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#49: The Even MORE Angry Episode
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#49: The Even MORE Angry Episode
Francis and Jessica are even more agitated than normal this week as the NCAA continues to make rule changes that penalize college hockey players. But first there’s plenty of talk about Italian bakeries, hash brown waffles and the incredible, talented entertainment found on @bkcoffeeshop. Here come the lawsuits as JetBlue gets busted for price surveillance and the Canadian half of our podcast apologizes profusely for spending 30 minutes dissecting the new 5-in-5 rule.
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Transcript
Introduction to The Grocery Stick
00:00:02
Speaker
From a makeshift recording studio in Brooklyn, welcome to The Grocery Stick with Jessica and Francis. Shut the front door. That is not what we agreed upon. Francis and Jessica. Meh, ignore that.
00:00:13
Speaker
We're Brooklynites and friends. We're here to talk, laugh, commiserate, and argue about all things travel sports-related, kid-related, and plain old life-related. It's Francis and Jessica, or I quit.
00:00:25
Speaker
One. Episode 49. Woo-hoo. woohoo Hello. There's a lot of anger. I'm telling everyone right now. Right now, we're in the preamble. Ball of fury. and I have, we have a lot of anger and a lot of angst in today's
Impact of Caputo's Bakery Closure
00:00:39
Speaker
episode. So everyone buckle up because it's not going to heavy, but it's going to angry. You can call me Furiosa today. A lot of airline shit.
00:00:50
Speaker
Airline shit and hockey shit. start with the air. Well, first of all, She probably doesn't listen, but I bumped into our good neighbor, Claudia. Boom. In the neighborhood. Yeah.
00:01:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I'm talking to Jessica's husband this morning. Boom. Before the podcast. While getting coffee and not eating oatmeal. So that was awesome. um The oatmeal part.
00:01:12
Speaker
our favorite okay we'll we'll talk about Our favorite bakery, Caputo's, 124 years old, closed suddenly. Suddenly. Overnight suddenly. so So quickly that he left food in the window.
00:01:26
Speaker
And didn't deliver any of like all the local area, cool places like Court Street Grocery, all the sandwich shops, this place no bread. This place is by me also that they didn't have bread. No bread because yeah Caputo's closed. yeah Yeah. Yeah. And he sent an email like the night before, before the delivery that this is their last delivery. Claudia she knows the real reason why.
00:01:47
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. And she said that he got so many inspection notifications to replace the oven. He's like, you know what? Here's the middle finger. Yeah. Don't fuck yourselves. You shut down 120 for a break. You that bakery that was serving all these restaurants and cafes.
00:02:04
Speaker
I'm out. I can't help but wonder if those are the old Department of Health rules or if they're new Department of Health rules. No, I think it's like building code, right? every time you yeah Every year they pass something new. If you've lived in your house for 30 years, you don't need to improve the code. It's only for new stuff. And then when you go to sell it you're like, what the fuck?
00:02:24
Speaker
Yeah. 40 things I got to fix for the new owner. But the code does know that because and I can tell you why I know this. I know this because over in my neighborhood is a yeah restaurant. It's been here for probably 15 years. It's like a it's a staple here. Right. Right off the subway stop. People come for it. It's delicious food. Yeah.
00:02:44
Speaker
And they had this amazing pizza menu. Sick. yeah It was great. It was a huge draw. Yeah. Pizza oven, coal fired pizza oven, wood fire, sorry. Wood fire pizza oven in the building. It's been there for a million years. Like literally.
00:02:59
Speaker
That's a fire hazard. Well, that's it. So they shut them down. They had to remove the right they had to remove the ovens. yeah They wouldn't like, I guess it probably would have been too expensive to change it to gas or it wouldn't have been worth it to change to gas or whatever. yeah. yeah But like out of nowhere, after all those years, yeah shut it down. And that's not to say that they didn't have inspectors come in. Yeah.
00:03:19
Speaker
Right. For many, many, many times, many, many, many years. And it's just like all of a sudden it was like, boom, done. Pizza menu gone. I just don't see why you don't use value to that business. Sell to somebody. Let them freaking take it over. Sam's has been taken over by that Long Island lady.
00:03:33
Speaker
Oh, my And she's going to redo the whole thing and bring it back. Sam's was the worst dining experience in Brooklyn. I know, but they film all the movies there. I know, because it's the worst dining experience in Brooklyn. Well, it's the only 50s-looking diner left, right, in the hood?
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah. yeah but i mean red The red vinyl boots. Yeah. yeah so And this Long Island lady, whatever whatever claim whatever reality TV show she's from, whatever, she's she's buying it and you know bring it bring it back to life.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, wonder what that's going to look like. I was supposed to buy bread from Caputo's and now they're gone. So she's going find a new place. Yeah, there's a place over by me called Brancaccio's. Yeah. Who exclusively got his bread from Caputo's. there's another bakery on our on Court Street that they'll that just got shitload of business.
00:04:18
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, i'm and I'm sure that there are other ones. I just, you know, the thing is this, right? If you've been using the same bread for your sandwiches since you've opened and you're open for many, many years and it was great bread yeah and your sandwiches had this texture and this reputation of being amazing, yeah all of a sudden you change the bread and maybe the sandwich isn't so good anymore. I know.
00:04:39
Speaker
Well, whatever the reason is, staying as much as we miss Caputo's, Dude, shame on you for leaving your people lurch. That's not fucking nice. No, it was very nice not nice, dude. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's it's kind of interesting because I wonder i wonder what the Department of Buildings or Department of Health people said to him in terms of timing to like so chain, do all these upgrades or whatever, where he felt the need to be like, okay, go fuck yourselves and shut it all down immediately.
00:05:07
Speaker
Right? Maybe they were going to shut him down anyways. Maybe they were going to shut him down anyways. Yeah, I don't know. I have no idea. All I know that it was bizarre. RIP Old Italian Bakery. 124 years of of of operation. That's mean feat, right? But there's a good thing that came out of this. What's that?
00:05:24
Speaker
The good thing that came out of this was that I had no idea that the Caputo's Bakery and the Caputo's Fine Foods were not related. not the same family. Yeah, I didn't know that. There you go. Yeah, I didn't know that. So I immediately thought if the bakery was closed, then the Fine Foods place was going to... And I love the guys in the Fine Foods place. Those guys are awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:05:43
Speaker
They are. They're so great. Yeah, yeah. So I'm really happy that they're good. I'm pretty sure they are the ones... When I have friends, you know, after COVID, they all bought those uni...
00:05:54
Speaker
Pizza ovens? Yeah, I have one. O-O and i You have one? Yeah, I do. I love it. i don't Everybody buys a dough from Caputo's, but that dough comes from Caputo Fine Foods right or bakery. But you can walk into any pizza place yeah and buy dough. why oh yeah So if you have a favorite pizza place yeah that you frequent or you order, they'll sell you the dough. no Yeah, you can go and be like, at first you got to ask them. i guess you know I mean, it's not the same thing as asking for sourdough starter. yeah But you know you go in and you buy the dough,
00:06:24
Speaker
Luckily for me, I'm too fat and too old to be eating pizza every day. So I don't have a pizza oven. Yeah, I think that's what you do it's a cop out. I would love to make, listen, those uni things, I love those things. I would love to spend all day just rolling out dough and experimenting with different toppings and shit. But trust me, I would be double the size. You know, you can cook other things in there.
00:06:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's like a huge... Eggs and shit, whatever. Yeah, everything. Yeah,
Pizza Oven Regulations and Breakfast Experiences
00:06:49
Speaker
steaks. It does steaks beautifully. Like there's a ton of things you can cook, especially if you live in a place that, you know, doesn't have a ton of outdoor space.
00:06:58
Speaker
yeah you know You can do it with gas. You don't have to do it with the wood. So you can do it like a regular grill with like propane, but it still has the stone that heats up to 500, 600 degrees. So you're able to cook a ton of other things if you had like limited outdoor space.
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah. You know, like you couldn't fit a grill hypothetically, right? And a grill that's too small wouldn't probably make any sense. But anyway, it's pretty great. But when and on our outdoor space, it's probably illegal in an apartment. Yeah.
