No Days Off: Patrick Walsh, Whaling City Title & Closing

All right. Welcome back to Mortgage Daddies. Today, we got Patrick Walsh II? third? What are you? first, technically, yes. first? P. Diddy. I am also Patrick, but different middle names. Oh, all right. I always thought it was the same as your dad. But Pat, uh, owns Whaling City Title & Closing. Uh, he’s been working with, uhHe’s been working with me pretty much since I got into this business at another company and then started his own and has had a ton of success on it. So happy to have you here, my man. Yeah, one of the OGs to Milestone. He’s been around basically, started off with another company and then went off and opened up, uh, Whaling City. So he’s been around basically, I want to say, since the inception of Milestone, maybe a few months into it. I think we had a mutual friend. Yeah. We were over at, uh, 77 State Road painting and getting prepped. 77 State Road. Back-to-back podcast we talked about 77 State Road today. I’m Vernon. I run the top mortgage brokerage in Massachusetts with over 20 years of experience. I’m Craig. I’ve done $100 million consistently since my second full year in the business and I’m Massachusetts’ top mortgage broker. We’re the Mortgage Daddies, with real advice, real stories and real results. Let’s get going. Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. All right, here we go. Appreciate it. Of course. Yeah, man. So how’s business been? We were just talking about 2025 wrap up on our, our last podcast. You guys had a eventful year. Yes. Some ups, some downs, but I, uh, I feel like you guys probably ride the same type of wave we do here at Milestone. I know how you operate. So weQ4 is always the strongest quarter of the year. And then, like, you know, hit Q1 and everybody wants to take their foot off the gas. I’m like, “No, no, no, no, guys. Can we just keep working like that? “Like, we gotta, we gotta make this a 365-day year. Yeah. Uh, I think at the end of the year, everyone grinds, close out, you know, finish strong, work on those numbers. Got a lot of calls from agents trying to hit certain milestones, some of you are loan officers trying to get that President’s Club. Um, so I think that works well, but I think you’re right, the carryover. Uh, I remember you’ve been saying to me for a decade, you know, a lot of people take their foot off the gas during the holidays and it reflects in January, February, March. Uh, and seeing the people who never took their foot off the gas and keep pushing through and are still going right now full throttle, we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of those guys that work with us. So it, it was a very good year and a lot of ups and downs. But finished strong and building for a big 2026 for sure. Yeah, it always amazes me why people want toNot want to, they just, they take their foot off the gas for, like, 2 months and then they wonder why it takes them an additional 2 months to get ramped back up. I’m like, “You just lost 25% of your year ’cause you took 65, 70 days off. “It’s like, just work. Like, if you’re not gonna work 40 hours a week or whatever they’re working, work 30, 32, right? I’m not saying don’t take any time off, but, uh, you see it. I mean, weI don’t want to go into the same podcast we just shot, but it’s like, you’re a grinder. I’ve called you at 9:00, 10:00. We’ve been on conference calls back in the day with you when we were first starting off at fucking 10:00 at night, talking shit, scheming up, trying to figure out what the next best thing is that we’re gonna try to introduce and build out. So, uh, yeah, kudos to you finally having you back on the podcast. I know, uh, Auntie Wendy’s change your, uh, your schedule up, like, 4 different times, so. A few times, yes. Looking good, my man. You, uh, you working out, I hear. I, I, I hear you got a couple of my loan officers on group text messages in the morning sending pictures at the gym. I see that every once in a while. Javi, you gotta watch out. He’s coming for you. He’s at the gym in his workout getting his flex on at, what is it, 5:30 in the morning? I’m seeing these texts come through. 5:00 or 5:30 typically, yeah. Get over there, Planet Fitness. How long have you been doing that for now? Uh, 5 months now. 4 months, 5 months. Jesus. At the gym. At the gym. 5:30, 4 or 5 months. 5:00, 5:30 They say it takes 6 months to make it a habit, so. I’m kidding, of course. Yeah, I was close. I was close. Trust me, if there were days to break, they’ve already come and gone. But, uhNo, it does. It becomes a habit, uh, almost to the point where you feel weird not working out for that day. Um, you know, and it kind of throws you off. But to exactly what you said, going back to people taking their foot off the gas, um, you know, Michael Phelps talks about in his swimming training, he went 5 years consecutive without a single day off. And he- Christmas everything, I saw that. And his reason was if you take one day off in swimming, you lose 2. And that’s very true here, whether it be you lose a deal with somebody else because you didn’t answer the phone, the deal doesn’t work out, whatever it may be. Taking a day off can literally kill you in this business. And that doesn’t mean don’t be with your family. Uh, I’ve been on vacation with both you guys. Yeah. Right? The phone still gets answered, the work gets done. You get back to your family. It’s the type of job you, you always gotta be available to a point. I mean, you can take time off, but you’reI’ve always said, like, weThere’s never been one single day that I’m like, I do not answer my phone or look at my phone or look at my email and completely shut off since I’ve started. I mean, we’re lucky to be in a business where we’re answering the phone and that’s our job, right? That’s, that’s what I try to coach to people. Like, we’re, we’re not digging ditches, we’re not, like, doing manual labor outside. Like, you need to take a vacation and get away from that stuff, right? Like, answering our phones, reading emails. Like, dude, we’re the lucky ones. Like, can you imagine, I hear loan officers all the time like, I told him I’d get back to him, like, tomorrow. Like, I don’t have time to get back to that email. “I’m like, “Yeah, that would’ve taken you, like, 35 seconds. “You’ve already wasted more time telling me about- Tell them your story, yeah. not getting back to that client than it would have gotten it. Like, I don’t, like, I don’t understand, so. I think that’s definitely