00:07 - Speaker 2
welcome to episode number 51 of circles off. I'm rob pazola, joined by johnny from betstamp. How's it going? 

00:16 - Speaker 1
I'm very good. Uh, ontario is live. Sports betting is here in a regulated way. A lot of nice bonuses, a lot of nice opening week stuff here and we are ready to make some money, that's for sure. But, rob, more importantly, you were at the event of the year, from what I hear, bet Bash 2, presented by Spanky in Las Vegas. We got to recap it, we got to hear about it. How was it? Unfortunately, for those who are listening right now and watching, I was unable to attend, stayed back in Ontario for the launch of legal sports betting, but Rob went represent BetStamp repping the boys and I'd love to hear some stories For those on air. I have yet to hear any of the great stories from Rob. So anything here will be kind of a live reaction and we're happy to hear about it. 

01:05 - Speaker 2
I've avoided talking about bet bash for the entire day. We're recording at five o'clock eastern time right now, end of the day, so this is the first time, for sure. Uh, I will say, um, this is going to be as honest and transparent as possible. Obviously I would call spanky a friend of mine. He organized the event and I think he did a great job. 

01:28
My expectations were sadly a little bit low going in. I didn't know what to expect, right, but from dealing with Spanky in the course of the month leading up to the event, it sounded like he was pretty stressed out. But it ended up being really organized. I thought the amount of people, the size of the event, was almost perfect. There was enough new faces you would see regularly and talk to, but also not overwhelmingly too many people where he felt crowded or whatever. The actual events themselves were good. The venue was great. It was my first time at Cir at circa, which is a hell of a sports book, nice book man, like if I, if I lived in vegas, I'd probably spend a lot of time. 

02:13
I know you don't love the sportsbook experience. I do. I like to just go sit down and watch games and sweat them out and whatever. So I guess that doesn't make me a winning better in some people's eyes, the fact that I sweat games. But, um, I thought it was a great event, man. I really did Like. I come back and I'm trying to think of what I would have done differently in order to, you know, make it better. I don't know that I could possibly provide that type of feedback. I just I thought it was like an A plus really. Well, amazing, you know, I'm excited was like an A plus really. 

02:44 - Speaker 1
Well, amazing. You know I'm excited to head out there next year. I was. I was at the first one but obviously couldn't make it. My apologies on air to Spanky himself for not attending his event. I'll make sure I get out there next time, but glad to hear it was good. The only story I did hear which was because it was absolutely hilarious was that our dear, our dear friend grp wins was escorted out of bet bash um for by security for some reason. So that's the one we got it. We got it here first. What happened there? 

03:15 - Speaker 2
that would have been, um, the. So I flew into vegas on thursday I believe that that would have been a Saturday event which was like when all the panels were happening. I'm pretty sure that that's where it happened. I remember GRP wins strolling right by me, like walked, because I was right at the back of the room standing. Most people were sitting watching these panels. I like to just stand at the back of the room, scope things out. 

03:40
Grp wins walks by me For some reason. The first thing he does is head right over to the table of the lunch table, which is chili dogs that day, and he's snapping pictures. And um, fats, who I got introduced to this week great dude, by the way, like really, really good dude he just like caught grp wins out of the corner of his eye and just like wheeled right over there directly at him and just like shaking his head. Really brief conversation. Security came over and, uh, escorted him out of the building fairly quickly. Um he, he was in and out. Really, it was like a matter of a minute and he was gonzo, or a few minutes, I should say. I also did notice grp wins at at Circa for the national championship game, but he wasn't in the bet stamp area. Sorry, bet stamp the bet bash area. 

04:36 - Speaker 1
He was behind the ropes and just kind of scoping it out. So we had one guy sneak in, no ticket. He was basically escorted out real quick. So that's good to hear Spanky's running a tight, tight shot basically escorted out real quick. 

04:46 - Speaker 2
So that's good to hear. Spankies are in a tight, tight shot. And then, after everybody sits down, you kind of just like the rest of us, go to our table so people see you so you don't get to pick, you don't really? 

04:54
yeah, now, like some people did, like they would they just go up to somebody and be like, hey, what table are you at, I want to be at your table and whatever. And they figured that out beforehand. But so I had a pretty random variety of people at my table. One of them I can't remember his name, I apologize I had three people from Hoboken, new Jersey, at my table. That all don't know each other. It was a really small world. They were talking, but one of the guys was like. 

05:22
I listened to this episode of Circles Off where Johnny talked about building the f1 car. He's like I would guarantee, not only can he not build it in six months, he cannot build it in his life. And I'm like, okay, tell me more. And he's like I used to work in a garage for like it was like some offshoot of nascar or something like that, and he's got. He's like the amount of different skills you need from team members in the garage, whether that's like welding or whatever, so on and so forth get all the parts, though there's no welding the parts are there. 

