Grant and Danny

Is Commanders-Ravens A Rivalry?, Olaf Kölzig Joins G&D

10.10.24 Hour 4

1:00- As we get set to face off against the cross town team with the Ravens, do you consider this a rivalry?

18:30- Olaf Kolzig, legendary Capitals goalie, joins G&D LIVE from Caps 50 Fest and joins us to discuss the legendary Caps here tonight.

Broadcast on:: 10 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

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And tell them that your girl Tasha McKia sent you, the Sharpest Rides, affordable, sexy, sharp. [MUSIC] Dear Autumn Leaves, you won't be covering roads alone this season. Toyota's lineup of cool, colorful vehicles is ready to ride by your side. Take on fall in a trail tackling Tacoma, or go for the powerful Tundra. Head to Toyota.com for more info, or visit your local Toyota dealership today. Toyota, let's go places. [MUSIC] You sit in traffic now, but later, there's a nice cold reward. Mandela, the mark of a fight. You've earned this rich golden lager with a crisp refreshing taste, because you know all your patience is paid out in gold. You remain calm through hums, upward among them, and people yell. Come on, man. You are a fighter, and Mandela is your overall. Mandela, the mark of a fighter. Prick responsibly, beer imported by Crown and Port Chicago, Illinois. We may be excited for the start of the football season. Remember, though, we all know folks around us that may have lost a friend or family member recently. As the exclusive sponsor of the show, the law firm, Condoria and Murad, will guide you through the difficult probate administration process. They'll help bring clarity and closure to a loved one's estate. Schedule a free consultation with their probate and estate planning attorneys today at kmlawyers.com. And if you do that and tell them, we sent you a grant in Danny. They'll give you a discount. kmlawyers.com. At six o'clock on GND, we will look ahead to week six in the NFL. Coming up in a half hour, Ollie Kolzick joins the show. We've also got cap tickets to next Thursday night's game here at the arena. We'll give those away in one hour. Danny, speaking of here at the arena, we're here for caps 50. I am fired up to talk to Ollie. 70 plus former players coming back tonight. Cool. The entire roster will be on hand. That is neat, man. It's a nice little soft opening, right? For the main event, this is coming Saturday. They take on Josh Harris's New Jersey Devils to get the campaign underway. Man, the countdown for Obie walking down Gretzky is on. I remember asking Harris, though, in the preseason, who did a press conference at the home game, ahead of the final exhibition game of the year. And I asked him about owning the team and the NBA with the Sixers, now football with the commanders and the NHL with the Devils and the differences. And he made it pretty clear. He goes, look, I'm very hands-on and involved in the NBA and in the NFL. The NHL, I kind of get reports. And the way he described it was basketball and football. I'm going to be at the games. I'm sitting courtside. I'm in the booth. I'm talking to the coaches. We're doing the same. Hockey, I like owning sports teams. It's sports teams. I like the Devils, too. I love that honesty, by the way. I know this sounds trivial and small. I know we have other stuff to talk about. But I admire the, hi, I'm more successful than everybody here. And anybody that's watching me, I'm more successful than. My virtue of my billions and the things that I own and I'm in charge of. But I'm here to tell you, there's things I don't know. I don't know what I don't know. And I'm not going to walk in and be like, here's how, like, if I own the hockey team tomorrow, like, if I strike it beyond rich, because I invent something so cool, you don't even know about it. And it's like, it's now Danny Rubio owns the Capitals. I don't know the first thing. I know, Ovi's good. How do you pull the hockey team? How do you run an organization? I love, I love the fact that he, he's willing to admit that. Because there are a lot of billionaires that wouldn't. I know we're on the speaker in the concourse and everyone can hear us right now. And they're looking at us like, why are these guys talking? But I am going to say this anyway. Have you noticed, if not, I'll tap you the next time he walks by. There's this guy that's walked by us like three times, who looks exactly like he's related to Josh Brolin. Have you seen this guy? No, I haven't seen James Brolin. He just walked right past us. And I'm telling you, we made eye contact again. And I wanted to stop him. Like, he knows that you know that he looks like Josh Brolin. Exactly. To me, it's like Josh Brolin's brother. I'm going to, you don't need me to tap you because if you see him. Well, now I'm looking for it. Oh, that's the guy. Is that him? Oh, that's Toby. But I will let you know, when I see him again, that Mr. Brolin is making the rounds, walking the concourse. They've just opened the doors it looks like. Because I see some people streaming in, in their cap scare, their cap sweaters. They've got all of the merchandise now open. The stands and all of the concourse, food options available to people. Have just come open in the last few minutes. So, cap's 50 getting underway here at Capital One Arena. I wanted to talk about Commander's Ravens. Because I keep hearing this idea that it's a rivalry. And someone needs to explain that to me. We used to do the show. Segment regularly, someone explained to me. Something you didn't understand, and someone could dumb it down to your level, right? I need someone to do that. This is not a rivalry. I'm sorry. I get the geography of DC and Baltimore. In the case of the Orioles and the Nationals, it kind of is because they play every year. There's a history of them playing games against one another, right? The Orioles and the Nationals have a history of an owner not wanting the other team to exist. So you could tell me there's some animus, some