Spittin' Chiclets Podcast - Part II

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

Whit and Biz are naturally good conversationalists and storytellers so the show still has it's moments where it is very good (like the Pastrnak interview). However, it has without a doubt become stale. There has been no progression in terms of the show's format and really no changes to the pod at all other than the addition of Biz. I was in love with this pod from the time it was first released but it has changed from an absolute must-listen from start to finish as soon as a new episode is released to maybe just something I tune in to if their guest is interesting and even then I usually just fast forward right to the interview portion.

I guess to a certain extent it was inevitable it would lose its luster but I do feel there are changes or developments that could be made to freshen things up. Their guest list has always been drawn largely from Whit and Biz's circle of friends + local Boston people which has produced some of their best interviews (Yandle x3, Yandle's brother Ross Yandle, Getzlaf, etc.) but they need to start widening that net a bit. It seems like they are either reluctant to bring on players whose first language is something other than English or they've just been unsuccessful in doing so. Great, you got Crosby, Pronger, McDavid, Matthews, Marner etc. How about Patrick Roy, Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin, Igor Larionov? All these guys are more than capable of doing great, funny interviews in English. Look at how good Pastrnak was. But why even limit ourselves to players who can speak English? They should get a rotation of solid, dynamic translators in the usual "hockey languages" like French, Russian, Swedish, Czech, Finnish etc. Am I the only one who'd love to hear them talk with Kirill Kaprizov right now? Artemi Panarin? I know, easier said than done. However, if the show is going to continue for a long time and be strong then they need to make efforts to expand the interview list beyond just Whit and Biz's boys.

The other problem they have is they seem to have appointed RA their facts and stats guy when he's really not suited for that role. I get that a huge chunk of the audience doesn't want to listen to stats, let alone advanced stats, but if we're going to do a regular segment for gambling on hockey maybe it wouldn't hurt to actually give some hard numbers and analysis justifying the picks as opposed to just having RA say "I really like team X tonight against team Y."

The guest list thing being pulled from their circle of friends is so true. 90% of the interviews are a guy who spent sometime in Pitt or Boston or did off ice training with them.

There’s a few teams it feels like you never hear alumni or current players for.


One quick solution I’d offer them would be to try and keep track of where there interviewees are from and spread it out more.


Fairly certain we’ve essentially heard from the entire roster of the Wilkes-Barre Penguins from 2003-2008 by now

 

[Kezaster]

Same. I'll continue to listen to Chiclets, but I think Cam and Strick have won me over.

In the past month-ish alone, they've had Todd Bertuzzi, Mike Babcock, Gary Thorne, Brett Hull on, and they're able to ask them all the good questions. It's pretty clear that after the Roenick incident (and probably just the overall vibe of SC) that certain players prefer to talk with Cam and Strick. Their guest list is becoming, if not already, better than SC.

Been saying it for a while and now that the boys have been seeing the guests that Cam&Stric get, I think it is a fact at this point that the Roenick think hurt them big time when it comes to getting 80-90's stars. Those boys are really tight and I bet the way they see it is that Chiclets is responsible for their product which is the podcast and they got a bump in popularity with the cost of JR's job.(not my personal view)

Pretty much all of the active players are super f***ing stale boring interviews of circle jerking "such good guy, oh he's the best" and them ending with RA saying he's just a great kid so easy to root for.
And the thing that made Chiclets, the great energy, raw worded live interviews. It feels like it is beginning to be very near in the ballpark of them being just normal media with a couple of swear words and preloaded jokes in it.

For me their forte was the live interviews and it cannot be understated how much they got hurt by covid. It knocked the interview quality down from a's and b's to constant c's with a couple of b's every 20 episodes. Like it used to be rare that they wouldn't get a decent interview out of someone. Now it's rare to have a great entertaining one. The current 3 and half hour format with mediocre interviews is not helping.

I still got close to 10-12 hours travel time weekly so i'll still listen and kill time with it.

 

[Voight]

The guest list thing being pulled from their circle of friends is so true. 90% of the interviews are a guy who spent sometime in Pitt or Boston or did off ice training with them.

There’s a few teams it feels like you never hear alumni or current players for.


One quick solution I’d offer them would be to try and keep track of where there interviewees are from and spread it out more.


Fairly certain we’ve essentially heard from the entire roster of the Wilkes-Barre Penguins from 2003-2008 by now

100%. Then they'll get the guys like Brendan Walsh, Josh Hennessy or Pete Vandermeer who played 0 or few NHL games. I get they know a lot of minor league guys, especially ones from the Boston area and some of the stories are great, but personally I want to hear from guys in the league or who spent a good chunk of time in it.

Aside from that I've always hated when RA cuts off the person being interviewed. So annoying.

 

[Pens x]

I don’t know why but I really don’t care for G. He adds nothing to the show. Thank god they stopped talking to his roommate in those painful dating segments.

I also get tired of RA’s Simpson’s references or movie quotes. Plus, he chokes up way too easily. What’s the over under of how many times he cries per episode?

