Mike Babcock joined TSN Overdrive and Sportsnet 590 to discuss the loss to Boston, his relationship with Auston Matthews, the amount Matthews plays night-to-night, having to contend in the future with Boston and Tampa in the division, improving at center and defense, and much more.
You’ve had a couple of days now. Have you settled into it? What’s your life been like the past couple of days?
Babcock: My daughter graduated from grad school in Michigan yesterday, so that was a good day and a good way to avoid hockey. And then I got back here today, and obviously, it’s a much different feel than last year just because you feel like you’re right there and you have an opportunity. Last year, you’re excited to be in the playoffs. Last year, even though we drew a good Boston team and they’re very competitive and a good team, we still thought we had an opportunity. It’s disappointing, especially because you crawled your way back and you’ve got yourself set up good. You go into the third period and you’re up one. You’re feeling like you’re skating pretty good. In the end, it didn’t happen.
As a coach, you often think about everything. You’re always on the plane looking at tape and looking at the situation. Do you catch yourself saying, “If I only could’ve done this or got this matchup, or got this guy going?” Have you gone through that?
Babcock: Oh, for sure. Matchup-wise, I thought we were set up so good. We thought, the way Plek ended up playing and the way we could use Naz deeper in the lineup, and Nylander seemed to get it going here as it went on. We felt we were in a pretty good spot. In the end, two four-on-four goals hurt us. We even won the faceoff on the first one. You thought you were in a good situation, but it didn’t happen. I’ve got lots of time to go over things and speculate about what might’ve happened, but in reality, it’s about preparing for next year now. That’s how quickly it happens. I’ll take a night or two and then I’ll get back to watching hockey. It’ll take a night or two before I have enough stomach to do that.
What are you hoping the players take out of the series, then? What kind of positives? Even though it ended up a loss in Game 7, what kind of message are you hoping they take out of it?
Babcock: Positives are it’s a springboard. What I mean by that is: You see how hard it is to play two weeks in the playoffs. Play eight weeks in the playoff. That’s what it really takes. That means that this summer, we’ve got to do that much more. We talked about that today: What do I have to improve on? Where do I have to get better? Is it my strength? Is it my shot? Is it my skating? I have to go to work.
The second thing is, the fitness level you need when you arrive for the beginning of the year to go that deep in the playoffs — what does it take? And then the drive train. It’s interesting to see just how the level ratchets up and how hard it is for young guys. Once they’ve been through it, and especially once you’ve felt disappointment, I think the opportunity next time is greater.
The focal point after Game 7 — certainly Freddy had a couple of tough ones in the third period, and obviously, Jake Gardiner had a night where he came out afterward and faced the media and said he needs to be better. As a coach, are those situations where you sit down with that player either immediately, or do you let that one breathe? Jake had a real good year for you, but in a critical situation, he didn’t have his best game. Is that something where you’ll have to address it with him heading into next season? Or is it just one where you kind of let it slide under the carpet a little bit?
Babcock: I addressed it as soon as I heard. My video guys are all over everything and they let me know right away what had happened. I just grabbed him at the hotel and said, “Woah, woah, woah.” You’re allowed to own everything you do. I’ve got no issue with that. But you don’t put it all on you. There are 23 players. There are the coaches and management. We all win and lose together. When I talked to him today, we talked about that. Hey, there is no problem bouncing back from the adversity. It didn’t go your way. You’re one of five or six guys on the ice. I’ve got no problem pushing you and getting an impetus to get better, but as far as mental health goes, dragging this around — we’re not doing any of that. Gardiner is a hell of a kid. He’s gotten better each and every year he’s been here. He needs to have a big summer training and come back and have a huge impact for our team offensively and defensively. We need him to be feeling good about himself.
Gardiner approached the media afterwards and he spoke about what happened. He stepped up. He spoke to the media earlier in the series. Auston Matthews had a tough night and he didn’t speak to the media. How important do you think it is, from your standpoint, for players to talk to the media game in and game out, especially in the playoffs?