00:07:25
Speaker
I don't know if it's propane, it probably it might not be. and and It's not an open flame. You definitely are not allowed to put a barbecue, even a portable barbecue on our outdoor space. It's not an open flame though.
00:07:38
Speaker
It's contained. So that's the part that might change it a little bit. It's not open. Interesting. Yeah. So you don't have flares. Like you don't have the flare up that you normally build worry about. That's good point.
00:07:50
Speaker
Yeah. It's totally contained within the oven itself. It's literally an oven. It's not a grill. Yeah. yeah It's tiny. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I would love to pay. And so and they do make one for indoors too.
00:08:01
Speaker
Oh, they do? I believe that they just came out with it recently. I think they make one for inside also. That's kind of crazy. Yeah, I don't know. An open flame oven inside. That's the quickest way to call them 911. Yeah, I don't actually know how it works. And honestly, wouldn't endorse it necessarily, but I'm pretty sure. that I can get the firefighting startup more business. But you know what? Right. There you go. But you know, the thing is, is like George Foreman came out with a grill that you use inside and people started quote grilling shit inside. Like, I don't know what it looks like. I don't know how it operates. but that's electric.
00:08:36
Speaker
Yeah, but I'm just saying, i but I bet I would bet that the uni is electric too. Oh, i see what you're saying. Oh, sorry, sorry. I thought meant like a smaller flame into it. I don't think so. I would bet if I had to extrapolate all the information and kind of come out, I would say that it's probably there's a probably a very good chance it's electric. Maybe.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, not the same. kind of the flame No, it's not the same. No, I love my uni though. I love it Yeah, at my party. At my party, that's how they made all the pizzas. see my Instagram pictures from my trip to ah Duke to pick up?
00:09:04
Speaker
Oh, no, I didn't. Twin number two? No, Over weekend? I didn't. we We have this place near her school, which is a crepes place. Amazing service. Next to a baseball field, I guess one of their minor league teams. And um it's called Press Crepes. And I go in there and I'm like, I don't really want crepes, but she loves it. So we go and she has her sweet tooth. It's like nine o'clock in the morning.
00:09:29
Speaker
It's so funny how these girls operate. I want breakfast. Mine too. They're eating like strawberry cream freaking crepes, right? Yeah, mine's eating like a jar of Nutella for breakfast. I'm like, oh my God, fuck. It like licks the plate clean. But anyways, my I just, in their infinite wisdom, and I thought this was genius.
00:09:47
Speaker
I was like, what do I want? Wait a second. What is this on the menu? A hash brown waffle. was like, wait second. Oh, yes. I've had those. Is that, i we is that's not just a name, right? i was like, no, lady not just a name.
00:10:01
Speaker
This is a giant hash brown, but it's made in a waffle iron. In the waffle iron. Yes. was like, oh my God. Yeah. That's the one. Sausage. Scrambled eggs.
00:10:13
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Over this waffle-sized hash brown. Yeah. Crispy. Mm-hmm. Perfect. It's perfection. Oh, God. Oh, I agree. Genius meal.
00:10:25
Speaker
and And I ate half of it. And so after Nadia ate her tres leche dinner plate-sized crepe, she ate half of it. There you go. What the fuck? I'm like, holy, how hungry are you? There you go.
00:10:39
Speaker
I know we're feeding you. I know Duke is feeding you. they't take what the hells Holy shit. But good for you. um That was a really good meal. I'm impressed, i actually. there Okay, enough of the food shit. We need to get to the anger. I like the food. The anger shit.
00:10:56
Speaker
Actually, Eric told me I've been eating like shit lately. And then this morning I made pancakes. Oh, yeah. For Sam. I don't make them for myself normally, but I made them for him. Do you eat those? You can't eat those anymore.
00:11:06
Speaker
Oh, I eat pancakes. um I make them so that I can eat them. But he likes chocolate chip pancakes, which I don't. man. I don't prefer that. I prefer them with like fruit. I like blue i my favorite of blueberry pancakes.
00:11:17
Speaker
Oh, okay. but so Traditional. Yeah, I love a blueberry pancake. Like a good blueberry pancake. It has to be good. And Cracker Barrel outside of my home has the best blueberry pancakes. Come Cracker Barrel? Everything comes out of a plastic bag? yeah they make It's like with a wild Maine blueberries and they get you know they give you the natural syrup so you don't have to deal with the corn syrup.
00:11:41
Speaker
I thought you couldn't go there anymore. Cracker Barrel is the most right-wing conservative you know what anti-Semitic place. Let me tell you something. When there's nowhere else to go in these wacky suburban towns where it's between like a Cracker Barrel and a Perkins...
00:11:56
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, Perkins. Yeah. You know, it's like, what are going to do? I don't know where these chains come from, man. it's What am I going to go to 7-Eleven and strike a deal for the fucking ballpark hot dog? I'd like, I'm not going to do that. um yeah Yeah. You know, it's like at certain point, like you got to kind of put that shit aside and just do what you need to do for your yourself. i mean, for all our Canadian friends.
00:12:17
Speaker
Cracker Barrel is like four nachos below Denny's. Oh, I disagree. What? Are you kidding me? It's way below Denny's. No, I disagree for breakfast. my God. And I've spent my life going to Denny's. I actually never went to a Cracker Barrel until like two years ago. Yeah. And it was, you know, some hockey thing. I know where.
00:12:36
Speaker
Minneapolis. Actually, no. It wasn't. What? We did not go to a Cracker Barrel in Minneapolis. I think that it was, I want to say it was like Pennsylvania. No way. Really? Yeah, it was It's definitely a Minneapolis, Detroit, Midwest kind of thing.
00:12:51
Speaker
I actually have never seen a Cracker Barrel in Detroit suburbs. That's when discover Cracker Barrel in Perkins. It might be up the mitten in Michigan. and Maybe, maybe, maybe. But it's definitely not that I've ever seen in like 25 years that I've been going there. I've never seen a Cracker Barrel in like the suburban areas of Detroit. Yeah.
00:13:10
Speaker
Oh, okay. Yeah. think we're the first time yeah you know what it must have been because i feel like we were coming back from the ushl tournament yeah like the first tournament of the year and i feel like it was whatever they're located in fuck nowhere places they are and so that's why you have no choice now given the choice between a cracker barrel and a waffle house i pick a waffle house any day of the week yeah even though i yeah even though i hate their syrup yes i would agree with that yeah i hop No.
00:13:38
Speaker
It would be better. No. Hate IHOP. Friendly's? IHOP? Friendly's is kind of' it's kind of iffy for me. I loved it when I was a kid, but I would love like patty melts and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it. But I don't eat meat anymore, so it's like can't. All right. The patty and ice cream sundae Friendly's. That's all you got. The Reese's sundae at Friendly's. Yeah.
00:13:57
Speaker
Dude, that thing was huge. And I could finish it when I was young because I was fat. See? Well, I was fatter. Is this time to do the... you're going snap for me? I love that. love that. We should have done the video. I wish we had published video on Apple Podcasts because, okay, so Rooster.
00:14:15
Speaker
i love Rooster. Season 1, 4 is in a liberal arts college. And I just started laughing so hard I don't know why this seed makes me laugh so much, but it's just the dad comes in there and um one of the two students is like,
00:14:27
Speaker
Oh, he's like, my daughter, i did it for Katie. Oh, I love how you standing up for the male against the male oppressor. And I was like, love it's like it such a liberal arts lefty thing. and ah Two girls, the two students of the of the daughter who's a professor for Katie.
00:14:42
Speaker
Right. For Katie. I love that for Katie. started laughing. told my kids, like, do they still do that? And then I'm laughing. they People do. They do. People do do that. They do. At prep school and college. Like, oh, my God. I wouldn't be able to stop laughing. So can we just distill it down to exactly what it is, though? Yes. It's the most pretentious. It totally is. I know. It's elitist, entitled, weird practice of clapping. It's from the 60s, right? It is. They used to it in these spoken poetry sessions. That's it. That's it. You know, they would call like beatnik. one can do the polite golf clap. Right. It was like beatnik behavior, right? They would snap when someone was done with their poems.
