there's a picture of me sneaking a cigarette.

There's like a lady in a babushka behind like it's a it's a it's a very it looks like

it could be from if I'm not in it, the picture looks like maybe it could be from 1950.

But then there's me and my friends anyway, maybe I'll get around to tweeting that.

Taken by Harry Skull.

No.

No.

Taken by my friend Bud Redding.

Took that picture, I believe.

Was he a professional?

No.

No, he just had a.

Yeah.

Just having a camera.

He had a camera.

I'm 1980 and a camera.

They let you take a camera.

I don't believe it was attached to a phone.

In fact, I'm sure that you would have done.

Yeah.

In the 80s.

You would have taken cameras.

The ballpark was a big deal.

It's a game.

Anywhere.

Right.

But particularly like, you know, you want to have some record of a historical event.

Here's this new ballpark opening downtown where we're hoping it's the first step towards

actually getting a major like baseball team.

I know that sounds insane.

Now all these years later, maybe, but back then it was a living breathing thing.

So like, yeah, I want to document this.

Said my friend Bud.

Well, I mean, just in general, that people would have done that in the 80s and earlier

taking cameras.

Yes.

And that wouldn't have been something that would have been confiscated.

I think not.

Now, I mean, you can't take peanut butter on planes.

Yeah, right.

So I think maybe in the 80s, it was a different time.

You could have taken a camera while your friend was able to.

Yes.

I don't think he, I'm assuming he didn't sneak that in.

I'm assuming he just walked in with like maybe his girlfriend at the time had a

purse, the size of a small duffle bag.

And that also probably didn't matter.

You can't take a purse into the sabers games.

Right.

You can't take anything really anywhere anymore.

You can't take anything anywhere.

Just your phone.

Oh, we still go.

Your phone in a form of payment.

But we still.

That's all.

It's all your phone.

Is your form of payments.

Right.

You don't even need anything else.

You just sort of show your phone.

And there's the money.

There's the ticket.

We still go.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Opening day story is Rochester 1994.

I would have been 22.

I'll keep the short.

I've told the story probably too many times, but I'll never forget it.

I got into the position of being the PA announcer there like a week before days before the

season.

Somebody, I think the guy died actually and they needed somebody and I got it.

So there it was 94 Rochester Ottawa.

And so Orioles expose.

The opening day is the best day for the PA announcer of the year because you're introducing

all the players you have, you know, you have time to show air there.

Yeah.

So it was a beautiful, warm, unseasonably warm day in Rochester.

And I was like, this is probably going to be the best day of my life, announcing players

and in the sun and packed stadium for the opener, everything.

Great day.

Great moment.

Next day, 40 degrees colder and the roof literally blew off.

The wind took a sheet metal panel off the silver stadium roof and sent it hurtling, flying

through the air toward the field, toward the third base dugout.

People are sitting there.

They have no idea that Plymouth Rock is about to launch metal object is flying toward

them.

Right.

It could have been like a tragedy.

Yeah.

So even if it was sort of like inside, it's going to be super sharp on the edges.

Sure.

It just landed safely somewhat.

Maybe it made it to the field.

Hopefully it did.

I forget.

But there was a moment where like we all sort of in the press box saw this giant piece of

metal fly off the roof and head for the field.

Oh boy.

And no one died.

So that was good.

But very day two was not that no introductions, no sunshine, flying metal.

Right.

Yeah.

Very different.

Yeah.

Or Red Wing season.

Okay.

Well, we hope anyone who's down there, you're having a, you're having a good day.

Stay in warm.

Tonight, Sabers and Red Wings, would you take overtime?

I feel like I have to say yes.

I can still get two points.

I don't really, I might even want, I might even want to try.

Now you got it.

I might even want to try, yeah, because tonight is, tonight for them is, I saw a win.

They're far from like in great shape, but a win is like they're 47% to get in.

An overtime loss drops it down to 30 something and a regulation loss.

This is for Detroit, drops them to like 27% or something to get in.

And so I think a win for, I want, I think I want them in the pool, you know, like there,

I think they are the weakest of all of the teams that are vying for these spots.

So I mean, I know that's a little counterintuitive, right?

Like they're that bad.

Why would I take overtime?

Well, because I want them in, I want them in.

I'd like them in instead of Ottawa or even Columbus or, you know, whoever, power that's

going to shake out, Boston, Boston, sure.

You wouldn't take an overtime loss right now.

No, neither.

No, I would take overtime.

That's why.

Yeah.

I think.

Not to be cocky about it, but what I'd like for the, what I'd like for the idea is for

the sabers to be better at overtime.

That would be ideal.

Yeah.

I don't think they've really figured out overtime or their guys like Thompson, sometimes

these over times has gotten beat, has gotten trapped or made a mistake and yeah, got all tangled

up in anime.

And yeah, that's a dude, the thing where I'm picking on their best guy, you know, some

of these guys aren't even going to see the ice in overtime, but yeah, I think overtime

is good.

They, they, they seem, they, they have, and this is not new and they're not the only team

that does this, but did they not have crebs out there to take, to take the draw and lost

the draw and he didn't go right off because I, maybe because they lost the draw, I don't,

I would think if they had won the draw, he goes off for someone else, but I, I don't

know, they lose the draw, he stays on and they never get the puck.

So they, they're, they're very focused on that, like, let's get the puck, which, you

know, it makes sense.

I mean, in a, in a game like Wednesdays, they never touched it after they lost that draw.

So getting to have it first can be extremely beneficial.

You might just have one possession and in the game, like Boston did, but I'm not sure

I love Peyton Krebs to start overtime.

Sal said on his show that Paul said that Krebs had a better night in the circle than

carrot.

Okay.

So maybe that's why that was, I mean, get a save.

I would assume that there's a reason for it.

Yeah.

Like, maybe just based on the game and the, the face off matchups within the game, I know

he did Krebs while out there in regulation with talk and Thompson, win an offensive zone

draw that they got a good scoring chance out of in the second period.

I remember where the draw was.

So maybe that was that same matchup and Lindy wanted to do it again and hope that he would

duplicate it and he didn't.

But yeah, get a save that, that'd be good.

They should have been able to get one.

Yeah.

After that, but, you know, it's why, well, is it even worth talking about anymore?

It's why 15 years ago, the analytics world kind of came up with face offs really don't

matter.

And then anytime somebody who thinks that that's just nonsense sees a play where they score

off, somebody scores off a draw, then they're like right after you with why this is why

they do.

And like everything matters sometimes, everything like the seventh guy on the line on a kickoff

coverage team.

Well, that really matters because one time they got beat, right?

So you'd expect to be able to get a stop and keep the game going, but yeah, I don't

think any.

Well, I don't know.

I don't want to speak for the analytics community on this.

But I don't think anyone would deny that like there are certainly moments in the game

where winning the face off matters more than it does at other times.

But overall, what the face offs don't matter thing was born out of is that being great

at winning draws does not mean you're going to be a good team.

There's a lot of other things that have to go right.

You can win draws and lose possession almost immediately because how often are you scoring

off of it?

It's that too.

It's that goalie say 92% of shots.

That's like a few times a year you get a you get a scoring play right off of a draw.

Yeah.

To win the face off is better than losing it.

Right.

And if you don't score off of it, then how much was it really worth?

That's all.

And kind of in the same vein, defensively, you're up three to two with a minute and a half

to go and there's a draw on your end.

You want to win that draw and get a shot at the open net, whatever.

That's a good time to win a draw.

But you can also blow that, win the draw and not get it out and you're in your own end

and how much value was there and actually winning the draw.

Yeah.

Like I started by saying it's not even interesting anymore.

But it probably would be to some people.

The Olympic gold medal game Canada won both of the face offs and over time.

That was three on three for the gold medal and lost the game.

The Sabers, it can be said, are last though in the statistic in a league or 30 second.

Norris was supposed to help that and of course, Kerrick is supposed to help that.

Let's just pray that it doesn't make keys to the game.

One of these days.

Hmm.

Face offs.

Come on.

It has been a long season and then now to be ready for playoff keys to the game.

Oh God.

I think we could we could end up there.

I'm I'm I'm bracing myself for that.

I think it's realistic that we could end up there.

Tampa gets one point.

Did you see any of it?

I saw quite a lot quite a bit of it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think Seattle really did a great job to get that game to over time and I feel like they

stole they stole the extra point from Tampa Tampa was absolutely ragdolling them in

the third period.

That game was three one at one point, you know, midway through maybe and then Tampa tied

it up and shots in the third period were like at one point 12 to two or something and it

really looked like that.

It was just everything was in the in the Seattle zone.

It was Groobauer.

He played great and then they got a chance and over time in Montour made a real nice little

heavy play there.

I don't think Vasiliski thought he was going to shoot it and he shot it and they won.

