84: The Wayback #84 | Mick Betancourt

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Wayback #84 | Mick Betancourt

Introduction

In Episode 84 of The Wayback with Ryan Sickler, host Ryan Sickler welcomes returning guest Mick Betancourt for a nostalgic journey down memory lane. The duo reminisces about their childhood experiences, growing up in Chicago, and the adventures that shaped their formative years. The conversation is filled with humor, heartfelt moments, and candid reflections.

Growing Up in Chicago

Mick Betancourt delves into his upbringing in Chicago, sharing vivid memories of neighborhood dynamics and family life. He recounts his experiences as an only child, navigating the streets and forging strong friendships.

"[01:32] Mick Betancourt: Thanks for having me rock."
"[07:03] Ryan Sickler: You try Chicago. Make it. You're shoveling snow."

Mick describes weekends spent with his grandmother in Oak Park, highlighting the tight-knit community and the simple joys of childhood.

Childhood Experiences and Adventures

The conversation shifts to various childhood adventures, from playful antics in family cars to daring escapades around the neighborhood. Mick shares stories of wrestling practice rides in a brown Chevy Nova and the thrill of navigating speed bumps.

"[04:42] Mick Bettencourt: So one of my best friends, Mike Kona's dad, would drive us to wrestling practice, and he had a brown Chevy Nova."
"[05:20] Ryan Sickler: To make you feel. Just to get us out of the car."

Family and Friendship Stories

Mick reflects on his relationships with family members and friends, illustrating the support and camaraderie that defined his youth. He humorously recounts interactions with his cousin's parents and the mischievous plans he and his peers concocted.

"[13:20] Mick Bettencourt: No, it was a family owned business."
"[16:28] Ryan Sickler: Yeah, but they had a few video games, you know, like three or four in the corner."

Challenges and Hustles as a Kid

The discussion takes a candid turn as Mick shares stories of youthful hustles and the challenges he faced. From stealing baseball cards to dealing with authority figures, Mick provides an unfiltered look into the less glamorous aspects of growing up.

"[13:11] Mick Bettencourt: Yeah, that was the hustle."
"[22:00] Mick Bettencourt: We would steal off, like, whatever the logos were, the hood ornaments and stuff."

Despite these challenges, Mick emphasizes the resilience and creativity that emerged from these experiences.

Reflections on Toys and Media

Mick and Ryan reminisce about the toys and media that captivated their attention during their childhood. Mick shares a poignant moment of transitioning his interests after watching a provocative music video, signaling a shift in his personal development.

"[29:06] Mick Bettencourt: I've never heard this."
"[30:34] Ryan Sickler: Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay."

This segment highlights the impact of media on young minds and the complexities of navigating changing interests.

Conclusion

As the episode wraps up, Mick promotes his Substack page and his involvement with a "planking" organization, humorously referred to as lemonparty.org. The hosts conclude with reflections on the enduring bonds of friendship and the importance of cherishing childhood memories.

"[32:22] Mick Bettencourt: Substack mickeyourt.substack.com Right now, free stories."
"[33:40] Mick Bettencourt: How to have fun anytime, anywhere. Step 1 Go to chumbacasino.com..."

Notable Quotes

• "We were just getting the ice cream. But not realizing, like, somehow the waiter wouldn't know that the last table wasn't four." — Mick Betancourt [15:22]
• "If you've ever sat in this back seat here... telling happy stories." — Ryan Sickler [24:32]
• "What is better than toys? You know what I mean?" — Mick Betancourt [30:36]

Final Thoughts

Episode 84 of The Wayback with Ryan Sickler offers a heartfelt and entertaining glimpse into Mick Betancourt's childhood. Through engaging storytelling and genuine camaraderie, the episode captures the essence of growing up in Chicago, the adventures that define youth, and the lasting memories that shape who we become.

For more episodes and nostalgic journeys, visit The Wayback with Ryan Sickler.

Transcript

[Mick Bettencourt]

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[Ryan Sickler]

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[Mick Bettencourt]

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[Ryan Sickler]

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[Mick Bettencourt]

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[Ryan Sickler]

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[Mick Bettencourt]

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[Ryan Sickler]

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[Mick Bettencourt]

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[Ryan Sickler]

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[Mick Bettencourt]

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[Ryan Sickler]

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[Mick Bettencourt]

Hey baby, we gonna be here all day. We're gonna be here all day, baby. I like that kind of party.