00:15:29
Speaker
It's so crazy. yeah So I discovered in Rooster season four. Then I, you know, I'm late to the party on this, but the BK coffee shop Instagram account. where it's It's just, you've not seen that? I'm not the last one. I'm the second last one. Jessica's last one. What is it? BK coffee shop. All right. i got to get it right now. is total satire about these two. And they're fairly well-known people, writers.
00:15:55
Speaker
And they create every day, almost every week, an episode with some big names like, what's the guy? Kumail Nanjiani and all these different comedians. They go there and they're basically the most obnoxious Brooklyn baristas.
00:16:10
Speaker
They don't want any customers. They're just looking at all. It's so freaking funny. I'm in. And they're all about the That's funny.
00:16:22
Speaker
you got to you You're going to... Okay. I'm going to die. After this podcast, Jessica's going to doom scrolling. This is the rabbit hole I didn't need. Yeah, she'll be on it for hours, everybody. You might not get to the next episode, 50. all I'm going talk about for weeks. Because she spends a week doom scrolling on BK Coffee Shop. No, I wish you would know. That's how we're going to start episode 50 next week because...
00:16:45
Speaker
You will not stop laughing. One of my favorite ones I'll send you off this is just like this. She's like a magazine, whatever, or gallery owner. And she's like, sell me the idea of whatever crazy coffee she wants. they're like, oh, yeah, awesome. And we want to be in your art installation. And she's like, you're already here. Oh, my God.
00:17:06
Speaker
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I see one with Ryan Serhant already. I'm so happy. I'm not the last. I am the second last person on this planet to BK Coffee Shop Instagram account. This is so good. first one I see is the one with Ryan Serhant. Yeah. Oh, it's so good. okay All right. All right.
00:17:24
Speaker
All right. I'm putting it down. All right. Put it down. I'm done. I'll have to go back to it later. so If I'm in a dark room laying in it like a fetal position, feeling all pissed off, but watching a coffee shop.
Dramatic Scenes and Airline Issues
00:17:37
Speaker
So we're going jump into travel rant. So the first thing that happened to me on the way to see my daughter... And move her home. It's in the Delta lounge, in the line for food.
00:17:49
Speaker
Some lady in front of me. i don't know what the deal is. I think she snuck into the lounge with an old credit, old Delta reserve credit card or something. And the lady, the agent comes up. She must, I mean, you know the lounge, right? Like you, you check in, you got scan your yeah boarding pass yep or swipe your credit card. They say yes. yep up the escalator. like It's a it's it's process yeah process. So she's in the food line.
00:18:12
Speaker
Okay, so she's she's already bypassed the process. She's already bypassed that, right? yeah The agent's like, excuse me, miss, I'm sorry. There was a problem with your check-in. Can you just come with me? It'll take 30 seconds to recheck you in and then everything's good.
00:18:27
Speaker
And right away the lady gets indignant. No! It's 7 o'clock in the morning. Oh, God. It's 7 o'clock in the morning. and That's context I needed. It's like the lounge is already busy.
00:18:42
Speaker
Right? There's a lineup outside already. People can get breakfast. And and she's like, No, what are you talking about? I've been a Delta, whatever SkyMiles member for 30 years. And then she waves her, like, her the purple card, credit card. And um so um I know, I know, I know, understand. i just need 30 seconds.
00:19:02
Speaker
And so I'm right behind. I wish I had this on video. I really should have video. So there's that. Because you're not a teenager. There's supervisor. I know. Supervisor. I'm just smiling. Everybody's staring.
00:19:13
Speaker
and the line is moving for food so that while this lady is saying, no, I will not go with you, no, no, no, she's still putting food on her plate. That's why she doesn't want to go because it's 7 a.m. She's hungry as hell and she's getting food. And then they're like, please, meet and they no, no. And then then after like being nice, like, listen, if you don't come with that the supervisor and security, kick you out. I don't care. I've been a member. they why' come about blah blah blah i don't give a shit. i'm like It's so amazing the battles people will pick.
00:19:42
Speaker
Well, that's okay. So that's my thing, right? It's like, really? That's the hell you want to die on? Maybe when you're 22 and you're just, you don't give a shit, you do it. This lady was older than me. I'm like, I don't know, at my age, I'm just like. No, but that's why. don't have time for that. no no No, no, no, no, no. You and I, we travel enough where it's like, okay, will you and I know 30 seconds of inconvenience is way better than 30.
00:20:08
Speaker
What's the point of arguing for 10 minutes? You're going to lose this battle. They're going to call security. You're going to get kicked out of the lounge. You're going to embarrassed. Right, right. There's no upside you. And you'll be lucky if you don't get kicked the fuck out of the airport at this point. Right. And you'll never get on your flight. You're done. You'll get banned from the lounge. no upside. Delta's going to have you tagged as a terrorist. Like all the things. Exactly. Yeah, the things. mean, that's the worst thing. They tag you that. You need a redress number. You're never going fly again. Oh, yeah.
00:20:32
Speaker
over fucking breakfast. Right. right I'm like, lady, just... I wear that badge with pride. I don't have a redress number. Like, I wear that with pride. So, this went on, and then they went off. with so i was like, I don't have time for this shit. I got my coffee. had my entertainment for the morning. I sit right down. I'm like, how stupid are you? So, I was like, legitimate, she's faking it. Because you... She probably ran it. You can't get in without buzzing you green.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah, but so, okay. Having said that... Maybe she didn't scam them and maybe there was something wrong with the system and maybe... No shot. Well, but so why would they let her in then?
00:21:10
Speaker
I think she just kind of... I'll tell you what. You think she kind like... She snuck in with other people? She walks through the terminal and doesn't scan shit, pretends and just... it's zoo and just rolls up the escalator and they notice like, hey, that lady...
00:21:25
Speaker
Because all the terminals have the green light. And you know they all go, oh, like thank you for being a diamond member. Thank you for being a gold member. Yeah, they always talk to you. yeah They always talk to you. So she obviously s scooted past them. They saw that, right? she's flashing the thing that She's flashing this old Delta credit card. probably not even hers.
00:21:43
Speaker
Right. I'll say not hers expired. And even if you have that, you only have like a certain number of visits unless you spend 75 grand or more than it's on the blah, blah, all these things. Right. oh yeah So, so she definitely snuck in because if you didn't sneak in, why wouldn't you just go write them for 30 seconds? It's not like outside the terminal. It's just down to the freaking...
00:22:09
Speaker
Devil's advocate. People that I see who are actually the worst behaved yeah are older people. Okay. So I'm... That it's like, don't question me. i you know They just have less patience. They have less tolerance. you know they don't want to be questioned, especially by somebody who's youthful or younger.
00:22:31
Speaker
i just find that um when I'm out and about, oftentimes when I start to like really ah explore what's happening around me, yeah yeah oftentimes the people who are worse behaved are the ones who are of older generations. Okay. Because you're grumpy, but...
00:22:47
Speaker
Yeah, and it's 7 o'clock in the morning. If you have flown, if you've truly flown, as she said, for 30 years as yeah as a whatever, gold, platinum, silver, diamond member, you know exactly. Process, procedure. Right, and and you will not be grumpy because you're like, flying is hard enough already.
00:23:08
Speaker
Yeah. You know what it's like? I don't think about that. When you when your flight's been canceled, And you go to the rebooking line? Dude. Are you yelling at the gate agent and not getting the flight you want? Or you remember to be nice to them because they're not the ones flying the plane. They're not the ones who cancel your flight. And if you want a favor, need to I think it depends.
00:23:30
Speaker
I think it depends because what I can tell you is when we were in Tampa trying to come home and we were delayed 11 hours at the airport. Yeah. And then they look at us, all of us sitting at the gate and we're all still waiting there and we're one of the last planes to still not be there. Right. There's like three planes and we're one of them. Yeah. Right. Right. And they look at us and they're like, okay, you know, this person's timed out and now that person's timed out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they say to us, and this is verbatim, we are going to try to get this plane canceled, this flight canceled. That's crazy. Okay. And then they go on to say, but we need to tell you that we can't get you out until Thursday. And this was a Monday.