one of the things that, like, especiallyI mean, we don’tOnce you get things going, you don’t need to talk to people as much. So it’s like, we don’t talk as much as we used to. But in the beginning, like, all the time we would talk andConversations at 9:00 at night on the weekends trying to get things to work out. I mean, I think that was definitely, like, one of the things that separated you a lot from the other attorneys, or just, it’s the relationship. And I think that’s always been a very strong suit of yours. When people always ask me, I’m like, “Pat’s really good at building relationships with people and, you know, always being available to talk to them and have conversations and to help them. “And to put people in contact with the right people has always been, like, your biggest strong suit, in my opinion, and what separated you and helped you grow your business. And, you know, w- why, why do you think that’sIs that what you focus on, or you just think that’s just always been, like, something you’ve done without even thinking about it? I think it’s a combination. So obviously, you know, in this area, I know a lot of people. Uh, and I don’t mean that in a connected way. Just like you said, connecting people with the right people, um, I think that’s a, a big part of it. And then I worked at, down at Sullivan, Williams & Quinton at the time, Williams, Quinton & O’Leary now for Ray & Jay, and those guys were awesome. I was working there when I met Vern. Um, and he saw the obstacles that I had there, and it was, it was 9:00 to 4:00, you didn’t have your email on your phone after hours, no one answered the phone. So if something happened at 4:01 tomorrow at 9:00, and I saw that was a big problem and an obstacle when I was trying to get Vern’s business over there at the time, was, “I just can’t do it. I can’t get ahold of anybody. “Uh, so I saw that there was a niche for that for somebody who would be willing to work after the hours, and that means whether it’s taking the phone call or finding the people who work for you to be available as well. I saw you this weekend. You were on vacation. Email with Nicole, the 2 of you working on a Saturday. I didn’t ask her to do that, but she knows that that’s what we have to do in this business to get it done, uh, and I think that has been extremely helpful in us building what we’ve built so far. You definitely have one of the stronger back offices, what we call it in the business. Like, your, your paralegals, your, your support staff are probably bar none to just about anybody between Nicole and Mickey and even Olivia as, as, as a closing attorney out there. There’s very rarely, if ever, I’ll leave at chances maybe there’s been one or 2 instances, you never know and I don’t wanna say ever, but where, you know, your office has said no. Right? It’s like, “Well, no, but this is why. “Right? There’s always a why to it. And I think, you know, we talk about it a lot in our podcast is, you know, if you explain the why to somebody, it’s absolutely okay. If you just say no and you hang up the phone, they’re finding somebody else that’s gonna say yes or explain the why. S- sometimes it’s like the solution can’t be figured out tonight, but it’s just having a response back about that, A, we’re working on it or whatever it is. And there’s random attorneys that we get put in contact with that we- people wanna work with and it’s like, you’re, you’re sending emails, you’re calling them, you can’t get an answer, thatEveryone’s stress level just goes up- Mm-hmm. drastically. And this is a very stressful process for most people that are buying a house w- for whatever reason, right? And when it- when people don’t answer, that stress level goes up, agents’ stress level goes up- Mm-hmm. And now all of a sudden i- the whole thing builds to a head and blows up over something so minor and just having a response back or, you know, a phone call back about it and just kind of eases everybody’s mind of what the solution’s gonna be or what we’re going to do, it just, it takes somebody that would now have to stew on that all night long th- till the morning to not have an answer of what’s going on and to just get them an answer or get them a timeline of when they’re gonna get an answer, and it’s really not difficult. And I think we’ve all, we’ve, we all operate the very similar way. Like if a client calls me at 9:00 at night, do I want to answer the phone call? No. But if I can spend 5 minutes and I just appease them and get them the answer they need or whatever it is, you know, they’re gonna remember that forever. And, you know, we were talking about it earlier on the other podcast, and it was kind of something like I think about a little bit was, you know, in the beginning, I was always pushing, push, pushing to get more realtors, more realtors because that leads to more business. But now I’ve really found that like when I look back at the numbers per month, I’m like a lot of these deals I’m getting are not from realtors, they’re from past clients. Mm-hmm. Because you had that support that those people needed and they remember that. Like they don’t remember, you know, they remember the bad things, but they remember the person that, you know, helped them along the way. You know, they, they’re, they’reIn a transaction, in my opinion, maybe you remember everybody, but either you remember the loan officer or you remember the realtor or maybe you remember the closing attorney, probably the least on your end depending on the situation, what it falls into, right? Sure. Most of the time when people need to know you really well, it’s because something’s not going well. There’s a problem. Yeah. You don’t wanna be known. So it’s a, it’s a little bit different on your end. But, you know, those people and y- you kind of see it in a transaction as it’s going. It’s like who’s their main point of contact? Does everything run through the agent or is that client coming more to you for those questions that, dude, they’re real estate related questions, but they’re coming to me about it or maybe they’re going to you about it. And it’s just getting the answer or pointing them in the right direction, just being that kind of quarterback in the situation is really what separates you and then those people come back over and over and over again because you supported them throughout it. You know, you didn’t not answer their call or text. And sometimes it’s just, “Hey, I’ll look into this in the morning about you. “”Okay, perfect. No