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#33: Learn to Respond and Not React
46 Plays4 months ago
#33: Learn to Respond and Not React
Francis starts out with an update on his Kalshi bets. Jessica goes on a family shooting trip and she’s a sharpshooter! Shooting is definitely harder than it looks and our PSA for the day is “learn to respond and not react”. We wonder out loud why any player is willing to pay to play junior hockey; Disney is hyper expensive and why not hit Medieval Times for some brainless fun.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
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.
00:00:23
Speaker
Shh. Shh. Episode 33. We didn't record the preamble. We should have. Jessica's kind of mad and she's like... It was like 25 minutes too. She's on her soapbox now. It was like half an episode. you get ah Maybe you get a watered down rehash of that. We'll get to that.
Francis's Betting Adventures
00:00:42
Speaker
ah but but So start your laundry machine and your dishwasher right now. It's going to be a doozy an episode. I just would like to start with...
00:00:53
Speaker
An update to my CalSheBets. CalSheBets sponsor. We don't care where you bet on predictive markets. I'm just more intrigued by it. So my government shutdown bet is actually losing money now.
00:01:09
Speaker
Really? I'm bit i a bit incredulous at this because the the lead, that the right word? The lead that the Republicans have in Congress hu is basically zero now, right? Because one member died.
00:01:30
Speaker
Right. One member was seriously injured in a car accident. So down they're down to 218 seats. And I'm not following it closely, but isn't isn't the ACA healthcare provision like...
00:01:45
Speaker
It's huge, right? People are pissed. Yeah, people are pissed. And that's going to be a sticking point when they they always try to, through the budget thing, always they always stuff different different ah bills or whatever call it in there to pass. And they always argue about passing the spending bill because people try to earmark stuff or whatever they call it.
00:02:08
Speaker
um And this is going be a sticking point. So my my guess is that with the GOP majority down down to like only one or two seats, and they always have holdouts, and to me, it's a certainty that that when January 31st rolls around, we have another government shutdown. Now, people say there's no appetite for it. And maybe it lasts a day. But for me to win my bet, they just have to shut down at midnight.
00:02:35
Speaker
Late evening, January 30th. And I win. Historically, has any shutdown, any government shutdown only lasted a day? i don't think so. No, but I mean, yeah.
00:02:46
Speaker
But anyways. So anyways, I'm losing money in that bet by a couple percent. So that's kind of a head scratcher, to be honest. Because I think even though they say there's no appetite for one, There's also no appetite for each side to give in. So we'll see in a couple weeks or so. and ah And then my bet, will the U.S. take control of any part of Greenland? Again, these are probably technicalities. am up on that. Yeah, bet. I bet. Because...
00:03:12
Speaker
I think when I took the bet on it, it was like a 34% chance, which means I paid $0.34 per one contract. It's now up to 43%. <unk> So I'm making like $0.09.
00:03:24
Speaker
um I could cash out, but why not? Let's just go for it. it's So funny. So funny. I should probably read the defined print. i don't know I don't know if there's a time limit. There must be a time limit on this.
00:03:36
Speaker
i think it's in I think it's a year. I think will the US take control of any part of Greenland in 2026? Yeah, probably. Kind of thing.
00:03:47
Speaker
Probably. Anyways, that's for shits and giggles. um Save your money, people. Just bet a dollar. Who cares? Just bet a dollar and try it
Gun Range Experience and Safety
00:03:54
Speaker
out. It's kind of funny. Right. To see people you know change their minds live.
00:03:59
Speaker
in the markets so funny yeah I mean even bet know i even be like like Carolyn Levitt leave it Levitt like how long is she's gonna talk for how late how many minutes she'll be late for the meeting yeah it's that's the kind of funny shit I think you should bet on yeah she talks As opposed to anything else. That's just kind of... Anyways. So, whatever. It's out there. I'm winning and losing at the same time.
00:04:26
Speaker
it's ah That's life. Pretty much. Pretty much it's life. um Should we talk about your serious topic? Let's go for it. you want to go for it? Let's go for it. Is there another update? have any other updates for us? Any funny updates that you want to talk about before we get into our serious topic? Maybe go serious topic and then we go fun topic after that.
00:04:49
Speaker
Or maybe maybe we go fun and then like take it down. yeah Take it away, lady. I'm always hijacking the podcast. You um you talk. one I'm not fun. i have no things to contribute. Come on. Don't say that. ah um So i we we went to the gun range over break.
00:05:07
Speaker
losing with fun That's fun fun. But it's fun for me. I'm sure people will be like, that's not fun. There's nothing fun about guns. wheres true Whatever. Safety is paramount. Yeah. Out there. Exactly. Range safety officers.
00:05:20
Speaker
Paramount. I love that. yeah Yeah. Yeah. So we took the kids. Okay. The younger one opted out, I think, intimidated by the situation, the noise. It was crowded. We went down to Gun For Hire, not a sponsor. Just putting a shout out because they're awesome. Oh, good.
00:05:42
Speaker
Awesome. They're in like Jersey. Not Jersey. Are they in Jersey? Yeah. Yeah, they're in Jersey. But it was easy. It's an easy trip. don't remember which town. I can find out.
00:05:52
Speaker
um And yeah, ah you know, ah discovered that Sam is a good shot. Not surprising. Nice. Runs in the family. But the best part was how surprised he was at what a good shot I am. Yeah.
00:06:10
Speaker
lom Yeah. That's not nice. Picking on mom. It's okay. No, no, no. It's okay. Cause you know, I've told him before, you know, and he's, he has seen some of my targets that I've brought home yeah from the range, which are, you know, pretty good.
00:06:24
Speaker
But this one, this one was great. it It was also closer than my typical, my typical, um, range. Dispersion? Yeah. Yeah, my groupings my groupings were great. Everything was good, but it was it was closer. It was not 10, 20 yards out. This was more like 7 yards.
00:06:41
Speaker
Whoa. Because I was using I rented a handgun. A Glock? It was not a Glock. A Sig Sauer? It was not a Sig Sauer. I don't actually remember what it was. have to find out because we rented two. I rented one for myself and one for Sam.
00:06:59
Speaker
Okay. I rented Okay. Okay. okay And I feel it wasn't a magazine loaded gun. Yeah. They were semi-autos. bullet Okay. So semi-autos, not revolvers. Okay. And I don't remember what the manufacturer was on that one, but they come, what they do is they give them to you yeah in these plastic cases, which in terms of safety, if you have your home your own handgun at home, plastic cases are not the way to store them because they're easily stolen and broken into. Like don't do that at home. Yeah.
00:07:30
Speaker
um But these guys, you know, like they have an arsenal of of literally yeah of guns. And so they use these plastic cases because they're lightweight and they're easy to transport from the rental area into the range area.
Coaching and Parenting in Sports
00:07:42
Speaker
So the problem was, is like they both had the same number tag because of the same renter, which was me. But i I didn't know which was which. And so... Eric, Sam, and I were on the same um the same bay.
00:07:56
Speaker
okay And you're only allowed to have two handguns out in the same bay. So Eric had a handgun because his hand is much bigger. so yeah I can't use whatever he uses. It's really hard for me to do.
