SPEAKER_01 0:23

Welcome to Hooked Up Fun episode. I don't even know. 40-something. I think it's 42, 43. Who really knows? We'll figure it out by the end of this episode. I'm different for fun Ryan, Southside Green Beast CJ. And with us, special guest, the mastermind behind balls and strikes. Ryan Bench.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Ryan, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. We were supposed to do this last week, but I messed up. You completely effed it up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

That's why we didn't have an episode last week. Yep. 42 is this episode, says Calvin, producer. We are outside at the pond, finally out of the basement. Thank God.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Great day.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Great day. It's a little chilly. What is it today? It is eight degrees with the sun's shining tomorrow, which will be Thursday when this episode comes out. We'll be 16, 18, something like that. And beautiful. So yeah, we got lots going on at the pond. If you followed our social media, lots of uh updates and renovations going on. Uh one big thing that will be coming in here, which I know Benchy will be very happy about, is the brand new lights that are coming in. So those will be installed. I've got confirmation from the company. They'll be actually fully installed uh no later than end of May, early June. So piece by piece will be coming in, which will be a really cool full project with everything. Yeah. So uh I got conf confirmation we'll be the second ballpark, or I think actually stadium general in Canada with the full this full uh color lighting package besides the jails. So yeah. And you got the color one. We got the color one. You got the fancy one. Yeah, everybody else has got the uh I know Hamilton just the white LEDs. Yeah, yeah. I know Hamilton's getting new lights, uh, exact same system as us, just not the color. Yeah. Uh so we'll be able to change our our field fully green if we want to, which would be pretty sick. That'll be sick. So that'd be awesome. Um, so bench, you're back this year. I'm back. I don't even know what your position's called. I think it's a player personnel slash. I don't know what my position's called either.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

We haven't talked about it at all. Um figured out. Yeah, I you can make up your own if you want. I don't know what I did last year.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Yeah, gotta get shit done. It makes guys hit.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

I try to. Yeah. Yeah. Last year I think I called myself the performance coach. Yes, we did that. Because I do pitching and hitting, but honestly, call me whatever you want. I just work here.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

I'm gonna call you Bench.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Yeah, that's yeah. Let's call you by your name. Works great.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yeah, it's kind of funny because uh you were probably forever gonna be the only player that um played for us in year one into just one, just one, just one and now and now are on the coaching staff. I didn't think except for Eric, but he's not the coaching staff anymore.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Um, who's now in Ottawa, but what's that like to see it go from what we did in 2019 to sold out?

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Oh, it's so I I'm a Niagara local, that's kind of why I was part of that 2019 team. Like Esri called me and was like, hey, we need some local talent on this team, gotta get involved. If I remember correctly, I did not need any conversion. We had some begging to play. Please. I needed no begging to play. Flamethrower? So join our team. I might actually lead, I might have a record and hit Batsman. No shit. I might. I don't know. There's some guys that have hit some players. I hit one guy in outing. Connor Morrow, I hit him every time I faced him. Is that on purpose? No, no, we're friends. Okay, that's good. Yeah, no, just pull Yanks into righties, but yeah. Um go like seeing this place in 2019, like it's almost unrecognizable. Like you look at the old shots of the stadium, we had the runways out from the batter's boxes, all the concrete was gray, all the gray seating. When you're whenever you're playing in the outfield during a day game, all the all the stands are just lit up white from the seat.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Well, we didn't have we didn't have 3200 fans, we had 900.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

800.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

So you think about 3200 seat stadium with 900 people in it.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

I remember us being pumped for 500 for 600 for the first game was 700.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

First game was 1100, but come down.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

No, no, I mean like as the season went on, like as the season went on, like home opener was huge, obviously, and then through June and July, like that's your kind of quiet time when it starts to get hot. Uh, and then August, September, when playoffs started rolling around, like we saw it kind of pick up at the end of the and COVID, obviously. COVID shut us down. So 2020, I played in the cornhole tournament with my brother. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Turned into a lobster, and then also hit in the home run derby that we did. That's right. And that's how I made a bunch of local friends and the local men's league, guys I coach with now. It's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Are you gonna play this year for the men's league?

