Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. 119 - Sportsnet's Tim Micallef

Episode Date: October 5, 2020

Originally from Don Mills Ontario he got his start as an unpaid intern at the Score. Now you know him as one of the hosts of the extremely popular daytime talk show Tim & Sid. We discuss his journey, lessons learned & some cool moments from his career to this point.  Let me know what you think     Text me! 587-217-8500

Hi, this is Brandon Holby. Hey, this is Tanner, the Bulldozer Bozer. Hi, this is Brian Burke from Toronto, Ontario. This is Daryl Sutterin. Hello, everyone. I'm Carlyagro from SportsNet Central. This is Jay On Right. This is Quick Dick, quick, tick coming to you from Tough Moose, Saskatchew. Hey, everybody, my name is Theo Fleary.

This is Kelly Rudy. This is Corey Krause. This is Wade Redden. This is Jordan Tutu. My name is Jim Patterson. Hey, it's Ron McLean, Hockeynet in Canada, and Rogers' hometown hockey, and welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

We get a great one on tap for you today. Before we get there, let's get to today's episode sponsors. First off, Clint and the team over at Trophy Gallery, whether you're looking for championship belts, custom medals, die cast, signage, name tags, engraving on Yetis and Brumates, business awards, you name it. These guys got it. They ship Canadianwide.

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And we've got lots of different options, and I want to find something that can work for the both of us. Now, let's get on to your T-Barr-1, Tale of the Tape. Originally from Don Mills, Ontario. He started with the score as an unpaid intern in 1997. He would work alongside with the likes of Sid 6-0, Cavi Richards, James Sebalski, and Elliot Friedman. In 2011, the Tim and Sid Show would be picked up by the 590 The Fan.

And since 2015, you can now find Tim and Sid on Sportsnet weekdays at 3 to 5 p.m. You can also find the Tim and Sid podcast, which sits in the top five consistently downloaded podcasts in Canada. Yes, I'm talking about Tim McAllah. So buckle up. Here we go. This is Tim McAuliffe of Sportsnet, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Tim McAuliffe.

So first off, thanks for hopping on. Not a problem. Both of us, you, I think, left the three kids at home. My two kids will be running around. So if anything were to transpire, please forgive it. Both of them are sick, too. So they're home from school because we're in 2020. they have both we have a negative test so we're all good to go if any of them run around and there's

there's some coffin going on and excuse us we're real life here in 2020 well that's that's what all the shows are now right like you can't you can't hide away from real life it's it's happening i'm trying my damnedist sitting here but i totally get it so no man thanks for hopping on no problem uh speaking of saskatch when you're talking just about uh knowing the different areas of any place across Canada because that, you know, people like to know that you know your stuff. Speaking of Saskatchewan, we all come from these, you know, not people are, you know, out Ontario, you're from Toronto. But I mean, if you go, if you cycle it down, you're actually from Don Mills.

And how cool is that to know something like that specific to a person? Well, Saskatchewan, we're all from, I'm from home on Saskatchewan. Nobody knows where that is. But if you did, I'd be like, oh, wow, that's pretty cool, right? And you were talking about the rough riders and knowing more different athletes. And, well, hell, anyone who comes out of Saskatchewan, if you know the small town and you know something about it, you've already become instant friends with half of Saskatchew, maybe three quarters. It's funny because, so I did, my background is I've done play-by-play for the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

and I've done play-by-play for U-Sports, CIS, and CIAU, all of them. I've been along for the ride for all of their names. And I was saying as Sean, some of my favorite things were making sure I knew the high schools and the towns that people were from. And Saskatchewan was always great because being, listen, I try my best. Having traveled this country from ocean to ocean, the one thing I really, realized really early is people hate the center of the universe, Toronto, if you are living up to that I don't know if I want to call it expect stereotype like the stereotype of the Toronto person if you live up to that people hate it and like I am not that dude. I am I love Canada coast to coast and I love the fact that I've been able to travel it. I live in the house I grew up in which is not something people in Toronto do but I'm guessing.

a few people in Hillmont, probably still live in the house that they grew up in. Is that true? You know, someday, Tim, when you're out this way, I'll show you, Helmand. We got about five houses in it. It's a hamlet. Oh, nice. Hamlet. Here's something for you. It's the hometown of Wade Redd, right? Or the farming community of Wade Reddard. I saw the jersey up over your right shoulder. There you go. So, So that's the claim to fame. But I laugh about that. Probably people are living in their farmhouses that they grew up in. Right.

In the actual town hamlet of Helmand, you know, it's funny. I don't know if too many people live in the same house. Right. So whenever I say that, people are like, oh, that's something weird for Toronto. And I just, I love the neighborhood that I grew up in. My wife ended up loving the neighborhood that I grew up in. So we bought my parents' house. And we ended up living here.

But to make the long story short, I believe firmly in knowing where people are from because that's that's your first olive branch. And I sat in a plane once on the way to Saskatoon to do a U.S. game and a Huskies game. And there was a great couple sitting beside me who were very proud of being from Saskatchewan and not Saskatchewan, right? Saskatchewan. I've been corrected for the Saskatchewan in the past. And so they literally sat with me and I rhymed off all the kids where they were from if it was a town that I didn't know. Like Yorkton, you know, like, you know, the bigger areas you know, the North Battlefords, you know. But some of those smaller towns, I had no idea. And they just sat with me and they were so great about it and gave me a little idea of what the town was about. And then there was one,

specifically where they didn't know either. So they asked someone else and they'll, hey, anybody know where, and I wish I could remember the town now, but anyone know where Helmout is? And it was just, oh yeah, that's, you know, so it was also great. And I came to appreciate,

and because I love the CFL, I came to appreciate what Saskatchewan is, what it represents and what the people there are proud of. So I got my, that experience you had where, where they go, anybody know where that is? If you get around a group of Saskatchewan farmers and you mentioned, you know, Frenchman But if you mention that, oh, hey, Tom, you know where French, oh, yeah, yeah.

And they'll have this long story. Like, how the hell do you know that? But that's, that's Saskatchewan. That's the world in a nutshell, right? It is. You know, it's pretty cool. You know, when you talk about the way you trying to find out where everybody's from, that reminds me of Ron McLean.

because Ron McLean is the absolute best at going into anywhere and knowing facts about people. And you're like, how hell does he know that? Right. I assume that takes a lot of research then. You must just be like, you're heading somewhere and you got the book out and you're staring on a map. Or how do you, I mean, Saskatchewan's a tough one because Saskatchewan has like every, you know, 20 kilometers, there's a new little farming town. Like, how do you even prepare for that? Yeah, for me, it was always like, I enjoy the research.

I'm a research. I probably researched too much on things and I end up having too much information. But when you're doing play-by-play or what you're doing what Rahm McLean does, you have to have this wealth of information because you never know what's going to happen. So my thought process behind it always was. So if you're doing a CIS football game and you've got 60 kids and one of them happens to break his leg is lying on the field, I better know a little bit about him. You know, for his family watching at home, for his friends watching at home,

if he scores a touchdown out of nowhere, I better know a little bit about him. And so I started, I made sure because I believe in community and things like that. So high schools, I always had height, weight, year, town, and high school. And I thought, high school, you're always proud of the guy that went to your high school. You're always proud. You always got that Wade Redden jersey up because you know he's from the same town you are. And so I knew that was something that I wanted to push. And I'm proud of the high school that I went to, the little one in Toronto. And we were kind of the little engine that could. And anytime I heard someone say, oh, he went to Senator O'Connor.

I was like, that's awesome. So I carried that into my, my CIS coverage. And so it all started with the high schools. And I would Google a town, find out how many high schools were in the town. And if you get the high school, normally there's a Wikipedia page. And on every one of those, like I know Hillmount has a public school right now. And it goes to from junior kindergarten to fifth grade. And if you told me the high school, I would Google that up. And then I would try and find out, actually, that's one in Toronto.