[Ryan Sickler]

Welcome back to the Way Back. Everybody. Ryan Sickler here again. I want to thank you guys for watching this show and supporting this show. I love doing not just this show, but my job, man. You guys make it possible. So thank you for supporting. Very excited to have this guest here with me today. Ladies and gentlemen, in the Way back, please welcome Mick Bettencourt. What's up, everybody?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Thanks for having me rock.

[Ryan Sickler]

Thank you for being back here with me. Before we take a trip down memory lane, why don't you promote anything you'd like, please?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Mick Betancourt on substack Instagram @mcbetencourt. And I don't know if I told you this, but I do a lot of work with, you know, planking. You know, Planking is so a senior citizen organization that helps people plank. And that website is called lemon party.org.

[Ryan Sickler]

Are you being for real right now? Lemonparty.org I plank today. I did side and the bosa ball planks I did today as well. Check out lemonparty.org and you work on the show Reacher.

[Mick Bettencourt]

I can't do that promo. If you say reacher, what do you.

[Ryan Sickler]

Mean I'm not allowed to say it?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Did you pull the website up?

[Ryan Sickler]

Is it not Reacher, what is it what is it? Put it up there, Cur. That's Reacher, dude.

[Mick Bettencourt]

How's that Reacher?

[Ryan Sickler]

This is staying in.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Dude.

[Ryan Sickler]

It stayed in. I saw about a few reach arounds up there look like, too. Dude, what the hell?

[Mick Bettencourt]

What's the show?

[Ryan Sickler]

Y' all better. Y' all better not go to that website at your job. Creatures. Nsfw, bro.

[Mick Bettencourt]

How the hell are they that they.

[Ryan Sickler]

Got a website photo? They're way ahead of the game.

[Mick Bettencourt]

The worst plug in the history of.

[Ryan Sickler]

I'm trying to help you, and you forgot it. I'm like, time to go to Reacher. Man, look at that.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Go. That doesn't look like Reacher to what? I know. I tried to tell him. I know. You could check out Reacher on Amazon.

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait, is it. What? I'm confused.

[Mick Bettencourt]

One is a philanthropic organization that helps seniors plank. That's lemonparty.org right? And the other, just as a TV.

[Ryan Sickler]

Show, is that elevenparty.org is what you look. Oh, the whole time I'm thinking, she looked up Reacher.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Why would that be Reacher?

[Ryan Sickler]

That's what I'm thinking. Like, why is that Reacher? The whole time, like, what are they doing up there?

[Mick Bettencourt]

What was that episode of? What are you talking about?

[Ryan Sickler]

So actually, don't go to lemonparty.org reacher's fine, y'.

[Mick Bettencourt]

All. Is huge plot twist.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, dude, we took a big swing.

[Mick Bettencourt]

In season three, man.

[Ryan Sickler]

What a leap. All right, McBen court. Usually we start these episodes off not like that.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Oh, so good.

[Ryan Sickler]

But if you've ever sat in this back seat here. Yeah, yeah. And who. Whose car was it? What was it? Tell us about it.

[Mick Bettencourt]

So one of my best friends, Mike Kona's dad, would drive us to wrestling practice, and he had a brown Chevy Nova. And what I would do is I would get these spastic surges of energy. So I'd say to Mike, I go, I'm gonna jump up and down and try to throw myself through the roof of your dad's car. He's like, please don't do that. And I would just jump in the backseat. And his dad, after a while, would be like, you know, looking back like, I'm gonna kill you. And then there would be speed bumps at the school to go to the wrestling practice, and he would go over them at like 500 miles an hour.

[Ryan Sickler]

To make you feel. Just to get us out of the car.

[Mick Bettencourt]

No, to get us out.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, this guy's. But it was not a wagon, though.

[Mick Bettencourt]

No, I just.

[Ryan Sickler]

I'm talking about this back seat facing traffic. Did you ever sit in the station.

[Mick Bettencourt]

I thought you meant the bench.

[Ryan Sickler]

Back seat. No, no, the way. Back seat. The back of the wagon that looked at traffic.

[Mick Bettencourt]

This is my cousin, traffic. That's it. I got you.

[Ryan Sickler]

Everybody over here, they're all fucking planking right now. For God's sake. We gotta cut that out. We can't even be monetized if they don't cut it out.

[Mick Bettencourt]

What? That's the best. You gotta keep it in.

