Speaker 1:
Are you ready?

Speaker 2:
Let's go!

Speaker 3:
From AMI Central.

Speaker 4:
Now circling in the neutral zone.

Speaker 5:
Here's the pitch on the way.

Speaker 4:
Thirty-six yards for the win.

Speaker 3:
This-

Speaker 6:
Here comes a big chance. The shot.

Speaker 3:
... is-

Speaker 7:
Is this the dagger?

Speaker 3:
... The Neutral Zone.

Speaker 8:
Home run.

Speaker 9:
Good.

Speaker 10:
This is as good as it gets.

Speaker 3:
Now, here's your host, two-time Paralympian, Brock Richardson.

Brock Richardson:
What's going on? It's time for another edition of The Neutral Zone. I am indeed your host, Brock Richardson. And one of my favourite things, outside of the actual show itself to do is to ask my co-host some completely random question that starts the show-off. And I have one of those today. It's taken me a while to come up with one of these questions as it rolls around in my brain for a while, but one came to me today. So, let's introduce those co-hosts for today. First, let's start with Josh Watson. Josh, how are you?

Josh Watson:
I am doing well, Brock. It's a fun weekend of football and hockey games or hockey practice actually on Saturday. So, busy weekend of sports for me. But yeah, looking forward to talking about some more.

Brock Richardson:
Absolutely. And also joining us is Cam Jenkins. Cameron, how are you?

Cam Jenkins:
I'm doing good, Brock. Yeah, my weekend was good or my past week was good. Yeah, just a regular week watching some sports, watching some Netflix and yeah, there's been some good things on Netflix that I've seen lately. I was trying to remember one of them. I can't remember the name of it, but I like a lot of mystery and thriller action. And I was watching one of those this past weekend and it was good. So, if I remember partway through the show what it was, I'll let you know.

Brock Richardson:
You know what, I have started watching House, the entire series of that doctor show, which is very, very good. And we have all the seasons and the whole nine yards and it's been good. So, enjoyed that. But that can only mean one thing. That means my PVR is empty and it needs to refill because when we start watching shows that have been on, that just means our PVR is empty. But I digress. It's fun nonetheless. I told you I was going to ask you a random question and here it comes.

Cam Jenkins:
Dear God.

Brock Richardson:
You can say that louder. It's fine, Cameron.

Cam Jenkins:
Oh, dear God.

Brock Richardson:
All right. So, the random question today is when you do something, do you put something of significance? So, let me give you an example. My email for example is brockrichardson7@hotmail.com. And I'm not asking you both to spell out your emails, but just for the context of this conversation, I'm giving you my scenario and the reason I have the number seven is because it's my favourite number. Are you guys really superstitious? And it's like, "Got to have my lucky number, got to have my lucky," whatever it is in there, or do you care that much? Cameron, start with you.

Cam Jenkins:
Don't care. I've got to do something that I can remember. A lot of the times, whether it's Yahoo or whatever email address it is, and they always suggest something and it's always like zero, one, eight, two, four, seven, six. They always put something like that behind it. I'm like, "No, I'll never remember that." So, yeah, mine is just camjenkins@ and then whatever provider I'm with, and that's easy for me to remember. Because I'm getting close to 50, I'm not going to say how close I am to 50, I've got to do something that I can actually remember. But I don't have a favourite number that has to go into it.

Brock Richardson:
Josh.

Josh Watson:
I am about as far from superstitious as you can get. I think black cats are some of the sweetest cats you can ever meet. I am not afraid to pass under ladders, although I have yet to find one that's actually wide enough for me to do so. So, it's not really a big concern. And I certainly don't worry about throwing salt over my shoulder or breaking glass or any of that stuff because I'm far too clumsy to worry about that stuff. Things break on me all the time. So, no. Oftentimes if there's anything other than my name in my email, it's because whatever provider has just dumped it there. So, if I'm the 932nd Josh Watson to request an email address from somebody, well then that's what's going to go on the end of my email.

Brock Richardson:
Fair enough. And with that, it's time to get into our weekly headlines.

Speaker 1:
Weekly zone headlines.

Cam Jenkins:
Basketball Broadcaster Billy Packer has died at the age of 82. Shelly Adler has more.