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Um, I'm gonna be rostered. I don't know how much I'll play Merritt. Merritt. Yeah, I'll be rostered. I I don't know how much I'll play. Like I'll be a little busier this summer and in the into the fall, um, just with where I'm at now.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

But well, we you had a bit of a different uh bit of a different position this year with us, uh, because you're gonna be taking care of all the players' schedule and what they're gonna be doing day to day because um we don't want to have any free time. Just kidding. Mondays, Mondays, off day Mondays. So actually, our next episode next week is gonna be uh with Carson Johnson, who arrived uh this past weekend. Nice, uh, who's now in Welland uh from uh where is he coming from? Umwhere in the States. It was a long ride, you said with it.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Joplin, Missouri is from what I Joplin, Missouri, thank you. Joplin, Missouri.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

All the way up here. Uh everybody else will be players will start coming in on the 30th, and it's pretty much like a full slate from when they arrive because we're up in Ottawa, then we have exhibition games, workouts, media days, which we gotta talk about that. Yep. Um, and and all kinds of stuff. So um it's gonna be go, go, go from the minute they kind of get here, which is great. It's awesome. Because repetition is kidding, so it's good.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Yeah. I mean, kind of hard last year, my first year on the coaching staff. It kind of took us until really first week of July to kind of get a system going for sure. Like I wasn't comfortable, the guys weren't comfortable around me necessarily yet until like halfway through the season, and that's when you really started to see things kind of turn around and take off because we had a bit of a lull. So I'm interested to see where it goes this year because obviously we're gonna come in with some momentum. Um guys are more comfortable. Some guys have had really good off seasons, so it should be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Is one of them uh hoop there it is? Yeah, maybe. I heard a few things. I heard he's uh smacking the ball around pretty pretty good right now. Hoop, if you're watching this, which probably not, um keep working at it. I love it. I love the work, I think. Yeah, a bunch of things. Maybe the hardest working guy in the team, I would say. Yeah, he's up there for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Yeah, he's he's leading the way. It was a lot of fun. Um, again, like the the more you put in in this league, the more you get out. Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

I mean, you only have a short window, right? It's a it's a sprint.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

It's uh it's a it's a short season. So when you have guys that are playing three, four games a week, you have a couple like you have a couple days of downtime. So how those guys spend that time, that's kind of something that I want to help you a resource on. Like, how do we schedule those days? How do we work out on those days?

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Yeah, um we'll be spending a lot more time here, which is nice. Uh yeah, hope the weather works out for us um during those days, but we still have an indoor facility to work at. But uh yeah, what do you I guess like what are you looking forward to the most about the upcoming season? Obviously, getting a ring.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Yeah, that's gonna be cool. Another one, yeah. And then I can match my girlfriend. So the last championship, uh, the trainer at the time I ended up dating uh towards the end of the year. That's Rachel. Yeah, that's Rachel. So I'll catch up to her. Um, I'll get mine.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Yeah, but you got you you have another ring though.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

I do have another ring.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

What's this other ring? This is very super fancy in a box ring.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Yeah, the in a box ring, that's the world twor series ring from 2023 with Texas. So yeah, it's pretty cool. Is it kind of a trash can? Hey, we didn't need a trash can. Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yeah, wrong Texas team.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Oh, right. It was those see the summer baseball. Yeah. I thought it was a big baseball guy. I thought maybe it just it was just yeah, anyway. I'll shut up now.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Yeah, so it's cool. Um being able to be involved with the team throughout the whole year and kind of see that influence on the field, it's kind of it's a big deal to me. Like, yeah, that was a big gap in my time in Pro Bowl was how I was getting that information out onto the field. Like that was probably my biggest gap. And then being able to come back here, get back on the field, work as a club until two in the morning a couple nights of the year.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