00:08:08
Speaker
um And then the other two were not labeled. And so the range safety officer that was helping us out, because you need them to unlock the boxes. um And, you know, and basically what they do is they examine, they examine the handgun to make sure that it's all intact and not loaded and whatever. Just, you know, like like safety, safety, safety, safety all the time. Good, good. um And so he opened the one that was not the CZ.
00:08:35
Speaker
um Which, you know, we ended up using. And then I i never got to use the CZ because there were only two allowed at the same time. And so, you know, in the range safety officers and it's so busy. It was so busy that I couldn't get them to transfer it out, like to swap it out because you can't have them out at the same time.
00:08:55
Speaker
okay So I never got to use it. I never got to try this easy, which bummed me out. um I mean, not heavily. It's not like going ruin my life or anything. Let's clear. And it didn't ruin my experience either. So let's be clear about that too. But I was delighted, actually, that Sam was surprised at what a great shot I am. I might argue...
00:09:24
Speaker
It's not a political statement. And it's not conceited. It's not a tiny thing. I might argue that learning how to shoot a gun and handle a gun is a necessary life skill for people. 100% agree. Right? I mean, it's no different than swimming, driving. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I like shooting. I don't want to own a gun. I don't want to keep it at home. And I don't want to start my car that kind of stuff like some people do. Sure.
00:09:47
Speaker
But learning how to shoot one, I've done it couple of times. It's a serious might respect for the tool. Totally. If you will. right because It's a mechanism. only Especially because people watch on TV. It's like running around shooting with one hand, holding it sideways. I'm like, listen, if you know now that's yeah go to a gun range and you do it properly, you realize that that's impossible. well That is not is not possible to be running.
00:10:13
Speaker
First of all, if you hold weapon, if you hold a gun sideways, aiming it downrange, they're throwing you out. I know, exactly. So I'm so between...
00:10:27
Speaker
breaking your thumb because you're not holding the gun properly. Totally. Right? And then some of those guys trying to hold like an AR-15 with one arm and just like shooting it and thinking going to anything besides yourself. I was like, that is not happening. I had an AR-15 and the instructor was behind me holding me. yeah Because as I was firing this thing, as as stable as I thought I was, I was starting to fall over. yeah the bed on that like nagan i don't know.
00:11:00
Speaker
Sure, if you're six foot five and maybe you're 250 pounds and you're in the military, could you reasonably fire that thing one-harmed and hit something? No, not one-armed.
00:11:15
Speaker
Not for long. But you know what? But anybody who's military or enforcement would never do that. Right, right. You'd never do it anyways. They would never do it. like I know a guy who went to West Point who was in the army yeah who you know launched a grenade launcher and blew up a bus.
00:11:29
Speaker
Oh, damn. Like in the army, not, not in like a war time thing. You never saw any battle, but you know, they do this, like this is what they do at part of their training.
Junior Hockey: Costs and Decisions
00:11:38
Speaker
And he's, he's sturdy. I mean, he's, you know, he's probably six, four ish, six, five, you know, he's yeah's at the size of the men in my family. Yeah. He's not a man in my family. He's tight knit.
00:11:52
Speaker
Um, and he must weigh in at like two 30. I mean, yeah my god for sure he's sturdy. Yeah. and And he said that the grenade launcher was incredibly powerful. and Oh, yeah. I mean, the kickback on these things, right? And so the recoil, even on a regular semi-enachematic handgun...
00:12:12
Speaker
and And the noise, I think, is what shocks people the most. So, yeah. So I, you know, I'm a totally loud. I'm a total advocate for putting, think, what are they they're not what are they called? Not silencers, but they dampen the sound. Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:12:26
Speaker
Of the discharge. Yeah, yeah. I am such an advocate for making that a rule in indoor ranges. Yeah. because even the best ear protection you can buy is still, still not i know it's not enough. It's not enough.
00:12:40
Speaker
It's not enough. It's so loud. It scares most people to my wife shooting in Vegas once. um And we were in our own little room with the instructor. And even then she was like, too loud. No, we had to find, this it's funny. We had to find the instructor called it a cap gun, but basically to find the smallest caliber revolver.
00:13:02
Speaker
it like a 22? I think so, for her to shoot. and it was just like I was just laughing, like this is nothing. i mean He was just he was chuckling. and And even then, she was like you know was like it took her like six seconds to pull the trigger. It's like, s let me pull it, pull it. yeah Yeah, I actually, i have ah i have a class tonight, today. Yeah, I have a class I'm taking today. which yeah old um It's called Women on Target.
00:13:27
Speaker
nice. It's an NRA-sponsored class, like you pay for it Yeah, yeah, yeah. and it's i think it's.22 rifles. The one thing i was pleasant pleasantly on the word, the one thing I was positively surprised about was When you have a laser guide on the gun, you're not missing anything.
00:13:51
Speaker
Like, holy shit. That thing is accurate. like yeah I was like, wow, that laser sight, once you put that on, yeah that is a game changer. It's a game changer for sure. And you know the thing is, is that's you know that's part of the reason, though, if you go...
00:14:04
Speaker
yeah and you work with an instructor, they don't they don't let you use it at first. If you're learning how to shoot, they want you to use the steel sights and the rails. They don't want you to put you know any kind of... ah Yeah, but just you test it out. Oh man, what a big difference this thing makes. yeah yeah If you have that laser sight pointing at something, you're holy cow.
00:14:26
Speaker
Anyways, but but yeah, definitely. like Running with a gun, not sitting up properly, you're not hitting anything. no'm sorry No, no. And you know what they say? They're like, you know what? In like in in modern reality, yeah you know, off TV, out of movies, yeah you if you pull it out to use it yeah and you decide to use it, you better shoot to kill. Like, you yeah yeah't you know, it's like, you know, and and the circumstances in which you do use it are egregious bodily harm to yourself. Yeah. You know, you don't choose, you know, to to take it out and use it unless you're being harmed.
00:15:03
Speaker
eat Well, so that's where the judgment call comes in, right? It's like it's yeah when you're under even the most sane person, i think if you're under duress,
00:15:15
Speaker
You think your life is at risk. Maybe maybe not. You just get angry. you know If you have these weapons around, you're liable to do something stupid you'll regret later. Of course. 100%. You know what? And people do it the time. No different from the 24-hour rule with hockey coaches. Absolutely. You're mad in the moment yeah and you're pissed off about something that happened to your kid and it's like 24 hours. Just sit on it.
00:15:37
Speaker
Just sit on it. If you sit on it, And some sanity comes across your, you realize that for the most part, ah, good thing. I didn't say anything. So the 24 hour rule was one of the things that I learned when my kids started playing hockey. Yeah.
00:15:55
Speaker
Like I, yeah yeah I had no idea that that was even a thing. Right. yeah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and he was, he was a mite. He was eight years old. i mean, it was like, it was right away. yeah And it's always been one of the biggest tenants for me yeah as ah as a parent of youth athletes.
00:16:11
Speaker
I do not. I do not talk to coaches. I don't. It's my policy. I don't do it. I never ask about ice time. I never ask about court time. yeah yeah I say hello. I say goodbye, if that. But I do not engage at all. don't i You know what? I don't want to be friends. Yeah.
00:16:30
Speaker
Not really. on all sides, it's a smart thing to do because one, okay, the most basic thing is you don't want to be that parent who's always, you know, in the face of the coach because because you're just being selfish. but But the bigger picture thing is, hey, you know, the more you interfere, the weaker your child becomes. That's right.
