We Helped Scatter the Ashes of a Die-Hard Fan (PTFO Vault)

Okay, so hello, it is me, Pablo, entering, invading even your ears, because I have done something I have not done before,

which is take the advice of someone who once told me that if people wish to support you financially, if they wish to support your journalism, your very strange future of journalism, meaning your newsroom, your ambitions, your desire to investigate things people don't want you to investigate, you should let them.

And so I am On Substack, my newsletter, at www.pablo.show.

We'll put a link in the show notes of this episode.

I have turned on paid subscriptions.

And if you didn't know, I have a Substack, guess what?

It's free, and that's still there for you, and it's worth it.

But the paid subscribers who support this show and us will get legitimately cool, personalized benefits to come.

We will make it worth your while.

We are figuring out here at PTFO our post-DraftKings future and, you know, more good news on that front, I hope, to come.

But in the meantime, Pablo.show is where you sign up.

Click the link in the show notes.

Help support us, please.

Thank you, thank you, thank you on that front.

And this, this episode today is a hand-picked episode from deep inside the PTFO vault that we sincerely hope you enjoy.

Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out.

I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is.

In January of this year, I took Ron's ashes off skydiving.

Right after this ad.

If you're looking to add something special to your next celebration, try Remy Martin 1738 Accord Royale.

This smooth, flavorful cognac is crafted from the finest grapes and aged to perfection, giving you rich notes of oak and caramel with every sip.

Whether you're celebrating a big win or simply enjoying some cocktails with family and friends, Remy Martin 1738 is the perfect spirit to elevate any occasion.

So go ahead, treat yourself to a little luxury, and try Remy Martin 1738 Accord Royale.

Learn more at remymartin.com.

Remy Martin Cognac, Feen Champion, African Alcohol by Volume 40 by Remy Control, USA, Incorporated, York, New York, 1738, Centaur Design.

Please drink responsibly.

So this is going to be a local news story at first.

And I promise that as with every store, we have Dave Fleming do for us.

Thank you for being here, by the way.

My pleasure.

It gets big and grandiose and cosmic and profound and stupid and smart and all of that.

But this is in the tradition of your study of fandom that began, arguably, on death row in Texas, our episode last year, which was singular in the genre.

But this is ridiculous in its own right.

This is part of my goth period, I think.

Yes.

It's Denver.

It's a couple years ago and it's a news story that starts like this

interesting story here denver sevens christian lopez uh spoke to a man who spread his friend's ashes on the abs home ice just as the zamboni was driving by

I'm gonna laugh in ways that I think will be redeemed at some point, but who is this guy?

So this particular fan, his name is Ryan Clark.

And this is the story about Ryan Clark and his best buddy, Kyle Stark.

And they were friends for more than a decade.

They met at work.

Kyle ended up being the best man at Ryan's wedding.

And the main thing that they bonded over over the years was their deep love of the Colorado Avalanche.

And it involved sort of like splitting season tickets.

It involved if Kyle couldn't watch a game, he would call Ryan, who would put his phone up to the TV and FaceTime the game to him.

There's a stepbrothers feel here of like guys who just instantly became best friends over the Colorado Avalanche.

Right.

Down to what feels like a climactic Pratfall

or would-be Pratt fall.

But of course, because we are a show based on journalism,

you got to know Ryan yourself.

Yes.

We ended up talking to him.

He had lost his laptop and he had borrowed a phone and he was on lunch break.

Okay, so where are you today right now?

Currently out in Bennett, Colorado.

At like a job site or something?

Yeah, we're working in the Elizabeth School District.

So this is just a little bit north of that right now.

At a gas station privilege.

Do we have a limited amount of time?

This whole story just just started to just sort of pour out of Ryan from the front seat of his car.

Right.

The reception, terrible.

Yeah.

The sentiment, crystal clear.

And we both, we were avalanche season ticket holders together, so thoroughbred fans through and through.

Him more so than myself.

I mean, this dude's coffee table in his living room was a hockey rink that resembled the Pepsi Center back when it was that before, excuse me, Paul arena

and just diehard one of the best guys I know miss him dearly if he had the choice whether to breathe air or watch the avalanche play hockey he's gonna suffocate you know what I'm saying he's gonna he's gonna watch the game well that that didn't disappoint right that's exactly as we advertised I just love that he's recording from like half an inch away from his face.