Shelly Adler:
Basketball broadcaster who covered 34 Final Fours for NBC and CBS. Packer's son, Mark, told the AP that his father had been hospitalized in Charlotte for the past three weeks and had several medical issues and ultimately succumbed to kidney failure. Packer who played college ball at Wake Forest joined NBC in 1974. He was part of the broadcast in 1979 when Magic Johnson's Michigan State team beat Larry Bird's Indiana State squad in the title game. I'm Shelly Adler.

Josh Watson:
The Canadian Para Nordic ski team recently competed in the Para Nordic World Championships from January 21st to 29th 2023 in Sweden. The team took home seven gold, six silver, and five bronze. Overall, this is a wonderful showing for Team Canada and I certainly am hopeful that there are going to be more medals to come from this very, very talented squad.

Brock Richardson:
And I can tell you that we are working on getting some of those athletes on a future episode of The Neutral Zone. Continuing on in the Para Sports Community, Team Canada men's wheelchair basketball program took to the court against Japan in a six-game series that was held in downtown Toronto at the beautiful Pan Am Center. Team Canada took home wins in all six of its matchups. There was only two or three of them that had a point differential less than five. Congratulations to the men's team as they're getting their reps towards the World Championships in June of 2023.

Cam Jenkins:
It's official, former Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell has signed a three-year deal with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. It's going to be interesting with him being in Hamilton right now. I think that he's going to help make the Hamilton Tiger-Cats a bit better, but he's starting to be an elder statesman and with a three-year contract, it's going to be interesting to see how well he is going to do for the term of his deal.

Josh Watson:
Five women's hockey players will be taking part in the 2023 NHL All-Star skills competition in Sunrise, Florida at FLA Live Arena on February the third. Team Canada's Sarah Nurse, Emily Clark, and Rebecca Johnston will participate along with Hillary Knight and Alex Carpenter of Team USA. The skills competition will feature six events including Fastest Skater, Hardest Shot, Breakaway Challenge, Accuracy Shooting, Splash Shot on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Pitch 'n Puck using hockey or golf on an island green, and Tendy Tandem involving shooting goalies.
I don't know about you, but part of me is curious to see this and part of me could not really care less, as you can tell by the way I'm pronouncing some of those challenges or skills competitions, I don't quite understand exactly what they all are. It will be interesting to see what happens, but overall, I think we're getting a little too gimmicky in the NHL All-Star game for my taste.

Brock Richardson:
Yeah, I agree. I think it's just becoming too much to the point that as you're reading that, I was like, "Did I make a typo or is it Splash Shot?" And then, it was like, no, no, it is actually Splash Shot. So, we'll see how that goes. Those are your headlines for this week. Let's check in on our Twitter poll questions. Let's go back to last week when we asked you. Would you trade Toronto Raptor star, Fred Vanvlet, at the trade deadline? Lots of you voted in this poll. We had over 40 votes this week, so thank you very much. Seventy-eight percent of you said yes and 22% of you said no.
This week's Twitter poll question. Let's start there. Are you happy with this year's Super Bowl matchup between Kansas City and Philadelphia? Your options are simple, yes or no. You may cast your votes at our Twitter handles coming at you right now.

Speaker 3:
And welcome back to The Neutral Zone AMI broadcast booth, and we are set to get this ballgame underway. The first pitch brought to you by Brock Richardson's Twitter account @NeutralZoneBR. First pitch, strike, and hey gang, why not strike up a Twitter chat with Claire Buchanan for The Neutral Zone. Find her @NeutralZoneCB. And there's a swing and a chopper out to second base right at Claire. She picks up the ball, throws it over to first base, for a routine out. And fans, there is nothing routine about connecting with Cam and Josh from The Neutral Zone, @NeutralZoneCamJ and @JWatson200. Now that's a winning combination.
And this Oregon interlude is brought to you by AMI-audio on Twitter. Get in touch with The Neutral Zone, Type in @AmiAudio.

Brock Richardson:
The 2023 Parasport Games are taking place from February 3rd to 5th in Durham, Ontario. Joining us now to talk more about the event is James Titmarsh and Don Terry who are both part of the organizing committee. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. It's a pleasure to have you.

Don Terry:
Thank you very much for the opportunity.

James Titmarsh:
Pleasure to be here.

Cam Jenkins:
This question is a two-parter. So, Don, maybe we can start with you and can you maybe talk about the history of these games and how you become involved with them?

