0:00:00 - (Mike Rhyner): Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Reiner, Sports talk. Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball. Oh, with the big mic. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, okay, now I get it. We got a lightning strike, boys. What happened over there, Grego? We had a little lightning strike right outside the window. The Texas Rangers win the World Series. All right, all right. Here's a tip. Rock all these Americano League teams.
0:00:33 - (Owen Newkirk): Don't. Wait, you said tip?
0:00:35 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, tip with a P. I would keep jamming the Ticket Cola. Nothing but a big Gen X jerk off session. This is a cool night. Or what? Although somebody would hear that and go, I'm back. Are you ready for another episode of your Dark Companion? I hope you are. I hope you are. Very much. Because we have got that very thing for you. Now, we're a little bit light on peeps who are usually here for the start of this thing, so they're gonna come trickling in as we go, I guess.
0:01:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Or maybe they won't. I don't know. We'll worry about all that later. But you're here, I'm here, Ashley's here, we're here. We got enough people here to do this, so. Yes. So welcome to episode 152. Coming down on the 15th of September. And today, sitting over here in the hot seat, you see him on DLL S. And if you don't know what DLL S is. I know what it is. He knows what it is. And we probably should have him be the one to explain it to you.
0:02:07 - (Mike Rhyner): You've also heard him for many years. If you listen to STARS Radio, he does the Stars Post Game Show. He's part of the Stars Post Game show on the Little Ticket previously. Oh, you're not that anymore.
0:02:25 - (Owen Newkirk): Not with DLS now.
0:02:26 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, okay. All right. So you've.
0:02:29 - (Owen Newkirk): I've moved on. Graduated from the Little Ticket. Sort of.
0:02:33 - (Mike Rhyner): Okay, well, then forget about all that. This is something that I was not. I guess. I guess what I just did is show just how in the loop I am these days. Anyway, he is. Owen Newkirk. How are you?
0:02:48 - (Owen Newkirk): I am thrilled to be here. It's an honor to be next to a legend such as yourself. And I consider very much a privilege that I got to know you at the Ticket. And I don't remember. Everybody there had a Reiner story. Right. It was the. When Mike suddenly acknowledged you or said something nice to you or realized, oh, he doesn't want to decapitate me.
0:03:16 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:03:16 - (Owen Newkirk): Whatever it was. And I don't remember when it was, but all of a sudden, just like, oh, we're good. He doesn't loathe me. And not that you would have, but there was a demarcation that was crossed.
0:03:31 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, I used to be pretty big on trying to get people to not bother me by being intimidating if I could, but I'm never really that way anymore.
0:03:45 - (Owen Newkirk): No?
0:03:45 - (Mike Rhyner): No. I'm more genteel, more laid back. I got nothing to prove anymore.
0:03:50 - (Owen Newkirk): Wow, you've done it all.
0:03:52 - (Mike Rhyner): So I tend to operate a little differently these days.
0:03:57 - (Owen Newkirk): Well, that's probably good for the mental health, the physical health.
0:04:02 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, yeah. It's been carry that kind of angst around anymore.
0:04:06 - (Owen Newkirk): I'll tell you, though, not to hijack the conversation, but I remember one day we were in the main studio and I was getting ready for a Stars game, and you were leaving a hardline show, and you had done something, I think you had helped write an article about the start of the Ticket, and it was with my. One of my co hosts with dls, Sean Shapiro. They were starting the upset, and I haven't thought about that in a long time. Which was turned into a precursor for the Athletic in Dallas because the Athletic came in a sort of sway. It was something that he and Levi Weaver were doing.
0:04:41 - (Mike Rhyner): Hey, Shoopy.
0:04:42 - (Owen Newkirk): What's going on? Big guy? How are you?
0:04:45 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, all right. We got part of the crew here. Shoopy is on the scene.
0:04:48 - (Owen Newkirk): But you wrote something about how the Ticket got started, and it was all about the word chemistry and why it worked. And I asked you a question about it, and you graciously talked to me about it for probably way longer than you had time for, but I was fascinated to hear because that was such, like. That was so much, much more important than just about anything else about why that works.
0:05:11 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, there's no question about that. I don't know how or exactly when or why this happened, but somehow we were able to establish chemistry between us very quickly. We kind of had this us against the world thing, you know, because everybody out there thought there was no way we were going to make it. And that kind of brought us all together and. And we were able to develop that kind of chemistry. And it brought me around on the entire concept of chemistry. And now I think that in any group endeavor, it's the most important thing that you can have. Yeah. You know, if you don't have that, you don't have anything.
0:05:55 - (Owen Newkirk): And I don't know if it matters at what stage, what level you're at, because all that really matters is can you put out something good? And if you don't have that chemistry. It doesn't matter if you're, you know, a startup, an established thing, you know, the top of the heap. If it's not. If you don't have chemistry, it's not good.
0:06:15 - (Mike Rhyner): No, no. If you don't have chemistry, people are going to see that you don't have chemistry. And when they see that you don't have chemistry, it's church.
0:06:27 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah. And that's it.
0:06:29 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. So how are you, man?
0:06:31 - (Owen Newkirk): Good. You know, it's funny you bring all that up because I was in a pretty comfortable spot with this, working for the stars and be doing the shows on the ticket and I wasn't looking to change. And then the CEO, founder of All City, which is the parent company for DLLs, they have. They started in Denver. Mm. And then they expanded to Chicago and Phoenix and Philadelphia and Dallas is their fifth expansion.
0:07:03 - (Owen Newkirk): And it's all the same idea as they. They do sports podcasting and they have a different show for each of the major league sports franchises.
0:07:11 - (Mike Rhyner): Right.
0:07:12 - (Owen Newkirk): And it's daily, five days a week. We do a one hour show every day. And then during the season we'll replace a daily show with. With a pre and post if there's a game. So we're literally following along with our favorite teams.
0:07:27 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:07:27 - (Owen Newkirk): And sort of a slant initially of, you know, really we're fans just like you. But then in Dallas, they did something a little bit. Not that the other affiliates don't have professionals working for them, but they went out and really hired people that were known commodities in the market.
0:07:48 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:07:48 - (Owen Newkirk): You know, we've got Clarence Hill and Jeff Kavanaugh and Jesse Holly with the Cowboys show. I mean, heavyweights that, that carry clout in cowboy circles know them all. And John Ratigan and Jeff Wilson with the Rangers. Right. These aren't guys that have been fans doing a podcast in their garage. No defense to podcasts. We're doing them here. We do it. We have our little garage office. Sir, that's it's way.
0:08:14 - (Shoopy): Just refer to our studio garage.
0:08:16 - (Mike Rhyner): No, no, no, no.
0:08:18 - (Owen Newkirk): And then, and, and then with the Mavericks, right. We have the great Mark Stein and Bobby Coralla. KG is on there and Tim Cato was on there. And then of course, we have Craig Ludwig and Sean Shapiro and myself and Sam Nestler. People that have not, you know, they're not just. And when I said in the garage, I'm certainly not referring to your dark companion. It more of the.
0:08:41 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, that's okay. You throw us in the garage.
0:08:45 - (Owen Newkirk): We don't buy hall of Famer people. This is Marconi winner.
0:08:50 - (Mike Rhyner): We don't mind you throw us in the garage.
0:08:52 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah, but we're good with it. It doesn't merit that yet. No, I'm kidding.
0:08:55 - (Mike Rhyner): But no, give it time.