Yeah.

But you know what's funny is immediately, the minute he mentions Kyle's name,

you can see the emotion start to bubble up.

Yes.

They had been best friends for almost a dozen years when after a seizure,

Kyle died in 2021.

Suddenly, even speaking years later, it's still very emotional and

hard for Ryan to think about.

It's hard to talk and not get emotional.

So it's trying not to do because I miss it.

But yeah,

all around great individual, very caring, very loving,

way too young, passed away at 32.

So

way too young.

But in terms of the thing that got Ryan on the news, him spreading Kyle's ashes on the ice inside their favorite building in the world.

I imagine there are some liability concerns, perhaps even criminal fears when it comes to just what might happen to you if you try to do that.

You're not the only one who thinks that way, right?

Because Ryan and Kyle's family, they set aside bail money.

So they got Kyle's ashes into a Ziploc bag.

They got tickets to a game and they sort of snuck Kyle in.

Two of the hottest teams in the National Hockey League squaring off tonight.

It's the Avalanche and the Leafs that beat.

Last time these two teams hooked up, it was all.

Yeah, January 8th, 2022.

The Avalanche are hosting the Toronto Maple Maple Leafs.

And

it's Operation Kyle.

In between periods, he saw the Zamboni come out.

And so he worked his way all the way down to the glass next to the visitor's bench.

Basically put one foot up on a armrest of a seat, a front row seat, the other foot teetering on the edge of the boards.

A family member of Kyle's is like holding Ryan, all all 340 pounds of Ryan, teetering on the boards, supporting him from the backside.

This is not quite subtle.

Then he gets the Ziploc bag, gets it up to the top of the glass, and then deposits Kyle onto the ice

where their beloved Avalanche play.

Until the Zamboni.

And I just want to make this clear.

What about the machine that cleans the ice?

If a hockey fan knows how a Zamboni works, it was kind of genius because it swept up Kyle and repurposed him into the ice.

So now Kyle was literally a part of the entire surface in Colorado.

He was integrated

into the playing surface.

I mean, honestly, from one hockey fan to another, tip of the cap to Ryan.

There are diehard fans, and then there are die-hard fans.

Yes.

But what happens after

this

sequence of events?

Like, what happens to Ryan?

Well, when a 300-pound man

deposits a strange substance over the boards at a hockey arena, it

tends to get people's attention.

Instantly, an usher was kind of like, what'd you just do?

What was that?

I came down

and it took less than, I'd say,

I'd say not even a full minute before somebody, one of the little younger usher kids came over and was like, hey, so

what was that?

He didn't lie.

He didn't run.

That's when I explained to him what it was and who it was.

He just kind of said, that was my best friend.

He's like, and I just put him on the ice.

And so they escorted him out of the seats and into the arena where he was informed he wasn't going to be arrested, but he was definitely going to be banned from the arena.

For how long?

Well, indefinitely at that point, it ended up being for the rest of the season.

Man.

And so there is cruelty in that punishment.

Right.

I mean, it's the opposite of what, of course, you're trying to accomplish here.

You're trying to stay in the building with your friend.

The cops, the usher, everybody associated with the team, and especially all the fans were kind of like, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen.

But publicly, you can't do this.

Right.

But after Ryan is escorted out of the building and he is banned for the rest of the season and he's watching these games from home where he is forced to be,

what is going through his mind?

No regrets.

I did what I needed to do.

Every time I turn that TV on to watch a game, there he is.

You know, regardless, just when they're, when they're in that, when I see somebody smash somebody up on boards over there, I'm just like, you got a first hand view, buddy.

There you go.

Then it becomes a little bit of sadness.

There's joy mixed in with sadness because it's like, when I die, well, Kyle's gone.

I'm Kyle's best friend.

I'm like sitting there going, who's going to, who's going to be that person that can do it for me?

And the thing that makes...

Ryan's story a story for us in this special way is that it becomes very clear, Phlegm, as we assign you to look into this story.

While Ryan Clark is still searching for his own caretaker in this regard, there are so many other

Ryan Clarks.

There is an avalanche of ashes coming

to your favorite sports arena, your favorite field, your favorite racetrack.

It's coming.

This trend is happening as we speak.

If you're looking to add something special to your next celebration, try Remy Martin 1738 Accord Royale.

