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for the ones who get it

1:09

done. Hello,

1:13

welcome to the hockey show. My name is Roy Bellamy.

1:15

David Jork is to my left over there. He works

1:18

for the hockey news. And now I

1:20

will face this camera right here because this

1:22

is my solo shot. The Florida Panthers have

1:24

two games left. Two games left and then

1:26

we hit the playoffs. Finally. It's about damn

1:28

time. We've almost gotten there. We almost got

1:30

there. Right now we are looking at them

1:33

with a one-point deficit on the Boston Bruins.

1:35

I mean, they still have an outside chance

1:37

of winning the division. But do you want

1:39

them to win the division? Because that means

1:41

they're going to probably most definitely play Tampa

1:43

in the first round. And? And?

1:46

Vasilevsky. Oh. Okay. Well, what

1:49

are you going to do? That's

1:52

where it starts and stops for me because that's a guy who you

1:54

know, of any goalie in the league that you're going to be scared

1:56

of in the playoffs. He's the guy

1:58

who he can take over a series. You can

2:00

take over you know an entire playoff. You've seen him

2:02

do it That would be the only reason why the

2:04

Tampa Bay Lightning would beat the Florida Panthers in the

2:06

first round would be because of as a less Yeah,

2:08

that's basically the reason that they'd beat anybody at this

2:10

point Like they've got a decent team But when their

2:13

goaltender is playing it when he's vezzin Avasi as I

2:15

like to call him like they're damn near unbeatable All

2:17

right Well as I always say I want that smoke

2:19

Bring on that smoke the Panthers have won

2:22

three out of the last four and

2:24

those three haven't shut out Who's been

2:26

love that combination between Bob and still

2:28

lost it's been excellent goaltending for those

2:30

three Even the

2:32

Boston loss it was I

2:34

mean mistakes plagued them in that one But

2:37

it was a very good four game stretch for

2:39

the Panthers Yeah You have to be happy

2:41

especially when you think about how the previous couple of weeks

2:43

had gone Where they couldn't put together a full 60-minute game

2:45

if they'd come out to a lead and then they would

2:47

blow it They'd fall behind early then they would try to

2:49

come back, but they couldn't know they couldn't seem to get

2:52

a full 60 minutes together So it's nice to see them

2:54

kind of getting back in the form Getting

2:56

back with the way they defend is what's really impressed me

2:58

right as you mentioned the shutouts The

3:00

way that this team defends it's not a defenseman thing They're

3:02

a five-man unit and the way that they've been doing it

3:05

again over the last few weeks as they got away from

3:07

it a little bit But they really seem to be back

3:09

on the same page And I guess you didn't have to

3:11

breathe a sigh of relief because the playoffs are what nine

3:13

days away eight days away The belt

3:15

right now. So yeah, man. Let's

3:17

go the the the situation with the

3:20

Boston loss in overtime It happened on

3:22

a Oliver Echman loss in turnover And

3:26

he ended up with the day off against Ottawa where

3:28

the Panthers went to nothing But he came back and

3:30

the four nothing went against Columbus and got to assist.

