0:09

Welcome everyone to the Sports Illustrated

0:11

Media Podcast. I am your host, Jimmy

0:13

Traina, Thanks so much for

0:16

joining me. Two guests this week. First

0:18

up, we have Greg Bashinski

0:20

of ESPN, senior NHL writer

0:23

at ESPN, longtime

0:26

blogger from the internet, had one

0:28

of the great blogs, top

0:30

hockey blog probably from the internet.

0:32

Uh puck Daddy on Yahoo went

0:34

to ESPN. And we get

0:37

too into Greg's career, going

0:39

from sort of you know, the wild West

0:41

of the Internet and yeahooda ESPN,

0:44

uh, the evolution of his career, the evolution

0:47

of the Internet, little NHL, talk

0:49

about the future of the NHL in terms of broadcast,

0:51

TV, streaming, um,

0:54

and if you're a hockey fan,

0:56

you'll like it. And if you're not a hockey fan and you're into

0:58

the sports media business, I think you'll enjoy it thoroughly.

1:01

And after Greg, I have

1:04

a quick chat with one of my best friends, Richard

1:06

O'Malley I went to college with. He has a

1:08

new book out it's called One Lucky Fan. And

1:11

rich decided in his life

1:13

that one of his goals would be to see every single

1:15

stadium in arena for every team

1:17

from the four major sports league. So Rich has

1:20

seen um

1:23

every stadium and arena, MLB, NHL,

1:25

NFL, NBA. He wrote a book about

1:27

it. It's pretty good. I wrote the forward.

1:29

So how to have him on? So Greg Oshinsky

1:32

on sports media and the NHL, and then Rich O'Malley

1:34

on seeing all the stadiums and arenas

1:36

in this country. On this episode

1:39

of the SIMDA podcast, Going to the Archives. If

1:41

you haven't checked out past episodes, last week's was very

1:43

good episode. We have Darren Rovell and Andrew Marshan.

1:46

Uh, We've got Chris Long and the Archives

1:48

newly retired from the Eagles UM

1:51

and Mike Breen as well, who's still calling

1:54

the NBA finals. So check those out. And

1:57

I don't want to beg and plead, but if you can leave

1:59

a revie you and rate the podcast, I cannot tell

2:01

you how much it helps. I'd love for you to subscribe to

2:03

but rating is easy. You can just hit the stars.

2:06

A review is good. You can just write this is great, not

2:08

a lot of work. If you hit that subscription button,

2:11

it's even better. A right, thanks for doing

2:13

that, and now let's get into this episode with Gregshnsky

2:16

from ESPN. All

2:19

right joining me now from

2:21

ESPN senior NHL writer, long

2:24

time Internet sensation.

2:27

If your old school blogs

2:30

remember those days finally, like I do, Greg

2:32

was Shinsky, Greg, how's it going? It's

2:35

it's going good. And every everywhere I turned,

2:37

there seems to be h some widely

2:40

veteran of the blog days that I bump

2:42

into or that's still kicking

2:44

around or moved on the bigger and better things. It's

2:47

it's, it's it's it's fun to think about where

2:50

we all started and where we all

2:52

ended up. You know, we're we're about

2:54

the same age, early forties, and

2:56

um, I don't know, I know for me, i'd

2:59

love to of your thoughts on it. I just I

3:01

look back on those blog days

3:04

the most fun. Every

3:07

day was fun, it seemed like, and it

3:10

was so great all these new people. I think, I always

3:12

think of you, and I think of the starters, and which is

3:15

kind of it was ironic for

3:17

I don't know if that's the proper use of

3:19

ironic. I know people get mad when you

3:21

don't use it properly, like Atlantis, But um,

3:24

you know, I reached out to you yesterday about coming on, and

3:28

you know, the news dropped that NBA TV was dropping

3:30

the starters. But I think

3:32

of you, and I always think of those guys as sort of

3:35

blogger pioneers have made it big,

3:37

and um, I just remember

3:39

loving those early blog days. Do you

3:42

think about that often? I

3:44

do. Um, It's hard not to, especially

3:46

when you go from sort of

3:48

the wild wild West of those early days

3:50

writing for FanHouse and then writing

3:53

for Dead Sin for a little bit under

3:55

will each and then writing for Yahoo

3:57

to uh, you know, working for slightly

4:00

larger corporations that you

4:02

know, you can't just grab a photo off of Google

4:05

Images anymore for your post. You kind of gotta

4:07

go through the proper channels and stuff like that. So

4:09

I do think about those days, but um, you

4:12

know, and I also think about the yall who experience

4:14

a lot because he bring up skeets and the starters,

4:16

and you know, he and I were there at the same time

4:18

with a bunch of other guys that have you

4:21

know, moved on to bigger and better things, are still uh

4:23

you know, doing the job there. And those

4:25

blogs, man, I just think, uh,

4:27

I think they were they hit at the right time.

4:30

They allowed us all to establish ourselves

4:32

in different ways, and uh,

4:34

I kind of wish that they had stayed the course with

4:36

those I think one of the big mistakes

4:38

that my former employer made was getting away

4:40

from a moment in which there

4:43

were so many unique voices and unique

4:45

approaches on how to cover

4:48

things and um, sort of a

4:50

cult of personality around those

4:52

blogs, and then they kind of just

4:54

sort of, um, de

4:56

emphasize that. And uh and you

4:58

know, you look at at the example of say

5:01

Barstool for example, which is you know, is very

5:03

very dissimilar in many ways from

5:05

the Yahoo blogs, but one similarity

5:07

is that it was a cult of personality

5:10

and in a sense of belonging to something that

5:12

was, you know, bigger than the site

5:15

that built that audience. And I think in

5:17

a lot of ways built the Yahoo blogs audience. And

5:19

then they just sort of missed missed

5:22

that and went a different direction. Yeah,

5:24

you hit on a very interesting

5:27

point. And um,

5:29

you know you mentioned barstool and they've built

5:32

No matter how anyone feels about Barcela, I know, everyone

5:35

has their own opinions. I think, oh,

5:37

maybe some people distrive it from me take

5:40

away everything else. I don't know how you

5:42

can't be impressed by the

5:45

loyalty of the fans that they've

5:47

they've built and you had

5:49

that, I know with puck Daddy. I had that back

5:51

in the hot click days. I mean, I think

5:53

Twitter changed the game because it

5:55

gives everyone more options, but pre Twitter

5:58

you were able to really old that loyal

6:01

fan base and it

6:03

was really one of the coolest

6:05

things. I know for me. You had a really die

6:07

hard following with with puck

6:09

Daddy as well over there at Yahoo. Yeah,

6:12

and that was the most exhilarating thing about it was

6:14

the idea that you you know, we're

6:17

covering hockey in a completely different way.

6:19

And and you know, going back to two thousand and eight when

6:21

me and Lahy and Lambert and

6:24

uh and you know others started on the blog,

6:26

I mean, it was it wasn't commonplace for

6:29

hockey you can cover on the blogs. It wasn't commonplace

6:31

for sort of a more

6:34

American pop culture,

6:36

fan centric approach to hockey to be

6:39

in the zeitgeist. And you know, it

6:41

was it was hard sometimes to kick

6:44

down some doors and get respect.

6:46

And then the early days convinced um,

6:49

you know, people that were giving out credentials. Yeah,

6:52

you know, we can make we could make

6:54

the Dick joke, but we can also write a really good

6:56

feature story about your player. Um,

6:58

and that was a tough That was a tough sell it first, and

7:00

then gradually as as the sports

7:03

culture changed and and a

7:05

reference sort of crept in and uh

7:07

and and you know, teams got more comfortable

7:09

with the idea of there being you know, alternative

7:12

media and their press box. It got a lot

7:14

easier. And it also got a lot easier too. I'm not gonna

7:16

lie that we had a really really big readership

7:19

and and it

7:21

does you know, the the NHL, you know,

7:23

started to really play ball with us, and they realized that we had

7:26

a voice and what we wrote was important

7:28

and that you know that the communicating

7:30

with us was was better than than not communicating

7:32

in with us and make sure that we had the facts and

7:35

some behind the scenes stuff was going to make for better

7:38

coverage. So it was it was a gradual process.