[Ryan Sickler]

Now we gotta get the picture out your monetization. They. You never rode in this seat?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Not in a station wagon. But my cousin's parents had a conversion van where we could look out the back. And one time we were driving past the housing projects and the car got shot at in the. And then one of the shots, which was with a BB gun, put a nick in the back window. Yeah, that was my way back.

[Ryan Sickler]

So tell us about growing up in Chicago. You're an only child. You got to watch Mick's episode of the Honeydew for his backstory. What are you doing?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Dude, it was so great. Like, I mean, if you watched the Honeydew, you're probably not going to think so, but it was the love of the friends that I had, you know, and the toys of that era and, like, the freedom of that era of just like, you know, those latchkey kids where they. You just had, like, the key around. Like, you had a shoelace with the key to your house, and then you had to call people. The numbers were written on the. On the ply like this. Next to the phone, next to the house phone. And, yeah, you'd shovel. You. You try to shovel some money, you know, shovel some snow for money.

[Ryan Sickler]

You try Chicago. Make it. You're shoveling snow.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Drive.

[Ryan Sickler]

I see it.

[Mick Bettencourt]

And that's my grandma.

[Ryan Sickler]

Sidewalks and stuff. That's Grandma's.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah, I stayed there on the weekends. She lived in Oak park and nice little village. And we would do things, like, in the winter, did you have a thing called Sketch where you would, like, a car would pull up to a stop sign and you'd be hiding in the bushes and you'd run behind the car and grab one?

[Ryan Sickler]

We didn't call it Skitch, but. Yeah, but. And we would do it. We wouldn't just we. So you're, like, surfing on your seat. Yeah, yeah, we would do that. We would also use the little sleds and we. We rope it. Oh, and then let them drag us for a little bit, you know, so.

[Mick Bettencourt]

You know to tell me if you ever did this. You know how you had the storm doors. We Were talking about it on the honeydew. We got some fishing test, and we would tie it to the thing with some washers that would dangle down to the metal part. Then we'd run it like dynamite wire to across the street. And we'd make a pile of snowballs, and we'd pull it so it knock on the door. And then, like, the dude come out and be like, hey, who's out here? And we would, like, rise up and just start firing snowballs at this dude.

[Ryan Sickler]

Dude, that is a great one. I'll never forget, man. Snowball fights were the best. I was just telling my daughter, because they don't get him out here. I was like, you don't get. I remember. I was like, this was the classic trick. You make two. She's like, you're throwing two at him. I go, nah, you're throwing one up in the air. Because their natural tendency is to look up at that one. And while they're looking up at that one, you give them that Randy Johnson fastball right in the face.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah, that's what you get. That's what you get.

[Ryan Sickler]

We used to do it all the time. Pop you in the mouth like, boom.

[Mick Bettencourt]

You're wearing two swatches. You get one in the face.

[Ryan Sickler]

Two swatches.

[Mick Bettencourt]

That's right.

[Ryan Sickler]

I forgot about double swatches.

[Mick Bettencourt]

You got two.

[Ryan Sickler]

We used to. Another thing we used to do, too, we had a deep freeze in the basement. So we had our bull lips, our bait for crabbing in there, and some other, you know, deer meat, whatever. And my brothers and I would make snowballs during the winter, and we put them in the deep freeze. And if you came over to our house in the, you know, July, and you were being a dick, playing base, whatever, we would just start hitting you with snowball ice balls.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Actually, no one saw that coming.

[Ryan Sickler]

And they're like, where the did you get those? Like, February, where we got these.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Did you take the little yellow. The thin, yellow wiffle ball bat, cut the top off, put duct tape around the bottom, and then put bottle rockets in there.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay. Did everything except for the bottle rockets.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Okay.

[Ryan Sickler]

Took the yellow bat. That was my wiffle ball right now. With electrical tape around it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mick Bettencourt]

And we would have never. Bottle rocket wars with it.

[Ryan Sickler]

Good one.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Because you got that long tube to aim it.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah. Oh, it's great, man. And then this was like, you know, you'd have to know someone to get the fireworks.

[Ryan Sickler]

This one right here.

[Mick Bettencourt]

That's it.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Mick Bettencourt]

And you'd have to. There'd always be some Guy.

[Ryan Sickler]

Are they legal in Illinois?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Fireworks? No. You'd have to find some guy that was a scumbag that's like oh you. Oh, you're 10. You want a quarter stick of dynamite?

