Here's The Round-Up Of #ChicletsTakeManhattan You've All Been Clamoring For
Ever since Barstool called up Spittin’ Chiclets from the minors back in the fall, Whits, Grinnelli, and I have been trying to shoehorn in a few days down NYC. We wanted to check out BSS HQ, meet people we’ve been talking to electronically for years, do some show promotion, bang out a killer episode with all the fancy equipment available, and drink our faces off in the West Village.
#ChicletsTakeManhattan accomplished all that and then some. We got to see how the sausage gets made and it’s done by a lot of hard-working people busting their asses. I finally got to meet in person many people that I’ve been DMing, texting, emailing, and working with for years then get shitfaced with them.
And Friday was when it kind of hit me. It wasn’t all that long ago I was wasting my time arguing with Portnoy just to get my Bs shit posted at 4:30 in a late day news dump. But Friday, here I was about to interview NHL All-Star and one-time #1 overall draft pick Taylor Hall on Facebook Live from a Manhattan radio/podcast studio. It’s been quite a journey, my time here.
Also a journey? #ChicletsTakeManhattan . Here’s a little photo/video diary to document my four night stay on the iconic island (I remember when I used to like pictures of myself—no more). As always, New York City was a fucking blast.
WEDNESDAY
Walking into HQ, I was like Bart Simpson going into MAD Magazine HQ—expecting drug use and horseplay to greet me but instead it was like a library during finals. For a minute.
I wasn’t in there 10 minutes before they had me going mano y mano with Michael Rapaport in a battle of Northeast Asshole Stereotypes on Sirius.
When I first got Sirius about 13 years ago in anticipation of Howard Stern, never in a million years did I think I’d be on it some day arguing with Dick Ritchie from “True Romance” about the circumstances surrounding the conception of Tom Brady’s first kid. Yet, here we were. (Link to Sirius On Demand for 2/22 show) Suck it, Rapaport.
There was nothing planned for Chiclets on this day. I actually went down to NYC early to take in the Rolling Stones Exhibitionism exhibit in the West Village. It’s a killer collection of Stones shit dating back to the early ’60s. Guitars. Outfits. Press materials. Original hand-written lyrics by Mick. Some serious fucking Stonesporn. Great take for the Stones nut like me or fan of R&R and its history.
Rumor has it this is when the Stones really got into sin.
Stones were award-winning listeners before anybody.
Time for a beer and I was pointed toward the Village Tavern. The bartender was from Winnipeg and they had Center Ice. Sold. Great place, super-friendly staff. I’ll be back.
THURSDAY
Busy day today. Felt like a NYer doing that whole ‘energized by the street’ thing on the way to work that probably wears off about two weeks after moving there. But for me today, it felt fucking awesome. And keeping it real, there’s a vibe on Manhattan streets that simply does not exist anywhere else in America.
It was #Jersday in the office so I had to bust out The Godfather’s sweater to crush all comers. (Not pictured: Gaz had on Nomah’s GT jersey but that wasn’t beating #4.)
Every #hockeyguy and #hockeygal knows who NBCSN’s Liam McHugh is so, needless to say, the Chiclets crew was pretty fired up to have the affable studio host visit HQ for an episode-long interview. In addition to being a great interview, Liam is super nice guy as well. Big thanks to him. His interview will be in this spot on Friday.
No bullshit, it was an honor to be asked to appear on Zero Blog Thirty. Even if it was to talk about ’80s naturals.
I was also asked what I would have done if I was in the military which was a good question because I was a signature away from fighting fire for the Air Force. But a free ride to a party school came outta nowhere and won out in the end. Here’s a link to the episode:
Next up was the most electric 20 minutes of the week when I went on my “competitors” podcast, Pardon My Take. It was a genuine treat to watch Big Cat and PFT conduct their two-man symphony. Oh, and to go Nostradamus on their asses.
The fact those two go to #1 three times a fucking week in pretty insane. And it doesn’t happen by accident. Here’s a link to that ep:
To finish off the day, I joined the Swipe Drunk Love crew for some vino and ass play chatter. I told the story of how a random night up college ended up giving me my eventual internet nom de plume.
We also chatted about how dating has changed since I was in the game, among other things. Here’s the link:
FRIDAY
Whitney and I jumped on Sirius for an hour or so to talk about Spittin’ Chiclets.
And then we had the main event, our Facebook Live debut with Hallsy. All things considered, I thought it went pretty damn good.
He was pretty honest about his time in Edmonton and how much he wanted to come to Boston when he was getting drafted. Also, how the fuck has Connor McDavid never seen SLAP SHOT? Once again, huge thanks to Taylor for coming into the city to do this for us.
Time to get shitty with co-workers. Ended up back at the Village Tavern and there were some characters there.
Lots of Stoolies were out and it was great meeting a bunch of them. Then it was time to Oobah home. And Oobah down Manhattan comes so fast, it makes Rick Pitino look like a Lothario. Be ready.
SATURDAY
Day of leisure. Work is done. Thanks to the generosity of the New Jersey Devils, Taylor Hall, and Capt. Cons, the Spittin’ Chiclets crew was able to take in The Battle of the Hudson from the west side of the river.
Nothing going on here, just a couple of big “Dirty Dancing” fans enjoying some hockey.
All kidding aside, Connor is the balls. Finally met after years and it felt like an old pal. Opened up his home to us and made sure we always had a drinking partner. Until he phantoms…
SUNDAY
Fucking Millennial cost me three hours of Sunday sleep. But he also got my ass back to Boston safely so he’s off the hook.
Overall, a very successful trip to BSS HQ and a hell of a time. Can’t wait to get back down and do it again.
Peace.
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