Bonus Episode: Phil Hulett Interview

One voice can change the temperature of an entire arena, and Anaheim Ducks public address announcer Phil Hulett has been proving that for years. We talk with Phil about the real job behind the mic, the moments fans remember, and the invisible pressure of getting every detail right when 17,000 people are listening and the game is moving at full speed. 

Phil tells the origin story that still feels unreal: a simple cold call that led to an Angels tryout, a mentor who taught him the ropes in real time, and the lessons he carried into hockey. From signature goal calls to the JMG Power Play cadence, we dig into how an NHL PA announcer builds excitement without losing clarity, and why speaking to “you” can be more powerful than addressing a crowd. 

We also get into the messy side of live sports, including a chaotic penalty announcement during a Ducks vs Maple Leafs game where conflicting headset info created on-air confusion, plus the challenge of announcing from the rafters instead of ice level. If you love the Honda Center game-night experience, crowd participation, and the craft of sports announcing, this conversation delivers stories and practical insight. Subscribe, share this with a Ducks fan, and leave a review with your pick: what’s the best crowd chant the Ducks should adopt next?

Transcript

Welcome Phil And Birthday Shoutout

SPEAKER_02 0:34

What's up, really quick fans? We got a special episode for you guys today. Especially huge ducks fans out there. We got the one, the only, your Anaheim Ducks public address announcer, Phil Hewitt. How are you doing, Phil? Cody, I'm doing well. Gary, how are you?

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Great. Glad to have you here. Glad to have you here.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

I'm the first ducks guest on the interview episode. Before we get to the questions, could you just do me a quick favor and wish my wife, Vicky, a happy birthday today?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Wow. Vicky. Happy birthday. How about that? Awesome. And you put thank you. You put up with Gary all this time. That's something. That is a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

It's a miracle. It is a miracle. I'm surprised this hasn't been a solo podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Are you doing that podcast again?

SPEAKER_03 1:28

Oh no. She she she's a avid Ducks fan. Yes. And she's our worst critic. And if you talk to her, and this is being she's going to hear this anyways when she listens to it. She's the executive producer, according to her.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Yeah, she she she just announced randomly, I'm the executive producer.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Well, let her know that typically when uh you have that title, that means that you're bankrolling uh some or all of the program.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

No, that's all me. I'm doing I do everything on this.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Well, shh you're the executive part.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Well, I help with the money part, but he does the money. Yeah. He he is definitely royally quacked, does just about everything. So and I I can't say how proud I am of what he's done and how he does it. It's not that you guys am about to cry. He's he's he's uh he's he's a keeper, as he always tells us.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

I was a goalkeeper in soccer growing up, so that's why it's the keep the keeper joke.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Yeah, I gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

So, first question, Phil. Um, what first inspired you to become a PA announcer?

The Accidental Start With The Angels

SPEAKER_01 2:42

That was total uh accident and fate. Combination of the two. I was, and I've told this story plenty of times, uh, but I was sitting in an office, I was a regional sales manager for a radio station that had two offices, one in uh in Santa Monica, another in Newport Beach. I was sitting in the Newport Beach office, my sales team was out, I was doing nothing but perusing uh an Orange County catalog of uh businesses. It was a business directory looking for new leads, possibly, and just picking up the phone and calling, because that's what you do when you're in sales, right? Advertising sales. And so uh I opened up the business directory in the first two pages we call a double truck in the advertising uh lingo uh of for the angels. And the uh main office uh phone number was was on there, and I thought, hey, I had an idea. I'm not gonna call them to sell advertising. I'm gonna call up and I did, and I said, uh, hi, uh may I speak to the person who's in charge of your public address announcer. And uh the lady said, Please hold. And then the a guy picked up. I I wish I remember his name, but I I don't. Uh he picked up and um I said uh I had introduced myself, told him who I was, that I'd been on radio forever and voiceovers, commercials, that sort of thing. And uh uh and I'd love to come down. If he's into it, just uh shoulder hop his current guy. And if you ever need somebody, you probably have a backup already, but if you ever need somebody, I'd I'd be uh uh there for you and I'd knock it out of the park, to use the right uh metaphor. So uh I said, What do you say? He said, Well, when can uh can you come down tomorrow? And I said, Okay. So the Angels in 1994 had a homestand against the Seattle Mariners. And David Courtney was uh the um public address announcer at uh at the time. And uh I um got to sit with him in this tiny little box. This was before they rebuilt Angel Stadium, uh uh at least the inside of it. And uh to the right of me was a window, and Gene Autry, the Angels owner, was sitting right there with a baseball hat on, and out of baseball with a cowboy hat on, and boots, and he was at every game in a special chair, like a barco lounger or something like that. And no no kidding, he was like arm's length away from me, but there was glass. So no pressure, boys. So uh David Courtney, he was my mentor, great guy. He was uh the announcer for the Angels and for the Kings at the time, and um they would need a backup when there was a conflict with the Kings and the Angels, so he would defer to the Kings and the backup would do the Angels. So I watched the first game, learned the ropes, uh David taught me everything as though I already was the backup. And I I thought that was cool, and he and I learned a lot of things that I carry on with me today. And the second game, I watched him again. Third game, he said, All right, Phil, you're gonna do the middle three innings today. Ooh, that's exciting. Gee Notry's right there, so it was a little nerve-wracking. Um but you know, I have a way of getting over uh my nervousness, and uh uh I did that, did the middle three innings um and uh Ken Griffey Jr. was on the Mariners at the time. I announced his at bat three times that day in three innings. Worked out kind of nice. He had a home run, a triple, and a single. And that season was shortened due to a labor dispute, and most baseball pundits say that uh due to the amount of home runs that Griffey had hit prior to the season ending, he might have gotten more than eighty that season had had uh he kept going on the tear that he was on. So we'll never know. But Ken Griffey Jr. was one of the greatest players ever, at least prior to that uh that shutdown of the season. So that's uh that's where I started, 1994, and I've been the backup ever since. And uh this season I'm going to do a lot of games because Michael Arajo, who's been the uh public address announcer for the Angels for now some twelve, fifteen years, something like that. Since uh David Courtney passed away. Um he's also uh uh he also has some fairly big commitments for an event I'm not allowed to say out loud, but uh um it just means that I'm gonna get more than a dozen games this season, maybe like fifteen games, and I typically get anywhere from four to eight. So lots of games, I'm looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_03 7:42

Hopefully we will get to go to one you're uh uh doing the public announcing for.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Yeah. Well we'll we'll uh we'll make it memorable if we can.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

Absolutely. Love that.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Yeah. Um who were the voices you looked up to when you were getting started?