bad blood there, whatever. The Ravens and the Redskins/football team/commanders. They play once every four years. They are in completely different conferences. They have almost nothing to do with one another. This is the opposite of what a rivalry is. The next time you play Baltimore, will be 2024. Think about that. The time after that that you play Baltimore will be 2028. They played in 2000. They played in 2004 Joe Gibbs. They played in 2008 Jim Zorn. They played in 2012 Shanahan. They played in 26 Gruden. They just play after every coaching change. No head coach here has ever taken on the ratings. I've never played it twice. Think about this. I want someone to do their best at 800-636-1067. But I think you're going to have a hard time convincing me this is a rivalry. All I'll never convince you. What you'd have to do is flip that one little switch, flip the second one, then move about six feet to your right, flip that switch, flip that one. That's the lock on the window to the press box. Slide it open. Take off that nice set of dress wear and hop on down with the common folk. You got to get in here and rub elbows with the unwashed masses with the rest of the peasants down here on the level where we're not above all of this. This is not a press box, Paulson Tate. It is 100% of press box Paulson Tate. In what way? This, you can't get to the idea. You're someone that thinks like the rivalry with the then-reskins and cowboys really wasn't that big of a deal. No, I'm sure. Get out of here. You've downplayed that for years. No, I have not. Because the players don't care about it anymore. I think currently the rivalry is not that big of a deal. The point here is this is not a traditional rivalry because I believe, using strictest definitions, rivalries come from on field or on ice, for example. Everyone knows CAPS Penguins as a rivalry. That's a good rivalry. They play, they butt heads, they're dislike for each other, then extends to the fans. Penguins fans are the most annoying ever. But you just said something so important, Danny. They play. They actually play games, not like the Olympics. The Ravens and the commanders play every time there's an Olympics. Well, every four years. With the Olympics, we've got some rivalries too, don't we? There are some other countries that we have some rivalries with over the course of the years because there's things that go into it beyond just what happens on field. So the truest rivalry is a division rival. I think Washington, Dallas, think Philadelphia, New York, et cetera. That's a normal thing. This is a fan rivalry though, because you mentioned it. This is one of the strangest fan relationships the DC Baltimore region in the country. There are other places where there are multiple teams within similar mileage distance, right? Where Yankee Stadium is to where the Mets play, where Oakland used to play at San Francisco, where multiple teams in LA, et cetera. They're similar things, but not like this. Where, when Baltimore doesn't have a team at a given sport, I know Orioles and Ravens fans that are die-hard capital fans. They love the caps, right? The Baltimore Capitals, even some still care about the bullets. My wife's grandmother. The first time we bombed the door was watching Phil Shenier and Steve Buckhants call Wizards games, right? She called them the bullets and loved them, and then we bombed it over that. So there's this weird relationship where it's all these carve-outs, where your neighbor is a then Redskins fan and Orioles fan, or they like the Orioles, but didn't care for the Ravens. They followed the Colts to the Annapolis. It's this weird thing where, I know you always say like, I don't really see it. I didn't really get across my radar. Washington fans always claim it's one-sided. Baltimore hates us. That's the thing. And them hating us caused you to behave one of two ways. You dismiss, you don't care about it, or you kind of hate them back. And that's what this is. So it's not a strict rivalry from a, they play every year twice a year. It's a, the fans, right across the street in Anne Arundel County, right? If I, if you go east to where we used to broadcast in Lanham, you go five minutes north, it's like Raven's broadcast territory. You go two minutes east, they're listening to Washington DC radio, and they're mad that everything's purples, you've asked fans at the exporting goods. It's a fan rivalry. Yeah, it is a fan rivalry. So are the Packers and the commanders when they play? The fans talk trash to each other on Twitter. Yeah, fans don't like other fans of other teams. That's how it works. But I cannot do a rivalry if I play every four years. I'm sorry. I cannot wrap my head around that. And the Baltimore-Washington thing, I agree with you wholeheartedly, is a completely unique back and forth. I don't even know what to call it. I don't mean that the two teams, the Redskins/Commanders and the Ravens, I mean the cities. Right. You act like it's one sided and the Baltimore hates DC. I think DC condescends to Baltimore pretty constantly. I hear lots of people doing the Baltimore accents and making a lot of jokes. I guess that's supposed to be just dismissed outright. I think it's okay, it's healthy, it's kind of fun. Like we're in DC. We have a pretty good thing going here. It's okay every now and then to elbow the Baltimore people in the ribs a little bit. And they, I think, because we're Big Brother essentially in the Mid-Atlantic in this region, look up at us with some consternation and don't like us as much. I think that's fair. I just acknowledge that it goes both ways. A lot of people aren't willing to do that. Having said that, I think that's a good argument you made. That's about as good as anyone's going to do. Right. Because it is not your, you get yourself in a little box sometimes. And in this box you go, I know what a rivalry is. Teams that play twice a year don't like each other and it spills into the pants. It doesn't even have to be that. And I'm