Before Corson, they hadn’t had a great guest on in awhile. The UMass coach put me to sleep last episode. The golf podcast guy from a couple weeks back was awful. I forget the guy’s name.

 

[Zerotonine]

I don’t know why but I really don’t care for G. He adds nothing to the show. Thank god they stopped talking to his roommate in those painful dating segments.

I also get tired of RA’s Simpson’s references or movie quotes. Plus, he chokes up way too easily. What’s the over under of how many times he cries per episode?

Before Corson, they hadn’t had a great guest on in awhile. The UMass coach put me to sleep last episode. The golf podcast guy from a couple weeks back was awful. I forget the guy’s name.

He is actually a barstool employee, and is going to turn pro some day in golf to

 

[Pens x]

He is actually a barstool employee, and is going to turn pro some day in golf to

I figured it was another failed plug by the show.

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

I don’t know why but I really don’t care for G. He adds nothing to the show. Thank god they stopped talking to his roommate in those painful dating segments.

I also get tired of RA’s Simpson’s references or movie quotes. Plus, he chokes up way too easily. What’s the over under of how many times he cries per episode?

Before Corson, they hadn’t had a great guest on in awhile. The UMass coach put me to sleep last episode. The golf podcast guy from a couple weeks back was awful. I forget the guy’s name.

The Umass coach was such a hardo, couldn’t believe how hard he buried the kid leaving early, seemed really unprofessional to air out to the media that you don’t think he’s ready (also a bit of sour grapes).

I left that interview thinking if I was a prospect I’d hate to play for that guy because it’s clear he takes things personally which is ironic with how much he kept talking about how professional they try to keep it. He seemed very petty when discussing the prospect who went to Maine because they didn’t want to go to “Zoo Mass”, he himself said it was a point that his program used to change culture and then when that same kid asked to transfer in he was basically like “f off you said no before”. I was sitting there thinking, didn’t you just credit this kid with helping you define a culture issue and meanwhile you’re actually still bitter he called it out? Bananas

 

[Chaels Arms]

He's a gambler, not a gambling expert. There's a twitter account called RA's Gambling Corner that compiles all of his bets and he barely breaks even. He's in no position to offer any sort of betting advice.

Exactly. He's being given responsibilities he's not suited for. Gambling Corner is literally the one regular "segment" the show has and it's a guy who has no qualifications or special knowledge regarding gambling rambling about gambling. It's a complete waste of time.

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

I get wanting to hear more interviews from the current players more, but they rarely get a good interview from them. Some of the recent guests like Stone, Kadri and Gaudreau didn't give interesting interviews. Going back further the Eichel, Josi and Werenski interviews weren't great either. Pastrnak was a rare exception.

 

[Chaels Arms]

I get wanting to hear more interviews from the current players more, but they rarely get a good interview from them. Some of the recent guests like Stone, Kadri and Gaudreau didn't give interesting interviews. Going back further the Eichel, Josi and Werenski interviews weren't great either. Pastrnak was a rare exception.

Crosby, Getzlaf, MAF, Reaves, Bortuzzo, Joel Edmundsson (really good interview from a player you never hear about), Yandle, Hayes, Hall, both Tkachuk brothers, Giroux were all current players off the top of my head who were great interviews. I agree with you that the ones you mentioned were not great but I think that has more to do with those individuals just not being terribly interesting during interviews as opposed to all current players generally.

 

[Yablo21]

Just imagine trying to gamble on games in this league. I don't like gambling FTR, but this is f***ing so bad. I'm pissed today.

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

Exactly. He's being given responsibilities he's not suited for. Gambling Corner is literally the one regular "segment" the show has and it's a guy who has no qualifications or special knowledge regarding gambling rambling about gambling. It's a complete waste of time.

It's also an asinine concept to have a gambling segment on a weekly show. So much can happen in between those picks being given out, not to mention that many people aren't necessarily listening to this show in real time, a good portion are probably days/weeks behind.


Honestly if they cut their show in half and did it twice a week it'd probably save a lot of the problems. It'd be more timely, it wouldn't feel so drawn out or labored. Two interviews a show is too much, and the post second interview segment is pretty much always garbage filler.

The best part of the show is the quick impressions of what's happening around the league, more of that, less... everything.

 

[Nothingbutglass]

Exactly. He's being given responsibilities he's not suited for. Gambling Corner is literally the one regular "segment" the show has and it's a guy who has no qualifications or special knowledge regarding gambling rambling about gambling. It's a complete waste of time.

Qualifications for gambling? He makes picks like everyone else does. There are no certifications, just general knowledge.

 

[DrewGl]

Qualifications for gambling? He makes picks like everyone else does. There are no certifications, just general knowledge.

So wait..gambling isn't a sure thing?

 

[Joe Sakic]

Damn, you guys are hard to please!

Personally really enjoy the episodes still. Has not gotten stagnate for me yet.

A love hearing from the minor league/European players just as much as I do the NHL stars. They've got great stories and provides a real in-depth look at what most players go through aside from the Connor McDavid's and Sidney Crosby's of the league.