You done it all.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

You know, it it just it makes you want to be here. Like it this place, this place lets me love baseball the way I want to. And it's great. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah, it's um well, I mean, we can also the same thing. Like our some of our best days are here, right? Like we hang out, we go, uh, this is an inside joke, go to the Nile or uh what do we call the other one now? The strait. Vietnam.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

No, the strait. The Nile is the strait. It's the strait. I mean that's Vietnam.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Because it gets so damn hot in there in the summer.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

Oh, yeah, just that box.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

I think we just have a bunch of guys like and girls that just are here for the right reasons and have just the best time ever. Coaching staff, players, everybody included. Like, I think it's just great. This year especially is gonna be unbelievable. So um we asked this everybody that's like on field what is one promo that we do? Because we do, I mean, obviously, we do crazy ridiculous shit. What's one thing that you're like, this is amazing? And when you're like, please never do this ever again. I hate this.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

The donut dash is your favorite. Donut dash is good, balloons are good. Uh the Fisherman's Catch was a good one. That was in 2021 when I was the club. Yeah, I would spend all my time on a concourse right beside the beer bar, and that's where they would throw from. Yeah, we had a lot of fun. Yeah, that was coming back. Yeah. Um, I don't love the undie run just because it takes a longer time. It's around the infield, like the stuff that takes longer. Um, I like that our kids don't run the bases during the game anymore. We do not do that, though. That always slowed things down. Um I'm happy that we don't hate on Nickelback anymore. No, we're big fans of Nickelback. Big fans of Nickelback. Brian Nestra's favorite band.

unknown 9:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

And it's every other team's favorite band, apparently, when they play us, too. So thanks, Coach. Yep. Yeah, seriously. Yeah, shout out to Coach. But uh Dizzy Bat's great, Donut Dash is great, the balloons are great.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Is there a theme? I've probably seen our theme schedule. Is there anyone you see coming up? They're like, this is gonna be insane.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Um, I'm always just excited for the alternate jerseys. Like every alt every alt jersey night. Like we have three. Yeah. First year we had two. We did uh Major League. The Major League Night, which is my all-time favorite uniform. We did the all-time favorite. I got us red stirrups, we rocked good unis, and then the pirates uniforms, which were also sick. They're done now. Yeah, never done that.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

It was. It was crazy. I remember because it was our actually our packed department. No more Saturday 1 p.m. starts. No, man. We get fans all the time being asked what Saturday is like at the sun. I was like, Do you want to sit in a hundred degree weather and get a hot dog? I don't. We have no shade. Like, we have no shade here. Yep. Well, there's a little bit over there, but um not at 1 p.m. No, not at 1 p.m. Well, you were part of the first ever uh Farday game here against 12. Yeah, the puppy pad day. Puppy pad, yeah. We're using puppy pads. Shout out to Ron Wood, yeah. Ronnie. Yeah, yeah, he was the best. Yeah, he made that he made that game happen. He did 100%. We wrecked the field a little bit, which I was beside myself because our first year here, and I really didn't want a bad uh relationship with the city, but uh Yeah, it was a good way to start it. It was a good way to start it.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Well, did you let dogs on the field or something after the game?

SPEAKER_01 11:13

No, so it's it was our very first Father's Day game in a poured. Oh we were pretty like we were one of our biggest gods of the year by far. And um, so Guelph's already here, we're ready to go. The field's a mess. And Ricky and S had to convince me to let the game go on. So we got the field as best you could. We're using puppy pads to soak up water, sponges, everything you could think of. Ron Wood, uh, father of former player Tyler Wood came out and helped us. Tyler was on the team at the time, came out and helped us uh fix the field because he he helps in uh uh works in Night Your Falls on ball diamonds and stuff. Um and there was a gentleman's agreement to not bunt because the infield was so wet. So gentlemen's agreement don't bunt. I think it was like the eighth inning. It might have been a little earlier than it might have been like the sixth. Yeah, they laid down a bunt and we're like, oh, okay, here we go. So then what did we do? Was it three bunts in a row? Three bunts in a row. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