0:08:57 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah. In serious. But it's just, it's neat to see people that have established themselves in the industry come together and try to create that and goes back to our talk about chemistry. Right. You have to find that and feel it pretty quickly. Otherwise. And I think we have it. But you know, if it didn't, I don't think it works.
0:09:19 - (Mike Rhyner): No, it wouldn't work. Yeah, it wouldn't work. And if you don't have it, sooner or later you're going to know it.
0:09:25 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah.
0:09:25 - (Mike Rhyner): You may not know it immediately. It may be one of those things that you try to talk yourself into believing it's there when it's really not. But sooner or later, if you don't have it, that house of cards going to come tumbling down.
0:09:40 - (D): And I do think you all had at least a good start with, you know, you and Sean have been doing stuff together for years and I think y' all had a pretty natural chemistry already. And then Luddy's awesome. I don't know how much you would have really interacted with him.
0:09:55 - (Owen Newkirk): Like, I guess, maybe, but not like this.
0:09:58 - (D): Yeah, right.
0:09:59 - (Owen Newkirk): We would talk. He was doing TV studio over at. At the time, Fox Sports Southwest. Then I don't know if he was still doing it when it switched to ballet. But then he did color with Razor for a little bit when Razor moved to play by play for a short period of time. So obviously I had interactions and I knew him. But you know, being a member of a show five days a week in perpetuity, as you like to say. Yes, that you really become. You start to know people.
0:10:29 - (Shoopy): So what do you mean by this? I just messing. Craig's. Craig's his own animal. I helped him with the podcast for a while. He's his own animal.
0:10:37 - (Owen Newkirk): He is. But also really good at pretending like he doesn't know what's going on. But sharp as attack. He's like, you've got Colombo over there. He's kind of like Colombo because he's. Ludz is a savant, especially when it comes to hockey. But he gives you that thousand yard stare sometimes.
0:10:54 - (Mike Rhyner): Like, what do you mean?
0:10:56 - (Owen Newkirk): But he's so good at the poker face.
0:10:59 - (D): He leads you to believe that he's pretty much passed out drunk by. But he's not into the first period of most games. That he's watching and then, you know. Yeah, he's. He's fully aware of everything that's going on on the ice. Seems to still have pretty good connections off the ice and.
0:11:14 - (Owen Newkirk): Oh, yeah.
0:11:14 - (D): Aware of what's going on there. And then he's just funny as hell. So that's a. That's a hell of a group.
0:11:20 - (Shoopy): They need to remember he can drink a lot.
0:11:22 - (D): Yeah, I. I've heard legends and I've seen the legend in person.
0:11:25 - (Owen Newkirk): He's like a viper because he'll lie in wait and you think he's asleep or dead, and then he'll strike. When you think you've maybe got the upper hand and you don't, you never had it.
0:11:37 - (D): He's a rope, a doper.
0:11:38 - (Mike Rhyner): That's sneaky. Yeah, that is really sneaky.
0:11:41 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah.
0:11:41 - (D): Then I don't know as much about Sam Nestler.
0:11:44 - (Owen Newkirk): Sam's newer to. Yeah, he was here briefly.
0:11:46 - (D): Okay.
0:11:48 - (Owen Newkirk): Around the COVID time, and then went back to New Jersey and was working for the NHL and the Hockey News. And then they went out and they were. The problem for us with Sean was Sean left. He lives in suburban Detroit now. He made a life choice. He was still working for the Athletic and they were giving. They gave him a national beat and so he didn't have to be in Dallas. And his wife and his parents and his wife's family are all from Michigan, Ohio, sort of that area.
0:12:21 - (Owen Newkirk): So they did that.
0:12:22 - (Mike Rhyner): So this is one of those rare occasions where a guy scones. From Dallas to Detroit, huh?
0:12:27 - (Owen Newkirk): I mean, it's that. Well beaten path, right?
0:12:31 - (Mike Rhyner): That's man bites dog. Especially if you're around in the 80s when we had this massive, massive migration of Michiganders coming down.
0:12:44 - (Owen Newkirk): Down here.
0:12:44 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, you're probably too young to remember that.
0:12:49 - (Owen Newkirk): So I've been in Texas since 2012. I was in. Where I moved from the Northeast. I'm from Maine. I grew up in New England, and then I was working in upstate New York in minor league hockey. When I got the Texas job, it was a. Let's call it a habitat change, that's for sure, because summers up north get warm, but not like they do in Texas.
0:13:12 - (Mike Rhyner): Now.
0:13:12 - (Owen Newkirk): I've been here 13 years now, so I think I'm more accustomed.
0:13:17 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, you're used to it now.
0:13:18 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah.
0:13:18 - (Mike Rhyner): Or you better.
0:13:19 - (D): You still don't get used to it.
0:13:20 - (Owen Newkirk): Yes, that's true. But I can tolerate it way more the first time, I'll tell you. It's funny because I had a typical northerner reaction the first time. It was like 100 and something degrees. And there was a weather report of a cold front where the high was only 95. I laughed my ass off because I thought that was the most absurd thing I heard. A cold front is only 95. Little do you know that after a little while we celebrate those with everything we have?
0:13:47 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh yeah, Yeah. I mean down here it's all in a day's work.
0:13:50 - (Owen Newkirk): It's incredible. 95 feels like a dream compared to 105. Right.
0:13:55 - (D): So yeah, the last couple weeks where we've pretty much broken away from the hundreds and crossing our fingers hopefully.
0:14:01 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah.
0:14:01 - (D): Just like this week I think is going to be the last one for maybe a little while. I have no mid-90s.
0:14:06 - (Owen Newkirk): I've been here long enough to not say those out loud and worry jinxing a another return of triple digit temperatures.
0:14:13 - (D): There's like five false falls.
0:14:15 - (Owen Newkirk): Oh, the worst. Yeah.
0:14:18 - (Mike Rhyner): Can we talk a little hockey?
0:14:19 - (Owen Newkirk): Let's do it.
0:14:20 - (D): Hell yeah.
0:14:21 - (Mike Rhyner): Because I have to tell you that I had a long talk with myself after this season ended and I realized, and this is a confession that I'm making for the first time that I have become a hockey fan. Uh, oh yeah.
0:14:44 - (Owen Newkirk): Mr. Baseball himself.
0:14:47 - (Mike Rhyner): I missed it when it went away. I was so locked in on the tournament. As long as the Stars were in was ridiculous. And I even found myself asking what I think maybe I'm wrong about this, but what I think think I've been able to formulate what I believe to be semi literate intelligent questions about the game of hockey.
0:15:20 - (Owen Newkirk): I'm sure they'll be wonderful.
0:15:22 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, I'm not, I'm not going to whip any out now because no pressure. There's no hockey to look at now.
0:15:28 - (D): I mean, there's still stuff to talk about.
0:15:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, yeah, there's still stuff to talk about, but as far as you're not going to show them what happens in a game. Well, there's no game right now.
0:15:36 - (Owen Newkirk): That's right.
0:15:37 - (D): That's fair.
0:15:38 - (Owen Newkirk): But do you know we're less than a week away from the first preseason?
0:15:42 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes, I do.
0:15:42 - (Owen Newkirk): How about that? Hockey starts this week.
0:15:46 - (D): Wow, that's awesome. Shoopy.
0:15:48 - (Mike Rhyner): And boy, it really snuck up on us too. I mean, when did they start training camp?
0:15:52 - (D): Thursday.
0:15:55 - (Mike Rhyner): This past Thursday.
0:15:56 - (Owen Newkirk): This coming Thursday. Coming as in this week. And then two days after they'll play St. Louis for the first preseason game.