So where was this game on TV?

This game was where did I have this game?

It might have been a TNT game again.

No.

I don't think that's right NHL network ESPN plus ESPN so I honestly I'm not I'm not there

were.

It had to be ESPN plus.

Okay.

I think is where it was.

They had a ton of games last night and I was just I remember scrolling through their

guide looking for that game and it took me a while but I got there.

Yeah.

I'm mistaken about TNT.

It was it was anyway.

So I had the Tampa broadcast of the game.

They spent it.

You don't need to know.

It's like I'm always hesitant.

I always want to dive into this but I'm always hesitant to do so because I don't really

know what it sounds like.

You know to different people whether that's based on income or based on age.

It's just it's I'm losing my mind over not being able to find games and nowhere to look.

And I mean it's opening day and I'm not beating myself up over not knowing to go to peacock

for baseball.

I didn't know that I was going to need to bring that that's new this year.

Even last night I wanted to see the Dodgers and okay right peacock and BC is doing this

football which we have doesn't have NBC so you need peacock to watch you know primarily

I guess baseball now and I heard that the Nationals Cubs game like Nationals fans couldn't

find the game anywhere on the regular stream if that's even the right term for something

and then the other streams like they couldn't get it that you couldn't get to the national

that makes sense because I did read in the run up to baseball starting I won't talk

about opening night in the opening day and anyway whatever the baseball season ramping

up there was some media reporter I follow like there's a there's a handful of teams and

maybe these two teams are at least one of them were among them where like all of these

sort of regional sports networks went belly up last season and the the tweet was basically

there probably was an entire story attached to it you know for these teams they don't

yet have their broadcast plans solidified these things often come down to the wire and I'm

like I'll say these teams are playing tomorrow and the teams can't tell their fans exactly

where they're going to find the games yet which is I mean that's the that's the definition

of going down to the wire so maybe that was one of those that they they either didn't

get it sorted out or people just had really no idea where to go get it because we're

didn't get out in time because it was decision was made so late it was not there whether

it was through Fios or any other service that you could have had there was no access to

the game Verizon was telling people on Twitter that you need this extra channel that's

available but you know like reset your system and something like you were supposed to

know to do that yeah and then the fans came back with well this is just going to cost me

more than to get this channel 579 or something like I don't know I think it's righteous

yeah completely baffled by all of this put together but I also think it's kind of boring

it's probably boring to listen to or even lame just like you know figure it out figure

out some way to find your sporting events yeah but what do we got tonight MSG easy one

yeah I think just regular old sabers tonight yeah I believe that that's the one of the

great things about being at the game on Wednesday was the boards don't change yeah that's

a plus you're not constantly distracted do you get distracted by this did you ever is

this just a me thing like I hate it so much that it's always and the biggest reason why

I hate it is not that it really takes my eyes off the hockey game because it mostly doesn't

do that I've always been bothered this is even like wearing dark versus white places should

look like the places that they are right and if you're changing the uniforms and slapping

ads on the glass and putting up Zach Brownband you know promotions for your own arena and I have

no all I have is the center ice logos that identify who it is what am I looking at right they

want you I'm not even kidding I'll say it again when do we get to fake fans when do we get to

there are only 10,000 people here let's slap some fake people in there so it looks like we have

a sell out they would move I mean sports teams have moved people down the bison's have a game on

TV move people know seats behind the plate so why not which fake people behind the plate

some day we will yeah I'll probably be old enough to live to the day where they put fake fans where

where this does annoy me mostly is watching highlights back because I don't always know right away

where you used to know where the game was in part based on what the ads on if you don't see the

center ice logo you you kind of know oh this game's in Boston as he a giant duck and donuts ad in

the in the you know inside the blue line or you know whatever for the local stuff right Canadian banks

for a Montreal get RBC or something um and now yeah that's depending on what feed you're watching

like if Boston's playing in Montreal I'm getting Dunkin Donuts on the wall because it's the Boston

feed if I'm watching and that I don't like that at all mostly what where it bothers me the changing

it's not so much when the digital ad changes over during you know the the standard wide shot of

the of the play and that is jarring or it can be but I think I've gotten used to it where it

bothers me is when they switch from that regular wide camera shot where you've got the the digital

ads for the broadcast and they quickly should go down to like an ice level shot to a guy in the

corner with the puck and it's the stuff that's in the rink and then they quickly go back to the

wide shot and it's back to the digital stuff and that that that just is an assault on my senses

that that bothers me but you could only complain about so many things in the world sure it's just

yeah once once in a while I've mostly gotten over it yeah right once in a while all right so you

would take over time so would I anybody else playing the night that we need to uh know about no

there's only two games in the league I think that's rangers yeah what about the draft though

hmm well that's not our problem you sure yes you promise yes okay NBA is big on that today we have

this uh rules proposal in the NFL from the Steelers that I couldn't even recite to you and I refused

to look it up sorry on a Friday especially that like you're only getting certain number or maybe

it's like adding I'm not sure it's adding or subtracting X number of phone calls and video zoom

calls you can make with UFA in the legal tampering the Steelers have some idea that they want to change

the rules on that then I thought like okay well I'm just not gonna learn this and then I saw the

three-pronged NBA anti-tanking proposal document oh boy today and I just three-prong I just feel like

I cannot figure out anything anymore uh-huh it's bad where are the games the ads on the boards

are confusing and these rules changes have us I am 80 no welcome welcome to the day I am 80 now

I have no idea what any of that means yeah how about just not have a lottery

or fix your site fix your rules so that the worst teams don't get the top draft picks

that's what your problem is hockey basketball that's being all sports that's what your problem is

you have it built to benefit the worst teams don't have a draft you shouldn't anyway the problem

is though that drafts are fun and huge content creators so we want drafts but really why have them

why not have it be like in the other business where people get to go where they were wanted and

paid the most and you know would the Buffalo Sabers be completely priced out of having a good team

I don't know not necessarily guys want to play not sorry to make it so complicated so early out of

Friday it's on this out Bulldog said it Sam Panty out of it's coming up he's not going to want to

talk about any of this you don't want to talk tournament oh yeah baseball futures no the white

socks getting blasted 14 to one whatever that was yeah and who knows what else uh I I was

asked a question yesterday I don't know if you want to take a take a try at this and I know we

got Sam coming up but I was I was asked like how how focused I am like what it'll feel like when

the Sabers actually clinch a spot and I didn't really know how to respond like I don't I feel I'm

not on edge maybe people still are out there I don't know I'm not been on edge about this team

making the playoffs since New Year's I just felt like they were they were they were good and

their place in the standings is so good right now that I'm not focused at all on what the magic

number is and what it's gonna I just feel like it's kind of anti-climactic at this point they're

they're they're it would be beyond stunning if they missed at this point every model has them at 100

percent I'm not worried about it right so that takes to me the heat off of like if I'm if I'm in a

I mean I mean a race for first I'm in a race for second or third maybe right I'm in a race for

the best spot I can get but I I don't feel like I'm in a race trying to fend off the senators

you know I don't want them in but I'm not worried about them passing me or taking my spot no

it's like I don't know I just wonder if fans are focused on like you know the the moment they clinch

the game the clinch and I don't know I I'm not really it'll be great I mean I'm not saying I'll

be like not have any reaction but it's not that important a moment to me I think what what I've

thought doing this asking such questions is I don't think people really want to talk about it

like it's a given people don't want to assume yeah until they've officially done it we'll talk

about it some more sam panty out of its next like show in the bulldog sabers and red wings pre-game at

six here on WGR this episode is brought to you by progressive insurance whether you love true

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connections dot org or call 800 745 ride that's commuter connections dot org i'm Brian i work at