Don Terry:
Well, the games have been around for a little while. They're operated by the Ministry of the Tourism, Culture and Sport. And we actually hosted these games back in 2019. And so, this is our second time hosting the games and it's just a really exciting opportunity for our community to demonstrate our value and celebrate inclusion and accessibility and just grow opportunities for people to participate in sport.

Cam Jenkins:
And, James, can you maybe talk about how you became involved in these games?

James Titmarsh:
Yeah, of course. My involvement started actually back in 2019. I was a sport manager for sledge jockey when Durham hosted the first set of games. And I really enjoyed my time in running the event, running sledge jockey that in 2023, they asked me to join on as the sport technical chair, which helps oversees all the sports for these set of games and I was more than happy to jump on.

Josh Watson:
And so, James, my question is going to be for you. How many events will be held at the games and can you tell us a little bit about what they are?

James Titmarsh:
Yeah, of course. So, we actually have 11 sports participating this round and we have four demo sports. And I'll actually let Don after this talk a little bit about the demo sports because he has a close bit with a couple of them. But the sports that we have range from Para Alpine and Nordic skiing. We have sledge hockey, we have wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, boccia, and a whole lot more. And we're really excited. Sledge jockey starts actually first on Friday just prior to the opening ceremonies, while all the other sports will actually spread across the two days on Saturday and Sunday. So, it's a jam-packed weekend, but we're really excited

Cam Jenkins:
Don, these games, they're mimicked after the Paralympics. Why do you think it is important for it to be the feel of these games?

Don Terry:
These games are so important because we all appreciate, I think how much sport can impact and better people's lives. And so, these games are really an opportunity to grow participation, to celebrate the people who are participating. And that's something that we certainly do here in the Durham region. We want to see more and more people participate in the sport because we've seen the impact in our own community of people whose lives have been dramatically improved because they've got the opportunity to participate in sport and they feel included.

Josh Watson:
That's great. I have another question for James. Is there any cost associated with attending the games if someone wants to come out and check out the events?

James Titmarsh:
No, that's the best part is all of our events are actually free to attend and we are hoping for the athletes and for the teams that are involved that the more spectators we have out, the more atmosphere and more feeling we have towards the games will help better promote for the athletes and will give them that big game feel where when you have a jam-packed gym or a full ice hockey rink, that gives them the extra motivation and the extra pride of competing in these types of games.

Cam Jenkins:
Don, I know there's a lot of interest in these games. Can you maybe let our audience know? Is there going to be any live streaming that are unable to see it or maybe outside of Ontario?

Don Terry:
Actually, we're very fortunate that some of the programming from AMI is actually coming out and live streaming some of the sporting events on Friday morning, they'll be live streaming the sledge hockey match and we have some other organizations come out and live stream. So, if you want more information on that, I really encourage you to follow us on Sport Durham on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and we'll post all those details there because we really want as many people as possible to be able to see these events and the athletes.

Josh Watson:
That sounds really great. And one last question for you, James. Where can people go to learn more information about the games?

James Titmarsh:
Yeah, just to top you up what Don just said, to learn more, we hope you to go to our website, DurhamRegion2023.CA. We'll have the sports schedules there and the list of times for all the available events and also on our social media platforms. So, we have Sport Durham on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. So, it's Sport Durham.

Brock Richardson:
Awesome. I have to say that competing as an athlete for a number of years that I did, one of my favourite events in Ontario to do was the Parasport games and that's because of the feel that it's tried to get and tried to be a part of. And so, I want to thank both of you for keeping that together and wish you all the best and successful games. And I'm glad we could promote this here on The Neutral Zone.

James Titmarsh:
Thank you so much, everyone. We really appreciate it. We hope to see everyone.

Don Terry:
Yeah, really appreciate the opportunity again and hopefully, maybe we'll see you out at the games on the weekend and if so, let me know so we can say hello.

Brock Richardson:
Absolutely, we will do that. That was Don Terry and James Titmarsh who are part of the organizing committee for the 2023 Parasport games happening in Durham. If you like what you heard, here's how you can get ahold of us by voicemail.

Speaker 3:
If you want to leave a message for The Neutral Zone, call now 1-866-509-4545. And don't forget to give us permission to use your message on the air. Let's get ready to leave a voicemail.