3:32

It was pretty good game by Oliver Yeah, he's been

3:34

so solid all throughout the I mean we talked about

3:37

him on the last show when he was the Masterson

3:39

nominee But Oliver Echman Larson like that that was a

3:41

little surprising I'll be honest with you when I saw

3:43

him out for overtime in the Boston game because it

3:45

was him It was Lundell and it was someone else

3:47

for a defensive zone start and that's kind of how

3:49

the whole ship began They went to the offensive zone

3:51

a little flubber at the blue line But

3:54

you know overall you've got to be happy with OEL

3:56

because that's a guy who like lately with their neck

3:58

Glad been out. He's taken over that top pairing with

4:00

us for zling and done just fine the defensive numbers are

4:02

there and the offensive numbers yeah you said he had to

4:04

assist last night i think he's had three or four games

4:06

this season where he's had to assist so and again for

4:09

what what they signed him for like 2.5 million for the

4:11

year you've got to be happy

4:13

with oel i'm just curious to see what happens

4:15

with him this summer because i think he's earned

4:17

himself a pretty decent pay jay somewhere sam ryan

4:19

hard 54th goal last night uh we can move

4:21

on past that that man's been excellent all season

4:23

but i want to point out a highlight now

4:25

i know you enjoyed this one in the otterwood

4:28

game anthony stolars his pass to anthony lundell from

4:30

basically the bottom of the face off circle

4:32

to the other blue line it hit taped

4:35

the tape on lundell's

4:37

stick and he ended up

4:39

with a partial breakaway and scored on that

4:41

one that was an excellent pass and excellent

4:43

goal it's not just the goalie assist it's

4:45

a goalie primary assist and that those are

4:47

rare and and this is something i've

4:49

talked to stolars about a couple of times throughout the

4:51

year is just the stick handling because he's so good

4:54

at it and it helps that he's like six foot

4:56

a million and he's got these arms that are as

4:58

long as our bodies and obviously that helps but he's

5:00

put in a lot of work with his puck handling

5:02

like we talked about the difference between being palm down

5:05

over palm up getting that strength getting that torque on

5:07

the stick and he takes a lot

5:09

of pride in what he does and that was

5:11

just perfect timing perfect pass he said tape to

5:13

tape and lundell did not make a mistake and

5:16

the panthers have a magic number

5:18

of one point uh they play buffalo on

5:21

saturday and they play

5:23

the toronto maple ease on tuesday that

5:25

one point guarantees them second place in

5:27

the alan division and

5:29

possibly a matchup with toronto but

5:32

i mean they win the next two and

5:34

maybe boston falters they could possibly

5:36

win the division and as you said would lead to

5:38

a matchup with the time of the enlightening whether

5:41

you want that or not it would definitely be a

5:43

good matchup either one of these opponents it'll be a

5:45

lot of fun to watch yeah i think with this

5:47

panthers team like the way that they've built themselves up

5:49

this year is they're not going to be a matchup

5:51

type team that teams are going to have to match

5:53

up to them in the way they play is what

5:56

we've seen all season and i think paul morey said

5:58

it best uh i think it was last week said

6:00

it where if you start trying to

6:02

put yourself in a situation where you want to play

6:04

a certain team you know you try to finagle your

6:06

playoff positioning to go a certain way it very rarely

6:08

ends well for you they should just play it out

6:10

play their best hockey let the chips fall where they

6:12

may they're confident in their abilities and i think that's

6:15

what we're going to see happen you

6:17

have a major gripe with how the playoff

6:19

system works in the national hockey league what's

6:21

going on i'm not the only one i

6:23

mean it's it's

6:25

ridiculous and it's really pissing me off this year

6:27

more than past year we used to have the

6:30

one to eight yeah you get the

6:32

one seed versus the eight seed the two seed

6:34

versus the seven seed it was very simple and

6:36

it made sense because if you play well enough

6:38

to be a one-seater or two seed you should

6:41

be rewarded with playing the lower seeds that's how

6:43

sports playoffs work i mean they used to have

6:45

a divisional playoff just like they have now prior

6:48

to the one through eight like you know but

6:50

when they had the old adams division the smite

6:52

division and all those yeah but that's the thing

6:54

they already fixed it once and it was great

6:56

and it was awesome and it was like last

6:58

year the panthers were the eight seed and they

7:00

played the one seed and that that's how it

7:02

should have happened well last year was

7:04

a bit of an anomaly in this new system

7:06

like this year you've got just looking at the

7:09

standing the three worst team playoff teams the alleners

7:11

the lightning and the penguins okay the

7:13

penguins are prob as it stands right now you know the

7:15

capitals the red wings and the flyers and all that but

7:17

whatever the those are the worst three playoff teams they should

7:19

be playing the three best playoff teams but instead you're

7:22

gonna have you're gonna have

7:25

florida play either florida play toronto like it

7:27

unless florida overcomes boston florida play toronto right

7:29

that's fine really

7:32

you are pissed off about this david i mean

7:34

good lord i just don't i feel like they

7:36

tried to fix something that didn't need to be

7:38

fixed and every year that passes by it's upsetting

7:40

me more and more it's it's almost like the

7:42

continuity elements in the mighty dutch trilogy that we're

7:44

talking about out there that we can get into

7:46

another time but it's just something that picks up

7:48

my brain and it gets more and more and

7:51

more and i'm just i'm

7:53

over it i feel like it's getting a lot of

7:55

attention in the media right now as it should and

7:57

hopefully the lead i don't know if they can Will

8:00

I honestly just I'm

8:02

just tired of this like and I don't think the players like it either.

