The Punchline

January 16, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Punchline

In December 2015, John Scott was a 6'8", 270-pound NHL enforcer—a player whose job was to fight, not to score. He was sitting on a team bus when a teammate told him he was 56th in fan voting for the All-Star Game. "Oh, that's great," Scott thought. "People think it's a joke. They're gonna vote for me a little bit." By the next day, he was top five. The day after that, he was number one.

The whole thing started as a joke between two hockey journalists. Greg Woshinsky, an ESPN writer known as Puck Daddy, was on a podcast with a friend named Jeff Merrick in November 2015. They were complaining about the NHL's All-Star Game—how the league kept changing the format to make it more exciting, how they'd reduced fan voting to just four captain slots. The two of them started brainstorming: what if they used that little voting power to mess with the system? What if they voted in someone who absolutely did not belong?

The name that came to mind was John Scott. He was a goon, a fighter, a guy who played maybe five to eight minutes a night. He couldn't really skate, couldn't really shoot. The only thing he was good at was punching people. Voting him in would be a perfect middle finger to the hockey establishment, which was trying to phase out fighting and enforcers like him.

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What you'll learn

1 (01:32) **The Hardest Get** - Latif introduces the story of John Scott, a hockey enforcer who became an unlikely All-Star, after two years of pursuing an interview.
2 (03:34) **The Setup: A Joke on a Podcast** - Hockey journalist Greg Wozinsky and his co-host Jeff Merrick complain about the NHL All-Star Game format and limited fan voting.
3 (08:50) **The Perfect Target: John Scott** - Greg identifies John Scott, a 6'8" enforcer known for fighting, as the ideal candidate for their prank.
4 (10:27) **John Scott's Story: From Dream to Enforcer** - John Scott describes his childhood dream of playing in the NHL and his path as a naturally huge, uncoordinated kid.
5 (19:00) **The Vote Takes Off** - John Scott learns he is leading fan voting for the NHL All-Star Game, a position he never expected.
6 (23:25) **The NHL's Pressure Campaign** - The league tries to force John Scott to withdraw, including a personal phone call questioning his family's pride.
7 (29:52) **The Shady Trade and Demotion** - Two weeks before the All-Star Game, John Scott is traded and immediately demoted to the minor leagues in Newfoundland.

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Show Notes

This episode, first aired in 2019, brings you the story of John Scott, the professional hockey player that every fan loved to hate. A tough guy. A brawler. A goon. But when an impish pundit named Puck Daddy called on fans to vote for Scott to play alongside the world’s greatest players in the NHL All-Star Game, Scott found himself facing off against fans, commentators, and the powers that be. Was this the realization of Scott’s childhood dreams? Or a nightmarish prank gone too far? Today on Radiolab, a goof on a goon turns into a parable of the agony and the ecstasy of the internet, and democracy in the age of Boaty McBoatface.

Special thanks to Larry Lynch and Morgan Springer.

Check out John Scott's "Dropping the Gloves" podcast (https://www.droppingthegloves.com/) and his book (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Guy-Like-Me/John-Scott/9781501159657) "A Guy Like Me".

EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Latif Nasser
Produced by - Matt Kielty

Original music and sound design contributed by -
John Dryden, Thee Oh Sees, Weedeater and Bongzilla.

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