Brock Richardson:
As we often say on this program, we always have so much to cover week in and week out and that is the case and we always leave things on the table. And we did this last week intentionally because we just knew that it would be a deep conversation in which we're about to delve into. And to join us on this conversation is the final member of our panel and that is Claire Buchanan. Claire, hello, how are you?

Claire Buchanan:
[inaudible 00:18:04]

Brock Richardson:
That's okay. You'll join the club. I seem to have woken up this morning with this whole like, oh, my throat decided to not be 100% wonderful, and join the club in that regard. But we're going to get into a really interesting conversation and I want to preface, and it's been noted before, but I want to just preface it before we get into this conversation that Claire Buchanan, our very own, is part of the LGBTQ Plus two community. And we would only have this conversation with having the appropriate representation on the panel.
So, with that, I will tell you that on one of our headlines last week, we told you that Ivan Provorov did not take a pregame skate, which was involved in their pride night and they were going to use warmup jerseys. And he didn't do this because he cited this would go against his religious beliefs. So, starting with Claire, what's your first reaction when you heard this, saw this, however you want to look at it?

Claire Buchanan:
[inaudible 00:19:36] like we're having right here. The only way to grow and learn [inaudible 00:20:21] is to hear from people that have similar lived experience. So, having conversation with people from the community [inaudible 00:20:36]

Brock Richardson:
Let's go with Cameron next.

Cam Jenkins:
I was really disappointed in Provorov for not participating in this. I think it's a cop-out to blame it on religion because last time I checked, at least for my faith, it's to love thy neighbour, love other people. So, I thought it was quite disgusting of him to say that it was against his religious beliefs because I don't know a religion where it says to hate other people. So, that was really disappointing when it came to that. I think that it is part of his contract, or it stipulates something along the lines that if you are to be included or you were to represent the hockey club and what they do as far as outside of hockey for fundraisers and different things.
It's just overall disappointing because to me, from what I understand, the pride flag just is a matter of inclusivity and it's for everyone to love one another, for minorities to be included. And it's just all about inclusion, being included. And it doesn't even necessarily represent the LGBTQ-plus community. The flag just stands for everybody to be included, whether you're a minority, have a disability or LQBTQ-plus or a different nationality. That's what my understanding what the pride flag is also about.
Yeah. And then, with the New York Rangers, they were supposed to and they totally took it away and nobody ended up wearing the pride jerseys for a warmup. I don't know, it is just really unfortunate that when you are trying to include everybody and the NHL says everybody can play, can they really? Because you can't even do a pride night or get everyone to wear that jersey.

Josh Watson:
First and foremost, I don't understand why someone feels the need not to participate in something as simple as a pre-game skate wearing a particular jersey. Much like Cameron mentioned, I've not seen in the Bible that my religion happens to follow where it says anything other than love thy neighbour as you love thyself. I try very hard and I hope I've been successful in treating everyone the same, treating everyone equally because that's what humanity deserves. We all deserve to be treated equally. I understand that different players on a team, in a league are going to have different views. I suppose we have to respect that in some ways.
But at the same time, I have trouble believing that this was religious belief at the end of the day. To me, it's a jersey, it's a sign that this is a safe space and anyone can play and that should be the message. It shouldn't have to become political, it shouldn't have to become a religious discussion.

Brock Richardson:
And I'm going to go back to something Cameron said because I think it's a point, and I'm going to jump off of that and go back around the circle. Here's the thing, I think citing religious beliefs is the easy answer. That's the answer that you can say, "Well, this is what I believe." That's the easy answer. I also will say that I'm not sure that it's fair to put the religion as the reason. If you have your own personal beliefs and they align with the religion that you are following, that's fine. But I always think there's ways you can look at something and you can see it different ways.
And I think the easy answer to this is, "Well, it's my religion and that's it." I don't think that's fair. I think as I pointed out, that's the easy answer. Last time, and I'm literally Googling on the fly as we do this because I wanted to be sure. But yes, the NHL does say everyone can play, we're inclusive. That's what they stand by.
So, going back to Cameron's point, Claire, were you surprised or have you been surprised at the fact that the NHL hasn't stepped in and done something now with the New York Rangers following suit and saying, "We're just going to pull the whole plug?"

Claire Buchanan:
Yes. [inaudible 00:26:34]

Brock Richardson:
Yeah, Cameron, you're the one that brought that point up about the New York Rangers. So, I'm going to let you further the comment.