Babcock: I think, when it’s your turn, it’s your turn. When it goes good, you own that. When it goes bad, you own that. But I think the thing that people need to understand, too, is that Auston is 20 years old. He is just learning this. I refer to him as kind of that big umbrella. Everyone else can kind of duck under him and slide their feet out into the sun. He can’t duck under it. He’s the guy each and every night. I think, sometimes, once in a while, you’ve got to give the kid a break. In saying all of that, he tries to own it and he tries to do the right thing. He’s a great pro. He wants to be better. This series, without any question, frustrated him. He was as mad as I’ve ever seen him in Game 7 at the end. If anyone has been on a playoff bench, they know. Guys are disappointed. It gets hot sometimes. It’s tough when you feel you had something go your way and suddenly it is zapped from you. Does he have to go and meet with the media? Absolutely, and I think he will. But I also think it is a learning process.
You spoke a lot about your relationship with Auston Matthews. Were you expecting that just based on the way it came out? Everyone was jumping to conclusions on how you guys feel about each other and how you work together. What do you make of that conversation and debate about your relationship with Auston Matthews?
Babcock: I think the big thing is we live in Toronto. Guys get paid for this. I got off the plane last night about 11 o’clock and I got a text from someone saying this is what they’re saying. I just texted him back and said, “I’ll ask in the morning.” In my opinion, and I said this earlier today, Auston and I have a real good relationship. We’re not buddies. I think it’s more like a father-son. I know his parents well. They’re good, good people. They expect their kid to be held to a certain standard. I push him as hard as I can. I made it really clear to him on numerous occasions, “If I push too far, come and see me and tell me.” I’ve got no problem with that. I also have no problem with debate or exchanges or anything like that. We play an emotional game. I want Matty to play with ton of emotion. He does. He’s an important player for us.
I think players are allowed to be disappointed when it doesn’t go good. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. I think we’ve got a great relationship. He’s a big part of our future. I think I am as well.
Matthews said to the media that he wouldn’t mind playing with Mitch Marner. Your comment was that, “the media wants that, but I want win.” If you talked to a player like Patrice Bergeron, he’d say he wants to win, but he also wants to play with Marchand and Pastrnak. Is that a fair account?
Babcock: I agree with that, too. I think that’s a real good point.
Can you take us through that? What do you mean by, “I want us to win.” Why do you think you can’t win with Matthews and Marner playing together?
Babcock: What we felt this year was that our best setup was not that way. We really thought, in the end, if you look at our regular season, Matthews and Nylander had 60-plus points playing together. Marner was with Kadri, who had 32 goals. Bozak was with JVR, who had 36 goals. Marleau with 27 goals. Guys, I think it’s hard to argue. In the playoffs, it didn’t go as good. We moved people around to try to help out. We really thought Marner, Plek and Marleau — after our first two games — did a heck of a job against the Bergeron line. That’s what we stayed with. We played Matty with them a bit in Game 7 — not against those guys, but when we missed our matchup and let Plek go with Hyman and Brown, so we had two ways to do it.
Everyone can always question what you do, and I have no problem with that; I think that is important. What we’ll do is look at our lineup for next year and we’ll figure out what is the best way to play, and that is what we’ll do. And it’ll be about winning.
That’s why we like having you on this show. We talk about these issues and debate about a bunch of different things. Now we have you on to explain the thought process behind it. We talked a lot throughout the year about the minutes Matthews plays. Relatively speaking, he plays a lot. But we looked it up yesterday — based on average time on ice, he’s about 38th in the league for centers. Can you take us through that? Why not open him up and play him 21 minutes a night, 20 minutes a night, like we see out of McDavid and Barkov and Kopitar? Can you take us through how you choose to disperse his minutes in particular?
Babcock: Two of the first two guys didn’t make the playoffs, okay? So let’s go with that. Remember what I said about winning? Second thing I’d say to you is that the deeper your team is… this year for us, we really felt with those three centers with Kadri — who had 32 goals — and Bozak centering van Riemsdyk — who had 36 goals — we felt that gave us real good balance and depth. That’s the approach you take. I think, each and every year though, based on your lineup, you can adjust accordingly. I don’t have his minutes in front of me; I don’t know if he played 18 or 18 and a half or whatever he did, but I think he had a good year logging the minutes he played and did a good job.
van Riemsdyk, Bozak and Komarov — we don’t know what is going to happen in the future, but how big of a role did they play getting your team to where they currently are?
Babcock: We just talked about Bozak and van Riemsdyk. They were really good on the power play; they were our number-one power play. I think we were the top power play in the league this year. When you look at that, those were important guys. But they’ve earned the right through playing well and through their contract situation to go on the open market. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to be Leafs, but it does mean they can choose to fit into the best situation they perceive for themselves.