7:40

But I think I think that that to lead it back

7:42

to your question, I think that directly speaks to

7:44

the following that we've built allowed us

7:46

to reach that point of of

7:48

quasi respectability. Yeah,

7:51

I'm gonna go I'm gonna be a bad host

7:53

here and sort of go backwards. Take take

7:55

me through, Um,

7:57

the what year did you started? Yeah,

8:00

who and and create puck Daddy And how

8:02

many years did you do that for it? Yeahoo, before

8:04

before going at ESPN. We

8:07

we started in two thousand and eight, and this is my second year

8:09

at ESPN. UM and so I

8:11

was working at a

8:14

local chain of weekly newspapers in Virginia

8:16

doing high school sports and also arts and entertainment

8:19

because your pre newspaper you have to wear many hats,

8:22

and so, you know, the whole time,

8:24

I was sort of writing a hockey on the side for some

8:26

some different websites. And UM Jamie

8:29

Otram, who is another name

8:31

from the pastor for for digital

8:34

media, UM had gone from

8:36

a O L to Yahoo and built the Yahoo

8:38

Sports blogs, and he recruited me

8:40

for a hockey blog and at a time it

8:43

was called the NHL Experts Blog, which

8:45

I had really always enjoyed that ubrews. They

8:48

decided to not go with that, UM,

8:50

and you know, he and I went back and forth. At

8:52

one point Zamboni Pony was going to be an option

8:54

for the name of the blog, and then we settled

8:56

on puck Daddy. But the real, the

8:58

real twitch, the real, you know, struggle

9:01

was to convince him to take on a

9:03

hockey writer full time because at the time

9:06

the powers that they were looking for a part

9:08

time writer, and you know, I was I

9:10

was doing pretty well at the newspaper as far as

9:13

scratching out a living, and I didn't want to like go

9:15

someplace and only work part time. And

9:17

I said, look, you know, if you really want this to be a success,

9:20

bring me in full time and it will be a success. And

9:22

and luckily they took a chance on me and took a chance on my

9:24

staff, and we you know, made it a success.

9:27

What what? What? What do you think the key was

9:29

too becoming a

9:31

success? Obviously hard work

9:34

is one thing, But do you think

9:36

it was bringing a new voice? Do

9:38

you think it was the passion you had for the NHL?

9:41

Combination of things had How were you able to

9:43

build that audience, grow that audience and

9:46

keep it so loyal? It

9:48

was three things, um. The first

9:50

is to try to, like you said, the voice

9:52

was really important. And the voice was something where

9:55

you know, I wrote the majority

9:57

of the articles in the posts, so

9:59

the voice was very much mine, but it was also

10:02

one that everybody who working on the site kind of

10:04

contributed to. We used to actually have a three joke

10:06

minimum for posts. I mean outside

10:09

of like the Death of Gordy how like

10:13

in that. But but we tried to keep the tone in

10:16

a certain way, and I think that that rule

10:18

really helped do that. Um that even

10:21

in like the stories that were more serious,

10:23

we were able to kind of just like lightening

10:25

up a little bit and keep it entertaining at the very least.

10:28

Um. I think that

10:30

that was a huge thing. Um. I

10:34

think there was a lot of a lot of things that were

10:36

just kind of lucky timing wise, where

10:38

there hadn't really been anything like us, you

10:41

know, to come around. I think the fact that we involved

10:43

the community as much as we did that was huge, Like to

10:46

cast as wide a net as we could in our

10:48

daily like link round up too different

10:51

voices that didn't necessarily ever have a lot

10:53

of people reading them. And I would get notes all the time

10:55

from like small blogs on like blog spot

10:58

and places like that. They were just like thanking

11:00

me for for pitching traffic their way and

11:02

bringing you know, readers to their site for the first

11:04

time. And they would see a bump and

11:07

and and cover or something it was it was for it was

11:09

cool. And then you know, on top of all

11:11

that, just I think, uh,

11:13

frequency was big. Um. You know, when

11:15

I was working at dead Spin, the frequency of

11:17

posting was a really big thing that I took

11:19

away from there, which is that if you're somebody

11:22

sitting at your desk at work and

11:24

you're going to a sports site, every time you go should

11:26

be something new. And so we used

11:28

to post something every hour on puck Daddy. And maybe

11:30

that was to our detriment as far as

11:33

the time we spent on the site or or traffic

11:36

wise, I have no idea, but I just know that people got

11:38

into the routine that every time they came to the site there would

11:40

be something different there. And I very much stole that

11:42

from from dead Spin and

11:45

that that was the place to steal stuff from back

11:47

then. Um, they were the top

11:49

dogs, you know, back in that

11:51

era. Now now, obviously

11:54

the entire game and

11:56

what we do, I mean, what we do is different,

11:58

but in that same vein it all

12:00

changed I think, And you if you

12:02

disagree, let me know. When Twitter came along,

12:04

so to be successful today,

12:07

now what do you think the keys are? Is

12:09

it the same or is it different? The

12:12

biggest change for me, um was definitely

12:15

in in that community sense, Like you said, like we used

12:18

to hold chats during the day. We used to hold back

12:20

during games, and we would just see

12:22

the numbers fall off a cliff. After

12:24

Twitter rose to prominence, I mean, it just the

12:26

conversation moved to Twitter, it moved to Reddit,

12:28

and it was just sort of this dispersal

12:31

of the audience away from centralized locations

12:33

and um, and that really kind

12:35

of you know, I think affected some of the more

12:37

communal aspects of what we did. But to

12:39

be successful today, I mean, I think I

12:42

think platform matters. Um, I

12:44

don't. I don't think if I was still at Yahoo

12:46

that I would be um

12:49

doing as well as I am. I just think that,

12:51

you know, you you have to be

12:53

in a place that knows how to package yourself and

12:55

promote your stuff and and uh

12:57

and you know, get get it

12:59

in front of people. So you know, when I write

13:01

something now that touches on a number

13:04

of different topics and it gets set directly

13:06

to people's phones and everybody has the ESPN

13:09

app, I mean it's great. It's

13:12

a really handy way for people to find your work.

13:15

Um. But but as far as like doing what we did

13:17

back in the day, I mean, I just think it's really hard now

13:19

to to build that community and to have

13:21

people feel like they're a part of something, because there

13:24

are just so many other places where you can feel that way.