00:16:53
Speaker
Right? So exactly from a parenting standpoint, it's just like, hey, listen, Whether it's grades, whether it's, you know, the sports thing, teach your kids to advocate for themselves, teach them how to communicate with adults. You know, that's a lifelong skill, right? It is. They're going take in into the working world or just relationships and just be able to be able to say something without being angry or antagonistic or just, again, it's is it's more EQ stuff. like How do you deal with people deliver the preferb proverbial shit sandwich right in a way that's constructive as opposed to being like confrontational. Yeah. And I think that I think that that is the beginning of understanding and implementing the difference between responding and reacting.
00:17:39
Speaker
Oh, we right. Oh, right. That's well. Well said, Jessica. Thank you so much. my God. That is. Thank you. I'm full of. University education at work. Right. but Well said. Very eloquent. Thank you. Thank you very much.
00:17:54
Speaker
But it is. It is. Those are, you know, though that's the beginning of that kind of um pathway yeah you emotional regulation. Yeah. Right? Like, reacting, like the people that you're talking about with, with you know, guns, right, for instance, those are people that react. Yes. People who respond yes don't ever take their gun out to shoot anything other than target. Right.
00:18:19
Speaker
Right. You know, even there are even people in law enforcement who have never discharged their gun. Yeah. Outside shouldn't have to honest you of the range. I mean, it's just like, you know, the difference between responsible and irresponsible gun ownership, you know, as well. Like all of that is is part of the ability to understand the difference between responding and reacting. Yeah.
00:18:40
Speaker
Right. Yes. Hmm. See, PSA for the day, everybody. PSA. Learn to respond, not react. That's right. Zen. Right. You know, and the 24 hour rule was the beginning of that. Oh my God.
00:18:54
Speaker
Because I would tell you that before kids, I would probably, it you know, I would probably describe myself as reactive and not responsive, you know, temperamental.
00:19:06
Speaker
You're from Long Island, of course. Long Island, mom.
00:19:11
Speaker
long island mom who Steer clear. Yeah. Oh, baby. Yeah. But know but i I think that my evolution to being someone who's able to respond is in part because of my kid playing sports.
00:19:32
Speaker
My kids play sports. Oh, man. Do you remember that team he played from Canada? And the coach literally grabbed. Oh, God. Our kids were 11? Yeah. 10, And that coach grabbed by the 11. guy, grabbed the face mask and lifted them off the ground. And then, and then when we tried, uh, one of our parents tried to intervene and say, Hey, what's going on? The mom of that child got angry at us. Like you stay mind your business. like, excuse me. Yeah. Like, If I saw your child running down the street and somebody grabbed him by the head, you don't, don't you want to know that another adult is looking out for your kid? Like, Hey, and you're so worried about the freaking hockey that you think your coach has the right to grab your head and yell at them.
Balancing Sports and Education
00:20:21
Speaker
That was the most, that was the weirdest thing I've ever seen.
00:20:25
Speaker
But youre if I remember correctly, they actually got the rink manager involved. Oh, yeah, of course. had to. give us like yeah That coach should be totally suspended. There's no reason any coach needs to grab a 10-year-old by the head. Well, Sam had a coach who who did that. but but What? grabbed face masks. Yeah, it was like it was like one of his first coaches.
00:20:45
Speaker
And he, you know, temperamental. He was a Russian guy. Like, played played on Red Army. Like, he was, he was like, legit. And he would grab kids by the face mask. That's so weird, man. Yeah. And he would yell and he would rant and he would rave. And, you know, I think that having him as a coach so young, you know, Sam was able to have resilience and,
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah. When he would be screamed at or yelled at or pushed around or sat or any of those things, any of those, you know, meted punishments that are that are handed out. He really became a resilient kid pretty early on because he had this experience with this guy who who loved Sam. I mean, it was, you know, they was funny, right? Like he really did love Sam, adored him.
00:21:32
Speaker
But when he was on that bench, it was all about the hockey. It wasn't about the individual. It was about the team. You know, these are things are always like the fine line between Catholic priest. Totally agree. I loved him. He loved me like a son, but then he fucking abused me. Like, okay, dude. What?
00:21:50
Speaker
I don't know, man. people i mean, again, it's also as the adult in the room, if you're the coach. Totally. It's also understanding the team you're coaching. My thing is like, okay, if you're from the Red Army and you were taught that way,
00:22:05
Speaker
and you want to coach another Red Army team, sure I'm not getting involved. yeah But if you're coaching like double A hockey team, yeah which was the team that candidate that that Canadian team can come down, it's a double A team. right And they're 10.
00:22:22
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. you It's not like you're dealing with like the top 0.1% of the players. Like, oh and as a parent, like, didn't sign up for that. That's not why I'm playing double hockey. So you can like lose your shit on my kid.
00:22:36
Speaker
Well, so then you know what? Really, the judgment maybe isn't as much about the coach as it is about the parent. totally oh my god big time like i can't believe you sat there and thought that was okay right like the coach is the coach and and even if it wasn't that kid he'd probably do it to another kid okay all right so then it's the parent's response to said behavior that is actually the problem and and the fact that and the fact that she the fact that she went bananas oh my god on on the idea that someone could have was gonna stand up for her child i know that was interceded was just like thankful i know i know right
00:23:08
Speaker
But, you know, they like people parent differently. And you know what? Maybe she didn't love her kid. Okay. I mean, that i maybe maybe there's if there was some kind of weird alternative context to that punishment, there is a way for you to say, hey, I appreciate your You're looking out for my kid. Right. But again, difference between responding and reacting. Right. And then there's some background you don't want to understand. So I'm the mom and I'm okay with that. Just want you understand. But I appreciate you sticking up for them. Thank you. like yeah Right. Thank you. Always watch out. Always watch out for the vulnerable. Right. That that would be my response if that was me. Totally. But just losing her shit. Oh, my God. Yeah. Well, I mean, losing her shit, getting management involved. And if I'm not mistaken, the dad from our team was tossed. He wasn't. Yes, he was. He was tossed. by that's bull But tossed because no parents are allowed behind the bench. That's the one. So that that part I can, I'm like.
00:24:05
Speaker
Right. You violated the rule. You violated the rule. No parents approach coaches and the bench doing a game. That's for everybody's safety and whatnot. I get it. Right. And, and so that should happen. and And then once you understand the situation, they'll be like, okay, yeah sorry, we didn't realize that was the case. And you're allowed back in at some point or whatever bullshit. Right. But that's fine. It's like in a bar fight, like everyone gets thrown out.
00:24:26
Speaker
It doesn't matter who's right wrong. Everyone gets thrown out for everybody's safety. And then later on, I might let you back in because I find out that you were defending somebody. Right. okay. But the reality is like, you know, eventually the truth comes out.
00:24:40
Speaker
Right. Yeah. And, and, well you hope but I guess you just wanted to continue in the parking lot. That's the stupid, that's the stupid part. Right. Right. And they again, you know, get me see all that again like I've seen that before. It's so stupid.
00:24:56
Speaker
People are just so dumb. You know, nobody, yeah there's a real lack of ah ability to imagine consequence to action before you do anything. Oftentimes in those situations, you know? Yeah. And I think, yeah.