Early Influences And Sports Detours

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Uh well, when I was um a kid, the voice the one voice I looked up to the most was Chick Hearn, the play-by-play announcer for the Lakers. And uh I I used to be able to impersonate him really well by the age of twelve. And I had the best basketball driveway in the neighborhood, and all the kids used to come around play basketball in my driveway, had a had a key uh painted on the uh uh on the driveway, and um we just played a lot of ball at my house, and as we played, I would do the play-by-play. And um it was fun and I got real good at it. Um but as I got older and and um uh became interested in girls and other things that you do when you're uh uh you know teenager um and your voice changes and all that sort of thing, it it's uh I I started thinking more about being on the radio as a disc jockey. And so I kind of left all of that. I I've been six foot two since I was maybe fifteen and a half, sixteen. And I was relatively tall prior to that for my age, and so when I was coming up learning basketball, I was taught how to be a center and a and a strong forward. And by the time I got into high school, uh and even though I went JV in my uh freshman year, and I was the I was the top scorer at our park league, so I got scouted by the coach, so he put me on the JVs. But then what I found out was that six foot two was short even in high school for basketball. And he wanted me to be a guard, and I never learned how to be a guard. So that was the one that was one and done for me with basketball. And um I moved into volleyball uh and I'd started surfing when I was fifteen, and and um so you know, surfing will take you right out of the game too. Um because it's a different it's a different frame of mind entirely. I surf to this day. Uh I don't play volleyball to this day. Tried out for volleyball at Cal State Long Beach, where some pretty big names, Olympians, came out of. Um this would have been uh 1977. And that leading up to that, the summer leading up to uh um that semester, I was playing every day on the beach and every night at my high school's uh gym. And I was really good. But I was six two, so I tried out and uh and the coach came over to me and said, Hey, you're pretty good, but uh there's our varsity team over there, take a look, what do you notice? And I they're all tall. He said, Yeah, the shortest guy's six five, and everybody is like upwards to six nine. You could be a setter if you want to, which I wasn't trained to be. You could be a setter, but we have five of those. You'd be number six, and you likely won't play, but you'd be on the team. And he said, It's up to you. I decided not to, and I joined the rowing team. Okay. Interesting. So so there's uh there's the history of sports, a la Phil Hewlett. Um, and I I you what you might notice missing is hockey. I didn't follow hockey, I didn't play hockey, I didn't follow the Kings. I went to a uh California Sharks, is that what they were called back way back in the day? The uh uh there was another league, the Pacific League. Or maybe it was the Golden Seals, I don't know, but they they played at the um um I want to say I saw the game, believe it or not, at the Anaheim Convention Center. You know, in the in the arena that they have there. But uh yeah, no hockey in my uh in my upbringing. When I when I got into public address for hockey teams, um and that's that's another story entirely, uh that's when I started to get into it. And so uh by by your standards, Gary, I'm a newbie to the game.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

Uh yeah, I was a fan even at nine. Um Wow. I didn't I d it's funny, you you talked about I didn't play. I didn't play any kind of hockey till I was 27 when all these friends I played softball from they were all from back east. Hey, let's go play street hockey. Yeah, and that's how I got really interested in hockey, and then it the fever just hit me even after I stopped playing that. And you know, obviously the whole Mighty Ducks movies, I swore, honestly, Phil, that if they if they ever came out with a team calling the Mighty Ducks, I'd never go to a game. Um, I lied because Cody was in a stroller that first practice at uh the the HANA Center pond, as we would used to call it. Yeah, he was just a baby when that happened, and we were I was really looking forward to seeing if I could see or meet Paul Korea at the time. Yeah, you know, uh so we were there, he was in a stroller. So we went to the very first practice that they opened for the public. So that is something. So I have no recollection of any of this.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:24

I I did have a uh just an offbeat question to you said Long Beach volleyball. Yeah. Um a guy I played basketball named Kurt Hanson was like 6'7. He had a scholarship to Long Beach. I didn't know if he ever met Kurt.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

No, no, he wasn't. He wasn't on the rowing team. It would have been good to have him on the on the varsity rowing team because that's another tall sport, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

Well, he played basketball and he was a backup at 6'7. Wow. He wasn't as once he got older and grew into his body, he became a really good basketball player. I mean, probably better than I ever was. I was on the league my senior year as a guard at 5'11. But um, but that's high school.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

It's this is funny because Bill and I kind of had a similar basketball experience in a way. Like I was also tall from my age, tall, I was always the center. I was, you know, the only person on my team elementary through until high school. I was the only one that was over six foot, really. And I didn't and I stopped growing at 6'3. And then when we started playing other all-star teams, I realized, oh my god, I'm the shortest dude on this on their team.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yeah, yeah, right. And and you know, the the shot selection that I had was completely useless because you know, I I used to emulate uh Chamberlain and and Jabbar. So I had a great finger roll, I had a great sky hook, and uh and and I you know played underneath the rim for the most part, and um none of that translated.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

I I was not very I was okay offensively. I would say my best trait was boxing people out. That was pretty much it.

SPEAKER_04 15:10

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

You really good at that. Yeah, I I said I was you know a foot shorter than the other team center, because I was the team center for our team, but we did not get out remounded when he was in.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

What were you feeding Cody, Gary? Was he uh were were you were you thick? Were you a heavy guy? Because I was six foot two in high school, I was six two and a hundred and sixty pounds, so I wasn't blocking anybody out.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

I was maybe what 180 in high school? Almost okay. I uh I mean I ate. I I I'm surprised I didn't bankrupt my you know my parents the way I ate growing up.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

You know, like eight bowls of cereal stories about how he used to eat. We I already heard you on a T podcast talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

We need a calculator, you know, for uh for for parents who successfully raised uh you know successful adults. We need a calculator to look back. You know how they have in those inflationary calculators, you could say, all right, this cost uh a hundred dollars back in nineteen twenty-nine, and so today it it by today's money it's like six grand. So it'd be nice to see how much it cost us to feed our kids and then put it in the uh the inflationary calculator and say, okay, by today's standards, this is how much Cody would bankrupt the family.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

So he did eat he did eat quite a bit, but I I I did.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

I'll still keep him. I'll still keep him.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Oh good.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Um so how did you get the Anaheim Ducks P an ouncer job?