00:24:11
Speaker
Oh, that's insane. So when, you know, I think that situationally, yeah, if it's a little bit too much honesty, I've never really, they were obviously tired and they were because there's no way they've been yelling at so many times. Like, you know what? They're doing the James Caputo. Totally. They were We're going to give them middle finger. france you want to keep complaining about this late flight here's the middle finger we're going to cancel the flight they were so done and we were all so done and then yeah and i know i've talked about this already but then while this is going on yeah the plane that's going to la guardia that was supposed to take off after us ah starts to board and we're all standing there and they were like flight blah blah blah to la guardia is now boarding and you should have heard all of us go what the
00:24:56
Speaker
I've seen later flights bored. You're like, what the fuck? Yeah, we were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, it got bad. And they ended up getting us out. Yeah, you got home in the end. We got home. I mean, at like 4 o'clock in the morning.
00:25:10
Speaker
but Better than Thursday. Yeah, but we figured it out because at that point, you know, at that point, it was just insane. But that's an extenuating. That's like... Yeah. Rare, rare, rare, crazy, perfect storm of shit. Oh, it's terrible. For your flight. It is terrible. My point is a situational. Yes. You in an ideal world and in an ideal situation, you would have enough wherewithal to be able to walk up to a gate agent and rebook your flight and be nice.
00:25:41
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Because no matter what, they're service people and they have the power. They hold all the power. are nobody. a Lounge and drink coffee. Fuck it. Whatever. yeah But you need you're you're nobody and they don't give a fuck about you. You're just another number. You're a seat number. They don't care. They yeah literally don't care.
00:25:58
Speaker
Right. Then you're from that. Okay. So, so anyways, thought that was really funny. to start my trip I kind of feel bad for her. And then i don't. I kind of do. fuck yourself. Anyway. Yeah. She's like, you know, people who are like that, I kind of feel bad for them. Cause they like, really, that's you, that's the hill you're going to choose to die on today. I know. Okay. That's, I wonder what the rest of your life actually looks like if that's the hill you choose. I know. Okay. I know.
00:26:23
Speaker
Um, um And we'll just gloss over this next one because it's like it's JetBlue's turn now after you and I have extensively talked about Delta's price fixing, price surveillance, as you call it, right? Using AI to like gouge you for the highest prices.
00:26:39
Speaker
So JetBlue's been busted. There's a lawsuit coming out. Interestingly, no lawsuit against Delta. That's got to be coming. That's got to be coming. I would imagine there's a class action being put together. There's got to be. Right. And the JetBlue thing, they really fucked themselves because what happened was a person was on Twitter complaining at JetBlue.
00:26:58
Speaker
Yeah. About I need to go to a funeral. I've lost a family member and the flight home is so brutally expensive. What's going on? And in their infinite wisdom, the person running the social media account was trying to be nice and said, and again, I don't, but this is dumb because it's a public forum and we can read it, right?
00:27:19
Speaker
Maybe they meant to message. Maybe they meant to message privately. Leave your cookies and your cash. Right. And maybe the price will lower itself. ChatGPT told me to do that. of one I can't believe you said that. That's a smoking gun. And then, of course, it got deleted.
00:27:35
Speaker
Right. i tweet The tweet. tweet got deleted. Because people see it. And people screenshot it right away. Screenshot and everything. And now there's a lawsuit because like, hey, you just admitted to price surveillance because and and in the Delta and United and whatever, they all do it right in their cases. They've always maintained.
00:27:54
Speaker
They've always maintained that the price surveillance they're doing is in aggregate, not individual. But this JetBlue smoking gun comment clearly shows it is individual. And there, I forget the name the company, I had to look it up. There's a name, there is a company, obviously, right? There is a specific service provider company, third-party company, that everyone is using in the airline industry that is doing this price surveillance.
00:28:25
Speaker
okay So again, the airline wants to do it. It's not their software. It's somebody else's software. So I want to see how the blame game unravels. No, we did it only for aggregate data. We didn't know they were going to do it individually.
00:28:43
Speaker
We're so sorry. right Here's a fine. and And I know there's a bill in the Senate. Right. That's called the One Price or Fair Price Act.
00:28:54
Speaker
And it's about this. It's like the price is the price. yeah right we talk about groceries shouldn't change. yeah Your car rides shouldn't change. Your airline tickets shouldn't change. Your car rental price shouldn't change. right The price is the price for everybody. It cannot be different based on how much I think I can gouge out of you.
00:29:11
Speaker
Right. Right. It can't be based on how many times I search. Right. How many times I look at these flights. 100%. You know, whatever. And it's still happening to me because I'm trying to go to San Francisco in July. Yeah.
00:29:22
Speaker
And every day have to search. So every day there's like ah an upgrade for this price, an upgrade for that price. And I'm trying to play the game of getting the cheapest price. Here's the other thing that I've been told about this yeah is that yeah if you back channel it and you go through a VPN, yes not here, correct you will get less you will get less fees and less um you know a lesser rate.
00:29:45
Speaker
the problem with that I've tried is that ah the taxes that you pay and the, even though the, okay, so let's, the example is go through a VPN in like Brazil.
00:30:03
Speaker
Right. To buy this New York one way flight, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it'll be cheaper because they think you're in Brazil and you are not as rich. Right. Right. The problem when they do that is they're, and I'm sure people have done it, but,
00:30:17
Speaker
I think that once you put in your billing details and they're charging the taxes based on where you're domiciled, that you can't get away with it with the VPN unless you actually have a billing address and credit card in that location.
00:30:35
Speaker
Yeah, I actually don't know. Because I've done that for Europe tickets where I'm buying like a leg ticket. In between in Europe, like from London to Portugal something like that. And when you buy that one-way ticket, forget the visa issues and la blah, blah, blah. The price the ticket is in their local currency.
00:30:51
Speaker
There's taxes to pay. And then when you buy it they're like, but you're a U.S. person. You shouldn't even be on this, like our U.K. site. Yeah, but I don't know of anybody who's been like kicked off.
00:31:05
Speaker
I don't know of anybody. no, they won't kick you out. If you tell you the ticket, they'll sell you the ticket. I'm just saying, I think that at the end, when you go to check out, you don't get that price. You know, the other thing that people said you can do, yeah which I've looked at, and yeah, sometimes it totally works, not every time, is book a multi-city and don't show up for one of the legs.
00:31:25
Speaker
Then they cancel your tickets. They do. Can't you lose the money on that? you did Yes. But here's the cancel. They can cancel the whole thing. It depends on which leg you show up and whether or not you have a round trip ticket. It all depends right right how you do it. Right. Because. Oh, I know you're saying. Right. just don't.
00:31:41
Speaker
three legs. Right. You don't need the third leg. So who cares? Right. So you don't So they can't. So they'll take it on you. Too bad for you. Yes. Right. But the thing that you need to understand with that is you can't put in your frequent flyer miles information. take back for They'll flag it. Well, they'll flag you. Oh, I see. And so next time you try and do it, you'll get into trouble. They'll you. Some way or some other. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I remember seeing a lot of stories about that.
00:32:08
Speaker
Yeah. And people losing their tickets because they did it midway as opposed to yours. Yeah, no. You can't do it in the middle. You have to do it at the end. Yeah. The last leg. Oh, the joys of trying to beat the system. Trying scam the airlines. Okay, so...
00:32:24
Speaker
Yeah. Time for the real, a wait the real anger issue, anger moment for us. Yes. No. know Are we done with the airlines? Cause we're not done with the airlines. Oh, you want to talk about spirit? I just want, yeah. Like how does, how does an airline like spirit die in like, it's just, they were dead years ago. First of all, it was just like Caputo. So it was like all of a sudden, it's like, nope sorry.
00:32:44
Speaker
Here's well not flying anymore. Okay. the Yeah. The thing is, if you follow the news, it was basically been bankruptcy for the last two years. Yes, and they were trying to be purchased. JetBlue was going to buy them. And they were trying to be purchased by JetBlue. Right, yes. And then they got rejected by the Biden government. That's right, because of monopolies. Stupid, by the way, but there you go. Monopolies and whatnot. And that's when governments don't take shit seriously. Like, we're really fucking out of money. Right.