Hill Mount Toronto. That's a different hill mount. That's amazing. That is amazing. You know what? I've never heard of another Hillmont before. Here's what you need to know about Hillmont. Wilmot, Saskatchewan has a K to 12 school. It has an arena built in 2008 off the back of a lot of volunteers and a crazy amount of work. And after that, it is a giant farming community and one of the most tight-knit communities I've ever seen. and it is a lovely place with the actual town of Hillmont,

and there's more cats and dogs that live there than people, I swear. So when you're playing minor hockey, like not junior hockey, when you're playing minor hockey, how far are you guys going? For games? Yeah. So if you go back to Hillman, not that far. I mean, anywhere between 15 minutes to Paradise Hill to, I don't know,

hour and a half to Meadow Lake, Saskatchew, something like that. hour and a half farthest away. Yeah, not that bad at all. When I started playing in Lloyd is where it got dicey. We played in the rural midget, uh, rural midget hockey league, the ramble,

whatever that stands for anyways. And you'd travel to Fort St. John, uh, Fort McMurray, Grand Prairie Peace River. I mean, all we did was drive. And for people who don't know how far that is,

Fort St. John's like a 12-hour road trip. Yeah. Like, but I mean, that's the card you dealt. You deal with it. And now they don't have to do that. The Rammels no more, I don't think. But, you know, there was some fun memories. Kids make the best out of those times.

I mean, geez, parents are the ones I feel for. Yeah, trying to follow their kid to watch them play. Yeah. Well, can you imagine working a full-time job and then being like, okay, I got to get off at this time. And then even if I drive all the way there, I'm going to miss the first period. Right. I got to take a workday off, a holiday, to hop on a bus and listen to 20, 18-year-old kids

or probably not 18, 14-year-old kids talk about whatever. Like I can just imagine. Yeah, I know. I always felt for folks in the WHL, your kid gets drafted at 16. You're from Winnipeg. Like, where does you get drafted? You're hoping he gets drafted somewhere close. And even that, where's that close?

Like, I always felt for that, you know, I got to, I'm the youngest of four boys, so hockey playing, football playing family. And my brothers were good at hockey. I was terrible at hockey. But they were in those spots. And I always, you know, I always thought, oh, my God, like, I can't believe how far they're going to watch their kids or how far the kids are going and trying to carry their books with them and actually do schoolwork. Like, it's crazy.

It's crazy. How, but wondering that. I've heard that you talk an awful lot about your skills in sports. it's not being very great. How is it the youngest of four boys, all of them being good at athletics, just didn't... They ripped the gene pool, man.

The gene pool was bare by the time I came out. I'm what you described. So hosting a sports show, like I'm what you describe as a good high school athlete. Like I was captain in my high school football team. I was captain in my high school hockey team. But I wasn't, like my brothers all played junior B hockey or university football.

Like they were all that level. They all played with someone who was really good. Like my closest brother played with Mike Reachey and Chris Draper. They were on a team. They went to the Quebec Junior tournament together. And my brother was probably better than them when they were younger. You know, like he was really good. I had a brother who played with Adam Graves and they came up together.

Another, my oldest brother played with guys like Bobby Halkees and Kirk McLean. So throughout my life, I saw all these great athletes, and I was like a double A hockey player, if you know what that means, you know what I mean? And I was like a really good football player for high school. But if you're a receiver and you run a four, nine on a good day, you're probably not going anywhere. And I knew it.

And I knew enough about sports to realize that I wasn't good. So when I was in high school, I broke my love. leg separated my shoulder and tore my ACL in grade 11, 12, and when we had 13 in Ontario back in the day, that was my last three years of high school. So it was like, I realized I'm not doing anything with athletics. And I kind of knew already because I knew so much about sports. Like if I wasn't going to be 235, and I wasn't going to be 235, I wasn't going to be a good athlete. Well, and you're, you know, you mentioned your brothers. Your dad was a good athlete too. I mean, he played back in the day of the St. Mike's of the world.

I had Jerry Cheever's on last week. And we got talking about the St. Mike's days and everything that went on there. I mean, it's hard to put yourself back in that time because the world's changed so much since then. But I mean, your dad was a good athlete. All your brothers are good athletes. But you just, I hear a good athlete when you talk about your high school days. That's a good athlete. But you hit like, man, the lottery ball of terrible.

terrible injuries. Yeah, I didn't have an injury before that, though, Sean. I know. I know. But it's not like you broke your pinky toe and then, you know, like some people progress at different times. I mean, good athlete, good high school athlete, sorry, you could still, you still had time there if, you know, if you continue to develop and you really chase them and shit.

I listen to you talk about, while you end said, for that matter. or talk about, I like your hard work, right? Your hard work beats talent when the talent doesn't work. And I mean, your case and point,

you know, for the listeners that don't know, we were supposed to do this a couple days ago, and then you asked me what questions you wanted to ask me about, you know. And one of the things that I'm fascinated

with your story about is, you know, for people who don't remember, like the score is, the score was awesome. Yes. The score was raid in my, like,

heyday, playing junior hockey and flipping it on and watching you guys do all sorts of shenanigans and just having the lovely banter right like it was yeah it was a time in sports it was a lot of fun because i mean the score was doing well but you also had the breakout of guys like jane on right and uh dan no tool thank you and so being in the locker room it was literally like flipped to whatever channel you want and you just had awesome stuff going on but you know in researching you and realizing you were getting $100 a week for working a 40-hour week and then move back in with your parents, I'm going like, man, that must have been, that must have been tough.

Like, there's no way that wasn't tough. Like, doing lots of fun things, but I could have heard this wrong, but did your buddies nickname you CIS women's basketball? Yeah, that's amazing research, by the way. That is, as a guy who does research, that is awesome research. that you, but yes, my, my buddy's nickname, it was actually a CIS woman's volleyball. Oh, volleyball. Yeah, because, and they would change it.

So maybe I, maybe I did tell the story that you heard CIS women's basketball, but they used to, that was their insult to me. And I said, well, it's going to get me somewhere here. And plus, I just love doing it. Like, I honestly had a passion for doing it, no matter what it was. Like, volleyball was the first thing that I ever did. but it's it's funny that it what we're doing now is so fun and you're in front of the you know the national audience but everyone of not everyone but a lot a vast majority of the people that

you end up seeing on TV had their minor league had their grinded out time went to somewhere where they didn't know or worked somewhere for free to get there And so my sports history definitely set myself, set me up for success in this field because I felt like it was the same thing. Like when you said making a hundred bucks, well, if you played in the Saskatchewan loop, you weren't making a lot of money, right? You know what I mean? Like you were doing it because you loved it and you were doing it because that was the next

step. And that's how I always looked at my career was the next step of my daughter, like look at my daughter. you can come in and just say hi to Sean. My daughter just walked this in because my old man just came over and delivered it. Hi. We're doing a podcast. Thank you, dude. So that's my daughter in her sick pajamas.

And my dad is now allowed to come over because we got the negative COVID tests. So this is a big day at the McAuliffe household. How old are you kids, Tim? So I got a girl, she's eight, boys, 10. And my old man who played with Jerry Chevers, if I'm not mistaken. Correct, yeah. I like how you're correct. Yes, he did, he did.

At St. Mike's is 83 now. So he's over all the time. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. That's cool that you get to interact with your father that much. Or like have them, you know, lots of people, lots of people, well, move away or lose their father or whatever, right? I say that because my guest number two on the podcast was my dad.

I got to sit and that, you know, I love to tell the story of its pretty humble beginnings, right? Like the start was a very good friend, my father and the sound man. And now, you know, yourself on and guys of your standing, it's been a lot of fun and a fun little journey. So who are like I'm, I looked at the podcast and I'm, I don't want to turn into the interviewer here. But I love the idea of talking to real people about how they got to where. Like what have you found to be the most interesting people to talk to? Like, because I guess I'm curious the way you are about everything, right? Like you, I mean, you cover from A to B and then you go to Q and then you go back to, you know, M.

