Episode 14 - Hockey &... Hillary Knight = BOSS! / Neil Diamond

You know, I'm not angry. I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed that it couldn't just be celebrated period and it made me very sad and it hurt it hurt

Welcome everybody to the latest episode of the hockey and podcast as always I'm your host Jay and with me today off the injured reserve list is my co-host Jennifer who battled through sickness loss of voice all kinds of terrible things but she's a hockey woman and you know what hockey players do they show up and that's what she's doing today. So Jennifer welcome back from the IR list

Thanks so much. I'm barely hair, but I'm suck it it up because that's what we do. That's right. Suck it up buttercup. So without further ado, let's get into what we're going to be talking about today Jen. Okay, look in our hockey segment. We're going to talk about why Hillary night is a boss. Yes, she is. So we'll get into some really cool things about her and then in our an section. We're going to get into the

get into a topic that might cause my wife and I to separate. Please. It could be a driving wedge between us. I'll tell you now we're going to do what all great shows do. Jen, we're not going to tell anybody what it is. Okay, so you're going to have to wait until the second half of the show to find out exactly what is the and topic that my wife and I may split up over all of that.

All of that plus much more in today's episode of hockey and podcast. So Jen, kicking things off Hillary night. Yes. Hillary night. If you people out there don't know by this point, she was a very polarizing figure for women's hockey recently. She was part of the US team that won gold against Canada. She actually scored the game tying goal to bring or to put the game into

overtime, but we're going to bring out some things as far as why we think she's a boss other than her hockey game or their style of play. So now I'll give a little background on what I've got on Hillary night and then we'll get into the conversation.

Now Hillary night again is an American hockey player who is currently a forward and the captain of the Seattle torrent of the PWHL. She was also the captain of the United States women's national hockey team.

Now she has been regarded as one of the greatest women hockey players in history. She holds numerous records and she's been a dominant force in both international play Jen.

As well as professional hockey for almost two decades. And that's that's crazy to begin with two decades doing this. I think that's amazing. She's amazing. Anywho go on. Now just with the US national team, Hillary night has won a total of 10 gold medals in the IIHF World Women's Championship.

This is the most ever by any female hockey player, any hockey player, any hockey player. And she holds the tournament records for such things as total goals, assists and points.

So as a player Jen, her resume speaks for itself right now. She's kind of proven that her play. She's a boss add to it. She's also a five time Olympic medalist winning gold in 2018 and recently in 2026.

She also has won silver with the US women's national team in 2010, 2014, 2022. And in 2023, she became the first player in IIHF World Women's Championship hockey history to surpass 100 career points.

And she was named the recipient of the female player of the year award. She's also earned multiple tournament MVP honors, including the 2015 and 2016 World Championships, where she was also the leading scorer of that tournament.

So let's stop there, Jen. And as a woman, which you are a woman, what do you think about and you love hockey, too? So talk to me about this woman and her hockey attributes.

I mean, pretty much every year she has shown up at the Olympics and won some kind of medal. So I think that stands on its own by itself. Then she's, you know, I was I was looking up the IIHF.

And I cannot figure out what is that even stand for international ice hockey federation. So the IIHF is international ice hockey federation. So it's not just United States. So that's pretty much she's pretty much bomb as far as I'm concerned.

Now that's on the international stage. So she showed up in all the big tournament. Yes, especially when you think about the Olympics. Now the Olympics is the best of the best when it comes to that tournament.

We saw it on the men's side. You can it has got an amazing team. Chechnya has an amazing team. Finland has a great team. So to be considered one of the best in Olympic hockey history, leading in goals and assists and points, I would say that's impressive.

And honestly, I didn't even know about her to be honest before the Olympics. And it's really what what has made her stand out so much to me is actually is not so much her on ice. I mean, it is, it is, but her off ice presence has been amazing too. And I just really, really wish you was still, you know, with Boston fleet. I want to get one of those jerseys with her name on it.

Because I haven't been saying for a while about the PWHL that no, I wish she was she bought it because of how how it's slower than the men's and everything, but after seeing what they did on the Olympic in the Olympic forum, I'm totally blown away. So yeah, I want I want to start going to some PWHL games.

It's an interesting professional hockey career to go along with her international play. As you mentioned, she started with the Boston pride.

She actually won the inaugural Isabelle Cup with the Boston pride in the NWHL in 2016. So this is right before the PWHL. And in 2016, she has been a scoring leader across multiple leagues.

She talked about international. She's a scoring leader in the NWHL. She was a scoring leader with the Boston blades as well as the Montreal team of the CWHL.

Now, let's move ahead into the PWHL where she played for the Boston fleet. And in the 2024 25 season, she tied for the league lead with 29 points.

Again, there was an early, you know, first season. So they didn't play a lot of games. 29 points is a lot.

That is earning her the points leader award. And she was named a finalist for the forward of the year, as well as the Billie Jean King MVP award for the PWHL.

Hillary Knight has served as captain for both teams USA and Boston fleet before becoming the first player and captain of the new expansion Seattle torrent that she's currently on back in 25.

Now, before we get into the main topic or the main meat of our subject, beyond her on ice achievement, Knight has been a leading advocate for equality and sustainability in women's professional hockey, playing a key role in the formation of the PWHL players association.

And she's also received three USA hockey Bob Allen women player of the year awards in 2014, 2022 and 2025.

And check this out. She was named to Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2018.

I mean, come on.

This girl is a boss just based off of that information. So she has an unbelievable hockey career. She's won gold medals. She's won championships in the professional league.

She was a college star and standout. And she's helped develop women's hockey. I would say from square one when it's come to the formation of the leagues, the players association.

I mean, when you're getting recognized by Forbes, yes, that's a pretty impressive thing, especially for a hockey player.

I'm wondering if everything surrounding the Olympics and the PWHL, I'm wondering if she's going to shoot them the women's teams into the stratosphere. I hope this takes off.