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it's Paul Hamilton that's what they called me a college

was the boat he has the facts to back up his opinions people ask me well how the sabre is going

are they going to win tonight oh close now WGR sports radio 550

you know i got to say it it's opening day you're the starting pitcher at home top of the first

you got to throw strike one even just lay it in there lay it in there you got to throw strike one

the met's pitcher did not do that today and how'd that work out it not great i mean they scored a

bunch of runs for him but he lost crews the lead off hit her on a single and then the next guy

homered so two nothing Pittsburgh right away and then the met the met's got five back in the

bottom of the first so he was fine but throw throw that strike one man just we're all here to partake

enjoy opening day he's not going to swing right Paul do we have Paul no not yet are we all

standing for like the first pitch of the season mostly i think i think mostly yes so we're on our

feet we're we're ready for a moment with let's you know deliver that's it yeah i don't need a

you know i don't need an 80 foot curveball don't get cute it's not beside the side where you want to be

i don't need an effus pitch on the first pitch of the season just groove one in there buddy

anybody throwing that anymore have you seen an effus today i have not i love the effus pitch i want

to see it come back let's see it make it come back this year what does the data say what do the

analytics people say about the effus is that sort of the dodo bird of pitches now we're talking to

i don't know it's just not worth it big lobby pitch just like a softball pitch the effus

only i looked this up for some reason i don't even know why one i don't i know why i was thinking

card of the day maybe i loved your card of the day you did oh opening day i favored it i

by thank you hard hard it harded it like liked okay it's because it's a heart but it's not

like that's love anyway and now i feel uncomfortable that's a touchy subject anyway yeah no i but i

because yeah man hey caron one of my all time one of my all time favorites 1974 card number one

tops after he had broken the home run record it's interesting because that happened in 74

and that's the 74 set so there's probably some story about that they sort of added the card

late did something because usually everything would be about the previous year right that was

april of 74 yes right so i wanted to pick a card of the day for the opener and you can pick

almost anybody right some any baseball player so i went looking whose birthday is today and one

hall of famer was born on this date march 26th tom glaven okay who turns 60 then i thought maybe

i have a hockey card of his maybe he had a hockey card who was he drafted drafted in the late

rounds of the hockey draft but he's too recent of a player for me to have like interesting

cards of so i just went with hank aron and you liked it i'm glad to hear that i really did yes

that is interesting about it being the 74 card set and that having kept i wonder how they

pulled that off just like a late change or something to yeah honor him card number one

we're waiting on paul i think two playoff it sounded like there are two playoff matches matchups

sorry uh within the eastern conference tonight

montreal colombus okay is what what you okay with it when he talks it's so loud i have i just

jump out of my chest not anybody's fault it's just it's crazy i didn't hear that's what happens when

yeah okay all right gotcha um montreal colombus and i i haven't i haven't looked at the schedule

i apologize uh paul hamilton on the westher hotline wash any baseball the day paul or last night you

were busy last night i'm guessing yeah i was busy last night i would have liked to watch the

Yankee game but it was over by the time i got home so unfortunately and they don't play tonight

and the sabers play again tomorrow so i won't see them or hello tomorrow i think was earlier

yeah tomorrow is the afternoon so you could you know catch it maybe catch the end when you get

down to the arena and get settled for your pregame duties yeah possibly today we lost a new around

yes today we have the news that the sabers are loaning zack metza to rochester maybe you could

even sort of detail what the the words mean here like loan is but that means something other than

whatever the normal is that synonymous would sent down now and it's just a gentler way to play

they always say loan yeah okay it's always loan yeah yeah they always say that what do you think

they're up to simply they have too many d i mean they got enough now they wanted to see how

timmins played timmins in my mind played probably his best game as a saber coming back after 38 games

that i mean he was a good penalty killer and they needed the penalty kill to settle down which he

did but i wasn't especially enthralled with his five on five play before he got injured but i

thought he was excellent last night i thought he played really well um now it's only a one game

type of a scenario but they have two other right shooting defensemen who are sitting neither one

have been all that impressive in michael kessel ring or shen kessel ring of course is playing with

an injury probably pretty much for the rest of the year um so uh again i'm not down on him at all

i think he'll be fine once he's a healthy hockey player i think he's a very good defenseman

and uh you know i think fans will like him it might even be next year whatever but once he plays

as a healthy defenseman i'll be i think he'll be fine so but so met's it being the odd man out like we've

gone Paul in the in the span of about i don't know 48 hours or maybe a little more than that from

like he deserves to be in the lineup um he's their fifth defenseman to he's the guy going to

Rochester i i'm hoping that they sent him down there with uh just go play 25 minutes and play

the power play and help them out because he was the captain down there right so go like stabilize

help them push for the playoffs and like you'll be back here i don't know what the kind of time

frame is because we were talking this through yesterday only you and i had time to get into it on

pregame but it makes sense to me i i feel like to put tim in zin and pull that's out last night

you want to get tim in some playing time you want to see what you have in these guys should you

need them should anyone in this decore get hurt so let's let's see who works well with whom and all

that kind of stuff um and i would expect maybe you even try the same thing with with cussering again

before you close the book on him entirely maybe but to have met's ago down is just kind of stark to

me i mean i realized they have too many guys but i think maybe do we all share this opinion they sent

the best one of the bunch down to Rochester yeah but i think the penalty killing is where the penalty

killing has not been as good since timons went down i mean timon they were number one and two in

the league and timons went down and they they haven't been god awful times they have been but

it hasn't been the same and for whatever reason and lindy ruff really hasn't

said a lot about it they didn't want to try met's end penalty kill i i think you'd be just fine

i i don't think well i don't see any problem in him killing penalties unless they don't think he can

block shots or i i don't know exactly what the thinking is there that really is the difference

between him and and timons as timons is a very very good penalty killer and their penalty kill

was excellent while he was on it and that's i never got the chance right so that's that would be

where i where i'm just kind of shaking my head but it's still a defenseman who's plus 20 and has

not been on the ice for a goal against since october and has only been on the ice for two goals

against in his NHL career which is 38 games so you know the results and the numbers speak for

themselves you know they they activated timons yesterday isn't it not over the cap or anything

like that not like met's has breaking them anyway right i mean they can have as many players as

they want right now i realize yeah i made a mistake when this first broke while we were in the

middle of a segment and i made a mention of like well oslins hurt maybe greenway gets activated

or someone else or whatever and they need a spot but you know our friend chad dean ministers

corrected me right away like that's not the case anymore and a few other people on twitter have

to thank you all of you um yeah it's weird it meant so though is the only one of those guys the

like extra d if you will that can go up and down without waivers right yeah and and the thing is too

if they need them they you know they he's fine he didn't bring him back right i mean if they want

to go with timons and they just would rather he be down there playing and if somebody in the

top six gets hurt i mean it would only make sense that he's the guy to come back the i mean

shenan kesselring just haven't worked out so um it just uh so they you could be looking at

that way too is they've decided to go with timons because of the penalty killing and if somebody

gets hurt they can bring them back and just to be clear i'm correct about the whole point isn't

it the your point is the whole point right isn't it that he he's the one who can go down without

you know lose him i just want to make sure that that's right like the other guys would have to

clear waivers obviously so you're not going to do that with any of those guys so he'd he's not

in danger of being claimed or anything so i thought Paul makes sense i thought when he's playing too

you know right now he's down there yeah yeah i thought listening to ruff talk about metza earlier

this week he sounded like he had been converted and you've been around for all of that and you've

talked us through it how lindy has sort of i don't know if this is not it but a weekend to the

reality that this guy is he's not getting us beat so eventually you got to you know give

into that and he sounded like he had been you know like a full convert in in to metza not that he

had to be down on him prior just like how he was talking i got to think

unless there's some some glaring mistake here that he's back whether there's an injury or not

eventually that they would you know have him up here and him a lineup right i still want to say

he'll be in the lineup in game one with how he told but i i don't know and i'm a little shook

by this this i mean they're totally killing is still fifth for the season so i don't know how

badly they need an upgrade yeah and the thing is um don't forget to lindy ruff has input i think

lindy ruff had a lot of input when Kevin Adams was here i think that's changed um lindy ruff

didn't send him down yarmul kick a line and did so whether they agree i don't know i have no idea

but it's not lindy's choice i mean he can be he can give his opinion only once but it's here i'm

gonna kick a line in his choice so maybe he's not sold i i don't know all right fair enough

kick a line and there's not spoken about it yeah yeah i want to i want to like not be

you know freaking out about zackmatsu being sent down because you know we'll see what the what the big

you know we don't know all the all the machinations and all the pieces on the board and all of it

what their motivations are um so i don't want to make too much out of it which is why i'm trying to

find like a solution that makes sense to me for him to just go play there we're gonna see what

these other guys can do and there's no use you sitting here while we're doing that like i said

earlier when it happened i just hope he was sent down with a we'll see you back in a few days

a few weeks whatever it is because i i'd be stunned if something changed to the point where he's

not a part of Lindy ruff's decore uh you know because Lindy does have lineup right i mean it by

taking that's out you know that makes him maybe vulnerable to being sent down because they want him

to play um i just hope it's temporary it's all i i'm saying it's not a lot of words i just hope

this is a temporary solution i doubt it i think it's a if there's an injury you'll see him back if not

he won't um wow there's no sense him sitting here i mean and or if timmins like timmins was not a

downgrade yesterday but that was one game you know he he played very very well but that was one

game and you have you have a very good penalty killer will that continue i have no idea but

they made a decision on one game the a timmins gonna be fine he played really well

okay we're we're good you know and if there's an injury we can we can bring him back yeah i'm not

thinking Paul about i feel like i don't i'm just like really belaboring this but like

i'm not saying bring him back to sit here i'm saying he comes back for the playoffs to play

because he's one of the six best guys that's what i hope happens here and if it doesn't then i'm

you know then timmins better really blow our socks off blocking shots and killing penalties

absolutely no i mean he's got timmins has to play like he did last night yeah if he doesn't if

he plays more like he did before he got injured now in my mind we've got a problem yeah um but if

he plays like he did last night they're fine i mean he he is it was six of one ever doesn't of

another and saying Stanley was all right with him last night right yeah most Stanley was good with

that's up for five games too right right you know i'm sitting on the western hotline with us here on