[Ryan Sickler]

Those are the best.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Like what? Who would give children explosives now?

[Ryan Sickler]

Are you gone? You were early on out in the bars and stuff with your mom. What's you mentioned this one place, Tooty Toots. What's it called?

[Mick Bettencourt]

There it is.

[Ryan Sickler]

Great job, Kirsten. What's it say at the top? What a what restaurant?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Unique.

[Ryan Sickler]

It's unique.

[Mick Bettencourt]

10 year old. Yeah, that. Pretty unique.

[Ryan Sickler]

Sports.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

And foods of spirit.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Sports foods of sorts.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay. Wow.

[Mick Bettencourt]

With old style sign too.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Mick Bettencourt]

You're rolling in there at corduroy pants. Got a mustard yellow catholic school boy shirt on. Knocking back Manhattan while Debbie Deb lookout weekends playing. Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

What's that? I've never heard. I've never heard this.

[Mick Bettencourt]

There. Lookout weekend.

[Ryan Sickler]

I don't think I've heard this one.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Oh, you've heard this for sure.

[Ryan Sickler]

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[Mick Bettencourt]

All.

[Ryan Sickler]

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[Mick Bettencourt]

I got a Manhattan in my hands. 10 years standing in front of the mirror smoke machine. Yeah. Then, you know, you just try to walk up Mac a little bit.

[Ryan Sickler]

No, whose son is it?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Like, whose child is this? This sweaty man.

[Ryan Sickler]

How do you say it?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Tuttiets.

[Ryan Sickler]

What are there some. What are some other. Where's the place you got caught stealing? Do you remember any stores you got caught stealing those baseball cards?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah, that was. There was a Corner store on 26th and Oak Park Avenue. God, that lady was so nice. But we went in.

[Ryan Sickler]

Remember the name?

[Mick Bettencourt]

No, it was a family owned business. But I was at like a Walgreens at the North Riverside Mall. And they had, you know, a box of packs. Like you could buy individual packs, but they were in the box and. Yeah, that's where it was, right in there. And there's Benny's Pizza right now. Oh, where's Benny's Pizza? Look, there it is to the right. Best sausage pizza. Just to the right of that. But here was the right person. Yeah, see right past tipsy right there, Benny's Pizza. Oh, so good. Shout out to Benny's. So we would go in there and here was the hustle. One guy, we realized it is his. This is a scumbag move, by the way. We were like, you know, this, I, I don't endorse this. We go in. We realized the lady was running for this, running the store while the husband was away. She didn't know anything about cards. So you would ask. One kid would ask to see a dollar card and another kid would ask to see a 50 card because the prices were on the outside of the plastic cover. You'd switch the cards. One kid would buy the dollar card that now has the $50 card in it. And that's how you'd eat, you know. You know, if you had a dad, it was like, what, what's that like? You know, like you were just hustling. But we were also on it. I'm not going to be like, you know, we were street urchin. Some of it was just for the adrenaline, the steel. But there was that place. And then there was like Walgreens at North Riverside Mall. And I just grabbed a big box of the whole box of packs. Yeah. And the security guard got me. Then the, the police officer got me. They arrested me. The kid I was with got away. And then my grandfather had to come get me. And then I heard him talking on the outside, like I told you. And he goes, he goes, hey, the kids yeah, he had a partner, but he wouldn't give him up. And my grandfather goes, oh, no, he's a good kid.

[Ryan Sickler]

He's a good kid. Is hilarious to me. Give me some old addresses. You remember some old places.

[Mick Bettencourt]

So also on 26, there was a Mr. Sub. Did you have those in Baltimore?

[Ryan Sickler]

I don't remember it.

[Mick Bettencourt]

So, like, 26th and go down East Avenue. It was maybe like four blocks down east. You could get subs there. I got a steak burger, extra mustard, extra onion. But they had Bubble Bobble.

[Ryan Sickler]

What's that?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Bubble Bobble. Yeah, there it is. Look at that right there, man. You'd go in there. Bubble Bobble was just a video game. Right when the coin video game started coming out. So, you know, some guy would be like, I got high score. And you'd be like, you what? Whatever. Oh, yeah, come see me at Mr. Subs. There it is. Mike Kona Crush, the same kid whose dad had the Nova was the king of Bubble bobble.