13:26

Like you know that we were we were an oasis

13:28

in a lot of ways for hockey fans. Now hockey

13:30

fans of tons and tons of choices

13:33

to kind of get their fill yep

13:36

yep absolutely um. And then

13:39

about two years ago you make the decision to leave

13:41

Yahoo and and go to ESPN to

13:43

become their senior NHL writer. I know you also

13:46

have the the podcast

13:49

ESPN on Ice. How difficult

13:51

was that decision? And I

13:54

think that you

13:56

know when you were sort of

13:59

the you know, like you used the phrase

14:01

early on in this interview back

14:03

then the blogs Wild Wild West

14:06

and then you go to ESPN. Um,

14:09

it was a little culture shock there, I guess. But

14:11

tell me about that decision and what

14:14

your thought process was. Well,

14:17

the decision gets a lot easier when they lay off your

14:19

staff, is what

14:21

happened at Yahoo. And you

14:24

know, I had a choice in front of me, which is to

14:26

try to you know, take it and change

14:28

puck Daddy and and more

14:30

fit and shape it and and do do it with

14:33

a group of of people that I

14:35

didn't hire and that I don't I didn't really

14:37

know, and that weren't even like in the same country

14:39

as me. UM, So I

14:41

made the decision that, like, I didn't want to try to

14:44

recreate something I already created. And

14:46

you know, the STN thing came along at a time when

14:48

they had a big staffing change and

14:50

they were talking about trying to change the

14:53

direction of how they approached

14:56

hockey. Um. I think it was maybe

14:58

a little bit into news trick and not enough

15:00

culture centric and san centric

15:03

and dealing with the topics that were in the

15:05

conversation. Um. And so

15:07

you know, they hired Emily Kaplan, the hired me,

15:09

and I think that the results have been great

15:11

since then. UM. And as far as the

15:14

culture shock, yeah, I mean it's always the culture

15:16

shock when uh, you go from a place

15:18

where it's the wild wild West, you're your own editor,

15:21

you're kind of throwing everything up against the wall, and most

15:23

of it sticks because um,

15:25

you know, it's it's it's not a place that has

15:28

rights and the and and things

15:30

of that nature. UM. And here you

15:33

generally learn where the line is, um,

15:36

and it's and it's been fine. I mean, it's not a

15:39

situation where I can write as colorfully

15:41

language wise, and as a

15:44

native of the great state of New Jersey. I think you know what I mean. Um,

15:47

but uh, but I can still. I can

15:49

still write challenging pieces and and be

15:51

opinionated, and attack the NHL when

15:53

it needs to be attacked, and and all

15:55

those things that I was able to do with Yahoo.

15:58

I I I know that

16:01

you You've never been shy about

16:04

voicing your opinions on Twitter. That's why I've always

16:06

enjoyed following you and you often like to

16:08

mix it up on there. Have you gotten in trouble at ESPN

16:10

for anything you've tweeted? Or you you've been behaved

16:12

since going to never ever?

16:15

Um? I think I think you know. I think you

16:17

know when you when you're working at a place, that there

16:20

are our topics you want to avoid. And it's not even

16:22

because inevitably it always comes back to the politics stuff.

16:24

I just got exhausted by it, right, Why

16:27

don't even mean politics? Yeah, yeah,

16:29

I don't even mean policy. I First of all, I think

16:31

a lot of us are in that same boat where we were,

16:33

like, you know, flabber gas about what was

16:35

going on, tweeted about it a lot, and now we're sort

16:38

of numb to it. And yeah,

16:40

it's not a big point, but there's other ways

16:42

to get in trouble on Twitter. My hiring

16:45

it my hiring at ESPN with Hilarias.

16:47

So I think I've told the story before the podcast,

16:49

But um, I had written a piece about

16:51

p K Stuban and Black

16:54

Lives Matter and the anthem protests and everything,

16:57

and it got picked up by Breitbart and

17:00

and there was this huge, super

17:02

big controversy, and you know, people are

17:04

coming at me and I mentions are

17:06

filled by all the bright Part people and everything,

17:09

and and then and then like my last

17:11

day at Yahoo was coming up pretty soon, so

17:14

I like announced I was leaving you

17:16

know who, And then immediately everybody thought it was because I got

17:18

fired for writing something that got picked

17:20

up by Bright Part. And then of course the opiate

17:22

irony is then my next job is the SPS.

17:25

Just really a hilarious series

17:27

of events. But um no,

17:29

I mean the one thing I have to say that

17:31

I had to pull back on, and this was a cognisance

17:33

decision, was watching, you

17:36

know, a broadcast that we have, whether

17:38

it's the NBA or the NFL or whatever,

17:41

and and maybe being ticked off about something

17:43

announcer says they're being kicked off about,

17:45

like a decision that director makes or things like that. I mean,

17:47

like we all do it, but

17:50

it's when you when you're working for that company,

17:52

is the last thing you want to do is is insult

17:54

a coworker. Now, I think it's the only thing I've had to really

17:56

big talk and stuff. And that's not anybody's saying don't

17:59

do it. That's being like, it's probably not the

18:01

best thing to do, right, It's just common

18:03

sense. Yes, I believe me. There are

18:05

some people I would want to insult on Twitter two and

18:07

I don't do it. So it's just common

18:10

sense. Um. Yeah, I've

18:13

never had I've never had anybody come to me and say don't tweet

18:15

something, or or um or or

18:18

you know, give me grief for having tweeted

18:20

something. And that's also sort of like your

18:22

maturation as a as a as a very

18:25

online person, where you know, now

18:27

now my pointless fights with people center around

18:30

hockey, when and maybe two years

18:32

ago they would have centered around other issues.

18:34

And you just end up getting in these

18:37

You're just pissing in the wind for twenty four hours straight

18:39

and just sprays back in your face. Another

18:42

sort of evolution that we've all sort

18:44

of gone through from those early blogging days

18:47

is then we all sort of end up with a podcast.

18:49

It seems like, I know, you did a very popular one while

18:51

you were at Yahoo, and now you have the one at ESPN. Um

18:55

do you enjoy doing

18:57

the podcast as much as writing? Do you love

19:00

doing the podcast? Is it? Because I know for me

19:03

when I'm doing this, when I'm speaking to you, I love

19:05

it. Everything around it drives me nuts,

19:07

like booking it and promoting it.

19:10

Um So, I'm just curious what your

19:12

feelings are on that. Well.

19:14

You do catch me on a day when I'm trying to a

19:16

juggle the schedule of two different podcasts around

19:19

a game seven a Stanley Cup Final, which

19:21

has just been a nightmare in

19:23

and of itself. But no, I mean so,

19:26

I used to do a daily Puck Daddy

19:28

radio thing with a guy named Rob Piso in Canada,

19:31

and then after that, um Me and Jeff

19:33

Merrik the America Versus Jinski podcast

19:35

for several years, and it was one

19:37

of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. I mean, you talk

19:39

about building community and building fan base and building

19:41

people that give a crap about

19:43

what you do. I mean, that was probably the apex of it. It was

19:46

such a rewarding experience and and

19:48

and one of those like people coming up to you still

19:50

years after it ended saying these podcasts

19:53

helped me through some really bad times and things of that

19:55

nature. So it was, it was, It's just it was a treasure of a

19:57

time. And then the two I do today are esc

19:59

and An with Emily Um on the

20:01

Espana, and then we do Puck Soup, which

20:04

me and Dave Loso hosted for a couple of years,

20:06

and then Lozo left

20:08

to be concentrate on being a writer

20:10

for Katie Owen Show, and so

20:13

me and Dangos Brown and Ryan Lambert do

20:15

it now. And it's it's been really really wonderful

20:18

to take something that was successful

20:20

and then kind of tweak it, morph it and shape it and

20:22

it became even more successful than it was.

20:24

But um long lined answer to a short

20:27

to your short question, which is, I wish

20:29

I could do a podcast every day. I wish I could

20:31

read out in the air and yell about

20:33

hockey every single day. Um,

20:36

I wish there was two hours of the day in

20:38

which it was just me taking calls, talking

20:41

to guests, doing doing the podcast

20:43

thing, but doing it every day. I would love

20:45

nothing more than that. UM. But that

20:48

said, there's nothing that replaces the exhilaration

20:50

of of piecing together a story

20:52

that you know is impactful and and writing

20:55

the big column after an event like a game stuff,

20:57

and like that's still going to be the favorite thing that I do

20:59

in license. Uh. And I've seen you on TV. I know

21:01

you're getting into that too, because obviously

21:04

if you go to ESPN, that's sort of the progression

21:07

has that treating you. It's

21:09

good man like, so you know they

21:12

what's been really fun about that is that you figure

21:14

if you're at ESPN, wherever you

21:16

go, there's going to be like, you know, a guy holding

21:18

a camera pointing it at you, or a studio with

21:20

a camera setup where you're doing these shows.

