Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Andi Petrillo: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1802

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

In this 1802nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Andi Petrillo about her life in sports media and her new book Just Call Me Andi. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, Blue Sky Agency, Kindling, RetroFestive.ca and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Hi, everyone. I'm Annie Petrillo, and I'm about to make my Toronto Mike debut. What a pro. This woman knows microphones. She's very comfortable on a microphone. That's true. Welcome to episode 1,802 of Toronto, Mike. Proudly brought to you by Retrofestive.ca, Canada's pop culture and Christmas store. Great Lakes Brewery, order online for free local home delivery in the GTA.

Palma Pasta! Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Blue Sky Agency, ask Doug Mills about how Silen delivers the space to focus, Collaborate and recharge. Nick Aini's, he's the host of building Toronto Skyline and building success. Two podcasts you ought to listen to. Kindling, go to shopkindling.ca for free one-hour cannabis delivery. Recycle My Electronics.comitting to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past.

And Ridley Funeral Home, Pillars of the Community since 1921. Today, making her Toronto Micque debut, it's the author of Just Call Me Andy. It's Andy Petrillo. Welcome, Andy. Thanks for having me. This is exciting. This is exciting for me. I'm telling you now, Andy Petrillo on Toronto Mic, I feel like this is long overdue.

I'm so glad you're here. Yeah, I mean, by the way, Palma Pasta, going to have to give that a go. Have you tried Palma Pasta before? No, but the second you say pasta and it's Italian? Is it pasta or pasta? Pasta. Pasta. I say pasta.

And then I get critic, Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo told me I was saying it wrong. It's pasta. I like to say pasta. I don't know of any Italian. He goes, do you want some pasta? No, it's, do you want some pasta? Okay, shut out. And I know you're a proud, here's a quote from your book, and we're going to get into it, Andy.

But a quote I took down is you wrote, I am both Canadian and Italian. Yeah. And that it mattered for me to say that because I wouldn't be where I am, who I am, without my family who came from Italy. Both my parents were born in Italy. It wasn't an easy upbringing for them. Even when they came to Canada, the struggle was real. But they instilled in me that type of work ethic, that type of hunger and ambition.

And I wanted to share their story as well. That's how the book starts off. The book by no means is linear. I try to make it as linear as possible. And it starts off by sharing their story because I hope it helps people understand me a bit. And also in the world of sports, you know, we are so beautifully multicultural. By the way, next year, right? One of the most multicultural events in, you know, soccer, World Cup will also be co-hosted

by Canada. And I say, yeah, I'm cheering for Canada. And my goodness, fingers crossed if Italy makes it, we don't know yet. I will be cheering for Italy too, but that's what's beautiful about our country. What if Canada faces Italy in the World Cup? There will be, you know when parents have to watch their kids in the NHL and they have the split jersey. It's going to be split. It will be, I will have to... Like Chuck Brothers or something.

Exactly. I will have to figure out something like that. There will be tears, but there will be joy because clearly I'll be walking out a winner no matter what. You're much younger than me. I'm throwing that out there because I remember, I'm older than you, which means I remember watching the ALCS in 1985. And we had a third basement named Garth Orge, of course. And there was a gentleman on the Kansas City Royals named Dane Orge, his brother. And I distinctly remember interviewing interviewing.

with the parents, who do you root for? Yeah. Okay, so, okay, so I was kind of hoping you just say like, you know, Canada all the way since you're born here, but it sounds like you're not so sure. It will always be Canada all the way, but if they were, if you ask me if they're facing Italy, and I cannot, I cannot lie to you. I cannot be here in your presence and lie to you. Oh, you can't lie in Toronto Mike.

No. And then, okay, so before we get off the topic of Palma Pasta, let me tell you Andy with an eye. Andy with an eye. I have in my freezer upstairs a large beef lasagna from Palma pasta for you to take home. Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you. And you have to report back because as a proud Canadian and Italian as you define yourself,

I really do need to know what you think because this is Palma Petrucci's recipe that she brought to Canada. and I am dying to know what your take is on their delicious lasagna that you're going home with. Well, I can't wait to do that. Whenever I go to an Italian restaurant too, though, I always order the, if it's a new one, I always get the yuki, and I always want it with just a regular marinaata sauce, because I need to know how they make their sauce. That's how you test it. And the yuki's not that easy.