05:56 - Speaker 3
You have to build it from scratch, but, johnny, the pieces still have to go together, exactly you don't have to weld them, they come together. 

06:03 - Speaker 2
You don't see a guy under welding mid-race, they just pop on apart yeah, but they put maybe maybe you drill, maybe you need a drill maybe all right, but he continued on further and talked about how difficult it is to balance the car and that it always takes multiple team members, and then basically I said to him I can't remember his name. 

06:26
Wish I remember his name terrible with names, but I was basically and this is why it sounds made up, but I guarantee you this person will reach out to us and like on twitter or something good, I'm 100% sure that they will and he's just like if I couldn't build an f1 car myself and I've been a mechanic in a garage for you know certain portion of my life building race cars, so I don't, I listen, I know you when you put your mind to something In your life is like a. 

06:55 - Speaker 1
That one I just would never agree with Because, like I said, I can just go to school and get this If I had a full lifetime, it's not even a question. 

07:11 - Speaker 2
I think his argument was that no one could put together an f1 car entirely on their own technology maybe what do you think you're gonna build a? Robot that helps you. 

07:14 - Speaker 3
Okay, here's one thing that I even just thought about right now what happens if just one piece this is too heavy? 

07:23 - Speaker 1
yeah, oh, what happens if a piece is too heavy? Obviously it's gonna be pieces that are too heavy. You ever heard of a jack? 

07:29 - Speaker 3
yeah, you've heard of it, but you still technology solo, still have to precisely place that yeah, you're gonna have to put the wheels on the car. 

07:39 - Speaker 2
They weigh 50 pounds. 

07:40 - Speaker 1
I know what you lift I'm not saying it's going I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but it could be done. Anyways, that was actually one of the highlights of my trip, because obviously, while you were gone, we ordered six new office chairs for the office and there were six people left here and they got delivered. There were six boxes sitting right there. 

08:03 - Speaker 2
Are they the ones still sitting at the front door right now? 

08:05 - Speaker 1
No, no, those are. 

08:07
Those are the empty boxes okay, the chairs are built yeah, let me give you a quick recap of what happened here. We did a little friendly competition in the office. You know I was trying to motivate the guys and also we needed those chairs built. So basically the brains here which is going to be the same brains that are going to go into this f1 car. I said listen guys, real quick. Everyone has to build one chair. When you're done you have to sit on the chair to support your weight. It has to be completed. Done. Then you clean up your workstation, put everything back in the box and move it to the side. Last two people to finish pay the first two people to finish 20 bucks. They're like what? What I'm like go, we all ran, grab the chairs, went quick, built them and who finished first? 

08:50 - Speaker 3
zach okay, I did, because you didn't put the buttons in the back of the chair I didn't which, what would have happened? If you didn't put an integral little piece on that f1 car, johnny I finished first for this chair. 

09:03 - Speaker 1
Build now again you know we did this is one chair, and I'm not going to compare this chair to an f1 car, but what I am simply saying is this chair was built probably about six minutes. Second place was actually zach himself, which was an additional, probably three and a half minutes later than me no, whoa whoa also I I want to. 

09:23
I just want to say something I didn't put the plugs in the back. There was no. I didn't put the little plugs to hide the screw covers in the back until notified after. That's a quick second job One, two, three, four. 

09:33 - Speaker 2
Who else was a part of this in the office? Just name the names Leach Packer, leach Packer, okay, okay cp, cp and um luke. Okay, so combined those guys. Leach has not built a chair before actually went for a d a dnf, of course I this is what I'm saying, though, but, like when we first got the, they're the office chairs we're sitting in right now, correct? 

09:58 - Speaker 1
uh, they're, they're just black and they're very similar. 

10:00 - Speaker 2
Yeah, slightly different, slightly different but you had built different brand but very similar. You had built most of the office chairs when we first Got them in. No, I actually never built a single one I want. Well, not, maybe not. I was gonna say I had watched you building them struggling. I would have figured that you would have learned from the. I believe you put one of the backs on Like the wrong way that wasn't me. Somebody did. I sat in one chair. That was Josh. 

10:27 - Speaker 1
All right. Anyways, all this to be said is this yeah, maybe you know the f1 car. I'm six, I'm saying six months, I'm sticking by it. It might be a little ambitious, however six months for that car. I built a chair, six minutes done. Great comparison, alan key to imagine I had a drill tools technology. Oh my goodness, all right anyways, but that's that's. That's actually funny that that that guy was at your table and he brought that up. Any other uh circles off listeners tons. 