00:33:06
Speaker
Then they found some creditors to extend. and then And then if I'm a Spirit Airlines person, yeah and i so and the headlines were there, Trump government, $500 million dollars lifeline to spirit. At that point, you're like,
00:33:20
Speaker
Rebook somewhere else. Yeah. This is not, whether it happens or doesn't happen, doesn't matter. you got to protect yourself, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somehow. And then, you're not getting your money, in any case, you're not getting your money back. No. Spirit. Because then all non-refundable tickets discount airline, right? Exactly. But at least you protect your travel plans. Right. That's my point. And then, and then of course, the deal doesn't go through because of course, of course the creditors aren't going to say, this thing's been in bankruptcy for two years. For years, yeah. Give me 500 million.
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to piss it away. like There's no way, this airline is going to survive. It's over. Yeah, but then why don't they why don't they allow them to be absorbed by another major airline or split and sold off in pieces to other major airlines? doesn't JetBlue come back around, for example, and say, give it to us, we want it. Right, I mean, that's a whole fleet of airlines. I mean, a whole fleet of airplanes. Well, they're telling you it's not worth it.
00:34:09
Speaker
They're literally telling you it's not worth saving this airline. That's crazy. I mean, luckily, it's not the only budget. You got Frontier, you got Breeze. I mean, you had other ones that have come up. But I think I'm that spirits been in bankruptcy.
00:34:23
Speaker
The reason why discount, heavily discounted airlines, even Ryanair is gone. Like the reason why these airlines don't exist anymore. Yeah. They don't exist anymore is because the major carriers now all have a bare bones, basic economy ticket, which might be 10% more than what you paid at Spirit Airlines. And you have the whole network of aircraft and a bigger plane that's So there is really no way to save a deep discounted airline anymore.
00:34:54
Speaker
Yeah, I guess that's probably true. Which rolls into what you, sorry, we we forgot talk about what you said. You want to talk about no more food and drinks. you Delta, yeah. for del Delta for 350 miles of less, which bums me a little bit because it's because I go to Montreal. 349. And Montreal 320 miles. Yeah, yeah. so Which is crazy. It couldn't even round it up to 350. It's 349 miles. But if you fly first class, you still get it Yeah, i believe it. but you're i mean But at that point, though, you're paying for an hour flight. You're paying exorbitant fees for an hour flight just to have, what, the in-flight service? But the idea is they're like, yeah, and our attendants will be there to help you with whatever your needs are. It's like, well, if you're not serving anything. But taken these flights. what do You know these flights. I go to Boston. What do need you for?
00:35:38
Speaker
just go by all the time. It's so fast. And I used to laugh. By the time they serve it, they're taking it away. I don't even have time to finish my ginger ale. know. Before they're like grabbing it out of my hand. so to be honest, it's like, it's not a big deal. Everyone travels water bottles anyways. They fill it up and blah, blah, blah. Okay. But I just want to, just want to take it a step further though. Just because. Okay.
00:36:01
Speaker
Yeah. So it's like taking the olives out of the drinks. Yeah, I know. Okay. It's like taking, you know, like the, the peanuts off the tray. Like, okay. Yeah. ok So 349 miles or less, you've decided you're not going to do in-flight service. Yeah.
00:36:18
Speaker
Prices don't change. Right. Right? So then the airline is then effectively keeping money in their pocket by not providing service. The cost that service is so small, it wouldn't have mattered anyways. Okay, so then let's talk about the amount of flight attendants for what?
00:36:35
Speaker
Yeah. In case there's an emergency? that Hey, aha. Actually, I will correct you there. If you look at, if you look if you deep dive in the rules, the the service part, serving you drinks part, whatever, is actually...
00:36:52
Speaker
a freebie when you're on the on on an airline, in terms of like what you're paying attendance for, you are technically paying flight attendants to save your ass in an emergency. That's priority number one. That's priority number one. right That's their primary job. right The serving drinks thing just happens to be like a competitive edge service thing. Like, hey, oh what you know since you're on the flight and we want to be nice to you and you want to be loyal to us, we're going to serve you these kind of snacks or drinks and here's a coupon and blah, blah, blah. But that's actually not really part of what you're paying for What you're paying for is for them to be in an emergency.
00:37:26
Speaker
Here's your mask. Here's your slide. okay Head forward. Don't die. Okay, then let's just address how often that actually happens. Well, you don't want that to happen, right? the opposite. well Versus is the opposite, which is like, you know, they perish with everybody else. I don't, ah you know, it's kind of like... I'm a capitalist.
00:37:47
Speaker
Pay for the front. I'm sorry. You want a free drink? I hear you. all i'm saying seat in first class All I'm saying is it's just like the olives. That's all I'm saying. Okay.
00:37:58
Speaker
Look, and forget about the cost and everything a second. First class, whatever bullshit, right? The point is like first class is three rows. So the basically I'm telling you we can serve the first three rows. Right. Because if we go to the fourth row, I'll be picking it up from who has the cause Once we start going to fourth, fifth, sixth, twelfth row, we're landing.
00:38:15
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm sorry. Yeah. The first three rows get a drink. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I tell people, trust me, you know what? Buying your own drink at the airport, even at 10 bucks for a drink, is still cheaper than paying for first class.
00:38:27
Speaker
Listen, I always come on a flight with a bottle of water. I always, write because I don't have the patience to wait. Oftentimes, and oftentimes I'm flying at such a weird time, normally very early in the morning, which is habitually when I book, that I really, i fall asleep. So I would rather have the water with me Yeah. And then drink at will rather than have to wait.
00:38:47
Speaker
think it was like 6% of their flights. It's a 40-minute flight. I just thought it was, you know, what it was just, it was like the addendum to Spirit, <unk> the addendum plus the, you know.
00:38:58
Speaker
i think yeah i think they're also like playing catch up. I think other airlines have already beat them to this and they are one of the last ones. I actually, I don't know. So here's, to be fair, i don't take a lot of flights that are under 349 miles.
00:39:11
Speaker
Yeah. I don't, I mean, drive that yeah, I drive it. I don't really, yeah I don't really take lot of flights that are that short. So I don't have that experience generally. Yeah. um Yeah. I just was like, oh, look, it's like taking the olives out of the salads. Like, okay.
00:39:26
Speaker
Oh, but now there are no more salads anyway. So it doesn't even matter. I know. Like scale, scale, scale. So for our several listeners right now, if you have no interest in hockey, turn us off 30 minutes. no Fast forward to the dad joke. Yeah.
00:39:43
Speaker
In 30 minutes or 25 minutes. twenty five um ah Because we're go there's something really big happening in NCAA and how they're fucking hockey kids again. but But you might not want to hear it and you don't care about it. And that's great. If you do care about all the things we've talked about in terms of NIL and Canadian hockey players coming down, blah, blah, blah. Or if you're curious. You'll definitely want to listen to this. Or if you're just curious know. Yes.
00:40:09
Speaker
I'd be curious to
NCAA Rule Changes and Hockey's Future
00:40:10
Speaker
know. Follow the nail in the coffin, Jessica. I mean. Okay. ah If there... I have so much to say about this. Yes. And you're going to get to it right now. Okay. just want to tell people...
00:40:24
Speaker
I might get whining. For anyone, for any kids playing hockey, graduating this year next year. So 2007 birth year, probably. 2008 birth year, most likely.
00:40:37
Speaker
The writing is on the wall. You are being fucked by the NCAA. You've officially been screwed. And USA Hockey. Yeah. everybody and juniors and you should just fucking go to college right and play club hockey and it's not your fault.
00:40:53
Speaker
right Life isn't fair. yeah As we retitled our last episode, life is not fair and I'm sorry because I really want, it affects your kid my kid primarily, right? But it's like,
00:41:04
Speaker
If there's ever a sign from the universe of how we're going to fuck you and not let you play college hockey. Yeah. This was, this is the last straw. Yeah. This was, okay. So we'll recap before you get to your rant. We're going to recap for everybody. Okay. High level. I will. And then you will launch into your rant.