WGR what did you think overall Paul because it was Lindy called the first 40 minutes their worst

game or worse 40 minutes in three months i think after the game um like overall and then maybe

we'll get into some particulars because Mike and i got pretty deep very early in our show today

talking about the the last two goals lost and scored and just what looking and could have or

should have done and how much blame etc but how about the overall last night yeah and it

it's unexplainable i've been saying it for years that first game back from a west coast very

often not every time but very often is just not good and i don't necessarily disagree with Lindy

rough first two periods were horrendous but they're a good enough team now that they're in the game

yeah when they play poorly they're in the game i mean San Jose they are playing poorly and next

thing you know three goals are in the net you're up three nothing right i mean it was like that's

not the way they used to do it they'd play poorly and be down six nothing not up three nothing

you know and and so they do it differently now um they projected a one goal lead in in Vegas

again for 40 minutes you looking into makes it very good saves along the way it wasn't their best

game but they they defended the lead and for 40 minutes for one nothing one the game to nothing

on an empty netter so that's the difference that even when they don't have their game they can

find ways to win sometimes find ways to get points when you're down four to two or when you're down

two to one and come out in the third period and while you take the lead and you you have been for

the most part good at protecting one goal leads but not in the last two games but at the end of the

day um to me it's nothing to freak out over and i'm not saying you are i'm just saying anybody that

is um because you've gotten points at 14 of your last 15 games and your 12 one and two

and the one game you lost you lost in with a minute 33 left in a two and one one game

and you are a minute 33 from getting a point net game two so um you know i i'm not overly

concerned by it yeah they have lost two in a row if you look at it that way that is true but

they're still ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning points percentage they're right on the tail of

the Carolina Hurricanes uh in point percentage they're tied in points uh but the Hurricanes do

have that one game in hand so they're still right there and you know they haven't really done any

damage to themselves i don't think other than now Tampa Bay does have their own destiny because

they win their two games in hand they're ahead by a point but um they got to win those games

they mean there's no guarantee they're going to win those two games in hand

and you still get to play them again sure if you fall behind on dingus day on dingus day that's right

even right uh the three three goal ball middle stat what did you see yeah it's you you could tell

right away and you could tell by his reaction when the puck at the with the wall i knew right away

he didn't know where it was because all of a sudden his head turned to his left over his left

shoulder when the puck at the wall and he's looking for it he had no idea where it went

and he so he hears that and he looks to see if the puck goes over on the wall and it's dribbling

through well Dahlene doesn't have middle stat tied up middle stat standing in the crease

Luke and it has not located the puck he doesn't know where it is and it's an easy tapping for

middle stat yeah could Dahlene have been maybe just i don't know where the puck is get the man

type of thing yeah that's what i would have done yeah um that's what i and i'm going to go

way back here remember in the playoffs against Pittsburgh when the puck's up in the air and

warner and jitter stand in there yes it's in neither one new where the puck was it's like

tackle them right cross check mario you have no idea where he is do not let him stand there

what you want to do is hit that man yeah just whatever you got to do if you can't find the puck

do not let him stand there it's coming down eventually so yeah i kind of

earthquake that uh kind of the same way and so how hard would you be on lucanin for that like a bad

bounce like it went off his blocker i think too right like it but not that he just like to

deflected which is why it maybe he didn't know where it was well he had guys around him too

it was a small little bit so he had guys around him so he wasn't free to really look around too

much and and then he lost it and he didn't know where it was the now the overtime goals a

totally different story but um this one i didn't blame him give him some benefit of the doubt

there yeah absolutely the OT one Paul what what what what is that like i i thought also like it's a

guy in clean look and all that but he was just there was so much room between his legs he just

was not i guess i would say like as a former goalie dad technically sound coming across like he

was all arms and legs all over the place kind of and i don't know i i guess earlier maybe he knew

he was late because it was pasta knock with the clock and he didn't want to cheat and so he knew

he was going to be unsound and just tried to take up as much space as he could right he wanted to stay

there thinking the zaka might go back to pastor pastor yeah i don't know i mean because yeah he

was in a very awkward spot and it was a very easy goal now i have huge problems with people

the way they played that game yes that have nothing to do with him the to me the puck never should

the puck in the player never should have been anywhere near look at it i mean it's like come on

boys i mean rhyme a cloud is an excellent hockey player he really struggled yesterday i mean

on the second goal he he's quit skating yep and i mean he could have picked up arvinson and

it was a great poachek by looking at i love the play because pastor knock was not expecting that

poachek's the puck off him and and mccloud gave up on arvinson what do you you know why

and before that and Lindy ruff was pretty mad about it he talked about it after the game

he wasn't happy with talk not getting the puck out sure you know not hard enough on the battle

you know not hard enough on the wall and then he went after don't on the middle stack goal

same thing same right you know you're not hard enough on the wall then those are two players

we're not normally talking about like this three players mccloud's a very good defensive player i mean

and he just waved at pastor knack and turned away from him and i'm scratching my head go what

what are you doing what you just wave at him and turn away

and over time continue on the rush yeah and then that means there but talk cheats and that's

they both are they're both there but they're both looking at pastor knack so you've got all three

sabers concerned with pastor knack and now i understand he's a superstar i get it

but all three of them didn't need to be concerned with him and talk just let zaka go right by him

because he he's he's the right defenseman he's looking at at pastor knack dolene has him covered

dolene's doing his job he hasn't covered and zaka hasn't free lane to the net

yeah on one positive note or you have something else on this i was going to say the play on talk

the the the second goal positive jumped around there a couple times talking about a couple of

different plays but talk yeah like really bad job by him so close to the line power gets

way up in the zone and you know what's there what what do i say that they're superpowers these

d and how they join the rush and are so much a part of the offense powers going up the ice like

he thinks talk is coming out of the zone because normally right of course right so he anticipates

maybe not good idea because it wanted a burning him but yeah he anticipates all right here we go

because lindy ruff is pushing them to get up the ice right sometimes it won't work so tough play

they got they got burned there they're super power burned them there i think yeah yeah that probably

happens in the comics sometimes sure yeah yeah hubris kicks in the villain turns the the super

heroes power on himself something like that with a mirror what one positive thought i had you know

being there last night uh the zooker vibes are tremendous like the two goals that he's they're

in the same spot right ends up in the corner glass arms out the big smile the crowd is eating that

yeah and they decided they they needed to tweak a few things and they put Quinn on there

but i what i liked is they basically used Thompson as a rover yeah i mean just go all over the zone i

mean he he's the guy in the top high slot but he was roaming all over the place and made two

incredible plays to zooker for goals and of course you know zooker knows where to be on the power

and that's right on the crease and really two nice plays by Thompson to set him up for goals yeah

so it worked i mean that is the positive is both special teams i mean the penalty kill and two

games had given up three goals on seven power plays the penalty kill was right on and the power

play was right on you know where the last game against anaheim both it's really they got hurt

by special teams and the reason they'd lost the hockey game yeah i agree with the quick hands on

the three two goal two like that bounces off a skate and he's still able to bury that well i was so

glad to see that the way they then you described it perfectly there Paul as a rover because what

what it would say in here for a couple of weeks it their power play being a sort of stagnant as

it often is doesn't make sense when you look at their five on five play and how active they are

in the offensive zone with the cycle out high with the defense been involved and that the power play

seems just sort of very static a lot of the time so i was glad to see that you know get freshened up

i did not know and i learned this from tnt that zucker has a thing with george bette george bad

question getting a lot of a lot of attention lately twenty twenty five hundred games on the bench

as a equipment manager or assistant equipment manager anyway there's i they showed footage of a

pregame thing and i guess they do something different all the time but what they showed last night

from warm-ups was like zucker grabbing bette like they were gonna fight like bad badcock is like

shoving at zucker and zucker's grabbing him with his gloved hand and pulling him in like he's

gonna slug him and they're just it's just guys being dudes i guess but i'd never seen that before

and zucker's been here it's the second full season with the sabers i'd never seen him

you know highlighted in that way with badcock but i loved it it was presented on tnt as like

look at this the this group of people the chemistry even the assistant equipment manager is

you know part of the like site job here which was just pretty cool to see

kind of funny believe it or not george and i have been doing that for 20 years

we really have of course you have there was one time i grabbed george and i didn't he didn't tell

me he had grew grew up his shoulder he had a dislocated shoulder had no idea i had thrown him up

against the whole i knew he just squealed i go you've got you know how we operate here you've

got to let me know if you've got something like that make it make a t-shirt that says it don't touch

me not today but i have one of those if he needs it but george george is so much fun i mean

over the years i've had so much fun with him and you know he's a little bit crazy and i'm not

saying anything out of turn here he knows i would say that and he'd be totally fine with it

well this the thing that i'm saying was highlighted on tnt last night definitely endorses that

or good vibes but you know what i didn't score two goals afterwards well maybe tomorrow

try harder paul thanks paul we'll talk tomorrow night yes all right there's Paul Hamilton on the

western hotline his appearances here on w gr brought to you by raylax honda raylax we got this

back after sports michael in the bulldog w gr this episode is brought to you by progressive