00:25:14
Speaker
And Ultimately, even as you know we're parents, we love our children, I think too many parents um have this, now that we've gone through it, right? we're basically you You and I are basically, what, 85% of the way through this hockey journey with our kids, which is culminating in some junior hockey yeah and eventually college it hockey, maybe for some. right And then that's unen it's like beer league, right? So we're basically done. yeah And through that, and I remember reading this article recently about if you don't live in Minnesota, Chicago, and Detroit, and your kid makes it to juniors, like,
00:26:00
Speaker
ah like tuition-free juniors, yeah you're essentially a top 1.5% American board hockey player. I mean, anybody outside of Minnesota, Detroit, and Chicago.
00:26:14
Speaker
You can't live in those three cities. you're not playing those three markets yeah hockey meccas in the country, yeah that if you make it to tuition-free juniors, right you are a top 1.5%.
00:26:28
Speaker
The headline number was like top 4%. Yeah. But then there's like divide by three if you don't live in those markets because that's where they're heavily recruited. And i was like, oh, okay. Yeah, mia I can see that. do you know Do you know how much it is to pay to ah to play Not USP.
00:26:45
Speaker
sorry P... What is it? ah Oh my god, I just drew a blank. PWHL? No, no, no. for matt for for Junior hockey for your boys? What the hell just happened to my brain? Yeah, what's with your brain? USHL, BCHL, CCHL. Oh my god. No.
00:27:04
Speaker
NCDC. Those are the tuition-free. Lower. So lower, NA3, USPHL. USPHL, that's the one. See, I inverted the... I was going to go PUSHL. So do you know how much it is to play in this area?
00:27:20
Speaker
Oh, it's at least 10 grand. It's more. More? It's like $15,000. Oh, yeah. But but that you know that's i saw that when i was at... um when Evan was playing for CJR in in Connecticut and ah a lot of the youth programs were there to help subsidize their NCDC program. Sure.
00:27:41
Speaker
But if you, yeah. And so the weird thing is like, the weird thing is, so it's the USPHL. Yeah. You have the NCDC under USPHL, which is tuition free. So that's the the lowest level.
00:27:56
Speaker
tuition-free junior league, if I'm not mistaken, right, in U.S. hockey. But because the USPHL is not affiliated with USA hockey, they run their own show.
00:28:10
Speaker
Fine, whatever. NCDC sends a lot of kids off to D3 colleges, that the hell bit, once in a while. do There was a kid I saw who played... um I think, PAL, NCDC, and got bumped up to Youngstown.
00:28:27
Speaker
Crazy. And a joke. So it happens. Right. um But most of them are chasing D3 commitments. um But then, yes, so that's under USPHL umbrella. But then what you're talking about is below NCDC, it's, they call it Premier Elite. Premier Elite, that's it. don't know who in my brain. Different league, EHL.
00:28:47
Speaker
but But this whole thing with NCDC growing, like almost doubling in size, yeah is a lot of those teams are coming from the EHL, are are being stolen from the EHL.
00:28:58
Speaker
So the EHL is sort of dying a slow death. yeah And that's a pay-to-play league. Right. um Which, to be honest, if you think about it. Why not just go play beer league at that point? Well, like the pay-to-play leagues, I don't know why they exist. Because clearly, it's like, you're you're a kid, you play hockey. You want to play college hockey. Right. If you don't want to play college hockey, then go play beer league and whatever else it is you can do, right? and then Or go play intramural hockey at college or try for club hockey, like yeah yeah even though it's competitive than it was. So why – I'd be interested to learn from somebody why anybody pays to play junior hockey.
00:29:39
Speaker
I don't know. I'm a little perplexed by it because it is so expensive. Like it's literally more. it's It's more than any youth hockey team that I know of.
00:29:50
Speaker
Yes. and then In the terms of their tuition. that That is a bit confusing. Like if you're 18, 19, 20, 21, whatever it is, and you're paying to play. it's that's like That's like being in youth hockey and paying your team fee.
00:30:04
Speaker
But why at that age do you just not go to college and play intramurals like you said? Right. Which is cheaper and get education and go to work. Yeah. interest Interesting. Anybody out there who understands this, please let us know because we don't know.
00:30:19
Speaker
Yeah. we but We're looking for information. that I mean, yes. Do I have people I can ask? Sure. Of course I have people I can ask, but I don't really want to ask. No, but we need somebody who's in it. Yeah, exactly. Somebody who's experiencing it or has experienced it. I know one Cyclones kid.
00:30:35
Speaker
And what the benefit was. Ended up in the AHL. The one time I saw him at the rink, he was like, it totally sucks. I did it for a year. i don't know why did it.
00:30:47
Speaker
I left. I went to college. I'm like, good for you, dude. okay Okay. I mean, I think of why i think the why is pretty universal because you want to try, right? you have you've You've come through your entire youth hockey trajectory with this one goal and in mind. And then, yeah you know, it's hard to let that go.
00:31:05
Speaker
well it's hard like but is that But is that a lie that somebody in the EHL tells you and says, hey, man, i know it's going to cost you 15 grand, but come play for us and we'll get you upgraded to whatever, USPHL, Premier and n a three and then we'll get you upgraded into NCDC and then upgraded into... i mean, at that point...
00:31:30
Speaker
gotta be objective right if you it's one thing if you're 10 and 12 and you're still growing and you're still developing but when you're 19 or 20 well I think you gotta weigh out the options at that point you're not getting better at hockey right if you're 19 or 20 and you know you're getting you know you're basically word salad lip service which is what that is right then I think you need to kind of look at it for what it is and and have a realistic conversation with yourself right it you Do I want to spend another year trying to do this knowing that I haven't been able to push the ceiling
00:32:02
Speaker
right yeah yeah and and go into college as a 21-year-old? Or do I want to take the year and start you know college and you know that way I can met out a career and start working earlier? like The whole thing about junior hockey is that everybody starts working later.
00:32:19
Speaker
yeah They're not making money. they're not They're not figuring out what they want to do because they're so hyper-focused on this goal, which I understand. I do get it. It's not that i amm it's not a criticism of having that goal.
00:32:32
Speaker
yeah But you know it's at a certain point, you know realistically... I think a saying the situation and having a real life conversation with yourself even makes a lot of sense. Like, is this, you know, are you, are you really achieving what you set out to achieve? And if not, you know, how much more are you willing to sacrifice to try and get there?
00:32:54
Speaker
Yeah. And once again, there's no other, there's that what no other would oh I think there's no other sport that would allow, a teenager to make that call. that's That's the thing. Like, obviously, if you leave it to an 18-year-old, would you like to go to school or play more hockey? I'm choosing, I'm choosing more hockey. like Of course, if you're giving me like that that choice. But like, no other sport allows that. You've played high school, you're done, now go to college, and then if you're good enough to play in college, that's great, or you play club, or you play intramurals, or you play for fun. Right. But you have to go to the next step, which is go to school. Only hockey,
00:33:32
Speaker
gives you that that that option to delay growing up and keep playing right for couple years. Yeah, i think it's you know I think it's kind of complex, right? Because you know it's like...
00:33:48
Speaker
Even though so many of the kids won't end up being at the level they wanted to be at as they've come up through, yeah you know, USA hockey. Let's just keep it to the USA hockey situation.
00:33:59
Speaker
Right. I think despite that, i think that for parents to turn around and be like, yeah, forget it. You're going to school. Yeah.