0:16:03 - (Mike Rhyner): Wow.
0:16:05 - (Owen Newkirk): Training camp isn't about getting in shape anymore. Right. You remember back when the Stars moved here in the early 90s, those guys had to go through a couple weeks to get up to snuff. Yeah, they don't have to do that anymore, these guys. If you're not in shape and ready to go when training camp starts, you're behind and players train. I mean, I think it's right this way with all sports. Right?
0:16:27 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:16:28 - (Owen Newkirk): Spring training baseball isn't about detoxing, it's about fine tuning for the season.
0:16:34 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:16:35 - (Owen Newkirk): Well, it wasn't that long ago, but maybe a couple decades. It was about getting yourself in baseball shape again. Right?
0:16:42 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:16:42 - (Owen Newkirk): So different because they spend all their off season training getting in peak condition and ready to go.
0:16:50 - (Mike Rhyner): How much downtime do you think the average player has between end of season and when he starts really getting ready for the start of training?
0:17:01 - (Owen Newkirk): Less and less. And I think that can be dangerous to not take some more time off, especially for parts of your body that you really stress throughout a season.
0:17:12 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:17:13 - (Owen Newkirk): I know that older players feel like they can't take time off because it'll be too hard to get back up to that level.
0:17:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:17:21 - (Owen Newkirk): You know, as we age, you take a little, you take a vacation and then you feel like it's going to take you weeks to catch up and.
0:17:28 - (Mike Rhyner): Check out this guy talking about aging. Yeah.
0:17:31 - (Shoopy): So fair enough. In the soccer world, we used to talk, we used to talk about how it takes like six days to get out of shape and then three weeks to get back into it.
0:17:41 - (Owen Newkirk): What part of the soccer world.
0:17:42 - (Shoopy): I played, I played pro soccer.
0:17:44 - (Mike Rhyner): Did you?
0:17:44 - (Shoopy): Hot minute.
0:17:45 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:17:45 - (Shoopy): No, like tcu. And then there you go, select all around here and from dfw.
0:17:49 - (Owen Newkirk): Wow.
0:17:50 - (Shoopy): Not that cool.
0:17:51 - (Mike Rhyner): No.
0:17:51 - (Shoopy): I played back in the day where we were all schmucks and we just happened to be able to play.
0:17:55 - (Owen Newkirk): I mean, I, I worked for FC Dallas for a little while.
0:17:57 - (Shoopy): Okay.
0:17:58 - (Owen Newkirk): Broadcasting games and played a little Gina.
0:18:01 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:18:02 - (Owen Newkirk): But.
0:18:02 - (Shoopy): Yeah, so. But we had coaches that would stress that to us. Like six days and you're out of shape. So just be ready for it.
0:18:09 - (Owen Newkirk): So I think, I think they work pretty hard all the time and they've spent, they're. They're almost compulsive about their craft. So I think a lot of them spend a lot of time on the ice, even in the summertime.
0:18:21 - (Mike Rhyner): So who was here last year that's not going to be here this year? Well, let's start there.
0:18:26 - (Owen Newkirk): Let's start with Mason Marchmont. He's not here anymore. He got trained.
0:18:31 - (Mike Rhyner): I found out about this like yesterday.
0:18:33 - (Owen Newkirk): Did you?
0:18:34 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. That surprises me and that, that concerns me a bit.
0:18:41 - (Owen Newkirk): It should be because there's a spot on the line with Matt Duchene and Tyler Sagan on their left wing, which he played. That is now yet to be claimed because the Stars paid Miko Ranton $12 million a year for eight years, which is the cost of doing business.
0:19:03 - (Mike Rhyner): Right.
0:19:03 - (Owen Newkirk): They were able to get him, and you want guys like him, but the casualties of a salary cap world are you can't pay everybody.
0:19:13 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:19:13 - (Owen Newkirk): And so to make room, they had to trade away Mason Marchman. They traded him to Seattle. They traded Matt Dumbo away to create cap space, although Dumba didn't have as nearly as impactful year as Marchman did. So I don't think that was as much of a loss, all due respect, to Matt Dumba. But then they also could not sign in free agency. The guys they brought in during the trade deadline and Mikhail Granlund and Cody Cece.
0:19:43 - (Owen Newkirk): So I know both really wanted to stay, and they just. The Stars didn't have anywhere near the space. So there are. Oh, and then they let Evgeny Do Donov go in free agency and he signed with New Jersey. So those are four or five players that will have to be accommodated for. From within. Because they wanted to give Miko Ranton a king's ransom, and I think he deserves it, too. But you have to make those choices.
0:20:12 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. If you're going to make a big move like that, you got to tote the note.
0:20:15 - (Owen Newkirk): And that's why there's a bit of cautious concern. This is still a very good roster, really good roster. Not many teams in the league that are better, but it's not necessarily as good as it was in April, May and June.
0:20:31 - (Mike Rhyner): And, you know, the thing about the game of hockey that I've come to realize is that everybody has got stars. Every team has got two or three guys at the top of their roster. Those are their stars. But the ones that make the difference are down below. The ones that make the difference are the worker bees.
0:20:55 - (Owen Newkirk): There's. If your top guys cancel out the other team's top guys or sort of balance them out.
0:21:02 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:21:03 - (Owen Newkirk): Then you can really find advantages if your middle six, bottom six players are better. Third and fourth line guys. Your depth guys. Yes, absolutely. And you need those guys to be effective while not making nearly the kind of salary that the big guys command. Because unlike back when our buddy Ludz played, where they didn't have a salary cap and if they wanted to pay for them, they had every right to do so, there's a salary cap now. It keeps going up, and that's good.
0:21:35 - (Owen Newkirk): But you can't pay everybody.
0:21:38 - (Mike Rhyner): But, you know, when you look at it, probably every team or every sport has its team structured that same way. You know, they've all got their stars, they've all got their big money guys, and the ones that make the difference are what you've got down below. And you know what? I'll bet before this thing's all said and done, we're going to see that with the Dallas Football Cowboys. And I don't mean in a necessarily good way.
0:22:08 - (D): You haven't been impressed by shoddy yet and his.
0:22:11 - (Mike Rhyner): I'm very impressed by shot.
0:22:12 - (D): Okay.
0:22:14 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, I really like him.
0:22:16 - (Owen Newkirk): I'm the best player on the team right now. Is Brandon Aubrey.
0:22:19 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah. All right. As long as we're gonna go down.
0:22:24 - (Owen Newkirk): This road, I'm ready for it.
0:22:27 - (Mike Rhyner): I think Brandon Aubrey is better at doing that thing that he does. Now, he's a one trick pony, granted, but he is better at doing that thing that he does than any player in any sport on any team in our Fairburg.
0:22:49 - (D): Damn.
0:22:50 - (Mike Rhyner): Wow. Talk me out of it.
0:22:54 - (D): Rangers, stars, Mavs.
0:22:56 - (Owen Newkirk): Is he the number one player in his position in the NFL? Is he the best kicker in the league by far?
0:23:03 - (Mike Rhyner): I would say so, yeah.
0:23:04 - (Owen Newkirk): So is there anybody to your point, is there anybody in DFW that can make that claim other than him?
0:23:12 - (Shoopy): Used to be Luca.
0:23:13 - (Owen Newkirk): Used to be Luca?
0:23:14 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, used to be Luca. In fact, Luca was. When I first started conjuring this notion up, the first guy I thought of was, well, now Luca. But guess what? Luca's not here anymore.