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it's my show and the bulldog there's one chip and only one chip for the guacamole that's

that cantina gold thick in the yellow bag it's my show no thin crisp no scoops get out of here

with a hint of lime horrendous choice and the bulldog the lime is just too much lime there's

lime in the guacamole with any more lime is too much lime you're crossing the lime you've

crossed the lime if you're using hint of lime in the lime in the guacamole with the lime you've

crossed the lime it's my show and the bulldog not wgr sports radio 550

just couldn't get enough of myself on that one that line lime

yeah couldn't couldn't stop you dominate i just hammered that home you dominate that open

i didn't get you get a word in edgewise did you hear me lime lime lime i'm ready i've got it

you make sure you heard that lime see how smart i am weeks or months old arguments again because i

do like i got run over lime make sure everybody knows i said it i'm doing the same thing now

cross the lime is you know that's high caliber that's fine you know it's it's it's it's good

could i interest you in as we welcome you back to roswell park the ride for roswell launch party is

just now underway you might hear a commotion there seems like a commotion yeah we've got like a

version of plinco over here plinco i can hear plinco there's wine i think our audience can

you came here the wine you will at least not right now maybe after a few you will

a few glasses get drunk could i interest you in a little thing known as reverse eastern conference

power rankings sure let me let me let me get the standings i mean i'm not even sure you need them

well i need them just to remember who all the teams are my come 60 years old okay now that's fine

i forget things you could put up an alphabetical order and do just as well right i don't i don't

mean i just i just need to see them all before i start you know ranking reverse in this case eastern

conference n h l power rankings r e c n parentheses pr brought you by empire electric your local

residential neighborhood electrician how about it right there did you tell me yes it's football music

did you tell us that i did not he's just ready to go i saved it all right i thought perhaps at three

i would if you will whip it out did not what got to like three ten and thought don't need it now

we'll save it five lots of people all around eating and drinking and talking now's when we need it

you were too busy hating Tampa Bay the lightning i mean and uh yeah that was the whole thing

they are easy to hate aren't they the lightning i have mostly liked them because they weren't really

annoying to me in any way shape or form but um i think i will i that winning goal last night

is reason enough um i i think i'll i'll manage to get there especially if they roll in here

was it a week from monday now eight or six right okay um and try you know if they're still gonna

uh let's see if you guys are tough again um and then i'm gonna be full on like hate like level of

the Boston Bruins they were down three one they were you see the beginning of that game i did not

ahead a job to do they were getting run over at the start of that game and you'll love this

there was from both ulcuk and it was boucher and i can't figure out if ulcuk is really always teasing

boucher and boucher hates it or whether they're really tight but i i think there's a chance it's

the it's the prior i just he's always tweaking boucher like oh his hotel the pit he's just always

he's always there like just poking boucher anyway i'm sure it's hilarious that yeah i mean

uproarious the um game star it's minnesota scores it's one nothing and they're just running

camp over and well you know bouch you know this they were in calgary on sunday and i didn't quite

catch whether it was travel arrangements that they made or whether they got hung up because of

travel difficulties or what like they didn't get home until three o'clock yesterday afternoon

and john cooper was very concerned this morning that this might happen that they'd be you know

well same thing you'll hear it i'm sure well tonight it'll come up in pregame somewhere or another

whether lindy says it or a player says it or paul whatever um although there was an extra day there

was an extra day tampa somehow botched their rest day with travel and so like i you know they're

in tough year good team they're playing and then i turned it off and watched another game and

i didn't get back to it so it was three three like oh i guess they found their legs i guess i

didn't see the game until the three three goal they had a power play goal for three three and then

they'll look pretty even to me but yeah right they want it okay well the premise is pretty straight

forward the idea is to rank the sixteen eastern conference teams in reverse order of quality

so here we go sixteen i think by almost any objective measure whether it's do you want to be

this team tonight tomorrow night in a month july or next October uh i really feel like toronto

is a good answer really i really feel like i was sure you're going rangers i think they are in

real real trouble the rangers don't even have with with the leaves have could be a part of their

problem which is a superstar player that looks like he's shooting a hostage video every time he talks

in front of cameras in Austin Matthews the rangers don't have an Austin Matthews caliber player

they almost did but right anymore they don't um so like that can cut both ways i just think

to the wave for i think toronto is probably gonna fire everybody uh the the gm i the coach is done

i think the gm probably should be done and who knows with Matthews um i don't know that he wants

out i just know what it would feel like watching him speak to the media as a as a fan and i'd be like

this dude hates us or hates it here or hates his life here or whatever and i let's know where i want to

you think he wants out i think he wants out i think it looks it looks to me like he wants out

that might just be like he just is sick of talking to the Toronto media about Mitch Marner or whatever

i don't know but answering the same questions for the last eight years yeah he does not look that

would get old he does not look like a happy person to me at all now it's a miserable season and a

lot can happen and i don't know that he has said one word you know about the future contract

extension talks or anything they also don't have their number one pick no right then it's a part

of the reason why i think the gm is going to be fired i mentioned we were talking to flutus

and zalo covers the the bruins yesterday and i mentioned how he works for the athletic and i

read a piece i think james murtle maybe with the athletic about the leafs and about how the trade

last year that cost them that first round pick and phrasier mitten is a nice young player who will be

in line up tonight for boston uh for brandon carlo they got to that trade at like two o'clock

last year on trade deadline day they were entirely focused on trading mitch mariner for mika

rottenin and when that trade blew up and then later in the day it was like it was like a last

minute thing like oh okay let's talk to the bruins about brandon carlo but mariner wouldn't go

mariner personal reason he didn't want to wave his no trade which is of course within his right

but he did that and they were sort of stuck and scrambled and threw together a trade that

cost them a decent looking young player and a first round pick that's going to be in the top 10

for a player that's doing really almost nothing for them okay i mean i'm not going to fight

so i think the leaves are in really tough uh they they're my pick for sixteen okay

okay i get it i mean i don't know how to rebut much of that apparently i was using the rangers

apparently i was really ready to go on their their draft status like their prospect pool i don't

know i just feel like they're they gave up a long time ago yeah and you know the maybe they

because they move paneron already yeah maybe they have to i'll say fifteen rangers yeah i

i know i agree they're not they're not far off of the leaves um i don't know what they're doing

it's funny i was talking to my my son olin about this he's following the league and and you know

whatever he knows hockey um and that was the night we're watching the rangers from the only game

they played out of one monday night we're watching the game they say no i i get paneron

i get any other veteran you know you're dumping your last place you know just try to get futures

like what the hell happened with kandri miller like that's last offseason and or even at the deadline

i don't remember it was last year at some point they traded that's a good very good young defenseman

that seemingly to me should be a part of any reason young enough to be a key piece of your rebuild

and they dumped him yep which is weird and i so and i always said it was probably what he remembers is

like they didn't want to feel like they wanted to commit the big contract to him they didn't trust

it in some way and the player was kind of maybe sick of it already so like let's just you know go

go on our way um but that's that's a weird that's a weird trade to me still um and i don't know what

else means a bit of judge has played his thousands game congratulations on that oh thank you

but i don't know man there's not any anim foxes nice the goal is great but he's getting old

you know we all rangers are in tough 14

washington yes i look i look i like i like washington here more than like filling who else fill

the doubt washington just has to be at an end at some point with ovechkin and that may that may

take a good while for them to figure out a way forward without him um they already spun off

Carlson so i think i thought this was happening to them three years ago uh and to their credit they

stayed it off at an excellent regular season last year but weren't that good and i think that showed

eventually and this year's struggle and i don't there's a couple nice young guys there the

Hudson the younger brother of lane Hudson Cole Hudson just showed up he looks nice uh Ryan

Leonard or Riley Leonard to choose me i think it's Ryan or right Leonard join out of college last

year around this time he looks promising but Ryan Leonard Ryan Leonard Riley Leonard is the cult's

quarterback uh right no damn people make that mistake all the time they do yeah washington's good there