It would be really awesome to see more teams being developed. I would love that. Love that.

Let's talk about that for a minute. So the women's professional league is growing, but it's growing slowly. Right.

Now, do you think that with Olympic gold medal and the outstanding games that we saw both with the US hockey team, the Canadian women's hockey team and some other different nations?

Is this them help propel the PWHL in your opinion to be more mainstream, more recognizable, draw in maybe some other hockey fans who like yourself, wasn't really following them before.

Yeah, I mean, I would hope so. Because if you're looking for a quality game, it definitely was that. And it's not like they have that they're just the top players.

Either you know, like we had the men's teams and they were all the top players from the NHL. These are all the players.

So you're still going to you're going to have those fast paced games or faster paced games, regardless of who shows up because, you know, or who who it's against because they're all top tier.

Do you feel though that for any sports team to be recognizable by the public, you have to have polarizing figures. So yes, if we talk men's hockey NHL, right?

Yeah, go down the list. Right. There's a list that you could probably pick one person, maybe multiple people off each team that a lot of people understand and know now again, hockey is the let's call it what it is.

The red headed stepchild of sports. It's it's not highly recognized. You know, when you talk about football, when you talk about baseball or basketball or even soccer, it's down there.

But the people that understand hockey, their passionate fans, they latch on to a team to a player and they definitely will support them, especially teams players may come and go not as much as some sports, but it does happen.

Is Hillary Knight? I guess you could say the most polarizing figure in your opinion for women's hockey right now.

At this point, I would say yes with without a doubt because I mean, I consider myself a pretty a pretty decent fan of the NHL again. You're a newer fan.

Shut it. I hate that. You can't see him cheese and over here. He's just smiling like crazy. If he knows he gets under my skin, but as far as the other players, other female players, I don't know them.

I'll be quite honest. I have no idea who they are. So she is the face of it right now. I think it's I think it's a great face. I think she holds herself really well.

And I would like to think that the women that are now being pulled into the NHL as far as watching and enjoying really understanding the game, I would like to think that us women would support the women's teams.

And you know, it's still for me. It's still pretty new. I mean, I have not been paying attention. But now I am. And it's because of the Olympics. So I'm hoping that maybe this is something that'll catch on.

I think that she's got enough of a I want to say following, but she's got enough of enough of a face. She's got enough celebrity at this point to bring some more people gets more attention to the sport in the women's league.

And if you don't know the PWHL right after the Olympics, did what they call is a takeover for some a lot of their games.

What that means is they don't usually play in NHL arenas. They typically play in college arenas or smaller arenas just because of the fact that they just don't have the draw yet.

But they from time to time do get to play in the NHL arenas. For instance, the fleet are playing at the Boston TD garden.

And how are the tickets? How have the tickets done? I'll let you answer that. How have the tickets done for that game?

I heard. I heard that they sold out. I mean, they sold out TD garden. That is not a small thing.

So this could be something. This could be something. I will be so stoked. So stoked. I mean, the Huskies took over basketball in Connecticut, the women's the women's team.

I mean, they are by far the best basketball team in Connecticut, at least. And I mean, hey, if that can happen here too. Wow. That would be that would be just amazing.

They're talking about selling out in arena. That's over 18,000 seats. I mean, 18,000 for a PWHL game. That's that's great news. That's great news. It is. I hope that they've got to be. They've got to be stoked. They must be absolutely stoked to say what we sold out. I mean, it's impressive.

Now, the other key part of this is once the Olympics are over. And what usually happens is all the talk shows, all the media, they want to talk to gold medalists. So for the men, it seemed like Jack Hughes and his brother Quinn Hughes were on that tour.

And on top of that, Hillary Knight was one of the female hockey players that showed up to Jimmy Kimmel and all the other shows. And here's what I really respected about her on that show. And then we'll get into why we really think she's a boss and respect her is the way she conducted herself.

She was sitting with the Hughes brothers. And you know what? In my mind, I wasn't looking at men and women, hockey players. I was watching that screen. I was just seeing hockey player.

Yes.

So Hillary Knight, as we said, based off of her playing career is a boss. She's proven that now the one thing I do want to kind of say that I feel bad for her about is this.

This is her last year in the PWHL. I believe she's retiring after this year. Unfortunately, we don't get to see this figure in that limelight that the PWHL and women's hockey is really starting to garnish.

I wish she, you know, we got the 22, 23 year old version now with that, you know, what she was able to accomplish. I think she could have taken that, you know, league and women's hockey into the stratosphere.

Well, she's 36 now. So in hockey, we know that that's that's getting toward that, you know, the pinnacle where you're going to find out.

But the good thing, let's talk about this factor. Her inspiration to other young women to either pick up the game to play it or just to follow what is a fan like you.

Yeah, it's drawn new interest. So speak to how, even though we're losing her as a player, how is her presence now and in the future going to help this game grow.

Well, you know very well that she's not going to be out of the spotlight. She's going to stick around. I don't, I don't know. I mean, I don't know if they've even said what she plans on doing in the future.

She hasn't even spoken to the yet that yet. I don't think, but she's not going anywhere. So, and I think that there's a lot, there's a lot of young girls that are totally enamored with the sport of hockey now because of watching this.

You know, the little girls who are, they're in the minor leagues now. They're, they're looking at it and they're like, I can do that. And I mean, who better of a spokesperson than her.

So I figure she'll be around for a long time.

I think she inspires young women, especially now.

I think she inspires women in general, regardless of how old they are because I mean, look at what, look at what she's done as well as what the teams have done.

I know that we talk a lot about, you know, we're, we make fun of this, that and the other thing, but women now, as far as hockey is concerned, there's been a lot of adversity.

And so the fact that they are getting the kind of recognition that they're getting now, bomb, I am so thrilled for them, so thrilled.

I'm with you because I have watched the PWHL and I have to say that it's interesting to me. It's an interesting game. There's a lot of talent out there. Yes, it's a different game from the NHL.

