Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
A relatable and honest podcast about the highs and lows of being a youth hockey parent. Join us as we share real stories, struggles, and wins from the rink, offering insights and support for parents navigating the world of youth hockey.
Alright. Here we are. Episode 16 of the Crazy Hockey Dads podcast coming at you from remote locations this week.
Scott:That's what's
Jamie:up. Right? I mean, so I I'm coming at you from White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and Scott is clean shaven. So there's a lot of crazy things going on right now.
Scott:I lost a bet.
Jamie:We're gonna have to change our we lost a bet. We're gonna have to change our logo now to a clean shaven Scott.
Scott:No. I think I'm gonna let it grow back. I'm very conflicted.
Jamie:Oh, you are?
Scott:I Okay. I wanna it does totally not important for this podcast, but I am conflicted. I think it's going to grow back.
Jamie:Okay. Alright. Listen. Yeah. We'll see.
Jamie:You definitely look it's definitely a cleaner look for you, that's for sure. Nancy was like, what is that?
Scott:Yeah. I I mean, my daughter
Jamie:was Was your wife like, what is that?
Scott:No. She'd seen it before, but Noah was looked at me and she was she was like, who are you? She didn't like it? I don't like it. No.
Scott:She said, grow your beard back. I don't like it, dad.
Jamie:Well, because she's used to you that way.
Scott:No. Of course. It's all good. I just kind of said, F it. I needed to trim my beard and I just decided to shave the whole thing.
Scott:And then I thought, I'll just keep a new look for a little while, but I'm not sure that I want to keep it. So we'll see. Either way, doesn't matter.
Jamie:I got you. Hey, listen. Well, you look good for all of our YouTube followers.
Scott:Yeah. Hey, what's up, everybody?
Jamie:Right? So all right. So everybody, welcome to episode 16. Again, coming at you remotely. We are figuring this out on the fly.
Jamie:That's for sure.
Scott:No doubt. And it's definitely a little different, but, you know, we want to just keep true to our, you know, once a week long release and we'll get better at it. So if anything sounds off strange, just bear with us. Appreciate the viewership as well for all those on YouTube. And correct me if I'm wrong, James, but new state, right?
Scott:Nebraska, I
Jamie:think is New state. Fire in. Awesome. Out to the Cornhuskers. It's Cornhuskers.
Jamie:Welcome all you Cornhuskers.
Scott:No doubt. That's right. Yeah. That's awesome. So, yeah, please keep on sharing the show with friends, family, other hockey enthusiasts.
Scott:Really appreciate it all. And, honestly, I would love to hear some more comments. We've gotten a few. We'd love to hear some more, even just stories that you can relate to that we share. And we'd love to hear your experiences also, this is an opportunity for all of us to learn from one another because I know and we both know that we're not the only ones that struggle with a lot of the stuff that we talk about.
Scott:Probably the reason why we're doing So, yeah. So comments, please. We'd love to hear from anyone that's been listening.
Jamie:Yeah, maybe we can read them on the air. The comments we've got so far are great. We can read some stories. I'm sure you guys all have your own stories as we do. Yeah, so please, everybody, keep subscribing, keep downloading, keep sharing.
Jamie:If you need any gear, any tape, any laces, go to our Howie's Hockey and use our affiliate link, which is Crazy10, C R A Z Y, the number 10, for 10% off. It really helps support the show and helps us a lot.
Scott:Yeah. Was rocking the shirt this weekend. I have down here
Jamie:The candle.
Scott:Brought the candle.
Jamie:Really good smelling. It's a phenomenal smelling wax.
Scott:Yeah. My daughter loves it.
Jamie:Oh, it's it's a phenomenal smell.
Scott:Yeah. No doubt. Yeah. Fantastic.
Jamie:So anyhow, so you just dropped Otto off at hockey camp. Right?
Scott:Yeah. He's up at elite hockey camp in New Hampshire. Nice. Staying at the New Hampton School for the next five days. It's awesome.
Scott:Looks awesome. I mean, just the setup over there is great. They don't want parents hanging around. I might be heading up there on Friday with my wife to see they have a game, like a final game or whatever their parents are invited to.
Jamie:Yeah. Most of the time they do.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. But it just seemed really well organized, well put together. Did not see the ice, but he's up there for a week. And I'll say this, think that this is his second time going away to sleep away camp.
Scott:He went one week last year. He's doing four weeks this year, but only one week at hockey. But so this was his first week away. I think he was, you know, probably had some nerves just about being away from home, full of excitement just to, you know, be away from home at the same time as like a double edged sword. Yeah.
Scott:But I was just reflecting on my time when I also went up to New Hampshire as a kid. I went to Exeter, Philip Exeter Academy, the boarding school. And I did a couple I went up there a few times for camp. You know, it's just it's got to be similar to going to tryouts or going to, you know, a spring, like after the fallwinter season and you've got maybe new teammates on a spring team. It's just like, you don't know what to expect, you don't know the skill level, you don't know if kids are nice, if they're douchebags, whether it's going be like on the ice, you stack up, so whatever, help feed all that stuff out, obviously.
Scott:But here's one thing I will say, that they certainly force, not force, yeah, guess force, whatever, it doesn't matter, the independence, right? So when I was walking with Otto, he had We had a duffel bag, he had a backpack. And so the duffel bags got shipped over by, like, a bus to the dorm room or whatever. So he was had his backpack on. And I we had a pretty a rather long walk over a football field is a walk.
Scott:So I just said, you you hang on to your hockey, I mean, to your backpack. And then we got over to the gymnasium, we had to grab our hockey bags and bring them over to the designated area where his team was. And so I was walking across a basketball court, more or less. So I had just picked up the hockey bag. Then one of
Jamie:counselors were like know, kind of sounded like
Scott:was like, dad carrying hockey bag. Dad carrying hockey bag. And at first I was like,
Jamie:no. No bueno. Bueno. Just didn't
Scott:that at all. So I just dropped it. I'm like, there you go, dude.
Jamie:Yep, all yours, bud.
Scott:All yours.
Jamie:Listen, I get it. And he's right. He's 100% right. In my opinion, all of our kids, if they can do it, they should be doing it. That's what keep telling Nancy.
Scott:Yeah, totally. I need to get better at it's, what am I saying? It's not like a muscle memory just yet. You know, there's some things that I'm just used to doing and it's muscle memory for me to do it. It's not muscle memory for me to say, Yo buddy, this is on you.
Scott:So I'm getting better at it, but it's a little bit of a learning curve for me also with some things. And so that's, I'm glad for that. And they also, I think it was this camp, but they, I forget if it was in an email or where it was, but when they get to when they pick up their jersey, their coach for the week is there at the table with their jerseys. And I think they said in one of their emails or PDFs, you know, we want your kids to introduce themselves. We want them to talk to the counselor or the coaches.
Scott:We want them to shake their hands and look them in the eye. Know, and I thought that was really great that this
Jamie:Yeah, I like that.
Scott:You know, they were also mindful of just kids becoming more mature. Right? And like, start to enforce those good habits.
Jamie:Listen, I think it's huge. I love the fact that he called you out for carrying out his bag. I think that's fantastic. You know? Yeah.
Jamie:It's great. That's the idea. These kids, they have to be independent. That's how they learn.