We drove guys in one since because you couldn't feel it, like there was just no footing in front of one plate, it was soaked. Yeah, that was a crazy game. Yeah, there were a bunch of good ones that I remember though. Like we had a couple really good games against Toronto that year here with Christian Young. Um, like that was we had we had some crazy like we had Matt Klingersmith pitching on that team.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Let me ask you this question, I guess. Speaking of uh younger and like playing and all those guys, who would you say out of our alumni was our most accomplished after after leaving? I don't know mine is.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Well, yeah, I mean Jake Polanzik's another one to throw in there too. Yeah, 100%. Played here for a summer, got out, played Dadson. Yeah, Dadson's another oh man, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

But who like I would say mine would have to be a toss-up between younger and Martinez.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Mine's probably I didn't deal with Carlos. Yeah. I I never really interacted with him because I was after my time. But I don't know. I probably like Polancett getting back into affiliate ball is a really big one. Christian Young getting back into affiliate ball and then being in Mexico, those are like those are probably two of the big ones for me. Yeah. Just getting like getting another shot at affiliate ball out of this place, like even being able to use it as a stepping stone to go play on the frontier, the American Association, like it gets you gets you that way out.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

I think for um like I don't know how to say this, for not most improved, but like um wildcard one would be Datson for me because he started, he played at Durham, which is an OCAA school, which nothing wrong with OCAA baseball, but like you typically you don't come from that playing that that baseball and go play Pro Bowl.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Spent a year here, rookie of the year, and then got an opportunity in the Frontier League and then like took full advantage and he played in the American Association? Uh yeah. Yeah, America for uh the the Hawks there and just just recently retired from playing. We tried again this year. Yep, no dice, tried to get the band back together for 2019. We literally did. We tried. Um, and uh he'll be he'll come this year. Maybe I'll watch this episode. I don't know. If you are watching, I'll make him watch this episode. Um please come and hang out just for a little bit. I won't make you for the first pitch again. Yeah, I need to. Yeah, I miss him. I miss him a lot, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Yeah, that was a big one. Like he his last year junior when he went to hit in the home run derby at a limbs. Yeah, do you know who he faced off against in the finals? Jake Sanford.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

No shit.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Yeah, that's hilarious. Here's your fun fact of the day.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Yeah, yeah, Jake. Yeah, we're all the same.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

The three of us were all the same age.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Jake will be back in Ottawa. Um, we'll see him on the fourth and fifth. Yep. Um Jake, if you're watching, which will make you watch this, please come pick up your stuff. It's sitting in the clubhouse. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Well, it's in the basement now if Bork moved it. Right. Yeah, it's in the basement now. So if you want it, come get it. Now, going back to last year, besides winning the championship, was there like a favorite game that you you had or you were a part of?

SPEAKER_02 14:53

There were there were a couple games in Brantford that I ended up being an on-field coach for, ended up coaching third base. Those were always fun. Um, like any time that I can get on the field and start having more of an influence on the game are a lot of fun. Um the school day game in Hamilton last year was a fun one that stuck out because uh I really wanted to play.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

And I get this text.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Yeah, I really wanted to play. And uh that kind of I was set on not playing summer ball last year, and then that kind of set the itch for me to play, and I ended up I pitched.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Weren't you throwing a pen?