problem. “Yep. You know, because it’s something I have to look into and I can’t access it, but I mean, with technology and stuff now, most of the stuff on, on my phone I can get an answer to somebody for pretty quickly, you know? Think about how quickly, right, a question comes about a tax thing that got sent out. Yeah. Right? And you get the phone call and then the email comes to us and then the responses come back right away and it’s out and it’s over with in 5 minutes. Oh, it’s the best, dude, ’cause it’s like, I’m the same way. I get whyI think that’s why I have a lot of compassion for people-because I am the worst. You’re all friends here. We keep the call. We know what you’re gonna say, but you say it. You guys have known me for a long time. I am the most inpatient person. Like when I want a response, I want a response like yesterday. Like before I even sent it about something. So I get why agents are like that. I get why clients are like that because, you know, they don’t know the whole thing. Like they don’t realize how not important it is or like, it’s gonna get worked out down the line, or this is just like a prelim number, whatever it is. But like, they see it and they just think that’s the thing. And where like, we all know sitting here like, that, that the underwriter probably like put 10 months of taxes by accident. Yeah. Or what- or they doubled up the taxes on that CD that went out. Like they have it as county and they have it as, you know, uh, town or whatever. Mm-hmm. So it’s double hitting them and it’s not a big deal. Like it will 100% get fixed. Of course. But to them they’re just like, “Why did my closing costs go up $2,000? “You’re like, don’t worry about it. If you don’t answer them that night and they gotta stew on it, ’cause if you don’t answer it, now they’re gonna call their agent. Next person. Or they’re gonna call this next person and before you know it, it’s like you got 5 people- And you get 3 calls. calling you about something so minor. They’re calling your staff about it. Yeah. And then they’re asking you. Yeah. A- and that goes back, different world obviously, but it’s the most important thing that people are doing in their life, buying a house. Mm-hmm. Right? And, uh- They don’t do it every day. No. And their questions aren’t unreasonable, whatever they are. but I remember my dad telling me when I first got into the business, he said, “Return every phone call every day no matter what you do. “He s- heI remember him, he would go back to the office, 4:00 or 5:00 and sit there for an hour and call every single person. And his big thing was 9 out of 10, I don’t have an update. There was nothing going on. He was in the criminal world so it was completely d- Not a criminal. He was a criminal defense attorney. So- Let’s clarify that. Things don’t move fast in that world. But parents wanted an update, the client wanted an update. And it was just to give them, like you said, that peace of mind so they’re not stewing on it overnight. And it may be, hey, we’re not gonna have anything for 2 weeks, but at least you answered their question, you put them at ease. And they will remember that and they’ll come back. If you make it difficult for them, they’re never gonna call you again. So you know, I’ve heard you say on your last podcast, sometimes the answer is, “I don’t know the answer. “Right? Yeah. And, and I’ll find it out and I’ll get back to you. But even that at least answers them- They know you’re working on it. in that moment. Correct. Yeah, they can’t go days without getting a response. And I think, you know, just because of the attorney world, like attorneys are in court. They’reSo it’s like that practice in general is not like a quick response. No. But on this side of the business, and that’s why I think like when you are buying a house, not using your typical attorney that you may use for all your other stuff or your business, it’s important to use somebody that is actually, that actually does this- Mm-hmm. all the time because they understand that and they’re gonna be available to call you at 8:00 or respond to you at 8:00 orI mean, we’ve been on text messages with clients when they have a question about something, or an agent trying to figure out a solution at night because, you know, I got aLyn- Lindsay texts me last night at 9:00. Mm-hmm. “Hey, can you send me over a preapproval? “And I’m like sitting there and you’re like, “Does it need to go right this second, 9:00? “But no, you know what? Boom, sent it over and the offer gets accepted because it needsYes, it needs to go in at 9:00. It does. For whatever reason. Like you can’tNot everything can wait and it took me all of 3 minutes to send it over to her, but that’s the difference. Like if she doesn’t get a response till tomorrow, now maybe tomorrow she has plans to go do something else. Mm-hmm. Right? She’s g- she doesn’t have time. She’s working on that because in this b- Like, realtors are out and about throughout the day showing houses or doing things. So their time when they get back to their desk or their office to work on their paperwork is at night sometimes. So I get most of my questions from realtors after hours because, or the weekend, because that’s when they have the time to work on it because during the day they’re out showing houses or whatever. And then they need to get it in and the sooner you get it in, the better chance you have on offers. So as a whole when everybody has that same mindset, it sets the client up for more success. Yeah. And I really try to like explain to clients, like, “Hey, you could use whoever you want but understand this. Like, when push comes to shove and you need a response or you need something to get done or, you know, you’re at the 11th hour. “And I’ve been on email chains and it’s like they’re just trying to figure out basic ver- you know, wording on a purchase and sales and that other attorney’s taking 3 days to respond every time. I’m like, “We don’t have- It’s the worst. that kind of time to sit here and wait. “I know what deal you’re talking about. Yeah, it’s insane, you know? Wild. But it definitely makes things a lot easier. You know what the, the common denominator we just keep hearing over and over again? And I coach this with my loan officers, some realtors that I coach now. Communication. Like literally if you wanna be successful in any business, for everybody who’s watching this, just communicate effectively. Communicate, when you say you’re going to do something, do it. Right? Like just hold yourself accountable to communicate. If you do that, if you pick up your phone like your dad told you to do, that’s 95% of being successful is just communicating effectively with people, right? And just giving them the heads up, making them feel better. It’s, it’s wild to me that everybody overcomplicates this. Now we’re talking about AI and tech and all this. It’s like, just communicate. Like yeah, those are great tools. Mm-hmm. But if you don’t communicate and you have the best AI or you have the best tech, you have theAnything else, you don’t communicate, no one’s gonna deal with you. Just, it’s so simple, but still no one does it. You’ve seen it. How many tools have you rolled out since you guys opened? Oh. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of useless tools. And then- 100. And then again, I watched the last podcast and what’d you guys talk about? If t- everyone took everything away, all you need is your phone. Yeah. Right? What is it? 5,300 contacts or something you had? Yeah. I- e- people have h- hundreds if not 1000, most people now, thousands, thousand plus contacts in their phone. Then they come in, they’re like, “I don’t see them doing anything. “Like, “What are you doing? “have nowhere to call. I followed up with all these open house leads. “When was the last time you called your cousin and just asked them how their day was? Just go have conversations and communicate. Uh, I just did a, um, uh, a year-end call you were on- Mm-hmm. with, uh, Team Rosso ’cause Craig was away on vacation. So, you got me on the Team Rosso call, um, and that’s all they talked about, right? Like all conversations always have something to do with real estate. Mm-hmm. Especially if you’re in that business. It always goes back to that. SoAnd Ron’s 100% right, like just start calling people and just having conversations and communicate with the world, and it will all come to you. Mm-hmm. It’s so simple. For everybody who’s watching this, just pick up the phone and just call people and just ask them how their day is going. You’re not asking them to get pre-approved or refinance their house. Just touch base with people. How many times do you just call a loan officerWe’ll, we’ll use it for business purposes for this, for this reason. Just call a loan officer and just check in, “Hey, how was your year? How is everything going? Did you hit the numbers you wanted to hit? “”Oh, hey great. Thanks for the call. “3 days later, title order comes in. You’re like- You should top of mind. They’re not asking business. Oh, we’re just right there. You’re top of mind. Top of mind. ItAnd I know they talked a lot about social media on there, too, but that’s another one. Staying top of mind of these people. Some people don’t care about likes, comments. Some people really do. Oh. We’ve had conversations, like people get butt-hurt if they’re like, “You’re not commenting on mine. You didn’t share this with me, you didn’t do that. “It’s like I can’t even see everybody’s, 1, but i- it’s like you try to make that a point t- to do that. You do a great job with it. I try. I don’t think he sleeps. That might be the first comment- I try. I’ll tell you what though, Craig, and I’ve, uhAnd not that I wanna give my secrets here, but I’ve shown my wife this. You go on one of those, right? Under agreement, “Congratulations to my buyer. “”Congratulations, great job. “All the time you’re gonna get a response coming your way. It’s coming to you. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but the fact that you’re top of mind is gonna make them think, “Let me send that there. “absolutely It takes 2 seconds to put the comment. It costs nothing. It’s the free advertising. It’s, it’s the best thing in the world as far as getting business out there from some of these guys Guys, I used to spendIt, it wasn’t a lot of money. Maybe $2,000, $3,000 for the, uh, face in your ad for wherever you worked on place mats at restaurants. And they’d be at, like, you know, Captain’s Place or End Zone, 10 or 12 local restaurants. And everybody would make fun of me and they’d call me and my wife’s like, “Is that a good idea? “And everybody’s giving me a hard time. I said, “Yeah, of course it is. “You know how many text messages I’d get where people are dropping chicken Mozambique sauce and they’re making a little face, giving me a beer? And they’re like, “Ah, a picture,” send it to me. They’re like, “Fern, I’m having lunch with you. “Or somebody’s wife would take a picture and be like, “Oh my God, I have to refinance. “$2,000 or $3,000 for 6 or 12 months out of the year, all paid for. One deal. One deal. 100, 100. Mm-hmm. I didn’t even think about that til you just brought that up. I don’t know why I still have that. The guy never called me back to renew that, that, that place mat ad. So whoever was selling myThe place mats back in the day- I’m telling you, it’s just top of mind, like you guys are saying. Like I can’t tell youNow that I’m thinking about it, that was probably one of my best marketing things I’ve ever invested money in No, and it works. When I did-the billboard, it was the same thing. It was like people are like, “Oh, do you get a lot out of this? “I go, “I don’t know if I get a lot. “Like I don’t-get like probably a random person that sees it and calls me- Correct. and says, “Oh, I saw you on a billboard and I need to get a mortgage. “But what it does is it keeps you top of mind to the people that do know you. Mm-hmm. it reminds them that, “Oh yeah, they do mortgages. He does mortgages. I’m gonna call him. “And then you get theI’ve goneGo walk into a coffee shop, they’re like, “Are you the one on the billboard-” Yeah. “on Route 6? “I’m like ’cause I had it there for a while. Yeah, yeah. So they got, they gotAnd people stillI have a kid that went to school with, uhI don’t know if he was in Austin’s grade or whatever, but in, in betweenHis sister is friends with Peyton. That kid gives me shit every time I see him-because I don’t have a billboard anymore. Literally gives me shit about it. He goes, “What’s the matter? Why don’t you have a billboard anymore? “Like, coming at me about it. And his moms-is just dying laughing. I’m like, “I love it. It’s awesome. “So this past weekend, I took my son out for lunch. We went over to Soco, #Soco on this video. Uh, J Gallery and, uh, Mario’s Restaurant in Fair Haven. But we’re coming back. We take, uh, you know, 240 to 140 South, get off of Route 6. Your billboard’s not there. My son goes, “What happened to Craig’s