saying if you loosen the definition, and I'm admitting you have to loosen the definition to get what I'm arguing for, then it makes sense. But like 49ers packers could be a rivalry. Yeah, like they don't play twice a year, they don't even play once a year. But they might, they occasionally play more than just quite literally, when's the next time they're going to play? If you don't go to Baltimore this Sunday, the next chance you're going to get to see your team in Baltimore is in eight years. I'll probably be dead. Most of us will be, okay? Like Bengals' Chiefs is a rivalry, even though they're not in the same division, they play in the postseason, and the rhetoric got hot. Mayors are betting on stuff, and people are calling each other names, and it escalated. Now they're both really good, so that one got kick-started. But you would never think of that as a historical rivalry by any stretch of the imagination, you know? But it just stuff happens. This is really to me about the fan basis. And when I go see my father-in-law in the greater Frederick area, literally it's one side of the street, it's purple this, can't, you know, purple Zubaz, Raven's flags, Edgar Allen Poe quotes. On the other side, it's, no, it's all Washington. Like, there's not much that's like that, whereas typically, now there's going to be exceptions, obviously everywhere, but if you're in the Bay Area, you drive in Oakland, it's Oakland. You drive across the bridge, it's San Francisco. This is a pretty good dividing line. Here, there are no lines. It's this weird muddled, like a kid that's never seen a maze before, trying to solve it. But here's a bunch of scribbles. Do you think of the Raiders and the 49ers as a rivalry? There's no chance. Hmm, no. And that's exactly my point. They never play. How could it possibly be a rivalry? Well, they're just two random teams. Had they been in Oakland the whole time, then maybe more so? They've been in Oakland for a long damn time. Oakland and LA and Vegas have backed Oakland and LA. I mean, every time Al Davis sneezed, they moved. I mean, they've been in Oakland since, for decades. There's a lot of time in Oakland. It's not a rivalry because they don't play. Let's go to Jimmy and, you know what, before we get to the phones, I'm sorry, Jimmy. I hate doing that. Why would you do that to Jimmy? I shouldn't. I want to play that in. Did Jimmy think it's a rivalry? You wouldn't let him talk. I don't know if we're going to get to Jimmy in a second. Don't you worry about that. Don't you cut off Jimmy? I'm not going to cut off Jimmy. Can't even hear Jimmy. But Dan Quinn answered this question. I actually think that's interesting. Somebody asked the head coach of the commanders, is this a rivalry? Is this what he had to say? For me, first, you know, kind of getting here and getting started, I didn't naturally think of that coming in because of the division. And the history of what the NFC East, you know, has been so much with the teams that way. So that was probably the first thing I thought with rivalries, with Washington, of the NFC East. I think there's always a connection when cities are, you know, closer by. But the fact that we're not in the same division, in the same conference, you know, for me, my first, you know, time playing Baltimore as a commander, my first thought was the East first. That was Dan Quinn talking about this rivalry? Rivalries, Jimmy. All right, now it's Jimmy's turn. I told you I would go to Jimmy. Actually, you know what, first, let's go to. No, I'm kidding. Come on. Jimmy, what's going on, buddy? How are you? Hey, man, don't cut off, Jimmy. Can you believe we already do that? Did Jimmy want me to do that? I'm not Lorena Bob. Don't touch. Whoa, dude. Look, you don't have to worry about it. She's. I grew up in Northern Maryland. I'm a rival, basically. I live down here in D.C. Or that guy living in Springfield or whatever you call it now. I work in an office full of commanders fans. And you can bet your ass. I wore my Ray Lewis jersey work today. I wore my 2012, our 2000 Super Bowl champion shit app. And I talked smack. Because on Monday, after we baked your quarterback again, and we beat you by 35 points, I want to make sure it's clear who has the better football season. Now, does that get under your skin or not? Yeah, that got under my skin. Yeah, that was a little gritty, wasn't it? Yeah, that's a fan rivalry. It's not, you're not the Steelers. You're not in our division. I don't really care what happens after the game. But you being a Ravens fan saying that doesn't make it worse. If you were a Bengals fan and said that, it still would have been annoying. But Jimmy's point before you cut him off again. I don't know why you're saying this was right for Jimmy. I appreciate you. But Jimmy's point is, this isn't like the one rare time that the Bengals fan gets to see the game. He lives and works among Washington fans. We live in D.C. I live around everybody. I see Steelers fans every day. I see Browns fans every day. Not to this level of concentration. I mean, I see a couple more Ravens fans, not a lot. Well, I mean, day to day, I see more Cowboys fans than anything. Yeah, I mean, you go from Lorton to the office. But if you were in Colombia, you would see a million. Like, that's within your shot. That's the same distance. And that would be annoying to me once every four years when my team played their team. Desmond in Temple Hills. What's good? What's up, what's your man? Hey, man. Great, and dang. I love y'all. But y'all is letting the, I was raised in Virginia show. Y'all is letting it just right now. I'm gonna, I'm gonna just keep it 100 with you. I'm gonna tell you, it, it, you can say it's a fan rivalry, but it's bigger than that. Because I'm a, I'm a guy that I'm from Temple Hills. Born and raised right there by Amazon most. Like to ride my bike to D.C. all of that. You know what I'm saying? Right there. When it comes to Baltimore, they do not like us. We do not like them. Now we