That's understood, but it's still very entertaining. So I think the PWHL has a real strong future ahead of it.

The other thing that I love personally, and I'm an old man, I don't, you know, look at a lot of social media stuff, but the algorithm knows that you like hockey, it'll show you a lot of hockey stuff.

And one of the things that I've noticed is there's a lot of young female hockey players putting themselves out there on social media, whether it be from the college ranks, maybe high school ranks.

And what I'm starting to see are these women, regardless of their age, playing hockey in a very different way than maybe even some of the, you know, people before them have done their training differently.

They're accepting the fact that look, we're women in this, but we can do better. We can be stronger. We can be faster. We can make the game better.

And that's a great thing. That's what the NHL is going through now. Right.

With the youth movement, when you look at young people like Maclin, Salabrini, right, these are young kids who are starting to dominate in the NHL in their teens early 20s.

And I think that's what's going to happen in the women's game in the very near future. It's happening now.

But I think you're going to get an influx of just these young superstar talents in their late teens to early 20s that are going to be very similar to a Hillary night, because that's who they watched when they were say young teenager.

I think the PWHL has a bright future ahead of it, especially if the US and Canada, if they keep developing these young people all over the world, I should say, because when you can show up on a big platform like the Olympics and perform like they did and have games like they did.

That's what draws people in. That's what keeps them interested. That's where, you know, I'm sure in that US Canada final, there was a lot of people hockey fans, regardless of men or women who watched that exciting game.

You know, and we were talking about how they have a, it's a bit of a slower game, but, but the skill is there.

So if you can get used to it just being just to touch slower, then I mean, and I don't really know why it's a little bit slower. It's probably just because they're not as tall.

I mean, that's probably just the basics of it, but the skill, the skill is there. And that is another thing in watching the games, the Olympic games that I noticed that I mean, they're toe to toe.

So that, that really made me really proud. Because although, because I've, like I said, in the past, I've been a little more critical of it because it's a slower game. And I'm, you know, when it comes to watching these games, I'm kind of like a adrenaline junkie. I want to see fast, fast, fast.

But when you slow it down a little bit, you can see the skill level. And that is actually blown me away. So I'm really looking forward to seeing where they're going.

Her off ice attitude, her, her off ice interviews, they've been right on as well.

Sounds like you want to transition into the big topic now when it comes to Hillary night.

Unfortunately, good people out there listening. If you don't know this, women as a whole have a huge mountain, they must climb even in 2026. Unfortunately, when it comes to respect, would you agree with that?

Yeah, absolutely. Every day day and day out, you know, we can't put who we are side, we can't hide it in any way, shape or form. And we are a type of minority women are also a minority.

So, yeah, when it comes to your, your white men leading everything, they have the power, you know, the women, women don't really have the same kind of power that men do.

So, yeah, we've been, you know, battling uphill quite a bit for quite a long time.

So, Hillary night was confronted with, I guess you could say exactly what you were saying. Now, the women's hockey team comes off a glorious victory, wins gold, they're celebrating, wherever they're celebrating, and that the men proceed to come out and do the same thing.

They win gold in overtime, like as Canadian, right? Another great accomplished missing. Yes. So, the men are celebrating over there in Italy and their locker room and the phone rings.

And that happens, that typically happens, the phone rings from someone important over in the United States, where the thought is, is they want to congratulate.

Hey, you won gold. Congratulations from the top people, you know, and people you know exactly what I'm talking about. So, we don't have to dredge that old thing up.

So, that phone call comes in and we heard and saw video and audio about that phone call.

What happens is, as the call is going on, the men's team is invited by this individual to go to a very special place in the US once they get home.

You see how I'm kind of skirt around this because people, I'm not political at Ersen. My wife's not a political person. We're very neutral when it comes to this stuff.

So, we don't want to get into, you know, who and what and where and all that. But phone call comes in, men are basically told, hey, we need you to come to this very special place.

And oh, by the way, we'll probably have to invite the women because if this person who said this, what he said was, if we don't, I'm basically going to get in trouble.

Or people are going to talk, you know, against me, making a joke of it.

That they have to bring the women right or I'm going to get in trouble into 1026.

Yeah.

Now, some of you heard some of the men chuckled and some laugh. There were a couple in the background that said, you know, two for two.

Let's basically out. We need women to come. Yeah, okay. That happens.

Now, here's the next funny part that happens in 2026. Unfortunately, the media wants to dredge up any kind of controversy.

They want you to speak towards it. So when something happens, they want immediate reaction. They want you mad.

They want you to yell and scream. They want you to come across and be offended and all this stuff.

And you want, you want to know, let me just, I got to step up on this for a couple of moments.

Now, the whole reason why we didn't do this last week is because I was sick.

And so we are late in talking about this, but I really wanted to be able to talk about this.

So that's why we're doing it now because I'm here. I will say and you saw it firsthand.

I didn't get angry.

I started crying.

And I started crying because they worked so hard and it's actually really emotional for me, even right now, because they work just as hard.

You know, and they had to make their way without the kind of help that the men's team gets. They get snubbed.

And it's just so hurtful.

You know, I'm not angry. I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed that it couldn't just be celebrated period.

You know, and it made me very sad and it hurt, it hurt.

So take it from there, Jay.

It was an event. It's the Olympics.

These are athletes, some of them who train their whole life to do this.

Unfortunately, we get pulled into a lot of the times.

The Olympics ends up being a political event, if you would.

You recall 1980, right?

US versus the Russians.

That was more about the political, the political kind of turmoil that was going on.

And now you kind of let it bleed over into a hockey game.

Well, unfortunately, in 2026, it's not a country versus country.

Unfortunately, now we're talking about now.

Oh, yeah, party versus party.

And party versus party. And again, doesn't matter what you believe.

We let it bleed over into a wonderful sporting event that you ask any one of those women,

any one of those men, yes, they're playing for team USA team Canada.