SPEAKER_02 15:34

I got hot.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

I was ready to go. You might have to go this year because after we use our guys in Ottawa, we won't really have much left when we come back to your fifth.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

I'm in better shape now than I was when I was.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Oh, maybe we'll we'll we'll sign you up.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Get me ready for the fall.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

It's ready for the fall. Get me ready. Well, uh, that's the next thing. Um a little bit of I guess breaking news for you is you're you're going back to school.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Breaking news, official, going back to school. And what are you doing? We're finishing the doctorate. There you go. There you be doctor bench. Yep. So when I did my undergrad, the goal was kind of to roll that into physio school. Grades weren't there. Uh, got an opportunity to do a research-based master's. Um, and then I thought I was gonna just do the master's and then a PhD and then keep going. But because of COVID, because of other opportunities, I was able to go work for Texas. So kind of put a halt on academics for a while. But since I'm back local in Niagara, I got an opportunity with a supervisor at Brock, so keep me around for a while.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

That's awesome. Well, we love having you. I think uh I think it's uh well and Jackfish are better with uh Ryan Bench on uh some kind of staff, if it's scrubbing towels or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

Yeah, I've done a little bit of everything. No concessions though, no concessions. Yeah, stay away from that. A little bit of everything else.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Yeah, yeah. Speaking of concessions, so we uh we're we're bringing in French fries, the friars will show up on Thursday. Nice. We've actually kind of uh revitalized that whole area. So I think fans when they come in for game one will be pleasantly surprised that things are uh working more efficiently. I don't think there's gonna be any more standing in line for 30 minutes. It better not be anyway, um, because processes have completely changed and we've uh added some stuff, got rid of a bunch of stuff, um, just to make it easier, so it'll be good.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Yeah, it'll be there'll be a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

I mean with the lights, sessions, the new uh on-field promos, the new show we're putting on. Um I mean the theme jerseys. So we got the candidate jersey, we've got the long cocks, and uh this is actually breaking news. We're gonna do the aqueducts.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Yeah, so we're gonna do uh well in aqueducts. Uh we're gonna I'm gonna try really hard. He won't watch this episode, but I'm gonna try really hard to get Brian to throw the first pitch. I'll click it and send it to him since he is the only uh aqueduct. I actually have a screenshot of the program with his young 19, I think he was 19 or 20 then, uh year old face in that. Um he said he might still have a t-shirt or a hat that he can bring, which would be pretty sweet. That'd be cool. But we're going with uh baby blue or like light teal, whatever jerseys with uh other yellow or white pinstripes. Uh so they're gonna be pretty unreal. And I yeah. So we got hats coming too, which would be pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Will there be Aqueducts merch for sale?

SPEAKER_01 18:09

There will. I already got some t-shirt designs made. There's hats on their way. Uh so that stuff will drop once we get it, kind of thing, and people can buy it up. I know it was pretty well received when we put it out there as more of a teaser. Yeah. Same as when we did like Timber Tigers and stuff. So um just so everybody's watching, we are not playing the Savannah Bananas. Uh we would love to, but that was an April Fool's joke. Maybe it will happen one day. I don't know. We'll have some friends. Yeah, we could talk to them. I mean, maybe not the bananas, maybe we'll play one of their like lower uh just give us the crowns.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

I'll take anything at this point.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Well, honestly, we have uh alumni Dave Tofflin on the Coconuts, so maybe we'll play the coconuts. I mean they're playing in smaller there, some of their teams are playing in smaller, like R-si stadiums, so it is possible. It's just they haven't come to Canada yet.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

So we gotta talk to the chili peppers too, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

We're actually, yeah, we're going to go in the dark baseball. Oh, nice. So we have talked to them before, so who knows? I mean, I don't know what the setup for them to do go in the dark baseball is, and I don't even know if our capacity is big enough for them to make it worth it to come to Canada, but yeah, I don't know. It'd be pretty cool. It would be super cool. You know why it's crazy? Like, there's so many, there's so many offshoots of like banana ball that people are doing. There's one called the sh the Chicago Snowballs that are doing it. There's another uh blast ball or like some boom ball. They're doing uh Savannah Bananas type thing. So everybody's trying to like capture the the height of what's going on right now. Hopefully it's not a fad and it keeps going because like we went to one in Pittsburgh, it was sold out as crazy. I mean, they're selling out football stadiums.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Well, you you went to Pittsburgh, I went to Oasis.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Oh, right, you did go to Oasis.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