I thought Bozak had the best year he’s had in the three years I’ve been here — not point wise, but just competitiveness, faceoffs and importance to the team. What do you say about James? He’s one of those guys. He might be the best net-front guy in hockey. Tips the puck, good hands in tight, long reach. They’re important guys for us.
Komarov just does everything right for the team. He’s a guy where the team likes him, the coaches like him and the management like him better than the media or fans do. But that’s how important he is just because he does it right. The guys you’re talking to who have played in the league understand that totally, whether it’s being a first minute to last minute, a physical forecheck, good in the d-zone, whether it be on the penalty kill… he can do it all and help you. But he’s in the same boat as those guys where he can exercise his option. We talked to those guys today and expressed our opinion of them, so they know.
You were talking in January or early February about wanting to send a message about how serious you were about a run. You guys set a record for regular-season points. Do you think your players and yourself sent a message that didn’t get delivered to management to maybe upgrade the D a little bit more? You’re not going to want to sewer anyone in the organization, but what do you think about that?
Babcock: I don’t think that at all, actually. I thought they did a real good job. They went and got us Plekanec. Just imagine the Naz situation without Plekanec there. To me, I thought they did a real nice job to set that up and give us an opportunity. That’s all you can ask for. The other thing is — and I don’t know, but I just look at our D and compare it to the other D in the NHL… D are hard to get. They are hard to acquire. They are hard to sign. They are hard to draft. They are just hard — them and centers. You’ve got to develop yours from within. I thought Dermott took a real step this year. We’ve got to continue to improve on that area, we understand — and down the middle.
Based on the way the playoff format works out, you guys know you are going to be playing, unless you win the division, someone from within the division in the first round. You guys were a top six or seven team all year and you ran into Boston in the first round. It could’ve been Tampa in the first round. Do you feel like, as you go into the offseason, to build your team to beat and compete with the Bruins and Lightning in particular, or do you have to think league wide?
Babcock: I think you’ve got to be real careful of that. I think you just build your team and try to improve it as much as you can. The interesting thing about it — if you had told me or anybody that we’d have Marleau and Hainsey, we wouldn’t have known that. You have all of these great plans but a lot of your best intentions never, ever happen. What you do is the best you can to improve your team and you move on from there. I think we are in a better situation now just because we’ve improved our hockey club. I don’t care who you are — if you like hockey, you want to be in Toronto. Now, you’re under the gun, but what a city to play in. What a spot to be. I think it’s just fantastic. It’s like nothing else. I can’t even believe it, to tell you the truth, how great it is. I think that helps us sign players over time. Is that going to happen immediately? I don’t know the answer to that. But we’ll see over the summer.
Babcock on Sportsnet 590 with Bob McCown: “It’s a real step for us to be disappointed”
Let me put it this way: Last year, six games you lose to Washington. Five go to overtime. This year, seven games to Boston. How would you categorize the season overall?
Babcock: Well, this one wooed you. Last year, we crawled into the playoffs. We had a good run down the stretch and we got in. I thought we played hard. They pushed us out three straight at the end. I didn’t know if that’s because they ratcheted up because they weren’t ready at the start, or whatever. We felt good about ourselves leaving.
This year, we must have had a good season — it was the best in Leafs history in the regular season, so that must be good. In saying that, you feel like someone kicked you today. I didn’t have time yesterday to kind of get my head around it, so today when you’re meeting the players and the media and wrapping things up, I think if it was good with you, you’d be through it. But you’re not yet, and that, I think, is a good sign. It’s a real step for us to be disappointed.
The third period of Game 7 may haunt Leafs fans, and maybe you even. There you are. 4-3 lead with 20 minutes left. Chance to do this and move on. Your goaltender doesn’t play well. One of your defensemen has a nightmare night. But your team also didn’t get a shot on goal for the first eight minutes of that period. Assess it. What happened?