8:04

I don't think I don't know Why

8:07

they they changed it to I get why they changed

8:09

the divisions around I don't care why they had to

8:11

play to change the playoffs around it was fine how

8:13

it was So if it's not broken don't break it

8:16

well Well, apparently it's broken

8:18

a corner in the Dave. Yeah, so let's go

8:20

over the standings right now

8:23

as we mentioned the Atlanta division that we go

8:25

over the broken standings Yeah, let's go over the

8:27

broken standards. We mentioned the Atlantic division already the

8:30

metropolitan division There

8:32

is a Outside chance that

8:35

the Hurricanes could cast the New York

8:37

Rangers for top of the metro division

8:40

The Hurricanes have a game at hand on the Rangers the

8:42

Rangers have 110 points while the Hurricanes

8:44

have 107. So that spot is Pretty

8:48

much up for grabs the they are tied

8:50

right now in regulation regulation

8:53

wins So we got we're

8:55

looking at yeah, it's played and after that we're

8:57

gonna end up looking at regulation Heavy

8:59

division though. Yeah. Yeah, that's

9:02

like it's also bottom heavy as well Yeah,

9:05

yeah bottom heavy is the the correct term But

9:07

yeah, there's the two put their Carolina and the

9:09

Rangers at the top and then there's like a

9:11

20 point drop-off Yeah between Carolina and the Islanders

9:14

like what's going and that just kind of goes

9:16

back to my point and the playoff seedings like

9:19

Get it, right and the Islanders right now at

9:21

89 points. I think yeah,

9:24

I think that's pretty much done They're

9:26

placed in the metro, but that wildcard

9:29

situation at two The

9:31

penguins have 86 points the Capitals red rings

9:33

and Flyers have 85 points I

9:36

think the Flyers is too little too late for them They

9:39

have 80 they've played 80 games so far and they

9:41

have 29 regular regulation wins So yeah, it's a flyers

9:43

that'll win out basically Yeah they got one out but

9:45

it's gonna be fun because all these teams are playing

9:47

each other like all the all the other teams like

9:49

the Top 10 teams top 11 teams in the Eastern

9:52

Talmans are all playing each other over the next couple

9:54

of days So we've got a lot of fun hockey

9:56

coming up. Yeah, and the the Capitals with a bad

9:58

loss against Buffalo And the

10:00

Penguins slipping by the Red

10:02

Wings who did not deserve that point in overtime.

10:07

The Red Wings did not deserve that point. They

10:09

sure lost in regulation, but that's nearly here

10:12

or there. But right now, the Penguins own the

10:14

second spot in the East

10:16

Wild Card. Over in the Western Conference, if you

10:18

look at the Central Division right now, the Jets

10:20

and Avalanche are tied at 104 points. Both

10:24

of them have 79 games played. The

10:26

Jets have more regulation wins right now.

10:28

That's an interesting matchup right now. They

10:30

can flip. And right

10:33

now, just based on regulation

10:35

wins, the Jets, they

10:37

have home ice right now. Yeah, and they're playing

10:40

better right now. I think they've won, what is it? They've won

10:42

five in a row right now. The Jets

10:44

are starting to get back to the defensive roots of their season.