This smooth, flavorful cognac is crafted from the finest grapes and aged to perfection, giving you rich notes of oak and caramel with every sip.

Whether you're celebrating a big win or simply enjoying some cocktails with family and friends, Remy Martin 1738 is the perfect spirit to elevate any occasion.

So go ahead, treat yourself to a little luxury, and try Remy Martin 1738 Accord Royale.

Learn more at remymartin.com.

Remy Martin Coggiac, Feen Champagne, Orton, Alcoholic, Volume 40 by Remy Control, USA Incorporated in Europe, New York, 1738, Centaur Design.

Please print responsibly.

I do want to establish, Phlegm, that there are are other ways to celebrate your lifelong devotion to a sports team that also involve death and death rituals that aren't quite as dangerous, it seems, as spreading your ashes unilaterally in a special operation.

Who knew there was a whole cottage industry for fans in the afterlife?

You can get your face painted onto a Jets custom-painted coffin, and that has grown into Jets urns.

And we found a place where they will take your ashes and make them into a golf ball that you can, that

you can shank unto eternity.

Not the greatest website name.

I'm just going to put that out there, too.

Strong disagree.

This place is great.

I am on now extraholes.com.

It says, since the game began, golfers have long to spent eternity on the golf course.

We've made that possible.

You hit the ball, and spoiler alert, the ball bursts bursts into quote, several pieces, releasing the ashes into the air for a short distance before settling softly onto the ground.

So, this is not quite the long drive competition.

Okay, so it's maybe it is, in fact, the longest drive in a certain sense.

You are again integrated into

the surface.

And if you're wondering, it is $350 for a dozen balls.

And so, you know, there is a market, Phlegm, a market for this very sort of thing.

Yeah.

And the highest form of this is spreading those ashes in what have become our cathedrals, our churches, which are the sports arenas.

There was a study in 2024 by Mutual Choice, a company that does insurance policies to cover end-of-life costs.

And they did a survey of Americans, all 50 states, where they would want their ashes to be spread.

11 out of the 50 states, the number one place where people wanted to have their ashes left were sports venues.

Yes, in Alabama, the number one response was actually Talladega Super Speedway.

I know, I'm like, Brian Denny is right there.

Yeah.

But noted, Massachusetts, Fenway, North Dakota, the Alaris Center, where University of North Dakota football team plays their games.

And cremation, by the way, also didn't know this.

Finding this out through your research, we are living through peak cremation, Phleb.

10 years ago, 15 years ago, the ratio of cremation to burial was 35 cremation, 65% burial.

They're predicting that by 2030, it will be flip-flopped.

It'll be 75% of Americans will be getting cremated and 25%

will still want to be buried.

Yeah, all of that research, of course, provided by the NFDA, which we all know is the National Funeral Directors Association,

which raises the question of these sports venues, right?

The places that Ryan Clark, for instance, had a great interest in.

How do they feel about this trend?

They're scared to death, as it were.

They are scared to death, and they are doing everything they can to try and subvert it and to.

press pause.

Why?

What are they so afraid of?

First of all, we should point out, right, ashes are not they're not harmful to to humans at all there are no microorganisms in ashes they're inert the one thing that they can be harmful to is turf the alkaline and the sodium levels and the pH levels are high enough that if you were to leave human remains in ashes on really good grass or turf, it could burn it out.

Like if you, if you over fertilize your lawn or something like that.

Right.

The salt burn.

Yeah.

Basically.

Yeah.

Which means that then the groundskeepers need to dig that stuff up.

I can imagine pragmatically, this is annoying.

But the venues themselves, what do they have to say about this?

I think there's a legitimate fear, especially amongst football stadiums, that at some point, maybe even during the Super Bowl, somebody is going to dive for a touchdown and it's going to be a puff of grandpa's ashes come up.

Three yards and a cloud of grandpa.

Exactly.

Well, now we know the title of this.

This is

just name it.

They are scared to death because they've already become overrun with requests.

Right.

So basically, what we're saying is sports has never been more monocultural.

It is the lone big tent left in American life.

We say this all the time on this show.

And they are now worried about copycats,

people who are in fact seeing news stories like the one we played.

Yeah.

For instance, going to baseball now in the aforementioned Fenway Park.

A woman placed her father's ashes through netting behind home plate at Fenway Park and then posted it on Twitter.

