Hooked On Fun
If baseball is the game, chaos is the strategy.
Join South Side Green B CJ (the self-appointed Mayor of the Berm) and Director of Fun Ryan (the only man with a PhD in Shenanigans) as they dive headfirst into all things Welland Jackfish — on-field highlights, off-field hijinks, promo night madness, and the occasional “how did this get approved?” moment.
From dugout stories to behind-the-scenes stadium secrets at Niagara’s Greatest Show, Hooked on Fun delivers fastballs, fish tales, and absolutely zero guarantees of professionalism.
New episodes drop whenever CJ finds a microphone and Ryan remembers the password. 🎧🔥
Hooked On Fun
Hooked On Fun Episode 43: CJ Squared
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We reeled in Carson Johnson and let him cook… and yeah, it gets weird (in a good way). From clubhouse stories to behind-the-scenes chaos, this one’s got everything you didn’t know you needed.
🎧 Hooked on Fun Podcast — Episode 43
🎣 Featuring: Carson Johnson
Press play. Regret nothing.
Welcome everybody to episode 43 of Hooked On Fun. I'm Victor Fun Ryan. Southside Green B CJ. And with us today, the real CJ. Hello. The downgraded already. Downgraded already. Yeah. Well, we talked about having them on. We're going to have them on last week, but uh unfortunately we didn't film them because we've been crazy busy here at the park. Getting ready for the home opener, which is 140 tickets away from being completely sold out. So if you haven't got your tickets, you're probably not going to get one.
SPEAKER_01They're also busy in Cleveland.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, lots to talk about. We've been really, really busy. Um we're going to be busy coming up here real quick. Uh, do you want to go over Cleveland real quick? Yeah. I can't remember any of it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, we know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Judging from the counter, it was uh It was a very uh I was hydrated, let's put it that way. Very hydrated.
SPEAKER_01Very well hydrated. It was a great time. You know, we went to the tryout.
SPEAKER_02Um where did we go, CJ, for the people that are watching?
SPEAKER_01Oh, we went to Avon, Ohio, which is the home of the Lakery Crushers of the Frontier League. Uh I believe former Jackfisher Enrique Saldano played for them.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And Robert Mullen was on the roster for a minute.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh so we went there for the tryout, and then we afterwards we just kind of hung out, we went to Top Golf.
SPEAKER_02That was sick. That was sick. CJ beat us, even though he shanked every ball uh to the left. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Lots of balls into the netting. But but the side netting.
SPEAKER_02But you didn't fall off into the netting.
SPEAKER_01I didn't fall off. That was my fear because we were up top. So I was like, okay, if I sw if I swing out my shoes, I might be taking a little bit of a tumble. But and then we went to a we went to a guardians game.
SPEAKER_02That was sick.
SPEAKER_01It was cold. But it took us nine innings, but we got on the jumbletron.
SPEAKER_02Some of the best tacos. I think they're some of the best tacos I've ever had. Uh it's pretty juicy.
SPEAKER_01Did you have one Bork? Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Bork yet. Yeah, Bork had. You've been there before? I've never. I've never been there. I don't think I've ever actually stayed anywhere in Ohio ever. That's probably for the best. You never been to Ohio? I've been through Ohio. Oh, you've been through. Driven through it. Yeah. Never stayed. Never been there long enough.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But uh yeah, it was really cool to see another park. Like that's a really nice parking uh Avon. I mean, obviously the Guardians stay in this next level. Um, but yeah, I think we uh probably have a team record for the most um alcoholic beverages consumed and the most pretzel bites consumed in the ones when we and pickle chips and pickle chips.
SPEAKER_01Those pickle chips at the Clevelander were really good. Shout out to Clevelander.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're not gonna watch this, but um We met some people who Unreal.
SPEAKER_01We also met some people who worked for the Cavs, and they had a dance off.
SPEAKER_02They had dance off in the bar.
SPEAKER_01In the bar.