[Ryan Sickler]

But we would go.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah, we would go play Bubble bobble at the Mr. Subs. We would also go to North Riverside Mall and try to find receipts from Sizzler and then go sit back down and try to get the free ice cream.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, that's it. I never thought. But then the ice cream.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah, we're just getting the ice cream. But not realizing, like, somehow the waiter wouldn't know that the last table wasn't four. You know, 12 year olds seen that forever.

[Ryan Sickler]

Kirsten, look this up for me. Sentos of Arbutus. This is the place we would go every Friday once my parents split. We go down to my grandma's with my dad every Friday. We go in here every Friday and they had great subs, great pizza.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Look at the neighborhood around there, too.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, but they had a few video games, you know, like three or four in the corner.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Big.

[Ryan Sickler]

It was. It was usually like. That's what I'm saying. One of them was the Gilligan's island pinball game.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Nice.

[Ryan Sickler]

Which was. We were in there having so much goddamn fun with that. Because you had to. You had to. It was like, this is it. Holy, dude. We would play this. It looks like a dick. It looks like a butt plug.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Look at that.

[Ryan Sickler]

It does.

[Mick Bettencourt]

That looks like a straight up butt plug going right into the dark hole.

[Ryan Sickler]

We play this. We had Dig Dug. Oh, Dig Dug was in there for a while.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Great.

[Ryan Sickler]

Give us some old addresses. Let's see some house.

[Mick Bettencourt]

So 2500 South Clarence is the apartment building in Berwin Illino, which is the epicenter of culture and dreams. So right there is the apartment building that in the front of that used to be a little Polish beauty salon that kids, that woman's son, she chain smoked. The, My mom's apartment always smelled like perm material. So on the side of the building, right? So that, that front door upstairs was top where Tommy the Spanker lived.

[Ryan Sickler]

Tommy the Spanker.

[Mick Bettencourt]

And then my grandfather and I lived after I moved upstairs from my mom's in the back of that building, right? My mom. So the, the, the chain smoking lady had a son. He came out, he punched me in the face one time and he was big. I should have fought him. I, I coward it out. I went and I told my mom, she goes, what? She comes out, threw a heater down the middle, drop the kid, hit the kid, your mom hit the kids. And bang. Right in this fight. And he was a big kid. He was like that kid with a growth spurt. He was like 6:1. Yeah, it just sat him down. But on the side of that building right there, my mom would wear basically like jean short Daisy Dukes right there. And would play catch with me. She put on roller skates wearing a halter top with her yammers hanging out. And look you, there's no traffic here. And she would put a walkman on, play catch. Bumper to bumper, bro. Lying down, clearance coming around. I was like, this is the ninth time this car went by right on the side of that house, man. Yeah, my grandfather died on the second floor, right? My arms right on that second thing there. Yeah, this was wild. We would go sketching, we would do fast pitch, which is where you spray at Hiawatha school, which is two blocks from there. It's on East Avenue. 26 and East. We spray painted a black box. Did you play this? And then you'd put an X in the box. So you only needed two players. You'd have a bat with a rubber ball and a pitcher. And then you'd say, all right, if the ball goes here, it's a single. If it goes here, it's a double. And you would just throw the ball. And if you had the strike zone, then if the guy gets a hit, you'd go get the ball and you could one hop it into the center of the X. The guy was out.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh yeah. Tight. Yeah, this is the school here.

[Mick Bettencourt]

This is Hiawatha.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, we used to play, we try not to get a left handed friend. We used to play two. We'd have two outfielders, an infielder, a pitcher and a catcher. Yeah, so you'd have four guys, like right fields out.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Automatic out. And if you're playing. If you're a left, like, hold on. Vlogger yet.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Check this place out. Haunted Trails. Yeah, right. There it is. 7. So 77th in Harlem. So I lived at 25th or 26th in Clarence, which is like close to Oak Park. So you'd have to go from East Avenue to Oak park to Harlem. We'd have bicycles. Some guys would get ridden on the handlebars and ride 50 blocks and we'd each save up to have $5. So we only had $5.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, total. Not each.

[Mick Bettencourt]

No, each. Some guys would. But some guys would want to go so bad, they'd have like a DOL25 and just think they'd be mooching. I was the guy. Like, I came down with 75 cents, man. You got to hook me up.

[Ryan Sickler]

And was it still a quarter back then?

[Mick Bettencourt]

So it was a quarter unless you did dragon slayer.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, 50 cents. They're doing game changers for getting us. Yeah.