Now, the field at Fenway, of course, is legendary, and for a lot of people, it's the ultimate resting place.

But putting a loved one's ashes on the field isn't allowed.

But one woman says her dad would have been proud that she broke the rules in his honor.

WBC.

I reached out to half a dozen SEC schools, and people wouldn't even respond.

People would not be quoted off the record.

They didn't want to be referenced.

They didn't want to be any part of this because they don't want to encourage more people

to leave grandpa at the 50-yard line.

Right.

Their silence spoke volumes on the college level.

And in the pros, yeah, in the pros, where I have friendships, relationships with PR staffs, with front offices for 30 years, these people, maybe for the first time in my career, and I've done some weird ass stories.

You truly have.

One of my closest friends in a very popular AFC, very successful AFC franchise was like, Phlegm, whoa, no, I can't, I don't don't want to be quoted.

I don't even want to be mentioned that you reached out to me.

The Cowboys PR guy, I put it really well, if not

unpoetically.

It was like, we don't want a line of hearses lined up outside of our stadium on Sundays.

Right.

I imagine maybe they saw this happen also in Green Bay at Lambeau, where a fan got tackled, again, trying to...

Trying to do the same thing.

During a Packers Eagles game at Lincoln Financial Field in 2005, this fan ran onto the field spreading his mother's ashes.

He dropped to his knees and made the sign of the cross.

He was arrested, fined, and the game went on.

Packers PR, I imagine, not loving this either.

They were immediately against it.

The response I got back was, hey, Dave, nice to hear from you again.

Thanks for checking, but we wouldn't be able to participate in this one.

It's against the law in Wisconsin and it's against Lambeau Field policy.

So the building policy understood they don't want this to happen, but citing the law in Wisconsin raises that question of is this illegal in that state and also across the country?

Yeah, I think the Packers PR overstated a little bit.

And that's part of what's leading to this trend is that legally, there are no overarching laws on a federal or a state level that prohibits people from spreading ashes or human remains.

But that law then defers to if it's on private property, you need to get permission.

And so obviously arenas, stadiums, racetracks, baseball fields, that's private property.

You need to obtain permission.

Right.

It's their choice to say in the face of this oncoming avalanche, no.

And so.

In terms of when this trend really took off, do we know historically when the cremation and personalization and this whole thing really did turn to something that became a boom?

Another fascinating wrinkle to this, right?

We reached out to a professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago.

Her name is Dr.

Shannon Lee Doddy.

She's also the author of American Afterlives, which is this fascinating study of the changes in death rituals in America over the last maybe quarter century.

My specialty is American culture and archaeology and history up to the present.

And her theory is that it was 9-11 really began to change things.

There were things that were happening in terms of increasing options and personalization and certainly a steady growth in the U.S.

of cremation, but 9-11 acted like, I guess you would say, an accelerant to these trends where things just rapidly changed after that, particularly a move towards cremation and the very and very personalized kind of ad hoc rituals and memorials.

She thinks there have been more changes in American death rituals in the last 10 years than the last 100 combined.

But because this is all against the rules,

it does feel rebellious in a way.

Is she familiar with this specific phenomenon, this dynamic?

Yeah, she even coined the phrase wildcat

scattering.

There's something that attracts people to it precisely because it may not be allowed.

Like there's something transgressive about that and a transgressive ritual.

It seems like if you're taking a risk to honor the person, it seems like you're honoring them, you know, a little more.

You're not supposed to do this shit.

Right.

Like I love you so much, I will risk jail to spread your ashes.

It's one of the strongest urges that we possess as animals.

And sports more and more is the only place that people can turn to to fulfill that psychological need.

And I think the fact that someone would choose a sports venue as their final resting place, or that they would risk to do that for someone they loved, it proves that this isn't a theory.

This is happening.

It's happened.

Yeah, it does occur to me that we are living at a time when people are fretting about the decline of communal spaces, the secularization of America, the decline of religiosity.

But the thing that no one is worried about from a market perspective and a popularity perspective is sports.

And post-pandemic, especially, It does feel like an arena full of people is our house of worship.

It's never felt more special actually.

A hundred years ago about

a

French anthropologist, sociologist named Emil Durkheim called this feeling that we get when we're experiencing a spectacle in a group of people where everybody's in one space and going through an experience of awe or elation together.