Scott:100%. One thing that I'm curious to hear what Otto says when he gets to join, we pick him up or he picks him up at tying his skates. He's not there yet.
Jamie:You know what? It's fine. It's I know.
Scott:So I know insofar as like, for some of these kid things that are kid specific, he's not going to need dad or an adult to tie his skates forever. He's not going to need us to do these things forever. So I'm not concerned about him ever not learning. But when we got into the dorm room, his roommate was there from he was there last year also. And so this was his first week back for this summer.
Scott:And I think he pretty much said, yeah, everyone needs to be able to tie their skates. And I was like, I can't ask anyone to help me? And the kid didn't really answer. And again, you take everything that kids say with a grain of salt. But I hope that doesn't
Jamie:lend to bad I think these counselors are used to tying skates, man. Know?
Scott:Wouldn't But the moment I walked in the gym with a hockey bag, got called out. So who knows what it's like in the locker room? You know, they could be like a strip
Jamie:Drop the bag, pussy. It's like the wonk alarm from, like, Planet Fitness.
Scott:The what alarm?
Jamie:You know, Planet Fitness, the gym?
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. I am.
Jamie:So there's a thing called the lunk alarm. The lunk alarm? Yeah. The lunk alarm sounds when you got a a big, like, when you got, like, a big meatball and they're going, They call it a lunk alarm because they don't want that. So they actually have, a lunk alarm in Planet Fitness gyms.
Jamie:Like, for real life? Yeah. They have a it's called a lunk alarm. They They had commercials with it and everything. You don't remember that?
Scott:I the only heard commercials where it was like, I I I pick things up and put them down. I pick things up and put them down.
Jamie:I'm telling you, Google Planet Fitness lunk alarm, I'm pretty sure they have like a legit alarm. They should have those ten seconds. When somebody like, when somebody goes, oh, Arnold Schwarzenegger and, like, makes a lot of noise while they're lifting and, like, starts slamming down weights and stuff like that, I'm pretty sure a lunk alarm goes off. Planet Fitness. Slamming of
Scott:the weights is, like, that's that's real. But like yeah. Wow. Interesting.
Jamie:A lot of
Scott:that for tennis were like, you know, for grunting.
Jamie:Monica Seles? Monica Seles. Totally. Yeah. Yeah.
Jamie:Sure. Remember those days?
Scott:Plenty of them. Agassi too.
Jamie:You and I played tennis as a kid as kids with a a dude who did that. Dude. I'm sure you remember well.
Scott:At least two.
Jamie:I Yes. One CR.
Scott:One who d o.
Jamie:C r, everybody actually would know these days too if we actually dropped the name, which we can't.
Scott:Yeah. That's look.
Jamie:The purveyor of a a a good clothing
Scott:these days. Listen, at the end of the day, was a sick tennis player.
Jamie:Yeah, no, was. That's true.
Scott:It's easy for kids to poke fun and obviously grunting is part of tennis. At least it was, and I don't know if it still is. So yeah, while it's not something that you or I would necessarily do, whatever, he was a sick tennis player and he's gone on to do some great things.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If I if I had known I was going to play pickleball later on in my in my life, I would have never stopped playing tennis at like the age of 12.
Scott:You know? Yeah, but they don't teach you to dink. Meanwhile,
Jamie:the place I'm at has 10 fantastic courts.
Scott:Oh, that's awesome.
Jamie:The guy was telling me about them at the front desk today. I need to check that out tomorrow. This place is enormous, Scott.
Scott:Oh, that's sick.
Jamie:Enormous. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty cool.
Scott:Nice dude.
Jamie:Yeah. We're still trying to get the lay of land.
Scott:So why don't we just segue into this week? Is there any other catch up? Dom, any so he's in full vacation mode, right? Hockey? Like, with any hockey sticks and, like
Jamie:So we so he traveled with his hockey stick and a stick handling ball. Oh, nice. So he has that. Yeah. So he does have that.
Jamie:He he wants to yeah. And he especially with the the NHL draft happening, like, he wants to be drafted. So he's like, dad, I gotta bring my hockey ball. I gotta bring my hockey ball. So he has that.
Jamie:And and then we're working out. So we're we're lifting wherever we are. We were in Baltimore. We were in DC. We were in Virginia, now we're in West Virginia.
Jamie:We've been working out at every place we've been. Oh, that's awesome. So we're doing a lot of weights like that. Yeah, but no hockey, no skating, or nothing.
Scott:Okay. Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. It's good stuff.
Scott:That's fine.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. And and meanwhile, wherever I go, I'm slapping our our crazy hockey dad stickers everywhere we go.
Scott:I saw that. I saw. Yeah. Yeah. I sent
Jamie:you a couple of screenshots of them. They're they're wherever I can find a place. I matter of fact, I put one in Roanoke. We were in Roanoke yesterday before we came here. We were in a restaurant, and they had stickers, like, on one of the doors to go into the restrooms.
Jamie:And I said to the lady, I'm like, I'm like, you just put whatever sticker that you watch. She's like, yeah. She's like, have at it. I'm like, okay. No problem.
Jamie:I put, like, three of them there. Did you put three? Yeah. I didn't I didn't send you a picture of that one. Oh, that's awesome.
Jamie:They're everywhere. They're they're, like, they're all, like, on major highways, at rest areas. They're they're everywhere. I would put them everywhere. They're everywhere.
Jamie:Nancy's like, you're gonna get arrested. I'm like, nah. No. So if you're traveling up and down the East Coast, you see a crazy dot hockey sticker, take a picture of it and send it to us.
Scott:Oh, there you go. That would be amazing. Right. Could someone send
Jamie:pictures? How sick would that be? If you if you find a Crazy Hockey Dads sticker, take a picture of it and send it to us.
Scott:We should put a QR code on there. Yeah. That links to
Jamie:That's a great idea, actually. We should have those made. Alright. Word. Word.
Jamie:Here we go. Alright.
Scott:Let's episode 16. Let's you want to move into today's topic and and keeping up with the Joneses. Yeah. Is a topic for today. So why don't you wanna It's
Jamie:a very real topic in our game.
Scott:No doubt. No doubt. Is there anything on top of mind for you that you wanted to kick it off with?
Jamie:So I had written down sticks. Sticks seemed to be one of the major, major things. Sticks, and I think parents that think that they need to do all the skating and stick handling and all the classes and all the un iced stuff that kind of comes with our kids doing it, I think sticks is big, also comes with a big cost attached to it, right? And I think all the extracurricular stuff is also huge. That's what I think sticks out of my mind when I think of keeping up with the Joneses.
Jamie:Did I miss anything?
Scott:No. I mean, I'm sure there's other instances or other examples, but for me, if I hear that expression keeping up with the Joneses Right. The first thing that comes to mind for me is, like, the extra stuff. I think that you So where we live, we have that small rink over at Cutting Edge where there's regular skill clinics. And so there's always a place where you That's all they do there.
Scott:Right? It's not like a regular rink where they've got team practices and they've got figure skating or whatever else. So all day, every day, it's full of private lessons and different types of clinics, shooting, skating, whatever. There are people that just go there and go there and go there and then seek out other on top of that. Where do you go?
Scott:You go out to the Swedish skater, he is?
Jamie:I do. He's sometimes in Montclair, sometimes in Randolph, depending on where he is. Yeah.