billboard? “I’m like, “Kids. “Like, “Well, how do you remember this? “I remember seeing it like in my head 3 times- Yeah. every time my kids get off the highway. “What happened to Craig’s billboard, like? “I’m like, it’s like, “Was it worth it? “And he’s into like card collecting and, and cards. He’s like, “I should probably put up like a leaf sports card billboard. “He’s like, “Can we ask Craig how much that was? “I’m like, “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. “He told us his year-to-date earnings. I would not be buying a billboard if I were him. Billboards are much more expensive than placemats, I will say. Yeah, yeah, yes. They are much more expensive, but no, it works. keeps you top of mind, man. Yeah. People remember it. Absolutely. So what do you do for fun, Pat? I mean, tell the viewers. I know what you do for fun. It’s all illegal substances and uh, no. I’m just kidding. Um, his dad is a defense attorney now, so, or was. Was. So. He retired? Clark magistrate. Oh, yeah. No, what do you like to do for fun? I know you travel. Got 2 kids. 2 kids. Your kids love to ski. They do. You’re in the same boat I am. Oh, we can talk about this. This’ll be fun. So this guy calls me this past weekend and you know ’cause you talked to him. He decides to go skiing with his kids like the night before they’re gonna take a trip up. I’m at his house having a little prime rib. He’s like, “I’m gonna wake up tomorrow 5:30 in the morning. “Yeah, prime rib with fire. Farm and Coast has the best meat. The best everything. Farm and Coast, best meat. It’s insane. He tells me, “I’m gonna go skiing. “I’m like, “When’s the last time you went on skis? “He’s like, “I’m, I’m, I’m gonna go snowboarding. “He- I’ve snowboarded since I was a kid. Yeah. And I really haven’t snowboarded a ton since I’ve been an adult, but like here and there. And it’s been probably 6 years since I’ve snowboarded, but I’ve always snowboarded. Never skied in my life. No big deal. So I’m like, “This kid’s gonna hurt himself. “I’m like, “Oh, God. “I’m like, “I can’t wait. “I’m like, “Peyton, please take videos of your dad. Make sure he’s okay. “Pat and I, go to New Hampshire all the time. I’m lucky if I get on skis on average once a year, at best twice a year. And I’m super scared that I’m gonna hit a tree and die or at least break something. And I don’t wanna do that ’cause it hurts. This guy, never rented skis before. He rents skis, gets on skis. He’s like, “Yeah, I did a couple blacks. “I’m like, “What? “A lesson or just on your own? No, I just went on my own. I would never even get in the chair lift to go to the top of the mountain ’cause I’d be scared on how I’m gonna get down. I was like, “It doesn’t look that hard. “I don’t know. I just feel like I know how to ice skate. I was like, “I know how to snowboard. “Yeah, you played hockey. I get like the general idea of it. I was like, “It can’t be that difficult. “And yeah, I mean, after a few runs, we end up on like- A few runs. End up on the harder side of the mountain and then get kicked out onto a black diamond and we’re coming down. Austin has like no fear and he’s like overly confident skiing. And he wouldn’t go down it. He like, ’cause we didn’t purposely go to it. We were cutting across and trying to get to like a different like- Yeah. blue square. Anybody who knows Craig, he definitely went to that on purpose. So we get to it, we just see all these people come flying down. And then it’s like a little plateau for the cut across, but the other side we were trying to get to was closed. So then people are going down the next drop and just like eating shit. Like just falling left and right. It’s chaos, there’s everyone everywhere. Austin’s like, “I’m not going down that. “I’m like, “Uh, well, I’m not walking back up that way. So, uh, get, y- take your skis off and scooch your ass down the mountain. “And Peyton, Peyton was actually like willing to try it, but I was like, “Uh, you know, don’t. “So here I am, never skied before in my life, about to go down probably the steepest mountain I’ve ever seen in my life. Holding Austin skis on top of the poles and I’m just like, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo. Go down it. I’m like, “All right, I think I got this. “Dad was all into it. He’s like, “I n- I need to buy some skis and boots. “I’ve not rented them again, by the way. Those things couldn’t get tight enough. The feel wasn’t right, but-next time I’ll get all decked out. Bob’s, shout out Bob’s. He’ll get you set up. Yeah. Bob’s Ski and Skate back home. I called Emily way home. I’m likeShe’s like, “How’d you like it? “I was like, “Honestly, it was, it was pretty fun. “I go, “But I gotta get in, I gotta get my own shit ’cause like those boots-” Like that black? We were, we just went to watch usage for the day. Oh, okay. Because we, it was, it wasn’t a lot of time and it was like a lot less of a drive, so. My buddy Joe came with me, so it was fun. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah. I mean, I wish I was not scared to ski. Like, I think it’s more of a- I wasn’t, I wasn’t scared, yeah. a fear of not being able to come to work, provide. Pain, I’m not really a big fan of pain. I don’t wanna fall. And I’ve fallen when I’m gone. Or a blood on me. Yeah. Yeah, I mean that, yeah. Uh, I’ve been on one time, snowboard. I was 16. My cousin says, “Let’s go. “Took me up, same thing. Black diamond. 10 seconds, fall forward, bust my nose, blood everywhere. The Ski-Doo guy comes up and says, “You gotta ride down. “I, I can’t. So I just ghost rode the board and he said, “All right, fine. Hop on. “He drove me down. Never again. Never again. I’ve always, I’ve snowboarded since I was a little kid so I don’t really re- like remember the learning part, but I always thought snowboarding was pretty easy. But obviously like the feel, uh, but I wasSkiing is a lot easier to pick up like if you don’t know, like snowboarding is def- often Austin keeps asking if he wants to go snowboarding. I’m like, “Dude, you do pretty well skiing. “And honestly, like once you get older, I feel like it’s a lot easier to like ski. You just put the stuff on once and you just get off and go. And you’re not like sitting there trying to strap on. Yeah. They do have some sick new bindings for snowboarding, though. They just kind of click in. Click in. I might have to get those, you know? Since he’s gone to watch, he s- his whole entire reel on Instagram is just all about skis, snowboards. Dude, I watch these guys going