And he called that collective effervescence.

and think of like bubbling up right and that makes people conscious of the group of something bigger than themselves and it is

it causes an experience of euphoria and it also makes that group stronger when everybody disperses they remember that special feeling of collective effervescence and and if they keep coming back it can become addictive and i think that that sports events and sports stadiums if you're not losing too badly,

has that effect.

Yeah, that is where I want to just push back on Dr.

Dowdy because I do think the resiliency of a miserable jet cowboy fill-in-the-blank sports fan, the losing almost never gets in the way of

their true love in the way that you logically might think.

Yeah, the suffering is what proves the faith.

But this is why I am frustrated to hear these venues,

these cathedrals cathedrals say actually to their most devoted parishioners, we don't want you to bring your loved ones in that form here.

That seems to be a tremendous bummer when it comes to the rules.

It's not going to work.

It won't hold, right?

This trend is, it's, it's just, it's too powerful, it's too strong, it's too popular.

And they're just stupid to not try and figure out a happy medium or to meet their fans somewhere in between where it's like okay if if grandpa was a georgia bulldog fan we'll figure out a way to get them sort of we'll put them in the stadium somewhere and celebrate that this is i mean

can there be a higher form of fandom of tribute what would it look like if you embraced the ryan clarks of the world instead of banned them yeah can we find someone who's doing this can we convince some place yeah to just to embrace this what is it what would it look like if a sports venue embraced this and encouraged fans to do this?

And we managed to find that exact spot down in Florida.

Of course.

So what cathedral in Florida, Phlem,

agrees with our sensibility here at Pablo Tour, it finds out.

So we found Wayne Estes who is the president and general manager of Sebring International Speedway in Sebring, Florida.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to a packed Sebring International Raceway, the original home of Formula One here in the U.S.

And of course, down through its considerable history since the 1950s, has been a mecca for sports car fans, drivers and teams.

Yeah, and this track, by the way, in Sea Ring, Florida, America's oldest road racing track, but all sorts of races of all kinds are held there and have been for decades upon decades.

And accordingly, they have a very different policy toward their fans and toward their fans' ashes than, say, oh, the Colorado Avalanche.

You get the phone call, and they almost always would start the same way.

It would be, I'll bet you've never had this request before, or this is going to be a very unusual request.

uh and almost every time someone says that to me now i think i got a feeling this is someone who's lost a loved one and wants to distribute the ashes here we need way more wayne in the sports world and one of the things he immediately talked about was

why wouldn't you do this to me it was a it was a tremendous compliment to the venue to the to the racetrack to the event and i i i still see it that way here at seabring as well it's a tremendous compliment that a place

has that kind of passion, that people have that kind of passion for the event, for the venue.

And that first time,

I didn't ask anybody.

I just said, yeah, we'll make that work.

We'll go wherever we have to go.

Where do you want to go?

And accordingly, they have a very different policy toward their fans and toward their fans' ashes than, say, oh, the Colorado Avalanche.

How do you turn somebody away that makes that request?

I mean, it's just a phenomenal honor that anybody would ask

to make that kind of a gesture at the venue where you're promoting events.

So Wayne has had as many as three cremation ceremonies in a single weekend.

And people, you know,

pile up potentially.

And it's funny, people, some people want to go in a turn.

Some people want to go at the start finish line.

Some people want to go in pit row.

And Wayne accommodates it all.

We took to his attitude right away.

And I stayed in touch with Wayne, you know, as the PTFO death correspondent.

That's part of my job.

This is your beat.

Yep.

And Wayne, God love them, reached out a couple of days later and said, you know, I was just contacted by another fan who is hoping to spread her husband's ashes at the track.

And of course I asked if I could tag along.

And of course, we assigned you to go down to Florida.

Get to Florida, Phlegm.

Who are you there to meet?

So we got to meet this lovely woman named Edna Smith, who was at the track to remember her late husband, Ron,

who loved all things racing, all things cars, all things mechanical.

He always was very avid about air and space.

and cars and fast cars.

We probably had

in his lifetime a car.

He had 30-some cars, and my friends couldn't attest to that, you know.

And they were all very unusual cars and fun, fun to drive.

Did he have a favorite, favorite car?

Favorite kind?

Yeah,

he had an E-type Jaguar XKE.