like, they harvest, they like our harvest. That's it. You know what I'm saying? For the most part. We like casino, they like our casino. That's the most part. When it comes to everything else, we don't like the way they talk. We don't like the way they dress. They keep trying to claim that they didn't start a new balances and Nike boots or that they, they be, they be, they be reached. And we get inside of that. We got a quarterback that can finally compete in a team that can finally compete with their teams. They have been having over the past 10, 20 years. So now it's like, okay, we finally up there, which are now, we already had our little fun over the football of the past couple, 10, 20 years or whatever. But now it's awesome. And now we got something to say, oh, that's trash. I'll be talking about everything else. You're going to shut all of that down this Sunday when dating values look like what the model will be looking like when you first came. Appreciate you, dude. Thank you. There's, I think, again, in the strictest definition, I keep coming back to this, and I know a lot of people don't care. I, my argument's not going to hold up in court, right? Like, to me, a true rivalries, Michigan Ohio State. It's a geographical rival. Do you want me to acknowledge that? You can. They play every Michigan Ohio State. They play every year. There is so much on it. You get fired if you don't beat the other team for a couple of years. I mean, it's to that degree. It's the fan base. They only care about did you beat Ohio State? Did you beat Michigan or vice versa? Like, that's a rivalry. Here's what else I would say, though. This is not that 10 out of 10 rivalries. I would rather beat the Panthers than the Ravens. For NFC purposes, yeah. It means so much more in tie-breaking metrics in every way that you'll need wins. It's like, if you had to pick one, you'd pick that. Yes. Yeah. I would too probably. I would rank the Ravens win, like, on a wish list. No higher than however many NFC games you have. And then it starts next with the AFC games. And it probably would be the top of the AFC games. Because it's Baltimore and it's geographically close. But just in another conference in a league where those wins don't mean as much to you, where the weighted victory is the NFC victory. Yeah. It's just hard for me. Again, to Olympics. You know, every four years, man. Where were you four years ago? There were people who have been married twice since then, you know? That's a long time between games for these two teams. Grant and Danny with you on the fan. Only Colesic is stopping by our setup here in about 10 minutes. Looking forward to talking to only the goalie, one of the 70 former players with the capitals who's on site tonight. That is coming up live as we are at Capital One Arena. Caps fans are streaming into the building for the caps 50 event right here on the fan. If your day sounds like we need the report ASAP. You deserve medulla if you've persevered through. You deserve this rich golden lager with a crisp or refreshing taste, or if you overcame or you deserve this ice cold reward. Laddell, the markable fight. Freak responsibly. You're reported by Chronic Port Chicago Illinois. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laughing me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B. But with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. 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Take on fall in a trail tackling Tacoma, or go for the powerful Tundra. Head to Toyota.com for more info, or visit your local Toyota dealership today. Toyota, let's go places. [MUSIC] The seasons may be changing, but the deals of the sharpest rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on? It's your girl, Tasha McKia. And I need you to join the sharpest rides for their fall into savings event, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. That's right, everything is on sale now. Shot from sleek sedans to rugged SUVs and sporty convertibles. The sharpest rides has the perfect ride to match your fall adventures. Plus, with their exclusive financing options, getting behind the wheel of your dream car has never been easier. Log on and shop online at thesharpestrides.com, right from the palm of your hands. Or check other massive inventory in person at the sharpest rides, located 2250 South Sea Home Street in Inglewood. Either way, you will fall into savings. Don't miss out, head on over to the sharpestrides.com today and explore the deals that make every season better. And tell them that you're girl, Tasha McKia sent you the sharpest rides, affordable, sexy, sharp. Live from Capital One Arena, head of the caps 50 event as we celebrate 50 years of caps hockey. We're Grant and Danny welcoming you back on 106/7 The Fan and we are really pleased right now. To be joined by a caps legend, a former All-Star, a Vessna award winner. Olaf Kolesik joins us, Ollie the goalie is in the house. Thank you for the time, we appreciate it. Thanks for having me, guys. You can't go five feet around here. Like, it's been a while since I've been in the concourse, so I'm sure people are making up for a lot of time. Oh, it's gonna say, are your quads okay? A lot of sitting, standing, kneeling, bending, getting your autographs and pictures done? Getting back to the old days, love it. What an exciting time for this organization as we kick off a brand new year on Saturday night. But let's start with this event. I was telling Danny earlier, the caps of all the teams in town do the best with this kind of stuff. Like, it's just familial, feels like we're all coming back together, first time, long time. 50 years of this organization and over 70 former players are coming back. They join all the current players tonight at this event. Peter Bondra has done a phenomenal job in recuscitating this alumni. And it has just grown from year to year, and now with this being the 50th, we've had the most turnout that we've ever had for this event. I just