Scott:Yeah. Right. So I guess from my experience and with that specifically, the kids on the team, no one lives too far from cutting edge. So people go there before school, after school,
Jamie:before
Scott:practice, then to practice. It's kind of like you can get on the ice every day, two times a day if you wanted to at that place.
Jamie:Yes, you can.
Scott:There are some families that are just there, can't stop, won't stop.
Jamie:All the time.
Scott:Yep. Yeah. And so when you see and especially at the younger ages, right? I am always reminding myself, and I think we're getting close to the point, or at least you are there more than me, but at the younger ages, they're not necessarily better. They just figured it out before whoever or I think that's true, by the way.
Scott:Yet, for example. But they're
Jamie:I think that's much
Scott:better because they just figured it out first. Certainly, it's like the rule of, what is it, ten thousand hours, the Malcolm Gladwell, that stuff. So Yeah. Somebody's farther
Jamie:along down the road than others.
Scott:Yes. Right. And so when you see kids making bigger leaps than let's say your kid's making, you're like, oh, man, I need to catch up. And then how am going catch up? What are they doing?
Jamie:FOMO is big in our game, right? FOMO, yes, 100%. Yeah. I mean, it's also parents. I think a lot of the parents in our games have big egos.
Jamie:A lot of them are type A personalities. And they don't want their kids to fall behind. You know, they want to keep up with the Joneses. Right? I mean, it's it's it's it's a very, very and listen, we live in in a in a rather well-to-do area, you know, so there's a lot of money being thrown around, you know, in this game, and there's no shortage of skills coaches and private lessons, you know No.
Jamie:Where we are. We haven't even gotten into sticks yet. Right? No. The $400 sticks that kids snap, you know, and and most of them can't even trigger the flex.
Jamie:When I look back at the amount of money I spent on Dom's sticks, you know, I mean, Dominic couldn't trigger the flex. He couldn't use the actual, like, the mechanics of the stick. He didn't have the strength. He he couldn't. You know?
Jamie:So you're buying these expensive sticks and and and the and the kids are snapping them in the locker room. So you're like, oh, let me see the flex on your stick, and they bend on it. All of a sudden, the stick snapped in half. Right? We have we have a kid flex.
Jamie:One of our goalie sticks broke up a Bauer goalie stick, especially that thing was, like, $300.
Scott:I think you mentioned that a couple of podcasts ago or
Jamie:One of our early episodes.
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:I think. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. He flexed a goalie stick.
Jamie:I I never know goalie sticks flexed. I don't think they really did much.
Scott:Oh, yeah. No doubt. You know, I actually just got Otto a stick today. We we stopped at pure hockey before he went to camp. Yeah.
Scott:Because his backup stick was one you know, I had made a mistake of buying him a stick that was way too the flex was too high. Then he tried it
Jamie:But you're too stiff, you mean?
Scott:It was yes, 100% too stiff. And look, this is what I've all been capable
Jamie:What was it? I
Scott:think it was probably a 40 that had got cut down So it probably
Jamie:got up
Scott:to a 50 or 60 or something crazy. Not that that's not crazy, but for him it's too But
Jamie:for him it is, yeah.
Scott:Yeah, he didn't even ask for that one. I just got a good deal on Styx, and so I said, oh, I'll just get you this one. I remember one of his teammates had it a while back. And in retrospect, it was stupid. I was just attracted to the cheap price, honestly.
Scott:What'd you get? It was a Bauer supersonic. Supersonic, I think. Ultrasonic? Supersonic?
Jamie:Ultrasonic. Yeah. Something like that. Okay. Gotcha.
Jamie:Alright.
Scott:I don't know. Nice. This was this was a year ago now. So in the event, he he he got one of those Blade Tech sticks. And so it was a much lower flex.
Scott:And I was like, if someone steals a stick or if he breaks a stick, he's going to be miserable trying to deal with the rest of camp with a senior sized blade. Think it's got a bigger blade. It's like an intermediate stick or whatever stick. And the blade's bigger, which has its advantages, but you know, he doesn't love it. Then it's also super stiff.
Scott:I was like, you know what? Let me just get him something that's, you know That he yeah. He's The same flex that he's currently So
Jamie:what'd you get
Scott:him?
Jamie:She got the
Scott:A Hyperlite two.
Jamie:Okay. Yeah. Sure.
Scott:But we we go we go into pure hockey and they've got, like, whatever, Tracer and Twitch and all these other things, and they're way more expensive. And I was like, dude, listen to me. Yeah. When we walk into pure hockey, you might be walking out with no stick. So lucky for him, it was on sale.
Scott:I also had the
Jamie:reward points. His handwriting?
Scott:So I got it. It was a good price. And so that's the only reason why I got it for him was because it would have been the same
Jamie:price It's a stick too, by the way.
Scott:No doubt. And he was happy to have it, but he's looking at all these other sticks and the graphics. And he was like, oh, what about this? And I'm like, listen, bud, you want zero sticks? Because if you're going to push me on this, we're going to walk out with nothing.
Scott:So yeah, but I think a lot of it's driven by what other kids have. And if another kid has a whatever stick, then they want that or they, you know, are are not necessarily look at least Otto is not looking at all the technical specs. They just want the newer, shinier thing that their, like, teammate has and because it looks cool. Then You
Jamie:got it.
Scott:End the day
Jamie:Yep.
Scott:Years, Otto was like, I want this stick and that stick. He would justify the new stick by like I just say, was like, they only came in, like, he was a youth, let's say they only came in junior, and he's like, wait, Do stiff. And he'd like, oh, but I I I really like stiff sticks. I I think I'm much better
Jamie:stiff Yeah. They come up with some bullshit excuse why they should get it. Yeah. Typical. You know?
Jamie:Totally. I I got to tell you, in looking back, I spent so much money on stuff that we did not need. Gotta be tens of thousands of dollars. Tens and tens
Scott:and tens of thousands. Has to be.
Jamie:Has to to Scott. Think about it.
Scott:Does that include, like
Jamie:expensive skates, you know, hockey camps. I mean, think about it. Think about the I mean, like, you know, like, hockey camps where, like, you know, just all of it. You know? I mean, you know, if I do it over again, to be honest with you, I would have gotten, like, a middle tier skate.
Jamie:Right? I wouldn't have gone with, like, the high high end skate. I would have gone with a middle tier skate, and I would have gone with a just a regular stick. Yeah. That's it.
Jamie:You know? I mean, you know, I I I came across something recently that said, your kid doesn't need a $400 stick. He needs a really good coach and sharp blades, period. And they actually have a juice box in between practices and, a protein bar. I think I mean, if you think about it, the guy's not wrong.
Jamie:No. You know? No. I would have done it so different if I had to do it over again. Like, if had another hockey player coming up, it'd be so different.
Jamie:And I bet you I would have gotten a very similar outcome.
Scott:That's my guess. That's probably true. Probably true. Right? I think I think one just on the skate part, for me, I I never I never went for I always try to get closer to the top of the line.
Scott:I always did. What was But my strategy was not to get would be like last year's model. That like, not the new model.
Jamie:Yeah. Nothing wrong with that.
Scott:No. Because you know from year to year, the the technology in the skates doesn't change that much. So, like, last year's top end model Changes very little.
Jamie:Very little. Right. Right. I mean, how much stiffer is a boot going to get from one year to the next?
Scott:Not much.