Getting The Ducks Job And Pushback

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Okay, um the uh uh the first uh the first guy um did the first season, and I of apologize, I've forgotten his name, but um he did the first season and then either quit or got let go by Disney. I'm not sure what it was. And then uh Mike Carlucci came in, did the next two seasons. Um by then I had already uh uh auditioned for and won the gig for Jeannie Buss and her roller hockey team, the Los Angeles Blades. At the end of the first season of the Blades, uh I was contacted by somebody from the Long Beach Ice Dogs who said, uh what are you doing during the regular season? I said, I don't know, working for you? They said, Yeah, sure, come on over. And then I became the Long Beach Ice Dogs uh public address announcer, doing uh more or less the kind of announcing that I'm doing now for the Ducks, with a couple of exceptions that uh I don't think I was going to be able to add, and I was I'm probably right, to the repertoire uh just from major league uh sensibilities. I don't want to piss too many people off in the league. Um but I did when I came up. But at the end of the first season with the uh with the ice dogs, Disney called me and said, uh uh, hey, what are you doing during the regular season? I said, I don't know, working for you. And they said, Okay, come on over. And so the fourth season uh was the 96-97 season. That's when I started, and Disney wanted me to bring that minor league feel to the majors, you know, uh total homer and doing the goals the way I do them now and and just pure excitement because when I came in the league, everybody was very you know, the the announcing was very conservative and stayed and and uh you know down down the uh up the freeway. Uh David Courtney probably would have said, Los Angeles goal scored by number right uh and uh but I didn't do that do it that way in the minors. I was hitting the high notes like I do now. And so I got a lot of pushback from the league when that started. I even got some pushback from folks inside of the organization. Um we got to the playoffs first time and they said, Hey Phil, uh, we want you to back off on the uh uh enthusiasm on the goal calls in the playoffs, and I and and I said, Dude, don't you want to bring what brung us? And they said, Well, just kind of this kind of came from uh from up above. And I said, Okay, so first game I announced the goals just kind of normal and like old school normal. And there was apparently a hue and cry from the fans in the second game, they said, All right, Phil, go back to the way you normally do it. And so that happened again the next next time we went to the playoffs. It happened uh, you know, at least twice. And in each case they recanted and said, uh, all right, you do you, boo.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

Well, I gotta I gotta tell you, I think the flair was sometimes what you're doing that excites the fans. And then they're even into the game even more. You know, so every little aspect of going to a game is incredible. And I would I I think I would really appreciate that flair like you have, because it it just gets everybody into the game. They now they're going, hey man, I want to go back.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Yeah.

unknown 20:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Well, it's uh I get a lot of positive feedback from the fans and uh you know in the comments on Instagram and Facebook. And it's um it's it's encouraging. And if anybody uh and I collect those in a in a little file folder, and if anybody ever says, Phil, uh, we need you to back off on the enthusiasm, I'm just gonna pull that file folder out and say, okay, here are your fans, and they're the ones you're gonna hear from in the morning if I if I do what you say I should do. So at this stage of my career, I've learned uh I don't want to be recalcitrant or or confrontational with my with my bosses, but hey, you know what? I I think I'm part of the fabric now, and like you say, part of the show, and what makes it uh a show, I mean it's a game, we call it a show sometimes because you know, let's face it, it's entertainment. It is entertainment. It's escape, it's all that. We're fans, but we're going to the game to escape our daily lives and and uh and be in that moment with the team, and it's it's hard to explain from a psychological standpoint what happens to us, but you know, we start to foam from the mouth and make noises that we don't know how we make those noises. They come out of our face while the game is happening, and uh the camera hits us and we chug a beer, and the last time we did that was in high school. And so, you know, things happen when you're at a game and it's just an unusual experience. Um there's a feedback loop that we all fall into, and and you know, and and you add to it that you really love your team and you really want your team to win. And you guys are bigger homers than I am when you come to the come to your games. Uh and but I've got to tap into your experience. Energy to get my energy. And that's how it works. It's not, it really is. It may seem like it's the other way around, but I'm tapping into your energy to go absolutely nuts on that microphone.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Well, I love that part. I'm going to tell you this as a a huge Ducks fan, diehard fan. I I love your calls. Please don't ever change it. I'll save this recording and I'll send I'll send it to you so you can send to whoever you need to. Because I tell this, even from home, I'm watching my game. I I usually watch my games from my computer right here. Yeah. And I will literally and I can hear your announcing through my headset. I'm going along with you. I'm going along with you at the games. Your calls are iconic to me.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Well, thanks. I tried something this season, it didn't work out, and they told me to stop. Uh and I didn't know how to encourage the uh the fans. I I got everybody to say power play, which was uh exciting and it's really going well. I mean the crowd.

SPEAKER_03 22:59

JMG, power play.

Goal Calls, Power Plays, Crowd Psychology

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Yes. And uh the owner of the owner of JMG said, Phil, you came up with another thing. It's great. I love it. So all right, so I knew that was good. But what I what I wanted, you know how some of the other teams, like East Coast teams, the announcer will announce the goal and then he'll go, Woo! And then the crowd will go, Woo. Well, I thought we should we should do something like that, but it should be quack. Right? Oh my god. And so we get one goal, it's one quack, two goals, two quacks, three goals, three quacks. So I tried that, but I would say quack, and then uh everybody was confused. And then after doing it for it was either two or three games, uh the front office, you know, management, whoever, I don't know where it came from exactly, but my direct uh um uh person who I who I um interact with said, Phil, don't do that quack thing with your goals. So, okay, that's fine. I didn't feel like I needed to. Uh I might have, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

I was at the home opener, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

It might have been might not have been the home opener. Might have been the next two or three games after that. Okay. Um because I I talked about it w on social media during the preseason. And I don't think enough people to, you know, to to create that synergy. I don't think enough people saw that or bought into it or even understood how it should work because you know it's a it's an East Coast thing. All the East Coast teams do that. They do something, yeah. Woo! Or uh who knows what it is. And uh it would just be nice to have a quack, but um unless it happens organically, you know, if we if we get if we can get an entire section to uh surreptitiously just start it on their own. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 24:40