was downstairs, guys I hadn't seen since I played. I mean, guys that played here in the 70s that I got to meet for the first time. It's phenomenal down there. And the connection that this organization has with this city, I mean, is exemplary right here tonight. I think there's going to be over 15,000 people at this event. It's a great way to kick off the 50th anniversary. Well, this organization, it'll never, obviously, because it couldn't be. It'd never be an original six. You know, it's never going to have the same cache as some of the others. But it's not mature. It feels like, right? Whereas I remember going to land over Maryland to the Capitol Center with, you know, 5,000 of my best buddies to watch an okay team. And then they've been good, mad, everything in between over those years. Just reflect on it. Where this organization has come from and where it is now. Pretty darn healthy place, I'd say. Well, somebody was telling me a story about the Save the Cap drive. A couple years after they were here. Uh-huh. And to see where, when we were in the finals in 2018, to see the two or three blocks around this arena just filled with red was crazy. And I think a lot of it obviously has to do with the Ovi effect. I mean, Ovi came on board and then that generation of players that were here, I think just created such a buzz with this community. And then obviously culminating with the Stanley Cup championship, everybody loves a winner. And I think this organization just does a great job of interacting with the community. It is funny to think about that. So 50 years feels like such a big number. But then you think about Ovi and he's essentially been a part of 40% of the organization's history as he's embarking on almost two decades now. He is as responsible as anybody in organizational history for where we are. But what do you make of this era? This rock, the red, in this building, this group that makes the playoffs almost annually one cup to show for it. But so many years where they're knocking on the door. Like, what do you think this is done for hockey in this city? Well, I think it's done everything. The excitement, it's generated. I mean, if you come here to watch a game, it's an event. I mean, it's boisterous, especially when our guys are doing well. It's boisterous. We get the unleashed the fury late in the third period. And when we're competing, when we're competing for first place, when we're battling and competing in the playoffs, it's just such a great time to be here. This era of caps hockey is obviously one of the best that's been in the 50 years that we've been here. Remind me, like, the year you guys made the amazing cup run that nobody really saw come in necessarily. Back in the, you know, the end of the 90s into 2000. What's the building like at the beginning of those seasons? Obviously, the city rallies behind a team because it becomes the cool thing to do. Like, where was the fan base then? Well, it was a little different because we just moved into MCI Center. And that was in December, moving from U.S.A. arena. And so just being in a new building obviously provides a buzz and an energy. And I think that kind of, that kind of more rubbed off on us as players when the building was full and loud and electric. And maybe it wasn't necessarily for the team, but for the building. But then as the rest of that season went, it sort of flipped. Okay, we know what the building's about, but now we've actually got a good hockey team. And, you know, we channeled that energy into that nice playoff run that we had. It was disappointing though when we played Detroit in the finals, where we came back for game three and four. And the whole lower bowl was, was Detroit Red Wing fans. I think that was a little demoralizing for our group. But, you know, we had, yes, obviously we would have loved to win a game and see what we could have done of it, made of it. But, you know, that, that, that Red Wing's French team for those two years. I mean, that probably one of the better teams. They're pretty good. Yeah. Loaded with Hall of Famers. Holy Colesic with this year. Live at Capitol Warner Arena. Oh, great, Danny. Just to your point. So, I was in, you know, high school and, and, and college, kind of your heyday here in, in your prime playing for the capitals. And I was thinking about what, while you were talking, there was no such thing as youth hockey around here. It was basically like Wayne's world, you know, like game on, game off on the street. Street hockey style is either the Chevy Chase Club, if you belong. There was a rink, Fort DuPont, and then maybe like sometimes in cabin, John, if it was cold enough. Now there's like youth hockey leagues. It's like a travel sport like anywhere else. And you're part of building that, I would say. Just that, that enthusiasm and excitement, it really got kicked and overdrive now with this group. But that to me is remarkable. I don't know, just your thoughts on that. Well, I think that goes hand in hand when you have a successful team and you have some players that, that, you know, the, the community loves. And you know, when you bring your kids to games, and then all of a sudden they, they see the game and they see an Alex Galvechkin or they see a, you know, a Brayden Hopi or, or Peter Bondra. And they're like, I want to play that game. And so then they talk to their parents about, how do I get to play hockey? And so when you have more and more people like that, you know, there's a movement. And then there was a demand for new arenas. So they built some arenas and then the minor hockey program started taking off. And there's definitely a correlation between the NHL team and minor hockey. If you have a successful program with some star players, the kids are usually the ones that, that have the, you know, want the parents to get them playing hockey. Because they think it's pretty cool. This offseason was different for the capitals. You're looking at this group now and you're still a big part of