[Mick Bettencourt]

And so we would just literally have a guy like, on the handlebars. There was a putt putt there, but we literally just went for the arcades. It would take us like two hours to get there. We'd be so excited. We'd rip through the quarters, you know, in like seven seconds and then have another two hour ride on the bicycle's back. Yeah, it was wild, man, because it was just a rumor that if you went straight down Harlem and you just kept going, there was a paradise, like a room filled with all arcade games.

[Ryan Sickler]

And that was it.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Huh. So crazy. Yeah, man. And then there was Gina's Italian Ice, which I think was on 16th. Right there. Yeah, that was it. Oh, my God. The pina colada and cherry was so good.

[Ryan Sickler]

That was one.

[Mick Bettencourt]

So the place right next door, Bona. I used to panhandle money when I had no food. And the guy goes, come on in, man. I'll give you a sandwich. I'll never forget. Shout out to Bona Beef. The guy saw me begging for money out in front of that place down the street. I don't know if it's there anymore is a pizza, Giovanni's Pizza. I got a job there as a busboy, but I would eat there because I had no parents at the time. And so the guy's like, hey, don't. Don't come in on Wednesday. And I'm like, what's up on Wednesday? And he goes, just don't fucking come in on Wednesday. I go, but I'm Scheduled to come in on Wednesday. He goes, don't come in on Wednesday. I go, I eat here, man. He goes, then bring a fucking sandwich home. So I go by Wednesday, because, you know, you're a kid, you're like, what's going on Wednesday with your bike? Whole place is engulfed in.

[Ryan Sickler]

I was gonna say it's on fire, isn't it? He burned it all down. Insurance. Oh, I love the criminal element, man. I really do. What were some of the other hustles you had as a kid?

[Mick Bettencourt]

We would. We would steal off, like, whatever the logos were, the hood ornaments and stuff. We try to sell them at the junkyards of the surplus places. Yeah, cut those off. We would belly ride on the Buicks. Anything you could cut off the side so the people from the house couldn't see you. I delivered newspapers for the Berwin Life.

[Ryan Sickler]

Look the Berwin Life up. Kirsten, what's this, like a local favor?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Dude, I was a caddy at the North Riverside Country Club and they called me the menstrual caddy because I only showed up to work one week out of the month.

[Ryan Sickler]

Here it is, look. Berwin Life, right here.

[Mick Bettencourt]

That's it. Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Where's this place?

[Mick Bettencourt]

So I'm in seventh grade, I'm delivering the Berwin Life, right? And I don't know who it was, but I think it was the guy that I caddied for that ran whatever the. The caddies were, was, you know, would grab your tits, you know, squeeze your tits or grab your ass. And. And so I was like, dude, you can't do that. Like. So I went to the boss. I was like, hey, just so you know, we're like in grade school, this guy's getting handfuls. So they boned him. So my grandfather dies and I got to go deliver the papers. I would do it at night. So it's like 2 in the morning. I got the thing slung around me. I'm walking because the Wednesday papers were the big ones. It wouldn't fit on my handlebars. So you're waddling down the street, jogger comes running up, pulls his junk out. It is Ryan here, and I have a question for you. What do you do when you win? Like, are you a fist pumper? A woohooer? A hand clapper, A high fiver? If you want to hone in on those winning moves, check out Chumba Casino. Choose from hundreds of social casino style games for your chance to redeem serious cash prizes. There are new game releases weekly, plus free daily bonuses. So don't Wait. Start having the most fun [e-mail]. no purchase necessary. VGW Group void.

[Ryan Sickler]

We're prohibited by law.

[Mick Bettencourt]

21/ Terms and conditions apply. I'm like, oh, no. So I just sprint across the street to my boy Matt Costello's house. I'm banging on his door. His mom, who was a nurse, opens up. She's like, what's going on? It's like two in the morning. I go, oh, there's a paper. And the guy in his pull shorts thing. She goes, where? I go, he was. He took off running. She goes, it's two in the morning. Clothes.

[Ryan Sickler]

And I was like, wait, left you outside.

[Mick Bettencourt]

So I'm like, well, I got a more at the beginning of my route. I finished the rest of the route. Like, is he going to peep out of these bushes? Is he going to jump out of here? Just delivering the running up. Just hit him with the paper, give him a little tap with you. Like, tell happy stories. I'm like, and then a guy died.