00:34:10
Speaker
You know, i feel like I feel like for parents to do that, it's kind of sucking the wind out of their sails to the extent that it might be a massive demotivator if they didn't go to school.
00:34:23
Speaker
Yep. Right. It's I find it's complicated. It's i because I don't think that everything needs to be linear. that's i mean I've been told by other parents. it's all It's funny how it's all relative, right? Yeah. I have been told definitively by other parents that I am being stupid in letting my kid play more hockey. Yeah. And that I need take control and just say, sure listen, dude, it's over. You had fun.
00:34:48
Speaker
Go to college. Get on with your life. And you'd be mad at me for a year. And then you realize when you graduate college, have a good job. Like, oh, you know what? Mom and dad. they were looking out for me yeah and they were right. And I, so I, I can see that. Sure. Then there, then obviously, like you said, it's like, I would like to give my kid some say in their life that they feel,
00:35:14
Speaker
satisfied Because as you and I both know, if you're going to play junior hockey, you can only play it once in your life. That's right. Between 18 to 20. That's right. And it's only two years. it's right And college will always be there. You can go to college any age you want and be successful anytime you want. We know plenty of people who went to college on time to an Ivy and they suck shit. Yeah.
00:35:35
Speaker
yeah And then there are people who went late and are successful and also billionaires, whatever it is, people. are obsess and right And also suck shit. so so really So really, it's funny, especially parents of boys. I've definitely heard from many, many parents that they...
Redshirting and Player Development
00:35:54
Speaker
that they themselves, like me at my age, yeah looking back and saying, was I really ready to get the most out of college at 18? And yeah, the general answer is no. Girls mature faster, boys, whatever, a little slower out of the gate. So I can see that. But even girls take time. like They take gap years. They go and they work or they go and they travel. But it's becoming more common and more prevalent now than it had been before.
00:36:20
Speaker
you know i just wonder... my My main concern over all this stuff is is, as a person, if you go play junior hockey, and clearly I'm wrong in in this in this assumption because this has been happening for years and years and years and they do really well, but my then if I haven't been using my brain, let's say, to do math, yeah calculus, right right in my senior year, and I stop it for a year or two and play junior hockey, when I go back to college,
00:36:51
Speaker
Isn't it hard to get back into that study mode? Okay, I'm just going to interrupt you. so Please do. i So of the kids that I know, yeah a lot of them that are playing junior hockey yeah ok and and across all leagues, yeah they are taking classes. Right. Okay. So that's the answer. They're taking college level classes. so if math in particular is a concern, right, because yeah really it's something that you have to practice all the time to stay afloat and stay good at it, right?
00:37:22
Speaker
If math in in particular is that concern, then you go and you take college level math and you take one a semester if you can't invest the time in more than one class, right? But you keep your brain active and engaged. Where do you take that class? You can take it anywhere. You can take it at any community college. Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's just college credits. And if they're math, for the most part, I think 99% of the time they're transferable.
00:37:46
Speaker
People are taking math classes. you know Schools are taking math classes. I mean, no me personally, I wouldn't even care if it's transferable. just like having an outlet to do something rather than you hear the stories these guys that are playing junior hockey and then they go play a video games and then they get drunk and then don't do shit all day. No, so like my kid my kid would not be allowed to do that.
00:38:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. No way. yeah and Or, you know what? Go get a job. Right. You know, do one or the other. you're either you know or do both. Right? it's like, yeah, you're at the rink all day, whatever. But you know what? You have enough time somewhere in between where you can fit one or the other or both. should be, right? Yeah, because i are for sure. For sure.
00:38:24
Speaker
For sure. I saw this kid recently played at prep school, one of the prep schools we played. Went to juniors, BCHL, and he's been on three teams in three months.
00:38:34
Speaker
That's lot. I'm like, fuck. Sorry. Well, there's a lot of trades. I mean. Yeah. I mean, that's. Yeah. I mean, when you're someone who just recently got traded. Yeah.
00:38:47
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, anyways. Anyways. I was just thinking out loud as it from a parent's perspective. Like, how do you stay engaged? Deal with a day-to-day experience. Of being a junior player. Maybe you take classes online. Yeah, and then you get to college, then all of a sudden it's like, hey, you're ready to roll kind of thing. Yeah. I mean, you know, Sam took math class online. Yeah. you know, he he, we got a tutor because, you know, there was there was some merit to having like individual instruction. Oh, totally. like an online class. I mean, he didn't have any instruction at all. Right. You need someone to talk to. Right. With, the you know, with calculus. And so, you know, I think that, you know, it's easy to do an online class, you know, you can online calculus class or a calculus two or whatever, and then have a math tutor. And even if that tutors online, it's better than nothing.
00:39:35
Speaker
You know, some level of engagement. But yeah, I think taking classes while playing juniors is is of the utmost importance. You know, it's easy to fall out of the habit of studying and reading in school if you, if you you know, extract yourself from that 100%. Look at summer holidays or even spring break for kids. Seriously. They switch off and they have to get back into It's hard. It's hard. not easy. Yeah. I mean, it's hard. It's been hard for me in the past too.
00:39:59
Speaker
Yeah. You know, to extract myself from that and then, you know, enter back in. it's Yeah. Reentry is hard. ah It's just really hard yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. For sure. Hmm. Yes.
Planning a Disney Trip
00:40:11
Speaker
Yeah. But I, you know, I would never, i would never tell my kid he can't.
00:40:18
Speaker
Yeah. It's a choice. Right. And with those choices, there are definitely going to be positive things and negative things. I think the thing is that people argue that an 18 year old doesn't truly understand the strategic implications of some of their choices. Right.
00:40:36
Speaker
There's a fair point. You don't and you don't truly understand what you're deciding. I don't know. I think it depends on who they're surrounded by. o That's what I think. I think you know if the you know there's an advisor or parents or coaches who are able to sit there and say, hey, you know if you play juniors until you're 20 years old, you're entering college as a 21-year-old freshman, which means that you're effectively you know at minimum three or four years behind.
00:41:06
Speaker
Yeah. You know, the people of of your age. And so you need to understand that you're going to have to take the extra time. So your friends may be, you know, they might be yeah know in finance, you know, working all night long, you know, banking money, but that's not going to be your life.
00:41:24
Speaker
And so you need to understand that that's not going to be your life at that same time. but you know from the from the From the greater, higher, whatever aspect of redshirting kids, there was this this this book, John T. Reed.
00:41:40
Speaker
don't know who he is. He writes stuff and he's talking about, he had three kids and I think he didn't redshirt his first kid, but he talked about it as a concept. And the one thing that I thought was intriguing is...
00:41:53
Speaker
Redshirting a kid when they're young, like single digit birth date, birth like age. Yeah. Is so much more impactful. Yeah. because of the percentage it represents of their life, right? If if I graduate you for a year and you're six, that's one sixth right of your life. Major, major difference, right? You're more confident and all like that, hold it, but be more confident and people look up to you and then you build up you're built up socially and all those positive effects.
00:42:23
Speaker
I would agree with that. Like, it's if you're redshirting a kid before the age of 10, there's a lot to be gained from maturity than redshirting a kid at 18. Right. It's like you're already formed.