Okay, okay, hold on. I'm going tomorrow. Let's do it. Phil. I've said this.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Next goal, scorebo number 45, Beckett Seneca, assisted by number 20, Chris Kreider, and number two, Jackson Lacombe, time of the goal, 625. Hang on. Again, the goal by Seneca from Crider and Lacomb at 625.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

Quack. Quack.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Okay. Okay. So the next goal, it's next goal, it's two quacks. Next goal, three quacks, right? Got you. So quack.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

Hey, we're gonna participate. We're gonna participate tomorrow. We'll try to get the fans into it.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

It would have been good la it would have been good against the sharks to try it then because we had six opportunities.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Yes. No. But Phil, it's funny that you say that because so I was listening to when the Ducks played in Nashville earlier this year, how the P announcer gets works with the crowd.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Yeah, and I think he's he's great at it.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Yeah, yes, it he is. Oh, I think Paul is his name.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Um, yeah, because I I we I went to Nashville a few weeks ago and I went to a Predators game, and I wanted and I called ahead, I even asked fans around, like, hey, like, what are the chances because I hear it through the TV, and I'm like, I love it. I'm like, because it gave me like I'm a huge soccer person, it gave me soccer vibes, like European soccer. And at the and also gives me like LA Galaxy vibes, because they would do like, oh, goal scored by Landon, and then the whole arena would go, Donovan, and he'll go, number 10, Landon, and and then he'll say, Thank you, and then the whole crowd would say, You're welcome. And I'm like, I want that at the Ducks games. So when you were saying I wanted to get the crow, I was like, Yes, that's what I want, Phil. I 100% agree with this.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

You know what's funny, Cody? I was thinking this when we went to the Galaxy games and that happened, how much fun it was.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

I mean, if you're a true fan, you're gonna participate. And we did. We were screaming, you know, uh what was it?

SPEAKER_01 26:53

That is typically a that is typically a soccer team. Yeah. That's a soccer thing, uh definitely. And uh there's that uh minor league soccer team that plays in in uh Irvine at uh at at uh uh what what's what's the giant park there with the uh with the balloon? What's it called? Uh oh. Gosh, I should know my uh I have a dog.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

Is that where the ice rink is for the rookie faceoff list?

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Yeah, five points arena. Yeah, five points. There you go. There. That's the what what was the park again?

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Great Park Eyes.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Yeah, it's great park. And there's uh there's a uh soccer stadium in there somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

And uh there's a minor league team that plays there, and they do the same thing. They uh they when I got to do the intros one night, and I announced the first names and the fans announced the last the s last names, and it was kind of fun.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

Yeah, yeah. I I I I think that like the NHL is such a a gate-driven league that and people want to be entertained during the game, and I feel like that that's a good way to keep everyone entertained is when you're involved.

What Makes Honda Center A Show

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Yeah. Yeah. It's another level. We have so many levels of the games, and all the all the teams now they have DJs, we have DJ Jojo, and and you know, there's the party mode and there's the uh uh karaoke moments, you know, where he'll play a song into a puck drop, and then people will keep singing after the after the play has already started. And uh all these all these little uh audience participation moments uh add an extra level to the excitement. It but you know it's weird. I talked to some older guys, hockey purists. There's this one guy I talked to who's from Montreal, you know, and he's got a huge collection of uh Montreal Canadians stuff from uh you know the 1960s and and maybe even older than that. He's got a lot of uh original six stuff, and and he's uh he's a hockey purist, and he just wants an announcer and an and an organ. That's it. Just the organ and an announcer and nothing fancy, just uh hockey. And I think if you're a if you're a hardcore purist, you probably would be able to resolve that after spending uh uh you know several hundred dollars on on uh a ticket and some drinks and parking. Uh but for everybody else, I think you're probably looking for a more of an experience than that. You know, and the ducks have done real well. It's been an evolution over the years, but they've done real well to turn this into a multimedia, multi-sensory experience. And I and I think it's great.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

Loving what they're doing.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

It's it's it we were there when um what was it when uh Cutter. Cutter was there. Yeah, they were.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

Oh, you're talking about the flock party?

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Yeah, the yeah. That that was a lot of fun. And they talked about what they were gonna be doing to the arena. Yeah um and we have experienced that. And it's I I I'll be on I'm gonna be honest, uh I know I'm a Kings fan, but I I love going to Honda Center to watch a game. I do.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Well they're getting they're getting uh real close to uh to uh uh finishing, or I don't know how close they are to finishing, but they that legacy club that's at the uh opposite end of the Zamboni corner um that takes up um the better part of two levels, uh there's gonna be a full bar up there with uh uh it looks like uh and I can't tell you exactly what it's gonna look like because I haven't seen the renderings, but I can just imagine by looking at it because none of none of the seats are in there, but there's a rail that looks like there would be stools and and round tables, and then behind them is a full bar, and um and I think it's it's gonna be a premium space, you know. They're they're calling it the legacy club. And so um and there's there's two levels, and once they start putting the seats in, I mean if they if they get that done in time for the playoffs, wow. Can you imagine getting in there? You have your tickets for the playoffs yet?

SPEAKER_02 31:14

It's no, not yet.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Um I don't know how does that how does that work? Do you have to buy all the way to the end of the stick to the final? Is that how you have to do it?

SPEAKER_02 31:25

So this is only my second ducks game of the year. I was literally at the home opener and then tomorrow will be my second game. It's a matter of we l I live in Temecula.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

Okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

So and with my work, I start at work at 6 a.m. in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

And I said, and so and I'm a propane delivery driver, so sometimes I don't know when I'm getting off work.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

So usually games are a lot harder for me to go to. I wish I could go to more.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Well, with all that flammability in your truck, please do get a full night's rest.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Yes. Trust me.

SPEAKER_03 31:59

He is very safe. You know, I I work in Orange County, but I live in Menifee, which is just north of Temecula.

SPEAKER_04 32:06

My goodness.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

And uh I don't get off work typically till 7 30 when the games are starting.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

You're a Kings fan and you live in Mennefee.