Jamie:Right? Like what technology is going to change in the blade and the toques and the boot?
Scott:Not much. Think the the only place where you're gonna really see a major difference if you're gonna spend top dollars if you get custom skate. And I think that's not, you know, the out
Jamie:of the box for most kids.
Scott:Yeah. Especially because they outgrow them, and they're so expensive. Like, you can drop, like, brand new skates.
Jamie:Dominic Dominic got got skates. I wanna say, like, the start of the last season. I mean, he said to me the other day, he's like, dad, he's like, my my left foot's hurting me. He's gone through, like, three shoe sizes, so he needs new skates before the season starts. Like, every August, this kid goes through gets a new pair of skates because his feet grow.
Scott:Like, once a year. Is that, like, your cadence, like, once a year for skates?
Jamie:Normally it's in the summertime, yes. That seems to be the end. And we have gone in January and bought new skates, maybe one or two years, just because his feet grew. So instead of buying the top of the line, now he's in a junior skate, right? Instead of buying the top of the line junior skate, I would have done it differently when he was younger.
Jamie:Now it's starting to get a little different since his age, Now he can flex the sick, now he can actually use the mechanics, but up until his thirteenth birthday, he couldn't do that. Just started doing it this past year. Right? So figure, you know, I wasted, you know, from when he was five, right, until he's, call it, 12? A lot of money that I spent.
Jamie:And skates. Yeah.
Scott:Right? Yeah. The skate again, think I I don't know. The the the skate part, unless you're getting the cut like, custom skates, like I said, getting higher end skates, if if you can afford it. Right?
Scott:Like, not everyone can, and that's understandable. It's not a cheap sport. But if you can afford it, like, I don't think I would scoff at necessarily a dad or a family that keeps their kid in a higher end model skate.
Jamie:Listen, I
Scott:The stick thing
Jamie:Yeah. Go ahead. No. No. No.
Jamie:You're right. You're right. Keep going.
Scott:Yeah. No. I was just going to say that the stick thing, though, I think is is crazy town. If you ask me, I like, even when Otto was younger and he was using those, like the CCM JetSpeeds mostly when he
Jamie:was younger. Very reasonable. Super reasonable.
Scott:Ten, twenty, 30 flex sticks. Yep. And I would tell him I didn't know. I never shot I still don't shoot the puck like people like kids do today. Like, I I never learned how to manipulate a stick.
Scott:That's not the way we were I was taught when I was a kid, which is fine.
Jamie:But
Scott:the idea of having to flex a stick, I knew that having a higher flex stick was not something a younger kid was going be able to do. So as he was, let's say, went from Mike to squirt, and, you know, he's a squirt and he wants, like, a different flex. I'm like, you should be using a stick again. There's different schools of thought. I'm not saying I'm right, but I'm specifically talking about, like, learning how to flex a stick.
Scott:And I would also say that it's probably not important at autos at a at a a bite or squirt's, like, that's not what they should be focusing on. So I I also understand that wholeheartedly. However, if you're choosing between two sticks, I I was thinking to you know, he should use a stick that he could potentially flex or something that's gonna be over Sure. But, again, I I will be the first one to say I am no shooting coach. I the biomechanics of it, and I I I couldn't speak to or teach well at all, but I would or speak to I could teach, probably not.
Scott:But I think that the the kids just want what their buddy next to them has, and it often doesn't make sense if you you know? Agreed. In my opinion.
Jamie:Yeah. Agreed. And it's funny. All these new wraps that come on these sticks every year, I mean, how many of these sticks are the exact same stick from the year before with new wrapping?
Scott:Well, that's manufacturers know that much better than us, but I I again, I can't imagine it changes that much.
Jamie:As I'm, like, falling. Leaning on on on the pillow. I was and the pillow slipped off from under my knee. It's, the most comfortable position, so it, like, slipped off from under my knee. Like I said, folks, we're doing this on the fly.
Jamie:With us. Listen. The things you do for your audiences. Right? I mean, come on.
Jamie:You are. I I I go I go up to the I go up to the front desk when I got here today, and I'm like, like, you know, I'm like, I I had a package shipped here. She's Okay. She's like, Can I have your name and your ID? So I hand him my ID, she's like, What does the package look like?
Jamie:I'm like, Oh, it should be like an Amazon box. So she hands it to me and she's like, Doing a podcast? I'm like, maybe. What?
Scott:How did she know?
Jamie:I have no idea. I don't if she heard me or what, but I was like I kinda smiled. She said, you are, aren't you? I'm like, yeah. She said, god.
Jamie:Good luck with it. I'm like, thanks. What? That's No idea. Idea.
Jamie:Go for
Scott:That's funny.
Jamie:Girl at the
Scott:front desk. Yeah. But, yeah, you know what? I remember when I was a kid, I I was we I would we'd get catalogs, equipment catalogs Right. Because nothing was online.
Scott:And I would flip through and, you know, I would see, like, new shoulder pads. Like, when I first started playing, I could body check. I was a second year PB when I started playing, like, club hockey. And and so shoulder pads were a big thing for me. Like, I had buddies that were football players, and they would get, you know, big jacked up shoulder pads and I was like, I wanted to be a killer on So I would get shoulder pads that were like, you know, have big, big shoulders.
Scott:And I just remember every season I would want newer gear, and I didn't need it. The only other thing that I think of that is reasonable, at least in my opinion, are gloves. At least in these younger ages, they definitely wear holes. Definitely stink to high hell. You don't need to buy a top line glove, but in terms of annual equipment refreshes, at least over here, gloves seem to be an annual purchase.
Jamie:Yes. Agreed. Yeah. Yeah. We do the same.
Jamie:We buy gloves yes. Right. Because Dominic sticks his thumb through the glove every season and likes it. Likes it, like wants it.
Scott:Likes it out.
Jamie:Loves it like that.
Scott:That's so funny.
Jamie:He loves his thumb exposed coming through the leather or whatever it's made of.
Scott:When I played lacrosse Why? I don't know. When I played lacrosse, we didn't do it in hockey, but lacrosse, there was we would cut out the fingertips on the gloves.
Jamie:Oh, there you go.
Scott:And I I I just did it because my buddy did it. I'm pretty sure. Cool?
Jamie:Yeah. You just wanna do it because it was cool?
Scott:But at the same time, like, when I was playing Could
Jamie:you feel the stick better?
Scott:I I get dude, I don't know. I played hockey. I didn't I didn't cut out the whole like, whatever. But Yeah. Whatever was fine.
Scott:I yeah. I don't know.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. Dominic sticks his fingers through his gloves all the time and likes it like that. Like, actually gets mad when he gets a new pair of gloves because then they have to break it in again.
Scott:Oh, yeah. There are some kids that are like that, that do not like to have like different things. Like, I talked to a dad who's My kid. Kid who's like very sensitive to like like what's it? Son who had sensory, not but very sensitive to the way things feel.
Scott:Yeah. My kid. Yeah. New or different, it was not good.
Jamie:Dude, my kid's still using his Mite elbow pads. No way. No bullshit. I just got him to change shoulder pads, like, a month and a half ago.
Scott:Yeah. I was gonna say shoulder pads, elbow pads, pants. We've gone through a few pants, but not at the rate that we've gone through gloves for sure. Just because he grows Yeah. Our shin guards.