10:54 - Speaker 2
Like, honestly, I'm glad I I I'm not I'm not even exaggerating again, trying to stay humble here and like, just be real, more people just recognized my voice, which was very weird. Okay, because I obviously I've done like media in canada before. If I go to like a local casino, if I go to niagara falls and I go to falls view, or if I go to woodbine, people come up to me all the time because they're used to me from back in the day. Um, and even then I do the NFL Periscope on Sundays. A lot of people recognize that, but a lot of times DFS darts yeah, dfs darts at the end, but a lot, you know, this is the only thing that we for a while did audio only. 

11:36
Or I did audio only, but I'd be talking with someone and then we'd have a conversation. They'd leave and someone would come up to me and be like, hey, man, I recognize your voice, you're Rob Pizzola. I'd be like, yeah, like you recognize my voice. You're like, yeah, I listened to the podcast or whatever. I'm like, start watching the podcast and we can get some more youtube subscribers. Like, oh, yeah, you know you forgot about that, whatever, but um, a lot of that happened, a lot like it literally happened double digit times, where someone came up to me and said I just heard your voice, I know that voice, or you know they, they, they knew exactly who I was right away. 

12:06
So let's see how many subscriptions are at right now yeah, so I'm at 514 subs yeah, we got up, we're moving up our viewership is is 90 audio only right now oh, I know, the video is the video for full length podcast is is tough. 

12:20 - Speaker 1
However, we're growing this uh, it's um. 

12:23 - Speaker 2
You know, what was it really interesting to me about? The whole thing, too is kind of I don't think we've ever shared this on air before, but, like me and Johnny had been working on a podcast like ideas for a long time and Johnny actually pitched it to me in the first place with like a PowerPoint deck, as he's apt to do of like this is what other people are doing in the space. We need to find like some carve out some sort of niche, so on and so forth. We went back and forth talking about topics and and whatever and how we were going to evolve this, but we kind of wanted to make it like something that is for all betters right, like anyone can listen to it and gain some sort of value out of it. And for me, what was great is that it's like kind of mission accomplished, because I had people who were like literally some of the best bettors in the world would come up and be like it's a great podcast, don't necessarily learn anything from it, but it's like a great listen. 

13:15
I love hearing you guys break things down, love the interviews. I had people who were there at Bet Bash, who were just recreational bettors and literally just wanted to meet people where they're. Like you know, I literally went from being a losing better to a winning better just by listening to this podcast. So, um, I will give myself the barry horowitz pat on the back, but, um, the hard work has paid off well, I'll tell you. 

13:37 - Speaker 1
I'll tell you one thing right now is I don't necessarily think the podcast is for everyone right now. 

13:41 - Speaker 2
It's for everyone who bets, for sure true but um which was sort of the goal to start. 

13:46 - Speaker 1
Yeah, but right now we are like if you don't bet on sports, you don't know what sports betting is, you don't know what odds are, how to calculate anything like, you don't even know what minus 110 is, that it's 110, 100, then the podcast is honestly not for you and we're hoping to potentially find other ways to fix this. Um, you know, maybe launch a subset or something on youtube, but uh, yeah, currently I'd say that pretty much no value for someone who doesn't know how to calculate odds, anything like that, because they do need to take that step before they can, kind of right, get into everything. So how are the panels? Uh, who is up there? 

14:17
I saw, you know, we had alan boston on there he was in, uh, shorts and a shirt, and then he was right beside a couple guys in suits. I was like well, that's sums it up, I guess alan boston is a very interesting character. 

14:32 - Speaker 2
I didn't talk to him um over the course of the weekend, um most most of the time, to be honest with you, he was like one of the most coveted people for like just one-on-one time, like anytime I was about to approach him, someone else was there. Like I could see why he's a character like my first, the first night I was there, thursday um, I went to. I went to an event that roxy roxborough hosted, which was fantastic. But after we left that event, um, spanky's like let's go up to the d ballroom. I'm like what's there? This is a true story. He's like, uh, allen Boston is there's like some sort of movie. I can't remember what the movie is called. I haven't seen it before. Uh, it's like I said I'm horrible at remembering things, so it's kind of slipped my mind. Now he's like we'll go catch the tail end of this movie and then giving a review of it afterwards. Um, so, on the way up to the d ballroom, I'm like let's make a bet on how many people are in this auditorium right now. And spanky's like okay, you set a line, I'll make a bet for drinks. I'm like, no, no, you set the line, I'll make a bet. He said 49 and a half. I said under for total people, for total people in the ballroom slowly opened the door and, just like we were counting from outside, there's 42. So I won the bet. But anyways, I walked in where I'm watching the end of this movie, with no context. By the way, last 10 minutes seemed like a movie that I might enjoy, but it had zero context to what was happening. Couldn't figure it out. Um movie ended. People are clapping. So alan boston goes up to the screen to give his review and he's just up there and he pulls out these notes he has and he's looking at them and he just like crumples it up and just throws it. He's like screw these notes or whatever. I'm just going to tell you what I think about this movie and whatever. And it was actually pretty interesting to listen to him. He gave like a lot of background about the movie, like historical facts. This person died in filming and wasn't supposed to actually be on there, you know. So, whatever, I'm listening to him talk, I'm like okay, I can see why. Like this guy's a character. He was like up there in front of a group of people and it was just like. 