Babcock: I think they lost the faceoff on the 4-on-4, got it back, and they shot it in our net. I thought we were fine. It was 4-on-4. They came down on a rush 1-on-3 and shot it on our net, and we never recovered. We even had a TV timeout right after that with an opportunity to regroup our guys and do what we could. We never had a push after that. They were better than us from that point on. You can talk about any minutes you want. They scored a minute and a half into the third and basically it was theirs. You’re right — we were set up perfectly there. Our matchups had gone good. Our bench was fresh. We were outskating them in the second half of the second. You thought life was great, but it wasn’t. That’s why we are disappointed here today, and that’s why I am talking to you.
Do you think there is an impact from the way you lost this game? Do players forget over the course of a summer? They’ve now got several months to not dwell on it if they don’t want to.
Babcock: I don’t think they forget. Well, I hope they don’t forget. I don’t dwell. That’s not dwell. I think any adversity in your life is a springboard for opportunity. What this shows us is that we’ve got to take another step if we are going to get to the next level. What I mean by that: When you’re going home for the summer you know your training has to be better if you want to play eight weeks instead of two weeks. That’s just the reality of the situation. What do you have to do to improve your game? Is it your skating? Your shot? Your strength? What do the coaches have to do to improve themselves? We all have to get better if we want to have success. These playoffs, the further you go in them, the more fun you have and the harder it is. It was evident in the first round that it was hard. So we’ve got to get better.
How would you assess the reaction in the exit conversations? Were you happy with what you heard from the players? Some yes, some no? How would you categorize it?
Babcock: No, I think they were real good. They were real disappointed. Our bench in the last ten minutes in the third period was bitter and disappointed. An NHL bench is a great place anyway. There is lots of entertainment on it, to say the least; lots of fiery and competitive people. But the disappointment, the competitiveness, the volume — the whole thing. We got ourselves gone down bad. We didn’t play well in the first two. We crawled our way back. We thought we gave ourselves and our city a chance. In the end, we didn’t get it done.
There are a bunch of issues that are swirling around. There are those who suggest there is an issue between you and Auston Matthews. Do you want to comment on that?
Babcock: Absolutely. I think, in Toronto, there is media everywhere. I think people get paid to tell stories. Some are true. Some are so far fetched it’s not funny. I even asked Auston. I heard about it about 11 o’clock last night. I landed and someone texted me.
Auston came in just like everyone else does and we talked. I asked him that flat out. “Do we have something I don’t know about?” Because that would be the first time I ever thought or had heard of it. I think it’s so far fetched it’s not even funny. Do I think he’s a competitive guy who wants to have success and is disappointed, and would’ve liked for things to have gone better for himself and the team? Absolutely, no question. Do I think he agrees with the coach every second on everything that it does? No.
I talk to Auston a lot. I think it’s real important I push him to be the best player I can be. At the same time, I tell him, “If I push too far, get in my office and tell me.” We’ve had a number of conversations over the year or two years. He’s a great kid. He’s getting better for us every day. We appreciate having him.
Most people, yourself included, would be disappointed with his offensive performance, at least statistically, during this playoff series. Can you attribute it to anything?
Babcock: This is what I’d tell you there: Auston Matthews came to camp in phenomenal shape, skated unbelievably well to start the year, hurt his back, didn’t skate for a while, came back, and then had the injury, didn’t skate, and then probably never skated at that level again. As the pace ratcheted up, he wasn’t quite as good as he normally is. That’s the difference. The one thing about Auston is he’s a committed, committed guy. He’s committed to getting better and knows exactly how to assess himself. He did a great job of that today. He knows what he’s got to work on and has to go to work. Injuries are a part of it. Some of the injuries don’t affect you because you can skate through them. Others do. I thought that he battled back and did everything he could. In the end, we didn’t win as a team.
There is a commonality of opinion that Matthews and Marner would be a good pair. You use them sometimes, but in a relative sense, infrequently together. They have voiced a desire to play together on the same line. It’s a long career for these kids. Do you have a plan in place where you think these two would fit together?
Babcock: Yeah, I don’t have a plan right now because I have no plan for next year as of yet. We’ll get to that. We really felt this year, especially when we got Patty, Naz… and Naz got himself 30 goals, Patty 27, and Mitchy about 68 points or around that. That was a real good line.
We had Matthews and Nylander in the 60-point range. That was a real good line. Then we had Bozak and van Riemsdyk and I think van Riemsdyk had 36 goals. We had good depth and good balance and it went good for us. In the end, we didn’t score at playoff time. We moved those lines around at playoff time a number of times after we didn’t respond through two games, and things went better, but in the end, not good enough.