They're there to win a gold medal and to, you know, represent their country.

And he's proud of the fact that, hey, our team won a gold medal for this country.

And the important people in the country that won the gold medal for are digging them,

are making fun of them.

And that's for me where it's insulting.

And I'm a white man.

And I totally agree with what you're saying.

But why do we have to turn this beautiful event into, again, something just to tear someone else down,

just because we feel like, hey, I'm going to get a laugh.

I'm going to draw some more attention to myself.

That's what it is.

It's for far, far, far too long.

Women have been the butt of so many jokes.

It's constant.

It's constant.

It doesn't ever end.

You know, so one of one of my favorite authors just came out and just said she's,

she's releasing two books.

And now what I'm all I'm hearing is all about putting, putting, for some reason,

women who write books that happen to be sci-fi or fantasy, they're put into a category

that men are not put into.

When a man writes a fantasy or a sci-fi book, it's a fantasy or a sci-fi book.

When a woman writes it and both men and male and female writers put some sexuality in their books,

that's the way the world is this part of life.

But for some reason, when women write it, it's considered smut.

And the whole book is labeled smut.

When in reality, less than 3% of the book has anything like that in it.

And so like I say, it's we as women are joked about.

We're not taken seriously.

And that's what I felt with all of this.

They worked just as hard, but their accomplishments were secondary.

And they shouldn't have been, they should have been equal.

And again, with the guys, the guys, you know, they laughed in things.

And at first I was hurt by that too.

But then I realized the reality of the situation.

I'm sure it would have been really awkward for somebody to say, well, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You know, they tried to be all inclusive.

But it was, you know, at the very last moment, it's very hard to come up with something to say at that,

in that situation.

So, but I dig rats.

They did, they did talk about it afterward.

And it sounds as though the guys had have a lot of respect for the women.

But I just wish that it hadn't been brought up, hadn't become an issue to begin with.

It shouldn't have been.

But we live in a world now in 2026, where I would say things are brought more to the limelight or brought out into the light.

So how women have been treated.

It has grown, not to where it needs to be, but it has grown.

In that scenario, one of the things that I'll be perfectly honest with you as a male growing up,

is a young in my teens and 20s.

In that situation, what usually happens is if something's said or someone's joking about someone else,

typically, if you're part of that, and again, as a young person,

you don't want to stand out as the person who's different.

Right.

You kind of chuckle along because your thought is, well, I don't now want to be the target of them.

And I think that was part of it.

I think the other part of it was who the individual was on the phone that maybe they just didn't want to talk against that.

That's another thing.

And finally, the third thing is, hey, look, if you truly believe that.

I mean, unfortunately, we do live in a land where you do have the ability to have those feelings, not saying it's right.

But you do.

But like you said, it just comes down to one thing.

Respect for one another.

Doesn't matter if you're a man, a woman, what race you are, ethnicity, or it's just we're human beings.

We all need to respect one another.

At least now in 2026, when stuff like this happens, people now don't necessarily feel the need to keep it to themselves.

There are a lot of people who will speak out against that.

As you mentioned, when this happened, you heard right in that initial video.

There were people in the background trying to turn that conversation around to bring the women.

Because they were, they were, you know, obviously the guys were obviously really excited that the two for two, they're bringing home two for two.

You know, I mean, that's that is freaking cool.

Both hockey teams bringing home gold.

That's awesome.

So you could hear the excitement.

And when they first started talking, you hear how excited they were.

And then it kind of got a little weird.

But, you know, and you heard male players shortly thereafter come out and say, I didn't say anything then.

But I'm saying it now.

We were wrong.

We should have said something.

But for all the reasons I mentioned, sometimes you don't want to be the first one in front of the firing line to say, hey, no, this isn't okay that we talk about this.

Again, maybe it was the excitement factor.

But you also have to, you know, build into that that unfortunately there are what I like to call mouth breathers that roam amongst us.

Who just don't have the mental capability to have compassion for other people who don't fit inside their tight little minuscule world of what they think the world should be.

So unfortunately, those people are there and the hey, you know what they're allowed to be there and have those thoughts.

But at the same time, just ask yourself.

And this is where I want to end this point before we get into really them.

The, the, the best part of this story is.

Yes.

Everybody out there has a mother has a sister has, you know, a sister in law, a niece.

Wife, child, wife, let's go down her list.

I mean, if that was your any one of those, how would you feel at that moment when someone said that about the fact that your daughter, just when gold medal for the US hockey team and people are making jokes about them.

Yeah, but you know what I don't think that it's something that a man can understand.

Just as though, you know, we can't understand what other minorities go through how they feel.

We can empathize as much as we possibly can, but we're not there.

We're not them.

There's no way for us to know how crushing it is.

You know, and it's the same thing with men.

I mean, there's no way that men can understand how it feels to be in this spot, to be a joke to everyone else.

You know, and to a lot of women as well, it's not just men because there are a lot of misogynistic women out there.

And they they have taken their cues from the men and they have not stood up for themselves.

And that's sad.

I find that to be really sad too.

But I think that you can empathize as much as humanly possible.

But at the end of the day, you really don't know how it feels because you're not in their skin.

And if that's the case, if you don't know how they feel, and like you said, maybe you can't relate, then you know what you...

I think we need to do as a society.

How about we keep our mouths shut and listen a little bit more.

And then this way, we can have conversations because today, really, all we're doing with each other is yelling at each other.

If you have a point that I don't agree with, I'm just going to yell at you and I'm going to...

I'm going to yell at you and get a hurting around the point until I just go, you know what?

This is waste in my time.

So I think we just need to keep our mouths shut, especially on things when it comes to breaking down somebody else just to build ourselves up.

You know, there's the old saying that says, you know, if you ever wonder who the dumbest person in the room is, it's just wait a minute and they'll talk and let you know.

So maybe we just be quiet every so often.