SPEAKER_03 32:14

Yeah. I've been a Kings fan since I was nine years old.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Okay. So you know how to say a rogue.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Well, we lived in Lake we lived in Lake Forest and then we moved out to Mennefe in early 2000s.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's nice out there. I've been to your country.

SPEAKER_03 32:32

And ducks are part of hockey.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

I mean, I was I was watching uh Pittsburgh and the Bruins play just before we got on. I was out I was in the my family room watching hockey.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Wow. I'm a big Hunky fan. So Minifee is uh Riverside County or San Diego. Yes, Riverside. Riverside.

SPEAKER_03 32:56

Yeah, Temecula's right on the border of San Diego.

unknown 32:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Yeah, once you go like Temecula's like where Pachonga is, the I've been I've been to Temecula, little you know, wineries and uh stopped at the Costco in in Menifee and and uh right? Isn't there a Costco in Menifee?

SPEAKER_02 33:13

Marietta, Menifee.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Marietta, okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

The other one in Marietta, one in Temecula. We are getting one in Menifee. It's not built yet. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:23

Hey, good news. All you people living in Menafee, we're gonna get a Costco. Let's go, let's go back to Phil though.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

Well I I I have another question, and I I'm curious if I might know this answer because I was at one of these game the Ducks games, but I'm I'm curious what your answer is gonna be. What's the most chaotic or unexpected moment you've had to announce?

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Oh, it just happened. It just happened a couple weeks ago.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Which one?

The Night A Penalty Call Went Sideways

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Um let me see if I can look it up real quick. But uh there this was um this was when uh uh the Maple Leafs came in town. Oh, yeah. Uh wanted to exact revenge uh not only on Gudis for uh taking out Matthews, but but he wanted to take out as many of the core uh top players as possible. And you you know, you mentioned Cutter. I I don't know that Domey had anything to do with it, but Cutter's been out since that game. I I frankly didn't see what happened, but there was a penalty, and I and I gotta look this up real quick, um, because I posted something about it. Um give me a second, because it was it was absolutely crazy. The uh the referee uh riffed on an actual uh element from the rule book uh and came up with his own penalties, series of penalties for Domi, uh after his second fight.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

And um Oh, for the uh the aggressor one Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

Aggressor. Okay, so in the rule book, there is a two-minute penalty for aggressor. So uh he got a ten minute he got a five-minute fighting, yeah, he got a two-minute aggressor, he got a ten minute misconduct and a game misconduct. Okay, so that that's the way I understand it after the fact. But as it was happening, it was explained to me four or five different ways. Because the uh the guy that I communicate with through the headset, who's down on the ice, where I should be, but the league for whatever reason since uh 2020 uh booted all the public address announcers off the ice, and so I'm up in the rafters. So I have to communicate with the uh the lead uh off-ice official who communicates with the referees, even though the rule book says the referee communicates with the public address announcer. So uh the um Yeah, it's it's maddening. Uh but uh anyway, so and this wouldn't have happened had I been down there on the ice, by the way. Uh are you listening, uh Mr. Bettman? Uh but so the uh tagging him now. The office official the office official heard the explanation from the referee and communicated it to me, and it was completely different from what I just said. So he said uh uh the first one was a five-minute aggressor major plus fighting. And I said, Well, why did Domi just skate off to the uh to the locker room? There's more than ten minutes left in the period. And he said, I don't know. He said, But say this. So I started announcing the penalties and and he got into my headset again. He said, Wait, Phil, uh you need to say it this way. So I had to correct it while I was announcing it. And then he said, Oh no, it'd be better with all right, hang on, Phil. So I'm I'm in the middle of announcing it, and then I said something, you know, uh that that probably wasn't real fluid, but I said, Look, we'll get some clarity on this penalty uh in a in a little bit. Um but in the meantime, uh the ducks are uh uh and I thought the ducks were on a power play because initially they put up a two-minute penalty and that's all they put up. But then they took that off. So there it was even strength, and I was about to go to a JMG power play, and it was total chaos. And so the next whistle, I got some clarity on the penalty and I re-announced it. And then after the intermission was over, the office official came to me and said, Okay, here's what the penalty officially is. And I said, Bro, I'm not gonna say it anymore, okay? This is this is not great. And so uh he said, Okay, uh whatever. And so I got I got I heard about that after the game was over. Everybody was saying, look, you gotta, you know, know what you're gonna say before you say it. Okay, I uh I didn't just start doing this this week, right? Uh it was it was a rare situation where there was actual chaos going on. And I had while I was announcing the thing, I was getting conflicting information um after I had already thought I was clear on what the uh what the penalty was. So it was uh it was ugly, it was chaotic, and um and it's still uh it's a still an open sore for me. It's an open wound that hasn't healed yet. And I feel badly about that because I want what I say to be perfect, and what the public address announcer says makes elements of the game official. And the rule book says that. Things aren't official until I announce them. So uh when I announce them wrong, it's bad, and I feel bad about that. And uh and maybe the fans don't even notice or don't even care, but all the guys in the front office and all the office officials and and uh uh the league and George Paros was there that night. You know, because he he figured he was gonna have to uh police whatever was gonna happen. Uh and all of that stuff happened, so he was there and he got to watch it uh in person. So our our uh brass, they were already on edge because a guy from the NHL was, you know, a guy from the league was in the building, and so here I am making up stuff on the microphone, or though it sounded, you know, to them. But um it's not exactly what happened, but it doesn't matter. I mean, my intention was to be clear, and I was totally unclear, and it was chaotic. And I'm glad you asked that question, and I glad I got it off my chest, but I still feel really bad about it and uh and and I can't let it go.

SPEAKER_03 39:40

So that wasn't really all your fault because you were getting fed the wrong information.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

Yeah, but ultimately the buck stops with me because my mic is on.

SPEAKER_03 39:50

Yeah. Well that Okay, that's just like the guy didn't interfere with Husso and they got a goal. Yeah. I mean, that just was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever seen.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Nothing I can do about that. Right?

SPEAKER_03 40:03

I'm just saying, you know.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

With my mic off, I'm saying, come on!

SPEAKER_03 40:06

But I mean my my wife is yelling at the TV. Yeah, I think, I think it was there. Yeah, and I saw it.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

Oh, it was in I think that one was in autumn.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

Yeah, I was I was watching that.