Cam Jenkins:
Yeah. To say that a person's young and 26, come on, for me, that's not too young and he doesn't agree with probably the LGBTQ plus and what they do. And it's really unfortunate. And for people like that, I hope you end up having a brother or a sister, a good friend, a cousin, some family member that is that way. Then are you going to change your opinion? Because a lot of times, people don't change their opinions until somebody close to them has a disability or is part of the LGBTQ community or whatever the case is.
And then, for some magical reason, they start to understand and then they're like, "Oh, okay, yeah, I'm okay with it." But that's only because I have somebody within my circle of family or friends. That's a part. I don't know, man, it just really bugs me. And I'm saying this because I'm a minority of a person with a disability as we all are. And I hate it when people judge me to say, "Oh, you have a disability or you're not tall enough," or whatever the case is. That really bothers me and I don't want anyone else to feel that way. So, why the H-E double hockey sticks would I judge a person if they're part of the LGBTQ-plus community?
And for the Rangers, they just did away with the jerseys. I still think they had a pride night, but they didn't do the jerseys. So, what does that show about inclusivity? They're not showing it by not... and what if one of their teammates is there? They always talk about going to war with their teammates, and are you really going to go to war with a teammate if they're part of the LGBTQ-plus community? It upsets me so much that people judge other people just because of their sexual orientation or their disability.
I hate to be a commercial for, what was that, the Coke song. I like to give the world a Coke and live in harmony. But that's what I want. And I know that I live in a Disney World, but that's what I want and that's what I'm going to keep sitting on my soapbox and doing is to get everybody to be included no matter what your minority is.

Josh Watson:
Yeah. It's a very interesting conversation I think because on the one hand, you've got the NHL saying players are free to decide which initiatives to support, but on the other side, you claim that your hockey is for everyone and yet when push comes to shove, did you really try to make that happen? It really doesn't seem like it to me. And I think-

Cam Jenkins:
No, especially the Rangers because they promoted it beforehand that they were going to do this and there was a last-minute decision not to. Get your head out of your, you know what. And if you're going to say you're going to do it, then do it. Or at least talk to the players beforehand to be able to say, "Okay, no, the players don't." So, don't even promote it in the first place because then the media is going to come down on you. Sorry to interrupt.

Claire Buchanan:
[inaudible 00:31:32]

Josh Watson:
They have such a way of making change because of that platform. Yes, Provorov is using his religious beliefs as his reasoning, but I think we also have to bear in mind where he's from and the society that he comes out of, because I think that has a lot to do with this as well. And I think if he was aware of how many people are part of this community, then I think he might change his tune.

Claire Buchanan:
[inaudible 00:32:36]

Brock Richardson:
I want to also put out here because as you guys were having the conversation, I don't often look at the forum that we use. I don't look at all of you. I usually look at scripts and I'm watching all of your facial reactions as everyone's talking. And you can see that Cameron wants to explode over there. You can literally see that he wants to explode and it's okay, Cameron. This is why we're having this conversation. But growing up, whenever I always got a job, it was always... and even now with my mentors in the radio business, it's always investigate your job, investigate your job.
And I'm going to take out Ivan here. I'm just going to ask this as a broader question. Have we missed the boat on checking our job and fact-checking the job versus looking at, "Oh, I could make X amount of dollars and I'll just sign this down here. And when it comes up in the moment, then at that point, I will bite, if you will. I will be the outlier, be the difference maker." Have we lost in this moment that thought of, do your homework, do your investigation? Cameron, then Josh, then Claire.

Cam Jenkins:
Yeah. Rogers is the big thing in Ontario for cell phones. And when you sign a new contract for that, that's like EPG. There's no way in, that I check that contract or read it word for word. But this comes down to, like just accepting somebody for who they are. To me, it's not a contract, it's just a human being and accepting another human being for who they are, and the heck with the contract. So, to me, this is just a human being, being a certain way and growing up in an environment where they thought it was wrong to be part of the LGBTQ plus. I can't think of the words. I'm getting so frustrated here, but-

Brock Richardson:
Community.