21:23

And most of the time it's very d I Y.

21:25

It's like I have a tripod I travel with. UM,

21:28

there's a cell phone that I use to um,

21:31

you know, sync up with the board back in Bristol, of

21:33

using you carrying around a microphone with a microphone

21:35

flag and my backpack with the laptop.

21:38

It's yeah, it's it's all there's a there's a

21:40

part of that that's really you know, harkening

21:42

back to those those early blog days, in those early

21:44

newspaper days of hey kids, let's put on a show, um,

21:47

and then you watch it on TV and you would you would never

21:49

know, like it looks so good. UM.

21:51

So I've been doing hits on The Daily Wager, which

21:53

I think is a really fun show and

21:55

also um an interesting one

21:57

because hockey and UH and gambling

22:00

is clearly in a in

22:02

a in an interesting spot going forward

22:04

as far as the potential for it to really change

22:06

the way that people watch the game and potentially

22:08

it's like the popularity of the sport. And then

22:10

I've done a bunch of hits on Outside

22:13

the Lines is sort of there go to de facto

22:15

hockey guy when weird things happen,

22:17

are cool things happen. And that's been that's been great

22:19

because that's I mean, that's the show I used to watch all

22:21

the time. But it's kind of it's kind of like when I got hired

22:24

of Yahoo and I was already playing Fantasy football, like I

22:26

already watching Outside the Lines and

22:27

then I get to be on the two uh

22:30

let's let's talk about covering the NHL. Um,

22:35

it's not exactly a secret that in America

22:37

there are a few more sports that are more

22:39

popular than the NHL. And um,

22:42

well let's start with this. Does that Does that ever bump

22:44

you out when you see all the attention that the

22:47

NBA is getting or the NFL, or

22:49

you've been doing this so long, you're completely used

22:52

to that and you have a big enough audience

22:54

where you're not you don't get that jealous

22:56

pang. Oh

22:58

no, no, it's not. It's not jealousy at all.

23:00

It is it is inspiring because

23:03

you know that in order to break through

23:05

that noise, you have to be that good

23:07

and you have to find stories that resonate

23:10

on such a large scale. Um

23:13

that that's the only way you're going to break through the extracosony.

23:15

I mean, that was the way it always was a YAHOO. And it's

23:17

the same as the YESCN is that we know that any

23:20

single thing that happens in the Warriors

23:22

Raptor series is going to get play,

23:25

and it's gonna get huge play, and it's gonna do great numbers,

23:27

and it should because that series has been fascinating

23:29

and dramatic and wonderful. Um.

23:31

So you know, for me, it's like,

23:34

how do I how do I go about getting you

23:36

know through that. Well, it's it's finding

23:38

the human side of players. It's it's it's talking

23:40

about controversies, it's it's it's

23:43

finding stories like the St. Louis

23:45

Post Dispatch running the congratulatory

23:48

letter from the St. Louis Blues owner saying that they

23:50

already won the Cup. You know, it's like, it's it's

23:52

finding those stories that I know are gonna, you

23:54

know, break through the hockey bubble and find a

23:56

larger audience. And so I never lament

23:58

the fact that the hockey is as big as

24:01

those other sports because I think it's it's my it's part

24:04

of my responsibility, not only as a

24:06

as a journalist, but also as a hockey fan to

24:08

find ways to make people pay attention

24:11

to the thing I love. So so as

24:13

a veteran of this business, and you've seen

24:15

it all from the blogs to the big company

24:17

like ESPN, and you've been doing this a long

24:19

time, where do you stand on the issue of Because

24:22

I mean, we have this issue sort of at s I and truth

24:25

be told. I mean I've told s I for years I

24:27

said, if you want to get traffic to hockey,

24:29

hire Gregorshinski, But nobody listens

24:31

to me. Best side the point, Um,

24:34

I'm curious you're standing on the issue of you

24:37

know, a company could say supports me to company

24:39

could say we don't cover as hockey as much

24:41

as maybe we should because it doesn't get the traffic.

24:44

Or is it you're not getting the traffic

24:46

because you're not covering it the way you should. Oh,

24:50

you know, that's not question. I mean,

24:53

I think there's a lot of There's

24:55

no question that it doesn't get as

24:57

popular as much. It's not as sparsular

24:59

with sports. There's no question that at the most

25:01

important time of the year, the audience

25:03

tends to dissipate a little bit. I mean, you know, people aren't

25:06

aren't following hockey as much in the middle of June

25:09

as they would be, you know, if it was maybe

25:11

the championship was held in the winter or something like that. I think

25:13

it's always been a problem. Why do you think. I don't

25:15

mean to cut you off, but why do you think I've never heard

25:17

that before? Why why do you think that is? I'm curious.

25:19

It's an interesting but it's a combination of a couple of

25:21

things. I mean, you know, psychologically, you

25:23

know, one of the assumptions has always been the idea that when

25:26

it is the middle of June and your kids are at of school

25:28

and you're thinking about the beach and you're thinking about the pool,

25:30

you're not thinking about the ice. And that's always

25:32

been kind of a challenge. And then the other thing is that the hockey

25:35

fans, and and this has long been the

25:38

uh. The belief is that hockey fans

25:40

are very tribal finature and

25:42

that when their teams are eliminated, UH,

25:44

they tend not to continue to watch

25:46

the playoffs. And so you know, if every

25:48

hockey fan that watches hockey on the regular during

25:51

the regular season and during the playoffs all watched the only

25:53

Cup final, numbers will be huge, but they don't,

25:55

UM for whatever reason. And uh,

25:57

and so even though the rating has been strong for this series,

26:00

they have always felt like they could be exponentially

26:02

better. UM if everybody was kind of on

26:04

board and watched the sport after their team was

26:06

was eliminated. This kind of how it is very

26:09

interesting. UM. Yeah.

26:11

So the other question then again about

26:14

is it lack of coverage or is it the

26:16

lack of traffic leads to the lack of courage

26:18

coverage? Um,

26:21

I think here here, let me let me bring it back

26:23

to espn UM. One of the

26:25

challenges that we have is that we're not a right solder,

26:28

right so, UM, I don't think it's any secret

26:30

that you know, the sports and that which

26:32

the ESPN holds for which ESPN holds

26:34

the rights get a lot of coverage and

26:37

then go and put sisular shows there and then

26:39

you know, you get to see a lot of stuff about

26:41

those things. And you know, I think hockey

26:43

fans saw that when the World Cup of Hockey was

26:45

was was aired on espn UM,

26:48

they bumped up the studio coverage, they talked about

26:50

it more. And so the

26:52

challenge for me and Emily and all the people

26:54

that are on the hockey side is, um

26:57

because we haven't had the rights for a long time,

26:59

people have been kind of trained not to come

27:01

to ESD necessarily for hockey.

27:03

And so not only are we trying to give them

27:05

a reason to come there and read stuff by putting

27:08

out good content, but also trying

27:10

to you know, kind of plant the flag

27:12

and say, look, you know, the people that we talked

27:14

to with in the company tell us that hockey is becoming

27:17

more and more prevalent in their conversations because

27:20

the game is faster, there's more scoring, is the generation

27:22

of young stars what I was

27:24

hired. That was the message sent to me. It's like,

27:27

it's a really good time to write about hockey just because

27:29

of the uptick and in sort of the excitement

27:31

and all that other stuff. So um,

27:35

So, I think the challenge for us

27:37

is to trying to say, hey, you know, there

27:40

are legions of of

27:42

hockey fans inside the company. If

27:44

you walk around that news room, you'd be stunned by how many

27:47

bruined flags and whalers, slags and predators,

27:49

slags and stuff that are on people's desks.