Scott:Yeah. I don't know.
Jamie:Know, Thumb stores his mic shin guards, by the way.
Scott:Does he really?
Jamie:How how does Shin guards and elbows. I I have brand new of both. He doesn't want them.
Scott:But is he not, like, exposed in some places?
Jamie:No. No. He's exposed. Oh, no. No.
Jamie:He's exposed. Which probably is why he doesn't like blocking shots.
Scott:I mean, that could be the reason, but a lot of kids don't like blocking shots or adults for that matter.
Jamie:Yeah. I get that. I understand that. But but yeah. But, no.
Jamie:We we do gloves. Gloves gloves and gloves and skates are a yearly purchase for us.
Scott:Definitely. Yeah. For sure. And and again, just like getting back to, like, the keeping up with the Joneses part. Yep.
Scott:You know, think like I think you you pointed out well, like, it's it's mostly on the stick front. What other things have we
Jamie:And listen, Bauer, don't forget. Bauer coming up with the the blind bag mini sticks from them was a genius move. Genius. Because they have all the wrappings of the new sticks. Yep.
Jamie:And these kids, mean, it's genius. These companies are marketing to like eight year olds. Think about They are.
Scott:You hang those sticks out of a packaging on the wall and you don't sell You put it in a bag so you can't see it and you call it a mystery or whatever you call it and all of a sudden they fly off the shelves.
Jamie:Yeah, you give it a rarity, right? You give it like a one out of a 100 or whatever it is.
Scott:No doubt.
Jamie:You blind bag it like everything else he It makes it exclusive.
Scott:No, a 100%
Jamie:like I Exclusive horseshit is what
Scott:it is. Bragging rights. But no, you know what the analogy that dad gave me was that it was like trading cards. You try to collect the full set. If you get an extra, you swap it with somebody else.
Scott:Like that was And I thought, was like, oh, I can see how that I don't know if it's what the manufacturer intended, but I can see why people would treat it that way.
Jamie:Want to hear a funny story? Tell you a funny story? So a couple years ago we were up by New England Sports Center, right? He was probably like nine or 10, something like that, and we're up at New England Sports Center and there's a pure hockey down the street, right? So I don't remember what the most exclusive or the highest, the lowest probability stick was that year, was like one in every 100 or one in every two fifty, whatever it was, right?
Jamie:So he picks it up off the rack in pure hockey up by New England Sports Center. Okay? And he goes to the counter and he buys it and the guy's like, dude, aren't you going to open it up here? He's like, want see what you got. So Dom's like, okay, yeah, sure.
Jamie:So he opens it in front of the employee who rang us up for it, right?
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:And boom, he pulls out like, I don't know, the white proto, whatever it was that year that was like the stick. Mhmm. Right? Whatever the most whatever the the rarest stick was in the batch of five or six that year, it was that one. Right.
Jamie:Right? So the guy's like, my god, you know, maybe we get one of those in the store the entire year. Oh my god. That's unbelievable. Dom's like and so Dom's all excited.
Jamie:He's like, my god. Dad, this is great. Holy shit. This is phenomenal. So we walk out into the parking lot.
Jamie:Right? We walk out into the parking lot and he goes, oh. I look at him. I go, what's the matter? He goes, it's a lefty.
Jamie:He picked the lefty. He picked the lefty, not the righty.
Scott:Oh my god. So what did he do?
Jamie:He goes, oh, it's lefty. I was like, oh, god. That's funny.
Scott:I think, yeah, I think that someone someone did someone did that like if they did like a secret Santa last year. And Right. I I could be confusing this with a different story, but I I feel like someone got one of those skaters, like one of the players, a goalie stick. And they weren't thrilled about
Jamie:it. Right.
Scott:And I
Jamie:think Oh, yeah.
Scott:I think it was intentional, like, know, because you play knee hockey, like, in the hallways and whatever. And so I think Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The family probably thought it was, like, you know, a good idea to, like, also have a goalie stick, but I I think the kid wasn't too happy about it.
Jamie:Right, yeah. Was funny. Yeah, but listen, so these companies are marketing to the kids at a very young age, and they know, just like social media, I mean, the kids can't help themselves. I mean, so they see somebody have the new wrapping job, and they all want it. Regardless of the mechanics of the stick, Scott, they just want the look.
Jamie:It's all about the sty. Dom's like, dad, you don't understand. It's all about sty. Sty, dad. Sty.
Jamie:Sty. No. I said, I was like, Dominic, I don't give a shit about your style. I go, I just want you do the right thing on the ice, put the puck in the net, or skate really hard. I don't really care about what you look like.
Jamie:He goes, dad, but it's all about sty. I'm like, okay. Sty.
Scott:Yeah. I think, you
Jamie:know, on
Scott:Otto's end, I think he he's yeah. He he knows. I I think at this point, like, he he doesn't push too hard with certain things, And I I think I think he's gotten pretty accepting of, you know, that everything costs money and that you don't just get, like, you know, the newest shiny thing because you want it and you gotta work for it. Sure. You know, I was actually pretty reluctant today to buy them this, like, other backup stick, even though whenever it was on sale, I used pure hockey points or what dollars or whatever the hell they're called.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. Know what you
Scott:Yeah. That rewards program. Reasonably priced. Good. But It's
Jamie:good stick too, by the way.
Scott:Yeah. No. It's yeah. For sure. But I, you know, I was reluctant to get it because, he I mean, he look, he had a backup stick.
Scott:My my I guess my my issue is that like, if something were to happen and quite honestly, I think it's unlikely he's going to end up breaking a stick, but things happen. Right. And if he ended up having like, you know, four days left with like this 60 flex stick, I was like, I mean, I just spent all this money for him to go up to sleep away camp and hockey camp. And not that that is gonna make such a difference, but I didn't want it. I just wanted to have a good experience.
Scott:And I figured if he's gonna keep on shooting with a lower flex, then he should if it were even if it was a game, like, I'd want him not to, like, be thrown off by, like, having, like, a stick that was, like, wildly different. You know what I mean? So I was like, I probably would
Jamie:have gotten him Sure. Yeah. Sure. A backup
Scott:a different backup anyway. So I just got it sooner than I would have. But yeah, man, it's a tough place. And I think to be when, like you even mentioned, just being in a sport where there's a good degree of affluence and there are people that mean, look, it's not uncommon for people in our area, and I'm not saying immediate necessarily, but let's just broaden it to a 20 mile radius, let's say, for people to have their own ODRs. People buy chillers.
Scott:I know a family that put in an ODR with chillers. They had to pull an electric off the street. Their electric bill went up like $2 a month in the winter. So their kids could skate. Dad's out there starting at like midnight, just like watering the ice, like in the beginning for like hours at a time.
Scott:Like, it's crazy. Then you get invited over and the kids are having fun. Like, oh, can we get an ODR? Could we get a ring? It's like, no.
Scott:No. No. Like, that's that it's
Jamie:Dominic asked me for one recently, by the way. So let's do it. You're right. Sure. Sure.
Jamie:So it's funny you mentioned that about ODRs. There is a friend of mine who lives in the next town over from me who puts a rink in every year, They store it for him, right? So they store it for him and they take it at the beginning of every spring, and he re sods his entire backyard every spring.
Scott:That's totally normal.