Like, what's been the most interesting conversations? Interesting conversations. I did Judy Reeves, who survived the perfect storm. and was on a fish and and not as much as we talked about the perfect storm Tim we didn't talk about the perfect storm for like an hour of that and it was just really interesting not everybody you know she's one in how many millions of people who have experienced something very extreme and just to see her mindset on life was interesting right when you talk about sports uh i'm not talking about sports though screw it okay well in general the reason i have it

set up this way and the reason it isn't called hockey one-on-one or something like that is I personally get bored and you know what I love about Tim and Sid is your guys are sports but it doesn't mean you just stick to hockey or the Leafs or the whatever like you guys talk about everything and I feel like you're pretty well-versed and everything that's what makes it entertaining at least to me and so for me the only way this stays fun and when you go back to anyone who's successful has their journey of where they work for free or work forever. I'm getting paid less than minimum wage right now. And I'm dealing with love my family,

but I got three children, a wife, work, you name it. I'm, this is a passion project. Right. So the only way it stays a passion project, and I'm happy getting up at whatever times. You know, I actually got cabby coming on on Monday, Monday night. Nice. And the only way it stays fun for me,

is if I don't just stick to one little niche and keep talking to the hockey player. Because I'm a hockey player born and bred. And those by far have come easiest to me. Just like the guys coming in, I actually had a hopped on a guy's show last night. He was making fun of my Tanner Bozer interview, UFC. Yeah. In a good way, in a good way. And I was like, well, yeah, I'm not no UFC expert by any stretch.

Right. But that doesn't mean I don't want to talk to the guy and see what he's about and see how he got there. And so to me, I think, I think the journey is interesting. And there's usually commonalities on how people went from being, you know, just a normal person on the street to being where they are. And people miss the midpoint. They look at Tim and they say, well, yeah, the famous guy, but they don't realize all the stuff that you did prior, right?

Right. And I always, I always find that most curious people are the best interviewers. Like, sometimes you have to forget what you know so that. your audience might not know, you know, I might have an inside knowledge of blank, like say hockey, and you ask a question that's so inside hockey that your audience has no idea what you're talking about. Now, you might capture 10 people who think that's awesome that you were able to think of that question and ask it, but the rest of the people are like, what is he talking about? So the curious look at people like, that,

you don't, maybe a UFC fighter that you don't know a ton about, sometimes those are the best interviews because you're asking what the audience would ask. Well, fair enough. Well, I started off by saying, listen, Tanner, I know Jack shit about UFC. So all these questions, don't feel like I'm trying to bamboosia. I really am green. So let's go with it, right? I don't know. I enjoy learning, Tim. So, you know, like when you say you like researching, I like researching. I like learning about, people and learning their lessons and taking them, you know, taking what they've learned and trying to apply some of it to what I do. And if I can do that, I mean, any person who listens to a podcast,

if that's what they're into, I hope I try and do that from time to time, right? Give them a unique perspective and try and get us out of our bubbles. We're all in our bubbles lately. Oh, I know. Oh, and it gets worse and worse and worse and worse, man. Yeah, yeah. And I agree. And learning about other people is a great way to get out of your bubble and what they go through and especially different people. I think that's a huge, huge thing that we need to start doing in 2020, even though we have these capabilities where I can sit in my basement and talk to some dude in Lloyd Minster, which is awesome. And we don't do it enough.

So fire away. I'm good. I'm an open book. Well, the first thing I wanted to know was like from the beginning, were you interested in radio? is or you know talking you know you talk about you being an athlete but at what point did you go you know what i think this is where i'm going to go you talk about being a poor high school athlete and you bombard yourself and uh but when did you know so because of the family i grew up and i love

sports like i and all sports and it's funny that you know hockey's probably my first love and it's the one that I'm least known for in this field. People would think of me as a basketball or a football guy before they'd think of me as a hockey guy. And that was just out of necessity at the score where we had none of the rights to do any of these things. But I was in high school, because I was the athlete that I described to you, I realized that wasn't going to be a pro. So how do you stay close to sports? And I started looking at the first thing I thought of as I'll be a cameraman. I'll do the camera at you know, leaf games, and that's how I'll stay close to sports. And I went and I did an internship in high school, a summer, I took a summer school. I was a good student, but I took a summer school

internship at a radio station in Toronto. And I went in and they had me gather news off that was printed off of the wire. And that was my job. And one one guy just took some interest to use the news guy. And he said, What, like, what do you like doing? I'm like, well, I'm a, you know, I love sports and I want to get into sports broadcasting, maybe, or be a cameraman. He goes, well, why don't you write me a sports report? And that was it. I was hooked.

I was in grade 11, summer of grade 11. And it was, he read my sports report by the end of this internship, which was about three months, maybe two months. He was reading my sports reports on the air. And I was like, this, this, Mark Henderson was the guy's name. And like, I'm like, he did me this huge. you solid. And I have no idea why or how and if that was part of CHFIs. It was like an easy rock station and he's reading sports reports. Like you know what I mean? And so I was kind of hooked there.

And there was a grade eight teacher. I was a smart kid, but I wasn't the greatest student. I hate my son here in this who's sitting in front of me playing video games. But I wasn't the greatest student before high school. And I had a grade eight teacher gave me valedictorian with a 63 average. And it was... A valedictorian with a 63 average.

Yeah. Figure that out every day. No. And I think she saw something. And so I gave the speech, it went over well, and I kind of got hooked. And like, I could do this. She said it was because I got a lot. along with everybody.

I was a good representation of someone who... Have you ever gone back to her now and asked her about it? You know, that's funny is I did. And she still lives in the neighborhood too. Does she really? Yeah, yeah. She still lives in the neighborhood. And she says, when I asked her, I said, she said,

ah, I don't know. And I'm like, you know, you realized you started my career. But yeah, well, you were, you were good anyway. you knew. Like it was just, there was no pretense to it. And she was a really good high school athlete and became a teacher. And I think there was like this kinship that there was like the real, there's people out there who are valedictorians and they get up and they speak and they do the thing where they do the thing of the thing. And I think she realized that there is like, there is a realness to me that wasn't, like I think, and we had this kinship. You know,

We want to, we want to, I'll tell you a quick story. It's a stupid story, but we won a grade eight volleyball championship. And she was our coach. And she had her cousin help coach us who was a grade 13, we're in grade 8, grade 13 gorgeous girl. And we win the championship and every grade 8 boy lines up to hug her cousin because she's a gorgeous grade 13. Well, like lines up.

Like we're celebrating. And every grade 8 boy immediately. recognizes this is my chance to go hug Donna and they line up to hug Donna and I see my teacher and I'm like, this is awesome. And I grabbed her and we like, you know, hugged and high fived. And it wasn't about the, and to me that was like her. She was like, oh, this kid's real. It's not about all the other stuff for him. And I always thought that's maybe why she gave me the as opposed to the, ah, you knew you were there. you knew, which I get from her. I think there's a little idea of this kid's real,

and maybe he's got something. I think that's, it's interesting because you just don't realize what little interactions mean to people. I mean, for you, I don't know if it changed your life, but you taught, I mean, shit.

Did, it did. What are you now, Tim? 45. 45, yeah, 44, 45, 44, 45, going to be 45. Don't mean an age. I got depressed 10%. 27.

Anyways, but like, I mean, catching up to my hairline. How many years later, and that's a story you go back to? Like, that's super cool. And we all have those stories and those people who, you know, whether or not you're, you know, I do a lot of work for the Lloyd archives. So going around and talking to grabbing life stories of like 95-year-olds to 70-year-olds, call it and they even at that age have stories of back when they're you know high school uh you name

it about where they have those people who steer their life different ways and that's yeah unbelievable it's a good lesson for all people to hear right like oh you just you just never know where you're you're going and who you're interacting with and what that means to them and what's going to do for them yeah i uh there's a i'm a big quote guy and One of them is Maya Angelou said, I've learned that people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. That's good. That's really good.

That's kind of, I think, what we were talking about there. And I try and remember it too. I do. And part of it is from that teacher, for sure. You disappeared on me, Tim. Oh, I did. I got all excited. I don't know.

Probably not a bad thing. There we go. I don't know if people want to see your face or not. Yeah, no. I have the face for radio is what they always joke with me about. Me too. Don't worry about it. You might have the tooth for radio, but whatever.

That's harder, man. That's character. You know, just stick him with that point for a second. I just, it's a lovely thing for people here because you just be nice to people. Because once again, you just don't know what it means to them. And you don't know, you know, I just, I had an ultramarathon guy on about a week ago, less than a week ago. And Shane Mascarren, so shout out to Shane because he's this guy who's running these crazy runs, right? Like running for like four days straight type crazy runs.