I went to Oasis, you went to Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Yeah, yeah. So that was that was super cool. I'm pretty excited to see cosmic baseball. I think that's gonna be unbelievable. Um, and who knows? Maybe we'll bring some ideas here and do some of the stuff that they do. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

I don't like to copy people, but now I have a couple more questions for you, Bench. Oh, here we go. These are fun ones, yeah, fun ones. Um Do you think you give me and Calum a like a solid pitching lesson so it would really like upper VLO? You're playing softball. You're playing softball. So if you also want to play softball, like we could use some more people.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

I've been approached. I there's no signing bonus on this. Yeah. I I don't want to say I'm a hot commodity for softball, but I'm I'm trying to I'm trying to stay away. I'm trying to avoid it.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

We're trying we're still trying to name the team. Someone works slowly. Someone wants us to be called the Tennis Club Prospects or the Chubsuckers. Or the Chubbsuckers, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Which is actual fish that don't come at us. That's a good one. I'm trying to turn on the side if I want to play. My wife will let me on Mondays. You should play. Oh, it's on Mondays? Yeah. There's a lot of rules in this league. You can't drink while you're on the bench. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

So that stinks. I'm out.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Also, you can't if anybody, if anybody smells uh beer on your breath, you're you're done. You're out. I'm out. So we'll have to bring a lot of like gomer menthols or something.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

That's funny. Yeah. No, like I I think you guys, I honestly think everybody can throw fairly well. Um, it's just understanding your body.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Like how looking at CJ right now, how fast do you think you can throw a ball? 70. Shut the fuck up.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

I think I could get you to 70 in like a couple weeks. Seriously? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

With a crow hop or no?

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Like, just from the wind up. Or like give me a couple hops and then yuck it in. Or are you saying full full wind up?

SPEAKER_02 21:28

I'm saying I think there's a way for you to throw a baseball at 70 miles an hour like before May. Holy shit, we should do this.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

We should, yeah. Okay, the highest I ever got was 48.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

So that's no. I'll put a hockey stick in your hands and you'll figure it out real fast. Yeah, I'll probably get 58. Nah, you'll probably get to 65.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Yeah. I'll take a lesson, but J Mac needs to give me back my glove.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yeah, seriously. It's had that thing for a long time. I've seen Callum swing it a little bit too. Yeah. You know who actually can play? Who uh maybe not surprising because he played volleyball as an athlete, but Alec. Yeah. Oh. Broadcaster. Like he can actually. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

And that was my second question. You give how many at-bats do you think me and Callum have just before we make contact? Not to get a hit, put a ball who's pitching contact.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Yeah, it really depends on who you're playing, who's pitching, and what inning it is, and what the score is, because I'll I'll I'll there's a spectrum of pitching in this I like a live A B, like oh in a live A B.

unknown 22:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

And I'll I'll list off a couple names and then you can and I'll you can say we'll start off with start off with Danny.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Um with Danny, you might put if you get 25 pitches in a live BP, you might put like six or seven in play, and you might hit one for a base hit.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Tio.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

I don't think you're gonna touch a ball.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Davey.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

I don't think you're gonna touch a ball. That's so fast.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

I know I don't I think I'd be scared to go in that one.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

You should be.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Yeah. You hear another button. I think I'm scared to face any of these guys.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

It's a different game when you start to hear the baseball. Yeah. Like that's that's when you know.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