Jamie:Yeah. And like a landscaper, like a landscaping company, this company comes once a day and zamboni's the ice for them. Because I said to him, I go, you out there zamboni ing your ice every day? He goes, I have a company that comes and does it every day, so it's ready to go. I was like, like a landscaper?
Jamie:He's like, yeah, like a landscaper.
Scott:Wow. So it's
Jamie:like an ODR landscaper.
Scott:Yeah. I think we're talking about the same people, but we know families that will you might hire a babysitter. People hire goalies to be on their ODR so they can shoot on a real goalie. Rent a goalie. Like, they'll pay
Jamie:You know, I'm wondering
Scott:Wait. But let me just let me just I I think this is the point because, obviously, they're on like, what kid doesn't wanna go on an ODR and play hockey. Right? Like, that's par for the course. I think what I'm talking about more specifically is getting, like, an older goalie, a more talented goalie than this kid would ever see in his, like, regular like, let's just say he's 10, getting, a high school goalie You know what I mean?
Jamie:Listen, nothing shocks me in this game. I'm sure there's no end to the ridiculousness that people will go to do this. It also is a very real thing that once these kids hit high school and once they find out about girls and drinking and hanging out, how many of these kids who have all this stuff are going to drop the game and go do something else? That's a very real thing that's
Scott:It's interesting you say that Otto's got the end of the school year, maybe even, like, midway through the year. But certainly now that school got let out, it's summertime, and they're riding bikes, and he's got more independence and blah blah blah. He's got a pretty robust social life.
Jamie:I I'm telling you, it's coming.
Scott:Mean, kind of see like the other day, he wanted to go to a friend's pool. They were having friends over as opposed to going to a training session, which earlier in the day, he's like, oh, great, we're going. And then he gets a good, a solid invite and he's like, oh,
Jamie:I want to go to He's got, I don't to do it anymore.
Scott:Yeah. Very real. Very real. And I will be honest with you, maybe even starting from this podcast and talking about this more often with greater thought, as well as making a move from tier one to tier two. But I have to say, and I will also call and this will all tie together, but I also wanna call out, and I shared it with you.
Scott:I was poking around the hockey think tank's website, and they have a blog post on there, which is fantastic, which is about the North American player's journey to the NHL.
Jamie:Oh, yeah. Very cool. Yeah. You did that since.
Scott:Super interesting. Very. But, like, there there are so many takeaways. But the one thing that left such a lasting impression is that for most kids, their path to the NHL is going to be the long and hard one. And or you you watch, like you know, I just watched the I I probably watched at least forty five minutes worth of, was it Matt Matt Schafer?
Scott:Is that how I think Schafer got drafted number
Jamie:number one Yeah. The defensive?
Scott:Mean, what a great story.
Jamie:Kids really good.
Scott:Super talented. But these are the stories, the highlights that come up about these, I don't want to say necessarily generational talents, but the more of the unicorns, right? The ones that are just not the ones that need them.
Jamie:This kid's going be legit.
Scott:Yeah. Of course. But there's so many players that make it just from continuing to get to the next level little by slowly. Yes. Not like an early draft in the OHL into an under 20 draft pick in the NHL, and then immediately playing on a top line.
Scott:And I don't know if he will, but Bedard, for example, and again, generational talent. But to kind of bring this all together, the hockey think tank blog posts, like I said, was like, you know, the kid's probably going to be the long, hard journey, right? When I think about, forget the NHL, let's just talk about college. And if he, the Otto I'm talking about decides he wants to play college, right? Yeah.
Scott:College is sequential. You go from elementary to middle to high school to college. That's generally the trajectory. But I think when you layer in just like kids getting better over time, I feel like when we try to keep up with the Joneses, especially when we talk about the skill piece, we all want to fast track our kids to greatness. I don't want to say we all.
Scott:I mean, at least I've had moments of feeling that way where it's really important at these young ages to really Ramp it up. Become a little professional. Right?
Jamie:Yeah. It's what they are.
Scott:Yeah. And I think that, I've as I've thought about this and talked about this, I've I've I can honestly say that I've become more relaxed about him, like, wanting to do other things Same. And like hang out with his friends because there's so much value in just being I don't want normal is not the right word, but like
Jamie:No, know what
Scott:you mean. Only being focused on hockey. Right? Like he loves mountain biking. He's going to go to mountain biking camp, and he's more excited about that than going to hockey camp.
Scott:I know this. But mountain biking is also I get it. New and shinier than hockey. It doesn't have mom and dad breathing down his neck sometimes about going to this or going to that. It's purely out of his own passion that he is doing mountain biking, going up jumps.
Scott:He's like, I want to learn how to do a tire spin or whatever you call it when he's in the air. And so I think, look, he needs to stay connected to the game because, well, a sport, let's just say tomorrow, he's like that. I don't want to play hockey anymore. Say, okay, fine, don't play hockey, but we're going find you another sport that you don't have to be on a But feel like if he he he's gonna get whatever the the the goal is gonna be is ultimately gonna come from him. Right?
Scott:And I'm just here to, like, give him guidance Yes. And teach him lessons and show him the path that's going to align with his goals. The
Jamie:hard work.
Scott:Exactly. Exactly. So I guess I'm just ultimately trying to say that all this keeping up with the Jones' stuff weighed on me much more six months ago, a year ago, certainly two years ago, where at this point, it's not like I don't care. That's not it at all. No.
Jamie:But you're not going full bore anymore.
Scott:I think that's fair. Like if you wanted to ratchet it up, I would. I think there's a minimum that I'm going hold him accountable to. Oh, sure. Understood.
Scott:I'm not going to say, oh, you don't want to skate? Ah, don't skate. It's like, no, dude, listen, you're on a team. You're going to keep on working at your craft and you're, you know, again. So in any event
Jamie:I think it's important too to foster in kids. I've gravitated more toward doing things that fosters a love of the game for him, and I've noticed that I've gotten more, I don't know how to say this, more out of him that way, having him really love the game, doing things like the two of us, whether it's going to an NHL game, going to a college game, doing things to make him love the game more just by being around it as opposed to going to an edge work class, a power skate, a stick handling class, shooting class. It seems like he responds more to doing the hard stuff when he's really in love with the game. Does that make sense? As to before when we were doing a little bit of that but not as much, So if I had to do it all over again, would really try to foster from a young age the love of the game really, really heavily.
Jamie:Would really focus on that because ultimately if they don't love the game, they're not going to want to put the time in, right? Especially when they try to when they find out about girls and buddies and drinking and hanging out when they're in high school.
Scott:No doubt. No doubt. So when you say, like, you Yeah. Like, the fostering the love for the game, what and maybe I missed it, but what what were the things that perhaps you would have done differently to focus more on that than, let's say, more technical side of things?
Jamie:Maybe would have gone to more games. You know, maybe I you know, we would have I would have asked him to watch more games with me. He never really, like, wanted to watch NHL games. He liked to play the game, but he never wants to watch NHL. This year he watched a ton of NHL.
Jamie:Part of that could be him just getting older and wanting to do it more and getting more mature, That could be too. But I think fostering the love of the game from a young age, especially not yelling at them so much when they don't do stuff right, just a totally different take from the parent's angle, not yelling. I would have done stuff, but I would have geared it more toward making sure that he's really in love with the game, and we're just not doing this as a job, And it's turned into that for him, now he loves the game. And I think part of that is me being softer on him and changing my stance toward this whole thing, and if I had known that at a young age, I would have done that at a younger age. Maybe he would have had such a setback like he did two years ago if I had done that.