That was a nice car.

That was probably his favorite that he ever had.

So you were married to James Bond, is what you're saying.

Or wanna be.

So, as we're watching Edna stand on the track with you, whose idea was it to scatter Ron's ashes across the track?

She wanted to do something that honored him, celebrated his life, the things that he loved, but then also would give her a eternal connection to him, that she could watch races there, she could return to the track and always be sort of closer to him.

So it was, it was Edna's idea.

The ashes sat for a while before I, you know, thought about what I could do to

in honor of his memory, you know.

And the first thing I came up was to go skydiving.

So I did.

In January of this year, I took Ron's ashes up skydiving.

And I was really, really nervous, but it was the mission accomplished.

I was just covered with his ashes all over me because the wind blew the wrong way.

And I was like, oh my heavens.

But it was, yeah, it was awesome, really awesome.

And then I, you know, I still had half of his ashes left.

So I'm thinking, you know, what else can I do?

And my friends kind of helped me with the idea of the

Seabrim racetrack, you know, take his ashes over there.

And to be clear, we are honored that she allowed us.

to be there for it.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, yeah, it was, we were sort of humbled by that and we approached it that way, that we were there to observe and to not get in the way.

And we understood that this was

very sort of important, solemn moment.

Yeah, and I want to make clear too that one of my real joys on this show is to send people out into the world, you often in specific,

and then

finally

find out what this religious, profound ceremony for Edna and Ron was like.

And so, I have not seen this video yet.

So, let's hit play.

Beautiful blue sky.

Edna in the back seat of a convertible.

Yep.

And they let us put a GoPro behind her.

So she's got Ron's remains in a Ziploc baggie and she's in a convertible provided by Wayne.

And we are going down the main straightaway.

She's reaching into the Ziploc bag and she is throwing Ron

And you can hear her giggling, right?

She's giggling.

And she's talking to him, right?

She's smiling.

She's giggling.

She's talking to him.

Every 10 seconds, a handful of Ron is going onto the straightaway at Sebring.

And also everywhere else, I think.

Ron is in the car.

He's in the seats.

And Ron's going all over Edna, too.

Oh, yeah.

Ron is omnipresent.

Yes, she's emptying the Ziploc.

Rarely is cremation also a joyride.

Yeah, at one point, so then we were in a minivan in front of them as well.

And they were stepping on the gas because it's hard to be on.

Her hair is blowing in the breeze.

Her sunglasses are on.

She's grinning.

The way she explained it was kind of like Ron wouldn't be jealous, but he would be so happy that she chose this as a way to sort of memorialize him.

This is what he loved and to see her so happy too.

Because you cannot get on this track and not floor it, right?

It's like we, they, they gave us access to the track and it was like, I kept going, punch it, punch it, Wayne, punch it.

When she got out of the car, she patted her pants and just poofs of smoke, her ash came up.

And I love that.

Yes.

I just love that.

You can see there are, I mean, Ron, God love him.

And there ended up being handprints, fingerprints.

It's funny how quickly you get connected to somebody like that when they share a moment like this.

And I went out because there were still piles of ashes every so often.

We all kind of went out and said goodbye to Ron.

Now you understand why people are willing to go to jail to do this because it means

beautiful, man.

Yeah, it really means something more than just just going to a gravestone.

Well, it's absurd and it's beautiful and it is, of course, deeply serious.

It's, it's also lighthearted and something we can celebrate as we marvel upon the ridiculous nature of what it means to be a human being.

Just so something so poetic and beautiful about this ceremony and the fact that it is a mess,

that it's unpredictable, that the ashes go everywhere.

When was the last time you were at a traditional funeral or a cemetery and people were giggling and laughing and talking to the deceased and sort of it was a celebration and i think that's part of the changing death rituals in america that's what people want they want a celebration of life and boy the you just saw it there in living color yes um ron is going to be a part of that track, a part of Edna, and also definitely in the upholstery, I think, based on just the statistical distribution of what I was witnessing there in the video.

Well, and here's the thing: Ron is also a part of your favorite correspondent, Ron.

At one point, Ron blew into our camera, into our microphone cover.

Ron, boy, Ron gets around.

I just cannot say this enough.

Thank you to Edna for letting us celebrate Ron with her.

Yeah.