10:46

That had them such a good team for the first half of

10:48

the year. They were such a good defensive team. I think they're

10:50

starting to get back to that, working with Connor

10:52

Hellebock a little bit more. Colorado

10:55

is a scary team. And then when you see what Nathan McKinnon do

10:57

with the hat trick he had the other night, he

10:59

is so explosive. I'm

11:02

excited, just looking at the standings. I'm just so pumped

11:04

to see the playoffs come out. Dallas, are they the

11:06

juggernaut that we thought they might be? Jake Ottinger is

11:08

a beast, one of the few goaltenders that could really

11:10

carry you through a playoff series. And

11:12

I don't know, that Pacific Division I think

11:14

is just going to be the crap out

11:16

of each other. Yeah, the Pacific Division right

11:19

now, the third place spot belongs to the

11:21

Los Angeles Kings with 95 points. They are

11:23

back. They're back. Chasing them is

11:25

Vegas with 92 points. But right

11:27

now Vegas has a whole different

11:29

thing that you got to worry about because the

11:32

second wild card spot is on the line as well. And

11:35

the Blues are catching up to them. The Blues have won

11:37

two straight and Vegas has lost three straight. Now they're separated

11:39

by, what is it, three points, Roy? Yeah.

11:41

And they both have three. No, I think the

11:44

Blues have three left and I think Vegas

11:46

has four left. Yeah, the Blues have played

11:48

79 games and Vegas has played 78. Yeah.

11:51

They got the game in hand. Isn't it crazy

11:53

that Vegas, we were on the ice with

11:55

them with the Stanley Cup, you know, less than a year ago. Now

11:57

they might not even make the playoffs if they keep sliding. the

12:00

way they have. And the way they started the season. Yeah.

12:03

Like all those wins at the beginning of

12:05

the season right now may have saved their

12:07

playoff hosts. If not for

12:09

that crazy start they'd be out of it by now. Yeah

12:11

so yeah it's right now it's exciting

12:14

right now. This is gonna come down to the last

12:16

day of the season. Yeah as it should.

12:19

Yeah so exciting times right now. So

12:21

coming up next we have Jeff Remmer

12:23

who is going to retire. So

12:26

excited to talk to Jeff Remmer. Yeah we grew up watching

12:28

this man do play-by-play.

12:30

Sparkling saved by Van Biesbroek.

12:32

Spectacular individual effort. Yeah he

12:34

was doing games with Danny

12:36

Poppin for what nine years?

12:38

Yeah from 93 to 0-3-0-4. Yeah so we grew

12:40

up with

12:43

this guy. I mean we're both 40 year olds

12:45

and the Panthers came into the league in 1993

12:47

so that would have made me nine years old.

12:49

You're a little older than I am. So yeah

12:52

so having this guy being able to talk

12:54

to him like it

12:56

it was it was pretty special and we talked

12:58

to him earlier and we're gonna play this interview

13:01

and that's coming up next. For

13:04

the past 30 years this man has

13:06

brought TV play-by-play into the home to

13:09

Capitals fans Panthers fans and Blue Jackets

13:11

fans. For the past 20 years it's

13:13

been the Blue Jackets. It's Jeff Remmer

13:15

who's running off into the sunset now.

13:17

He is retiring after the season and

13:19

before we get to how

13:21

we feel about him as Panthers fans and into

13:25

his career I just want to know Jeff what

13:27

exactly happened in an altercation that you had

13:30

with Pete Rose? The

13:33

altercation I had with who? Pete Rose.

13:37

Long story. Long story

13:39

but I'll cut

13:42

it down as quick as I can here. Okay. And

13:44

we go back to 1984 and the conclusion

13:49

of the 1983 season coincidentally

13:51

a spot that I would

13:53

go to in 1984 of

13:55

course was Baltimore but preceding

13:58

my move there The

14:02

Montreal Expos in the early 80s had

14:04

outstanding teams. They had Carter, they had

14:06

Dawson, they had Tim Rains, they had

14:09

Tim Wallach. I'll just

14:11

go right down the list. Pitching wise, Jeff

14:13

Reardon in relief, Steve Rogers the starter. So

14:16

it was a young team, it was a good team,

14:18

but they could never get to that next level. What

14:21

they needed was some leadership, a veteran,

14:23

a guy that's been there. So

14:25

Pete Rose was released by the Phillies after

14:27

Baltimore, won the World Series in 83. And

14:31

I called Pete and I said, Pete, I

14:33

think you're the guy, you are the guy

14:35

that can get the Expos over the top.