I need to know, like, the dumpling, do they make it with potato, the density of it? That's how you try out a new restaurant. See, I know you're the real deal when you mention the sauce, because. he's not, he's, he's Ukrainian, he's not Italian, but Ted Wallachan's wife swears by Palma Pasta and I said, what draws her to Palma Pasta? They buy all their Italian food there. And he said, it's the sauce. You know from the sauce. Yep, that is very, those are true words. Okay, one more, you know, shameless plug before we dive into the world of Andy Petrillo. Okay. On November 29th, which is the last Saturday of November, I looked at this calendar,

which is from 1986. I was wondering, I'm like, that's a thing. And it's May 19th. 1886. Like, I don't know why I glanced at the calendar, but this is all in my head. I just felt like I should look at a calendar when I say a date. But that's like literally a 1986 calendar with George Bell. I was going to say that is George Bell. Because he was my favorite Blue Jack. Oh, okay. There you go. You're learning a lot about me. I should write a book. I should call, don't call me Andy. Don't call me Andy. I liked Pat Borders, by the way. That was my guy. MVP of the 92 World Series, if I got that right. He was the he was the MVP. of the 92 world. So I mentioned Garth Orge, and I realize he's kind of most famous for platooning with Rance Mullinix. Rance Mullinix is my guest on Friday. Oh, we're coming full circle here. There's going to be a lot of that.

Okay, so let me get this out real quick, and then we'll move on. But November 29th is TMLX21. That is the 21st Toronto mic listener experience. It is noon to 3 p.m. at Palma's Kitchen in Mississauga, and everybody who shows up, I'm recording live, so you could pop on the mic, but everybody who shows up gets a free meal from Palma Pasta. They make it there. It's delicious hot food there. Also, I'm bringing fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery, Southern Atobico's finest. You, Andy, are bringing this beer home with you. Lovely. Look at this. From GLB. You got a couple of loggers in there. You've got

the Canuck Pale Ale. You have an IPA. You're bringing that home with you. But also, Retro Festive is going to give a gift to the first 75 people who show up. It's a great gift. They are, you know, Canada's Christmas store. And anyone who uses the promo code FOTM at Retrofestive.ca. saves 10%. So use the promo code FOTM at retrofestive. C.A. Thank you,

RetroFestive. Andy, any chance you and your husband show up at TMLX21 at Palma's Kitchen on November 29th? Now that you've given me the date,

there is a very great chance we could be there. Get the phone out of your pocket and put it in the, oh, it's over there. Put it in the calendar. There we go. And while I get rocking here,

I would love to see you there. And your husband is a former professional athlete. He is. He is, look at that. I literally added it, see. Okay. That's amazing. Andy Petrello might just be at Tim, like the one. I'm going to change the, you know, the poster featuring Andy. Yeah, my husband's a former goalkeeper. So, uh, Rutgers University played in major league soccer. Early days of major league soccer, I believe the league launched in 96 and he would have started playing in 2001. So he was, you know, one of the early starters in that,

league to help get it going and kind of see where it is now where now you have designated players and players making millions. I can tell you my husband did not, you know, he was in the trenches with that league and eventually became the goalkeeper with Toronto FC's Academy before then becoming the goalkeeper coach with the top club and, you know, was part of that epic run under Greg Vaney and they won the championship in 2017. So yeah, he's got, he's got some accolades. How did you meet him? I met him when I was working at Maple Leaf sports and entertainment, and he was in the twilight of his career, but he came on over as the backup goalkeeper for TFC, and he was there as a mentor, and I was still covering the team.

And what was funny, what I share in the book is we never talked to each other, right? Like, there was still a level of professionalism when he was playing with the team. We barely acknowledged each other, even though I'm going to, like, I noticed him. He's cute. Sure. Yeah, totally. He can't deny that. No, can't deny that.

I noticed him right away. I'm like, that's a cutie, patootie. And then it was actually near the end of that season. So Major League Soccer used to hold the MLS Cup in neutral sites. So even though TFC in the beginning, tough days, as TFC fans know, they did not make the playoffs, but they were hosting that year in 2010. So a lot of the players were told to stay behind to attend all the parties that MLSC was doing. I was hosting a lot of them.

That's actually when we started talking. And then no sooner did we start talking, he got traded to Chicago. and I went, this is actually a good thing because you're not playing for the team I'm covering. Oh, the conflict of interest was removed. Exactly. And we were very cognizant of that.

We were very aware and respectful of that. But the second he got traded to Chicago, we said, let's see what can happen here. And he even said, he goes, listen, this is my last year. Like, I'm done. My back's killing me. I'm waking up in the middle of the night. I'm in pain.

I'm an old guy. I'm out of here. So let's just see if we can make this work. And we did. And the rest is history. Reminds me similar story. Morgan Campbell was here. and with Perdita Felician.