Because it reminds me of what we started the story with, which is Ryan, die-hard hockey fan, who didn't have the same welcome mat laid out for him after he tried to do this for his loved one.

But luckily, that was not the end of the story for Ryan and Kyle and the Colorado Avalanche.

Okay, so now we're back in Colorado, Phlegm, with the story of Ryan Clark and his best friend, Kyle Stark.

And you mentioned that this was not the end for Ryan, his banning from his favorite building for the rest of that season.

So,

what the f happened?

Something magical happened once Kyle became a part of Ball Arena.

They win that game against the Leafs 5-4 in overtime.

Marching down deep, shoots and stars.

Devon Taves rips it past Campbell, and the comeback is complete.

Then they go on this incredible streak.

They don't lose another game inside Kyle's arena for a month, which is unheard of, right?

It's unheard of.

4-3 to shoot out at Ball Arena.

Sarah Pat scores.

Winners Scott, the overtime winner.

It's unheard of

in hockey, especially as they're trying to build toward the playoffs.

And as a Red Wings fan, I'm watching the Avalanche going, what is going on with that?

The Avalanche can't lose.

Here's Makar.

Loose it go.

Merchary Leconen has scored.

He's sent his team in overtime to the Stanley Cup final.

All I can think about, of course, is that Ryan can't be there.

He's at home watching all of these games.

He cannot witness the streak because he's been banned.

But, you know, I think in Ryan's mind, it's perfect.

That's my boy helping him out, is all I can say.

You know, that was

an extra body power play.

So you're going,

you know, you're going six on four as opposed to, you know, five on four.

And, you know, everybody in that corner, he's grabbing their legs.

Yeah, hold on, bud.

You're going to stay here.

it is hard to deny the impact of Kyle Stark

it was awesome to see it was awesome to know that he was there during that whole time frame that whole

that whole playout and I'm sorry that I look away I just try not to break down again because it's

yeah it's

it's still fresh even though it's been a few

Part of the emotion, though, is joy, right?

Oh,

yes.

Yes, absolutely, yes.

Like when they dropped that banner, I wish I could have been there for that game because they should put Kyle's name on the bottom of it, you know, or at least at least his initials on the cup in the corner, you know.

Like, what is this?

KES, don't worry about that, just hang it in that, you know, take that layer, that layer off, put a fresh one on.

We're listening to Ryan, yet another person in this episode, getting emotional in a car.

Celebrate what his team, their team, pulled off thanks thanks to his best friend.

Manson to the Kiddon.

Bouncing puck and a goal.

Arturi Lekkinen makes it two to one.

Colorado.

His team won the Stanley Cup.

The dream.

The dream.

Phlem.

Man, can they spread some Kyle in Detroit?

Five seconds to go.

Up it comes to the line.

Colorado has won the Stanley Cup.

And in the present tense, of course, Ryan can go back

to ball arena.

He was.

He was only sort of kept out of the arena for the rest of that season.

And then he was allowed to come back.

He can go back to the building where his favorite team plays.

And when he is there now, I imagine that all of this feels

different.

Different, but in a great way.

And so now every time, again, you saw it with Edna, you see it with ryan

he feels kyle's presence there he talks to kyle when he's in that arena he's got a a place where he can sort of visit his friend forever now

and i am just left at the end of this episode wondering about that question which is when kyle said i'm like sitting there going who's going to be that person that can do it for me when you know

the the biggest question posed in this episode episode, maybe.

Yeah, I think what we've discovered is there's now a new highest form of friendship and fandom,

right?

It's like somebody willing to spread your ashes, wildcat spread your ashes at your favorite sports arena.

But as for Ryan, it's a little bit sad, right?

His person is gone.

He doesn't have a person to spread his ashes.

And so as the official now lifelong PTFO death correspondent, I went ahead and volunteered.

Right here, Ryan, I got you.

I got you.

I got, I got media credentials.

I'll put you wherever you want to go.

And I know we're joking and laughing, but

you know, at the end of this process, I got to tell you, I'm 100% serious.

I will be there for Ryan when he needs me.

Tay Fleming, I have never doubted your sincerity on these assignments.

And I already,

whenever it needs to be,

long into the future,

I am ready.

Well, we're going to turn you into golf balls, Pablo.

So

this has been Pablo Torre Finds Out, a Metalark Media production.

And I'll talk to you next time.