0:23:28 - (Owen Newkirk): There was a time.
0:23:29 - (Mike Rhyner): There was a time when you would have a very, very strong discussion about this. And prior to that, prior to that awful night in February when I was sitting at the Lakewood Landing just looking for something, just looking for a. This is a hoax text.
0:23:48 - (Owen Newkirk): You know exactly where you were when you found out?
0:23:51 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah, I do.
0:23:52 - (Owen Newkirk): One of those seminal moments.
0:23:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes, it is. I was madly scrolling through my phone looking for this is a text hoax. And I looked up and found four or five people standing around me, look, watching me, like they knew what I was doing. They expected me to say, okay, I found it. It's off. It's. It's a joke.
0:24:14 - (D): Well, the fact that even the guy that reported it had to follow up saying, this is not a hoax. Yeah, this tweet is real. Or something like that.
0:24:21 - (Owen Newkirk): And it's still way worse than Micah.
0:24:24 - (D): Yeah.
0:24:24 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah.
0:24:25 - (D): We at least saw coming.
0:24:26 - (Owen Newkirk): We saw it coming and there was a dispute and all that. And it. It's. It's Tough, because I don't think it's the right move for the Cowboys, but.
0:24:36 - (D): We got clowney now. It's okay.
0:24:38 - (Owen Newkirk): It's all better. But it was in the public specter for a long time. You could see this sort of heading toward that direction. The Luca was a blind side of all blindsides.
0:24:52 - (Mike Rhyner): It is the most catastrophic sports event we have ever had in this town.
0:24:58 - (Owen Newkirk): So we actually went to my family, we went to a Mavs game. I think it was in early Dec. It was early January. We saw them play the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they were really good, and they beat the Mavs. Luca at his calf injury, so he didn't play. And Kyrie had the flu, so we saw him play without Luca and Kyrie. Then this happens. And my younger son is a Phoenix Suns fan again. He's also the Pirates fan, so he's all over the.
0:25:29 - (Shoopy): Your son has no loyalty.
0:25:32 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah, he's just. He's all over the place. Hey, when you're a kid Seahawks fan, too. What?
0:25:37 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, when you're a kid, it's real easy to get distracted by stuff.
0:25:40 - (Owen Newkirk): I think he's a fan of those teams because of a particular player at that point and then sticks with it.
0:25:46 - (Shoopy): We've had this discussion recently about how one player, one player can, like, flip somebody's fandom real quick.
0:25:52 - (Owen Newkirk): Well, if it makes you feel any better, he started being a Seahawks fan of Russell Wilson, and then when Russ got traded to the Broncos, he kept cheering for the Seahawks.
0:26:00 - (Shoopy): I would feel bad.
0:26:01 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, yesterday was a good day for him.
0:26:03 - (Owen Newkirk): It was a wild day.
0:26:05 - (Shoopy): I would feel way better if you said he was a Yankees or a Red Sox fan like you were in your wife.
0:26:09 - (Owen Newkirk): Well, my oldest is a fan of all the sports. I've indoctrinated him. Well, my youngest, I didn't. So, anyway, we go to that Suns game. It was a month after, so it was in March, and Kyrie's done for the year. Half the team's hurt. Right. We're seeing the G League guys play, and it was still fun. They lost, of course, but I had a moment because I had to do a Stars show at dls, which is down by the House of Blues and Dick's Last Resort. So it's very close, but I didn't have to go away, so I wasn't in a hurry to leave. So we kind of let the.
0:26:43 - (Owen Newkirk): The patrons file out. And I remember walking up. I had to go. We ended up at the west side of the aac, so we had to walk all the way around to the Big entrance, the east side to the plaza out that way. And I'm walking out and there are Luca shirts and jerseys everywhere. This is a month after the trade and I. Again, we all felt this, but I'm just saying it's everywhere. It's tattooed within 77. And you're going, what have they done?
0:27:11 - (Owen Newkirk): Do they have any idea what they've done? Because this place embraced him so quickly and he was their guy.
0:27:19 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes. And.
0:27:21 - (Owen Newkirk): And they took him away.
0:27:23 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. I mean, still, it was, it was, it was. For lack of a better comparison, it was Dirk like. Yeah. You know, very.
0:27:31 - (Owen Newkirk): And so much faster because Dirk took a. I mean, he was 21 years.
0:27:35 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Dirk didn't come in as quite the. The.
0:27:41 - (D): He wasn't a finished product.
0:27:43 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Quite the polished product that Luca did. But still, I mean, if you look for it, if you look for the upside of Dirk, you can see it.
0:27:52 - (Owen Newkirk): Sure.
0:27:53 - (Mike Rhyner): And fortunately they had people around at the time who knew how to get it out of him and you know the rest of the story.
0:28:00 - (Owen Newkirk): And he became beloved.
0:28:02 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes.
0:28:02 - (Owen Newkirk): Luca. It felt like they attached to him almost immediately.
0:28:08 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. There was no. No getting it out of it. Having to get it out of him. He came ready to roll and did.
0:28:14 - (Owen Newkirk): Things that you just watch and go, man. I mean, the Luca magic stuff was just crazy.
0:28:19 - (Mike Rhyner): And I still. I mean, I've been thinking about this ever since. Ever since the end of the season. And we're going to know here before too terribly much longer. But I just wonder what the start of this season is going to be like and how. How. What is it? What it's going to be like when people show up for the games. You know, I mean, we've all had months to digest it and months to get our head right with it.
0:28:49 - (Mike Rhyner): That's one thing. But it's going to be another thing to go to the game and he's not there. Yeah.
0:28:55 - (D): Yeah. But we have Cooper flag and we're clearly going to see how Nico's plan all worked out.
0:29:01 - (Owen Newkirk): It's. He's.
0:29:02 - (Mike Rhyner): They're finally seeing divisions, wins championships.
0:29:05 - (Owen Newkirk): They're really lucky. I keep thinking about what if they didn't win the lottery and get Cooper. And who knows if it's all a behind the scenes rigor by the NBA to go. We got to say, Dallas will never ever.
0:29:19 - (Mike Rhyner): And I'm not one to fall for stuff. Yes. But you will never, ever convince me that that was on the up and up.
0:29:27 - (Owen Newkirk): It feels very fishy, doesn't it?
0:29:29 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah, man. Incredibly so.
0:29:31 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah.
0:29:32 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, there must have been people scurrying around at NBA headquarters going, look, we got to do something for Dallas.
0:29:39 - (Owen Newkirk): Otherwise, if they went into this season without Cooper Flag, if you just had their current roster. Does the building fill up halfway?
0:29:49 - (Mike Rhyner): No. No, it doesn't.
0:29:50 - (Owen Newkirk): I mean, there would have been more riots, more. More protests.
0:29:54 - (Mike Rhyner): It does not fill up halfway. Now, Cooper Flagg will give you some hope, but people better be forewarned. Number two or number one. He's a rookie. Yeah. And I don't care how good you are, it takes you a little bit of time to find your footing in the NBA. And number two, if you think that he's going to come in here and replace Luka, he is a very, very different player with a very, very different, different skill set.
0:30:23 - (Mike Rhyner): Now, does he have a chance to be really good? Yeah. Does he have big upside? Yeah. Is he singular in that he can do something that nobody else out there on the floor can do? I don't know about that.
0:30:36 - (Owen Newkirk): We'll find out why.
0:30:37 - (Mike Rhyner): We will. We will indeed. God, I totally lost my train of thought. Where were we?