[Ryan Sickler]

What about. So we asked this a lot too.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Vacations.

[Ryan Sickler]

And I know. So what is a vacation for you?

[Mick Bettencourt]

First vacation I went on, I'll tell you.

[Ryan Sickler]

Why did you drive?

[Mick Bettencourt]

No, listen to this, man. My cousin's like my brother who just wrote a great book called Keep Moving, Keep Shooting, which you can get on Amazon. He's a retired lieutenant colonel. Great book, dude. He goes, do you want to go to the Wisconsin Dells? And I'm like, what are those?

[Ryan Sickler]

Kirsten? Those, dude.

[Mick Bettencourt]

I'm like, are you serious? It would be. It's like basically going to a. Like imagine you're 30 years old and you have pockets full of cocaine and someone says, do you want to go to the Playboy Mansion?

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay. Okay.

[Mick Bettencourt]

To like a kid. Look at this.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay.

[Mick Bettencourt]

It's water slides.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, it's a mega park. Yeah.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Funnel cakes. And I remember like, that's the guy that had the conversion van. So we gotta go up. He could bring a friend, his sisters could bring a friend. They had a little cottage in the woods. And we went and it was just like, I had no idea you could do that. You know what I mean? That was the first vacation I ever went. I think I was in seventh grade.

[Ryan Sickler]

And you drive.

[Mick Bettencourt]

His parents. His parents drove. We drove to Chicago. It was like a two hour drive. And then we went fishing. And I was like, what is this? There was like a little stream and we caught this tiny little fish. Look at that, man.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's crazy.

[Mick Bettencourt]

We got up at 5:30 in the morning. And like, his parents just gave us two fishing poles. We had no idea what we're. I think we dug for worms. We had no idea what we doing. We caught a fish. We thought we had conquered a country.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Mick Bettencourt]

We just come back. It was like a little guppy or something. And his mom was so cool. She, like, cut it up like we were going to eat it, you know. And it was like this much meat that she put in the freezer. It was. Oh, that's the Wis. Wisconsin ducks, too. They have cars that drive into the water.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, yeah. That's cool.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah. Yeah. Then we would skate, like, half pipes. Like, this kid Polly Tofar had a half pipe in his backyard and he had the. The Nintendo. So, like, my cousin had a Nintendo. Polly. This kid Paulie had a Nintendo. So he's like, you want to sleep over? I was like, yes. And after everyone went to sleep, I hit that like a crack pipe to like six in the morning. I'm just like, I'm on this. I'm gonna get as much of this. I'm gonna figure out how to kill the dog and duck hunt. I'm gonna get to the bottom of. Man. I'm gonna get to the bottom of.

[Ryan Sickler]

Kill the dog and duck, dude.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah, that was what.

[Ryan Sickler]

You mentioned the toys of the time too. What were you into? What? What. What were you collecting or playing with? What were you into?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Do you remember the Sears catalog, bro?

[Ryan Sickler]

Dude, I tell people about all the time.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Like, they don't understand you.

[Ryan Sickler]

You had to. I tell Stella, like, this one catalog will come out. You pick out what you wanted for your birthday, your Christmas, all that.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

And they would only have four or five sports things in the back too. It might not.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Mick Bettencourt]

And then you went from toys to gluing them pages shut. You did, you noble gentleman.

[Ryan Sickler]

No. That got. You got off to the Sears catalog. I couldn't say.

[Mick Bettencourt]

What are you saying? What are you saying?

[Ryan Sickler]

I'm not judging. I'm just saying it sounds judging. I'm upset that I didn't think to use it that way.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Because if you keep flipping through it, you hit.

[Ryan Sickler]

I have two brothers. I had to share. That catalog was missing.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Your older brother.

[Ryan Sickler]

Look at it. Guns, all kinds, everything.

[Mick Bettencourt]

It was used to be able to buy a house out of the Sears catalog.

[Ryan Sickler]

Small houses of the tw.

[Mick Bettencourt]

So out of the Sears catalog when the. You remember when the real Voltron came out? It was metal. It was metal.

[Ryan Sickler]

Look this up.

[Mick Bettencourt]

And it was like $200. Or it might have been $100.

[Ryan Sickler]

Was this the bigger one?

[Mick Bettencourt]

Yeah, but they were diecast metal. And I was like, oh. And my grandfather said, I. There's one in the Sears catalog.

[Ryan Sickler]

I don't know if that is.