27:52

But also that you know, this is going to be a place

27:54

that that you know, covers the hell out of the sport, and

27:56

uh, you should you should come there every day expecting

27:59

to see fantastic coverage, even if

28:01

you haven't been coming there in recent years. So

28:04

I'm curious, where do you see

28:07

the NHL's future in terms of

28:09

in terms of coverage with obviously

28:12

streaming and you know ESPN has

28:14

ESPN Plus and obviously we

28:16

have dazz in Dozonne whatever

28:19

it's called. Um,

28:21

and I should know this, and I apologize

28:24

for not knowing the exact details of the NBC

28:26

contract if it's up anytime soon. Uh,

28:30

but do you you know is

28:32

is it? Do you think the NHL would

28:34

do a streaming deal with someone? Obviously

28:36

the Stanley Cup finals will always be on network

28:39

TV or ESPN or something like that. But regular

28:41

season, Um, you

28:44

think there's an opportunity for the NHL to branch out

28:46

expand how do you see

28:48

that going? I can

28:51

only speak to um what

28:53

I've heard from people around the league, um,

28:55

because obviously anything that's happening at my shop is

28:57

way about my fay grades. But

29:00

I know for a fact that the board of governors

29:02

and people within the power structure of the NHL

29:04

had very hungry in the next deal

29:07

to spread the wealth. You know. The monolithic

29:09

deal with NBC produced

29:12

an incredible amount of revenue and they were able to put out a

29:14

lot of press releases with the word billion in it. Um.

29:16

But there's been enormous pressure on on Gary Bettman

29:19

and the NHL itself too, you

29:21

know, to make the kind of deal that the NFL has

29:23

that the NBA has, the Major League Baseball has to cast

29:25

a lot with different networks and trying to maximize

29:28

exposure. UM. So I fully expect

29:30

that's going to be the case in the next TV

29:32

deal when it comes to streaming. I mean I was,

29:35

um, I kind of forgot

29:37

to mention this before, but like, part of the reason why there's been

29:39

a enoptick in interest that at ESPN

29:41

about hockey is that we have games. Uh,

29:44

they're on Plus. There was a game

29:46

every night basical landing SPN plus in the Crease

29:48

with Linda Cone and Boot Grass and Barry

29:50

Melrose has been a highlight show that's but not every night.

29:53

Um. And so that has certainly helped

29:55

us from a coverage perspective, because now that they

29:57

have the games, they want to promote the games.

30:00

Lee and I are writing stories about about

30:02

teams that are in the games, and the megap feature pretty

30:04

prominently because they want people to come and watch the

30:06

games on streaming. So that's been a huge boon

30:08

for us in the last year. And I think

30:10

that it also speaks to you know, to

30:12

answer your question, I think it speaks to the possibilities

30:15

that are there for the NHL to you know, cast

30:17

a lot with a couple of TV TV networks and then explore

30:20

all opportunities for for where

30:22

to stream the games, you know, whether it's some

30:25

of these places that are looking to you know, acquire

30:28

a marquee um uh league

30:31

to track fans their service, or or

30:33

even if it's a legacy company. I think, I think

30:35

all things around the table for them as far as what the next looks

30:38

like. The next deal will happen after the season.

30:41

That's when NBC's contract is up. And yeah,

30:44

it does. I think NBC

30:47

what it's almost I

30:50

don't want to see it's irrelevant, but what I's

30:52

almost irrelevant what NBC does from

30:54

the standpoint of no

30:56

matter what they do, the NHL is tied

30:58

in with one network, and like you said, it seems

31:01

like it would really benefit the sport if they

31:03

can loop in you know, two

31:05

or three networks to to air the

31:07

games. Yeah.

31:09

I just thought always thought that was logical. Like I remember

31:12

back in the in the in the last negotiation,

31:14

I mean, you know, there was talk about

31:16

potentially you know, games

31:18

ending up on Spike TV or things like

31:20

that at the time. And I just think that

31:23

the more you spread out your products, the more it

31:25

gets featured in teasers

31:27

and commercials and what have you during programming

31:30

that maybe that your fans aren't the only

31:32

ones watching, and uh,

31:34

you know, I just think that that's spreading

31:37

the wealth is the best decision for them,

31:39

at least in the States. I mean in Canada, obviously you're

31:41

you're dealing with two giant media

31:44

organizations and in Rogers and

31:46

and and TSN that are just going

31:48

to be our bell media that

31:50

are always going to be like warring over the

31:52

rights and either one or the other will get

31:54

them. But I mean here in the States, there are are just so

31:56

many different options now, um that I

31:58

think it's from what I have for what I gather

32:01

again from conversations within within the ancil's

32:03

power structure, it just seems like a no brainer that

32:05

in this next deal they're gonna they're gonna spread the wealth. It's

32:07

funny because I'm thinking of baseball, and I

32:09

do feel like, obviously

32:11

that's an audience that's dwindling, gets older,

32:14

etcetera, etcetera. But I do I do feel like when the baseball

32:16

postseason starts, you see

32:18

a million aids for it. I think it's promoted

32:20

very well. I think you can't avoid it.

32:23

But then you know, you want to watch a game and

32:25

you don't know what the hell chat if it's you don't know if it's on FS

32:27

on the ESPN, mL the network,

32:29

and you're all confused when that happened.

32:31

So I guess there's a slight, slight

32:34

downside to that. Yeah, there's

32:36

there, always is. But I mean, you know, the real issue

32:39

beyond that availability of games

32:41

and putting it on different networks obviously is Yeah,

32:43

and this is something I've been working towards two

32:46

eight even they before that is just broadening

32:49

the fan base, you know, giving other people that haven't

32:51

checked out the sport a reason to check it out. Um,

32:53

changing the demographic makeup of the sports

32:55

fan base is essential to its its

32:57

growth and the success. And uh

33:00

and and it's like I said earlier, man, it's

33:02

a lot of different cultural issues, economic

33:05

issues, UM, stereotypical

33:07

issues that are always going to be in the

33:09

sports way. We're chipping away at it, but

33:11

it's it's still a pretty pretty steep hilled

33:13

climb. But before we wrap, I just I'm curious,

33:16

I want to get your take on NHL players. UM,

33:19

let me ask you this, Since have

33:21

you developed relationships with more players

33:23

since going to ESPN and focusing more on

33:26

the stories you're doing there than you're Puck Daddy

33:28

or has it been the same uh

33:30

in terms of getting to know players,

33:33

contacts, stuff like that. I

33:36

think we get pitched more, um, just

33:38

because we're there. And I think that you know, when you have all

33:40

these different platforms, whether it be TV or

33:43

you know, for the last couple of years in the magazine, even though

33:45

it's it's it's had to go on by the wayside um,

33:48

you know, there's always going to be agents and representatives

33:50

and marketing companies that are pitching you players

33:53

because they know that you have those platforms.

33:55

So I think we get a lot more of that coming out us than

33:57

idea that Yahoo for for obvious reasons.

33:59

But far as my approach, man like it, I've

34:02

always had good relationships with gms.

34:04

I have relationships with some players,

34:07

but I think they're just players who sort of understand

34:10

and appreciate my unique approach

34:12

to coverage and not necessarily me buddying

34:15

up to them or what have you. Um.