0:30:43 - (Owen Newkirk): I think we went from the Cowboys to the Rangers.
0:30:46 - (D): Oh, yeah. The singular talent and all that.
0:30:48 - (Owen Newkirk): That's right.
0:30:50 - (D): Like, who's better than Brandon Aubrey at their.
0:30:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah, yeah.
0:30:54 - (D): That's what, one specific skill or something like that.
0:30:59 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, you need to come in here more often. We don't have chats like that.
0:31:03 - (D): Roadmap.
0:31:03 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, I mean. I mean, usually we. We get somebody in here and we talk to them about what they do and we stay largely on course.
0:31:11 - (Owen Newkirk): Well, I'm here to take you.
0:31:13 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. You came in here just knocked us off course.
0:31:16 - (D): He learned from Luddy.
0:31:17 - (Owen Newkirk): Happy to do it. We're here to talk about whatever, right?
0:31:21 - (D): Damn right.
0:31:22 - (Owen Newkirk): There's no agenda here. I'm happy to go whichever path you steer or don't. We will crash right into the trees.
0:31:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, getting back to Brandon Aubrey, I don't know of a guy around here and Luke is the only one that I could ever possibly think of who can do what he does as well as Brandon Aubrey can do what he does. And he is so straight line about it, it's not even funny.
0:31:50 - (Owen Newkirk): You remember Dan Bailey kicking for the Cowboys?
0:31:52 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:31:53 - (Owen Newkirk): When he was at his prime.
0:31:54 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:31:55 - (Owen Newkirk): He was automatic.
0:31:55 - (Mike Rhyner): He was good.
0:31:57 - (Owen Newkirk): Brandon Aubrey reminds me of Dan Bailey when he. Before he got hurt and then started getting the yips. And I remember you talking quite a bit about this on the radio, but when he was good, he. He was really good.
0:32:09 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes.
0:32:10 - (Owen Newkirk): Brandon Aubrey's got a 101520 yard range longer and that same pinpoint. Yeah, doesn't he?
0:32:18 - (Mike Rhyner): And I'll bet at some point, maybe this year, maybe not, but at some point they're going to let Brandon Aubrey try a 70, 75 yard field goal. And you know what? I wouldn't bet against it.
0:32:33 - (D): Hell yeah.
0:32:34 - (Owen Newkirk): So a couple years ago I was still working for the Stars and we got invited as a company to compete in a kickball tournament out at Jerry World at the Death Star between the Cowboys, the Rangers, the Mavs and the Stars. And I was still working for FC Dallas at the time too. They were very upset that they were not included. It was the Big four, not the Big five. And they're like we're soccer kickball. Like come on.
0:32:58 - (Owen Newkirk): They got invited the next year. So it was actually my first time going to AT&T Stadium. I hadn't gone to a football game there. The cost, the time commitment, the crowds, the parking, that's, it's quite an ordeal.
0:33:14 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:33:15 - (Owen Newkirk): And so the first this is absurdity Ryan's of it is the first time I set foot inside AT&CT Stadium. I went and played kickball on the field standing at 50 yard line on the star. And I have a point to this because you stand at the 50 and you look all the way down to the end zone and that is a long way. Yes, it's 60 yards but it's feels like it's a mile. And now you back up behind the Star which is where he kicked that game tying 64 yarder.
0:33:44 - (Owen Newkirk): And it's insane to think that you can blast a football with your foot that far. And we're talking about, well maybe you can do it by 10 yards and beat it. But I kind of believe he could do it.
0:33:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, I definitely believe he can do it.
0:33:55 - (Shoopy): Soccer players are built differently for that.
0:33:57 - (Owen Newkirk): There you go, do it.
0:34:00 - (Mike Rhyner): And you know, it's almost automatic with him. Like he was not phased in the least by getting out there and setting up for 64 yards. You know, he, he, he had the same flat line look on his face that he does every time you see him. If that guy has any kind of definable personality about him, I'd love to know what it is. And I for sure haven't seen it yet.
0:34:27 - (Owen Newkirk): You know what's really interesting about him and I heard this, I think it was your old colleagues Dan and Jake doing their dumb zone had him on. I think they've probably had him on since, but it was a while ago and I, it was fascinating because I didn't really think about how kickers prepared. They're trying, and he explained this, they're literally trying to take human emotion out of their craft. They're trying to be as mechanical and robotic as possible to literally replicate same steps, same wind up, same kick so you don't worry about pressure, distance.
0:35:04 - (Owen Newkirk): You know, all the things are. We're trying to become a machine.
0:35:08 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:35:08 - (Owen Newkirk): And it makes sense from a mentality because of all the, you know, the stakes, the money involved. You've got a 53 man roster and it all hinges on whether you can kick the ball through an upright. You probably don't want to think too much about it. Right. But he's trying to become a robot kicker and he sure looks like.
0:35:27 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, he does look like it.
0:35:28 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah.
0:35:29 - (Mike Rhyner): God, he's so great though. I remember when I was a kid, the field goal record for most of my ill spent youth in the following the NFL was 56 yards by a guy named Bert Raichachar of the Baltimore Colts who also played some other position, but he kicked a 56 yard field goal and everybody was going, oh man, we'll never see that again. And then Tom Dempsey came along with the Saints and he was a guy with like half a foot, you know.
0:36:11 - (Owen Newkirk): Oh, the flat front toe.
0:36:13 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, yeah. And he made one from 63.
0:36:16 - (Owen Newkirk): Good grief.
0:36:18 - (Mike Rhyner): And we got. Oh man, we'll never see that again. And now here is Brandon Aubrey and man, he's nowhere near done yet.
0:36:29 - (Owen Newkirk): You know, it wasn't that long ago where a 50 yarder was a roll of the dice. Yeah, a very exciting. Maybe he'll make it. Maybe it won't have enough distance. Feels like 50 yards is shoot is expected. Now if you have a 55 yard field goal, if you're worth your salt, you better make that kick.
0:36:47 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. If you're going to kick in the NFL, you got to hit them from 50.
0:36:50 - (Owen Newkirk): That's crazy.
0:36:51 - (Mike Rhyner): There's no two ways about it. You got to hit them from 50. It used to be crazy.
0:36:55 - (Owen Newkirk): 48 yards was a long field.
0:36:56 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:36:57 - (Owen Newkirk): Now it's like a chip shot.
0:36:58 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, that's kid stuff.
0:37:00 - (Owen Newkirk): It is kid stuff. Don't tell Scott Norwood that.
0:37:07 - (Mike Rhyner): All right.
0:37:07 - (D): Poor guy.
0:37:08 - (Owen Newkirk): I know. Still taking strays.
0:37:10 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, this is Owen Newkirk here. I must say I'm enjoying this chat with you quite a bit as well. Right now though, we have to stop down for the dreaded and feared Owen mid show read. Yes, this is I talk. This is where I talk to you about the pain, the anxiety, the sleepless nights in your world and Just how you would like to free yourself of these things. It can be done. And guess what? You can do it naturally.
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0:38:27 - (Mike Rhyner): So go out there, talk to them and look. When you go in, there's a lot of these places. You're gonna go in there and tell them what's going on. Tell them what you want. They'll look over at something, grab it and say, try this. They don't do that at the CBD House of Healing. They talk to you and find out exactly what's going on. Their owner, who happens to be an RN knows about this stuff. And when you tell them what's. Tell her what's going on, she will know what to do about it.
0:38:58 - (Mike Rhyner): Start your healing at the House of Healing. And effective now, all vape products will be sold online only. Go to@cbd Dallas.com for those. Is that it?