00:42:35
Speaker
Yeah, but effectively, they're not being redshirted. They're just choosing a different path. Like, when you redshirt a kid who's six years old, it's a parental choice. Yeah. Right? and And for most of those kids, it's you know it works out to their benefit. I know a kid who was redshirted when he was little, and it's It's completely worked out to his benefit in so many ways. I mean, so many ways. Yeah. ah But you can't do that with every kid.
00:42:58
Speaker
You know, like I find that the kids with the latest birthdays are the ones who find the most impact for that. If you were to, if you were to redshirt a kid who had a birthday in the first four months of the year, it might yeah might have a different impact.
00:43:11
Speaker
Right. Right. right So like when when they're born and in you know November, December, redshirting them benefits them because they're no longer the youngest in the class.
00:43:25
Speaker
It's just the impact is different. You should reach out to Malcolm Gladwell and ask him. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, pal. Yeah. I mean, this whole outliers thing I always found really interesting. That book was pretty interesting.
00:43:37
Speaker
Yeah. You know, he talked about youth athlete you know youth athletes and the average of kids who were the most successful on and where their birth dates lay. And that would be the first couple months of the year.
00:43:49
Speaker
um I mean, it does it's not foolproof, right? I mean, there are kids, obviously, that have birthdays. It makes sense. yeah It's intuitive. Bigger, better, faster because you're older than most right i make people that you're playing against since that should help you, right? Right. And they grow fat you know they grow earlier, you know that kind of thing. Yeah. If everybody hit puberty on a linear scale at the same time,
00:44:09
Speaker
at the same age, let's say 12 years, three months, then of course the person who gets there first, bigger, better, faster, right? right Yeah, I don't know. I probably should go back and reread that book and see if all that information still applies now that I have older older kids. I'm curious.
00:44:29
Speaker
yeah no I don't know that it does. Yeah, don't know. all right doesn't it It doesn't even matter, really. i mean, let's be realistic. It doesn't make a difference. It is what it is right now. it does I can't change any of that anyway. It doesn't matter. You got any more flying stories for us?
00:44:45
Speaker
Any more airline stories for us? No. Although I, you know, so here's a funny story. i mean, it's kind of funny. It's kind of pathetic all at the same time. And it's about me. So I'll be self-effacing right here. um So in public school, in high school, in New York City, they have a Regents Week in January.
00:45:07
Speaker
Okay. I did not notice. didn't know what that Like I didn't notice it on the calendar. Oh. And if you have a kid passed their regents exams when they were administered, either the beginning, like the end of the school year or the end of the summer. So there are three times that you can take the same regents in order to pass. The regents exams are relegated simply to New York State and to nowhere. Oh, okay.
00:45:30
Speaker
Right. It's a New York State regents thing. and They're stupid. I mean, they're like state tests. They're dumb. But it's subject-oriented. Got And so, you know, you take it at the end of the school year. It's your final exam. If you fail it, you get an opportunity in August to take it again before you start the new school year so that you don't have to do the two classes, studying for two classes at once, right? Because you get a third opportunity i see in January to pass the exam. If you don't pass it in January, you need to go back and retake the class. Got it.
00:45:58
Speaker
Okay. ok And so my child did not do well on the first regents exam. Okay. Failed by a single point. Okay. Which is always a heartbreaker. You're always like, huh, bummer, whatever.
00:46:11
Speaker
Didn't have to do summer school, but understood that, you know, needed to take the exam again in August. Okay. Which that one was passed, passed that exam. Yeah.
00:46:22
Speaker
So the third opportunity would be this week in January. So my child does not have to take the test and therefore gets an entire week of school off. Hey, bonus.
00:46:37
Speaker
Not for you, but bonus for her. Well, I mean, I never mind having her around. You know, she's management because you know she can't do a lot of a ton of things on her own, right? is Yeah, yeah. It's fine. Sure.
00:46:49
Speaker
But I realized that I probably need to take the opportunity to go away, take her out. Yes. Because we did not we did not leave for Christmas time. I have, you know, Fosters and other things. I mean, we left, but we didn't leave. Anyway. Yeah. um Oh, good opportunity for a trip. Nice. Yeah. So, of course, where does she want to go? Don't tell me Disney.
00:47:12
Speaker
Bingo. Oh, no. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Ooh, that's going to cost you a bomb. Holy shit. And very last minute because I didn't realize. Had I realized, I would have planned it earlier if that was. yeah, yeah. We didn't talk about it. And she didn't say anything to me, which always makes me a little bit angry. It miffs me big time.
00:47:29
Speaker
ah So now Disney's become so expensive. so I don't understand i how anyone in America can afford to go to Disney. Well, it's interesting because there was this scenario that was presented where, and it was online, and I don't know whether or not it's true, right? Because everything could be bullshit online. Yeah, yeah exactly these days. Yeah.
00:47:48
Speaker
But someone had said for a family of four, it was less expensive to go to Disneyland Tokyo than to go to Disney World oh Florida. I believe that. Yes. So i believe although the flights are more expensive than flying to Florida, being in Tokyo and going to the park and the hotels are exponentially less expensive. So, you know, when you start to amortize all the monies, right, Florida is more expensive than going to Tokyo. I've got to believe that in America, visiting Disney for a family of four,
00:48:25
Speaker
is a thousand dollars per day kind of thing. yeah And that's not like... So I can oh tell you. And that's not a VIP package either. Yeah, yeah. No, so it's like the times that I've done it, I've not done packages per cent. Yep.
00:48:41
Speaker
Disney used to offer this ticket situation where you can buy four days of tickets together at a discount at one park per day. okay you would do Epcot, you would do Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and you would do Animal Kingdom. But on like four separate days, no park hopper. So you can't move around. oh I see. Okay, right, right. So you got to plan a little bit. So you're in that park for one day.
00:49:03
Speaker
And so they did it at a discount, which made sense, but there was still between $350 and $400 per person for those tickets. Per person? Per person. Okay. Without food. Without food. And food in the park is expensive.
00:49:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's got to be airport prices probably. Right. And then the hotels, like the thing about staying on the Disney properties is that you get in early. You get early entry. the monorail. And you get in early. Well, the monorail is one mode of transportation. There's also the Skyliner, which is like the gondolas.
00:49:36
Speaker
The monorail goes from the Contemporary Resort. And the Skyliner goes from Pop Century and Art of Animation. And beyond the two of those, it's all buses. Right.
00:49:47
Speaker
Got it. But it's like they but they're free. like they're they' Sure. They're not free. Just time. free. yeah Yeah. It's included in your stay, basically. Mm-hmm. So there's different levels of hotels, right? There's value hotels. There's you know luxury hotels. like I mean, you can pay $1,200 a night easily, or you can pay $190 a night or less, depending yeah on whether or not it's an off time, right? Okay. um But you know let's just let's just take a value hotel.
00:50:15
Speaker
Just for argument's sake. A value hotel right now for that week for four days and three, no, four nights is $500 a night.
00:50:26
Speaker
Holy shit. Value hotel, which I've stayed at. I've stayed at this hotel. Is it going to fit four? No, just for a room. I mean, yeah, I could fit four people in it if I needed to. Not comfortably. No, I because they're two queen beds and we're big people. But like you, like $500 night for two queen beds. Right.
00:50:44
Speaker
and And like modest. it's It's, you know, it's like it's not anything to write home about. Like it's not like the contemporary or Swan or, you know, it's it's it's a really lovely place to stay, but it's pretty basic.