like, “I gotta get to that level. “Like, they’re like, “Fuck. “Don’t buy a life insurance policy about mountains and Craig Snow being on them Uh, uh, d- I don’t know if this was actually his first time skiing, but I think it was like the same day or the day after. John Alfonso’s wife Kelly puts up a video of, of, uh, their son going skiing. Yeah. And the comment w- the, the thing on it was like, “First time going. “And I don’t know if it was like first time going alone. Mm-hmm. Or just first time going in general. This dude hit like a 30-foot jump. And then it was like in the air like this, it comes down perfect. I’m like thatAnd the, this kid can like do back flips and stuff. Like he’s a freak athlete. But I’m like, “If that was his first time skiing and he did that, that kid is imp- that is impressive. “He’s a very athletic kid. I meant to ask John if that was like his first time skiing or if it was just- first time doing that jump or something. first time going alone ’cause I couldn’t, I couldn’t tell if it was like first time going alone, like Kelly wasn’t with him. Yeah. Or if it was his first time skiing. But either way-It was an insa- Like, this shit was like what you see on the videos. Like, it was not like a li- Like, I’ll hit, like, a little 3foot jump. Did you see that? I’m not hitting any jumps. This kid went off. In my mind, the idea of flying down the mountain seems cool. But like Pat said- But it doesn’t happen that way, Pat Frost. No, no. Our idea of flying down the mountain is in the back of the ski dude, like coming down- Correct. with the guy driving it, and being, like, paralyzed in the back. Yeah. And I’ve fallen. Like, every time I go out, I’ll d- I definitely fall. So then I, I’ll fall, and I’m like, “Oh, that, that wasn’t bad. “Then I’ll fall again. And I’ll go back up, and I’ll go back down. I’ll go back up, and then I’ll keep falling. And then I go into the clubhouse, and I’m like, “I feel like I’ve been out on the mountain for 9 hours. “The clubhouse. The clubhouse. Eh, it’s been likeClubhouse. The lodge Lodge. It’s been like 3 hours. And I’m like, grab a little bite to eat, maybe have a hot cocoa. I can’t even move. Yeah, there’s no going back out. I’m broken. No going back out, yeah. Like, I can’t go back out. And then my kids are like, “Go back out. “And I’m like, “Ah, I don’t wanna do this anymore. “But when I was a kid, I would be like, we would go on, like, a lot of trips. And you’d just, I’d take a walkie-talkie and just go off on my own. Mm-hmm. And it would be how manyLike, I would try to do as many runs as possible in the entire day. Like, not even wanna stop. This, I’m like, “Guys wanna take an early lunch, like 10:30? “And they’re like, “No. “Like, “Let’s go run. “”Two runs. “Then after like couple runs, I’m like, “You guys good? You wanna go to, like, Dave & Buster’s on the way home? “My shins have, like, all red marks from those boots on them. Now, there’s some mo- There’s so much difference. That is another level. Walking in ski boots versus walking in snowboarding boots. Ski boots suck to walk in. We had some lo- I will tell you, though, Wachusett’s, like, the, the lodge, very impressive. Yeah. For not how, not massive a mountain it is, that thing hasThey had restaurants in it. They had multiple things. did you go to, what was it, Black Mountain? Black Mountain. Black Mountain. Like, that was like nothing compared. This thing is ten times the size of what it was at Black Mountain. I couldn’t believe it. Yeah, Cannon’s similar. Where we are is similar to Black. Uh, you know, you have the lodge, a little restaurant. I’ve never been to Wachusett. But it’s probably like Cranmore then? A little bit more like Cranmore, yeah. WhatSimilar to Cranmore, yeah Wachusett’s is like definitely not a massive mountain. I mean, plenty of, like, difficult ones. There’s just not a lot Yeah. Like, you know, there’s 3 lifts. I think maybe with one more up. Like, that kinda comes like halfway down, and then you go back up if you want. Um, but, like, the, the lodge was insane. Yeah, it’s beautiful. I couldn’t believe it. And that place wasThat was another reason why I wanted to get outta there. You know I don’t like waiting in lines. So now, we got Pat working out for the last 5 months. It’s like- Yeah, what got you into working out? ‘Cause like when I met you, definitely would not be- No, probably last thing on my mind. Yeah, last thing I would’ve said was, “You’re gonna go, uh, work out at 5:00 in the morning. “Last thing on my mind. This is, this is the same guy ordering, uh, Portuguese food from Antonio’s at 10:00 at night. Still do, man. Still do And like, “Damn. “Not 10:00 at night, but I still love Cafe Mimo’s now. Shout out, Scott. Nice. Um, but yeah, no, I don’t know. I, I couldn’t put my finger on anything. It was just, like one of those things where it’s like, “Why am I not? “Right? Yeah. What am I doing in the morning? Nothing productive. Right? You’re not doing anything at work until 9:00. So why not get up, get your day started? Now- Feel more productive. out of the gym, done, ready to go by 7:00. Help my wife with the kids get ready for school. They’re off 7:40. Head to the office. By 9:00 when everyone’s getting in and responding to emails, I’ve already been working since 6:00 when I was in the gym really. Mm. So, you know, my day’s 4 or 5 hours in when people get started. But you know how it goes. Once you get in that mode, you’re like, you’re clicking on all cylinders a few hours in. I’m already there when the day starts. Yeah, you’re not banging off the cobwebs at 8:30 trying to get ready to try to have a conversation with somebody. Now we have to worry about this, uh, this summer league basketball. This guy’s gonna be dunking on us. We gotta get in shape, Craig. Oh, I haven’t dunked a basketball in a long time, Vern. We have a, we have a lot of I used to be able to touch the rim, but not anymore. I could dunk in college. But again, I was working out a lot then, soWhat time do you go to bed now? Do you go to bed a lot earlier because of that? Uh, yeah. I mean, I’m probably getting into bed, I don’t know, like 8:30, 9:00, but not going to bed. You know, TV scrolling, whatever. But by like 10:00 usuallyNow, with those sleep things on the phone, it’s telling me at 9:45. Time to go. Yeah, protect your sleep or something it says, pops up. Time to, time to shut it down, put it into like, don’t, you know, not do not disturb but something like it mode. But I’m like you guys. Phone goes off, I’m