00:41:23
Speaker
Okay. So a year ago, Okay, NIL a year and a half ago, n NIL changes and you're allowed to pay players, one. Right. In college sports. Two, because you're allowed to play pay college athletes,
00:41:39
Speaker
The Canadians who were disqualified from participating in NCAA, so let's call it just this, for argument to say, d one hockey, 60 schools, the Canadians couldn't come across, the good Canadians couldn't come across the border because they're the OHL and the Q, and they get paid a stipend and paid for, considered pro, and so you couldn't participate in NCAA sports. Because at the time, NCAA athletes were not paid.
00:42:03
Speaker
Correct. It was not considered. NIL changes. You can pay players. Now you can pay players. Canadians can come down. I've already seen 270 commitments, commitments go to Canadian players.
00:42:15
Speaker
So that's 300 spots fewer for American players like your son and my son. Yeah. For D1 hockey. Great. So bitch, bitch, bitch, moan, bitch, moan, bitch, moan.
00:42:26
Speaker
And then now I think it's going to pass next month. The NCAA in its infinite wisdom. Again, this is not, this is not specifically addressed hockey, but it's like, Hey, Duke, Duke has won the championship with a quarterback who is a seven year undergrad. Yeah.
00:42:42
Speaker
He hasn't gone to a single class in two years. Yeah. But he's still in quote unquote undergrad. Yeah. So he gets to play. And of course, older is typically better at this age in sport. Yeah. They win a championship. So the NCAA says no more of this shit.
00:42:56
Speaker
No more of this shit of old players coming back. It's basketball. It's basketball also. Yeah. Right. Football, basketball. And then in hockey, we were starting to see it because n ni we talked about pros in the farm team, minor leagues, making more money coming back to school. Right. Okay. So the good news of this change is that, yes, they're trying to cap older athletes coming in.
00:43:17
Speaker
Understood. I think that's a that is a positive. You do want them to be younger, fresh out of high school yeah athletes. Yeah. Okay. Well, because hockey is a junior component. Yes, which is the only sport. Which is the only sport. Men's hockey is the only sport. And they won't make, they cannot afford to make an exception for hockey because of lawsuits.
00:43:41
Speaker
So on the good side, you older athletes are now excluded and younger athletes only. And the basic rule for everyone who doesn't know, it's called the five in five rule, is that When you graduate high school or turn 19 years old, turn 19, you have five years.
00:43:59
Speaker
To play D one sport of your choice. Right. That's it. Right. Right. Right. Okay. So cool all the other sports because you typically finish high school and you go in immediately. Hockey. Not good because you have juniors. Right, which is normally one to two. Well, you're not playing.
00:44:17
Speaker
I think for a D1 team, it would be unrealistic to expect you to play less than two years of juniors. And if you did, you go to the and NHL, so you don't care. Right. But sometimes, to be fair, for D1 commits, it can be three years, depending on whether or not they spend their last 18-year-old year playing juniors or playing Right? So that's three. But then...
00:44:39
Speaker
but they Okay, yes. But then, okay, so so it's called the five and five rule. and And the last thing I'll say before you get to do your rant is that there's no phase-in period.
00:44:51
Speaker
So if you graduated in the spring of 25, this rule doesn't apply to you. And you will be the old rule apply and you will be able to play juniors and play college hockey.
00:45:05
Speaker
For as long as the people who graduate this year and next year. So so if you graduate in spring of 26 or the spring of 27, you will still be competing with the graduates of spring of 25. Mm hmm.
00:45:22
Speaker
huh So up to two years older than you for the same exact spot. So in other words, you fucked. Right. Because you cannot play two years of juniors or three years juniors like they have when it comes picking your spot.
00:45:36
Speaker
Right. But I think, you know, also in that whole like competing against the years thing are kids like yours and other kids we know who should have been 25 graduates who reclassed going to prep school who are now 26 graduates. Yes. Right. So they're the same yeah age yes just graduating a year later simply because of of prep school right rules. Right. Yep.
00:46:06
Speaker
For everybody, which I think is bullshit because, yeah you know, again, all of these other, I mean, literally every other NCAA sport, D1, D3, they get recruited in high school.
00:46:18
Speaker
Yes. Right? In hockey, in men's hockey specifically, because women's hockey, they get recruited in high school. Yes, that's right. men's hockey specifically, the only NCAA sport that does not recruit specifically out of high school unless you're a phenomenal player who's fully developed. Right.
00:46:34
Speaker
yes Otherwise, juniors has always been used as a development situation where they allowed for boys to grow into men. Right. Oftentimes it's physical, o not necessarily skill based, but it's physical because it is a super contact sport.
00:46:52
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Where people do get mortally injured. Yeah.
00:46:58
Speaker
yeah So basically, when they see when they look at football and basketball and they see these seven-year college athletes, right? and and And the other thing about college basketball and college football is a lot of these guys go to JUCO first, right? Which is junior college. Oh, I didn't know that. They do. They go to JUCO first and they play in junior college in order to get rec cute and recruited. So after high school. Right, but it's still not. Then JUCO.
00:47:23
Speaker
Right. so that's their version of juniors. Yes, but it's not juniors because it's still college. I see. Right? So it's not. Like juniors. That's an American thing. It's an American thing. Right. It's an American football thing. And so a lot of these seven-year guys that you see are guys who went to JUCO and did two years. So then they're nine-year guys. Right. Did two years at JUCO. Yeah. And then they get picked up by a four-year school. And in that four years is another six, right? So they're six-year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:47:52
Speaker
Right? Or longer, depending on how they shape out their college career. they're 25, 26 as seniors. Right. It's just outrageous. But you don't see that in hockey. Yeah. Men's hockey already had a cap on age.
00:48:05
Speaker
Yeah. Right? Because it was such an individualized, very specific situation. You were not able to play, what, past 20? Yep. 21. Right, okay. You can turn 21. You can turn 21 at the end of your season.
00:48:21
Speaker
Right. But okay, for a lot of kids, it doesn't really, it doesn't shake out that way. Right? like Yes, correct. Because most teams, is a cap on like how many 21-year-olds you can have on your team, like two. Right, right. So there's an age disparity between what's allowed on the bench and what juniors allows as a rule. Right.
00:48:41
Speaker
So hockey already had this cap. So you don't, you technically will never really ever almost see someone who's 28 years old yeah playing D1 hockey. That's right.
00:48:54
Speaker
Even with the NIL money, because for the most part, i don't think the coaches, i don't think the network of coaches see a 28 year old as a viable choice for a D1 program. Only if they've played in the minors.
00:49:08
Speaker
Right. But I don't know that. I mean, yes, the money is a huge draw, but I don't think that a lot of those guys want to go backwards. I think a lot of those guys want to go forwards. I think. Oh, but if you're a perma, like listen, you know, on every team, NHL team, there's like a whole junior thing, right? If there's 30 people on the roster and NHL and there's 32 teams, you know, there's another five to six X pool of players in the minor leagues. Right.
00:49:37
Speaker
Right. Playing around, waiting yeah for their call. And at some point, if you're 28, 29, 30 and you haven't been called up, you're never being called up because there's a whole crop of new 22, 23, 24 year olds coming behind you. So then if some guy says, come to an NBA and we'll pay you for your NBA and we'll pay you to play because you're in the AHL, you're taking that. But I think that's where the cap needs to be.
00:50:00
Speaker
Yeah, no. So that's the positive side of what NCAA just did. Right. Five and five rule gets rid of all those guys. They're right. done But but so but the guys coming back at 28 is where the cap should be. The cap shouldn't the the cap shouldn't necessarily be the way it is they're proposing it. For hockey. And I understand the nuance of having to equalize and make everything the same. yeah Like I get it. But hockey, men's hockey has never been able to take advantage of the system the same way as the other sports have.
00:50:33
Speaker
Okay. So let's dissect it a bit further in the different segments. Even in the past year with NIL, it's not even enough time to take advantage of it. Yeah. But first one junior hockey. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
00:50:45
Speaker
Off the top of my head, it looks like this thing kills junior hockey because right because if you are forced to play, let's say you need to play two years of high-level junior hockey for a D1 coach to either follow through on your commitment when you were 16, 17, or pick you up as a new commit, for example, right?