Little shocked to see some people complaining at the lack of NHL stars they get on the show. Over the last ~10 episodes they've had Pastrnak, Ed Jovanovski, Keith Yandle, Johnny Hockey, Ryan Callahan, McAvoy, and Bob McKenzie. Not sure saying "they only get their friends on" is accurate.

 

[Yackiberg8]

Been saying it for a while and now that the boys have been seeing the guests that Cam&Stric get, I think it is a fact at this point that the Roenick think hurt them big time when it comes to getting 80-90's stars. Those boys are really tight and I bet the way they see it is that Chiclets is responsible for their product which is the podcast and they got a bump in popularity with the cost of JR's job.(not my personal view)

Pretty much all of the active players are super f***ing stale boring interviews of circle jerking "such good guy, oh he's the best" and them ending with RA saying he's just a great kid so easy to root for.
And the thing that made Chiclets, the great energy, raw worded live interviews. It feels like it is beginning to be very near in the ballpark of them being just normal media with a couple of swear words and preloaded jokes in it.

For me their forte was the live interviews and it cannot be understated how much they got hurt by covid. It knocked the interview quality down from a's and b's to constant c's with a couple of b's every 20 episodes. Like it used to be rare that they wouldn't get a decent interview out of someone. Now it's rare to have a great entertaining one. The current 3 and half hour format with mediocre interviews is not helping.

I still got close to 10-12 hours travel time weekly so i'll still listen and kill time with it.

The podcast is more popular than it’s ever been, they were just the number 1 podcast in all of North America a day or two ago.

I listened to my first Cam and Strick the other day and was not a fan. Those two sound like 10 year old kids to me.

I’ll take the locker room talk over the childish talk.

 

[Debrincat93]

imagine complaining about a podcast you can choose not to listen to.
incredible.

 

[Chaels Arms]

Qualifications for gambling? He makes picks like everyone else does. There are no certifications, just general knowledge.

There are people who are better at sports gambling than others. Not many, but they exist. Before becoming a Jeopardy! champion James Holzhauer was a full time sports gambler, for example. RA is clearly not one of those people. The show is too long as it is and even if it weren't I don't know if there's any sports podcast out there that is actually better served by designating a regular segment for someone to ramble about their "picks" for which little to no thought was dedicated.

 

[Chaels Arms]

imagine complaining about a podcast you can choose not to listen to.
incredible.

imagine posting this in a message board thread you can choose to ignore.
incredible.

 

[JianYang]

They need to get Gomez back on. His last interview, time just flew by, and they never got past his time in new Jersey.

His ability to tell stories and remember so many details is incredible.

 

[Chaels Arms]

Damn, you guys are hard to please!

Personally really enjoy the episodes still. Has not gotten stagnate for me yet.

A love hearing from the minor league/European players just as much as I do the NHL stars. They've got great stories and provides a real in-depth look at what most players go through aside from the Connor McDavid's and Sidney Crosby's of the league.

Little shocked to see some people complaining at the lack of NHL stars they get on the show. Over the last ~10 episodes they've had Pastrnak, Ed Jovanovski, Keith Yandle, Johnny Hockey, Ryan Callahan, McAvoy, and Bob McKenzie. Not sure saying "they only get their friends on" is accurate.

5 out of the 7 people you named fall into the category of "their friends" and/or "local Boston players" (which is basically another wing of "Whit's friends".) Your post actually supports the theory that they are largely drawing from Biz and Whit's cliques.

And, again, that's fine. I understand that's how it is, especially at the start. It's easier for Biz and Whit to just bust out their cell phones and start throwing out texts to the circles they are comfortable in for guests. My point is that well is eventually going to run dry, if it hasn't started to already.

 

[Bondurant]

Man, I used to love Chiclets until I was wised up to the fact that all guests are AHL hacks like Nicklas Lidstrom, Stu Grimson, Derek Sanderson & Cam Neely

 

[Debrincat93]

imagine posting this in a message board thread you can choose to ignore.
incredible.

lolz... chill out bud.

 

[branch]

Anyone else out there that totally lost interest after they got super successful/corporate?

 

[Yackiberg8]

5 out of the 7 people you named fall into the category of "their friends" and/or "local Boston players" (which is basically another wing of "Whit's friends".) Your post actually supports the theory that they are largely drawing from Biz and Whit's cliques.

And, again, that's fine. I understand that's how it is, especially at the start. It's easier for Biz and Whit to just bust out their cell phones and start throwing out texts to the circles they are comfortable in for guests. My point is that well is eventually going to run dry, if it hasn't started to already.

Look at the main guest of 2020.

Pastrnak, Weise, Corson, Howard, Kadri/Jovonovski, Sutter/Yandle, Stone/Marek, Shelley, Dillon, Thorburn, Callahan/Gaudreau, McAvoy/Wilson, McKenzie/Shelley, Tkachuk/MacKinnon, Eichel/Doan, Jones/Ferarro.

When you’re complaining about having guys like Pastrnak, Jovanovski, MacKinnon, Eichel, Doan on then hockey podcasts aren’t for you.

BTW 6/25 I would say are buddies/former teammates/Boston guys. Odd complaint.