SPEAKER_03 40:23

And I think I was I was home.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:26

And I saw it. I was watching it in the family room. She was watching it back in the bedroom, and she goes, she's yelling. I go, yeah, that I she goes, that's just not right. And I go, you're right, it's not right. That I mean, I I don't care who you are if you even would hate the ducks. That's wrong. That that that play was definitely interference on him.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

Yeah, it was.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

Should have been called went to video. So I go, hey, George Paros, why don't you get that straight?

SPEAKER_02 40:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:59

I mean, obviously, that was just a no-brainer to me.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

I finally got my blood pressure down from the the six-game losing streak. Don't bring something that's gonna bring up my blood pressure again.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

But here's what that was. That six-game losing streak was strategy. The uh the the ducks were giving the other teams that look like they're going to the postseason the false impression that they were in collapse. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

That's the reel right there.

SPEAKER_02 41:28

Yeah, I'm posting that.

SPEAKER_03 41:30

We're gonna he's he you're gonna be posted on a reel saying that. I I I actually love that. That's great. That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

Um, the chaotic moment I was thinking was the home opener in 2023 against the hurricanes. Because I was at this game, it was right after Frank Vetrano scored the hat-trick goal. Yeah, and they had these the light things, and people were throwing them on the ice. And I remember you making an announcement saying, Stop throwing it, because if you get caught throwing it, you're you like like you're getting escorted out by the police, kind of you could be ejected from the building and possibly face arrest.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

I remember that. So I was like throw it. I wasn't gonna throw mine. I was like, no, I got it, it's mine. I'm keeping it.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

I still that wasn't the night I said uh no, really. Don't throw their stuff, don't throw your stuff.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

You did you did say that. Like, no, really, like I'm not joking. You will be escorted out in yeah. I was like, oh crack I remember that. I was like, oh, okay. Don't throw like I I'm like, I wasn't gonna throw it. I'm not dumb. You know, I know better than that. But I remember that's the the one I was in, but the Toronto one is definitely more chaotic that moment.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Yeah, yeah. Unf an unfortunate chaotic moment. Yes, a very unfortunate. There have been some chaotic moments. I I can't recall them all or or any of them for that matter, but they ended up uh uh in uh a good way. And just uh sometimes I have to roll with the punches and I just say what's off the top of my head and and it works out because I have this I feel like I have a one-on-one dialogue with the with the fans. It's my philosophy that I if I talk to one person, everybody hears me. If I talk to everybody, nobody pays attention. Uh I like that.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

That's that's that's deep. That is really deep.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

Well, because when you're when you're listening to me talk, it's just me inside your head. Your ears calculate the sound and tell your brain what I'm saying, and you're not working in concert with 17,000 other people. That's that's 17,000 brains. So if I talk to one person, then everybody's listening. And so that's so that's why I I use the word you a lot. No, that's when the copy I'm reading says, Hey Ducks fans. You know, once in a while I'll do that. If it's like something pre recorded, I'll do it. But if it's live, I'll just I'll say something like, uh, um, here's something exciting you should hear about, you know, or something to that effect. I'll just on the on the fly and and oh, okay, now see, you're you, and you'll say, Oh, he's talking to me, so you'll pay attention. But if I said, Hey fans, if you're one of the first 10,000 people through the door uh next Friday, all fans in attendance, you know, that kind of thing, that's how the copy's usually written. Uh, and so now nobody's listening. But if I say, hey, if you come to Friday's game and you're you get through the door, um, if you're one of the first 10,000 people through the door, then you will get one of these. Check it out, isn't that cool?

SPEAKER_03 44:40

That makes a total that makes a total difference. But I have to be honest with you. I sometimes I'm driving and I'll listen, I'll be listening to the game, and there's a power play, and I'm waiting for your announcement. I'm going, I go. It it's it's it I love it. I mean, I even said something to Cody. I go, gotta, you know, it'd be nice if the Kings did you know something more exciting like that.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

It just Don't give Trevor any ideas.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

All right. I I have another question because this is something we kind of talked about before we started recording. Yeah. What's the hardest name you've had to announce?

SPEAKER_01 45:22

Oh gosh. Well, Mukamadoulin, Shakir Mukamadoulin of the Sharks.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

I was gonna say that one I could see. Yeah.

Impossible Names And Pronunciation Battles

SPEAKER_01 45:29

That one's hard, but uh, you know, my first year, my first season or second season, and I wish I remember who it was. I have to look back at the old uh uh, you know, NHL uh annuals. They used to put out an annual and they had every player on every team in the annual. It was uh hardcovered book, and I used to have a bunch of those, but uh I think maybe I saved the ones from nineteen uh ninety-six and nineteen ninety-seven. Uh but there was a player, and I found out how to pronounce his name properly. And the Ducks uh uh you know, Pat Verbeek's uh counterpart back in nineteen ninety-six-97 um was uh a guy named Tony Tavaras. And uh Tony um used to call down to where I sat very often to talk to the lead off ice official, and if he didn't like something I said, he would tell him and then he'd tell me. And um Tony was real hands-on that way. And um he had a reputation for not liking a lot of stuff. I'll put it that way. And so there was a there was a player, and I want to say it's his last name started with a B, but it was one of those multisyllabic names, but it was also it wasn't pronounced anything like how it was spelled.

SPEAKER_02 46:43

Do you remember the team?

SPEAKER_01 46:45

Uh no, I don't. It I really don't.

SPEAKER_02 46:49

Because I'm on NHL.com and I could probably look it up pretty quick.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

Might have been Phoenix. Um but uh Yeah, it was like the 96 or the 97 season, one of those two, because uh Tavaras was gone shortly after that. Uh different GM came in. And so I um I announced it properly, and then he called down and said, No, you have to say it this way. And he basically said it the way it was spelled. And I know, I knew at the time, no, that's so the off-ice official said, Tony says to say it this way. And I said, Well, I'm not gonna, because this is how it's pronounced. He said, You want to call Tony and tell him that? I said, No, I'm just I'm not gonna ask for permission, you know, I'll just ask for forgiveness later. Um it's easier to do it that way. That's the correct way to pronounce it. And uh Okay. So Cody, this is our homework, this is our assignment between you and I, and it's a race somewhat, to see who can come up with that uh name first. I've got to go through the entire roster of those two seasons and see if I could find that guy.