0:39:10 - (D): Nailed it.
0:39:11 - (Mike Rhyner): That's all we got. How about that? You like that?
0:39:14 - (D): We survived.
0:39:15 - (Mike Rhyner): All right. We did survive. We've gone through this whole thing today and nobody's died here.
0:39:21 - (D): Yeah, I'm proud of.
0:39:22 - (Mike Rhyner): It's pretty good.
0:39:23 - (Shoopy): We still have a long way to go, guys.
0:39:24 - (D): It's true.
0:39:25 - (Mike Rhyner): We do have a long way to go. This is Owen Newkirk of dlls. He does the stars on DLL s. So if you like stars coverage, he is your go to guy. He did the stars pre and post game show for years on the little radio on the little ticket, which is where we first encountered him. And how are you feeling about what the team's got this year?
0:39:56 - (Owen Newkirk): Well, I'm still very optimistic. This is a good team. But there are some questions because as I said, was talking to you earlier before we got into a really fun, circuitous route which we can go back to that at any time.
0:40:13 - (D): Hell yeah.
0:40:14 - (Owen Newkirk): But.
0:40:15 - (Mike Rhyner): And we just made.
0:40:15 - (Owen Newkirk): And we just made pretty much a definite. I mentioned to you the players, they lost.
0:40:22 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:40:22 - (Owen Newkirk): Marchmont, of course, Cece, Grandland, Dumba. They have to have players step up into those roles to Donov was the other one.
0:40:36 - (Mike Rhyner): Do they have those on hand or are those organization guys? Or did they go out and get into free agency or.
0:40:45 - (Owen Newkirk): A little bit. So they brought Radek Fox a back. He was here for a long time. They drafted him. Yeah, he was in the ahl. In fact, he came out of juniors when the first year I was in Austin in Cedar Park. That was back in 2012. 13. So that's how long I've lived in Texas. Was we moved to Austin and then after two years there, moved to Dallas. And so Fox, it was a kid. Still a kid by our standards. But he's in his 30s now, which is getting old for hockey, which seems absurd in real life, right?
0:41:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, God, tell me about it.
0:41:23 - (Owen Newkirk): Nothing like hearing a I actually yelled at one of our members of our company that is in their 20s, getting late 20s, almost 30, feeling very old, and I said, you stop that right now. I'll have none of that. But anyway, I feel like there are some internal pieces that can step up into those roles, but we have to see. So Cody, CC played pretty good minutes on the back end, on defense. Penalty kill. They're hoping that, as you saw in the playoffs, our big giant, sweet Swiss defender Liam Bixel steps into that role and plays more because remember, he's huge. He hits everything that moves.
0:42:08 - (Owen Newkirk): Kind of enjoy that.
0:42:09 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah.
0:42:10 - (Owen Newkirk): And now this will be his first full season. He actually started the year in the AHL last year. So even though he played a nice role in the playoffs, he still hasn't gone wire to wire in the NHL yet. Yeah, and he's only 21. Speaking about being young. So you hope he takes a step. Nils Lundqvist got hurt. Hurt his shoulder midseason last year. He's the young Swede. He's not as big as Leon. In fact, he's quite the opposite. But he's quick, he's got lots of skill.
0:42:41 - (Owen Newkirk): Can he take a step and add more? Alex Petrovic, who's the old guy on the beat because he's in his 30s again, I laugh every time I hear that. But he barely played in the regular season, was down in the ahl, but for the last two postseasons, he played a prominent role both the year before and last year going to the conference final. I don't think he goes down this year. I think he stays on the NHL roster from the get go.
0:43:10 - (Owen Newkirk): Now, he might be the guy that's maybe your seventh defenseman, so maybe he's in and out, depending on who you're playing and who's playing well or not. But it's pretty cool to see a guy sort of re find his NHL game late in his career after probably thinking that that time was up.
0:43:28 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:43:28 - (Owen Newkirk): So that part's interesting. On the front side, up from the forwards. Is it Maverick Bork, Is he going to be. You know, he was a rookie last year. Is he. He's a very high end skill, first round pick. Can he step in and fill Marchmont's void offensively? Maybe not physically because he's a different player.
0:43:47 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:43:48 - (Owen Newkirk): And he's not 64 like Marchmont was. Marchman is a big, big guy, but maybe he steps in. Sam Steele, who's been a really, really good find as a guy who is a first round pick in Anaheim, then goes to Minnesota. Minnesota doesn't offer him a contract and Dallas has got him on the cheap. And he's a guy that plays is. He's a perfect guy center of your, you know, third or fourth line. But maybe he, because he's got skill, maybe he can play in that role.
0:44:16 - (Owen Newkirk): So those are some of the. And then they, they picked up Nathan Bastian this summer. Free agent 6, 4, 2 10, 215. Not a lot of offense, but hits everything that moves.
0:44:28 - (Mike Rhyner): Where they get him from New Jersey. Okay.
0:44:30 - (Owen Newkirk): And he is a guy who's in his late 20s, I think maybe almost 30, been with New Jersey for a while, knows the league, has some experience and maybe he can, you know, you bring a couple guys in like Fox and Bastion, you add a little more beef on your forward group because the stars are bit. Are. Are very talented, very skilled. Ransom and as they call him, he's a moose. But not everybody up front for Dallas is Jamie Ben size.
0:44:59 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:44:59 - (Owen Newkirk): So maybe adding. I wonder about that. And of course the big change is coach. That was a rather notable off season move, was it not?
0:45:07 - (Mike Rhyner): I would say so. Were you surprised that they went back to a guy who had already been here?
0:45:16 - (D): They got fired by the gm.
0:45:18 - (Owen Newkirk): That's great a story, isn't it?
0:45:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:45:20 - (Owen Newkirk): One of the first thing Jim Neal did when he was hired as GM was to fire Glenn Gullison as head coach. So I overlapped with Gulley, but I missed him in the ahl. He had been promoted to the Dallas head coach the year before. I got to Cedar park and they spoke glowingly about him in the AHL organization because he had been there, I think 09 to 2011 and was really successful. When they first started there, they moved there and then I met him once or twice during the lockout shortened season that 1213 season.
0:45:58 - (Owen Newkirk): He. Because he was coming down to watch our games because there weren't any NHL games for those first few months. But again, you know, super nice guy, but you know, just a few sort of. I wouldn't call him perfunctory conversations, but just, you know, nice to meet you, hey, how are you? That kind of thing. You know, I'm a. I was in my 30s at the time. I was still quite young. So anyway, I've gotten to know him a little bit, but not as well as I will as we go forward.
0:46:27 - (Owen Newkirk): But we had him on our show and I'll tell you what, he sold himself very well. Now we'll see how it plays out. But he talks so much about and I thought this was really very self aware. He said he should have been fired by Jim. No, because he. That was his first NHL coaching experience.
0:46:48 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:46:49 - (Owen Newkirk): Now he's 12 years later. He was an assistant for Vancouver. He was the head coach in Calgary. He's been the assistant with Edmonton and working with some pretty marquee players. Guys like McDavid and Draisaitl. Two of the best in the league right now.
0:47:04 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes, sir.
0:47:06 - (Owen Newkirk): Court are the architect of one of the best power plays. The best power play in the NHL. So he says. He says. I think he used the word scars. I have the scars, the battle wounds now that I didn't have with Dallas last time. I think he'll do very well. It'll be different because he and Pete DeBoer are not the same type of coach now. They know a lot of the same styles and tactics and stuff, but they are going to be different. There's different philosophies.