13 flyers yeah i'll say yeah i would say flyers

reverse eastern conference power rankings everybody feel it all right that's easy 12

is it have to be jersey i don't think it has to be jersey if you're thinking about moving forward

like beyond this year uh i would much rather be jersey than filly well i think we've hit filly

right just now yeah or did we not make that official there's no one else to talk about that's

out of it no i don't think we got to filly we had washington 13 is Philadelphia or jersey okay

uh then i would say Philadelphia okay no one else that we're we could mention right i mean the flyers

aren't even really out of it technically but jersey probably is 12 jersey or do you want somebody

that's in no i'm tempted to like slag the islanders but they're safer is has changed that entire

operation um easy rookie of the year bad loss coasting yes but still um your guy had an assist at

least yeah i do really like you know the devils have got i think the high end guys but i i can't

blow off the islanders so i'll say devils and then maybe the islanders next at 11 what about pitzburg

what is what is pitzburg need to do to i mean it's kind it's it's not a perfect case study for this

question because those guys are legends and most fans you know you want Sydney Crosby quintessentially

you want those guys on your team forever so you know it's not like they should have traded

Crosby or Melkin or Latang even like it's not like that but what's a year that sort of pays them off

for going another year with those guys like do they need one series win what do they what do they

need to make it have been worth it i can't see them getting more of the math i don't even know if i

liked them in a first round series honestly blown out last night um i think they miss Colorado but

yeah um i think they miss it i mean it it's not crazy uh to think that that could happen the

islanders would have to run them down yeah because they're still top three right now pitzburg right

if we're at 11 i would put pitzburg next over under all right no over like the islanders shafers a lot

right yes and even like i'm not crazy about Detroit like Detroit might be the next team that's

been they're not in right now but there's been in the mix almost all year that i don't feel

great about okay moving forward so then ten would be Detroit or Florida i haven't even mentioned

Florida i i i i think i'll be back i think yeah i think all florida needs a year off i really do

i i think they'll they're not super young but they're not either not pitzburg like they're not

the guts of that team i mean they got to make a decision about the broski that's a big deal he's a

free agent so they're going to figure that out um and but the rest of it to me bark off will be back

and contract is in his prime and you know marchand is pretty old i i think they need a year off

and they'll be back next year is what i think for all right so i'm not writing these down like

i should be 16 Toronto 15 Rangers 14 Washington 13 flyers 12 pitzburg 11 Detroit

we skipped Philly somewhere no i said them no i had 12 is new jersey 12 jersey

then 11 is uh pitzburg and 10 is Detroit that's what i have down yeah all right fine good

somebody at least somebody's writing these down good job nine would be Florida or a likely playoff

team islanders or florida i think i want to go islanders here

thinking about boss two oh they're listening i yeah i should be careful what you know like they're

playing them tonight and i don't know i just don't i just don't think it that's a

okay i don't think they're i would put Boston next i don't think they're that good

above in a bad way islanders or florida that's what i'm saying nine is Boston

okay i mean you guys can you know you can now vote me no i don't know i don't find that i mean

swamon has been great he played last night by the way i assume that means we're getting

corporate solos tonight i will look into it um but i for some reason my my they could get a little

my go-to for that i can't seem to access here for some reason which is really weird um they could

get a little uh nervy because they lost yeah maybe they were i don't have it official they were

sleepwalking last night hey they could i mean they're in a playoff race here so they could feel

like they got to go to their guy two nights in a row but i'd be surprised um but we'll see we don't

know officially like you said i i i i i i think as much as we've been thinking Detroit was a team to

fall out i i wouldn't be stunned if it were we're Boston no that fell out no Boston probably

deserved to lose in Detroit head-to-head on saturday they just won so they're nine yep i forget the

numbers yep eight islanders or red wings i'll say red wings okay seven islanders okay six

as i'll just window dressing for the good stuff Columbus mid teams Columbus absolutely sure

love it five auto Carolina

i kind of love Carolina here yeah five all right done Tampa's better buffalo might be better like

say might be because i'm scared of everything Montreal's better auto was better there's your there's

your bottom four in the reverse eastern conference power rankings all right Carolina five four

i got to go out of one next then me too nice win back-to-back road uh wins yep last two nights

they get tonight off i guess they're in there and yeah and that put them they're in the wildcatch

bar right yeah they're a point up on the the islanders they are in yep no they're tied with the

islanders maybe they're not in they played one fewer games so they have the leg up they have six more

regulation wins than the islanders and it also helps but yeah they're in they're in the spot out of

one right now therefore therefore three Montreal i guess what's the argument against

i don't know yeah i can't i buffalo is is i would give buffalo the nod on my i love

Montreal i've said it all year i've kind of stopped saying it now because the playoff they're

coming and i don't want to sound like i love Montreal but i love that team i love watching that

team play they are a fun team to watch they will make us insane if they play the sabers in a playoff

series there is i don't need that there is a lot of hot young talent there Hudson to me will be a

Norris candidate maybe as soon as next year i don't need help going insane unreal all over the ice

the way he moves he's just incredible anyway sergeant sergeant peepers at home

or cocktail yeah so we move sergeant peepers out into the main room i'm maybe sure why

but you know it's getting to be nicer out and give peepers a look at the the birds are showing up

and the sunlight and you know we're going to try to not let her out and unlike her predecessor trying

to keep her in the house but i'm telling you the last week it is just constant chirping

and i am starting to i'm one step away from googling as anybody lost their mind

having a bird that peeps every three seconds surely people have do they do they know it i'm not

sure if they know it many people would have been i got into this and have been driven and look i'm

not going to do anything drastic here right i'll leave before i let peepers leave but i'm telling you

it is like except for sleeping hours and i'm not even sure this yeah right it's just you know

she wakes me up and then last two days i've been home alone for a few hours in the morning

it's just all the time it's constant peeping and she doesn't say words right her predecessor

who's not back yet would say words and whistle songs and she well he's not a few years yeah but

peepers is really just one note that's tough it's it's constant one no peeping so i don't need any

help going insane i don't need the Canadians that is like almost to me some version of a jackhammer

like i know it's a very different sound but it's if it's repetitive it's the same sound over and

over again that's exactly what a jackhammer is anything like that a beep like a smoke alarm with

the battery isn't yeah right in a place where it's just every few seconds it beeps living breathing

animal in your house that's acting like a smoke alarm and you set your heartbeat to it like you

just sort of know like the hatchet lost or something you know right in a certain number of seconds

there's going to be right my right and if you're trying to sleep through it you you might like hear it

like oh it seems like it's been longer maybe maybe maybe it stopped maybe oh maybe i can get

ah there it is again yeah and then you can get to the point where you're like is she okay right

you don't hear it for a little bit right are we sure she's okay right two

two savers yeah me too i can't i can't i can't just blow i can't just blow past Tampa i don't i don't

want to do it the goalie i'm afraid to do it see by this headman thing like how long that last

once we get any information on it if you haven't heard as our show was beginning today we learned

that victor headman was taking a personal leave a leave of absence for personal reasons we don't

know what that is how long it may last um you know we've been through this as a fan base twice

this year with Dalin and thankfully everything turned out well there i believe Carolina his fiancee

is pure now back in Buffalo so good for them um so best to victor headman but that's a huge piece

of that team and see when he gets back this radish though he's more annoying to me than headman

i've never had to worry about headman like when it was important i cannot wait this guy until

somebody gives him nine million dollars a year this offseason and he scores 12 goals i mean or

it's like a stick on the face or something like that to be all right just this guy's tough

just really demonstrative and again that goal that they had called back Minnesota last night

he gets cross checked like kind of you wouldn't have known it from the announcers who all

thought it was basically a a capital offense crime scene it's sort of like a stick in the the one

you the kind of when you get away with nine out of 10 times in a hockey with Lindy you've called

it a push in the pants remember the push in the pants no actually was Briar on Ovechkin near the

saber bench in a you know when it was hot like it mattered and he got called i think I'm almost

short with Briar jinnick would have been gone by then i think so yeah and late in the game they

called the penalty and after the game Lindy was objecting to find it i mean it's a push in the pants

this was a push on the shirt the lower back area yeah it just didn't seem like it had to be a

problem but radish like he crumbles then he turns a little bit in the direction of the goal he's

legs we and you know if you really didn't care about drawing a penalty and just being able to

complain about it you that you get up right this guy doesn't get up you know he's basically dead

he's just laying on the ice on top of the goalie and the goal is scored in like three lightning

players and you're like what how about trying to stop the play yeah no we're just going to

whine and complain i hate them one Tampa i'm so excited to hate somebody at least that i mean i

think it's so nice to hate a different team other than the sabers right like show up in the

bulldog at Roswell Park more next here on wgr

this episode is brought to you by progressive insurance whether you love true crime or comedy