16:35
Then we got to the panels later in the week, which was, um, I'll share the story. Like I said, I would want to share for everyone who is there, but Rufus will hate me for this, but I'll bring it up anyways. He did a panel on ethics, the ethics of sports betting. So who was on the panel? I'm trying to remember who was with him. I think Chris Bruno. I don't remember the exact. I'm horrible with. I'm going to mix up who was with who. Okay, not important, I'm going to continue. 

17:04
Ethics of sports betting. A lot of it was centered around, you know, should sports books be allowed to do certain things? Should they be allowed to take a hundred thousand dollar bet from one person but a $2 limit someone else to $2 bet? And Alan Boston's point of view on a lot of this stuff was, you know, he doesn't love it. But Austin's point of view on a lot of this stuff was, you know, he doesn't love it, but he doesn't think it's unethical. He thinks, from an ethical point of view, they're running a business. They should be able to do what they want to run a business, just like anyone else can. 

17:42
So at the end, I believe someone asked him a question about, like, does he think that there's anything in the space that's unethical? And my God, I was not ready for his response. I'll give some background on this as well, but he basically I'm paraphrasing here, but it was pretty close to what he. He said, um, which was I think it's unethical for someone to shit on touts for year after year after year and then release their DFS projections for money because they've lost their edge betting on sports. He was referring to Rufus, who's now releasing his golf projections for Establish the Run. I was in the room, messaged Rufus because I didn't see him right away. I'm like, oh man. And then Rufus just responded to me. He's like, I'm here, I heard it, type of thing, but it was like a very awkward moment, like it's. It's ingrained in my memory how the room reacted to that, because some people didn't know what he was talking about, but some people did. But that's like alan boston and he he fits the twitter persona. 

18:43 - Speaker 1
You know what I'm saying yeah, that's how he does it on twitter sometimes you meet someone and you're like like, for example, so random. 

18:50 - Speaker 2
Uh, we had him on the super bowl props podcast. Pikachu bets was dressed in the pikachu costume. Okay, I've met pikachu bets in real life at mit sloan sports analytic conference. He's like a really down to earth, quiet, like just like good dude on the internet. You would think that this guy was like like whack job. Yeah, exactly Right. So Alan Boston's persona, matt, like his internet persona, matches his real persona from what I um was able to gather being around him for most of the weekend. That was. That was pretty interesting. Other panels were there's, there's like. The panels were really good and I will say like a couple things gil alexander hosted one, doug kazarian hosted the other. They're very good at directing the conversation as well. 

19:37 - Speaker 1
Those guys are tv professionals, so good, that's in the biz on, and two of the two of the guys that I like love spending time with the most on the entire week by the way, I will say this about both those guys we had dougie k on the podcast, but you know I don't really know him personally outside of that, and then I've never met or spoken to gill. But the reason those guys are so good at their job of like being basically like a moderator for betting and like hosting shows is because they actually bet. This is a huge, huge issue. I know we're now like I completely agree with you. 

20:08
Those guys actually bet on sports under their own name, under their own accounts. They fund their own account, they have their own money and they bet. It doesn't matter how much you bet. I presume both those people are betting decent amounts at the minimum. It doesn't matter how much you bet. The fact that they actually bet under their own name and try to win money betting makes them a good host and a significantly better host than anyone else you see on any other network. 

20:30
And now with all this stuff coming like we see it in canada already, the shows already first week in ontario yeah, the amount of gambling shows that launch with hosts that you can tell never once placed a bet in their entire life until probably this week and are just clueless, don't know what this is making mistakes that would never be mistaken for anybody who has ever like. Even if you just bet for a year, you would never make the mistakes. These guys are making misquoting odds, you know, misquoting payouts and things like that. It's crazy. So, yeah, both of those guys, huge respects for both, but mainly because they actually bet. That's why they're so good and that's like a huge, uh, a huge aspect, like they're professional on cam. They know how to work the camera, well spoken, but also do have betting knowledge and passion for it completely agree with you. 

21:16
Um you definitely get to try to get gill on the pod if he's interested, I I will. 

21:20 - Speaker 2
I definitely will follow up with him. I will say like, like, I had some pretty candid personal conversations with people this week. Those would have been two of maybe a handful of guys that were just really down to earth and I'm not going to divulge you know what we talked about, but they were like really personal conversations and both had a great time at an event like that. Legends everywhere, Just guys that and girls, by by the way, I should say as well not many, but, um, you know, I got to talk to, uh, rx gamble, gina fiori on on twitter, uh as well, and pick her brain a little bit. Um, but it was just like. You know, one of the most underrated things was the speed networking event and I know a lot of people buried me on Twitter. 