00:50:58
Speaker
Like is it like the residence in? It's not that a bullshit. No, it's not that. hoggy No, it's not that bad. It's actually really, the rooms are clean. They're nice. I mean, yeah Pop Century is mid-century modern styled, which is really cute.
00:51:12
Speaker
And then Art of Animation, like the rooms are of movie characters. Oh, nice. Okay. So like Little Mermaid, Cars. So $500 a night. But $500 a night is Art of Animation. yeah And if you did four-day pass, family of four, everyy you're basically $100 a day per person. So that's $400 a night.
00:51:33
Speaker
400 bucks for the tickets. No, for the food right now. But also what I didn't tell you is right now they took that deal away. And so right now you have to pay. And so per day, it's like $179. Jesus. Maybe $169 per day. Each part.
00:51:48
Speaker
Oh my God. And then if you do a park hopper, you know, you add a little bit of money to those in order to be able to go back and forth. Right. Like, it it's a lot of money. I mean, if there's a business out there that knows how to squeeze every last penny out of you, it's got to be Disney. Yeah, they're pretty good at it. And, you know, you got to remember they own yeah ESPN, right? So yeah there's a there is an ESPN hotel ah yeah area and there's an all-sports hotel. The all-sports hotel is so far removed from all of the parks that it is really cheap. And so, mind. but think We're talking about...
00:52:21
Speaker
If you have to spend $1,000 a day yeah or more at this theme park, again, like. Oh, and we didn't even factor in merch. Like if you're a merch person. right. I mean, i'm ah and fair is not the right word, but it's like, but in essence it is like, how do you expect a even top 10% income family yeah tim to spend that kind of money?
00:52:47
Speaker
I know. I know. It's a lot. it it it's So, it's you know, i know that I can go down there and probably do it for yeah four days, maybe for five grand. Everything and everything included. Okay. Okay. yeah But it's five grand for four days. That's five grand.
00:53:06
Speaker
You know, including flights, either parking here, you know, parking lot for my car Ubers, transportation, yeah you know, any kind of food, snacks, like all the stuff, right? You put it all together in one bucket. It's probably five grand for four days, which is kind of crazy.
00:53:25
Speaker
um Yeah. yeah and and but Yeah. And the thing, you know, the funny thing about it is um her 16th birthday is coming up this year. Nice. And so, yeah. And so, you know, she's like, I i don't want to party. i think, you know, they're short-lived, whatever. And I would rather maybe go take a trip. And I said, well where do you want to go? And she said, where do you think I want to go?
00:53:48
Speaker
and I said, no way. You want to go to Disney? To the happiest place on earth. Yeah. And then she was like, I want to bring friends and then
Theme Park Experiences and Family Bonding
00:53:53
Speaker
I go out to dinner with friends. and well That was my next question. like oh like At this age, when they go to the theme parks, they want to bring their friends. Yeah, but she doesn't even go on every ride. And the only time that she does is when she has a friend who's like, no, no, no. mom Come on, come on, come on. Peer pressure is real. Like, it's real. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. you know, there have been many times. i go on everything.
00:54:16
Speaker
Yeah. Like, literally everything. Okay. Roller coasters are my roller coastaers in my jam. um So, even at Universal, you know, like, I go on all the stuff. And, like, my kids, oh nice every time we've gone, you know, they've been a little timid.
00:54:29
Speaker
you know, ups, inversion spirals and whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But Ruthie, Ruthie does this thing where I will, you know, hang out with her and she'll get online with me and we'll hang out and, you know, we'll have a good time and yeah. And we'll get up and we'll go into the little lanes to get on, yeah you know, whatever roller coaster it is or whatever. And she starts to freak the fuck out and she fails and walks out the exit. Yeah.
00:54:56
Speaker
That's pretty funny. I tell you freak out, I mean tears. Oh, no. Tears. Like anxiety. Oh, wow. Hysteria. just No shit. Oh, no shit. it's It's terrible. And so the last time I took her at Epcot, they have a roller coaster called Guardians of the Galaxy. Oh, yeah.
00:55:18
Speaker
Which is That's a big one. It's unbelievable. Holy shit. And i don't I don't really consider myself a Disney adult. I just consider myself like someone who loves roller coasters. So I would go anywhere. If you said, let's go to Busch Gardens and ride the coasters, I'd be like, in. yeah Where are we going? Tampa? are we going to Virginia? like I'd be like, yeah, let's just go. um you know It just happens to be that you know she really likes... the Disney experience. And yeah so that's, you know, when I give her a choice, that's where she chooses. It's fine. Yeah. You know, most of these other places, she probably wouldn't do most of the rides anyway. So it actually works out better because she's more engaged in that environment. yeah
00:55:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah But so last, so the first time we stood online for Guardians of the Galaxy, she freaked the fuck out and bam. Like, ask the woman where's the exit. The woman pointed and she hysterically ran out. You know, that happened that happens a lot. All the time.
00:56:12
Speaker
Me, I'm like, okay, I'll ride by myself. So the the woman looks at me, she goes, are you single rider now? I go, looks like it. So she's like, okay, go here, whatever. Right to the front. Right. yeah Totally. Totally. And so then the next time we went, said to her, I said, you really got to try it. It's really, really fun.
00:56:30
Speaker
Like, it's so fun. And so she was able to batten down the insanity ok within herself and got on the ride. And I have the best photo of us on that ride that's funny ever. The look on her face is fantastic. And now she loves it.
00:56:48
Speaker
Oh, it's good. yeah Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, of course she wants to go back. She's like, I want to go. Okay. yeah That's good bonding. It's bonding time. Yeah, it is. And we have a good time. Like I'm so honestly, I'm so laid back and easygoing about all of it. Like the crowds don't bother me. The lines don't me. That's good. And you have to be like, wait, you got to be totally zen. I don't i would like a picture of you with the turkey leg the next time you go. don't eat meat. So that will will not happen. But I do have photos of both of them with the turkey leg. I don't eat it.
00:57:18
Speaker
But it's funny because they brought it up last night. like She said to me, she said, oh, I want to bring a turkey leg so that all the dogs can have it. as She goes, I know it's salty. We'll just let it soak in plain water. and let's Dude, you want a turkey leg, I'll go to Whole Foods and get you a turkey leg and you can, you know. And then I said, no, no, no, no. It gives dogs pancreatitis because it's too high in fat. So no, right have the damn turkey leg. Damn. Stop offering them fatty food.
00:57:41
Speaker
That one always like gets to me. and say This has got to be, this is the epitome of of of middle America just to go to Disney and buy the turkey leg. It's unbelievable. They're huge.
00:57:53
Speaker
They're huge. I've never seen anything like it. And people flock and line up. like, think about what you eat. I'm like, dude, I'm Mr. Fried Chicken. I'm not eating a turkey leg. Nothing natural is that big. I'm like, come on. Yeah, I kind of feel like, you know, it's worth the experience once.
00:58:12
Speaker
Like if you're eating all sorts of fried chicken. see that. I you're eating poultry. It's not organic. Sure, sure, sure. At that point, who cares? Sure, give it a whirl. Yeah, you do it one time so that you can be like, okay, you either get it or you hate it. And then that's right fine. Right.
