BeanTown Banter and Bullshit Podcast Episode #1. "The Hurricane is Back"

Click here to watch video of interview. Watch from 1:07:00 to hear the Medfield Ma war cry he gave at the Tyson press conference. If you know, you know! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9KOMk9NOvm3m3WwwBNcxYQ

So after months of ideas, hard work and a little courage we did it. We came out with our version of a Podcast. Rough around the edges but man, what an experience. And I mean that truly. By now if you're reading this blog, you probably already know the story of how I got to know Peter Mcneeley. I legit have just always had a respect for the man despite whatever opinions may be out there. The fact that he was our first guest on the show means more to me than anyone could know. Here's how it happened. Blah blah blah, me and my friends prank called him in high school and years later, as I explained on the show, I reached out to him via Facebook one night almost kiddingly because no way did I believe I was getting a response. But just like that one time in high school when I wanted everyone at the party to hear his answering machine, he answered. Dude is a solid responder. It makes sense now. If he stepped in the ring with Tyson, he was not afraid of talking to anyone on the other end of that phone. Plus, I gather that the man genuinely likes to talk to people. Just the look in his eye as he realized we were zoned in on his stories and boxing knowledge was worth the entire project already for me. But the night I reached out to him to see if he remembered us calling him way back, that's when I kind of first got an idea of who this dude really was and I couldn't be more impressed. We just kept conversating and it was right after my dad passed and all other shenanigans ensued. We exchanged stories and by the end of the conversation, I knew I had made a friend. In his words, "Fuck depression Mike, Hurricane Loves You!" Just wow. If he only knew what that meant to me at that time and more so now.

After weeks of trying to decide who I wanted to do this with, one name that just stuck in my head was Tom Fleming or Lincoln Tf on FB. There were a few others that came to mind but none that could really top him in my mind. Again. Anytime I sat with this man, all be it mostly at Leitrim's Pub, the chat was always more than interesting. We've always exchanged Sports Banter throughout the years and his views are always rational with some snark, or serious sarcasm lol I love it. The day Tom won my internet heart was when he jumped into a FB post I had made about a water main that had been left on for months on Park Ave one year. Now, I don't know Rick Rushton personally, but he was a well known city politician at the time and I don't like any politician so he falls in that category. Not sure how he made it on my account or to that post but doesn't Rushton come at me with some kind of pompous remark and who comes to my rescue but none other than my boy Tom Fleming and just totally spun Rushton back into irrelevance with a few crushing facts and sarcastic comments. The seemingly always cool Rushton crumbled. He was fighting back with no energy other than shame. Poor little pompous man. Ever since then, Tom's been my guy. Our personalities should entertain people. I made the right choice because he really kept me at it.

Now comes show time. I thought it was going to be smooth but does the Launch of anything really go smooth? Rarely. We had kinks to work out and still do but we needed one more day. Now we had worked so hard to get this off the ground, I almost felt a little shame. How was I going to make up for this? Has Tom had enough? Seems like we kept running into issues but we didn't quit. And then it happened as I was sitting there staring at FB. I see Peter's name appear and I thought to myself... Sure, like he's going to respond to me. Like he would even say yes if I asked him to be on the show. Like the previous two times I had harassed this man lol, He was nothing but genuine and friendly and willing to help any way he could. Just amazing. It honestly couldn't have ended up any better. All three of us just sat there and tossed around stories and banter for an hour and ten minutes. Zero dead air. I sat there like a fucking Jedi interested in what he was talking about. The memory on this guy. Nothing short of amazing. And the personality, heart are all on full display anytime he spoke. What I really took away from this though was how much this man cherished his dad. The loss of my father has been crippling to say the least. He said the word "Dad" at least a dozen times throughout the interview and it cut me every time just the way that he said it. The way he spoke about his Dad you could tell how much he looked up to him and how proud of him he was and is. CONNECTED. He wanted to box because his father was an absolute boxing monster. He wanted to make his father and family proud. His father Tom Mcneeley was a legendary boxer who hailed the cover of Sports Illustrated as well as Ring Magazine. I asked him only a few questions and one of them I'm sure he's answered a zillion times. "What were you thinking getting in the ring with that maniac?" After today's chat, I understand why. Overall I consider it a major success. I'm looking forward to staying working on this project and building this to what I think we all know it can be. A huge thank you first of all to Tom for joining me and crushing our first interview. A huge thank you to Hurricane Peter Mcneeley for just being you. And thank to everyone who liked, shared, viewed, sent support messages before and after. Thank You. There's a lot more to come! Now I can say trust me. Woooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!