22:06 - Speaker 1
Okay, you got to read it for someone. 

22:08 - Speaker 2
Yeah, sure, I mean, I don't remember exactly what it was, but there were. There was photographers all around taking pictures of the event and they posted on the bet bash Twitter account. A lot of people were responding like, oh, this is my nightmare, or whatever I thought it was. So I thought it. Now, maybe it's just the people I got paired with, because I know some people didn't have the same experience, but from an organizational level it was really well organized, like you can put in kinds of people you want to talk to, kinds of people you don't want to talk to, so on and so forth. But what did Kanish say? 

22:40 - Speaker 1
He buried you hard. 

22:42 - Speaker 2
This is great. 

22:43 - Speaker 1
I laughed really hard when I read it. Uncle K, I know you're listening. You got to start tweeting more. The best in the biz in the troll game for gambling twitter. This was an epic one. We appreciate it. So you go to his twitter. Um, there is a picture of a room of people speed networking we'll show the picture up on on screen for the yes if you look at this photo, you would need to zoom in and really scroll around to find anyone you know. 

23:08
And zoom in. So he spent some time scrolling, found a pic of rob and rob is just talking to someone who is not facing the camera. You can't see who it is and, um, he quote, tweeted the conversation. He says uh, you know he's pretending to be pazola. He's like you've probably seen me on my sunday morning periscopes. He's like no, oh, okay. Well, I'm sure you got to be a circles off listener, right. Oh, no again. Huh, well, at least you're tracking your bets on bet stamp, right? He's like you don't know what that is. He's like all right, listen, buddy, just download the app and I'll buy you a drink and put up the photo for those on on the audio man. That was an epic one because, just like it's, it's so perfect, like the three things that rob would potentially say if someone's like oh, so what do you do? He would literally say those three things, and if the guy said no, he would be like all right, so this is what it is. You gotta, you gotta do this. Not in that order, yeah, not in that order. 

23:59 - Speaker 2
Probably circles I would, I would went bet stamp first. That's that's kind of how I approached it. Um, you know, like you only have seven minutes to talk to people in your speed networking. Now the thing is one-on-one. It's one-on-one. The challenge is like for me especially and again I don't like this is not an ego thing but the majority of people I sat down with know who I am or know me in some capacity, so it's very different for me to do an intro. A lot of people know what BetSnap is and Circles Off or whatever, so I'm more asking them questions because I'm interested in what they do. But yeah, I got some good characters. 

24:36
I thought the event was good. Now it feels like you ran a marathon after that because it's like consecutive, right. It's just like you have like a minute in between everything to get to your next spot. I barely had time to take a piss. I was almost going to piss my pants. I'm not even joking. I had to run to take a piss and there's so many people that are waiting to take a piss. 

24:52
So that was one of the issues with that event overall. But like I had one guy who runs a bonus hunting business in different states in the US where he's basically like you don't want to do the bonus hunting in bets. He'd be like he was literally presenting sheets of paper of like this is how to maximize the bonus at every single book. I will do this for you and just take a small commission type of thing which was interesting. I thought it was like. I mean, I don't know the legalities of it or whatever, I just thought it was everyone's got a right to grind and, honestly, that was uh, that was awesome I got paired with other. 

25:26
Probably half the people I got paired with were other bettors, which I think was cool, especially in sports that I typically don't bet on. The only miss was like one of the guys I got paired with. Near the end he just sits down and I'm like, oh, what do you do? He's like, oh, I lose a lot of money betting. I'm here trying to win or whatever. So I'm like, oh, you know where do you bet? Do you bet multiple books? What are you doing? So on and so forth. 

25:49
He's like, no, I have this one account that I bet into. I'm like, oh, you can't. You know you're doing yourself a disservice. I'm giving like the bet stamp, like our philosophy right, it's a real philosophy, you should bet in as many accounts as possible. But this guy's betting into an account where he gets a 10% rebate. So I can understand why he's only betting in one spot. You're getting a 10% rebate. But he's like I can't win, man, even with the rebate. And I'm like buddy, if you want to hand over your account, I mean you can win, we'll make it happen. He's like no, I just want some picks. I need to know what's good today. And he's like he's just basically going through the board, right? 

26:27 - Speaker 1
He's like In the speed session, in the speed session Colorado, pittsburgh. 

26:31 - Speaker 2
Do you like anything here? 

26:32 - Speaker 1
And I'm like what am I doing? He's like he's like, listen, buddy, we can't do it. And then he's like all right, florida, toronto, all right, fine. 