Super good health, wife, kids, good job. He's a biologist on an army base. And you find out he has serious mental health problems where he's tried committing suicide. been in the mental hospital and you're like, oh man, he's just said every day's hard. I'm like, okay. And so who knows? Hopefully our conversation meant something to him and helps them. You know, that's the way probably a lot of people should approach life because you just never know what, you know, you coming on the show, whether you know it or not is like a huge boost and it's pretty cool. And I'm super excited to sit across from a guy that's, you know, I assume gets asked all the time, Tim.

That was kind of, you know, when you reached back out and said, yeah, yeah, I'll come on. It's like, oh, shit. Like, all right. Okay, cool. Because I assume that podcasts, you know, podcasts are exploding right now. As everybody's stuck in their house, podcasts are going ballistic. I assume that you guys get asked all the time. And that has to be an interesting experience for yourself.

You know what it was, Sean, to be honest with you, was 2020 in this. global pandemic kind of it shook me to my core because I was a guy who always controlled everything and this was absolutely no control like I I decided the part of the story that I left out was when I was 16 I left I lost my brother and he was my hero and it inspired me to just go and get what I wanted and for 20 years I went and got what I wanted um I wanted to do this so I went and did it and there was if I had to moving to my parents basement and make $100 a week. That's what I was going to do. And so when 2020 hit, it gave me the idea that I no longer have control. And I was like, this sucks. Like I can't do the things that made me successful along the way. And it reset me back to, well, where was I when I

started? I was just some punk from Don Mills, who thought he was a high school athlete and then realized he wasn't and I made it a purpose to be one nice of people and two help other people out who are in the same spot that I was 20 years ago and so I've been doing a podcast a week and I figure you know why not help someone else out and try and learn something along the way and maybe even learn a little bit to be honest with you I've learned a little bit about myself doing all these podcasts and talking other people and getting a little more gratitude for what I have now and what I've been able to build. I mean, I'm sitting in a man cave that I never thought I would ever have, like to be honest with you, especially, you know, when you lose your brother at 16,

you know, it's not like we came from, you know, this, I did buy my parents' house, but I fixed it up a little bit. I fixed it up a little bit because I've made a little money along the way. So it's been, It's been huge in the and understanding gratitude and understanding that nothing in life is guaranteed even though I built it the right way, you know, doesn't mean that you deserve anything, right? And so 2020 has been a great reminder that I don't deserve Jack and you got to still work for it and, you know, doing a podcast here or there as a, as a reminder that where you came from is probably a good thing.

That's cool. Of all the podcast, so one a week, I have to assume it's a little bit going into that unknown. It's kind of like, you know, you don't know me from the hole in the ground. You know, you can listen to me. Sure. You can kind of get a feel. But it's got to be like, you know, when you get on a show, like you and Tim have been

working together for, or you and Tim, you and Sid have been working together for like forever now. So you kind of know what's coming, right? Like you kind of get the better. Step it into this ring and having questions. When you say you learn things about yourself, it's probably because I would assume, we're asking questions that you haven't thought about

or haven't thought about in a long time. Is it been a fun experience for you to hop on these shows and like, you know, see the stretch of, like it's a huge spectrum of us, amateurs, let's call it, that are out here just grinding away, trying to have some fun. Hey man, that set doesn't look amateur. I'm going to tell you right now, Sean, that set does not look amateur.

That looks like a big time setup. That setup looks better than mine. Yeah, it's been cathartic. I appreciate that. It's been cathartic. It's been good for me. And I'm not the type of person to talk about myself. So when you're asked about yourself,

it's kind of, it forces you to walk down a few roads that probably you wouldn't walk down. Yeah. So it's been kind of cathartic and it's also made me appreciate how far I've come. Because to be honest with you, you don't remember thinking, how the hell am I going to pay my next bill when you're making $100 bucks answering telephones at the score. But working 45 hours a week for that $100, which set me up, but was also hard at the time. And you kind of forget about what you went through, right? Well, I completely get what you say when, you know, the hundred bucks, whatever.

Like, I get what you're saying, the hard work. My, not issue, because it isn't an issue. I love my life. I love having kids and a wife and everything. I just, I didn't, you know, I wish I knew what I knew now back when I was 18 and just started. Instead, I played hockey until I was 25 or six. And when I got back, I wanted to get into radio. and I got steered away from it because there was no money.

You have to be the best. You got to move. You got all these things. And I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, well, maybe, okay, maybe that isn't. And, you know, what ends up happening? Like six years later, I'm like, I follow up my seat here podcast. And I'm like, I can do this.

But now you got three kids. You got responsibility, let's call it. And so now you got your hard work is just, it's different. It's not make 100 bucks a week and move back of your parents. And, you know, in case and point, when I got back from playing hockey, what did I do? I moved back in with my parents, renovated my grandparents house, which ate up entire year of my life. But so be it, right? Like, I mean, if it's worth something to you, you go do it.

Yeah. And it's funny because so that the injuries and there's a story about a farmer and it's a parable from, I'm feeling like Ron McLean, now. There's a story about a farmer a parable from... Is it a Chinese farmer? Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. About fortune? Yeah. And so for those who don't know, you know, he has the son, I'm going to paraphrase this terribly, but the son breaks his leg and the folks in the town come over and say that's bad luck. And he says, we'll see. And they're like, well, what, what? And then, you know, the army comes around and they want to get kids to join

in the army and his son's got a broken leg and can't go and the folks in the town tomorrow, what great news, you know. And then the son gets sick from the broken land. And it's just, you don't know what's good news and or bad news until years later. And I hated those injuries in high school. But they also forced me to rethink what I was going to do. And I probably would have played university football and been a fringe guy. on a team and gone down special teams and smashed my head through walls because we didn't know

what concussions were back in the day. And who knows what would have happened to me. And so I look back at that and say, you know, that might have been the best thing that ever happened to me was a refocus at that time. And I had good friends. I have a friend played a really good friend who played hockey in Europe until he was 30. And he came back at 30 and goes, now what do I do? you know and I often look at him and I always he's a great friend of mine and now he's he's found kind of his niche but it was hard for him you know to come home and start as you would at 26th from scratch yeah and he he comes home very little money in his pocket great experience he had a little fun along the way as you do overseas yeah and has a few more stories than I do

for when we have a few pops with the boys but um he had to start at 30. And so it's never too late and it's never and I, you know, that's the part of gratitude that is learned, right, is, and I don't want to get way too deep, but you learn along the way, like some of these things that I thought was terrible news or bad luck ended up being the best thing that could have happened to me. Well, I, the parable is, is fantastic. I'll give you, I'll give you, a good example, like a very close, heartfelt one. My parents, my dad and my two brothers own a trucking company in Lloydminster. And they had their shot burned down last.

I'm going to take a stab, say November, December, somewhere in there. And all their trucks, I mean like everything. So now they have no trucks. How do you survive that? So it's like, oh, poor you, right? Like this is terrible. COVID hits about four months later, three months later. later and it's they talk about all the time it's probably one of the things that's helped them

survive because they don't have the pay you know insurance is paying for things right so it's allowed them to survive and without that you can't you know and so you go back to the maybe parable and it's like well maybe all right like we'll see and I play that game you know hockey players that come back from playing the minor leagues yeah because I went that's where I came back from was Finland and uh went for call it 20 years of your life all you've known is hockey and you love it and it's it's you know you've worked your bag off to be where you're you know i i had the same conversation i just didn't have the bad injuries right i'll never make the nchal the fuck i love playing this and could i quit and go do something else maybe but i really love doing this

you come back at 26 and now you're like so now what do i do like now i got to relearn something because all i know is hockey yeah but in saying that i play the maybe game with myself and say yeah i could have maybe started at 20 but i don't know if i would have been good because starting later in life at this has given me a little bit of perspective. Yeah. Dealing with, you know, having other things that are very important to me in life have kind of give me a different approach to how I do this. And I, you know, I've heard a lot of people that are on the national level say,

you've got to be yourself. And what the hell does that mean, right? I mean, you know, when you're your young guy, you're trying to find yourself. Right. Now I'm like, well, I don't know. Lots of people say, I don't want to get too deep. And I'm like, I kind of like going deep. That's where I'm at, right?

