Today’s podcast is a bit of a reunion. 

Matt Vincent and I wrote a column called Rat Chat for The Montana Standard for about seven years starting in December of 1998. Ever third Thursday, or so, we published a column that was written on an old laptop computer while we sat at the bar.

Usually that bar was Maloney’s.

Things have changed quite a bit since the powers that be — including our trophy wives, as they call themselves — put the kibosh on Rat Chat. Vinny and I have raised our families and, well, we grew up a little bit ourselves. Vinny also rode my coattails to a four-year stint as Chief Executive of Butte-Silver Bow.

Thanks to Vinny’s leadership, our children can swim at the water park in the summer, and our baseball teams have one of the best stadiums in the state.

No longer a politician, Vinny is now a consultant and his own boss. He and his trophy bride also following the hockey careers of his two high school age boys, Rye and Rigley.

Today, Vinny and I caught up and talked about our Rat Chat days in what is the first of what will be a regular appearance on the ButteCast by my old pal.

While the beverage of choice changed from Budweiser to Mountain Dew and coffee, we figured the best meeting place was the bar we used to call “home.” We met at Maloney’s.

Today’s podcast also includes a quick appearance by our friend John Weitzel, who will become a Golden B tonight when Butte High takes on Missoula Big Sky in a Western AA football game at Naranche Stadium.

Click here to listen to a couple of old friends talking about the good old days.