Cam Jenkins:
Community, thank you. And it's just so frustrating. I think in every family, there is some minority in it that has seen some hardship. And when you look at it that way, whether they're disabled or LGBTQ plus or of a different religion, everybody has had that feeling of, "Oh, I'm not good enough or oh, I'm being treated as a minority here. And that's wrong because I'm just as good as everybody else." And I think Provorov needs to be taught that. Give me his number. I'll give him a call and I'll say, "Hey, do you have any minorities or have you ever felt like a minority before?" Oh, yeah, I have. How does that make you feel? Da, da, da. And who do you think you really are?
Oh, well, I'm the cat's meow. I'm just as good as anybody else. Well, then why isn't the LGBTQ-plus community just as good as anybody else? Because they darn well are. Disabled people, they're just as good as anybody else. Period. End of story. We're all equals. And like I have said in my school board, yearbook or I think it's on my Facebook profile, everybody has challenges. It's just that some of them are more noticeable than others.

Josh Watson:
Yeah, I think in this case, getting back to Brock's question, I think what we're talking about is Provorov understanding what you're getting into and the fact that you're going to be asked to be part of these promotional nights. And so, if you don't share those beliefs, it's important that you speak up and not say so the night of, and at the end of it all, basically. I've never worked in a company that doesn't put their corporate beliefs upfront. And the basic understanding is that if you're going to be part of this, you have to follow along with this. And in our day and age, we are, I hope at least publicly, trying to be more inclusive among all groups. So, I think that's the one of the biggest frustrations.
The other one, which I don't think we've touched on, and I'm sure, Brock, I'm probably taking the question right out of your mouth here, is he didn't participate in the pre-game skate wearing the jersey, but then he was allowed to play 20 some minutes of ice time during the game. What message does that send to people? I think that is a whole other ball of wax that we haven't even gotten to yet.

Brock Richardson:
Yeah, because that's the... and you did, you took it right out of my mouth. And that's fine, but to me, if you're not going to stand by the... and Claire, I'm going to let you wait in just a second, but if you're not going to stand by the belief because of the action they did of wearing the jersey, the tape, all of those things, then why are you participating in the evening? Because last I checked, the whole thing was the evening and the outlier was we're wearing the jersey, we're doing the tape, but the whole night was celebrating pride in what it stands for. Claire.

Claire Buchanan:
[inaudible 00:39:44]

Cam Jenkins:
And with Provorov, if he didn't want to take part in the skate and wear the jersey because it's against his religious beliefs, I believe you've maybe said in different words, but why not excuse yourself from that whole game and that whole day?

Brock Richardson:
That's what I'm asking.

Cam Jenkins:
Because if their beliefs are that strong that they don't believe in that, well then say you can't play in the game tonight and you never did.

Brock Richardson:
No.

Cam Jenkins:
Because, of course, he wants to play and he wants to win.

Josh Watson:
He also wants the paycheck. Let's not kid ourselves.

Cam Jenkins:
Yeah, for sure. So, if you want to stand on your beliefs or stand by your beliefs, well, do it for the whole entire thing, not just the warmup skate where you just go for a little dipsy doodle around. And that's all you do for the pre-game warmup. Take the entire night off. But no, he's not going to do that because he wants to help his team win.

Brock Richardson:
I think what you're trying to say is-

Cam Jenkins:
[inaudible 00:42:05]

Brock Richardson:
Your beliefs are only going to a certain point, your beliefs have a beginning and an end. It's not a complete story. I didn't say the end, well, I did say the end as... but I didn't mean the end of the story is done because you are right. He did choose to play in the game. I think a lot of what happened here-

Cam Jenkins:
He could choose what he wanted to do that benefited him. And that's what most people do. They do what benefits them.

Brock Richardson:
I think a lot of the point that even Josh so eloquently, quietly put in with his microphone was yeah, he wants the paycheck and I think that's the basis of it. But the thing is, I don't want you getting your paycheck just because-

Cam Jenkins:
People get fined or you're not playing this game because you're five minutes late to a practice or you slept in.

Claire Buchanan:
[inaudible 00:43:12]

Cam Jenkins:
Well, I read online that it is a very touchy subject in regards to-

Brock Richardson:
No kidding.

Cam Jenkins:
Well, no, it's a touchy subject on whether or not you can participate in these things or if you can be fined and so on and so forth. It's ridiculous because if you're five minutes late for a practice, you end up not being able to play or if you sleep in and you're late for practice. But there's other ridiculous things too. Somebody gets a crosscheck on the back and they get fined $5000. The players-

Brock Richardson:
Plus a game suspension or whatever.