SPEAKER_02 47:53

You said it was a Phoenix Coyote?

SPEAKER_01 47:55

It might have been, and I think it started with a B, his last name, and uh and I think he used to get what year?

SPEAKER_03 48:04

96-97.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

The 96-97 season or the 97-98 season, one of those two. But I you know, when I say homework, I mean I know you're at home, but I mean this is your assignment to talking about was it Nikolai? It was a Canadian Canadian name. Well, I don't know. What do you what were you gonna say? What's the last one?

SPEAKER_02 48:23

Um Kabilbulin?

SPEAKER_01 48:26

Oh, no, that's not who it was. Nikolai.

SPEAKER_03 48:32

I can actually say that one, Cody.

SPEAKER_01 48:33

Hobby Bulin was a goaltender. This guy was a this guy was a goon.

SPEAKER_02 48:39

You said he was Canadian?

SPEAKER_01 48:41

I think he might have been, yeah, because uh but but it it might have been like a Slavic name too. Uh but it was uh I always want to say it was Bogie Bogievich, but that guy was in roller hockey, so uh um Bogievich.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

That's a mouthful. It is Travadoski, Shannonik. Was it Tepo Noumenen? No, it's a B. He said it starts with a B.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

It wasn't a Finnish name. Tepo Numenen is Finnish.

SPEAKER_02 49:14

Sorry. It was it was like a um Jean-Francois Baujamon? No. Jean-Francois Joff? J-O-L-E-H. J. F. Joff?

SPEAKER_01 49:28

J F Joff. No, that wasn't it. It was uh it was gosh. See, this is I'll f I'll figure out what it is and I'll get a hold of you so you can announce it on the next episode.

SPEAKER_02 49:38

You you could text me. You have my number.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

Yeah, yeah, we'll do that.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

It's something you wake up in the middle of the night, oh that's what it is. Yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 49:48

Well, I've been hoping that that would happen, but I've got to do the research now. Now that I've now that I've made it public, I have to back it up. Alright, so I have a little time left for you.

SPEAKER_03 49:58

I got a I I got a question for him. All right.

SPEAKER_01 50:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

What's something that the fans would be surprised to learn about the PA booth?

SPEAKER_01 50:09

About the booth?

SPEAKER_03 50:11

You and the booth.

SPEAKER_01 50:13

Oh, about me or about the booth? Both. Surprised to know.

SPEAKER_03 50:19

Cody wrote this question, so uh I think he's thinking of both. Yeah.

Inside The LED Room Plus Near Death Story

SPEAKER_01 50:23

Yeah. Well, the booth isn't a booth at all. It's uh it's what we call the LED room. And the uh uh assistant uh game day director sits next to me to my left. The game day director sits to her left, uh, and then there are a couple of technical guys uh who sit to to their left who run the uh LED rings and the projection on the ice. Uh that's a nice little feature that we added last season. And then uh behind directly behind me is another guy that handles the house lights. And so it's it's not a booth. I'd like to have a booth, you know. It'd be it'd be nice. I I've identified a couple of places that would make excellent booths in the building, but they're spoken for. Um and so yeah, nothing too exciting there. And if you if you look, um let's see, twenty eight, twenty like four twenty-three, four twenty-four, something like that. If you look directly up, there's a uh uh a green rectangular uh opening up in the rafters, and you'll see you'll see heads in there, and usually there's I have a little light on, so I'm all the way to to one side of that. And then uh Lindsay, the organist, is on the other side of the wall that separates me from the organist uh position. Wow. And so that's I'll work for you tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

Yeah, we're in 413.

SPEAKER_01 51:52

Okay, so you have a straight shot to look straight across, you'll be able to see me. There shouldn't be any thing disrupting your view because you're not we don't have the scoreboard in between us. I mean, you're just on the other side of the Zamboni corner. I'm I'm almost above the Zamboni corner. Uh I'm just a little to the left of it, and then you're directly across. So uh you should be able to see me. Uh but uh th weird stuff about me oh dude, I haven't written that book yet. You know, when I do, I mean I I've had I've had uh probably a dozen near-death experiences.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

Yeah, that's weird. Um you want to know one of them?

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Sure. We'd love to. I mean sorry it happened, but we would love to hear.

SPEAKER_01 52:42

Yeah. Um which is the one I want to tell you. Okay, so I'm uh I I'm I'm like uh six or seven years old, want to say seven, and I'm at the public uh swimming pool uh with my mom. Okay. My mom takes me to the public swimming school, uh swimming pool. I don't know where my uh sister is. Um if I'm six, she's three, so she must have been somewhere. I don't know where. But I was at the pool alone. Uh three pools. There's a diving pool, cold water, uh nine f nine feet deep, something like that, nine to twelve feet deep. I didn't go in there. There's uh also a s a kitty pool where the water is uh uh warm and a different color. And then there's the Olympic pool, which uh starts at about three feet on either end and it's about five and a half feet in the middle. Okay, so I'm six years old, so what am I? Four foot something, maybe. So I decide what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna start at one end of the pool and I'm gonna bunny hop my way all the way across the pool, you know, jump up, go underwater, bend my knees and leapfrog or or you know, rabbit hop, whatever you want to call it, out of the water and then hop all the way across. Okay. So I start doing that. The next thing I know, there's a lifeguard kissing me and a crowd of people standing around.

SPEAKER_03 54:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 54:06

And, you know, I'm laying on the uh on the side of the pool, and uh and apparently I had all almost drowned. Because if you do drown, you're dead. But I I almost drowned. And uh and the lifeguard, back in those days, you didn't have to fill out a bunch of forms and they didn't call child protective services, you know, or anything like that. It was just, you know, life goes on, it's your responsibility, deal with it. So the the crowd was thrilled that I was alive, and I got up and he said, Well, where's your mom? I said, She's over there. So he said, All right, go over, go over to your mom. So I went to my mom who was uh asleep and sunbathing through this entire episode, and I said, Hey mom, I uh I I just drowned. And she said, No, you didn't. Get back in the pool. Oh yeah, she got a good tan and I almost died.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

Sounds like moms would do.