00:51:08
Speaker
He or she, if they want the four years out of you, has to pick you by the time you're about to turn 20. Otherwise, they're not going to get four years out of you, right? Right. that but I mean, they can get less out of you. Okay. like you can play Let's assume that not that they don't want to pick a Right. they But let's assume they don't want to pick a team where there's some two-year guys, three-year guys. for they I want to pick a team where I get you for four years. Right. right So then I'm going to cut you loose. If you're already committed and you're not ready by 20, I'm cutting you loose. Right. And pick up a new guy or whatever, whatever, whatever.
00:51:41
Speaker
Okay. But... Does that mean that if you're in ah like the Null where they have 30, 40 freaking teams yeah and most guys are playing at 19 their first year and going to get picked up for two years, have you killed off the demand for all those teams? Because you're like, I can't go play Null for two years. I'll never get picked up because...
00:52:04
Speaker
I only have three years of eligibility left. So I think, so here's the nuance with this. Yeah. The nuance with this is you're still going to need junior hockey because. Yes. Acha teams won't pick up kids anymore that don't play junior hockey.
00:52:18
Speaker
Correct. So if you want to play some version of college hockey and obviously D1 is off the table for a lot of kids who yeah at some point were like, oh, I want to work really hard. And yeah you know, if I have a couple of extra years of development physically, maybe I'll get picked up. Right. That's been taken off. That's gone. gone. Yeah, that's gone. It's been taken off the table. Yeah.
00:52:36
Speaker
You still have D3, which narrow is a much more narrow possibility with all of these instituted rules. And the rules don't apply so they can still take older kids right in D3. Right. so But still with like the nuance with everything, it still narrows it down a little bit as an option, right? For sure.
00:52:53
Speaker
But then you have club. Now, club, like I know a ton of kids who have been picked up for club and a lot of them have already been told they need a year of juniors. Yep.
00:53:04
Speaker
Right? So if they need and a year of juniors and their goal is to play some version of college hockey where the fanfare is tremendous, right? Which is a lot of a lot of what it is for a lot of these guys. That's really only in the South.
00:53:16
Speaker
You're not going to find that in the Northeast. oh no you do the nascac schools totally sell out what are you talking about that's not club that's d3 oh that's d3 yeah but you're not getting no you go to georgetown you go to duke it was a d with club hockey even if it's d1 club hockey those like crazy crowds you see on instagram that's georgia alabama yeah yeah like you know texas like these are state schools you know you're not really seeing that northeast I think Stony Brook does. I think it depends on where the school is and how much activity there is. Because you go to d one Yale, there's two people in stands.
00:53:51
Speaker
Yeah, but that's because... There's nobody watching that. i mean, so then club? um ah I think you need to take the demographic of the actual college or university into contact. I just think that too much hockey. So like all the top d you won Cornell...
00:54:06
Speaker
They've got the D1 team and they have club. Yeah. And unfortunately, if you have D1 or other competing hockey teams, there's no difference from like NCDC or NOL. If you're in an area where there are higher level teams, that's why Danbury Hat Tricks can't charge more than like eight bucks a game. Because you're like, if you're in Danbury, there's like pro teams, there's college teams. Like, you why am I paying to watch this NOL Because in Danbury proper, those things don't exist. But you're just 20 minutes, 30 minutes away from a bigger, better team. But okay. But i've I've been to Danbury games, but they're all local people.
00:54:43
Speaker
Fair enough. Okay. Understood. Understood. You know, so if you don't have, if you have to travel 30, 40 minutes and you don't have that and you want to go to a hockey game and you want to go have a couple of beers with a couple of friends, you go. I going to spend the eight books and you go to Danbury.
00:54:56
Speaker
the The club thing for Acha was, Only exists like you're looking at from this angle right now. They're telling you go play club because there's too many players available. Right. My thing is like in a few years because of this NCAA double rule, the NCAA rule change.
00:55:11
Speaker
that will begin to go away. Absolutely. The people that are playing club now who have two or three years of juniors are those kids who tried to develop in juniors, hoping to get picked up. They didn't get picked up.
00:55:26
Speaker
And so then now they're in college playing club. Right. So their skill level for the team is very high. Yes. And so like at Syracuse, you can see that. Syracuse, there's no hockey. The club team is all freaking like two-year, three-year junior players. of Holy shit. Great team. Yeah. But in five years, seven years after this rule change has happened, you might – and mean everyone's younger. You might go back to club being – No one played juniors yeah because no one's going to play juniors and waste that time right in general to play club.
00:55:57
Speaker
i think that I think what you'll see is you'll see people playing one year juniors. Yes, right i would agree with that. yes So you'll you will get this turnover, this constant turnover, but it won't be a consistent team like you have now, right? Yeah.
00:56:10
Speaker
But I think that what will happen is i think that all of these people are going to recognize and realize what the limitations are. oh They're going to taper their expectations to the limitation because the limitation is set for them. It's not a choice. Right.
00:56:26
Speaker
Correct. Right. Yeah. And then what they'll do is they will make decisions based on the expectation and the limitation. And so when i think about kids who have been playing for a really long time. Yeah. Who only wanted to play juniors in college hockey. Right. That's been their path the whole time. I mean, a lot of it's like the dream is the NHL. But realistically, they all know that that's not actually real. Right. Sure.
00:56:52
Speaker
But they do. but but up until this point, juniors and some form of college hockey were mostly attainable for a lot of these kids. Yep. Definitely.
00:57:03
Speaker
And so now what you're going to see is you're going to see a shift. And what you're going to see is probably a lot of kids maybe choosing to play juniors because that's as high as they can go because of the they want the experience. I see what you're saying. They still want that experience and that's a goal that was set, but they won't be able to maybe go beyond that anymore. And so what I think is i think that juniors will not go away.
00:57:25
Speaker
I feel like what will happen is it will become more of a destination than a stepping stone. Okay, I see what you're saying. i didn't Yes, I did not think of that at all, that that would be...
00:57:39
Speaker
I always took it as you only want to play juniors if you can get to college because that's the path. But now you're saying people might just treat juniors as the destinations. Instead of the stepping stone, right? Because if someone brings the ceiling down on your head, you can only go as high as they allow you. And so if that becomes the pinnacle of what so the goal set was. the gap year is your goal.
00:58:02
Speaker
Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So yeah you get the experience, you get the crowds, you get the travel, you get the billet situation because a lot of kids, you know, they don't get the billet situation for youth, right? Yeah.
00:58:15
Speaker
And so you kind of it's you kind of still are able to attain one of the goals and one of the life's experiences that could help morph and shift and make... Interesting. I will respectfully disagree that's fine with you on that front. Okay. Okay.
00:58:34
Speaker
Because I think that most of the kids that we speak to, and again, because they're brought, like you said, they're brought up in a different era now of like, this is what you do to play college hockey. Yeah. Is that I think that all the kids that we know for the most part, if you told them there is no chance of playing college hockey after juniors, after a year of juniors,
00:58:56
Speaker
They're not good. They're like, what the fuck? Fuck that I'm going to college and playing club and being a hero. But again, but again I'm assuming, again, i am making the assumption that if you do go to that college, you will make the club team.
00:59:08
Speaker
Right. and there's no guarantee for that. And you're saying you may not. Yeah. I'm saying you may not. Agreed. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Because now what you have to look at is all of those yeah kids who are vying for D1 positions yeah who can't get them now because the yes Canadians are down, right?
00:59:22
Speaker
The Canadians come down. This rule gets instituted so the ceiling comes down. and then what you have is you have all of these kids that are supposed to be like all of these D1 prospects who are no longer viable for that program. So either they go to D3 programs, right? Maybe.
00:59:37
Speaker
Or they end up going to club. If yeah three wants you to still play juniors and club sees you and says, you know what? You were D1 prospect. Let's say you've already played a year or two of juniors, right? And now going to any D1 program wouldn't make any sense anyway because nobody wants you because they can't have you for the entire four years. Yes. Right? So those kids get funneled into ACHA.
01:00:01
Speaker
They get funneled into clubs. sure And so what happens now is the bar is raised even higher for club club hockey, which had already been up and elevated right because the n NIL situation. That's right. So now you have this standard that's going to end up being club hockey. And club hockey is going to be, i think, a very skill-based, exciting place to be if you're not able to be part of that college experience that you have worked really hard for. maybe...