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i'm Brian i work at you not healthcare so Brian why do you care? i care because i don't want to

leave anybody behinds i oversee one of the biggest resource center in you're not healthcare

i see people walked in in my office every day just like my parents they have no idea about the

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committed to care

it's my show and the bulldog uh-oh just what day it is guess what day it is

huh anybody

it's my show

what day is it Mike and the bulldog hey guess what day it is

oh come on i know you can hear me it's my show and the bulldog guess what today is

it's hump day

non wgr sports radio 550

hi there i'm working out something

not very important one to ten six three

well it's somewhere i haven't decided yet somewhere in the three to six range

okay with my cousin my cousin julie cuts my hair and i was on my way out the door this morning

for a haircut which you know perfect i'm here at razzwell with you everybody is going to be

staring at us the whole time not caring about anything else but to look at us then the hockey

game tonight maybe i can get in there not have that embarrassing moment where i have some sort of

to sneak my hat off for the anthems then put it back on quickly

mm-hmm because my hair is you know it's

uncamped in a nice freshening up you've trimmed the beard though since we last talked about

yeah while you're grooming yes but um as i was walking out the door this morning and i had a

leak in my basement i had water one of the worst things you could you know first world but one of

the worst things you could see is like you're leaving for the day no one else's home this is

mine mm-hmm for the few hours here and i have a problem now so i canceled on her

and you know do you have anything soon next week like i'm going to florida oh boy so i have to decide

between finding someone else to cut my hair a lot of people do it it's probably not the worst

choice ever to like you have oral habits i used to have brigham young i went back to brigham young

i mean you have there are lots of people in the world who could cut your hair they would do it for

money or just put it off until julie gets back from florida how long is that going to be at least two

weeks i feel like one week is like two but that's a lot especially if you feel like you really need

the haircut well look at me i mean i guess i do i'm curling and flowing and sideways and back

and frontways and it's look i mean you can see it uh those of you who are watching it's it's time

it's just bad as maybe it's ever been right now wow well for you to say it yeah so i have to maybe go

elsewhere this for once you think i have an appointment to see my man oral robberts on monday

that i don't feel like i i'm like the opposite of you like it's just sort of snuck up on me and i

feel like maybe he went shorter this last time than normal you don't think you need a haircut i don't

feel like i get the beard is going to need attention so i'm going to keep the appointment but the

hair is uh is already a short it's shorter than it often is when i go get it cut well like when i

walk out of there so maybe i'll take your appointment i so i'm suggesting maybe you know but i'd like

to meet this oral robberts i'm just going to give it to you though i might i might have to

oh come on extract some kind of a payment i don't know i'm kidding well you've been

into a dentist in 30 years right swap me a dentist appointment so we could trade i had a as it

happens i had a cleaning in January it should have been that i checked my voicemail and knew this

already but i never do so i went there for my cleaning appointment in January and found out when

i arrived that my hygienist was homesick and not there like all right well we'll figure something

out i leave i get a couple of texts you know here and there we you're late for your appointment like

i know but you know when usually when you leave your appointment haircut dentist anything you make

the next one right so i wasn't there to do that we'll just put it off and figure it out so today

same thing today i called i'm sitting there watching the water come out of my basement ceiling

i'm taking care of everything yeah right so i call the dentist and like you know i'd like to get

in with Emily and she's like all right we great we've got July 21st July 21st four months almost

to the day is the best i could do so i can't really help you too much there unless you want four

months to prepare for a cleaning listen you're right to point out that you know it's not something

dragging about but i i have not i've not gone to the dentist in a very as long as you said 30

years i feel like if i go now it's gonna be like you know if you have an old house and you go to

replace a like a a light bulb and a socket in a closet and you're gonna all right well it's

gotta i just gotta take this light bulb out you're gonna turn the light bulb out of the socket and

the ceiling socket falls out and then there's a whole bunch of stuff there's a bunch of rot and a

bunch of others that's what i feel like might happen to my mouth if someone went in there with

those tools like i just be like oh just give you a clear oh my god what happened in there why

haven't you been to the dentist in so long i don't want that so i was gonna keep going without going

to the dentist there's something in there that people stopped making 30 years nothing has stopped

me so far i mean i so so far so good pez what's in there that's like that's a tell

that you have not had your teeth cleaned in forever is that something's in there that they don't

even make anymore i don't take sugar in my coffee i mean but i mean a lot of people don't have

so i don't get what you have a jart in your mouth

i'm just imagining a family guy episode now mouth jars what what helps is in there

oh wait wait wait wait what is here between these two moles oh it's the ava

what is that to eat your mouth what are these candy what is the american basketball association

candy cigarettes what are these cigarettes oh boy all right oh there's a little bit of a razor blade

in there that must be from Halloween 1982 is that a penny what's that a penny they don't

make pennies anymore why do you have a penny in your mouth what does bulldog have

from 30 years ago 803 05 50 what's in there what is that oh my god oh i thought of a word

that i will not say but it's hilarious if i was really good at this i would say the word

that i thought of i'll tell you off the air i will not say all right thank you for your

discretion i will not say everyone here at rousal park for things it's not a thing anymore

that is not in your mouth anyway so that's the point

so how did you consume last night hockey

i last night um

i said 15 before i sat down and i just i'm still laughing at the other thing

some rubber duck you have no it's way worse that it would say

7 15 go to the ESPN plus app oh okay well here we are i've got multi-cast like that's

that's there usually they even only have two games up but there were so many games last night

so and i never i'll look at it but i don't choose to watch it's just too much there's four you know

four games it fills the screen you know there's no dead space but four games on the screen

you can you know choose which one you want the audio for and i had that on for 25 minutes or so

waiting for the Tampa game to start thinking you know probably wouldn't start to close to 7 45

which was about right yeah so i just did that i saw a couple of goals one in the Pittsburgh

Colorado game one in one of the other games i don't remember and then i just flipped over to

ADP chasing i flipped over yeah can you believe i can't get a word in with those guys

yeah i'm in the soda uh and that was that and then i ended up you know for some reason

Boston's here tonight uh intermission first intermission of the Tampa game i went to

Toronto Boston and i wound up watching that almost to the end what did that look like

i never got there that looked like Boston was uh not there it was a very sleepy game i would say

although i mean there was uh there was a i saw a zidor off cheap shot on giant survivors he

got a five-minute penalty not a game is conduct and it's a day with a d in it one of the

littlest youngest guys on the leafs eastern cowan went chasing after giant zidor off

gloves off and everything it just like jumped at him and thankfully the rest of his

teammates arrived because that would have been well well i'm sure he's getting a lot of credit in

Toronto yes but so despite that leading list thing that little dust up it was a pretty sleepy game

that meaningless uh trying to know Toronto one one the game um and it was a pretty it seemed like

a pretty dull effort from Boston okay um so i got you didn't have to ask me yet i got done with

ADP chasing like a few minutes after nine because those guys love to talk and that's how long it

takes hmm so at nine o'clock or nine fifteen maybe my choices were the fubo the the choices were

the penguin blowout yeah or NHL network and i went there and that's the kind of show they just

found the league kind of kind of yeah that it's so it's three guys Jason Demers Devon Dubnic

someone else it's the show i recommended we do 20 years ago during bills games when we didn't

have the rights okay and i'm gonna i'm about to call a meeting again yeah because maybe we who knows

yeah well it would be wait i don't know i'm probably biased because i would have a voice in it but

better than actually listening to the game would be like your friends talking about the game when it's

on the manning cast basically right right so NHL network had a version of that and i got the last

minute and a half in Detroit Ottawa then the last minute in Philadelphia Columbus and the last

this is not in the right order the last minute on the island with Chicago pretty solid job there

and all of them were like one goal games the goalies pulled and it's a scrum around the net and

it's all marked saves the day for Ottawa and Philadelphia blows it and islanders can't score they

have a thing they lose a draw or something and like so in five minutes i got the end of three

games all right which is all you need yeah it's a good job never got to Boston and then it was Tampa

and as soon as i turned on Tampa it goes to three three and i have an announcement

and i might change my mind tomorrow i'm changing it from yesterday right now

that whole thing about not caring about first place i'm out i'm done i now care about it i've decided

to care about it okay i hate them welcome welcome i hate them they they overrule a Minnesota goal

that could have been and you see the play yeah i never did i will i left that game to watch

Boston to round on i got back when it was already three three and they thought it was my care

and i think yeah they thought scored a goal to give them a one goal lead early in the third late

second all eight second okay thank you final seconds i missed all that i didn't see what happened

what happened was well the first thing of course i'm going to say is Minnesota goes in like three on one

and there's a pass to somebody's feet and after before the goal is even scored at old check

is there to tell you that you should have shot it even though it's in his feet because the net

was open yeah which you know thanks how much do you make so they pass it around and score anyway

like oh great well he's not going to he's not going to apologize right no that's not how that works

so the goal goes in and what happened was i mean it was here we are again on a scale of one to ten

uh six and a half out of ten cross check of radish in front of a net i'm sitting there hating