00:58:27
Speaker
Right. I don't balk at people for eating the turkey leg. I find it amusing to know. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, the people like sitting, tearing it apart. It's like and it's funny because both of my kids said to me um the one time that they tried it. Neither or one of them is really like a total fan about of it. Yeah. um But they both were surprised at how bony they are.
00:58:49
Speaker
There are lots of tiny little bones in a turkey leg. Yeah. Yeah. yeah It was surprising to them. I mean, it was surprising to me too, because i'm never I've never really been like a dark meat turkey eater anyway.
00:59:02
Speaker
What is that crazy... I've been there once in New Jersey. Six Legs. What is that crazy place? Six Legs? They have knights. The kids go there. They have these knights and they do this fake sort of lance and you have to eat chicken with your bare hands. Oh my God. Medieval times.
00:59:22
Speaker
we were just talking We were just talking about medieval times. I've been there once for kid's birthday party at like eight or nine years old. I was like, what the hell is going on here? last night And it's kind of fun, but like at the same time, like what's going on here?
00:59:35
Speaker
Dude, it's hilarious. And so Sam last night was showing me this guy on Instagram that he follows. He's some comedian. And what he does is he eats a gummy before he goes on any experience.
00:59:46
Speaker
and he So he was like, we're going to medieval times. It's one and a half gummies. He goes, oh my god don't tell anybody about the extra half. Right, right, right. Goes to medieval times and he's dressed up as a knight and he's the only person dressed up.
00:59:59
Speaker
Okay. It was so funny. Oh my god So funny. But a totally, we went once. with the kids. Especially eating there with your bare hands, the chicken leg. Right. And then watching them do their, in the one handled, you know, pot thing, bowl, one whatever. That was hilarious. It's fun. It's something so rudimentary.
01:00:27
Speaker
And just, if you think about it's like low quality production still gets people. For real. but you know But it's like you got live horses, you got live jousts. It's really engaging. And I would imagine if you went after eating a gummy, you'd be obsessed.
01:00:45
Speaker
but yeah You'd have an obsessive nature watching it because they yo you can't look away, right? Yeah. Yeah, it's it's fun. And the audience gets into it. It's it's a funny place. Yeah. It's a funny, funny experience.
01:00:57
Speaker
I love stuff like that. i mean, I don't yeah i don't want to do it often, but you know... No, the kids are good for it. Even kids, you go there and do this stuff. It's kind of corny and whatever. You have fun. Good pictures, good memories. Totally. It's so fun. and And you know what? And obviously impactful, right? In terms of memories for kids because, oh yeah yeah you know, 10 years later, he's still talking about it.
01:01:18
Speaker
Oh, we got sucked into buying, like, I think a sword or an axe. I forgot what it was. Sweet. For sure. In the moment, it's like, okay. Then you come home like, well, bad idea. Right. Bad idea, dad. What was I thinking buying steel blades? As we're poking each other at home and yelling at the screen like, oh, that wasn't smart. Right.
01:01:37
Speaker
but Yeah, you got to get the light up one, the plastic one that just leaves nasty red welts when they hit each other. oh and I was just, you know, the snow storm we had right over, over the holidays. Yeah. And ah we're too big and heavy, obviously for sledding kind of thing. Right. On a, on a small hill, but it reminded me, going to show this video, but it reminded me of this time I took, it was like, ah the kids were seven, massive snow storm in New York.
01:02:07
Speaker
it's day three after. So now it's ice everywhere. yeah And I decided against my wife's better judgment who said, don't go, don't go. I'm like, you what We're, you know, there's no school. It's quiet. Let's, we're going to go to, um, what is it? Blue Hill. Is it Blue Hill?
01:02:25
Speaker
Anyway, Central Park. Okay. There's two places, Blue something it's called. Anyways, it's like 67th and 5th. And it's this massive hill. And, uh,
01:02:37
Speaker
And should have known better because yeah we couldn't even, it was hard for us to even climb the hill because it was so icy. Right. Right. Dad, here, dad decided, oh, this is a perfect time for us to go sledding.
01:02:51
Speaker
i have the fear So we go, have this video of them and it's huge. mess I have video and they're going and they're screaming and halfway down the hill as they're picking up speed, I realize that that whatever path was grooved into the ice, it was taking a hard, the kids were taking a hard right towards a lamp pole.
01:03:15
Speaker
Nice. At the bottom, was like, oh. And I remember telling the kids, like, wow. In my head, i was like, I don't know how to make this phone call home to mom. Saying, she said, don't take the kids sledding because I see, I took them sledding and now I'm calling you from the yeah ah ER r because they slammed into a lamp post. Awesome.
01:03:35
Speaker
and i And right at the very end, Evan sticks his foot out and manages to like spin out away from the, because he's smart enough to spin out away from the lamp pole, which has like a hay bale protecting it, which means that people obviously have hit it many times. I was going say. parks department put a hay bale there. And then my daughter, she's headed right for it. I'm like, oh my God.
01:04:00
Speaker
She's headed right for it. And not kidding, at the very last split second, she hits a bump and it bumps her left. Oh, wow. And so when she hits the lamppost, it is the, she clips it.
01:04:18
Speaker
And she spins out. So her body doesn't hit it, but the sled hit it. And was like, holy fuck. Yeah. Did I get lucky? And I almost lost my dad card right there. And I was like, okay, guys, it's time to go. Enough for today. Hot chocolate. go get hot chocolate. I think we've used all of our luck for today. We're...
01:04:40
Speaker
Leave it. and we I play it for them now and they laugh about it now, obviously. But in the moment i was like, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. I'm in deep trouble here. Yeah. Yeah. Parental panic moment.
Wrapping Up and Dad Jokes
01:04:52
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Big time. Oh, oh my God. You lost yourself. Okay. So a minute. Sorry, a minute. An hour and four minutes. We got to get out of here. You got to get out of here. We gotta got get a day our listeners have to get out of here. Totally.
01:05:05
Speaker
Get out. More serious topic talk about. We never got to again. See that. I know. So more to talk about next episode. Started with the funny and ended with the funny. know. Here we go. Oh gosh. Why are skeletons so calm?
01:05:24
Speaker
Jessica Silver. Why are skeletons so calm? I'm going to start cheating and typing in the answers to my computer.
01:05:35
Speaker
yeah' like you to i am. I'm to get a Shazam. Hey, that could be idea. A Shazam for dad jokes. It would be great. No, I don't know why skeletons are so calm. Because nothing gets under their skin.
01:05:52
Speaker
Ah! Whee!
01:05:55
Speaker
but Okay, okay, okay, okay. Hang on, hang on. Okay, okay, okay. Why shouldn't you trust stairs?
01:06:06
Speaker
As in like a staircase. Why shouldn't you trust stairs?
01:06:20
Speaker
Why shouldn't you trust stairs? Why shouldn't you trust stairs? Because they go up and down. Oh, you were so close this time. Because they're always up to something.
01:06:31
Speaker
Ah.
01:06:34
Speaker
Nice. Nice. All right. Some bad ones. Oh, my God. I'm done with your dad joke. Time to get out of here. All right. Thanks for listening, everybody. Thank you. Catch later. Bye. Bye.
01:06:46
Speaker
Well, well, well. You made it to the end. We can't thank you enough for listening to all of our random thoughts. Don't forget to give us a five-star rating. And you know how to reach us on the gram at TGS pod or send email to hello at the grocery stick.com.