Jamie:I don't know. We'll never know, but it's possible. Right? But as I'm getting more wiser in this game, right? That's my feeling.
Scott:Yeah. And you're right. You're never gonna know. And, you know, I I think about that also now that I'm making a much bigger effort to just be like, dude, great job out there. Yeah.
Scott:I'm not gonna lie to him. Like, you have a shitty game, I'm you know, I'll tell him, look. I've seen you play better. And, like, if you want my feedback, I'll tell you the things that I think you could have done differently. But you did do some great things on the ice today.
Scott:Like, here's an example of x y z. Yeah. But you've probably had better games, but I think you know that, and let him talk about it as opposed to me needing to
Jamie:Bust his chops, yeah.
Scott:Point out all the things. All right, everyone. It's minor technical difficulties being on the road. Apparently, the Internet can cause problems, and Jamie just dropped out. But now Jamie is back.
Scott:Thanks for rejoining, bud. Glad you
Jamie:got that all fixed. Appreciate it. Sorry about that, Vogue. We will try not to do this on the road in the future, but if we do our technology, it'll be much better. But we didn't wanna disappoint, so here I am, I'm back, and you're flat.
Scott:Awesome, so now's a great time, let's go into this week's rant. My turn, and you don't know the rant, now I don't. Looking forward to hearing it. No. So so as I said earlier, Otto, we went up to drop him off at hockey camp, and we needed to get lunch on the way up to before we had dropped him off.
Scott:And it was a classic case of being on a highway and saying, Hey bud, what do you want to eat? I don't know. Well, no, you need to figure it out because you need to get lunch. Anyway, the rant is eating on the road and the the difficulty that it possesses and coupled with, like, you know, when people get hungry is not necessarily the time when there's, like, decent food around or you go somewhere and like, yeah, don't want that. So my my rant is like as a parent wanting to give my kid modest at this point, modestly good food sometimes.
Scott:Obviously the best food when possible, but like on the it's fucking hard. And now, you know, it's fucking annoying at this point. Always like having the same options, which are never great. And yes, Chipotle, I think, is a is a reasonable also sponsors USA
Jamie:Not terrible?
Scott:No, like you can, yeah, that's reasonable, but he doesn't You can not eat terribly there. You can totally not eat terrible, doesn't like, It can be a little on the spicier side for him, even if you get it without some of the things. So the bottom line is that how many times can we get Chick fil A, can we get Shake Shack, if it's around or whatever. And, you know, it's it's so what we did to combat that last season since practice was like an hour fifteen away, whatever. Let's just say hour fifteen on average.
Scott:Yeah. That after practice three nights a week, we would have a hot plate. It looks like a lunchbox, right? But there's a warming plate in there. You plug it into the cigarette lighter, at least whatever you call it.
Jamie:Yeah, was great by you guys.
Scott:That's what
Jamie:I call it.
Scott:He would have a home cooked meal. But the the the thing that's also difficult about the food is not just about the food options that are available. It's also about like my kid and probably your kid and other kids where it's like earlier in the day, who would say, auto practice tonight on the way home, salmon rice. Like, he he legitimately likes salmon rice. So it's not like I'm trying to give him, like, a a very healthy food that, like, he doesn't want to eat.
Scott:Like, he legitimately like, okay, great. But then you get in the car at 08:00 at night, and we're an hour away from home, and he doesn't want to eat salmon and rice.
Jamie:So when
Scott:we get home, he needs to shower, get to bed, maybe do some reading, and he needs to eat. It's such a pain in the fucking ass. And I talked to a dad, sorry, I'll let you One other thing I'll say is I was talking to a dad and he was like, look, these kids burn so many calories, you know, Some of them. Some, not all. But the takeaway from him was like, he almost didn't care about the quality of food.
Scott:For him, was just calories. And I don't want to, that doesn't fly with me.
Jamie:Yeah, I think you have to start caring about the quality these days.
Scott:Totally. Right? No, this dad, to his credit, he is someone that is fit and pays attention to fitness. And I'm not saying that he doesn't care about quality. But I think that in these circumstances, he was more okay with eating Burger King on the regular because it's going to replenish the calories.
Scott:Look, if there was an amazing opportunity
Jamie:I disagree.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just happens so often. It's not like it's in season, it's like at least three times a week, I feel, at least for us last year.
Jamie:Know, listen, there are healthier options at these places, right? I mean, you don't have to get fries or a shake or a soda when you go to Burger King. You could have water and you could have a grilled chicken sandwich and take the sauce off or you take the bun off. There are ways to do it. Wendy's has a grilled chicken sandwich and a baked potato.
Jamie:There are ways to do it, but you have to be disciplined and you have to kind of and I disagree with the other dad. I think there's a difference calories. There's good calories and there's bad calories. When you pound a double Whopper with cheese, I think that's different than eating a piece of grilled chicken from Wendy's by taking the bun off or something like that. I think it's a difference.
Jamie:I do. Think one makes your body perform one way and one makes your body perform another way, right? That's my feeling.
Scott:Yeah, at the younger ages, the total calorie consumption, it's not like they're trying to put on muscle and stuff like that. Even if that was the case, I would say that the calorie density of a double, like a double Whopper with cheese is clearly different than having grilled chicken and broccoli. But if you need to achieve high calorie content, then it's like, well then start, I don't know, make smoothies with healthy doses of peanut butter and
Jamie:I was going say peanut butter and protein shake. These kids can also eat protein shakes, don't forget. Do you know how easy it is to get a protein shake? Dominic has the Carnation instant breakfast all the time as a meal replacement. I was telling you that the liquid IV, the electrolytes, know, take a packet of it and dump it into a thing of 20 ounces of water just to tie the kid over.
Jamie:There are ways to do it. Listen, they're not easy, right, and they take a little planning, but there's other ways to do it. We all like to drive through McDonald's and just get whatever number one is, or a Happy Meal, whatever for the kids because it's easy, right? But I think we have a responsibility to also teach our kids the right way and the right stuff to put into your body, especially now that they're getting older. I think that's important because what's going to happen is all these kids are going to plateau skill wise.
Jamie:They're all going to be, for the most part, the same kid, and certain things are going to set them apart from their peers, right? And I think nutrition is one thing that's going to separate kids from their peers. I think the kid if one kid has a certain skill set, another kid has the exact same skill set, right? Because at the end of the day, once these kids get to the upper levels, there's not going to be much that's going to be the difference between kids is not going to be much. Right?
Jamie:They're all going be able to stick in, they'll all be able to shoot, they'll all be able to skate, right, at the top levels. But I think the intangibles, the other stuff, is what's going to set them apart. Look at Tom Brady. Right? The guy ate like a stud.
Jamie:Right. Right? Cristiano Ronaldo, same idea.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Right? Just compare Cristiano Ronaldo to Wayne Rooney. Two guys that were super talented, you know, in soccer, and one was an absolute basket case with what he put into his body, and the other was, you know, was an Adonis because he put the right things into his body. Maybe one of the reasons why he's still playing, you know, high level soccer and Wayne Rooney's not. Maybe one reason why Tom Brady played into his 40, something like that, whatever he was.