26:40 - Speaker 2
I hope this guy's not listening for a game that intentionally had already started so that he couldn't bet it. That's the truth. Why? Because I didn't like I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to deal with this like I don't want to deal. I I don't want to deal with this guy coming back to me at, like a dinner at night and being like hey, buddy, you cost me like five thousand dollars, like give me another play, like where is this going? You know what I'm saying, what is going to happen here? So I gave him a play that already started. You want to know what happened? 

27:09 - Speaker 3
he live betted no, he did, he won. 

27:12 - Speaker 2
Oh, let's go, he won he live bet the under uh in the in the penguins avalanche game. I was opposite of dink. In that game he was on the over. I watched the end of that game at circus sportsbook. Someone on the abs missed an empty netter by like an inch. 

27:31 - Speaker 1
What was it? Was it a five and a half or six? I? 

27:33 - Speaker 2
played six. This guy live bet five and a half because it was zero, zero, like six minutes into the game or whatever and five, three, two land a three, two final colorado. Yeah, what a sweat that was. But wow, that was, that was another good event, like there were so many good events. Stadium swim that was. Wow, that was another good event, like there were so many good events. Stadium swim that was the first time I was ever at a stadium swim. Holy jeez, what a banger of a venue. 

27:52 - Speaker 1
Stadium swim is nice. If you want to, you know, just go in a pool with a bunch of other people watch some sports, crush some beers and cash some bets. 

28:01 - Speaker 2
I was in the pool pretty loaded with Alphonso Straffan. 

28:05 - Speaker 1
Oh yeah. 

28:05 - Speaker 2
What a legend that guy is as well. Just great follow on Twitter. Great person I mean, there's too many names to list, but I certainly have, like a Mount Rushmore. I think of people that I was able to hang out with and please don't get offended if you're not on this list and you spent time with me this weekend but the names I will give. I think a lot of people would agree that they're just like a amazing people to be around. Number one all-time best person to be around michael craig mike craig, that guy's the man we had him on the podcast when we were audio only. 

28:45
I wish we were video so everyone could see how he's always smiling, no matter what. Like perma, smile doesn't matter that guy I don't know how he does it, but he will be if he goes on these trips. I've networked with him before. I don't think he sleeps. I honestly don't think he sleeps for like three or four days. 

29:05 - Speaker 1
It's because he has kids and then he wants to get away from like. When he's away, he's like I'm not gonna go to bed early. 

29:10 - Speaker 2
I go to bed early, my kids probably it's true, as soon as he gets out there, though, like he's the type of guy, uh, we would spend a lot of time at the legacy club which is, uh, the quote, the 60th floor of circa. It's not, I don't think it really is anything. You just put 60 on the elevator, whatever. I'm pretty sure it could be wrong, but rooftop bar there and, like Mike is the guy that he's like I'm not leaving until they kick me out. They would literally turn the lights on. They would turn the lights on and he still wouldn't leave. Like they're like, but it was. It was a great event and he's definitely number one. Chris bruno one of the best episodes in sports betting podcast history which we've talked about before. It's the best episode of be better, betters with spanky. We don't promote a lot of other things a lot, but I mean somewhat. You check it out, it's, it's. He is amazing in real life as well. Just um, great dude to be around. We think alike, so that was cool chris bruno. 

30:12 - Speaker 1
I talked to him at the first event. Great, uh, great experience on my end as well was a lot of, a lot of really cool stories and, uh, he's a very, very sharp guy, even, even, still, and so you can only imagine how, uh, how good he was back in the day as well, when stuff was a lot easier, so right um, so those two for sure. 

30:32 - Speaker 2
If anyone who watched the super bowl picks episode would remember spreadopedia, holy geez I. I so I've known spreadopedia for a long time, but, like, not known known one of my first trips ever to vegas, which had been over 10 years ago. I went to uh dinner with him in preston sports cheetah. Um, and I haven't seen him since then. What, what a character man yeah he's rocking like the um. He's rocking the track suits like the full track suit, you know like, like white nice like, oh man, all the time with the flip-flops, zero f's given. 

31:10 - Speaker 1
That's what I like to wear too, yeah he's just a legend man. 

31:14 - Speaker 2
I walk into him with a in the sports book. He's got like a stack of like mlb futures like this. I'm talking like big bets too. There's not. I'm like you carry these all around with you at all times or whatever he's like. I gotta know what I bet and what I don't know what I'm gonna get robbed yeah. 

31:28
So I'm like buddy somebody jumps you in the parking lot. You lose. Like you're gonna lose a lot of money here. Um, hilarious, great dude. The fourth spot very difficult, but dougie k also a legend oh kazarian we, I, I throw around the term like legend a lot, but these people are actually Doug Kazarian. Go back to what you were talking about with the sports betting Like he bets. 

31:53 - Speaker 1
Yeah, we had him on the pod when he was, when he like that exploit which everyone got mad at him for because he worked for ESPN. But he literally just found an edge and bet it. Nothing wrong with that, but yeah, of course he bets, yeah. 