01:00:30
Speaker
Maybe. Yes, I would agree with that for the most part. Maybe all those club schools can forge a very rapid path to a new D1 conference. Maybe.
01:00:43
Speaker
entirely possible if you're getting those crowds and right right and you're getting the money those competitive junior players that's right you should just go or maybe or maybe what they do is create a d two a d2 level which yeah every every other sport has no but there's a no i think the problem is like the there are some nuances that we don't some technicalities we don't know 100 about but like the reason why you need to go D1, I think, is because you want to be able to do NIL.
01:01:12
Speaker
You want to be able to pay for scholarships, right? This is the question about D3. The D3, all these NCAA rules don't know apply to D3, including the Canadians coming down, blah, blah, blah, blah. yeah But how long before the D3 schools join in Right. and and follow the same path because they have their own set of rules to govern yeah right because the money doesn't exist for the sport right the money only exists for financial aid as a student yeah so that's right now the sticking point for d three It's like you can't just be a D1 player. Oh, i don't make it go D3. Whoa, whoa.
01:01:46
Speaker
You need the grades. You gotta come in. yeah We can't give you any money for the sport. Right. But we can give you need-based aid as a student. Right. If you come in.
01:01:57
Speaker
And that's part of the sticking point with the D3 teams. like theyll I'll take this kid. but This kid needs money. We can't give you money for the sport. And your parents and your family doesn't qualify yep for the money you want to go to school. Right.
01:02:11
Speaker
and so you're like And so then you end up choosing something else. Right. Right. So, you know what? But this is, I mean, that's just the way life goes. Yeah. Yeah. like Yeah. You know, choices and consequences and actions and, you know, like there's just you you, you can't control what's swirling around you. You can only control yourself. You can only make the best decisions that you can make for yourself in that moment.
01:02:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, the universe has fucked yeah our kids. But it's not even the universe. It's not the universe. It's basketball and football. That's fucked our No, no, But I mean, but it is concerning. Because like, think about the, I mean, the NIL thing, which let's say is the starting point of all these dominoes falling. Yeah. Right. One by one.
01:03:00
Speaker
that's not a new lawsuit. So why, why resolve it in the year it gets resolved two years ago, which has the snowball effect domin of ruining the kids born in 07, 08? Because, yeah you know, you you talk about like,
01:03:12
Speaker
The COVID thing and everyone got five years and that kind of fucked. Right. The extra year of eligibility kind of fucked like the 05, 06 birth years. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Then you change NIL rules yeah a couple of years later, which still really primarily screws 05, 06, but now 07, 08. Right.
01:03:30
Speaker
And then now you change the rule to five and five, which really screws 07, 08. Yeah. I mean, the truth is, is they should be grandfathered in. i know. that's I mean, that's really the truth. That can be hard. you know And and a lot of these a lot of these kids, you know, overall between prep and 18s and, you know, it's kind of a narrow field and they're all kind of known for the most part in these parts, in these quote parts, right? And this the 07s 08s should be grandfathered. It should start for the 09s because they're not they're not at juniors yet.
01:04:04
Speaker
Yeah. Right? It's like you can't take the kids who are in the middle of that pool and decide to drain the water. Like, like it's just fucked.
01:04:16
Speaker
It's truly fucked. it's like Indeed. Yeah, it's terrible. But, there I mean, everything else has a grandfather clause. Like, the the visors, the yeah yeah yeah the the cages, like all that stuff. like every All those things have grandfathered...
01:04:31
Speaker
If USA hockey got to make the call, then there would be the grandfather. Right. But there should be a negotiation. doing this Yeah, but there should be and a negotiation with NCAA because of the fact that you literally are taking two years worth of birth years and fucking them completely.
01:04:47
Speaker
And by the way, hockey is the number three revenue generating sport. I know it's a distant third, but it is third. It is third. And it's the only, like I said, it's the only sport that has this nuance. Yeah. It's not an obscure sport. my but my thing like is It's not not like it's some obscure thing that's happening to right the fencing team. Right. i'm just I'm just saying that there's... There's a catalog of reasons that there should be a grandfather exception for this. And it's not just because my kid falls into it. yeah If it was the 0-9s and 10s, I would say the same thing. like you can't let you These kids are in this pool. Draining the water is so wrong. It's just wrong.
01:05:28
Speaker
i know these kids work really hard and their families they did and their families are always really committed to the way that these kids work, whether it's time, money, support, like whatever that looks like.
01:05:41
Speaker
And to, you know, be like, okay. And just kind of take a broom and brush all of that away is really shitty. Yeah. I know.
Humor and Closing Remarks
01:05:50
Speaker
Fuck. Yeah. Fuck.
01:05:53
Speaker
Yeah. Big fuck. a Anyways, thank you for listening to our rant. There's always more ranting. I hope our kids navigate hockey and college hockey and junior hockey and all that kind of bullshit that's happening this summer. Knew he should have done basket weaving.
01:06:09
Speaker
Yeah, I know. Marketable skill. Totally. Oh, my God. Totally. um Okay. Well, you know what time it is. Time for the... Let's make just let's let's make Jess look really stupid time. No, you're getting so many of them. Come on.
01:06:28
Speaker
Come on, come on, come on, come on. Okay. These are really good. Let's start with the dog. Oh, I didn't ask for... Okay, what? I know the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is doing just fine. haven't heard any barking.
01:06:39
Speaker
Oh, he's not in here. Spoiled to the max. oh i mean He's out of here. He's out here? What mean he's of he's upstairs with Sam. He's not out of here. He's not here. No, nobody's taking him. Get a grip. That would be like winning the lottery ticket. Okay. What do you call a dog that's been run over by a steamroller?
01:06:58
Speaker
Oh, What do you call a dog that's been run over by a steamroller?
01:07:10
Speaker
Oh, What? Spot. Yeah. The judges will grant it because this judge was a little quick on the wrong buzzer. The judges will grant you the answer. Yes. What do call a dog that's been run over by a steamroller?
01:07:26
Speaker
Spot. Is it just spot? Yeah, okay. Just spot. Very well done. Very well done. Very well done. Very well done. That one wasn't that hard. Okay. It's kind of easy when it's dog related, actually.
01:07:37
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. This one, just a hair bit more complicated. Oh, gosh. What did the fish say when he hit the wall?
01:07:49
Speaker
What did the fish say when he hit the wall? What did the fish say when he hit the I should be more more politically correct. When he, she, they hit the wall.
01:08:00
Speaker
Snaps. Really? Snaps.
01:08:05
Speaker
What did the fish say when he hit the wall? Damn. Damn! Two for two. Jessica, it's two for two. because That merits a bonus question. I would say, damn, that's what I would say. when Okay, bonus question. yeah What is a lawyer's favorite drink?
01:08:31
Speaker
Favorite alcoholic drink is your tip. Okay. What is a lawyer's favorite drink? alcoholic drink.
01:08:42
Speaker
This one I'm not going to get. It feels like it's less than 30 seconds, by the way. I'm just saying. The pressure's on. You're getting too smart. I'm starting to cut the time on you. Seriously. Slowly but surely.
01:08:55
Speaker
What is a lawyer's favorite alcoholic drink? Come on. Throw something out there. I'm going to buzz you in two, one. Sabina Colada.
01:09:07
Speaker
Yeah! Oh, my God! Three four three ready for three. for three. did.
01:09:18
Speaker
Three for three at the buzzer. Jessica Silver. I'm so glad I was. Have yourself a wonderful Wednesday afternoon. apple if i caught up Wait, wait.
01:09:31
Speaker
Three for three. oh I get snaps. Snaps. I get snaps. Thank you everybody. Episode 49 comes to a grinding halt.
01:09:43
Speaker
Yes. We'll see you next week on episode 50. See you. Peace. Well, well, well, you made it to the end. We can't thank you enough for listening to all of our random thoughts.
01:09:55
Speaker
Don't forget to give us a five-star rating. And you know how to reach us on the gram at TGSpod or send email to hello at thegrocerystick.com.