SPEAKER_02It was pretty sick. Yeah, so that was a lot of fun. Um, coming up on Monday, uh, we are going to Ottawa to take on the Titans, Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday is open to the public, so any jackfish fans that want to come on up, come join us. It's a long hike, I know, but there are some people coming.
SPEAKER_01Ottawa's also known as uh Matthew Bork Country.
SPEAKER_02Matthew Bork Country, yes. Lots of friends and family coming. CJ and I will be there. Uh cheer on the boys. Hopefully, we can take one of the two games. Hopefully, the second game open to the public.
SPEAKER_01So if if uh Montreal makes it to the second round, maybe go catch.
SPEAKER_02Okay, he always has additional plans. We gotta work, man. Um, yeah, so that's really cool. Uh speaking of the stadium getting ready, uh, everything is pretty much ready to go. We got our fryers, we've got uh all that stuff uh all lined up. We've got a new bar where Denise is. You'll see that it's pretty neat. We got the new artwork on there today. Uh ads are going up, fields getting cut. Uh, hopefully it just stops raining. Yeah, that's literally the name of the game. It's too wet out here. Too wet, too cold.
SPEAKER_01I did look at the uh forecast for Thursday, next Thursday, where our school begin is.
SPEAKER_02Shut up, CJ.
SPEAKER_01It's not gonna happen. It's not looking at it. It's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02It's fine. It's gonna happen. Uh, then we have exhibition game, yeah, the school day game on the seventh. We play an exhibition game at Hamilton on the eighth. We have our kickoff party here from two to four uh seasons, or well, fan kickoff party uh on the ninth. Our ring ceremony on the 13th at Blackburn Brewery with the boys. Another wet contest, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_01Media days on the ninth.
SPEAKER_02Media day as well at the high school. And uh yeah, then we kick it off in Brantford and we come back home, baby. So sold-out pond. So excited. Anyway, moving on, we got our good friend here, CJ, the real CJ. Welcome, my friend.
SPEAKER_04How are you?
SPEAKER_02I'm great. Uh, you've been here for longer than any other player has already. Uh, how is the Niagara region been so far?
SPEAKER_04Super wet, but it's I like it. I like seeing grass. I haven't seen grass since last summer for the most part, like actual green grass.
SPEAKER_02That's hilarious.
SPEAKER_04I've been in the desert.
SPEAKER_02So and where so tell the people that don't know you where you're from.
SPEAKER_04I'm from Joppa, Missouri. Um, but I played ball in West Texas, oil filled country. So it's just a desert, dude.
SPEAKER_02Like now snakes. We talked about this before we get started the podcast. You are living with uh our what I would call uh best host family. Susie. Susie. Shout out Susie, she'll watch this. Um Susan. Susan, yeah. Susan.
SPEAKER_01Uh uh her cookies because I cookies, her brownies. She brought this week.
SPEAKER_02So Susie brings us in baked goods every once in a while, and they are dynamite, which is funny because I think it was a year or two ago, she really didn't bake anything. And then I uh recommended I uh said I I really want some cookies, and she made some and she hasn't stopped since. Um actually, I'm pretty sure last year she made pajama pants for two of our players.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, she did. Yeah, which I I have been there for about a week and a half, and I already have a I already have a beanie.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, she's actually knitted things for my daughters and like stuff like that, and made things. So uh shout out to Susie, you are the best. We love you. Yeah, she is. She is the best. What uh you know, you're obviously new here, you don't know um you know what to expect in our first game. Um you've heard things, obviously. Yeah, what do you what are you most looking forward to? I guess the atmosphere, yeah, like the the crowd.
SPEAKER_04Like I I've obviously watched the games online, like the YouTube videos and stuff like that, and the social media goes crazy, but um ready to like for it to be electric.