Tampa i'm like oh he totally fell on vasolevsky on purpose he landed the way he did on purpose

and then he stayed there so we got a goal interference call we got a goal interference call

an offensive player cross checking a defender into his own goal right yeah and a challenge almost

like you like it's almost like i like you know i didn't see it but you know i can imagine on a

challenge right so the goal counts there is Cooper you know coach of the year yeah and he

challenges that play and he gets away with it which you know okay it might be right yeah the

announcers the lightning announcers old check bushe bush sorry not nobody says the lightning

announcers well they are actually if you listen to them they are oh i see oh yeah i see and so they

are all like oh if the force is interference they wanted now they with you know no explanation

i guess is needed because hockey they wanted a penalty on the cross check and the goal disallowed

oh boy like well why not right that that's a good question that's a terrible question so it really

yes you can't do that it never happens no it never happens but i think it's a good question why it

doesn't happen if i if you commit a foul that causes another foul why isn't that the original

foul will foul anyway all right go ahead i mean we're what it was the football

term that you told me they were going to review or so there's something zone the style zone or whatever

like it everything is now on the table but we don't i don't want to live in that world we get balls

and strikes being challenged tonight right right literally tonight all right the ABS what do you

want to know you get two per game and i'll have i'll wait on this because it's too good no i'll tell

you right now you don't know anything about how this is going to work right the ABS i have almost

with intent avoided right i don't i don't i don't i don't want to know i'll tell you two things

right now about it i just want to get i don't forget all day to mention it one is so when you watch

the so much happening we're at we're at Roswell Park and we're in a hallway and everything is

happening out here if you're wondering why it's why it sounds like this there are two things about

ABS one is when you watch a game and they show you the replay of like whether it's a ball or a strike

did you know the moment when they show it is the ball over the midpoint of the plate not the front

or the back okay so they i read the great Ben Lindbergh today explaining all of this which i

needed and he's like it's basically like if they did the front of the plate there'd be all these

breaking balls that look that they're in the dirt but they'd be strikes right and we would hate

life right so it's the midpoint of the plate one two they very carefully measure the height of the

batter so every batter is very like i don't know if he has shoes on or not but his height is very

carefully measured and so with that i'm so can i just say something real quick

sure so what i'm doing i'm just really worried about anyone in our audience that's driving a car

that cares about baseball and the chances that i'm just driving intentionally into a bridge

apartment while you're laying this all out i'm not even in the rest of the lightning game yet i can't

even i just it's already made point of the plate oh my god measuring okay well how are they going

to know with strike zone okay yeah what's the point yeah the point is we need computers to know

the strike zone now because people aren't too bad at it yeah so we have to measure and you know

it's from here to here whatever it is knees to chest or whatever it is okay but if you your

stance this i love this is great your stance is not considered so like who did as the show

ever sounded like Pete Rose right right that's right that's spotty that's spotty stance take

somebody and put them in the that the strike zone is the same by the computer no matter how they

stand so if you get into the lowest crouch you can get into and the ball is over your head

or and it wouldn't be that but at your head almost at your head that could be possible uh-huh that's

a strike you can stand any way you want but your strike zone does not change it changes depending

on the size of the person so we're back to like is it Eddie Gidele the white side Eddie Gidele

legend it was it was um kymisky though right i think so put a little a little person in to bat

because they're not going to be able to throw a strike to this guy right we're going to get back

to that now maybe yeah maybe that'll become a tag everybody's going to have a smaller player on

their team just the I don't know strikes on oh wow okay I don't know but that's a thing okay

was that too loud so Tampa we want to finish the Tampa the Tampa thought out well now it's three three

the Minnesota goal doesn't count then you get that winner which is not he was that a shot on goal

I can't believe it was a well no yeah sure because the the puck came out a Tampa player shot it

in off the camera oh right the goal he misplaced it but he didn't knock it in his own net he let it

shot on goal he let it through him into the slide and what you couldn't tell in live action was

that it hit the camera and came out so fast so they let play continue and then eventually realized

hey actually that that was in the net and then they yeah they scored an empty netter and then

the dreaded post empty net goal with the goalie back in so it was a six three final and there was

a play at four three with the net empty maybe where Minnesota is going in and there's a cross

check and then there's another one and the guy grabs his head the referee got hit with an

arid high street referee gets hit with us with it's same reddish that's where I checked out

that I went like no penalty for that like four three all right I'm done you can hit the ref with

the high stick right no problem yeah if you're Tampa at home it's fine yeah after while you're

grabbing a Minnesota guys head yeah he gets the penalty I hate them I have changed my good

position on this 100 percent I want them to be second so they can play Canadians and I'd watch

that you mean Tampa yes okay sorry yeah I was I got confused we were talking about first place

you don't care about first place and I want them I thought you'd talk about the same Tampa

Tampa you want to win second you want first place I want to win oh good I'll take any of these

other teams sure even senators whatever if I get them I get them you know Islanders Columbus

Pittsburgh Detroit Boston I want to avoid Montreal and I want to beat Tampa

I'm totally here for it I'm happy to hear this uh because I also

I mean I want first mostly because they're there and I want them to hold on to it like they've

got the lead and I don't want them to blow something you know and and you know not feel like they

missed out on something but you know it's so wild because there's so much flux you don't know like

today today was my you know and maybe every day maybe fans are doing this a team of the day not

that we have a team of the day but like today was a day for me to think about Columbus like you know

what is going on there they hardly ever have lost since bonus took over I saw that their goals

against since he took over is under two a game like bot like 1.7 something or maybe 1.85 or

something which is nuts so they might be a handful like we're you know we're I'm inclined to go

at Columbus you know how good can they be but I don't know wouldn't there be a lot of teams

fans that are in the playoff pool right now going that's Buffalo I mean come on right that's

interesting because I'm doing that with Columbus but I think maybe I'm making a mistake because

they're on a heater that's not run as long as Buffalo's but it's comparable like they are winning all

the time I think that's one difference and I think there are there are two that's one of them

that the Sabers have basically almost doubled yep Columbus's role yep and I think the other one is

they're just not I mean of course I'm going to not have an objective position on this but

they're not like a sympathetic figure oh no they're I mean they're not a they're not the opposite of

that no they're not a fool but they're just a team yeah and I think the Sabers with their

history and the longest drought ever you know I read Mac and do on

the Sabers being like the number one bandwagon team maybe ever like people are going to

gravitate to them on ADP chasing Jacob Sanderson is a Leafs fan he lives in Vancouver he flies to

Toronto for big games and he's like go Buffalo like at this point I'd love to see them win I think

that happened in 06 I think this was already pretty well established then hockey took a year off

and then the Sabers came out of the lockout and were good right eventually and I remember Bill

Simmons being one to like I'll root for the Sabers school yeah you know they deserve it they were

basically coming out of bankruptcy out of the lockout that too right that too so I think I mean Columbus

is not a blue blood at all and you know they have fans and they haven't had much success so okay

but I think the Sabers are different but I would say that I think objectively it is true

that they are what Columbus isn't it's just Columbus is just sort of not they're more of a non-entity

I think really right they claim to fame entirely for their existence is beating Tampa once

in a in a playoffs series like that's yeah it's the first round right that's it that's all they've got

so like I don't think I don't know anybody who hates them or like you know is mad at them

but I also don't know anybody who would go like yeah I think I'm gonna take I like the Columbus story

this year it's all even Buffalo just okay right the lightning announced a few minutes ago that

victor headman is leaving the team temporary leave of absence for personal reasons

so that's new in the okay while we've been talking it's probably right when I was railing on them

they announced that victor headman is his privacy is not to be you know disrespected you know

sorry if I got the timing wrong on that but that's how it goes I mean we're at around the air

you're on when you're on they're moving tables around all around us and moving bags and stuff

out of active lots of stuff happening around us so we are here for it

first place how much do you care the Bruins the night I'll be there look for me good deal are you

on the glass tonight too? Row 10 okay so no no sorry sorry you could not be more specific no I'm not

same section but Row 10 all right it'll do 803 0550 today Chris Tripaso joins us talking NFL

draft couple new names that I saw new to me in the mock draft sphere for the bills at pick 26

then we'll go all the way to 630 730 game Paul Hamilton in the pregame show at 630 tonight

how are you feeling what do you want the sabers matchups the lightning I mean if you watch last

night they were pretty easy to hate I think they're the they're the number one with a bullet right

now for the sabers but I mean probably not a first round opponent let's hope Mike show up in the

bulldog here at Roswell Park this is WGR this episode is brought to you by progressive most of you

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