Yeah. And kind of a similar story. He talks about how, like, he absolutely noticed her. I think he was very clear with, you know, she was walking by and I think his eyes were glued or whatever. But anyway, very similar kind of a love story there. So you said, you know, left behind or you use the terminology left behind. And I just wanted to, like, start because I read your book. I enjoyed your book.

And I feel like we've been friends forever. Like, I feel like I know you, even though we just meant for the very first time. The book is called Just Call Me, Andy, Sport Stories from a Trailblazer, and we're going to pick on some of the greatest hits here. But there's a story that I found interesting where you talk about being left behind in a school bus. Okay.

I mean, Andy, once you write it and publish it in a book, I feel like it's now in the public realm. Yes, so if people ever wonder why I have dramatic entrances, well, it started from a very young age. And, yeah, I was on a school bus. It was my first day of school, literally like first day, kindergarten going full day excited cute shoes little tassels on my shoes cute little outfit because i think it was a uniform my mom told me like it was an actual uniform that we had to wear little skirt

little vest and i was so stoked and i get on the bus and as we arrive at the school this snot-nosed little kid rocky you know already a troublemaker was like you're not getting off the bus you have to stay here this isn't your school you got to go to the next one well what do i know so i stay on the bus you Trusted this snot-nosed kid. Yeah, trusted. Never trust a guy named Rocky. That taught you a valuable lesson. Exactly.

Don't trust snot-nose kids. This explains so much, Andy. Okay. So I stayed on the bus, and the bus driver clearly did not know that there was still a child on the bus. Because when she pulled into, even my little eyes knew that wasn't a school, it was like a strip plaza. I piped up and said, hey, what about my school? And she screamed because I obviously scared her. And she actually reprimanded me.

and said you were supposed to get off there and too bad. Like, now I'm on my break and you have to wait. And she left me there. This is like, this is the 80s. I get it. But she left me. The 80s were a wild time. I mean, that could never happen today, right?

No, that's why we are tough as nails. And I know whenever you go on social medias and they always do the Gen X, Gen Z versus, no, let me tell you something. We're tough as nails because I literally got reprimanded. What was I, five? And she told me to zip it, too bad, so sad. You're going to stay. there now till I decide to bring you back to school. Well, today she'd be fired.

100%. Now, my grandmother, God bless her, she's no longer with us. This is a non-na. This is my non-na. Obviously, she ended up going to the school because she wanted to see how I was doing in the schoolyard. That's when they realized I wasn't there. Connipion ensued. Chaos ensued. Police were called. And again, this is before the day and age of cell phones. But they managed to get a hold of this bus driver. And she, came running into the bus and proceeded to reprimand me again

saying you got me in a lot of trouble drives me back the police officers scoop me up in their arms and you know I'm kind of skipping over the part where my grandmother basically thought I had been kidnapped I was dead the police were like... Well there were stories like Alice in parole like there were stories

I remember this periodically somebody would a young typically it was a young girl would disappear yeah and my mother would whenever those posters would be up of missing girls my mom would point and say please don't have you know stranger danger right uh Kayla this there's a number of examples I think growing up in the 80s where yeah uh Toronto a GTA young girl would disappear yep yeah and and everyone's fear every no no no noona am I saying it wrong nonna no no no no no there you

okay so yeah and I mean she just because the police kept bringing her items of clothing and they're like was she wearing this this morning what she so of course now my grandmother's like oh deal right like She's, they, they were threatening to tranquilize her. She threatened to tranquilize the cops. Wow. Yeah, so it was a bit of a disaster. But it's traumatizing for you. It has to be.

I guess. I was forgot. One time in maybe similar age, maybe it was great. It could be S.K. It could be J.K. or S.K. or grade one, because those are the three years I spent at St. Cecilia's. But my cousin was supposed to pick me up and she forgot. Oh.

And I was outside for like a, you know, waiting to be picked up and nobody ever came. And I honestly, it still kind of haunts me. And it definitely would affect you. Like how much of your life now would have been affected? Or was it water off a duck's back? Well, I'll tell you what I think changed. And it's funny you should say that because now that I think about it, I'm like, hmm. So, you know, my grandmother did end up getting the bus driver fired because it turned out the bus driver like to drink.