Maybe we have the conversation or we just have respect for one another.

We all have different beliefs.

We all grew up differently.

You know what?

We can't all fit into that perfect little box that a lot of these people want to put the world into.

There's a lot of variety in the world.

Variety is what makes life interesting.

So...

It's the spice of life.

The spice of life.

I've ranted long enough, Jen.

Now I want to get into why Hillary Knight is the boss of all boss.

You know what?

Okay.

So all of this happened.

Yes.

And with her being the captain of the women's team, of course, every media outlet wants to get a reaction.

They're hoping it's something spicy.

Again, come out, fire in.

And guess what?

Hillary Knight did exactly what I think she should have done.

And I think she deserves all the praise in the world.

So what I'd like to do is just read to you, Jen, what the statement was when she went on ESPN Sports Center and was confronted with the question about what do you think about those comments and the reaction that followed?

Here's what she said.

And I quote, I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke.

And unfortunately, this is overshadowing a lot of the success of just women at the Olympics carrying Team USA banner and having amazing gold medal feats.

Now, that was the first thing she said.

So what she's basically saying is women as a whole came through for the country.

One gold, not just the hockey team, other ones kind of takes a little bit away from that.

Then she goes on to say, now I have to sit here in front of you all and explain someone else's behavior.

And it's not my responsibility to do so.

It's absolutely not.

I think that's wonderful.

Next, she goes on to say, I think this is a really good learning point to focus on how we talk about women, not only in sport, but in industry.

And she closes out by saying women aren't less than.

Our achievements shouldn't be overshadowed by anything else other than how great they meaning women are.

Alright, if I could, I would hit the applause button right now and say good for you Hillary Knight from this aspect and then I'll let you jump in.

You didn't sink to the level that a lot of people were hoping you would.

In other words, when people make or do dumb things, a lot of the times they just want to draw you down into the mud with them and she didn't do that.

She threw up what I consider the most respectful answer while getting her point across that you could possibly bring out.

And I love the fact that she made the point that, hey, when somebody says something dumb, you want me not to have to sit in front of you explain why they said that.

Why don't you go ask them is basically what she said.

A pause a pause a pause Hillary Knight, I'm just going to say this I have nothing but respect for how you play the game of hockey.

And now I have tremendous amounts of respect when it comes to you as a person and how you handle yourself in difficult situations.

Actually, as you were reading all of that, you know, her words, I got emotional again because it's it's a ridiculous.

It's just ridiculous that women that she even has to say this, you know, why does she have to say women are not less than it's so sad and I give her.

And that is why I wish she was still on the fleet and I wish I could go back and support with her on the team, but from here forward, I will be supporting the PWHL because I think that they are amazing.

I'm so proud and to be quite honest, I am really really stoked and so proud to be a woman because I'm emotional.

I'm able to handle my emotions like a like an adult, you know, I can see the bad I can see the good and then I can do what I need to do.

To get my point across through that, this is what she did. Oh, I know she was emotional about it. There's no way that she couldn't be emotional about it, but she got her point across and then mic drop.

She didn't need to say much more than that. She said it all in just those few few sentences.

Mic drops the perfect word for that. I agree with you. Imagine if she went the other way, it would, I believe, tarnish what way accomplished in a weird way, in a weird way, how the men handled themselves, I think tarnished their metal.

Where is what she did and the rest of the women, I think elevated. I agree.

I think it's sad that we had, like I said before, because of the misogyny that happens in our society nowadays that we men have to feel that insecure to break women down for whatever the reason is to make ourselves feel better.

So I'm just going to say this as a man, man out there, you don't need to break down a woman, but you know what makes you a real man instead of breaking your down supporting her, building her up.

Yeah, you know, be kind, support, offer words of encouragement rather than words of joking around just because, you know, for like what happened to the situation.

Build them up and guess what, when that happens, your life gets better. Women look at you with more respect and they don't look at you as one of these typical creeps out there.

Imagine if you're sitting in a restaurant and someone comes over and says something degrading to your wife or to your daughter or your sister.

I think majority of the men out there, when that happens, would stand up in defense, like if you recall a young Gavin McKenna did applause applause, you want to talk about his mother, you're going to get knocked the bleep out.

I think that's what needs to happen nowadays is let's stop breaking down women, let's start building them up and win this happen.

Like it did on that phone call, strong men will come to the forefront and stand up for women, especially when they're being degraded like that or broken down just for the sheer joke of it all.

So be a man, stand up for what you believe and don't just cower behind because you don't want to be in the one person that disagrees in the locker room quote unquote be a real man is what I'm basically getting to because at the end of all of this, I would say Hillary night is more of a man than a lot of people who didn't step forward and stand up.

You don't have to be a man to be the kind of person you should be, you know what I'm saying and going along with that, you know how we always say they're not men, they're boys, well no, they're men, they're men, they're adults, they're not children, they really should behave better, but they don't because they don't either uneducated or they just don't care enough.

And either either way it's sad, but like we say, she was awesome, she handled it great, the men's team were amazing, the women's team amazing, I give all of them all the Olympic gold medalists, I give them all so much credit, that's a lot of work.

These are, this is stuff they devote their lives to and they went over the hair and they, they showed up, it was, it was amazing, I'm just, I'm just proud, just proud.

They showed up, Hillary night showed up in more ways than one so why to summarize is Hillary night a boss in our eyes and should be in yours.

She's an amazing hockey player, starting from the college level going up into the very young professional women's league when it first started till the point to where it got to the PWHL level where she was amazing there.

We already talked about international play, she is, let's call her what she is, the greatest player in women's history as of right now statistically when it comes to a lot of different areas.

And then goes on to win gold this year against a very difficult Canadian women's hockey team to only be faced with an obstacle that could have potentially tarnished their great accomplishments.

And instead she goes out takes the high road building up what I would say again is women as a whole the women's hockey league and women's athletes overall.