SPEAKER_01 55:10

Yeah, I've got others. Uh that was one of the least uh harrowing ones, but I've got others. I'll do I'll put those in a book one day. Well, you think I should do a podcast, like a one one-off podcast, and uh and and uh uh just ask Phil, whatever you want to ask. Nothing's off limits. Just do a uh like an hour and um and I don't know, maybe I charge a fee for like VIPs who get to ask questions uh face to face audibly, and everybody else has to submit their stuff in writing, and maybe some of those get asked and you can start like a Patreon and then if you're subscribed, then you know.

SPEAKER_02 55:50

I mean, if you're talking, people will listen, Phil.

SPEAKER_01 55:53

You think so? Well, I'm just never mind the uh the the money factor, but uh you you think people would be interested? Because I I've considered doing that just like a one-off and just ask Phil, whatever you want to ask me.

Playoff Hopes And Closing Requests

SPEAKER_02 56:04

Well, I don't know if it's gonna be a one-off. I don't think it's gonna be a one-off, because you're gonna probably have a lot of questions from a lot of people. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 56:12

All right. Well, maybe I'll do it. And uh if it if it flops, I'll blame you, Cody.

SPEAKER_02 56:18

No, blame him. I I usually blame my dad for everything, so blame him.

SPEAKER_03 56:23

Just never they all blame me for everything, is what they do. So it's always I'm I'm I'm the the the sacrificial goat.

SPEAKER_00 56:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

Um but Phil, we appreciate you taking this time to uh talk with us and ask you questions and you're giving amazing answers. Um, is there anything you want to say before we get out of here?

SPEAKER_01 56:47

Uh well, aside from Go Ducks, uh it's been since 2017. Um and the prospect of going to the postseason is exciting. I I mean it's been so long, I've kind of forgotten how it works because we went a lot of seasons in a row for a while there, and it was becoming old old hat, and I was accustomed to it, and things have probably changed. Hey, we had the pandemic in the middle of the last time we went to the playoffs, so things have probably changed a great deal. I don't know what's going to happen. Um I know the league likes um getting involved with the teams the deeper that you get into the playoffs, and so to what degree that's going to happen, if they try to change anything, if they try to bring in uh, you know, a different announcer for the starting lineups or something like that. Um I hope not. Yeah. Well, uh, you know, if they do, there's probably nothing I can do about it. But uh I I will hope that my my organization pushes back on that concept because again, you bring what brung you, and um um and I would expect the fans to be a little put off if something like that happened. So I hope it doesn't, because I like the guy that they usually bring in and he's great. Um and so we'll see what happens, but I don't want to get too far ahead, you know. One game at a time, we gotta follow our uh playbook and uh and as long as we you know work as a team and and uh keep our legs moving, you know, that sort of thing. I I don't want to get too far ahead. And uh I don't even know if we're gonna have home ice advantage. And if we if we do uh games somewhere around April 17, 18, 19, something like that, if we are on the road, it's like twenty-third to twenty-seventh, something like that in that range. So um either way, uh I am beside myself with excitement. I'm giddy like a little girl on Christmas Day. Yeah, if you're allowed to say that anymore. It's like all of that was politically incorrect.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

No, I'm I'm super excited that so we have a chance to we we I mean we're not playing tonight, but we still have a chance to clinch just because of other games or through the games we need to go our way. So but that's a lot of see orange country in the playoffs. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:22

So so the first power play tomorrow, I want an extra JMG power play.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:28

Give me your absolute best one. And I'm gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 59:37

You know, the the audio on this system that you use here will get pegged. Yeah, I'll see.

SPEAKER_03 59:42

Yeah, I want to hear I want to hear it tomorrow for the first power play. And then I know I'm just gonna consider it especially for us.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_03 59:53

Well, maybe my wife and her birthday.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

So people make a lot of weird requests. So maybe I'll say Cody and Gary or Anaheim Ducks, or uh, you know, and that would be awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:03

Hey, I'll tell you what, you know what would be even better for us?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:06

What's that?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:07

Say Vicky.

unknown 1:00:09

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:09

Yeah. We're here for a birthday. Vicki, this is about whatever however you want to do it. I'll let you decide how you want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:17

Okay, in my head now, I say somebody's name uh who's having a birthday. Hey, Vicky, you're in a hymn ducks or on a JMG power play. And then everybody says power play. And then everybody, and then after they say that, they say, Hi, Vicki.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:34

That would be that would be awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:38

Jojo is is helping us get my mom's we're wishing her happy birthday on the Jumbotron tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:44

Jumbotron, by the way, just so you know, Jumbotron is a brand. It's owned by Sony. And the Ducks at Honda Center do not have a Sony product on the scoreboard. So what do we call it? And you might notice I never call it the Jumbotron, I call it the Video Board or the big video screen or something like that. Okay. So you know it's it's not uh it's uh I know the inclination is, you know, Kleenex is the facial tissue and uh, you know, scoreboard screens. Jumbotron is the scoreboard screens, but uh um we we try not to do that because if somebody from Sony was in the building and they've been trying to sell their jumbotron to the building management, and we were calling a non-Sony product a Jumbotron, they might have a draw uh problem with that. So I just thought you'd know. You didn't make a mistake saying it, but I I just as a point of interest, now you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:38

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so Jojo is having a happy birthday message on the video board for my mom tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:45

No, what? Really?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:47

Oh, I heard it the first time.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:49

I was just I was just trying to make it more accurate this time.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:53

Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah, but uh never skin learning, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:58

Yeah. I mean, you learn something new every day, and I did not know that actually. So uh uh Phil, thanks again for hopping on and doing this interview with us. We really appreciate it. Yeah, pleasure. Yeah, uh, and like I said, let's go, Ducks. Happy to have you as our P announcer. You make the game so much more entertaining than the UDR.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:18

I appreciate that. Oh, by the way, is anybody gonna see this?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:22

Everyone it's it's it's gonna go out every podcast platform.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:28

Oh no, and YouTube.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:32

Oh, they're gonna love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:33

Yeah, everyone's gonna love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:34

You were awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:36

Send me the links, I'm happy to promote it.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:38

Yeah, everyone I've told they're like, dude, you got Phil? Like, I was like, Yeah. So everyone's happy there and they can't wait to hear this. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:48

Great. Well, hello, everybody out there, whoever you are.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:53

All right, well, thank you again, Phil. We appreciate it, and uh, thank you to all our Royally Quack fans and especially the Ducks fans for this one. And we'll see you guys next week on Royally Quacked.