this organization. Unfortunately, there was a lot of money to spend because TJ Oshie and Nicholas Baxter are unavailable. And that's, you know, turning up the page, it's sad for a lot of things. That's hard, yeah. But the amount of players that were brought in, talented veterans that really could help push this thing forward now, is substantial for the first time in many, many off seasons. What do you make of, of what Brian McClellan and Company were able to do? Well, there's a lot of optimism for sure. When you get a, when you get a guy like Dubois with his skill set and his talent and hope, you know, that, that maybe carbs has the, the secret recipe to unlock his potential. If, if that happens, look out. I mean, we've got a very special hockey player. And then, you know, we got Manji Apani, who was a great player in Calgary for many years. Chickering, a defenseman from, from Ottawa. Again, another talented player that, you know, if we can harness his ability and get the most out of him, it's just going to be a great counter to John Carlson. I mean, Johnny's getting older too, and he maybe can't haul in minutes that he used to. And this, uh, tricker is going to be a great offset for him. What about the goaltending situation? So, Chucky last year was, ended up being the hot hand. They went into the playoffs with Lengren. And maybe that happens again this year. But they bring in Mason Thompson. Feels like maybe we don't even know who ends up being the guy yet. Presumably, you tell me, do you think someone has to take over? Or could it be, uh, like a timeshare? And does that work in today's NHL? Well, I, I think you're going to, I think you have to have some sort of a time chair. It's not like, not like the days when I played, Marty Berder played, where we played 72-74 games. You imagine that 72 games? And now they don't even like, go, always go back to back. It seems... No, and, and, and it's not so much from a physical standpoint. I mean, I, I like to train like a, like a player. I was always in really good shape. And, and, and that workload never really affected me. I think the thing now is there's so much parity and there's so much importance to win every game because they're, it's so close that it's more of a mental break. Um, you know, having a goalie play, try to play 72 games and pressure-packed games every night. It's, it takes a toll where when we were playing, we had, we had expansion teams that were there. And you knew that even on your, when you're, you had an off-nighter, you weren't playing your best. You knew more times than not that you were going to beat that team. And that's not taking anything away from it. It's just a different, different era of hockey now. What do you think real quick, sorry Danny? Oh, goaltending money. I saw, um, Justerkin, I think it was turned on 11 and 88. The other day. It seems like there's a bubble that could pop at some point, right? Where, just because I know that guy's special and elite, but there's only so many of those goalies where a lot of times the team just, it's the Lindgren who ends up being the guy, not the contract player that you bring in. Where we headed, do you think, in goaltending spending? What do you think of that, by the way, 88 million? He said no. And do you wish you could still play? I try to find a way to play it with 88 million. No, I think, and, and, and, and there were no other, once Kerry Price had signed his big contract, the market kind of stale and actually kind of went in reverse a little bit. So those, those 10 million dollar contracts were out there anymore. So when he turned that down, it actually surprised me a little bit. That was going to be the highest, highest contract ever given to a goal tenor. So I, I really don't understand the reasoning. I mean, you got the money, you got the term. I don't know if he's looking to get more with the, with the increase in the salary cap. To me, that's kind of counterproductive, because you could use some of that money to bring in better players, to help your team become better. So I, I don't know, but I think in his case, he's, he's the star guy. And, you know, he's a, he was drafted by the Rangers. He was developed by the Rangers. So he's a ranger through and through, where sometimes when you bring in these, guys from other organizations, they're not quite as comfortable. You know what I mean? Like there, there has to be sort of a comfort level for goalies to really play their best. You saw that with Babrowski the first few years in Florida when he went down there. You know, they were really kicking themselves for signing with that contract. And then obviously he, in the last two years, especially this last year, when the Stanley Cup, it was all worth it. When we're talking about some of the new players on this roster, it's exciting. How long does it take, and there's no right answers, there's no one formulaic thing here only. But how long does it take do you think for everybody to kind of have it be second nature, right? Where you can go through training camp, you got to go through good, bad, and everything in between, where when you throw that pass, you know that someone's going to be on the other end of it, or those anticipation, timing plays, etc. How long does it take for everybody is on the same page in second nature? It's probably a good 20, 30 games. I mean, we've, we've had to deal with that a lot in Hershey the last few years. And I know Todd Nelson's biggest thing is like, this isn't going to be a team until about 30, 30 games in. And that's just getting to know guys, getting to know different personalities. Like you said, getting to know where, what the trend is for a line mate, what your partner's going to do, you know, from a goal to understand a point of view, what your deep pairing is going to do. So there's a big adjustment. And it's usually 20, 30 before there's really strong chemistry. There's a, there's a goal score of some renown named Wayne Gretzky. He's at the top. There's