SPEAKER_02It's gonna be electric. We call it the electric factory, yeah. Um because our our our people are just well, we put on an amazing show, obviously, and people get into it and you'll see all the goofy crap. I I know a lot of guys come out of the dugout to watch all the stupid things we do, especially CJ with his shirt off doing twerking uh on the dugouts. You'll get an experience of that. But uh this year, uh above beyond any other year, we're gonna try to get you guys involved in as much of the show as possible within reason. So we do a thing called Sweetheart of the Game. We get the players to come up and present flowers to ladies and uh try to get you involved in some of the on-field promos, just you know, holding things and whatever. The guys are maybe aren't uh, you know, pitching that day or stuff like that. So um the one big thing I think fans are gonna look forward to is we're gonna do a lot more um back to doing what we did a few years back, interview stuff like this, uh social media stuff. Um, you're gonna see a lot of the guys do a lot more this year, which I think is gonna be a lot of fun. Um, and we're also gonna lean on the players to come up with some ideas of stuff we want to do, get guys involved. We're actually doing a thing now where uh with the players, if we're gonna do a little uh um not really a contest, but it's gonna be a thing where uh whoever gets the most views at the end of the season is gonna get something uh player side. So uh kind of just a little bit of uh, you know, dangle the carrot, try to get uh try to get our numbers up.
SPEAKER_01That'll be cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I remember last year during Sweetheart of the Game, uh Harper, Mini Grimby just absolutely snubbed baby porch of a hug.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, totally did. It was hilarious. Did she flip him off too? Because that that probably happened. She flipped you off. She did, yeah.
SPEAKER_01She flipped, I think she flipped everyone off.
SPEAKER_02Everybody off.
SPEAKER_01She flipped everyone off the Christmas party. Is yelled, don't tell my mom!
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, uh the other part I gotta find out who's coming back is uh mini coach.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, oh yes.
SPEAKER_02I oh that's the other thing you want to experience. I've seen him around coach. My brother, maybe seen him on our video. Yeah, he plays coach, which is a I don't even know really what he is. He's like an old school gym teacher that just shouts at people. So you'll experience that. But we have a mini coach which literally has his jersey, looks just like him, comes out in promos, it's hilarious. So it's pretty cool. Um we have there.
SPEAKER_01His name's Lee, his real name's Liam.
SPEAKER_02Liam, yes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I've seen him around. I saw him at ISO's game one time. He just seems he seems super excited for this he's a lot of. Yeah, we're gonna be a little bit. It's awesome.
SPEAKER_02He's a it's electric. If he's not here for whatever reason, which will miss some games, you notice right away. Like people ask, like, where is he? Because he's just it's just insane. And he anywhere he goes in town, people are just like, Oh, let's coach oh my god.
SPEAKER_01That's cool. Yeah, many mini green bees can be flipping off between uh mini green bee and many uh bell of the ballpark.
SPEAKER_02Oh, right, yeah, spell of the ballpark, uh Emily's back. So we'll be doing a lot of things with that. Uh we'll actually have a uh um giving a little bit of uh show secret, but we're gonna be doing crowning princess of the game, uh, the first game. And this year for the home opener, we're not gonna have a first pitch. Uh we're gonna do something even crazier, and you'll have to find out becoming the home opener, but it will not be a first pitch, it'll be even better than the first pitch. So um get excited for that. Uh we mentioned the new lights, so that's happening, which is pretty cool. Yeah, I don't know about the lights that's reporting that. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool. Have you tried any uh restaurants or anything while you're here yet? Uh no, Susie probably has some home cooking going on.
SPEAKER_04So East Bay? East East Bay's? It's like I don't know, it's like Italian food. Okay. I think that's what I don't know what it's I don't I don't remember. You mean Eastside Mario's?
SPEAKER_02No, we can't get Eastside Mario's. That is good. Breadsticks are bomb.
SPEAKER_03Dude, where'd you get cakes from?
SPEAKER_02It was Callum's birthday on Sunday. And Borg's birthday on Monday. I didn't get a post out. I got busy. And and my photo on the website yet.