The view in the general sense is that the defense is where the real work has to be done. Some of it will come as a result of the maturity of some of the guys you’ve got right now, but the mandate seems to be that you’ve got to get better on the blue line. How much better? Do you have a different assessment than everyone else does?
Babcock: Yeah, a little bit. I think it’s hard to improve your blue line. When you look at the NHL’s good teams, they drafted a kid and they turned into a real good player and they got a real good player there. I think Dermott came in and made our team better. I thought Polak, after he got healthy, had a good second half to the year; a real good playoff for us. I thought Hainsey was newfound gold for us. Gardiner, even though he owned everything for the whole team in Game 7, which he didn’t need to do at all, is a real good player for us. Zaitsev is a solid player for us. But can we get better? Absolutely. Is it our plan to? For sure. Are we working at it daily and have been in that process for three years? For sure.
We are trying to improve our defense and our center-ice position. Those have been the two big priorities for us, without question. But there is no tree. People think there is a tree in your backyard and you go out there and pick it like it’s some sort of apple. There is no apple there. We keep going to that tree, and the apple — someone else got it.
Do you expect Komarov, JVR and Bozak all to leave? Or do you even think about that kind of stuff?
Babcock: For sure. When I met with those guys today… those guys had good years for us. Bozie, in the three years I’ve been here, he didn’t have as many points this year, but that was his best year for sure — most competitive year. James had 36 goals and was as good of a net front guy as there is. Great hands and has gotten better each and every year.
Leo Komarov — the fans and media don’t like him anywhere near as much as the fans, the media and the coach do. He’s just a go-to guy for you. He can do everything. We really missed Naz and him in the playoffs, for sure. Leo, obviously, was injured, and also had some family things there. He never ever got rolling in the playoffs, but they are important people.
Any time you lose important people, you have to replace people. What they’ve done is earned the right to go out in the free agent market and see what they can get. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to be in Toronto, but it gives them the opportunity to do what they should and figure out what is best for them.
You mentioned Kadri. It’s worth having a brief discussion on the actions that got him suspended. He is not a first-time offender. He has done this kind of stuff before. He does play a physical brand of hockey. This wasn’t a guy who just lost his mind all of a sudden. This is sort of how he goes. Did you have a conversation with him after the incident and when he got suspended?
Babcock: Yep.
Did you suggest that maybe he had to tone it down a little bit?
Babcock: What I did is: Number one, I know how terrible he felt. I addressed that part first. Naz is a great guy. He is all about the team. He wants to win. We addressed that first.
Today, we talked about that as we talked to Naz. Naz has been real important. Naz had 32 goals this year and played against the best people every night; real competitive for us. It was a blow to us in this series. But that’s the way life is, too. Did you want it to happen? No. Did he want it to happen? No. If he could take it back, would he? Sure. That’s not how life works.
It’s early now, but you talked about the lessons that you learn in life; the obstacles that we are all forced to overcome. We learn about ourselves whether we are able to absorb those lessons and get better. You have been around a number of teams and a wide variety of players, some of whom will look at this obstacle and say, “I am not going to let this happen again.” Some can’t get over it. In a general sense, does this team have the makeup that you think will allow them to be significantly better next year?
Babcock: Obviously, the individuals that are going to be back will be for sure. I was really impressed with our group today. They are disappointed — no different than I am. They want more. They’ve got a taste of it. It’s nice to go to the rink and know you are going to win. That hasn’t happened in Toronto in a while. It was great this year. There was a feeling; an opportunity to play longer. We didn’t do that. I think these speed bumps — this adversity — makes you dig in more. It makes you train harder. It makes you analyze yourself. It makes you look at yourself. “What can I give to the club that can help the team?”
Now, the same thing has to happen to management and the coaching staff, though. We’ve got to improve the team this summer. We’ve got to do a better job as coaches. We’re all in it together. That’s what I like about our group. I believe that we are all in it together. We’ve got a group that likes each other and likes being around together. We have a lot of laughs. We play hard. We have the greatest city in the world to play in. It’s second to none. The fans are unbelievable. We want to be better for ourselves and for them.
You’ve worked with two of the most respected GMs in the game in Detroit and Toronto, now with Lou Lamoriello.
Babcock: And in Anaheim, too. Bryan Murray.