0:47:34 - (Owen Newkirk): Every coach is different. Right. They all bring their own to it.
0:47:37 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:47:37 - (Owen Newkirk): And maybe what he brings will be what they need to get over the hump. Because it's definitely apparent that Pete DeBoer has a shelf life. He's an excellent coach. He's really, really good. But I don't think he can stay in one place too long before his very sharp but maybe a bit too stubborn approach starts to wear a little thin.
0:48:01 - (D): He seems to be developing maybe a reputation of being difficult with goalies especially. I realize that this point does he pretty much too right with Otter and.
0:48:11 - (Owen Newkirk): Was it Flurry Mark Andre, Flurry Robin Leonard there as well?
0:48:15 - (D): That's right.
0:48:16 - (Owen Newkirk): I'm sorry, there's big issues there. I don't know if you recall the photo released by Mark Andre Fleury's agent a few years back with a big giant. I Call it a claymore. Big sword right through his back. And that was all in response to how Pete DeBoer was handling Mark Andre Fleury in Vegas.
0:48:39 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, that.
0:48:41 - (Owen Newkirk): That grew some. Drew some headlines. So he sort of has a reputation of not being the easiest coach on goalies.
0:48:49 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, I'm getting the drift that you fully expected that to happen at the end of the year.
0:48:56 - (Owen Newkirk): Not until game five against Edmonton, when they pulled Jake Ottinger after the two quick goals.
0:49:04 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:49:04 - (Owen Newkirk): And this was the game that eliminated the stars. And Jake goes to the bench. And Pete rightly is. Is you. He used his timeout, so he's barking at the players. He's mad. They have off to a horrible start in this game. Elimination game. They have to win. Season is on the line. And then they break the huddle. Jake turns and starts to skate back to the net. And that's when Pete realizes, oh, I didn't tell him I'm pulling him.
0:49:31 - (D): That's what happened.
0:49:32 - (Owen Newkirk): That's what. That's what you. And then he yells at him, hey, you're out of here. And here's the thing. You want to pull your starter because two quick goals and you're trying to shake it up.
0:49:41 - (D): Great.
0:49:42 - (Owen Newkirk): You want to use your timeout to try to shake the team up and get them out of their funk. Why do both? You're wasting two bullets on one task.
0:49:51 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:49:52 - (Owen Newkirk): Use the timeout, pull the goalie. You don't have to do both. But he did. And then the big. Of course, the part that really started this whole, you know, avalanche, this snowball, was his postgame comments where he called Jake out individually.
0:50:08 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:50:08 - (Owen Newkirk): He's lost six of seven in the last two years to Edmonton, not the team he.
0:50:15 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:50:16 - (Owen Newkirk): And that's when things really started to go sour.
0:50:20 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, watching this from a distance and being a hockey idiot, I gotta say, I fully expected that time.
0:50:29 - (Owen Newkirk): Did you?
0:50:30 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Did you? I mean, surely you did, too, at that point.
0:50:33 - (Owen Newkirk): For sure. Because I could still see them saying, hey, we're right there. They've had more win. They had the best point percentage over the last three years. We beat Deborah than anybody else in the NHL. Three straight conference finals. They're close, but that. And then we find out. Jim does an interview later saying that around the Four nations tournament last year, which would have been late February, Pete was telling Jim that he feels like he's pressed every button he can press.
0:51:05 - (Owen Newkirk): And that is illuminating when your coach starts to run out of ways to motivate his team. I'm using everything I can do now what?
0:51:17 - (D): And if he's saying that, he's got to know that his shelf life is short.
0:51:20 - (Owen Newkirk): Right. And he made an interesting comment. So Pete actually did his first interview. It came out yesterday. Yesterday. I think it was either Saturday or Sunday. I don't know. The time blurs very quickly, doesn't it? What year is it exactly? And he said, you know, if they had gotten to the first round his first year and knocked out in the second round, and then the conference final, you see some growth, you say, hey, we're going the right direction. But they've been, I mean, conference final three years in a row. I mean, I don't want to throw shade at the Cowboys, but they would kill for that right now.
0:51:52 - (Mike Rhyner): Go ahead and throw shade at the cab.
0:51:54 - (Owen Newkirk): Fair enough. It's been a few decades and yet think about the standard. Think about the expectation level. Because going into this season, if the Dallas Stars don't make it to the conference final, it'll be considered a failed season. Maybe. Maybe if they lose to a really good team like a Colorado or a Vegas or something like that. You go, two big teams went head to head and one team came and you were on the wrong side. Last year they beat Colorado in the first round. Colorado could have won the whole thing.
0:52:25 - (Owen Newkirk): So maybe that. Look at Edmonton. Edmonton has lost in the Stanley cup final two years in a row. And if they don't win the Stanley cup this year, it'll be a failure, which is insane.
0:52:40 - (Mike Rhyner): I don't know. I've always been of the idea that there is something to be said for getting there.
0:52:44 - (Owen Newkirk): Yes. You know, you can't expect championship or bust, can you? That's a high bar for a fan base.
0:52:54 - (Mike Rhyner): It's. It's a high bar for a rational fan base.
0:52:59 - (Owen Newkirk): Fair enough.
0:53:00 - (Mike Rhyner): But the better part of fan bases aren't rational. They want it all and they want it right now and they want it yesterday.
0:53:08 - (Owen Newkirk): Yeah.
0:53:09 - (Mike Rhyner): And if they don't get it, then they want to know why and they want something done about it.
0:53:13 - (Owen Newkirk): And they want someone's head on a platter.
0:53:15 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes. They like that. Oh, they like that. And usually they get it. Every fan base except the Cowboys, they'll get a new coach, but so what?
0:53:26 - (Owen Newkirk): August 8th. Always a fun day in Dallas, wasn't it? 17 game season, but 8 and 8 was a very staple of the early years of me living in this area. It was the Jason Garrett.
0:53:39 - (D): Oh, yeah.
0:53:40 - (Owen Newkirk): Well, here we are, August 8th, Cowboy Day. But, you know, groups you. I fell in love with with Groobs. I missed. I was not here when you were running the board at the ticket. I wish I had been because the stories are legendary. But you were running.
0:53:57 - (Mike Rhyner): He was incredible.
0:53:58 - (Owen Newkirk): I bet he was because he was doing the music. The DJ work for the stars home games. And when I first got here, I'll never forget this, the first game we did, they had an introduction to Groobs on the. The big Jumbotron. And you know, Jeff K does this. Hey, everybody, check out. Here he is, Groobs. And the place goes nuts. And I went, who is this guy?
0:54:24 - (D): For what it's worth, it was, we called it the Whip round where Jeff K starts off, you know, introducing himself. Then I think he throws it to Selena. Right. Selena Ray. And then throws it to me and I play a fun song or something like that. So it wasn't specifically me.
0:54:40 - (Owen Newkirk): A pop. When your face popped up on that screen, you hit a button, you started dancing. And I realized very quickly we had something special here.
0:54:49 - (D): Something's wrong with this guy.
0:54:51 - (Owen Newkirk): They don't do that with every music person at every sporting event.
0:54:55 - (D): I like to party.
0:54:56 - (Mike Rhyner): There's only one Shoopy.
0:54:59 - (D): No. And that was the fun thing was getting to know Owen through, you know, all the post game shows and all that. I would try to swing by at least every few games to, you know, at least wave. Wave to you and Bruce and always.