So if you want to talk about other things, that's great. But I kind of like it. And I like to think that people who are listening enjoy coming along for that ride. And that's me. And that's why I reach out to you, Tim, is because I watch it. And you fat, me and my best friend got an argument because I said, man, I got Tim on. He's like, Tim. Why are you getting Tim on?

Get sit on. He's the good one. I'm going, we watching the same show, right? That's what great about you guys. Right. I mean, no, long story short, I just, yeah, like, I mean, the maybe thing and when you start, when you start, it doesn't matter if you start 15 or 30. If you give her guns of blazing and, and really put the work in, I truly believe what,

you know, what you always mention is, you know, hard work trumps everything. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's, there's so many places to go there. Like, my dad also taught, like my dad. the buses, you can hockey deb them. You know, like he played in the old IHL. He played a senior hockey. Indianapolis and Windsor.

He's got probably, if you don't make the NHL, he's got his name on a trophy that I'd love to have. And Allen Cup. Yeah, Allen Cup is something that not enough people in Canada know about it in our generation. Because the generation before us, every small town field of the team, and those teams played for a Canadian championship. And that's like I really, I wish we could, you know,

whenever, when the NHL, we're going to sidetrack it. When the NHL was on strike, that was my thing. When there was no Stanley Cup awarded, I was like, let's, let's field the team from every, every hamlet and every town and let those guys play, maybe a couple of NHL players would go home and play for their hometown. How awesome would it be to crown a champion of like they used to. in the old Allen Cup days.

And there would be guys that would be shipped in from other places and it turned into pro hockey. But that was the idea was you represented your area and then you battled for the right for the Allen Cup. And the Allen Cup champ used to go to the Olympics. Like, that's crazy. Yeah. Yeah, it's absolutely. And I've heard stories of, you know,

from back in like the 60s. And Max Bentley, a guy that used to, was a huge name out in your neck of the woods, played for, player coach for the border kings here in Lloyd Minster. Oh, nice. And they used to tell, you know, how full is the rink?

Well, it's packed to the rafters. I've probably most people have heard that analogy. And I was like, oh, yeah, okay, it's full. Well, interviewing all these older generation people, the Civic Center in Lloyd used to get so full, people would climb up in the rafters so that they could watch the game. Yeah.

And that's for senior hockey. Like, that's awesome. And it's just, it's so different now. So I'm totally with you. My dad told me a story about when they won in Windsor, they won at home. And he said, you couldn't see the aisles. It was weird. And it's because there were no aisles.

People were sitting on the stairs all the way up. And he said it was like this, this bowl. And, you know, they fit, I think it was like 6,000 in there, tops. And they sold about 8,000 tickets. because you don't get that opportunity very much in Windsor to sell 8,000 tickets. So you're literally to the rafters. So he was the guy that said to all of us, I don't want you riding the buses. I don't want you riding the buses.

And it was such an interesting contrast about like half of the, like my dad ended up working for Ford Credit Canada. And he got pretty high up and he didn't have a university degree. which is insane to work in the financial field with no university degree. And part of it was because he had gotten connections through playing hockey. And a lot of people respected him for his ability to go to school, play hockey. He went to university. He didn't get the degree. But he went to university in Windsor, played for the Bulldogs.

If you hockey DB him, you notice he's only playing like 30, 40 games. That's because he didn't go to the road games. You only play at home because he's, He couldn't go because he was in school. So it was such an interesting for me being the youngest one. I'm like, well, you made a lot of your connections through hockey. You met all these great guys. I go to the golf tournaments with you, which I always did.

And there would be Frank Mahavlich, or there would be Dave Keon. They're still great buddies. My dad and Dave Keon talk all the time. Keon's in Florida. And my dad, you know, played with him at St. Mike's a couple years. And ended up kind of being his tough guy for a year. So they stay close. I'm like, you have all these great friends and you have all these great connections.

And yet you don't want us riding the buses. And he's like, it's a tough life. And when that life ends, like, what do you do? And so I've always had that kind of kinship for, and especially like, you know, one of the things Sid does that really bothers me is he will, he'll rip an NHL player or he'll rip a major league baseball player. That guy sucks. And I'm like, you can see my blood boil.

And I get it. I understand it. Like if you're hitting 100 in the NH or in Major League Baseball, compared to everyone else, you do suck. But where you're from, you were probably really, really good and 10 times better than me. So I outwe. It's one of the things that bugs me the most. Nobody sucks.

If they made it here, they're really, really good. And that's one of the things that sticks in my mind. Like if you're in the NFL, man, there's guys back. home going that guy was unbelievable like I talked about I played high school football against three guys that were in the NFL and they're all from Canada all Canadian boys and they're practice squads right like there was one OJ Santiago who played for the Atlanta Falcons went to Super Bowl he was real as a tight end and there are a couple other guys Mark Nora was on an Atlanta Falcons practice roster and Grayson Schillingford I still remember these names

right like well what do we 25 years later they were on a practice roster in the NFL and when I watched them play they were this was unbelievable so I always try and keep that in the back of my mind and when Sid does that I think that's that separates us there's like a type of person that would say

that guy sucks and be perfectly okay with it and then I think like you and me we've seen guys who made it maybe played one game scored one goal who were the greatest athlete that we have ever seen in my life It's got to be hard for, well, just take the NHL, for example, right?

How many of those fourth line guys were the leading goal score of their WHL team or whatever team it is? And then to get to finally, you're like, you're knocking on the door. Yeah. Listen, we don't want you scoring goals anymore. Like, all we want you to do is shut down the opposing. That takes a very much. Mike Ritchie. Yeah, right?

Ritchie was a CHL player of the year. played with my brother, which is why I know in Peterborough. And he gets drafted to Philadelphia. They trade him in the Eric Lindrosse deal to Quebec, where they've got a hundred skill guys. And they look at them and go, can you be a third liner or a fourth liner? I'm a CHL player of the year.

Right? And he did it. And he won a cup. It takes a mature guy to do that. Right? Like imagine being 18 or 20, right? and being told, listen, we know he can put the puck in that. We don't really care because we got Connor McDavid ahead of you.

And he ain't going to start checking tomorrow. So you have to. Right, right. I can see how people get sour about that. Yeah. Ritchie scored 20 in his rookie year. Right. And then they said, all right, you're going to be a checker because in Quebec and then Colorado.

Yeah, because he's got sackick. Forsberg, sackage, yeah. Like just a wealth of talent. Yeah. so he went down so it's yeah and i i always look at that and think like wow that would be tough you know going back to your career tim was there ever a point i know you said you were you were willing to do whatever it took but along the way especially in those first call it year call it five years i don't know what the time frame is was there ever a period you started to doubt what

you were doing like or was there progression every year where you could physically notice and be Like, no, no, man. Like, after year one, I was still in good mood. After year two, I was still in a good mood. I think it was lucky that way. And it was because we were at the score where there was not a lot of money at the score, and we were going up against the big boys in Sportsnet and TSN. So if you worked, they would give you opportunity.

Like, if you worked hard, they would give you opportunity. So I had, you know, Sid and I hosted a show called Score Tonight. Which was fantastic. Yeah, I enjoyed it. And I firmly believe that the success of score tonight allowed Jay and Dan to go and do what Jay and Dan were doing. Because they saw that it worked on whatever level we were doing it at. And they, TSN allowed them to be themselves. But the score had no money.

And we turned this show off because there was no money. And we couldn't afford to keep doing it. I'm like, why don't you just do sections of the show and we'll just play them all night. Instead of employing a crew that has to do a live show for an hour and a half or whatever it was. And it was just like, oh, like, this is so, this. And I, but I had, you know, another show called The Score on the NFL and I was doing university football. And I should have been so insulted by the fact that they, they took a show off the air that was doing really, well, comparatively speaking, but cost them too much money. But I was so busy, I didn't even

realize that I should have been insulted. You know what I mean? Like, I had so many other things going on. And to this day, Sid still pissed off about it. And I'm still like, eh, there was, I had too much going on anyway. And I was about to have, I was about to get married too. And I was about to have a kid. And, you know, so, um, I kind of never really had the, there was one moment. And I'll, it's, it's, I was an intern and the interns got food. That's what you did. And I was just, I was at the point where I was starting to get paid work. And I felt like I was progressing.