I I I I feel like I'd be scared. I feel like I'd just be scared anytime. Like I haven't swung a I haven't played baseball since like men's league in 2021. So it's like I haven't. Yeah. I mean like we do the we do the BP, like the sometimes I do staff BP, and like I put one to like a roll to do the warning track maybe once, and I kind of got it perfectly. I know Cam Downer, one hopped me off the wall when we're doing BP once. Yeah, we can swing it. So yeah. Same thing with Bork and swing it too. Yeah, Bork's a good rotator, he's an athlete. He's an athlete. Yeah, yeah. Callum can play it out there too. That's how Callum drive a couple pretty far.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Well, yeah, Callum's a menace. He just he the guys love to do baseball stuff. So yeah, you'll see Callum out here with a T just trying to hit balls far. Like it's if you're a kid at home and you want to get better at baseball, you should just try to do everything further. Like throw it as far as you can, hit it as far as you can. Like trying to do those things and just moving fast, you'll figure out more than a coach kind of being super rigid with your body telling you exactly what to do. Just go fast, throw it far, hit it far, you'll figure it out. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Well, moving on to my uh one of my favorite parts of uh this show is the CJ's movie review. CJ's been a couple weeks, so you are gonna make a comment in the car today on the way to the school visit that you love Cineplex, so hit me. What do you pull?

SPEAKER_00 24:27

So I'm I'm pulling my letterbox because the last one I did, I remember last one I did was Hoppers.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

I watched that the other day.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

So and I've seen like six, like ten, eleven other movies since.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

So here we go. I gave the Secret Agent three and a half stars, I gave Cars four and a half stars, I gave Wuthering Heights one star, and an abysmal piece of shit. Okay, so hold on. Cars, like the cars, like this movie c Pixar Cars. Yeah, you've never reviewed that before, eh? I never reviewed it. I've seen the movie, I just never reviewed it.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

It's my all-time favorite anime movie.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

That's that's Calum's all-time favorite movie.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

I named my dog Mater as a co-mader. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

That's a good one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Uh Project Hail Mary, four and a half stars. Blades of Glory, three stars. Really? Yeah. Good luck, have fun, don't die, three stars. The Peaky Blinders movie, uh three and a half. It's not the end of the show. Uh the Inside the Manosphere documentary, three stars. Uh movies. Yeah. The Testament of Anne Lee, two and a half stars. Uh How to Make a Killing, three stars. Uh Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers, four and a half stars. Such a good movie. Love that shit, eh? Yeah. Yeah, you've you've done that before, yeah. And then I gave Mama Mia four stars.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

All-time favorite baseball movie, go.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

I I don't have one because I don't know. I just don't have one. Like, my top, my top is like the rookie, major league, Bull Durham. Um Moneyball. Moneyball. Those are the I was raised on the natural. I have the natural and VCRs. Like, that's a really good one, but like those are those are my like true topics. Um it's not like it's okay. It's not super baseball focus.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

I like, yeah, I like Oh, everybody wants some.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Oh, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

That's a good one. I like the movies, like the baseball movies where it's like more like realistic about the game. Um obviously Major League is like tongue in cheek, but like at least are like they show like legitimate them playing baseball.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

Yeah, Charlie Sheen's throwing like 86. Yeah. Yeah, like it's it's them throwing the baseball. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

So I I heard a story where uh they brought Kevin Cosner to Yankee Stadium and he actually put like a coup a few of them out of the park.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Oh, I'm sure he did. Oh, yeah, he's he's one of the best like baseball actors ever. Like he's a legit athlete too. Like you look at him in Tin Cup and is like he's one of the sports movie goats. For sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

And for love of the game too. Have you seen that one?

SPEAKER_02 27:00

Yeah, I have seen for the love of the game. Um it's good, but like not my not my type of movie. Like I'm not a huge movie person anymore, though. It's kind of changed a lot for sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Well, on that note, this is episode 42 of Hooked on Fun. I'm Director Fun Ryan. We got Southside Green B CJ.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Ryan Bench, the brain child.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

We'll see you next week with uh Carson Johnson, who just arrived. We'll see you next time. Thank you.