Cam Jenkins:
Well, not necessarily. Sometimes you don't even get that. Sometimes you get $5000.

Brock Richardson:
Maybe.

Cam Jenkins:
But if you talk bad to the referees, you get a $25,000 fine. Where is the equity or fairness there? And that's a totally different subject for a different day. But yeah, the NHL, they just seem to be, with their rules and regulations, to be so up and down compared to a lot of the other leagues or it seems that way. But maybe it's just because I'm pretty riled up right now and I can't see the forest through the trees.

Claire Buchanan:
[inaudible 00:44:45]

Cam Jenkins:
Can't do that. Yeah, with Provorov, he just said, "Oh, it's due to religious beliefs." He did not go on a tirade like Kyrie did. So, I think there's a bit of a difference when it comes to that, but I still don't understand it. Fine him, suspend him one game or whatever because you didn't do what you were supposed to do as far as to put on a pride jersey. And it'll be a bit different, I think, conversation if he ended up taking the entire night off, but he didn't. So, he just pick and choose what was best for him.

Brock Richardson:
Two things I want to get to here before Mark tells me we're out of time, and the first one is when you buy a ticket, and I'm taking a poll of three plus myself, when you buy a ticket, are you well aware of what you're going to, what night it is you're going to, what you're doing? All I want is a yes or no answer from all of you. And then, I'll carry on. Cameron, are you aware of what's going on in the arena or the venue when you go?

Cam Jenkins:
When I go?

Brock Richardson:
As in, are you aware of the promotion that's going on when you go to a game?

Cam Jenkins:
Depends how many chocolate milks I've had.

Brock Richardson:
Fair. But for the most part, are you aware of what's taking place?

Cam Jenkins:
Yeah, I can see the cannons go and the different things going on. Yeah. I think I am aware of what's going on and what night it is.

Brock Richardson:
Claire, are you aware of what's going on when you enter into an arena?

Claire Buchanan:
[inaudible 00:47:03]

Brock Richardson:
Josh, are you aware?

Josh Watson:
Absolutely. The Blue Jays have theme nights all the time. They have country night, they have pride night. They have Star Wars night. They have bring your dog to the ballpark night. And bobblehead.

Cam Jenkins:
They have bobbleheads.

Josh Watson:
Exactly.

Cam Jenkins:
Everyone knows when it's a bobblehead.

Josh Watson:
Exactly. They will line up for them.

Cam Jenkins:
Whether it's the Jays or anybody up.

Brock Richardson:
Okay. So, to my point then, you would have to... and this is just a poll of three of you plus myself because I agree, but to that point, that means that every paying customer was aware of what was going on or should have been aware of what was going on at the venue. That's it. And if they were not comfortable with what their beliefs were then, they would not have attended. Same thing can be said for Provorov. However, I will double down and I'll say, "Yeah, but, Provorov, you knew the schedule before the rest of the world knew the schedule because I'm sure that you get the schedule before everybody else in the world does."
Claire, we're running up against time, but I just want to get your feeling. You have competed in sports basically all your life. Can you touch just briefly on what it's like being part of such community and sometimes the challenges that go along with it? And I'm sorry, I'm leaving you with two minutes to do this.

Claire Buchanan:
[inaudible 00:49:01]

Brock Richardson:
We have done this program in different variations for six years, and I'm going to get slightly emotional over the next minute and a half because I'm going to tell you, we have not all agreed on something. We have creative differences. We collaborate week to week, we do this. But the one thing I can tell you is that we all love each other. We all support everything each other does. And I'll be honest with you, when I found Claire and needed Claire to be a part of this panel, the last of my concerns and the last of the rest of the panels was what community she was a part of. Because Claire has knowledge, Claire knows what's going on in the world.
Claire knows what's going on in Parasports, Pro sports, even if she didn't like baseball at the beginning, she's learned and her orientation means zero, not a thing to us. And so, as professionals, we do have to learn at times that we need to love our neighbours and love the ones that we choose to be friends with. Do we like every decision they make? No. But at the end of the day, we love them all.
That is the end of our show for this week. I would like to thank Josh Watson, Claire Buchanan, Cam Jenkins. I'd also like to thank technical producer, Marc Aflalo, podcast coordinator is Ryan Delehanty. Tune in next week because you just never know what happens when you enter The Neutral Zone. Take care and be safe.