SPEAKER_01No photo on the website. What? Really?
SPEAKER_02Oh, we gotta change that real quick.
SPEAKER_01There's also uh Sasha's birthday on uh Monday as well. Sasha?
SPEAKER_02My sister, the one that you like. Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Oh, yeah. My other sister's doing the uh prison game tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you told me this, yeah. Is tomorrow?
SPEAKER_01The prison game's tomorrow, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Sweet.
SPEAKER_01She got she said she might be able to give me a meeting with uh nitrate. Oh, let's give it a shot.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, give it a shot. Um, have you done anything else since you've been here? Like checked anything else out or Niagara? Dude, I've golfed a lot. Yeah, where'd you go?
SPEAKER_04Uh St. David's and then uh Queenston. Okay, like those two courses. Yeah. Um, I went to Legends of the Niagara. I went to the battlefield course, that was sick. Um Pardon?
SPEAKER_05Check out Lookout Point.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's a crazy course.
SPEAKER_02Lookout point. Well, who do we meet at Pelham Hills? Pelham Hills. We're gonna try to get some golf going at Pelham Hills, which is a nice little course. Um, that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's really it. I've just been golfing and hanging out with Susie when I can and then go into the gym, and that's about it.
SPEAKER_02Crunch fitness. The official gym with a well-in jackfish.
SPEAKER_04Shout out, Jay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was awesome. Saw him yesterday. There you go. I'll be there, Jay. I swear, at some point. No, you won't. This year, shout out. Jesus.
SPEAKER_04I don't even believe that I just got here. I wasn't very confident.
SPEAKER_02Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Um so Missouri. Missouri. Um Missouri. Missouri.
SPEAKER_01Well, you do have you do you are a dual citizen, so yeah. I would expect you to know the state. I don't know the state. I've never been there. Missouri.
SPEAKER_02Um, born and raised?
SPEAKER_04No. Born and raised for 10 years in Hamilton. Oh, that's right. In like uh, well, in Grimsby for the most part. Um and then moved to the States, and then I've been in the States since so um parents' job or just Yeah, it was just mom's job. Mom moved us everywhere, and we all kind of just followed with her.
SPEAKER_02So how do you have siblings I'm guessing? Yeah, I have an older sister. So um maybe out this summer?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they're actually coming to the home open. Oh, beautiful. Good. They're all coming. So uh the new infielder that we just signed, um, my sister and him went to the same high school. I don't know if they knew each other.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know the time frame of all that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but same high school.
SPEAKER_02So nice.
SPEAKER_01Um what else, CJ? Oh that's CJ. Uh, do you have any like you know fun road trip stories across America? I mean, you know, it's a college you played ball in the states. It's a kind of a different I mean traveling around there, it's a little different than this league. So any like cool stories or like maybe favorite place you like travel to when you uh were playing ball in the states?
SPEAKER_04Uh I would say probably my freshman year, we went, it was actually with Joe and I we went from we went from Kansas to Alabama, which was a hike and a half. Um we were on the bus forever, but our coach hated stop, he hated for us to stop. Like we just never stopped. Like he would make the bus driver drive as long as she possibly could. Um and that was just never good. That was that was terrible. Those are the longest, that was the longest week of my life. Um Summerball, like buses breaking down, no AC.
SPEAKER_02What'd you play summer ball?
SPEAKER_04Uh Dodge City, Kansas.
SPEAKER_02Uh what do you say?
SPEAKER_04Uh the Rocky Mountain Lake.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Our bus uh bus ran out of uh AC with 35 guys on a bus um doubled up with each other.
SPEAKER_02Almost guarantee that won't happen here.
SPEAKER_04So um but I mean almost nothing too crazy, nothing super exciting.
SPEAKER_02I got one for you because we're uh uh the fun team. Do you have any hidden talents?
SPEAKER_03I can do a backflip.
SPEAKER_02Yes! That's electric. We're gonna need you to do that.
