Hockey pipelines, loud dogs and a billing-order feud.
The Grocery Stick Podcast pairs Jessica and Francis, two Brooklyn friends, for loose, teasing conversation about travel sports, kids and everyday life. Hockey gets the most detail, from NTDP odds and a Middlebury commitment to Team USA, while dogs, trips and Brooklyn crosswalks fill the gaps.
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The Grocery Stick Podcast is a conversation show built around one friendship. Jessica and Francis introduce themselves as Brooklynites and friends, talking from a makeshift recording studio in Brooklyn. Their stated beat is travel sports, kids and plain old life, and they promise to talk, laugh, commiserate and argue about all of it. The arguing starts with the introduction. In a recurring opening, one of them objects to the order of their names, and it ends on the line 'It's Francis and Jessica, or I quit.' That tone carries through. Hockey is where they go into the most detail. In one excerpt they run the numbers on the NTDP, counting teams and roster spots and asking whether a player outside a small circle of top programs has any way in. One of them insists it is not a dead end and that a kid making magic elsewhere will get recognized. In another, they mark seniors moving on, congratulate a former senior who committed to Middlebury after a year of juniors in New Hampshire, and then puzzle over how he ended up reclassing. Team USA gets a debate of its own, over the uproar around the men's team and the women's team declining a White House invitation, with one of them questioning the misogyny framing. Still, the show rarely stays on the rink. Dogs come up again and again: a rescue twelve weeks into the household, a late start blamed on dog trouble, and a short, loud dog diagnosed on air with Napoleonic syndrome. Travel slips in too. A walk through a St. Patrick's Day bar crawl in St. Pete ends at the Salvador Dali museum and a defense of Tampa's culture, and an upcoming Montreal trip gets teased before the goodbye. Closer to home, crossing Prospect Park Southwest becomes a full dispute over jaywalking, drivers blowing the light, and whether anyone really waits every time. The production chatter stays in the recording. One of them edits the audio and writes the blurbs for the publishing platform and Instagram, and a mix-up that labels both audio tracks 'Jessica' becomes a joke about identity theft. They lose count of their own episode numbers more than once, joke about having two listeners, and mention that the show stalled after episode 20 during COVID before starting up again. Episode titles include '#44: Adjust The Tip', '#43: Blow My Glass', '#41: Teamwork!' and '#28: Good AI vs Bad AI'. A stock sign-off beginning 'Well, well, well' closes things out. The language gets strong in places. What a listener gets is specific junior-hockey talk inside a loose, teasing friendship that never feels bound to its agenda.
Made for: Suits a listener who follows youth and junior hockey closely enough to care about NTDP odds and college commitments, and who likes it when two friends drift off into dog stories, travel and Brooklyn street gripes.
What sets it apart: It sets specific hockey-pathway talk (NTDP odds, junior leagues, reclassing, college commitments) inside open-ended friendship banter, framed by a mock feud over whose name comes first and a lot of production chatter left in.
Welcome to The Grocery Stick Podcast with Jessica and Francis! We are two NYC based parents who chat weekly about our experiences in travel sports, parenting, schooling and simply the human experience. We have a random, no holds barred approach to our friendship and no matter what the subject of the week is discussed, we always learn something new. But let's be honest, there's no better sport on this planet than hockey! Thanks for popping in - email us with questions and we'll answer them in an upcoming episode. * Instagram @TGSPod * [email protected]
Hockey pipeline math meets foster-dog check-ins, if you like your sports talk with household interruptions.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A loose Brooklyn family conversation finds drama in traffic lights, interruptions, and one missed dad joke.
The Grocery Stick Podcast's episode 44 keeps its focus on ordinary family friction, as Jessica and Francis revisit recording during COVID, when homeschooling, meals, Zoom classes, grocery trips, and interruptions seemed to take over the day.
A foster dog, a Dali museum visit, and a canceled flight turn an ordinary morning into easy, companionable listening.
The Grocery Stick follows a loose morning shaped by ordinary interruptions: a foster dog resisting the cold, a late start, a walk through St. Pete, a St. Patrick's Day bar crawl, an unexpected Salvador Dali museum visit, and a Sprouts stop.
A rescue-dog dilemma turns into a warm, tangled family conversation about hockey pathways, late bloomers, and timing.
Jessica and Francis make the rescue-dog setup feel instantly familiar: a 12-week arrangement that starts to sound a lot like a permanent family decision.
A warm, wandering episode where a temporary dog and a hockey future crowd into the same family week.
Jessica and Francis make Episode 41 feel like a busy family week that happens to include a microphone. The conversation moves easily from Caesar, the loud temporary dog in the house, to the pressure around a hockey player's college decision.
A loose, funny sports conversation where disagreement, politics, and personal detail all share the mic.
The Grocery Stick's fortieth episode uses a travel-sports premise to circle Team USA's women, the declined White House invitation, and the question of whether the men's team will show up.
Public lives, private fatherhood lessons.
Less perfection, more workable home routines.
Christian leadership for a pressured culture.
Two NYC parents chat about travel sports, parenting, and life experiences.
Two NYC parents chat about their experiences in travel sports, parenting, and daily life, starting with a humorous struggle to get their foster dog outside on a cold morning.
Two NYC parents chat about their weekend and the host's experience fostering a rescue dog.
Two NYC parents chat about their experiences with travel sports, parenting, and life, including a dog update.
Two NYC parents chat about travel sports, parenting, and life experiences with a focus on hockey.
The Grocery Stick Podcast #39 opens with a host's "almond mom" label from their kids, tied to the host's every-other-day oatmeal and raisin bran compromise for heart health.
Jessica and Francis open Episode 38 with a granola recommendation for Francis's cholesterol and a Brooklyn versus Tampa and Minneapolis comparison of pace and friendliness.
Jessica updates Francis on her shelter dog, a rescue sold as a Labrador whose paperwork lists "Pitbull" once, and describes a $13,000 fundraiser promise that never materialized.
Two NYC parents chat about their experiences in travel sports, parenting, schooling, and life, with a focus on hockey.
Two NYC parents discuss their experiences with travel hockey, soccer, and figure skating, sharing laughs and commiserating about youth sports life.
Two NYC parents discuss their experiences with travel hockey, soccer, and figure skating, sharing a surprising weekend event.
Two NYC parents discuss their experiences with travel hockey, soccer, and figure skating, sharing laughs and rants about the challenges of youth sports.
Two NYC parents discuss the challenges and humor of raising kids in travel sports, focusing on hockey.