Tell me what your relationship is like with Lamoriello. Would you say you are close?
Babcock: Yeah, I would say for sure. Our whole group — you look at Hunts and you look at Duby and you look at Lou and Shanny — that’s a good group there. We have a good group. Real good management team. Real good people. Lou is as quality of a man as you will ever meet in your life. He’s honest. He’s straight forward. He’s caring about people. And this is going to surprise everyone — as much fun as you can have. Loves to laugh. He’s been around a long time and knows what he’s doing.
How would you feel if he wasn’t the GM next year? How would that impact you?
Babcock: The beauty of this situation is he is the General Manager and I don’t like to speculate.
End of sentence? End of comment?
Babcock: We’re going somewhere else, Bob. Appreciate the effort, though. You’ve got to. I hear you. There is nothing wrong with doing your job.
He’s a friend of mine, too, and I like him a lot.
Babcock: He’s a quality, quality man, Bob.
It was pretty interesting when he came to Toronto and then you came on board. Lou has always been up front and straight with us, but — like you — you’ve got to grind in my job to get anything out of them, and usually you lose that fight. I’m just intrigued in trying to figure out where you’re at in this question. I got nothing out of Lou. Shanny is not going to talk about it. I understand it; I’ve been doing this job a long time. I just wondered if you and here were… you were very tight with your GM in Detroit. I just wondered if you were as close to him.
Babcock: I was tight with Bryan Murray. He gave me an opportunity and was an unbelievable man. Kenny Holland is second to none and will be a friend for life. Lou will be the same. Lou and I are going to end up with a bond way outside of hockey. He is a man’s man who sets an example for you that you want to live up to. I am impressed by him. Good person. I don’t know what Lou wants to do. That’s not my department. I don’t do that stuff. But this is what I’d tell you: Lou has been great, and in the three years I’ve been here, we’ve gone from where we were to where we are. And that’s a long journey in a short time.
You’re surprised it has materialized as quickly as it did? Circumstance played a role in this, obviously, but…
Babcock: No question. Yeah, I’m surprised. Circumstance played a role. We got some breaks. The players improved. Nazem Kadri and Bozak and van Riemsdyk — these guys improved. And then Komarov and all of the kids. The defense. I mean, Gardiner is a real hockey player. He owned everything in Game 7 and he didn’t have to do that. He’s a real hockey player. The goaltending… the whole thing. Our farm team and what they’ve done. We’ve got a real product here. Now we’ve got to get the product to the level we want it to. Don’t get me wrong — we’ve come a long, long way and we’re proud of that. We want more.
When the season ends for you, will you watch more hockey? Will you watch the rest of the playoffs, or are you done?
Babcock: I’m out early enough and I’m wounded, but it’ll only take me a bit. I’ll be back and I’ll watch the Worlds and everything else that happens in hockey, for sure. When you play in the third round and you lose, it’s hard to watch the next round, I can tell you that. We’re out so early that a guy can regroup.
What about traveling? You like to get away a bit. You’re going to go out West for a good portion of the summer, I’m sure. Have you got plans to venture afar?
Babcock: I live in Michigan now in the summer. I’ve got a nice lake place there. My kids come around and it’s four hours to the office. I can get anywhere I want. I go back and forth. I haven’t decided. I planned on playing, to be honest with you, Bob. I had my heart on playing for a long time and made no plans. I’m going to check in with my wife tomorrow and kind of find out what my plans are. She’s more my boss in the summer than Lou is. I’d imagine she’s got a few plans for me, so we’ll get that straightened out.
You’re not alone. Those of us who are married understand who the boss is at home. It’s a commonality. Listen, congratulations. You wanted more, and it’s difficult to assess how much better this team was overall. There is no doubt, through 82 regular season games, this was the best Leafs team that has ever been in terms of points and production. You played a really good team in the first round. There is no embarrassment in losing to them, even though this group wanted more. But I’ll tell you who wanted more: The fans. They want more of this team and they’re anxious to see what’s next. And so am I.
Babcock: And they deserve it. That’s one thing about it. I said it to the media today: Sometimes the media, on the team and the coach, makes it hard. But they make it so much better because of the fan support we have. In this city, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. It is so exciting to be a part of it. It is a privilege to be a part of it. Our fans want more and we want to bring them more. We’re all in the same boat.