14:37

And he said, great, what do I have to

14:39

do? I said, well, I do the Hot Stove

14:42

Show every week. I want you to be a

14:44

guest. Absolutely, he said. So

14:46

Pete would come on Wednesday nights and

14:48

say, hey, don't judge me by my

14:50

birth certificate. I can get it done.

14:52

The Expos team is a

14:54

team that's on the threshold of winning.

14:57

I'd love to be part of it. Well,

14:59

the owner, Charles Broffman, who coincidentally also owned

15:02

the radio TV station, said that

15:04

despite what Rimmer says, we are not signing

15:06

Pete Rose. Well, I can tell you the exact

15:08

time. It was January the 19th, 2000, or excuse

15:11

me, 1984. And

15:15

Pete Rose was signed by the Montreal

15:17

Expos. We became instant buddies. We're

15:20

great in spring training. We

15:23

get to the early part of the regular season.

15:26

And his former teammate in Cincinnati, the big

15:28

red machine, Doug Flynn, wasn't a big fan

15:30

of mine, because I would say all the

15:32

time that Rodney Scott should play second base

15:34

ahead of him. Rodney, a great lead off

15:36

hitter. He could steal bases. And

15:39

it was strictly a situation where Rodney

15:42

Scott was a better second baseman. Well,

15:46

Pete, of course, took Doug Flynn's side.

15:49

And it was a particular game on

15:51

a Thursday night against the Pirates. Flynn

15:53

goes in as a defensive replacement after

15:55

demanding to be played or traded after

15:58

the game. He makes two errors. And

16:00

Pete Rose started riffing me saying

16:03

I'm the most negative guy that he'd ever

16:05

talked to. Well, fast

16:09

forward, Rose denied

16:12

really saying the things that he said about

16:14

me saying things were kind of taken out

16:17

of context. So I said, Pete, I'm going

16:19

to do a commentary tonight. I won't be

16:21

taken out of context. Well, he had the

16:23

players in the clubhouse at six o'clock with

16:26

a game time of 7.05 listening

16:31

to me. And I

16:34

did my commentary. Of course, I did a rip

16:36

Rose. It was more talking about Doug Flynn. After

16:38

the game, I do my show from the

16:41

restaurant on a Friday night and

16:43

sell on 76 at Olympic Stadium.

16:45

And Pete tells all the players

16:47

he's calling me live on the

16:49

radio. Sure enough, he calls through

16:51

and demanded I apologize. I said,

16:53

apologize for what? He said,

16:56

well, you're trying to ruin my reputation with

16:58

the players and with the

17:01

fans. I said, no, no, no, no, no.