a guy that plays here that's 41 shy. A, I still can't believe that because I saw Gretzky. I can't believe anybody's close. And yet here we are, just quantify that for us. How incredible it is and just in what you make of it. So three years ago, I knew, I mean, obviously, I knew Ovi was one of the best goal scorers ever, but I had no idea how close he was to Gretzky's record because I didn't even really put him in the same category. I think the stuff that Gretzky achieved, it just, you never thought was ever going to be broken. I think the guy had more assists than the next guy had total points. Yeah. Like it's just, they're off the chart stats. And so when it came to light that Ovi was 180 goals away, you're like, okay, that's still 180 goals, but man, is he close. And then to think he's 42 and he could possibly do it this year, it is... Unless people play the game, I mean, you just have no idea how special that is, especially with the way the goaltender's playing now, how tight teams play defensively. It's incredible. Like, he is legitimately, he will be the all-time best goal score, whether he breaks the record or not, in my opinion, with all the variables, goal tenders now, he will be the all-time best goal score ever. What it's going to do for this organization also, I can't wait for it. I feel like it's going to be 98 home run chase of my childhood kind of attention as he gets closer. When the countdown's really on and he's 10 away, 9 away, networks cutting into games kind of stuff. I really think it's going to be on that level. It could be... Well, I think it's going to take it to the other level too, what it's going to do for the NHL product. I mean, what the NHL has done in the last five years is phenomenal. Like, we're right almost on par with the other three big dogs, maybe not football, but basketball and MLB. I mean, they've done such a good job promoting this game. And then you have something like this happen, a once-in-a-generation player that's going to break maybe one of the unbreakable records, you know. I think it's going to be an exciting time, obviously in DC, but I think for the NHL in general. Oh, and this is treatment. Thanks for stopping by and hanging out. Yeah, I appreciate it, guys. Thank you, buddy. It was a good talk in hockey. Great to have you back home. Yeah, thank you. Only Colesic, ladies and gentlemen, one of the cap's greats of all-time 70 former players in the house this evening with all of the current capitals. It's the cap's 50 event. We're taking you up to 630. On your flagship home for caps hockey, all season long, 106-7, the fan. Welcome back to Grant and Danny live on the fan. We are at Capital One Arena. It is already hopping in here. We just had only Colesic stopped by. That's only the goalie, man. Good catching up with him. The cap's 50 event is underway. Third Eye Blind is playing to make this whole night sing, literally and figuratively at the end of the evening. So that'll be a lot of fun. The stage looks awesome by the way. Yes, it does. Because you know, I've been in indoor concerts before, but you can get right up on it. It's pretty close proximity. I think they said there's going to be close to 15,000 people coming out here tonight. Cap's fans are good at being fans. They like it. Yeah, if you put capitals on it and they say you say we're doing something, they'll post. They'll probably wear something rad. But this is what we were talking about with Oli. This is what they're trying to cultivate, I think, with the commanders right now. The wizards have their work cut out from. That's a whole nother story. But you certainly have some of this with the nats because of their recent championship. The capital's fan base is extremely passionate and they deliver. Like night in and night out, they come. They all wear the same thing that they're supposed to wear. The opposing fans don't take over the building and they show up. And you say, well, why is it that way for the capitals? I think it's that they've been really good for almost 20 years. Like, if you deliver over and over again on the product, then the fans say, we'll get your back. And for pretty much every single season, barring a couple over the last 16 or so years, they've been a playoff team with a chance to win a championship. You've given me a lot of great memories, a lot of joy. I turn on the TV. I choose your product. I pay money to come to games. And way more often than not, I have a good time. I'm rewarded. That's what it is. It's the investment, right? I mean, the reason I will never go to Nub's Field again is because when I didn't have any money, I spent a lot of it. And I had the worst time I've ever had. I don't do that again. I'm not signing up for that again. Whereas when I buy a caps ticket, I've had a great shooting percentage. I've had an awesome time for the most part. Even watching some losses, even sometimes when they came in second or the stupid Rangers wand or Pittsburgh wand or a playoff disappointment, most of the time I have a great event when I come here. And that's kind of the thing. That's how you give people to come back. Even with playoff disappointments or some of the things that happen over the years, it's a great product to your point. And when you do that, people give you some brand loyalty and that's what's happened. Yeah, but it's just a good time. It's funny. You think you're coming out here for a game and it's going to be awesome. But even an event like this, people are just excited. I think that it's a new year, that it's a new season. You know, that fans are back and kind of in the flow of just putting on their sweater, getting together again, going to the arena, cheering. Like to me, that is the whole point. And that's what we're seeing today is just happy to be back. That's what it is, right? I mean, everybody's in such a good mood. Everyone's in such good spirits. It's like it's like the first day of school, but it's not for school. It's like the first day of a happy