SPEAKER_03I can do a backflip.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're gonna need you to do that. Maybe on your like uh when you get announced for like starting lineup, you can like run out there and do a backflip. Like an Aussie Smith. Whatever you need to do, man. Yeah, it's electric. So what we do for our starting lineup is we announce every guy and we have these CO2 cannons I shoot off. Um, it's pretty electric. So uh, and if coach is here and we are a lot of fireworks, uh, which will be sorry tonight, he'll just shoot bottle rockets off a stick. Amazing stuff.
SPEAKER_01Then he looks down the barrel and they should be like, dude, let's duct it a bunch together and we can set him up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 100%. He has two on each side. Actually, we have bobbleheads uh we gave away last year. Last year, yeah. That actually it's him holding a uh bat with two bottle rockets. That's sick. It's pretty hilarious. So um, yeah, it's crazy. Have you looked at our promo schedule? Somewhat for the most on there you're like, I can't wait to see what the hell is gonna go on in that one.
SPEAKER_04The motorboat night?
SPEAKER_02The motorboater night, yeah. Yeah, dude, I'm curious for that, dude.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I like to call it dressed like a doucheknight.
SPEAKER_02Dress like a douche night.
SPEAKER_04I'm excited for our Canada Day jerseys.
SPEAKER_02You you saw those? I saw those. Yeah, we got one in today. Luther's came in, the the prototype. It is wanna go get it. We might as well show. We've we showed it online. So this thing is electric. So shout out to Quite Alright for designing that puppy up and uh MVP uniforms for producing it.
SPEAKER_04So this is for the glizzy gobblers right here.
SPEAKER_02This is our candidate jersey that we're gonna be uh showcasing, uh presented by Crime Stoppers. So it has the glizzy in the holster there. Um, it's got the nice jackfish uh crest here. Um, so very uh mounty. Uh we're gonna have hats go along with this, so look up for those. And uh yeah, then we have our long cocks, which I've seen the prototype of. Very, very nice. And then the last one we haven't actually announced, we are gonna be doing aqueducts this year. Um so that will be uh that'll be one. What's the data for that? It's August sometime.
SPEAKER_01The 13th, like the one thirty.
SPEAKER_02Maybe I don't know. I can't remember.
SPEAKER_01Is it gonna be 90s night and aqueduct night? I don't know. I don't know yet. Quick question for you. Yeah, would you announce yourself walking up to the plate? Like just going now batting. Me, me.
SPEAKER_04I don't know. I think it'd be cool. I think I'd get nervous.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's gonna be a tough one. I feel like I would just see the national anthem? No. Well, Ethan said he would. I I can't. Yeah, well, Ethan's doing the national anthem. Jonah should do the national anthem.
SPEAKER_04That's what I said. I would be talking about that.
SPEAKER_02He won't though. No, he's he doesn't want to rehash rehash the old YouTube videos.
SPEAKER_04No, if you don't know, go online and look up Jonah Wy.
SPEAKER_02No, I I will. I'm going for it. The funniest part is is someone found it and uh we're on the road, they played his they played his music. Like his Toronto played it off, made a bomb off it. So actually, you know what? Visiting teams, do it. Yeah, it'll work for us.
SPEAKER_04So once this is aired, I'll put one of the links in the cards.
SPEAKER_02I don't really care. You can't hide from me, dude. You don't need to not hide nothing. He well, he was like a mini Justin Bieber. It's actually electric. It is, it's that's hilarious. It's pretty good. Did you know he like went to LA and all this? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know the whole story. Yeah, songbird. I haven't heard him sing though. I'm waiting. You know what he's like? Yeah, he's like uh he's like uh from Step Brothers, Songbird of my generation. Well I don't sing in public, I don't sing in public.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it's different. The voice of a mixture of Bergie and Jesus. Yes.