[Mick Bettencourt]

No, that's like the plastic one. So the. My grandfather goes, there's one in the Sears catalog. I'm like, yeah, but that's not the one that I want. He's like, well, guess which one you're gonna get. So he got it like a month early. So this shit came in like November, right? He sets it in my room wrapped. But the big plastic one, I think that's the. The die cast one. Yeah. So this was like a larger plastic, almost like a knockoff, right? And so I just start tearing the paper a little bit just so I could see it and touch it. So for like 30 days, I'm just on this thing, looking at it. Opening that up was majestic.

[Ryan Sickler]

My brothers and I used to do that too. Like, once we found out, oh, you found a hiding spot about Santa that wasn't real. You know, we were like, well, but my younger brother still was. My. My dad told us, you tell him as the end of Christmas for your ass, both of you. We were like. He'd be like, santa? We were like, hell, yeah, Santa's real. Oh, yeah. He said, everybody ever tells you who ain't you Tell us, have you not.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Been to the mall recently?

[Ryan Sickler]

But we would do that. We'd sneak down and we would just tear a piece.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

And I'm like, you got Luke Skywalker and he'd tear a piece.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Like, you got stretch arms, strong. I'll be which one? He'd be like, spider man. I'm like, all right. Toys are the best, man.

[Ryan Sickler]

That was Christmas morning. When you get that, it's. It's. It's interesting that, you know, a toy back then would make your whole day.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Can I tell you for real, a legit thing that happened? So I'm in my grandfather's room, and he had a dresser with a TV on it, right? So I would watch. I come home from school, I watch after school cartoons. Whatever was on when you got home, right? And I remember sitting on the floor playing with toys. He man, toys. I had a couple Thundercats. And I just felt so good. I was like, what's better than. I'm all alone, only child. I'm like, what's better than toys? You know what I mean? What is better? I'm sitting here, I'm like, I can create anything I want. I got some good toys. And then A music video from Vanity comes on the tv. Princess girl called Nasty Girl, I think.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Three women come out and like, lingerie, Lingerie. And I remember looking at my toys.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's the end of the toys, bro.

[Mick Bettencourt]

And then I was like, what? Just watch this video. This starts, man. Just this. This. You. You. You're playing everything's great. You got friends at grade school. You're playing lob. You're playing football in the street. You're stealing Buick Regal ads. And you're like, oh, wait, what is this? I like this. A catchy beat. I'm playing my thing. I got Thundercats or fighting he man Skeletor might get into the mix. You know what I mean? And then all of a sudden, the door opens. You say, this is weird. Oh, the singing. I'm in. All of this looks like some kids I go to school with, but just a little older. You could scroll through this a little bit because there's a huge turn in the story that happens. Yeah. So look at this. You watch this. And then you look up Ryan Sickler and this happens.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, Skeletor just showed up and you're like, what the fuck is going on?

[Mick Bettencourt]

What?

[Ryan Sickler]

Cut the music, Kirsten. So in case we can still use the. The video. Yeah, it's like we might. We might not be able to use it. I don't know. Just imagine I am imagining it, dude.

[Mick Bettencourt]

And you're looking at sh. You're looking at Shira, and then you're looking at the screen and you're like, what?

[Ryan Sickler]

Shiva don't look like Vanity, bro.

[Mick Bettencourt]

And then I'm thinking it. It was a game changer. No, that's the day the toys went into a box. And. And a.

[Ryan Sickler]

Also, look at this haircut, too. 80s haircut. Where? Androgynous.

[Mick Bettencourt]

It looks like I got asked to the warriors after party.

[Ryan Sickler]

Dude, this is a lot of fun.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Come on, man. Oh, it's so good hanging, man. Come on. Thank you for having me.

[Ryan Sickler]

Thank you for doing this, dude. Promote one more time, please.

[Mick Bettencourt]

Substack mickeyourt.substack.com Right now, free stories. If you know somebody who's over 65 years of age and they're struggling with their physical fitness, and I heavily promote a planking organization called lemonparty.org so you can go there, you can see what they're doing. And I'm also. So just check that out. Because.

[Ryan Sickler]

Somebody on the other hand, could be like, we got a few more hits today, man. What the hell's going on?

[Mick Bettencourt]

I crashed the site.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, God. Thank you. Is that everything you want to promote? All right, as always, Ryan Sickler on all your social media. We'll talk to you all next week.

[Mick Bettencourt]

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