And they opened up a peal pub in downtown Toronto. If anyone's ever been to Montreal, there's a famous peel pub there. And it's where you go to drink. And they give you a really cheap food. So they opened up a peal pub in downtown Toronto. And the score staff would eat there. order from there all the time because it was like $3 for a plate of spaghetti. Like you could get Poutine for a buck 50.

I got to start me for a second. A peel pub. Now are we talking peelers or we're not? No, we're talking about. Yeah. I mean, you probably saw a few in there eating, but whatever. That's a story for another day. So I go.

Wait, wait, wait. Why is it called a peal pub then? Obviously, I've not called it. It was on Peel Street in Montreal and downtown Montreal. And if he ever went and drank in downtown Montreal, like if anyone listening right now did a night in Montreal or did a few nights in Montreal, they probably went to the peel pub

and they probably don't remember going to the peel pub. It was a sawdust on the floor, right? Like sweep up a puke kind of place. And they gave you cheap food. Like that's what it was. Okay, gotcha. And so I'll say, I'm going to get the food today. What does everyone want?

and I remember walking back on King Street in downtown Toronto, which is the entertainment district where all the clubs are. And I'm 21. I got a full head of hair. I was a decent looking kid when I was younger. And the clubs are emptying, not emptying out. They're probably like filling up. And I'm walking down the street with what felt like 824, like they gave me two four boxes

to put the food in. And I'm carrying it and it's above my head. So I'm walking down the street, and I'm like this, like this, holding two fours full of food for everybody else. And all these people are going out to party. And I'm just like, what am I doing? Like, I could be out partying with these people

or carrying this food. And I remember thinking in my head, like it was a big turning point. And I go, that's what you got to do. And so it didn't, it rattled me. And I remember it to this day because there was a decision. Every night we went, you know, I went to work and it was nights and weekends. And you'd come out and you'd finish your job and people would be rolling out of the bars, laughing, drunk.

And, you know, I'm driving home. I beat up 1989 Ford Escort. And so, which I had until probably about 2000. And so there's moments like that where you're wondering what the hell you're doing. but I had had such a tough life since my brother passed when I was 16. I always just thought, this will get me there. If I get this, this will help me get to the spot that I want to be. So that was always kind of in the back of my mind was I lived this tough life,

these injuries, this failed dream of athletics, and losing your brother, who was my hero. All those things led to me just never really given up and that this was the key to the next step. you know you've heard you talk about it off and on but in all my research i couldn't get a whole lot about your brother yeah like you said you were 16 and your brother passed away what what happened yeah so he um he was um a remarkable worker and uh he was uh sorry my dog's running downstairs at a perfect time. So he was a remarkable worker, great athlete, played AAA hockey, and play football.

And he went to Western and was a running back at Western. And for the CFL fans out there, he was in his freshman year, his first year, he was behind Blake Marshall, who was a pretty good running back, played a lot of time in the CFL. And the guy after him was Dwayne Ford, who was the exact same thing. And my brother got hurt and he started struggling mentally. And he went back to university after taking some time off, was in the hospital dealing with mental issues. And then he went back and he got his MBA from Western, which is a pretty good university, their business program, probably one of the best in Canada. And he got it in two years after leaving after his freshman year. So it was like three and a half years of real time.

He had done his undergraduate and graduated from the MBA program at Western. He was just a hard worker. And so he ended up struggling again once he got into the work world because he never took any time. So he ended up taking his life when I was 16 years old. He was 25. Oh, shit. So that's, I've said like, interviewing other people

James Hinchcliff's one of them who had that horrific accident and I said to him something that I say a lot and perspective is often expensive and to get the perspective at 16 was remarkably expensive but you get it right?

Like you, there's no way unless you hide from it you don't understand a little bit more about life when you go through something like that. And so I think I gained a huge amount of perspective. And Hinchcliff, when he got injured, I said that to him. And he looked at me knowing, like he knew what I was talking about. He almost lost his life in Indianapolis, right? And he decides to get back into a car.

And I said to him, like, well, like, man, I know perspective is expensive. And he stopped. And he just looked at my eyes and he was like, yeah, like, how do you know? You know, like, how do you know that? You're sitting here. Yeah. And I never, you know, we never had the conversation, but I say it a lot. perspective is expensive and I think you probably know that your parent your your your dad probably

knows that when you know the thing your your business burns down you're forced to think about things right and so that gave me a perspective on life that changed that was different than any one of my friends hey well I mean it's years and years later but I got I got three older brothers I got an older sister come from a family of five kids kids and you know I that's I don't even have the words for that Tim that sucks because one of the funnest things I get to do on this podcast is have roundtables with my brothers where we get to be complete jackasses and have some fun and it means the world for me to do stuff like that yeah so I can just imagine at 16 I mean that's essentially you know my oldest brother's 10

years older me. So it's very, very similar to what you're, I, yeah. Same thing, yeah. Yeah, he was nine years older than me. And he was like, but the other thing is that he was like such a hard worker. And I think you can see in my story that I may have learned a few things from him, you know, like just and a way better athlete. So he was 510, 225, ran a four, five, 40. And if he, if he, If he had to last it, he would have played at least in the CFL for sure. But he didn't last there. He didn't last at Western. But it gave me the passion.

And if anyone ever wonders, I actually told a story. I was doing my last Vanier Cup. And I knew it was going to be my last Vanier Cup because Sportsnet didn't pick up the rights the next year. So I told the story to, it's probably still on the internet, but I told the story to a guy about why. why I had the passion to do U-Sports. And it's kind of a tip of the cap to my brother. And so no matter what I did, and there were times where I was like covering Super Bowls

and I was doing these things that were, everyone would look at and go like, this is the greatest for a sportscaster. I had my own show. But every year I would do the Vanyae Cup. And, you know, my buddies are making fun of me, calling me CIS, you know, women's basketball.

And like, why are you doing it? Well, it was always a tip of the cap to my brother who, it always meant something to him to be on TIA. And so I always took that and made sure that I applied it to every kid that I ever did. And I have a VHS tape, VHS player right over there. And I don't know if you know the name Paul Hendrick, but Paul Hendrick did Leifes broadcasts. And he only worked on the local Leafs broadcast.

Never really got to the CBC, you know, Hockey Night and Canada games. But he used to do U-Sports athletics. And he interviewed my brother after a game and I have that tape. And I always thought about that. I got that VHS tape and VHS machine still here. And we kept it. You know what I mean? It was on TV.

And so I always, you know, when I did all that research, part of that was for my brother. That's a cool, cool story. I appreciate you sharing that with me because it's one of the things if you search yourself. And I actually hear this a lot on all the interviews you do. Man, there's not a whole lot about you out there. And I was like, actually, there's quite a bit. you just got to dig. But the one thing I couldn't find a whole lot is, you know, is that story.

And I appreciate that you're sharing a little bit about it because, and that's, that's, that's a lot. Yeah. You know, with every success story, there's, there's common themes. And one of the common themes, people call it luck, people call it catching a break, people call it, whatever you want to call it. I assume along the way, somebody didn't do, didn't do something. and open up a door for you to walk in and put your foot in.

And then once the door is open and you take a hold of that advantage or that opportunity, you get to go. Did you have a couple of doors open for you along the way, I assume? Yeah, without a doubt. I think the score was the biggest one. And I called a bunch of places. So I went to Carlton University. I dropped out in my second year.

And I started selling cell phones at Bell Mobility. and I realized they didn't want to do that. And I was a bad salesman too. Like an awful salesman. But I realized I didn't want it. So I started cold calling places and they all said that you had to be an intern from a university program. And so I called TSN. SportsCent wasn't around at that time.