34:17

But so that hasn't really changed. But

34:19

but you know that I think these guys know that

34:21

you know when you are working for ESPN,

34:24

that there there's a certain maybe comfortability

34:27

there that they might not have had in other

34:29

places, where they know there's a power structure,

34:31

they know that there's an editor, and

34:34

they know essentially that you know, there's gonna

34:36

be some uh the journalistic levels

34:38

above you maybe that are going to make them feel more comfortable

34:40

and and and sitting down for a long Q and A

34:43

are coming on the podcast, for example with Mentally,

34:45

but I think the best way to put it is on Puck

34:47

Soup. I curs a lot, and and we talk to

34:49

pop culture and then they get horrible, you know,

34:51

jokes and Satan go on to Howard

34:53

Beal rants and it might be harder

34:55

to get a player for that than it is,

34:58

uh for for ESPN and Ice, where it's

35:01

still great and still ranty, but but much

35:03

more. I think in keeping with a traditional sort

35:05

of radio setup see in my warp mine, it should

35:07

be easier to get guess on the other

35:09

one, because that's where you're having a fun conversation

35:12

and letting it all, letting it all flow

35:14

well, part part of it's part of it's also on Flux Super don't

35:17

we don't go for them a lot Fux Soup was always sort

35:19

of this place where we had for

35:21

a long time a no player's rule, um,

35:23

where we just wanted to talk about talk to hockey fans

35:25

and talk to people that we're you know,

35:27

part of hockey culture and you know, actors

35:30

and things of that nature. Um. So

35:33

I don't know, it may not necessarily be even

35:35

a home for a player to appear on or a GM

35:37

to appear on, but I definitely know that you know that

35:39

being an independent you know, a

35:41

podcast that has you know, funded by advertisers

35:44

and the Patreon versus being the flagship

35:46

hockey podcast to ESPN. I'm pretty sure

35:48

I know which one in your book for

35:51

sure. I didn't want to get into too

35:54

much, um Bruins Blue

35:56

stuff only because we're taping this on Tuesday, comes

35:58

out Wednesday, then there's a game Wednesday night, but

36:01

just before we wrap, Um,

36:04

there's obviously nothing better than a game seven.

36:06

So this this sort of played out as good as it could

36:08

have for you from from a

36:10

fans standpoint and a business standpoint,

36:13

right. Yeah, I mean it's

36:15

the first one since two thousands eleven

36:17

when when the Bruins beats the

36:19

Canucks and then Vancouver tried to burn down

36:21

the city um afterwards, which was

36:23

its own, its own story.

36:25

Uh yeah, it's been a really entertaining

36:28

series and it's been a crazy playoffs and it's it's

36:30

nothing else. Like I've been inspired by

36:32

the success that that that we've had from a number

36:34

of perspective and that you know, NBC has

36:37

had a ratings respective having a postseason

36:39

where weird stuff has happened, you know, like

36:41

the Lightning going out and a sweep in the first round,

36:43

Carolina going on their run. The Blue

36:45

is going from worse than January to the

36:47

game seven of the Standing A Final. And people

36:50

have the same the same people who always bitch

36:52

about not being able to being able to being

36:54

forced to watch the same teams over and over again,

36:56

like another outdoor game with the black Hawks.

36:59

Well they they bellied up

37:01

and they watched the games that didn't involve

37:03

the legacy teams. There were more there were more renowned

37:06

franchises in the draft lottery this year than

37:08

there were in the playoffs. And yet the NIM

37:11

numbers and the interests and everything else was

37:13

really strong, and that was impressive. But

37:15

I'll get tell you, man, like it's been really fun to cover the Blues.

37:18

I've been out west. UM. I moved from

37:20

Manhattan to San Jose in February

37:22

as my wife been a new job and so I was

37:24

covering sort of the Western Conference on the right to the

37:26

first time. And it's been great, really

37:29

fascinating team, really fascinating

37:31

players, and the kinds of human

37:33

interest story is like they're um and some

37:35

singer who was battling multiple screw up

37:38

scrosis said this was going to be his last season,

37:40

and then they go all the way to the final possible

37:43

home game for him to sing um.

37:45

You know, the the Layla Anderson, the little girl

37:47

who was battling this rare disease became kind

37:49

of like the inspiration for the team. Like you just

37:52

put a ton of stories on on that side

37:54

of the ledger that are the ones who talked

37:56

about before that break through the cacophony and get

37:58

huge numbers um, even

38:00

when it's it's hockey. And then on top

38:02

of that, I got to cover some really really controversial

38:05

stuff like the major

38:07

penalty in the San Jose l A of of Las

38:09

Vegas game rather than resulted in the Sharks

38:12

come back, the missed hand pass and

38:14

overtime in the Blue Sharks series. It's

38:16

been a really Um it's been a

38:18

fun playoff to cover because there's been a ton of

38:20

different things to write about. You had controversy

38:23

stuff, you had players stuff, you had games stuff, and you

38:25

had sort of that off ice uh

38:27

feature e you know, uh,

38:29

you know, the sixty kind of stuff. And it's been really really

38:32

fun. Well, I'm glad I finally was

38:34

able to get yawn and um,

38:36

it's great to see an old school

38:38

blogger kicking ass overt ESPN. Thanks.

38:42

Then we gotta do a show. We gotta do a show

38:44

one day just about what that era was

38:47

like, pre Twitter, when the

38:49

blogs are flying. That was so fun. Yeah,

38:52

there was. There was. There's a book there somewhere. I know

38:54

that one of those either Big Leader or

38:57

awful Announcing at one point did a look back

38:59

at FanHouse, which is a lot of fun. That was if

39:01

if you're a fan of the old school

39:03

Internet, look at that that sort of rural history, because

39:05

it was really eye opening for exactly how

39:07

that thing fell apart when they devalue

39:10

the people bringing in traffic and then paid way

39:12

too much for guys like Jay Marriotti. But

39:14

yeah, we should do this again because you know, every time

39:17

I listened to this podcast, and I am a regular listener,

39:19

I appreciate my god man, you know, sopranos,

39:21

science, these

39:24

are these are the my this is my life blood. This

39:26

is arguably the most the most focused

39:28

interview you've done on this podcast and maybe

39:31

three years. I'm trying to be very respectful to

39:33

the NHL audience out there. I haven't had when

39:35

I have you on a second time, well, you know, I want to

39:38

sort of explain to people why you're such an

39:40

Internet legend and now you're DESPN

39:42

two. So you know, I don't want to ask any questions

39:45

that you know, they may scoff

39:47

that over there. I know everything has to be approved,

39:49

you know, even when I get Scott Van Peldon, they've got

39:51

to approve it. So I'm trying to keep out of

39:53

trouble. You know. The thing

39:55

that to appreciate if you go through the

39:57

years of us maybe like tweeting back and forth

40:00

at each other. I think the thing we've probably tweeted

40:02

about the most of each other's wrestling stuff. I know you're a huge

40:04

wrestling guy, so I will definitely

40:07

have you on again to to chat about the fun

40:09

stuff. Yeah, it is

40:11

cool. It is cool when you when you know, I'm checking

40:13

my feet or whatever, and all of a sudden they realize that you've

40:16

chatted up like Roman Rains or you

40:18

know, any of those people. I'm like, wow, that'd

40:20

be real fascinating conversation. Kind of kind of jealous

40:22

to me. Forget for landing these these interviews. While

40:24

I'm chasing down Colton Paraco of

40:26

the St. Louis Blues talk about Game seven.

40:29

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you saying that, because

40:31

you can let me plug the fact that Seth

40:33

Rollins is supposed to be on this podcast next week. So

40:36

there you got there. He is the

40:39

legend Slay or kings Layer or where the hell they're

40:41

calling him, He says. I think it's no. I think

40:43

Randy Orton is a legend Slayer, but I'm I'm

40:46

not sure. I'm not watching it much. Said,

40:49

well, he's he's Tyler Black, So that's

40:53

inside. Alright, Greg, enjoy

40:55

uh enjoy Games seven. Appreciate you coming

40:57

on and be well Thanks

40:59

for all right, take care. Alright, good chat there

41:01

with Greg Rushinsky. Before we get to riche Mally, quick

41:04

word here from our sponsor all right,

41:06

this is gonna be weird, but I'm

41:08

a good friend. So let's see if I

41:10

can get through this. Joining me now, one

41:13

of my best friends in life, been best

41:15

friends since college, and he

41:17

wrote a book. He's an author. I wrote the forward,

41:19

so I gotta help him sell some books. He

41:22

used to work at the Daily News. Like I said,

41:24

now he's an author. Rich O'Malley the author

41:27

of One Lucky Fan, a

41:29

book about him, saying, every stadium and arena

41:31

for the four major sports leagues,

41:34

every team, Rich, how are

41:36

you, Jimmy? Thank you for

41:38

having me on it. I realized as I was

41:40

hearing up for this, I think we passed the twenty five

41:43

year more recently a friendship. Yeah,

41:46

I know, we have to do this like a straight interview. We can't

41:48

do this like one of our phone conversations.