still working. Hmm. I’m, I’m gonna get up and answer it. Speak for yourselves. I’ve been going to bed at like 8:30, 9:00. We were on some, some card breaks last night. I’m like, “I’m going to bed. “And then I’d find myself back on a card break. I did that. We didn’t talk about it in the last one. Might as well talk about it now. I got kinda roped into this card business. I never I wonder who roped you into it. Never in my life have ever, like, bought sport cards. I always saw it and he always talks about Liam doing it. And I’m like, “Ah, it’s cool, it’s cool,Batch of prime rib at his house. Prime ni- Yeah, prime rib night led to a lot of activities. He thought the most expensive thing that night was the prime rib from Farm & Coast. No, not even close. So, uhLiam started talking about the card thing. He was like showing us this, uh, live thing on TikTok, the breaks- Yeah. whatever, where they like keep the- Baller breaks. People, for who don’t know, they pretty muchYou go on, you can buy whatever packs of cards you want. You click on them, you go into a queue, the guy opens them on it. But it’s cool because the people who are opening them like super know about the cards. So like, they’re likeYou know, the first time there just flipping through cards and Austin and I am like, “Oh my God. “Like that’s like a-Luka card or whatever. And the guy’s just like throwing it away ’cause it’s not like a good card. Sure. So then like in the back like sometimes you get a couple of good cards and then they open it like real slow and they’re like, “Oh my God. Get the Harpoon. “”Get the Whale. “Just going nuts. So theyEveryone like kind of bought like a few that night and then 2 days later come Saturday, I’m like back on the thing looking at it. And I’m like- Group text go with Liam and his camera and everybody. It’s going off. And I’m like, “All right. “Click. I’m like, “Well, if this pack could get you this pack-” “this more expensive pack could probably get you some really, really good ones, right? “Yeah So yeah, a few bucks later did a big run. Thursday night did it again. Sunday- I don’t know what a Toyota Camry costs these days but I think he has a Toyota Camry coming to his house in a UPS box from baller breaking. I looked at it as an investment, you know. Yeah. You get some good cards, I got some good ones. So like that was the problem was I bought someAnd then Liam’s telling me like, “Oh, that one’s worth this much. “I’m like, “Oh, I made my money back so now I gotta buy another pack. Oh, I made more money,” so I was like, “I can buy 2 packs. “That he had, he had some- I don’t even know if what Liam told me was right with it, the amount but- He opened up some Cooper Flag autos, numbers, like he wasTheCraig was on fire on Saturday night. Now are you gonna sell or collect? willI’m probably gonna sell most of them. I mean, maybe keep a few of them. Yeah. I’ve got a cool Duran one that’s, uhWith a patch and auto, 2 of 5, that Austin really likes. So I’ll probably keep that one but probably try to get them graded and sell them. I mean, I did buy a Toyota Camry so I gottaSo I’m gonna have to- Yeah, you gotta recoup some of that so you can keep going. Like that, that’s what I try to tell Liam all the time. Like, “Hey, youListen, you can buy $1,000 worth of something but if you can sell 7 or $800 of those and keep a four, 500, you keep that profit, invest in that, hold that card that’s 500. Hey, you’re up 300, you have a nice card, it’s gonna go up in value hopefully, right? “Mm-hmm. “If you make the right players. “Uh, like thereYour Cooper Flags, I think you send those out, you get them graded. Maybe wait on that, you know, if he wins rookie of the year or something like that. Like I tell him all the time, like, “You gotta sell when they’re high though. “And he’s like, “Well, they could go higher. “I’m like, “Unless he breaks his leg. “Yeah, I know. I ki- And that goes from 10,000 to 2,000. I have the same thought process as you on that. I’m like, “If they’re high”Like even some of the cards, like some of the players, likeSome of the other packs that you can get older players. And Austin’s like, “Who’s that? “I was like, “That was one of the best like”- For sure. what a Cooper Flag card is. And I’m like, “Why is Cooper Flag card worth so”It’s like the same kind of card just like somebody else. Yeah, it’s like j- So, uh, honestly it’s January 6th today 6th. So, you know, the Patriots are playing in the playoffs on Sunday, playing, uh, the Chargers. Drake Maye, Liam and IThis is a perfect example of why I say sell, right? Like yeah, you could sell something for 5,000, in 2 years it’s worth 11. 2 years it could be worth 300 bucks, right? Mm-hmm. We bought a, uh, a Drake Maye August, in August, a, uh, Kaboom for 800 bucks. paid 300I, I split it with him. Got it graded for 300, it’s now worth almost 5,000. Now if he wins the MVP, he wins against the Chargers, I’m like, “Buddy, this thing’s gotta go on eBay. “Time to sell. Like he’s gotNot gonna haveEven if he had a great career, which, big pa- pass for him here, I want him to. But like how much more can this go up? I mean, unless he’s gonna be like Tom Brady. And likeBut then again, I see some of the cards that he shows me, he’s like, “Yeah, look this card was 4,000 and you would’ve sold it, now it’s 14,000. “I’m like, “Uh, I don’t know. “Like I’ll take the 4,000 I can get now. How many of those 4,000s are worth 500 now though Yeah, no. Yeah, I know. I mean there’s a lot of players. I mean, I’m a big Jayson Tatum Celtics guy. I have an obnoxious amount of Jayson Tatum-cards. They’re in my safe. I have invested a lot of money. And I was very sad to see him hurt himself last year in the playoffs. I wasn’t even thinking about my card collection. I’m down like 35% on his cards. And this is still one of the top 10 basketball players. And he’s coming back. It’s not like he’s- He’s coming back but y- you don’t know at what level. At what level, no. Mm-hmm. Right? I mean, I know for a fact he’s coming back and being a beast and taking over again. But- He’s coming back this year, right? Yeah, hopefully. I mean, they’re talking aboutSomebody was talking about February. I, I think legitimately the earliest he comes back is sometime mid-March. That’ll give him enough 6, 8 games at game speed in the NBA and then go into the playoff run. I mean, we don’t gotta talk about sports. Let’s just talk about Jaylen Brown for a second. Oh, yeah. I in a thousand years knew he was a dominant player and he’s a great