But I called TSN and they said you can't do it unless you're part of a school. And I called, you know, every local TV station. And in Toronto there's a lot, right? Like it's not like there's only a few. Like I called probably 10 to 5. 15 places trying to get an internship somewhere. No one would take me. And I called the score and, oh, yeah, come on down.

And I was like, oh, this is like, if there had have been a perfect spot for me to go, like the hardcore sports dude, it would have been the score. And I was calling like, you know, city TV, you know, where you, they'd only do, you know, it's crazy. You know, people are self-defeating. They defeat themselves before they even start. It's just crazy if you pick up the phone and are okay with hearing the word no or whatever. A no gets you quicker to where you want to go than anything, right?

Like, I mean, no, you know, they don't beat around the bush. That's good. That's great. You know, that is a pretty, I can hear kids everywhere going, yeah, see, Mom, Kim dropped out of school. I'm dropping up. But I mean, like, the fact you cold called a bunch of places got turned by that many and the score of all places is the one that's like, yeah, come on down. Right? Like, think of the score.

Think of being on the opposite side of the score and getting guys like yourself and Sid and Cavy. And I mean, the list just that's the talent there is was unbelievable. Yeah, James Sebalski, Adnan, Burke, Martine, Geyer, Elliot Friedman. Like, yeah. Like, I mean, it's just stupid A list. And the fact that one of those came in off a cold call, like, Oh, I'm sure more of them did. I'm sure more of them did. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. And, And the nose are, the nose make you appreciate it too, right? Like I was like, by the time I got to the score, because I had 15 nose, I better not screw this up. Right.

Because you're not going to get another shot. Got 15 nose. I got one yes. Don't screw this up, you idiot. You better work hard. And it's funny because I, the first employment letter, I got $30,000 a year offer from the score to do on air work. So I was doing, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I gave me an employment letter and I was like, oh yeah, no, I'll take the job. And then I said, can I keep this letter. Well, yeah, of course you can keep it. So I framed it. And I gave it to my mom and I said, here's my degree. This is this is, this is my degree. This is, this is. What did you mom say to that? She was where I wanted to be anyway. I was in journalism at Carlton. And so I framed it and I gave it to her. And I said, this is my degree. What did your mom say to that? She was like 30,000.

You're sure. Maybe you should hold out for a couple more thousand. I was like, nah, I better take this. What led into the decision of, you wanted to be a journalist? What led into the decision at Carlton of dropping up? Oh, I just, I wasn't ready for it. Because I had lost my brother. I, you know, I tried to be a good student.

And I did a bunch of volunteering. I did all the radio stations and everything, you know, and had fun a lot of fun um probably too much fun don't we all yeah i was and i was good at it too like i was really good at it um so i i had a lot of fun and um i just wasn't ready for it and everyone kind anyone who knew me knew that i like my heart wasn't into it and i needed to try and find a way again like I was lost. You know, like, and probably the athletics had a lot to do with it when you're so regimented from, you know,

eight years old to 18 and then you go to university and there's no regiment. Yeah. Like, it's just, you know, like I would get up. And I was a hard worker at sports too. So I would work out, you know, this was back in the day. And I'm sure you're the same where you'd go to. the gym and you do bench press and you do two hours and it wasn't we weren't as smart about what we're

doing doing curls you know and then you go like day and then upper body day and that was it you're two hours at the gym wasting your time not doing anything that's really going to help you pliometrics wise but hey look I'm ripped um so that was me and I two hours a day from grade 12 grade 11 grade 12 grade 13 and then you go to university and it's gone none of it like you're just going to school and i think i lost that like i was just completely lost because i lost sports i lost my brother and i was just it wasn't the same me and i think everyone who knew me knew that i probably wasn't going to last so when i dropped out it wasn't really a surprise how much uh just watching the time i've kept you for, do we got a few more minutes or you got to run?

Yeah, we can do about, Cammy, how much longer can we do here? He said, I don't care. Well, I got, I got a little segment at the end, the crude master final five. We can just step right into that. It's five quick questions. Or I got one about COVID changes. And I'm curious your thoughts on it. All right.

Give me the, we'll do both. We can do both. Okay. So COVID, COVID has given the sports world, it's shaken like we've talked about, the entire world. But it's allowed, I would say it's opened up opportunities to try out some new things. NHL, more teams in the playoffs. MLB, more teams in the playoffs. Do you see either of those sticking around?

Because. Yeah. Money. Money. Yeah. I think the leagues will be chasing money for a while. And I think we'll see expanded playoffs because it brings in more money from the broadcasters. And especially if we don't have fans, especially because we don't have fans in the stands.

And I don't know, you know, I think it'll be regional on how you get fans back in the stands based on amount of COVID cases. I don't want to drag down that road. But I think the leagues are going to be chasing money for a while. So do you like that then? Do you like, and the reason for the MLB, I love it, because I've thought for the longest time, there's not enough teams to get into bloody playoffs. You play that many games. You know, to get the Js in there, even though they get swept, still good for that team to

build to the next year and the next year. What's your thoughts on? So for hockey, I like the idea of the playing games, because you're already at eight for each conference. it's to have the ninth and tenth team play the seventh and eighth team like I don't think you're hurting the integrity of who gets into the postseason

if 16 teams already get in we have Brian Burke on the show all the time he hates it he thinks they are already too many teams in there and I'm like that's the exact point if there's already two teams in it why not have a playoff with 10 and 7 well 10 might make it yeah Well, but eight makes it right now.

And we, I mean, we watch the oilers make a run from eight. We watched the flames make a run from eight. Like, they never should have been in the playoffs to start either, but they made the run. St. Louis Blues, L.A. Kings. Like, do we need to go down the list? Yeah, yeah. So for me, it's like, go ahead. I'm okay with that.

I might be the opposite of you in baseball, where I always felt like the 162 should mean something. Like if you're going to play that many games, then it's got to mean more than the 82 in the in the NHL. And I always felt like baseball had that advantage over other sports. It's like football. You watch football. You know every game means something, right? And unless you're a really good team and you know they're going to win nine games and get into the postseason anyway. But for me, it was like, you know, you watch NCAA for.

football, they lose their first game. It's over. For many of them, they lose two games. It's over. And to me, that means something. And baseball kind of had that where you had to 162. It's a marathon, not a sprint, right? Like, you've got to be good for a long time. You should get an advantage for being good over those 162. So for me, I look at it differently. I look at baseball. I want the 162 to mean something. Otherwise, you're just going through 162 games and that can get boring. So make it mean a little bit more. But I think we're going to see it across all. And basketball will do something.

They'll do an elimination game to get people in to the postseason. I think you're going to see it all over the world. I think you're going to see it in soccer because you're not going to make the same amount of money right now. And those leagues will be chasing that money. And if it works long term, it'll just stay. Yeah, well, money, as we know, money as we know, know makes the world go around, right? I've heard. I've heard, yeah. Well, let's hopping in the Crude Master Final Five. Shout out to Heath and Tracy McDonald and the Crude Master team. They've

been sponsors of the podcast since the very beginning. Just five quick questions. From listening to you, I know you're a connoisseur of chips. And so what is the weirdest thing you put on your chips? I don't know. I do love my potato chips, but I don't know if you put, I mean, I don't know if I put anything weird on them, but I just love every flavor of potato chip. Like I, if you go in my house right now, we got ketchup, we got sour cream and onion, we got the regular old lays, we got the ruffle lays. We got probably four different brands of potato chip in the house. So I don't know if I put anything weird on it. I just, I will try everything.

And I'm a little sels. I'll put guac. Is that weird? Guacamole? That's not weird. I don't know if that's weird. And like in university, you put the ketchup, the real ketchup on a ruffle lays and you eat it once. And then you go, this is awful.

This is awful. Yeah, this is terrible. I'm not doing that again. I'm glad that I'm not the only person that's tried that. Yeah, I tried it, realized it. If, with the Tim and Sid show, is there one person, current past, guy, girl, don't matter, that you'd like to get on that you haven't got on yet? Wow, that's an amazing question.