And she does it professional doesn't in a respectful way to the point to where I don't think anybody can look at any of her statements that she made after that.

I think she said it perfectly so this is why we have Hillary night we're going to hang her jersey in the hockey and podcast studio rafters as you know it when you hang someone's jersey right means one of the greats of all time she will be the first jersey.

That we hang in our studios rafters because of the now I want to say not new respect I have I always had respect for as a hockey player but as a human being this just put her over the edge and I want to applaud her and I want to make sure that other people are aware that this is a great individual so if you don't know the Hillary night story or you haven't seen her play.

Go check her out read about her because these are the role models that you know young women need as well as human beings human beings in general heard that.

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All right Jim unfortunately we've reached the and part of the show and for and this is going to be the part of the show where our marriage potentially falls apart.

Now many of you who if you listen to the intro of this we didn't tell you what the topic is because it's just so polarizing that we're about to get into it so here we go our topic today is we watched the

Neil Diamond inspired movie called song song blue with Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.

So let's just go over the quick premise of the movie the premise is Hugh Jackman is a performer he's a singer he loves to sing he loves to perform he's trying to find his niche can't quite find it.

He then meets up with Kate Hudson who's basically doing the same thing hey I don't know what I want to do.

What's he doing Patsy Klein right they're basically doing that prayer and cover bands they can't really get things going they know they both are passionate about music and they want to make music their main source of income to live off of it.

The idea gets hatched that hey Hugh Jackman or his character you kind of look like Neil Diamond.

So why don't you go down that route and that's basically what this movie turns into is he goes in creates a Neil Diamond experience with this woman that we talked about and the story proceeds from there but that we're not here to talk about the movie which by the way before I forget was based on a true story.

Which it was really a wild story it was based on Mike and Claire Sardina and they had some crazy crazy crazy crazy life so if you guys want to watch something that is I mean I got I'll say within the first 20 minutes just so I was like what is happening here.

It was like okay this is boring and then it took a left turn and I was like what just happened I yeah so it is definitely a good watch so we won't we will not ruin it for anybody but definitely a good watch it's not as what's his name Neil diamond it's it's not as Neil diamond forward as you would think it's not like it's about Neil diamond it's about this couple.

About Mike and Claire Sardina and it really was it was well written and it's true I you know as we were watching it I was looking all these things up to see exactly how things happened and everything that was in there.

Pretty much is as close to real life as it gets but J's issue of course is not with the movie.

Before I get into that I will say I acknowledge you are 100% right you're going to get to certain points in this movie where you're literally going to just yell at the screen are you kidding me.

Are you kidding me and the things you will be yelling at really did happen to them in real life so I'll leave you with that now on to the issue.

While we're watching this movie.

My wife makes the statement and I don't want to paraphrase this in any way shape or form I'm going to allow my wife to say what she said to me on the couch while this movie is going on so Jen what did you say to me that is potentially leading to our our marriage demise.

Okay I got a prophecies with the the thought here that I think that he is an amazing showman I think he is an am his songs are fantastic but for the life of me Neil Diamond just creeps me out he's it's gross I it's gross he just gross I can't it's just no.

Why is he why is he gross to you because I don't know if he always has done this but he gets into these songs and the way that he's singing them and then he'll like in his shows he'll like lays down on the stage and the women come up and he's singing to the women and he starts making out with them.

It's just Iq he just gives me the Iq and here's my rebuttal to that my issue with that statement is this now we're going to get into Neil Diamond's amazing career in a second but your Iq factor if you would so you have a problem just so I'm clear with the fact that he engages with his female audience where he'll go down to the stage and the women will come up and he'll sing to them kind of.

He'll sing to them kind of crew you know woo them a little bit and then he proceeds to kiss them no but he's not just kissing them it's not just a kiss it's like open mouth low low low low it's just no and is that because of the way he looks that he grosses you out or it's just the act itself it's all of it it's all of it all of it put together it's just there I have never ever found anything about Neil Diamond to be sexy.

I love his music but there is no no attraction whatsoever like none zero it's in the negative snow no no okay okay let me ask you this question you grew up in the 80s yes of course okay you recall there was a lot of let's call it what it was in the 80s the lead man or the bands had a very sexual overtone to them.

Would you not agree with that I would agree with that completely so then do you have the same problem with say a 20-year-old Sebastian Bach who would do something like that.

Making money with something-year-old Axel Rose who may have done something like because we do see so you have a problem with the whole act that's so it's not just the fact that it's Neil Diamond in his weird hair cut because this has been going on forever right you would call the crooners back in the day did it.

Making out like that I mean you can tell he's got his mouth open there's tongues involved yuck it's just gross and he's married he's been married three times but he's married.

Hey that's true but let me ask you this is he forcing himself upon these women are they.

Answer the question and according to law you have to answer the question that's asked.

What do you think we're honest for you come on we might be yeah.

Yeah no it's just it yes I don't understand the women are up there they are allowing themselves to be kissed and whatnot and they probably if they're allowing themselves to be kissed they're thinking that he's attractive in some way shape or form.

I personally you you but I feel like that about anybody who's you I know well first of all I don't want to kiss anybody others and you so there's that.

So that whole idea of you just is crossed the board for me as far as anybody other than you but.

Well I'm gorgeous so I mean I mean you know but it is one of those things where it's just.

Okay let me ask it this way then you ready for this and I'm going to pose this in two different scenarios so it may be I'll drive the point home.

I want you to think as yourself as young single Jennifer back in the day right you go to one of these two shows and this happy and you tell me okay ready it's going to be the same scenario just with two different people.

You go to a show and you're in the front row and one of these two singers proceeds to notice you start singing to you maybe you know calls you over to the edge of the stage.

And those singers are Richard marks and Rob Thomas if that happens to you and young Jennifer's there is she not a little enamored by those because those were telling you.