41:50

So and I'll say this. Actually,

41:53

let me just say this right off the bat. This is how

41:55

good of a friend I am. I am breaking one

41:57

of my top top rules

42:00

are hosting this podcast, which

42:02

is I don't want to interview anyone who's promoting

42:04

a book. Those are the worst interviews

42:06

by far. They go on every show in America

42:09

and you put out the podcast,

42:11

and then it's like they're tweeting like, oh I was on the Dan

42:14

Patrick Show promoting, like oh I was on Jim Rome promote

42:16

my book. Oh here, I was on this podcast

42:18

promote in my book. And then you just look like a dip shit.

42:20

And so I don't put people

42:22

on who are just promoting books. So that's

42:25

how good of a Friday. I appreciate that. You

42:27

know that I am selling my soul here to

42:29

get this book out in front of his many eyeball book

42:31

right, So let's get through it all. Right.

42:34

So the book is called One Lucky Fans. So

42:36

here's the deal. Rich has

42:38

now seen every single

42:40

stadium and arena for every

42:42

team in Major League Baseball, National

42:45

Hockey League, National Basketball

42:47

Association, and the

42:50

Major League Baseball. Did I say that one twice? I don't

42:52

know. But the four majors, NFL,

42:55

National Football League. Tell

42:57

people, first of all, how long did this journey

43:00

take you? And then when you

43:02

started it and then how you finished it? Give

43:04

us like the timeline of it. Sure,

43:06

I mean I started back when we were first getting

43:09

to know each other back at the c W Post

43:11

in college, and we took a couple

43:13

of road trips together, you

43:16

and I and some other folks. And

43:18

our first big one was what we called trip

43:20

one, and we went out to the Midwest and saw

43:22

a bunch of those stadiums. That was right

43:24

after Jimmy graduated. And

43:27

the second one was after I graduated. He's

43:29

older than me. And

43:32

then we we took that one a little bigger,

43:34

and another friend of ours, CD and

43:36

myself. We went all the way across the country

43:38

for that one, And that's really where this whole thing

43:40

was born, thinking that someday

43:43

I might be able to get to all of them.

43:46

And then how did you finish it off? I

43:49

finished it off in uh. I

43:52

took a gigantic trip,

43:55

which I would advise to absolutely nobody, um,

43:57

but I had to do it. It was my mission in life to

44:00

finish the game, as I call it, and see

44:02

all one twenty three before I could write the full

44:04

story about it. And so I needed forty

44:07

more teams. I was about that. I was about

44:09

the three at that point, and so I

44:11

went on a road trip where I saw forty two

44:13

games over fifty three days.

44:16

Um. Given the breakneck pace, and

44:18

no one should ever do anything like that, It's just ridiculous

44:21

and stupid to some funny stories,

44:23

which you'll get in the book. All right, forty two

44:25

games in fifty three

44:27

days. How do you know?

44:30

You usually know this minutia at the top of your

44:32

head. How many states were you in in that time

44:34

span? I did

44:36

write states. I was in thirty one metropolitan

44:39

areas across sixteen states and

44:42

three provinces of our neighbor to the north

44:44

in how many days? Fifty fifty

44:47

three days? And you were physically exhausted

44:50

and mentally exhausted at the end of that correct completely.

44:53

I was sick as a dog for Christmas that year. I could

44:55

barely call down the stairs to say

44:58

hello to my family before I called back up. And

45:00

they all open presence and we're happy and have a nice meal,

45:02

And I was visible in that. Would you do it all over

45:04

again the way you did it, or would

45:06

you do it differently to get every stadium in?

45:09

No? I think I enjoy a good

45:12

challenge, and so I would probably

45:15

say I would break it up next time. I

45:17

like going on these week long, ten days,

45:19

two weeks kind of trips. Those are the

45:22

perfect link. Doing

45:25

three months on the road almost with no break,

45:27

living out of a backpack. It's just it's it's

45:29

no, it's no kind of like. So if

45:32

anyone else out there wants to take these kinds

45:34

of trips, I would say, you know, pick

45:36

your spots in the Midwest. You

45:38

can bounce around and get ten different

45:40

places over two weeks. In baseball and football

45:43

are depending on the season. If you want to add in basketball,

45:45

hockey, whatever your thing is, that

45:47

would be my advice. All right, let's go through the

45:50

four major leagues one by

45:52

one. Let's start with baseball. Give me to

45:55

the people listening to this the

45:57

one stadium they must absolute

46:00

we see before they die. And then what

46:02

is the worst stadium that you

46:04

would not recommend anyone going to go

46:06

star with MLB? Okay,

46:08

So in baseball, you know, aside

46:11

from the two obvious cathedrals

46:13

of baseball Wrigley and Fenway, the top

46:15

of my list is PNC Bank Park

46:18

in Pittsburgh. They just did everything

46:20

right. It's a gorgeous view from your seat. You're overlooking

46:23

those two bridges and then the city skyline.

46:25

You feel like you can reach out and touch them. I absolutely

46:27

adore that place right now

46:30

though. The worst place on my list, and people

46:32

can get me Greef for this all I want. I don't care

46:34

if my book is my list. The new Atlanta

46:36

Stadium just brings absolutely nothing

46:38

to the table. It's boring. They

46:41

had a chance to really make a nice improvement down

46:43

there from the from its head, from Turner

46:45

Field, and they just blanked it. Um.

46:47

I was not a fan at all. That doesn't seem like

46:49

a controversial opinion. All right, let's do

46:53

have places like Oakland COLLEGEUM, and they

46:55

dumped down there, you know, I mean those places

46:57

and pretty obviously bad. Right, All

47:00

right, let's go to NHL

47:04

Yes Arena and then the biggest

47:07

dump. I

47:09

love the new arena in Detroit. UM.

47:11

It's very unique the way they built it there.

47:15

It almost feels like you're in a mall when you're

47:17

walking around it and there's all this stuff

47:19

over to your right, there's these shops and restaurants,

47:21

and it's really just very sleek and clean,

47:24

and it feels very nice upstairs.

47:27

It's almost like a catwalk. It's not your normal

47:29

arena hallway, and I really appreciated

47:31

that. And the other thing that's great about it is they have the

47:34

bridge viewing like they had a Madison Square

47:36

garden where you're almost elevated up

47:38

above the ice and the and the court

47:40

when it's there for basketball. So that's a really nice

47:43

touch too. And n

47:45

B A, n

47:48

B A. I'll tell you I fell in love

47:50

with Oracle Arena on this trip.