A lot of my guys are like old school. Gretzky was awesome. Messier was awesome. We had them on. Those are probably my two hockey. We have Bobby Oron, too. That was amazing. Yeah, like, when you think of, like, immediately I think of like Muhammad Ali,

being a football guy, Walter Payton. And they both passed. Like it's always, I don't know if there's a person alive where I go, I need to have that person on. Maybe if we do this again, I'll come up with a few that, because I'm sure they're out there. Haley Wickenheiser is an inspiration to me right now. Like, I love her story. Talk about a journey. Like going from being the best hockey player in the world to now becoming a doctor.

Like, how the hell do you do that? Like that, that to me is an unbelievable work ethic. Like, I don't know if you could pick two harder things to do on planet Earth than be the best hockey player in the world and then go be a doctor and do the work that she's done. She worked with this group called Conquer COVID-19 that did this unbelievable work in Ontario. They were collecting PPE and dropping it off for doctors that didn't have enough at the start of COVID. like just unbelievable work.

And she was a big part of it. She got Ryan Reynolds involved. And it becomes this star power in this group of six people on a WhatsApp conversation trying to do good. Ended up raising like two and a half million dollars in delivering like thousands of PPE all across Canada. And she was involved. So maybe Haley Wickenhizer is a good place to start just to ask her how the hell she finds that inside of herself to do all of that. How about then a surreal moment? My surreal moment, for instance, is sitting down with Raul McLean was like, was just something,

I'm probably a weird kid, but growing up, I was like, you know, that'd be, that guy would be cool to sit across from pick his brain, right? I assume at some point you've had one of those moments where you're like, who's coming in the studio or who's coming on the show? right like when you guys had and just for me watching you guys when everything shut down and then you guys got gary betman on i was like that's kind of cool right that's pretty cool yeah doing uh doing gary batman from my basement uh talking to gary betman from my basement um with his grandson banging pots and pans because he's at home during covid too was awesome was probably something that i will never forget That was awesome. But I had the same moments that you would probably have to.

Like when Ron McLean knew my name or Don Cherry came on and said, hey, give me the horns. Like, you know, we've been doing this show and using these stupid horns that we, that comes through. Yeah,

it does. Yeah. We had this and have Don Cherry ask, like not only did he know who we were, he knew that we had horns on the show. And my favorite story ever was, and I don't even know if I should tell this, but Bobby Orr, who I still watch Bobby Orr tapes to this day of him just weaving through people because it's more kids need to see what he did. He came on the show and we just had this great conversation and he was in studio and I wasn't on. It's kind of the older generation.

Like the guy's my age. I'm not really that intimidated by because my dad. you know, kind of introduced me to hockey players before, you know, and I, I was able to meet people that I always thought were, you know, oh my God. So the older guys were, there's a reverence. I always, so I had this reverence for Bobby Orr, and Bobby Orr comes in studio. We do this quick chat and it was amazing and it was a real conversation. And he thought we were, you know, now coming in the studios, Bobby Or, Bobby played in the NHL. It was a great. One of the three players of all. And we just had a conversation with him about his favorite moments and stuff.

And he loved it so much. Hey, I really like doing that. And I was like, oh, hey, Bobby Orr enjoyed that. And so Sid and I are talking each other in a commercial he leaves. And like, we look at each other and go, that went well. Like Bobby Orr seemed to really enjoy talking to it. And you're like, yeah, yeah. Is that real? Like, did he, was it a fake thing? Like, did he put it on? Because that's it, maybe is it just a professional. Maybe he just knows what people are looking for and he's just that nice guy. And so he walks away with his entourage and they're bringing them through. We call it the car wash at Sportsnet where you go and you do like 12 different shows. You go through the car wash and you come out the other end. And he comes out the other end. We have a glass studio and we're on TV at the time as well as radio.

And Bobby Where's coming. And I can see him coming. He's to Sid's back in the way the studio was set up. And he knocks on the glass. and then he gives us a double bird. Here's Bobby Orr, who I guess did enjoy the conversation so much and felt like one of the boys that he was going to distract us during our show by knocking on the glass and giving us a double bird. And it was like such a surreal moment to have a top three player of all time just be a real guy with these two slubs, one from Mississauga,

one, the other one from Don Mills slash Scarborough. It was just, it was such a like, Oh my God, Bobby Orr just treated us like one of the boys. And that was, it was like for me, growing up, youngest of four boys, you would understand that. Like, that was like, oh, that's so awesome. So that was probably the most surreal moment of them all. That's an epic story, the double bird from Bobby R. Yeah.

How about then, what is the biggest surprise you've had with meeting somebody of that level? Mm-hmm. And they're, they didn't match up to the idea. you had in your head. Does that make sense? A lot of people say don't, don't, don't meet your heroes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they'll disappoint you. I haven't had a ton of those to be honest with you. And I'm not just saying that to save it. No, no, no. And I don't mean, and actually the reason I'm not looking for the person who disappointed you. I just mean the person

who surprised you. So you thought, in your brain, you thought, I don't know, Don Jerry was going to be this raw and come in and blow the place apart. And then he's just like the soft-spoken guy. That's what I mean by surprise. Okay. Yeah. You know, funny is you realize as you as you do this a lot that everyone's just a person and the goal should be like you um to talk to them like people and when you do that you'd be surprised how little like um like ross Atkins and mark chapiro come into Toronto and they get treated like absolute garbage absolute garbage and we have them in studio and when you have the guys in studio you have time to talk before the cameras come on and you realize they got kids and they're working really really hard at a job and um

Shapiro's kids ended up playing baseball or one of his kids played baseball at a facility where me and my son, not far from my house, me and my son would go and work out. And I started talking to Shapiro about it. And you just realized that like everyone, no matter where they are, I don't care, Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Don Cher, they're all just real people. And they've reached some level. And sometimes they forget where they actually are. and they're not really you know they put on this facade where they're not real people but from my experience the vast majority of these people that some would deem celebrities or um you know huge names icons they're all real people and that was the that was why bob yore was such a surreal moment for me

because it took someone who was on such a pedestal he's just the guy like he's just a guy like you and me or anyone that would have sat in one of your dressing rooms along the way. And when if it might even be a skill to be able to get the person to that level, but I'll never forget talking to Shapiro and Atkins and thinking like, these are pompous, like these guys coming in to tear it. Everyone has the worst opinion of these two guys. And Atkins loves to pay poker and hang out with his family. And Shapiro was worried about where his son was going to play baseball.

And I talked to the guys at the facility and they're like, oh my God, what a great guy. Like what a really good guy. Came in and asked us what we needed. And, you know, if he could help in any way. And they're like, yeah, well, so this facility, I have a tendency of making short stories long. But this facility was just three dads who wanted to get an indoor facility for their sons to use. and they bought a factory

and turned it into an indoor baseball facility and it was beside a place of worship like it was attached to another place like a place of and I was just like this is unbelievable and Shapiro said hey

if you need anything to spruce up the place let me know and they're like well anything that you can bring and he brought over like balls and he gave them like you know the banners that hang on the side of the sky dome that you could see brought over banners for them and i was just like you know it's just a real guy they were they were going to throw out the banners because they were done with the banners

and they gave them to these guys that had built a facility for their sons to play it and you know i try and take this into 2020 and what we're doing in this world and what you said at the start all this when you just got to be nicer to people and i think if you break it down to human beings instead of what you see on the internet or on Twitter or on Instagram, we're all way better off. And I've seen that out close and personal because I'm in this business where you get to meet these people that are supposed to be one thing on the internet and then you meet them and they're actually real people.

That's pretty cool. We're going to leave it right there because that's a great way to end it. Once again, I really appreciate you hopping on, Tim. And this has been an absolute pleasure. sitting on this side. I appreciate it. And we'll do it again and I'll be less long-winded on all those stories and we'll just talk and shoot the shit.

Hey, it's a podcast. I enjoy the stories. I think everybody will. I hope so. I hope so. Otherwise, I'm a failure. No. Appreciate it, Sean.

And I appreciate the research. It was fun talking to you. And if you ever want to do it again, let me know. We'll do it again. Okay. Awesome. Hey, folks. Thanks again for joining us today.

If you just stumble on the show and like what you hear, please click subscribe. Remember, every Monday and Wednesday a new guest will be sitting down to share their story. The Sean Newman podcast is available for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you find your podcast fix. Until next time.