Yes absolutely enamored am I going to allow anybody to kiss me like that even single you know who I am right you know who you've known me since I was 20.

Yeah no I'm just not bill like that it's just you the idea of kissing somebody that I just met first of all is disgusting to me it's gross there's got to be something else there and no it nope.

And then all I would think about so okay you're talking Rob Thomas all I could think about was Marisol.

His wife is gorgeous wife.

If he was single as well.

No you they he broke no you know no I just think it's gross I just it's the one night stand type of thing in the even if it's just a kiss.

Yuck okay it's just me okay so I think you've.

Leal diamond a nail diamond overall.

Ew ew it's just you it's just no there's nothing sexy about him so Rob Thomas might be able to get away with it Neil diamond.

I can't god you know diamond tries pulling me on a lot of you like no thanks thanks but I'll pass yeah no no no okay no no no.

And you separate the gross thing that you have it you know that you said about Neil diamond from his music absolutely I have playlists that have his music on.

And you know in the car I'm singing those songs for the loudest of all of them because he's he's a great musician I mean he's his songs are amazing I can't take that away from him at all.

I just am not.

Not built that way yeah what's your favorite Neil diamond song.

Probably forever in blue jeans great song I mean it's a great tune.

I mean he did write what many would consider the anthem of say Boston I know a lot of out of teams and cities kind of try to adopt it as the

own but we all know when it comes right down to it the song sweet Caroline is a Boston staple that's played at every

Boston sporting event all four of them.

Yeah now okay so take that take that and I'll give you the gross factor the gross factor is let me

let me a diamond saw Caroline Kennedy as a nine year old nine year old and thought of that song.

And then of course they say he applied it to his then wife but still he got the idea of that song.

I mean look at the words nine years old nine.

It's just yeah no.

I want to give you a little bit background on that I wanted to research that so here's what I found when it came to that song it came to sweet Caroline.

I'll just read what it says it's easier it says some of the best songs ever written take months to perfect but that wasn't the case for sweet Caroline.

Neil diamond has said that he wrote this song in just 45 minutes or up to an hour and when asked what was the inspiration.

He said it was a magazine photo of Caroline Kennedy the daughter of late president John F. Kennedy that sparked the idea for the

Lear when she went on however he later revealed that the song wasn't actually about her the name just fit perfectly with the melody.

Regardless of its origins sweet Caroline has become a beloved anthem played it almost everything from a wedding to a sporting event all over the world.

Really wish I didn't look it up.

Yeah, I think you're overdoing like he's not saying it and it's like he essentially saying touching you touching.

No, no, no, see this is the problem is he took the name that's it he's not thinking about a little child.

I mean come on let let let's you know we are going to have an episode one of these days where we talk about all the innuendo gross songs of like the 70s and all.

There's tons of was there's a million on some of them.

I mean she what what she says to you like yeah yeah yeah I feel that he kind of gets a you know I understand what you're saying with this as far as the perception of it but I think there's something a little bit more to it then just he's a pedophile right and about.

Did you say all that I just think it's gross.

I did not say what you just said I did that that word did not even come into my head.

I just thought that the idea of him looking at a little nine year old and being able to write that song within 45 minutes is kind of it.

But he's saying that he just took the name so when he saw the name Caroline it fit with what he was already writing.

That's not what they said it's not he was already writing it you.

Okay so we talked about that song which everybody knows right bomb bomb bomb everybody knows the song then forever and blue jeans one of my favorite songs yes how about the song title of the movie song song blue.

That is a song that I remember from a little kid and yeah just that's a great tune to crackle and rosy another great song I am I said.

How about September mourn yeah another great song how about love on the rocks Jen we could do this all day long.

Now did you know heart light not we could do this all day long the categories and the songs we've written are amazing did you know that Neil diamond has written and recorded 13 top 10 hits on billboards hot 100.

With 38 songs reaching the top 10 on adult contemporary charts and he has 10 number one singles that he's written for other numerous artists including I'm a believer for the monkeys and red red wine for you before to name a few.

I did not know but it does not surprise me whatsoever he's a fantastic writer it's just he gives me the Ick.

Now when you talk about Ick he wrote for an artist that many people either consider one of the greatest singers of all time or a very Icky individual and that is Elvis Presley.

He wrote the song and the grass won't pay no mind specifically for Elvis Presley back in 1969 Elvis also covered sweet Caroline live in 1970 so even he acknowledged you know yeah and you also married Lisa Marie Presley when she was 15 so you know we're talking about Ick right.

Yes but you know granted it was a completely different time but 15 and nine years old okay I'll let it go you'll let it go there's a lot of Ick factor in the world today when it comes especially to musicians and we will go over that yes I think anywhere from the from the like I don't know from the 50s to the late 80s even into the 90s lots of Vick.

Lots and lots and lots of Vick Ringo star you're 16 you're beautiful in your mind we could do this all day but we're going to hold on that because that this is something that we need to talk about.

Okay now we need to talk about this we do we do okay we do because it's interesting and that's the whole point of this podcast other than talking about hockey we talk about things that are interesting to us.

Now you mentioned he was married three times yeah unfortunately Neil Diamond today is not in good health he's dealing with I believe it's Parkinson's disease which is the same kind of thing that Michael J Fox is dealing right but he's 85 Michael J Fox got his when he was in his 20s.

Okay good to know you know just saying so we we could acknowledge he's a great performer yes we have spoken about the fact that he may have a little Ick factor to his live performance that some may not find very appealing but some find wonderful it just depends on who you are.

Before we end the Neil Diamond discussion I just want to bring out five little facts about Neil Diamond that maybe some people didn't know okay just to maybe you know why not just far as the type of person that Neil Diamond was aside from the fact that he priced some of the worst hair known to mankind.

So number one Neil Diamond said that he actually once considered a career in medicine over performing about that that's interesting that he attended New York University on a fencing scholarship.

Yeah fencing you know the little sword you.