SPEAKER_02100%. Um anyway, uh yeah, so it's it's it's gonna be a crazy month coming up here. Um we're pretty excited to uh kick off. I know uh we got our jerseys coming in and everything like that, and we're all set up, ready to go. So pretty pumped up for that. Is um is there is there anything else uh before we move on to the last piece, which we really get excited for uh for CJ. This CJ. Is there anything else you know to learn about you, tell the fans, like hobbies, anything like that to get to know you? No, I mean just golf.
SPEAKER_04I mean backflips. Backflips. I coach, I like I do online coaching stuff. Nice.
SPEAKER_02Um the kids camps this year?
SPEAKER_04I will. Yeah, perfect.
SPEAKER_02Minor ball stuff, yeah. So we got SmackSmack and CJ on the kids' camps. So if you haven't signed up yet, do that. It's almost sold out, so it'll be electric.
SPEAKER_04It'll be great.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, hot summer days in July.
SPEAKER_04Awesome. It's not hot out here.
SPEAKER_02No, yeah, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the heat out here is nothing compared to Texas.
SPEAKER_02No, Missouri. It's different, it's different.
SPEAKER_01Or Missouri. Or Missouri.
SPEAKER_02I'll never let that down. Moving on to our last segment before we uh close this off. It's our uh CJ movie review. CJ, what have you seen lately?
SPEAKER_01Nothing.
SPEAKER_02Nothing.
SPEAKER_01I haven't watched a single movie in the month of April.
SPEAKER_02You're kidding me.
SPEAKER_01I've moved. Can I give a request? Yeah. Ha the Hail Mary Project or Project. I saw that, yeah. It was all right. Did you see it? Yeah. Okay. I want I want to open it. Fantastic. Um I I moved. Uh for those who don't know, um, I uh I love this place so much that I decided to move to Wetlands.
SPEAKER_04And this is his address. I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_01This is my address. So if you want fan mail, 90 Quaker Road as uh the place to go.
SPEAKER_02Uh see Jennifer, you're on the spot right now. Yeah. Um on certain weekends when I've been I've been out of condition to answer this question. Okay. Can Gio Morello stay on your couch?
SPEAKER_01I have a bed for him, so Yes!
SPEAKER_02CGO, it's a yes.
SPEAKER_01So Gio Morello can stay in my house, but that doesn't mean I stay at, but is that gonna come into my post-game social hour with you guys? Okay. Sweet.
SPEAKER_02Just give him a key.
SPEAKER_01I have one key and it's mine.
SPEAKER_02We'll go to Kenny Tire and cut another one.
SPEAKER_04Or just leave the door unlocked and see what happens.
SPEAKER_02Not where he lives. Not where we're gonna be able to do that.
SPEAKER_04That's why I said see what happens.
SPEAKER_02Not where I live. Unbelievable. So now we got CJ roommate on select weekends in the summer. Um super excited. And uh, if you can't, if there's any fans out there that want to um allow Gio Morello, uh, who travels in from Mississauga to uh stay on their pad, let me know. We're open. But we found him a spot. We'll give you a ball ahead, yeah.
SPEAKER_01He can make can he does he make good Italian food?
SPEAKER_02He's Italian, what do you think?
SPEAKER_01Uh I could I can enjoy a nice spaghetti.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so Gio, you gotta make him at least one Italian dish while you say it's us. Yeah, oh yes. Um anyway, uh before we uh cap off, one last message, CJ, to the to the faithful of uh the row city. What do you want to say?
SPEAKER_04This CJ? That's CJ.
SPEAKER_02The CJ.
SPEAKER_04Um come out, it's gonna be electric, dude. I'm excited. Ready to get after it. Like from the beginning. No waiting. No, no waiting, just getting after it, dude.
SPEAKER_02Love it. Well, friends, we'll cut that here. Thank you for watching episode 43 of Hooked On Fun, Retro Fun Ryan. Southside Green B CJ. The real CJ. We'll see you next time, episode 44. Later.