Jamie:Maybe there's a reason why. Right? Probably because of what he put into his body. Guarantee he was not stopping at McDonald's for a Happy Meal.
Scott:No. No. Definitely not. And, you know, I think the it's also like so many other things in sports, ours is hockey, but, you know, enter in nutrition, and you're also setting up your kid for life lessons on how to take care of their body. Sure.
Jamie:Oh, 100 And Yeah. Good
Scott:health. Overall health. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like it's harder as you know, it's it's in some ways easier, but it's also harder like, it's easier to I think you go you have places like Whole Foods that, like, obviously didn't exist when we were kids.
Scott:Then there's also so many other brands of packaged and ultra processed foods and cheaper ingredients. I was listening to a podcast where they were just talking about yeah, it's it's kind of frightening. Know, it's even this is like a whole another podcast and whatever, but just talking about microplastics and like other glyphosate and like other things that are just like not good for you, but like are you're gonna find in a lot of different products. Look, if you have to open the bag or take it out of the package to eat it, Probably a problem. If it's in a pinch, fine, but I think more to the point is like if you're opening the can, ripping the bottle or ripping the bag, like there's probably a better alternative.
Scott:Right? A 100% there is. And those better alternatives are not like what you're going to find at like a convenience store shelf, and so therefore requires planning, it requires parents taking time to get everything set up. The only other thing I wanted to throw out in my rant about this is that it's almost twofold. One is just the availability of quality food, quality calories, and if you're not making it yourself, then you're often hard pressed to find good options.
Scott:And again, you made a great point, so maybe it's not being hard pressed, right? But I think this is the other part of the rant, was that my kid is not necessarily going to want the grilled chicken and broccoli when that's what I have. You go to McDonald's or Chipotle, there's a variety. I'm not bringing a fucking restaurant in my back seat so he can pick and choose whatever the fucking fresh food that
Jamie:he
Scott:wants. So it's something like this or nothing. Sometimes Sometimes
Jamie:you have to say no. Sometimes you gotta say that's that's it, bud. Sorry.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So it's it's it's Tough love. It's it's not it's it's not easy.
Scott:I I don't think it's easy and yeah. Unfortunately, it's easy.
Jamie:But but they have to figure it out. Better this better now than when they're older. You know?
Scott:Very true.
Jamie:That's how I look at this stuff. Right? Very true. Yeah. So we can dive into nutrition part of our kids another podcast, but that was a good rant.
Jamie:There's a lot of crap out there that we're pumping into our kids because it's easy, and it's not doing them any good.
Scott:Last thing I'll say about this, for me personally, I've had moments in my life, and when I say moments, mean years where I would take really good care of myself, And I've also had and I'm currently in the throes, hopefully on the tail end of not taking great care of myself. And, you know, just setting a good example for your kid, think is really important. Right? And we talk about setting a good example by like, you know, carrying your own bag or like advocating for yourself or, you know, whatever. And I think setting a good example also would include like watch what they will see what mom and dad eat and what mom and dad drink.
Scott:A 100%. You know, if your house is full of crap, like, you know, what are they gonna eat? Absolutely. They're probably gonna eat more crap. But if, you know, they see mom and dad like eating more on the healthful side, and then also if mom and dad are eating that stuff, then you have an opportunity to share that with your kid.
Scott:You just give shit and your kid wants a bite, you're going to give a bite of shit. But if you're eating a salad like I was for dinner, my daughter's eating olives and feta cheese and some steak, she wasn't eating yet another bite of pizza tonight. You know? That's right.
Jamie:That's right. 100%. Yeah. Listen. No arguing for me.
Jamie:Listen. We tried to that too. You know, a good thing that we've been putting in the cards, maybe on the kind of sidebar, is, like, we buy from Whole Foods, like you were mentioning. You know, we'll buy, like, a thing of, like, raw almonds and, like, raw, like, sunflower seeds and just kind of mix them together and create a little can put it in a little plastic container or a glass container if you don't like plastic and you kind of carry it with you. It's something easy to put some good calories into your body and not reach for shit.
Jamie:Right? Not a bad thing.
Scott:As you say that, when you said before, sometimes the answer is just no, it's also just because I think I'm stumbling a little bit.
Jamie:Sometimes the answer is just no.
Scott:Sometimes it's like, okay, you don't want it, so then like you can just wait to eat.
Jamie:Don't eat tonight.
Scott:If you're really fucking hungry right now, then you'll eat what's in front of you. And if you don't want to eat that, then you can be hungry until either there is something else I can get you and if you're willing to, or yeah. Or or maybe it's just tomorrow. Yeah. That's okay too.
Jamie:That's okay too. Kid's not gonna die of starvation, I promise you. Right?
Scott:Dude, so I just had a fast and I was What'd
Jamie:you go for like sixteen hours?
Scott:No, it was longer than sixteen hours. It was longer. Was
Jamie:Nice.
Scott:Yeah, because I also, like, so in years past, I used intermittent fasts kind of regularly, and I was like on a kick. So I don't know, I think it was like a twenty hour fast all in. And
Jamie:I it or
Scott:not, I was actually tracking it. There's an app called Zero, which is Yeah.
Jamie:No. I know the app. I know that well. Yeah. Yeah.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. So I looked at my kids and I said, you guys don't know what hungry is. I'm like, the last time you didn't eat for twenty hours was never. Never.
Jamie:Look at me. And so Last time you ate for twenty hours was never a go.
Scott:And I was like, so here I am, and I'm hungry, maybe I'm starving, the bottom line is that it's okay if you don't have another snack now or you
Jamie:have to wait until You're not going to die of starvation. Exactly. Right? Our kids will not die of starvation. I guarantee you our kids will not die of starvation.
Scott:No. I would be surprised if they even know what that feels like. I mean, thank god. Right? Like but I'm just saying They
Jamie:have no idea. No idea. No clue. Tough love. Sometimes tough love is a good thing.
Jamie:You know what mean? Yes. It's okay.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah, man.
Jamie:So there we are. Alright. So you wanna wrap it up since so we don't so I don't drop again?
Scott:Yeah. Let's wrap it up. Alright. It's getting a little late as well, and this was a good episode.
Jamie:Yes.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So everyone, please, Howie's Crazy 10, use it.
Jamie:Crazy 10.
Scott:Yeah. A 100% use it, subscribe, let people know about it.
Jamie:Yes. Share the show, tell your friends about it, send it around, keep downloading. We really appreciate it. We really appreciate with everybody putting up with our technical glitches. As we go on, we will get much better at that, but I'm glad that we figured this out.
Jamie:And that was all to Scott. Scott's the one that figured this out, how to do this remotely like this. So kudos to you, bud. Nice job.
Scott:Thank you, sir. But it's team week teamwork that makes the dream work.
Jamie:Teamwork makes the dream work. That's right. Well, nice job, buddy. Good stuff. And I I appreciate meeting this happen.
Jamie:Thank you again, everybody, for putting up with us. And our next episode is gonna be the July 4 episode, so I'm looking forward to that. We got a lot of cool stuff to talk about about Team USA. That's gonna be fun. I'm looking forward to that.
Scott:Yo. Let's go.
Jamie:Alright, bud.
Scott:Alright, man.
Jamie:See you later from West Virginia. See you.
Scott:Good good talking to
Jamie:you. Bye. You too, bud. Later.