32:04 - Speaker 2
Yeah, but yeah, of course he bets, yeah, yeah, but like those are the kind of guys you want to be around, like when you're at a sports book, right where, like every commercial break, it goes live line comes up, you're talking about it like he he's, he's a great dude man. So what a what a weekend. I'm exhausted, like exhausted. Slept on the plane, didn't matter. By the way, the stupid shit at the airport. I have to rant about this a little bit. It's a canadian specific thing. We land in toronto. Our flight took off a little bit late from vegas. Land in toronto. There's like 25 people that have um, what's the word? Connections. A lot of them don't have enough time to make their flight, so they make an announcement like let the people with connections through so that they can get off the plane quicker. I'm down with that. I don't care. I understand. I don't think it's a horrible experience for someone to no you can't miss a connecting yeah. 

33:01 - Speaker 1
Yeah, it's just absolutely brutal. 

33:07 - Speaker 2
Then you got to eat airport food and sleep in the airport. Probably Absolutely I'm good with that. So they let these people off the plane, which I'm fine with. But then there's like everyone else sit back down, like okay, we have to. We have to space out how we let people off the plane. So because we let out a batch, we have to wait five minutes to let out another 75 people Due to COVID for social distancing. No, bro, we were all on a plane together and now, granted, we're all wearing masks, but we all have to wear masks in the airport as well. We're literally all on a plane together, but now we have to social distance when we get off. Do you know what happens when you let off 75 people at a time? They just all end up in the same line going through customs, so like there's absolutely no difference. There's, it's I don't, I can't even get started. 

33:55 - Speaker 1
I'm just glad they're taking the proper precautions. 

33:57 - Speaker 2
And uh, no, listen here here's the thing like it doesn't, it doesn't matter, like I'm, I'm pro like proper, proper precautions that are like backed by science and stuff like that. But like I wore a mask for like two years, you know how I was. Like I'm type 1 diabetic. I take COVID very seriously, but some of the things trigger me so much because they make no sense, man. 

34:27 - Speaker 1
It is what it is. It is no sense. 

34:28 - Speaker 2
How can anyone say that that makes sense? We're gonna let you off in batches of 75, but we're gonna have you all line up in the same line when you get the customs afterwards okay, it's tough, I don't. 

34:39 - Speaker 1
I don't know what to say. All I can say is, like I said, like I'm just happy they're taking the proper precautions and like you know, everything's going down I hear you according to plan and like it is what it is, but one thing that's going to be unreal. Last thing before we go today is wednesday and we're recording monday morning 8 am. We're hitting bombs, first round of the year. Rob and I are heading out 8 am for a nice, clean, smooth 18 holes. I cannot wait. 

35:08
Weather finally shaping up here in ontario and we're getting back on the course, so it'll be potentially the day after tiger woods wins the masters now, that still yet to be seen but potentially the day after tiger wins the masters. We're going to be fresh on the course for the first round of the year where I will undoubtedly shoot a very clean 108 messy first round of the year. I'll put it, I will probably shoot around that for the first round of the year and then I'll, and then I'll lower and I'll get, I'll get lower at after a couple rounds how many balls lost? 

35:38 - Speaker 2
oh, uh johnny loses a lot of balls because I'm also, I'm also a reckless golfer. 

35:44 - Speaker 1
I don't, I don't lay up and I don't even. It's true, I don't care about that. 

35:48 - Speaker 2
Because that's not. Anyone who knows you personally is not surprised that you don't lay up. 

35:53 - Speaker 1
But the reason is like, what's the fun? What's the fun of laying up when I'm not good at golf? Anyways, right, like I normally shoot, like near the end of last year, I'm shooting in the high 90s full round. Okay, so maybe like shooting like 97 98s. So if I'm shooting 97 98s, yes, could I get that down to a 93 by laying up? Yes, but what's the fun in that? 

36:17
The fun is I want to make a birdie and go nuts and then be like, yeah, I had three pars and two birds that round and, yes, did I have a couple? Did I have a couple blow up holes? Maybe, maybe did I put it in the water from 200 out when I should have 100 laid up? And there's no way I was sticking on the green. Yes, but what if I stick that green? Or, even better, what if I hole out? That's, you always got to go for a hole out. If you're not good at golf, you always go for a hole. It's about the story because when I hit, eventually, an eagle off a whole out or or an albatross off a whole out, then I'm gonna literally tell everyone but yeah, I eagled this part five, or I I albatross is par five. And they'll be like how did you do that? I'm like I literally gunned it for the green when I obviously should know? 

37:03 - Speaker 2
see, my philosophy couldn't be any more different. We're polar opposites. When we play, johnny will be like oh, you see, I just hit my five iron like whatever 220 yards, that's a professional level. And I'll be like, yeah, but the ball's in the woods, like I. I hit my five iron like 190, but the ball went straight it he's absolutely right, but like that's, this is what I'm about. 