thing, right? It's like, oh, there's the guy that sits close to me. I know this person from, you know, the partial season ticket plan we've had. Like everybody's just so happy around such a good mood, man. It's contagious. Caps hockey gets underway on Saturday night at Capital One Arena. They're playing the New Jersey Devils. Tonight's the Caps 50 event. We are here throughout the evening, Toby Altizer's live. When we are done, he will be on site out here at Capital One Arena. You can get tickets for $19.74. Because they were founded in 1874. Pretty cool deal. Get in for less than 20 bucks. You get a show. They've got the food going and everything in stadium like a normal game night. Very, very cool, good experience. I also think the buy-in of having 70 former players here. That's incredible, by the way, man. Like, and to Washington, Commander's Credit. Like, we see they're getting there with their homecoming events. I think they had, you know, it's different because you have 53 players at a time. But they had almost 100 players last year of the year before with this new regime, trying to reach out to guys, lining the sideline, coming out, being honored. I just think that speaks to how you treat your players and them wanting to be a part of something. Yeah, and it's important for guys. And it's like I've sampled, you know, and talked to every single former player of all the different teams. But in general, I would say the pulse that we have gotten is, I just don't want to feel like I'm being used. Like, it always felt to me that Snyder and company, when it's like, we got some bad PR. Quick, trot out of legend. You know what I mean? People are upset at us. Let's see if Darryl Green's available to come and stand in front of us. And no one gets mad at Darryl Green. Let's see if we can find someone else that was good. At some point to sort of dudge up good feelings from the past. And guys, where are they? They get tired of being trotted out there without much benefit to them. They need to know that there need to be events where, you know, it has come to do anything. You just, you show up and have a great time with some of your buddies that you shared, you know, the battlefield with or shared, you know, the ice with or the football game with whatever. You need to treat people really well. You start doing that. Then it's like, okay, hey, here's an ask. Can you come back for this party with or I've lied? And then they say, yes. Like, if you feel part of it, you're willing to do it. Thursday night football tonight at 8.15 East time here on the fan, the San Francisco 49ers, the Seattle Seahawks and NFC West matchup. A Seattle win and they're actually sitting pretty. Four and two, man. They would have the tiebreaker for now over San Francisco. They would have a two game cushion over the Niners who are not completely healthy. It would be a signature win early for them with their loan losses to Detroit. Tough game against the good team, then a bad loss to the Giants. But that would be really their only bad loss of the season. Chino Smith is leading the NFL in passing yards. They're a top 10 offense. They're all that's good. Here's what I like about Seattle. With moving on now from Pete Carroll, they have joined the 2020s. They throw the ball. They use their receiving talent. They spread you out. They brought in a play call and a coordinator from the University of Washington that was on the staff with Michael Pennix last year, that up tempo, pass first, free receiver offense. Thought it was a really good hire and grub. He's done a really good job so far. But they're not majoring in running the football. They're minoring in it. They're basically spreading you out and throwing it and then mixing in the run. I just think it's it looks like the 2020s now and they've got a quarterback who's undervalued and nobody talks enough about it. Chino Smith who's pulling the trigger. Yeah, they have a really excellent set of ingredients for an offense. Right? As good a deep bet as you're going to find a DK Metcalf. As good an intermediate possession guys you're going to find. And Jackson Smith and Jigman then you know a good third option that maybe a step slower than he was a couple years ago but still pretty damn proficient in Locket. Kenneth Walker's a badass out of the backfield too. He is tough, physical running at a five and a half a pop. And you know Zach Charbonnet is a good you know change of pace in that regard. So there are really good ingredients on this offense, right? And that hasn't been their problem is moving the football in general. I mean they have 500 so much yards of offense against against Detroit in a loss. So they can move it and they can score. Grant and Danny on the fan. We've got parts of a couple of really good conversations we had on the show today. We want to react to and play for you next including Brian Baldinger who helped us preview Commander's Ravens outstanding breakdown of what Washington's done well from him. And Luke McCaffrey gave us a surprise phone call off the practice field as well. What did he have to say about the prep the team's doing for Baltimore? We'll get into that as we continue from Capital One Arena head of caps 50 tonight on G&D on the fan. If your day sounds like we need the report ASAP. You deserve Mandela. If you've persevered through. You deserve this rich golden lager with a crisp or refreshing taste. Or if you overcame or you deserve this ice cold reward. Ladella the Mark of the Fight. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laughing me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B. But with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do. Get a hundred dollar credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com/results to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com/results. Terms and conditions apply. Linked in. The place to be. To be. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. 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