0:55:12 - (Owen Newkirk): Letting us know he was going home while we were still working.
0:55:15 - (D): Yeah. Especially my last couple years with the stars. I lived right next door.
0:55:18 - (Owen Newkirk): That's perfect.
0:55:19 - (D): Oh, it was glorious.
0:55:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. He'd just turn and wave bye bye on his way out, living 40 steps.
0:55:25 - (D): Away, Homer Simpson fading into the bushes.
0:55:27 - (Owen Newkirk): Just sucking back into the hedges. Yeah, it was, but yeah, no, we. Look, Chippy's great. Chippy does it now and he does a great job. But I, I've said this to groups privately, I'll say it publicly. We miss him still because there's nobody what some of the things that he would do, boy, real next level stuff.
0:55:46 - (D): Plus I just didn't really know hockey that well, so I was like, well, I better be funny if I'm going to do this damn job.
0:55:50 - (Owen Newkirk): Might as well, right? Have some fun with it. We lost you to the Rangers for a bit, but that was a, for a great reason and that was a good time. And now you're here.
0:55:58 - (D): Yeah. Then getting to play radio again with that guy and now playing podcast in the garage with him.
0:56:03 - (Owen Newkirk): It's a really nice garage though.
0:56:05 - (D): It's two car garage.
0:56:06 - (Owen Newkirk): Like a house.
0:56:07 - (D): It might be a Three car garage. If we renovate.
0:56:10 - (Mike Rhyner): If we renovate.
0:56:11 - (D): Yeah.
0:56:12 - (Mike Rhyner): I have to knock down a few walls for that.
0:56:14 - (D): We make that happen, we'll call Freak Jesus. He'll help us out.
0:56:18 - (Owen Newkirk): I love it.
0:56:19 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, Owen Newkirk, it has been great having you in here, man.
0:56:23 - (D): Oh, yeah.
0:56:24 - (Owen Newkirk): Gone by so fast.
0:56:25 - (Mike Rhyner): You are a cool cat. You are a cool cat and a delight. A veritable font of stars. Poop. And we certainly appreciate that.
0:56:37 - (Owen Newkirk): Well, it's a pleasure to be here. And I'll tell you, and I'm not saying this just because you're here, but I didn't think I necessarily had a lot to learn when I got to Dallas, but I did. And some of the things that I have incorporated the most is stuff I learned listening to you guys on the ticket and. Because I didn't know anything about the station until I got the job and now it's, you know, it permeates you, right? It becomes part of you. You can't avoid it anymore. No, but I learned so many things.
0:57:10 - (Owen Newkirk): Pacing. Slow down. You'll get there. Yeah, don't. Don't be such a hurry because I. I'm a fast talker by nature.
0:57:19 - (Mike Rhyner): Right.
0:57:19 - (Owen Newkirk): But then you hear your old stuff or you hear Sturm's old stuff and he's talking about Sparky Anderson at three times speed and you're going, or metal bats.
0:57:31 - (D): Right.
0:57:31 - (Owen Newkirk): Or whatever it is. And you're going, it's okay. But. But you know what? The one that's even better than that is I learned, especially listening to you on the hardline, you have to know the answers to the questions the audience are going to have on your initial topic. Right. And that's the preparation that you don't see on the shows. It's. I'm going to tell you about Brandon Aubrey. Well, where did Brennan Aubrey come from? Well, I already researched that, so I know where he came from.
0:58:02 - (Owen Newkirk): What makes him so good? Well, I've figured that out. Right. It's having the second and third layers ready and that that was invaluable to learn from watching you guys.
0:58:14 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, I appreciate that, man. I really appreciate that. And I'm sure that I haven't seen you on DLLs yet, right? Yet. But I'm going to.
0:58:24 - (Owen Newkirk): I hope so.
0:58:24 - (Mike Rhyner): I'm sure you're killing it over there just like you did on the post game show.
0:58:29 - (Owen Newkirk): We should have you on to talk stars with LUDs in the 90s.
0:58:33 - (D): Oh, man.
0:58:34 - (Owen Newkirk): Charity, challenges and all the things that implies.
0:58:37 - (D): We need that.
0:58:39 - (Mike Rhyner): You think we need that.
0:58:40 - (D): I Think we do Shoopy.
0:58:41 - (Owen Newkirk): I think.
0:58:43 - (Mike Rhyner): I think Shoopy would be better at that than me.
0:58:45 - (Owen Newkirk): Can you imagine a memory lane discussion on our show between you and Craig Ludwig? I'll bet you there are some wonderful stories from between 1993, when they came here, and when he retired after the 99 Cup.
0:59:00 - (D): But how much can be said publicly?
0:59:01 - (Owen Newkirk): That's always a question. As much as you're willing to share.
0:59:06 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, you say the word, I'll be there for you, man.
0:59:08 - (Shoopy): I think it should be luds, Ralphie and Mike.
0:59:10 - (D): Holy crap.
0:59:11 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, boy.
0:59:12 - (Owen Newkirk): Well, I don't need to be on that show. I can just watch.
0:59:16 - (Shoopy): You've got to moderate because if not, you'll never get them off the air.
0:59:19 - (Owen Newkirk): Well, that's very true. Said from very much experience.
0:59:24 - (Mike Rhyner): What a quartet.
0:59:25 - (Owen Newkirk): But we actually want to have Groobs on as well, because I believe he and our boss Ben are talking about a groove's chaos day of him just coming in and torpedoing every show.
0:59:40 - (D): All eight. Manning every single show.
0:59:42 - (Owen Newkirk): You should, because we don't have enough Groobs in our life.
0:59:46 - (D): I think you got plenty. I know I've had plenty of. I'm tired of me.
0:59:54 - (Mike Rhyner): Nobody ever gets tired of you.
0:59:56 - (Owen Newkirk): Not a chance.
0:59:57 - (Mike Rhyner): Not a chance. All right, see, that's what made him famous.
1:00:03 - (D): Literally.
1:00:05 - (Mike Rhyner): That's what did it, I think.
1:00:06 - (D): Literally, that drop that put him where he. Not even just a fart, but that specific.
1:00:10 - (Owen Newkirk): Is that the number four for me?
1:00:13 - (D): For this one, it's number two.
1:00:14 - (Mike Rhyner): Okay.
1:00:15 - (D): Ironically. What a stupid life.
1:00:21 - (Mike Rhyner): God, that's almost wet.
1:00:24 - (D): Oh. Oh, no. One more time. That's pretty wet.
1:00:29 - (Owen Newkirk): That's pretty. That's very filthy.
1:00:32 - (D): Disgusting.
1:00:32 - (Owen Newkirk): It's like a Paul Skeens curveball.
1:00:34 - (Mike Rhyner): That's right.
1:00:35 - (Owen Newkirk): It's filthy.
1:00:37 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, let me tell you one more thing before we go, and that is that you can find all of our episodes on our Patreon page. You can also find us on YouTube. You can find us on Spotify. So listen, follow, share us on your social media. That means everything to those of us who swim in the waters of the podcast. And while we're at it, if you're feeling what we're throwing down here, how about a nice review?
1:01:07 - (Mike Rhyner): If you're by the channel on Spotify or Apple, podcasts can help others find us by leaving a review. So you do that for us. We will keep doing this for you. Thank you, Owen. Really appreciate you, man.
1:01:21 - (Owen Newkirk): Thanks for having me. It was an absolute pleasure.
1:01:24 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, that is YDC for today. Bye. All right, I'm gonna go take pants off. Your Dark Companion is a stolen water media presentation.