17:03

Come to Saturday where the NBC Game of

17:05

the Week, again, continuing a series

17:07

against the Pirates. After the game, I go

17:09

in to do my postgame commentary

17:12

and questions for the players. I walk up

17:14

to Pete's locker and I hand him a

17:16

cassette. And I said, Pete, you

17:18

listen to this. You tell me where I'm ripping

17:21

you. Well, he stood up, grabbed me. I

17:23

wasn't going to let him hit me because I'd

17:25

have been put into the next stratosphere. And

17:28

he rips my shirt. All of a

17:30

sudden, it's Bedlam in the clubhouse. In

17:32

walks John McHale, the president, and

17:35

he starts yelling at Bill Virden, how can this

17:37

happen in the clubhouse? Jeff Rivers,

17:39

one of our biggest ambassadors, yada, yada,

17:41

yada. Our ownership then decides

17:44

to have a meeting on Sunday

17:46

at Olympic Stadium. And the owner's

17:48

suite, Pete apologizes and said

17:50

he only did it to kind of rally

17:52

the team. He knew how many

17:54

of the guys that I was very close with and

17:56

actually friends with. And he determined that that

17:58

was the way to... rally the team

18:01

which was kind of strange a couple

18:03

of years later well several years later

18:05

actually we're in Vegas

18:07

to play the Golden Knights I take

18:09

my broadcast partner Jody Shelley and we

18:11

find Pete who's signing autographs somewhere in

18:14

Vegas at a casino and

18:16

we walked in and Jody says yeah Jeff

18:18

tells me all the stories Pete

18:20

says without batting an eyelash he says

18:23

whatever remember told you is a hundred

18:25

percent true yeah that's

18:27

a hell of a story as

18:30

short form as I can tell it oh

18:32

my god I have so many follow-up questions

18:34

but we don't have a lot of time so I want to get into

18:36

the hockey stuff here Jeff obviously

18:39

fans down here in South Florida very familiar

18:41

with you the original Panthers broadcaster Roy as

18:43

Roy mentioned we're both grew up listening

18:46

to you big fans I just want

18:48

to ask you when you think of the Miami Arena amazing

18:50

building down here for hockey fans well

18:55

but some great memories so when you think of

18:57

the old Miami Arena like what are some of

18:59

the your fondest memories that come to mind from

19:02

those early Panthers years well

19:04

one of my fondest memories period anytime

19:06

in my career looking back was

19:08

that Stanley Cup final with

19:11

Colorado and just the amazing play of

19:13

John Van Biesburg of course it all

19:16

got set up by Bill Lindsay's big

19:18

goal to get by Boston and I

19:21

still can see vividly Lindsay

19:23

coming down the wing getting

19:25

by and just blowing by Ray Bork

19:27

and scoring what proved to be the

19:30

the clinching goal in the series loved

19:32

going to the Miami Arena it was

19:35

a very compact arena as you well

19:37

know and seeing a

19:39

complete sellout each and

19:41

every game that the Panthers played in

19:44

that building of course a lot of

19:46

memories about Scott Melanby and Brian Scrudland

19:48

and John Van Biesbrook and Dave Lowry

19:50

and go right through the team and

19:52

of course the celebrated rat trick by

19:55

Scott Melanby who by the way has

19:58

called me he had intended to come to

20:00

Columbus for the celebration here

20:02

a couple of weeks ago but did tell

20:04

me he couldn't make it because his daughter

20:07

had their first grandchild in Philadelphia. Young Courtney

20:09

who I've known since birth but

20:12

he does intend to come to my

20:14

final game which of course next Tuesday

20:16

against Carolina. That's awesome. One of the

20:18

more amazing feats and this officially

20:20

makes this to me you

20:23

being the hardest working man in the hockey.

20:25

You were able to split time to call

20:27

Capitals games and Panthers games in the Panthers

20:29

inaugural season. How were you able to pull

20:32

that off? Well

20:35

I had conflicts when when the Panthers

20:37

approached me about doing their games and

20:39

working with Dennis Potvan. They asked me

20:41

to send my schedule. That

20:44

particular year I was just doing the road

20:47

games on DC 20. So

20:49

20 games on 20 plus playoffs.

20:53

When I sent my schedule to Dean

20:56

Jordan who headed it up the broadcasting

20:58

side and of course the business side

21:00

of the Panthers at the time said

21:02

wow that's great we only have three

21:04

conflicts. So I

21:06

missed the three games. I did 30 of the 33 games for the

21:10

Panthers because they did a limited schedule

21:12

then but I was able to do

21:14

each and every game. It was terrific for me because

21:17

I would literally go from St.

21:19

Louis and one snowstorm one time

21:23

to Pittsburgh to catch a plane with

21:25

the New York Islanders because it was

21:27

going to be a Panthers-Islander game. They

21:29

couldn't play until the Islanders made their

21:31

way back from Pittsburgh and that was

21:33

one night Al Arbor offered me a

21:35

flight and actually got me a hotel

21:37

room to stay with the team in

21:39

Pittsburgh and make that game. That probably

21:41

was the closest call but it was

21:43

just a it was a great great

21:45

season the inaugural year of the Panthers

21:47

and doing the Capitals game. I did

21:49

almost run into a problem late in

21:51

the season because David Poyle then the

21:53

general manager of the Capitals called

21:56

me into his office and he said okay Jeff what

21:58

are you going to do because if you're... remember it

22:00

in that inaugural season, the Panthers almost

22:02

made it to the post season.

22:04

And David Poel wanted to know

22:07

if both teams played in

22:09

the Stanley Cup playoffs, which teams

22:11

games would I do? And

22:14

I was kind of reluctant to give him an answer, but

22:16

the Panthers kind of fell off towards the end.