player. I did not think he was gonna be able to carry the franchise with losing Porzingis and, and, uh- Yeah, they surprised me. I mean, I, I’ve always liked Jaylen Brown. I thought if he didn’t have Tatum- Yeah. he would have much bigger numbers and be a much bigger name. But he still is. It’s kind of cool that they’ve been able to keep both of them- Yeah. you know, going at that level. Because that’s tough. A lot of teams can’t do that, you know. Someone wants to be the number one star and the other guy thinks he should be. And before you know it he takes off to go somewhere else to be that number one star. But the Celtics have been able to kind of manage both of them. And this year’s given-Brown a, a opportunity to be that number one guy. I mean, you look at losing Porzingis, Drew Holiday. That’s, that’s what I was gonna say. And then you look at- Both those guys have only played 12 games this year each. That’s wild. And then now you’ve got, uh- For real. Trey Young on the chopping block, he’s looking to get traded. Is Trey Young and old Jaylen Brown of last year, I would, I would consider them as important to each team as they are. Mm-hmm. Trey Young’s, uh, talking about getting traded. Hmm. Like, I can’t even imagine trading Jaylen Brown. Right? Like, I don’t know who I wouldGiannis came up, my son’s like, “Oh, it looks like maybe the Celtics could trade for Giannis. “I’m like, “I’d rather have JB. “Like, yeah, Giannis is a crazy player, but JB’s younger than him, he’s already, he already knows how to play in Boston. Mm-hmm. Like, there’s a big difference for me watching somebody play in New York, Chicago, LA, Boston, like s- big sports towns. Nothing against Milwaukee fans out here watching this, but I’m like, “Dude, you’re playing in Milwaukee. “Like, right? Like, settle down. Like, I went out to an Indiana playoff game last year, I’m likeIt was wild. It was a great experience, but it’s like, dude, you play for the Pacers, right? Like, you drive around the city and the town, you’re like, “This is what you guys do out here? “Like, if I was a professional player and you had the choice, like, pa- play in New York or Boston, be like, “What’s the level of pressure that these guys have to go under? “Jaylen Browns, or, know, you’re playing in LA. Like, that’s a lot. Like Luka going from Dallas, and Dallas is a big market, I did not think Luka was gonna just keep getting better. he looks like he started your workout at 5 o’clock in the morning pumping iron. That guy lost, like, 40 pounds. He was big when he got traded. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s like- Yeah, he was. he was a top 3 player in the league. Now, I mean, what’s he averaging, like 35 a game? Something like that. The guy’s nuts. Yeah, and just, like, every shot he takes. It’s crazy. Yeah, he’s unbelievable. Well Not athletic. I mean, he’s athletic, he’s in the NBA. Sure. But, like- Yeah. compared to, like, SGA, like, this guy looks like he’s moving at, like, slow motion and beats everybody around. Like, I don’t understand it But those guys, they keep, they’re doing what the Celtics aren’t doing, right? They’re paying these huge numbers to these big talents and then getting no supporting staff Yeah. The Celtics have been the opposite. Like you just mentioned it. These guys need to get shots, time, and money to stay in a contract. And they’ve, uh, managed to keep all of their main top talent that they wanted to keep. Mm-hmm. And then the ones they had to get rid of, it’s been next man up. Yeah. I mean, they’ve been fantastic to watch. It’s been awesome. I love Pritchard Yeah. Oh, PP. I do too. I love it. Dude, he’s, he’s unbelievable. The, his handles are insane, and he’s, he can make a, for somebody who’s so short compared to everybody else, he makes space and gets good shots off- Yeah. any time he has, any time he needs to. Like, you could have him out there as the primary guy. Like, even with Brown off or Tatum off, and give him the ball. And if it’s in that situation where you gotta get a shot off, he makes room and gets it done. It’s wild. It’s wild. Yeah. He was, he was money on his hands. I’m surprised the Celtics have been able to keep him. Like, I thought, he, he’s a, he’s a beast. I mean, like, I think he’s like a two on most teams in the NBA. Probably. I mean, he’s a, he’s playing, uh, that solid role too. You got D. White in there, obviously. You know, an Olympian. But yeah, Peyton Pritchards’He’s wild. If you’re watching any of his stuff on, like, TikTok and Instagram- Oh, yeah. like, hisOh my gosh. Yeah. It’s insane. The dribbling is nuts, but, hey. There’s such a difference between professional, even college athletes, to, like, the guys at the YMCA, and us joking around on the 4th of July. Like, these guys just don’t miss. Like, you see them during warmups and you’re like, “Peyton Pritchard just hit 14 threes in a row and then he was mad because he rimmed down 15. “Yeah, you watch him warm up and he’s just likein. Even within the NBA though, the, uh, uh, all professional sports. Even, uh, uh, ch- ch- kid sports. You see, you coach. I see you guys out there, your son’s playing. The difference between good and great is astronomical Yeah. Right? Uh, and a lot of these kids can get good, but the kids who are working out like crazy, like the Kobe method of- Yeah. 4 times as hard as everybody, they’re gonna excel. And sometimes at the young kids’ age, right, they’re just bigger, stronger at that age, so you can’t tell as much. But look at the different from the good to great players, right? Even like the, the All Stars versus the Hall of Famers. And, and- Yeah. those guys had the same thing in common, it was work ethic. Every single one of them. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I’m, I’m excited. I mean, I’m going to the PC/UConn game tomorrow night, and I haven’t been to a college basketball game in, I don’t even remember. Probably since we had the same box from PC. 5, 5 years ago, maybe? Was that before COVID? Right after COVID. Must’ve been after. George was with us, so- Yeah. it must’ve been after. I, I love college basketball. I think it’s, like, one of the best things- Oh, the dunk is the best. MarVest FanDuel. Well, the amp now, but- Yeah. the dunk, that is an awesome place to watch a game. Yeah. I’m looking forward to it. Well, boys, it’s been, uh, it’s been real. Have a big Pat Walsh on. Thanks for coming in. Absolutely. Appreciate you guys for having me. Thanks, bud Till next time. See you guys. Thanks, guys.