But his original plan with that scholarship was to go into medicine he was pre-med when music took over his life and then he decided to pursue music and songwriting instead of medicine because he mentioned that he would get so bored in class with the lectures going on that he would just write things like song lyrics and poems.

Well he was in class but you know I have to say all I'm thinking of is what was he going to be a gynecologist.

Sorry go ahead.

That's that's just import taste.

Gen number two which we already alluded to he wrote one of the biggest hits of all time in less than an hour which was sweet Caroline which you tore apart thinking that he's writing about a nine year old so we've already discussed that point number three.

Gen did you know that he was a classmate with Barbara Streisand.

Okay so before they both became music legends they were classmates they both attended the Aramus Hall high school in Brooklyn New York.

Didn't they do a song together.

They sang in the school choir together years later their past cross again when they recorded the duet that you just mentioned you don't bring me flowers.

Yeah which became a massive hit you say anything about his his writing and all of that his songs you know top tier.

All right number four point interesting Neil diamond facts Neil diamond had one of the most expensive divorces ever recorded now since then there's been more but check this out.

Neil diamond's divorce from his second wife Marcia Murphy became a high sharp.

Marcia it's per seah.

Marcia yeah the second wife Marcia Murphy don't cut me off in the middle of my nail time Marcia no that's how you spell Marcia.

All right so I stay corrected so it's a Marcia Murphy.

See it could be Marcia Murphy but either way either way either way he divorces his second wife and it became a high profile expensive affair in their settlement.

Neil diamond was forced to pay a hundred and fifth million dollars setting a record as the most expensive divorce in history at that time.

So Arsha Murphy made out like a bandit with a hundred and fifty million dollars when she divorce.

Okay interesting Marcia Marcia you know we'll leave that up to interpretation.

The last final interesting fact about Neil diamond is he wrote several of the monkeys biggest hit so you recall for those of you might be a little bit young the monkeys were a TV show that spawned a band.

And my wife is showing me that her name was really Marcia so good job researching that Jen live on air and she ain't in me just like singing Neil diamond.

So moving on see because you know who wouldn't have done this Hillary night would not have done this.

So kudos to you.

You don't have to do behind closed doors.

So the monkeys for again was a band or TV show that spawned a band.

The idea was is the network one to come up with a Beatles kind of young hip band that they could put on TV.

It was a comedy that they would then perform right and perform songs that would become hit.

One of the biggest hits by the monkeys was I'm a believer a lot of people know that it's been covered by a lot of people and as we mentioned that was written by Neil diamond.

And then recorded by the monkeys in 1966 which became an instant hit for the monkeys and then even garnished some accolades for Neil diamonds far as being a songwriter.

It was the biggest selling hit of 1967.

It wasn't diamonds only contribution to the monkeys catalog either they also recorded his songs later on songs like look out here comes tomorrow.

A little bit of me a little bit of you and love to love.

Now the good thing was is Neil diamond always built it in that he could you know redo these songs because he wrote them so he kind of remade some of him he did.

I'm a believer I'm a believer is the big hit that everybody knows him for and everyone thinks that the monkeys wrote that song well no Neil diamond is the one who wrote that song.

So Jeff after all of this.

We could summarize it by saying you think he's a gross performer in his antics but he is an amazing songwriter and singer would you agree with that state.

Yes yes of course I've already said that to beating a dead horse here dear.

Would you if Neil diamond was in it all right right now go see him perform live.

Yeah probably he's a fantastic he's fantastic it's just he gives me the IK I'm not going to be running up to the front or anything I enjoy his music I don't he was is he still even performing he's 85.

No now with his with his disease and his health issues yeah I think they said he stopped performing a number of years ago and this is the reason why.

Neil diamond I just want to let you know I have your back when it comes to this I feel as though during that time period that antic happened all the time.

And as long as the women are the ones who aren't being forced into any situation like that they're doing so willingly because they're enamored with you just like your.

Single bird humber dinks and all those pruners back in the you know the Vegas people in the the 70s rock gods that had women galore into the 80s where same thing kind of happens a lot more things happen that we saw 90s not so much because everybody was depressed in the 90s for some reason you know just kind of stood there while songs are being played and today I have no clue what's going on because I have no clue what you guys all call music nowadays.

Pretty soon AI is going to figure out how to write songs like Neil diamond and then we're all in trouble because that's when they take when AI takes over the world.

So that's why right now my marriage to my lovely wife Jen is hanging in the balance because of the way she feels about an icon and that's Neil diamond.

Hey it is what it is it gives me the heck it is what it is and it is Marsha yeah.

So if you enjoyed this episode of hockey and podcast there may not be another one this episode of hockey and podcast you may want to look next week to see if we even have an episode because maybe I have to you know like Neil diamond said love on the rocks maybe time for my wife to go.

And maybe maybe after last week solo episode maybe maybe just say either way.

This is why you guys all here guess what he gets when we're not on the air yes you should hear the intelligent things that come in our house vice versa.

Good luck.

Good luck.

Good for the gander.

You can check out our episode wherever you find podcasts on such platforms as Spotify and Apple.

We're also on YouTube where you can see you won't see our pretty faces but you'll see the words that we speak the stupid words the intelligent words the inspiring words and the critical I guess you could call it a correctivism of some of us on this podcast.

But either way you can find it there and as always if you like what you hear give us a follow give us a subscribe share with your friends tell your friends there's a podcast out there where a husband and wife are going to get separated over their disagreement on such things as Neil diamond goodness.

All right Jen that's the end of our episode the Bruins are on and as you know we stop recording when the Bruins are on because we love the Bruins that's probably going to be the only thing that keeps us together.

So without any further ado let's say goodbye to the people yes hey y'all this whole week it's going to be above 50 degrees.

Everybody have a good week safe be safe and that's about all I got back to you dear.

We're going to end it with this you ready yeah sweet Caroline.

Well you can't even do that on time all right people we'll see you next week.

you