22:19

Capitals were the only team of the two to

22:21

make the playoffs. So it was a simple solution

22:23

and I was able to do the

22:25

Capitals games in that postseason year.

22:28

So Jeff, I read that you are

22:30

pretty good friends with Michael Buble and

22:32

then I read that you've actually got

22:34

quite a few famous friends that you've

22:36

made over the years, including you have

22:38

a Miami Dolphins connection because your friends

22:40

also with Larry King. Yeah. So very

22:43

cool, but how did you manage to have

22:45

such a, I know,

22:48

I guess just outreach be that way. Like a vast

22:50

network. Yeah, that went so far beyond just hockey guys

22:52

and great that there's so many awesome people in hockey.

22:54

But the fact that I've, you know, you've got so

22:56

many friends outside of the game as well. I mean,

22:59

that's a testament, I guess, to what a friendly person

23:01

that you are. Well,

23:03

let me put it this way. Hockey is

23:05

such a great game and I've done all

23:07

the major sports, as you know, but

23:10

there's a special for me

23:12

and for hockey fans

23:15

who are so loyal and they

23:17

are different than for me, any

23:19

other group. And just

23:22

meeting people that that loved hockey,

23:24

you mentioned Michael Buble. He is

23:26

a huge Vancouver Canucks and

23:29

hockey fan. And of course,

23:31

he has a number of different

23:34

hockey pools that he's in. So he likes

23:36

to pick my brain on certain

23:38

players before he makes some of his

23:40

draft picks. And actually, it was my

23:43

son, Josh, who first,

23:46

I guess, was involved with Buble

23:48

and he said, let's get your brother, let's

23:50

get your dad involved. And so

23:53

Buble and I kind of hit it off and we

23:56

would talk from time to time. He had his own

23:58

opinions about the Blue Jackets and what was wrong.

24:00

We talked about th obviously

24:03

and they're tra recent

24:06

seasons. So it's j uh

24:09

I kind of developed in very,

24:12

very close with Cal a huge

24:15

hockey fan grew up and Billy

24:17

in Maryland. Th up

24:21

in Aberdeen, Maryland, part

24:24

of the Philadelphia market

24:27

and they were big So

24:29

they loved to play hoc what

24:31

would happen in the before

24:33

Camden Yards. They after the morning

24:35

sports Hey Jeff, get over here. in

24:39

the visiting clubhouse true.

24:41

And Cal had just a message

24:46

for me. And I can his

24:49

story there. Cal was before

24:53

the street was not very well, but

24:55

he was pla every game.

24:58

I got a phone game

25:00

show one night about midnight.

25:03

I'm going to ra this

25:05

guy started ripping down

25:07

the other said, you'r he

25:12

how to refer to me? He an

25:14

apologist for the Ripc just

25:17

change your name fro Ripken.

25:19

Well, wouldn't yo I go to

25:21

the clubhouse, Cal and he hands

25:23

me a bat and Ripken

25:25

River, my long los Finally,

25:29

you know, hockey uh,

25:33

just the hockey fans for

25:38

me, it's, it's just b love

25:40

every minute of it. you're

25:43

calling a career. I know where

25:45

you're gonna, w do? Are you gonna hang ou or

25:47

you're gonna play more go fishing

25:49

or you're gonna in the summer and

25:51

come do during the winter? What y live

25:55

in florida permanently Florida

26:00

and I look forward to

26:03

spending time at

26:05

games obviously. I'll

26:08

be seeing you guys at the arena. I'll

26:10

be cheering on the Panthers and

26:13

I'll be playing some golf and I'm also

26:16

been approached by an

26:18

agent to perhaps get involved in doing some

26:20

consulting because I'd love to help young broadcasters

26:22

along the way. I've had the great fortune

26:24

of being in a terrific business. I've

26:27

never worked a day in my life as

26:29

far as I'm concerned and I want to

26:31

help some other people along the way. That's

26:33

excellent Jeff. It's been a fantastic career and

26:35

we're just so happy that we

26:37

were able to get a little bit of peace of

26:39

that career down here in Florida. Jeff remember joining us

26:41

today. Thank you for joining us. Anytime

26:43

guys.