47:53

And you know, in a couple of days it's going

47:55

to have a swan song because it's it's

47:57

the parting in the NBA. They're gonna

47:59

move to the new Chase Center next year in San

48:01

Francisco, So that's a loss for the

48:04

sport. It just had sort of an

48:06

old, tiny charm. They've kept it

48:08

up to date the best they can, and I see the need

48:10

for a new place, especially with the Warriors success

48:12

right now. But I'll miss that place and

48:15

the biggest dump in the NBA, take

48:18

your pick. I mean there are so many that are

48:20

nineteen nineties, you know,

48:23

monolithic built, two big

48:25

places. Uh, you know that just

48:28

come to mind. That's

48:30

the thing about arenas is they're

48:32

very seeing. And in the book, I say like, here's

48:35

like five or ten places you really should go. Here's

48:37

the places to avoid everything that's in the middle. They're

48:39

all the same. Nothing matter. Well, NFL stadiums

48:42

are great, so give me the best and the worst there

48:44

in the National Football League. Yeah,

48:48

the best sports experience in America

48:50

by far, hands down for me, is Green Bay. Lambeau

48:53

Field is iconic, and you

48:55

know that that extends out of the gates

48:57

of the stadium and into this tiny town

49:00

on that surround it. To feel on a game

49:02

day, there is just you can't you can't

49:04

replicate that anywhere else in America. I absolutely

49:06

love it. Um if you're afraid of the cold

49:08

and you don't want to go up there. The new Atlanta Stadium

49:11

equally great in a different way. They just did

49:13

everything right and it's very sand friendly and

49:16

you know my least. Yeah, it is

49:18

the worst MetLife in New

49:20

Jersey. Yeah, it's a horrible gray

49:24

building with no charm and no nothing.

49:26

Yeah, MetLife in Jersey. I

49:29

saw the first thing. You weren't

49:31

there that night. It was with other people. The first

49:33

thing that opened up MetLife was a

49:35

bon Jovi concert that we went to

49:38

and I cannot believe what a dump it was, absolute

49:41

dump. Tell for life

49:43

in the book Give Me Now. People

49:46

who don't know this. Rich is a notorious

49:49

chief skate. Give people,

49:51

Give people. Give people who

49:53

want to go on a road trip or want to see

49:55

multiple stadiums, multiple arenas, a

49:58

couple of tips for how they can do without

50:00

breaking the bank. Sure

50:03

this has gotten a lot easier in the

50:05

last couple of years, in the last decade or so.

50:08

Uh, with the you know events

50:10

of apps. Um.

50:12

You know, all of these needs that

50:14

you had as a traveler in the past, you

50:16

can now bring up on your phone and change

50:18

things on the fly in a matter of seconds. And

50:20

that means you know StubHub and

50:24

SeatGeek you can you can drop

50:26

in there and get a great ticket minutes

50:28

before a game for often less than face

50:30

value. Um. That was never the case in

50:33

the past. You're reliance on really shady

50:35

h scalpers outside the stadium and it

50:37

was always tilted in their favor. Um.

50:40

And then things like flights and hotels.

50:42

You now have Airbnb where you

50:44

can get a cheaper room, and it might not be

50:46

as comfortable or as convenient, but if

50:48

you're looking to save a few bucks and you don't

50:51

mind taking a train to the game from a little

50:53

bit farther out of town, that's a good place to start

50:55

to You said, you mentioned

50:58

scalper as it reminds me of when we went to Game

51:01

seven of the two thousand and three ALCS

51:03

the Aram Boon game and you almost got arrested for scalping

51:05

and ticket but fault.

51:08

It was not my fault. You picked

51:10

the guy, I think, or at least I don't know you

51:12

were there. Do I blame you because I

51:15

almost got arrested. That's

51:18

one of the greatest games I ever saw in my life, probably

51:20

the greatest, the loudest that that stadium

51:22

ever was when I was in there. That story is

51:24

in the book, I believe, right, Yes,

51:26

it is all right. So tell last thing here.

51:28

Give me so you've seen

51:31

every stadium in arena for the for

51:33

all the team's NBA, n h L, M, l B, NFL.

51:36

Give me one stadium

51:38

arena venue in

51:41

the world you have not been to that is at the

51:43

top of your list to go to Wimbledon

51:46

or Kentucky Derby, although you've

51:48

probably done that. I'm sure, like, what, give me

51:50

something? Yes, yes, I

51:53

would love to go to a World Cup final

51:56

at some point if Italy or Iceland ever

51:58

make it. Those are my two sides um

52:00

anywhere in the world really, But you

52:02

know, in addition to that, I'd like to go see a number

52:05

of the English Premier League stadiums,

52:08

pitches, as they would say over there. Um,

52:10

that's high on my list as well. Here

52:12

I'm I'm I'm missing the Preakness

52:15

to complete my triple crown, which I'd

52:17

like to do at some point in my

52:19

life. I need to go to a SCR race and see

52:21

what the hell this is all about. So many people

52:24

love it and it's I've

52:26

got to see what this is like. It sounds absolutely

52:28

hard to leave me out of that trip. Um absolutely

52:31

would never have. Im not going to that one. All

52:33

right. The book is called One Lucky Fan.

52:35

How can people get it? They

52:39

can go online and uh well,

52:41

first of all you can you can look me up on the Twitter.

52:44

My handle is at rich O'Malley r

52:46

I C h O M A L

52:48

L E Y. I don't get carried away. You're

52:51

getting carried away with the Twitter handle. Sell the buck,

52:54

not the Twitter handle. Amazon one

52:56

final link there, or you can go to how

52:58

do you buy a book? You on the internet,

53:01

Barnes and Nobloy, You go to AMAZONI you go to Google

53:03

and type of it on what you're saying and you should pop

53:05

right at the top. Alright, perfect. This is why I

53:07

hate having people on promoting a book, then they want

53:09

to get all crazy with this that. The other thing,

53:13

I can promote some upcoming appearances if you like

53:15

what I will do. You have appearances,

53:19

well, I have one coming up down and stilly here. Yeah,

53:21

it's going to be great. And you know I'm going to sign

53:23

some books up in a couple of New York City

53:25

bookstores. So I guess stuff like that going

53:27

on. Let's let's say go to my Twitter handle.

53:30

They could look it up. I'll give the Twitter handle, don't

53:32

worry. Um, let's end on

53:34

something related to the book. Last

53:37

question, give me this single best This

53:39

is the fat person in me coming at single

53:42

best food item you've eaten at any

53:44

stadium or arena in this country. Yes,

53:47

it's very easy, and unfortunately it's not available

53:50

anymore, but I can give you backup. My

53:52

favorite food or any stadium is the Schmitter,

53:54

which is a delicious sandwich which you could

53:57

once buy at Philly's games.

53:59

Uh it it's in bank Ballpark. It's just a

54:01

compassion and basically meet and

54:04

sauces on a on a bot and it's delicious.

54:07

And there's the backup to that. You can go

54:09

to an Eagles game and still get one. How come they don't

54:11

have it at the Phillies games anymore? Do we know? And

54:15

you'll find out here you go. See, that's why

54:17

I don't want to have people on who plug a book. Gotta

54:20

plug the book instead of give the answer. All right.

54:23

The book is called One Lucky Fan.

54:25

Rich O'Malley is the author. The

54:28

forward was written by Jimmy Trainer and

54:32

and thank you, and rich has

54:34

seen everything, has been to games

54:37

at every stadium and arena, MLB,

54:40

NFL, n b A, n

54:42

HL, One Lucky Fan. All

54:45

Right, we've sold the book, Thank

54:48

you, sir. Alright, anytime, take care, I'll talk to

54:50

you later. That's

54:52

very interesting when you have to interview your friend. It's

54:54

a little nerve wracking there. Do you want to lead him

54:56

into any stories about me? So

54:59

my thanks to Greg Ashinsky for coming on from

55:01

ESPN, and my thanks to my buddy Rich

55:03

O'Malley. One Lucky Fan is his book

55:06

again archives feel free to check

55:08

out past episodes. Last week Dar Rovell, Andrew

55:10

Marshan, Mike Breen called the NBA

55:12

Finals was on recently and he was a great guest. Chris

55:14

Long, newly retired NFL player

55:17

in the archives as well. If you can

55:19

rate and review helps immensely

55:21

subscribe to would be nice. And

55:23

uh, that's all we got for this episode.

55:25

We'll see you next week right here on the

55:28

SI Media podcast. Take care,