37:24 - Speaker 1
I'd rather hit like incredible shots. Yes, one in every six, Then hit average shots five in every six. 

37:32 - Speaker 2
And you still get messed up. I'm playing for score. I'm playing for overall score. 

37:35 - Speaker 1
And Rob does shoot a better score than me. However, when I put it together, I agree when I put it together. 

37:40 - Speaker 2
You have way more potential. You're younger than me too, and two and you can bomb it already. You definitely potential there. I, I would admit that, like at your peak, you will 100 be better than me, but also, but I'm not gonna get there because I don't practice. 

37:55 - Speaker 1
Everyone who wants to get good at golf always says like oh yeah, it's another season. You know what? They don't realize like nobody practices golf. You ever practice? 

38:02 - Speaker 2
like yeah well, yeah, I would go to like simulator, but like I didn't practice that enough. So here's a thing like. 

38:07 - Speaker 1
Do you ever stand at the side of the? Do you ever stand at the side of the green, like in the? 

38:12 - Speaker 2
oh, do like, do a practice swing and just like no, no, not even that. 

38:15 - Speaker 1
Like do you ever go like, let's say, you're just just off the fringe, um, and just like you're trying to roll a ball in, do you ever just go to the side and just like hit 200 chips? 

38:25 - Speaker 2
no, no, because no one does that I don't have the time to do anything because you don't want to practice practice, because you'd rather just go on the range and hit bombs or you'd rather play an actual round. 

38:35 - Speaker 1
But really, how are you going to get better? You actually have to start with the short game, anything like 30 and in, for example, and like stick them close so you can start making putts. That's how you're going to save the majority of strokes. But nobody wants to just like go off their green and just chip 100 balls a week see I can do that during golf season. 

38:52 - Speaker 2
I probably should like the chipping and putting, but I cannot like fix my swing in golf season because I play so often, right? So if I go get a lesson or something and somebody's working on something with me when I'm standing over the ball, all I'm thinking about is what I just learned is horrible and, like you, you piss away rounds just to like. I don't want to piss away rounds, I don't know it's. It's a tough game but luckily you'd be very thankful a booked country club so we get to use the cart path, because if I had booked Station Creek next week, we'd be walking and there was a zero percent chance. This guy is walking the course. 

39:29 - Speaker 3
Oh johnny's been working out. 

39:30 - Speaker 2
Yeah, I hate work, I hate walking the course I told last year I showed up once and I had my, I had my my clubs in a pull cart. He's like what are you doing? Like I'm I'm gonna walk. 

39:40 - Speaker 1
He's like I'm not playing with you if you're walking no, because because, like, we're honestly there, you know we're there in a limited amount of time capacity. Like, if you walk, not only are you taking more time for your own round, but now, like the guys behind you're like, oh, these guys walking yes, that's, that is true, that is true, okay, maybe if you're like, if you own the course, do what you want, don't get me wrong. 

40:05
But like we're playing sometimes rounds like 3 30 pm or like even sometimes we're playing last year like 5 30 pm rounds, you can't walk those. Like there's people behind you trying to finish their round, like you're only going to get the round in, like it's going to get. 

40:18 - Speaker 2
We were. We were playing the, the, the practice course that day, the par threes okay, fine, you can still yelling at me, though he's like he's like no, there's no way I'm walking that it's only three. 

40:29 - Speaker 3
I'm sure I got a cart. 

40:30 - Speaker 2
Yeah, I got a cart afterwards. Of course I was. He's like no, I'm not playing that or whatever, but that the hill going down sucks if you walk but you don't come. You have to come back up monday morning. 

40:40 - Speaker 1
we'll give an update next week on the scores. Uh, for the round, I have a feeling like like I, you know, but I on, I'm on same clubs and no new clubs. 

40:47 - Speaker 2
Yeah, not nothing, I played nine holes, like I said with Jennings, and the first hole, for people have to understand like we live in Toronto. We don't have winter golf. I haven't swung a golf club since we last played last year. The first hole I picked up my ball. 

41:08 - Speaker 1
Please DM either Circles Off on Twitter or DM Betstamp or Rob Pizzola, and please actually suggest people who you think would be entertaining guests. It doesn't have to be people with massive followings, you know, literally be someone who has no following or is not even on social media, but please suggest guests that you think would be interesting to learn from or to hear from or just to hear about would help us out a lot. We have a lot of good guests lined up. We're always looking for more and we're really happy that you know we're happy to be someone's like first podcast, that they come on, uh, to kind of get it going. We're willing to like kind of take that risk and just and go through there. So, please, suggestions always needed. Um, and yeah, if you're, if you're still listening, please rate review five stars. Spotify, apple, youtube, subscribe rate review Peace.