And that's why. That's a bad idea. Bad combo. Exactly. So when she stopped at this strip plaza, she was going into a bar. I was getting in the way. Right. But my grandmother wasn't going to let that go.

she was on that woman threatened to like follow this woman home and what anyways she eventually she got the bus driver fired but um i think to your point though i became the girl who got lost so this i was already popular and famous in my school i was i honestly was like the tassels on your shoes exactly so all the older kids were coming up to me going oh were you okay we were looking for you and i just soaked up all that attention i feel like you're in a therapy session right now like well explains a lot and but i think that also explains why I seek attention and just am a bit of a diva because I was like, well, wait a second, I got it right out of the gate on my first day of school, so I'm used to it. Oh my goodness. Okay, well, this is again full circle. It's all going to come together here. You wrote in your book that

you cried so hard in that bus that you eventually fell asleep. Yeah, I fell asleep. I feel traumatized and it was your life experience. I don't know. Maybe I'd get over things pretty quickly. But that's what the bus driver told everyone That I fell asleep and she didn't know I was there And I was like, you are a liar I fell asleep because I cried myself Like to the point of exhaustion And then passed out

But I don't know, I guess I just get over things pretty quickly And you point out in the book that in 2025 The driver has to go to the back of the bus And press something Like it forces the driver to check every single seat on a bus This could not happen in 2025 No, and who told us me this. So Alex Bono, who was the goalkeeper for Toronto FC. Of course. Yep, won the championship

with them 2017. Love him. My husband was the one who was like responsible for drafting him with teeth. We love him. He's like a son to us. So we know his parents very well. It's his dad who now in his retired life, enjoying life, you know, Mark Bono, has decided to do this part time. He drives a bus. So when I was sharing this story with him, he's the one who told me, he goes, this will never happen because here are the protocols now. See how much smarter we are now? Like, yeah. Back in the 80s, I mean, I never had a bike helmet until I was in my 30s. Like, did you bike of a bike helmet in the 80s? I still don't bike with a helmet.

Do you bike? Well, I have like a fun cruiser bike. Like, I'm not on the busy roads. Okay, but you should buy a helmet, Andy. Like, I'm not going to. No, no, I have one. I think it's on the second shelf in my garage. Yeah, it's there.

Because only, maybe it's because I had a bad crash and then I had a blood clot on my brain and there was a whole thing, yeah, a whole thing. And I'm going to write my book. You might want to lead with that. Don't call me, Andy, is my book. and it's going to have all these stories in there. But, like, so I can't imagine even doing, like, a two-kilometer ride right now without throwing on the helmet.

No, we, my husband and I, we hop on our bikes and we'll go to the local ice cream shop. Yeah, go to Great Lakes Brewery and just, like, then bike home. I don't know. I know. Listen, I'm not endorsing it. I'm not promoting it. Wear a helmet. Wear a helmet, Andy says.

Yes. Don't do what she does. Do what I say. Or whatever. Okay, I realize already that you are far too easy to talk to. And if I don't get cooking with gas here, you will spend the rest of the day with me. So you probably have other plans here.

But one note, in fact, I brought this up yesterday. I have a nine-year-old girl. Second, I have two daughters, and my youngest is nine. And we were chatting, my wife, we were chatting yesterday because I just read your book. And I talked about, and I never, I'm just a dumb guy. I had never considered the role of early menstruation in girls abandoning sports.

Like this thought, and again, I have a daughter, But the idea that, so my nine-year-old, not menstruating, I don't know if that's personal or not, but you were young, you were young when you started your menstruation, and this played a role in you not wanting to participate in sports, right? Well, it was very uncomfortable. I was 10. 10's wild. I mean, that's happening.

And I wanted to get personal and share that information because I did think it was really important when, I mean, a lot of my book, yes, it's about me, but it's my experience is obviously as a woman in the industry. I really wanted to also help further the conversation of young girls and women's in sports and sports broadcasting and how we can push that conversation forward. And that's a big one because so many studies. And how that story came about was I was hosting an international Women's Day event. And all of these numbers were being presented.

This is why young girls leave sport. And it was all about like the lack of finances, the lack of emotional support, the lack of venues and, you know, facilities and all that kind of stuff. And all true. But I just raised my hand and went, well, has anyone thought about the embarrassment that comes with menstruating if you do it earlier than your teammates? Right, because none of your friends are experiencing this. They don't know. And let's be honest.

Like young kids, like they can also be mean and nasty. And it's like, man, they make fun of your pad or the tampon if they see that in your bag. And then why are you going to the bathroom to change when we're all changing in front of each other? And then there's the fear and absolute stress of just having an accident in the middle of a game. You're supposed to be focusing on high performance. And yet you've got to worry about that. And I know it's a thing, because as I share in the book, like after I mentioned that, by the way, at that event,

the amount of women who came up to me and went, holy crap, right? Like, yes, that causes me so much stress. And then, you know, I had, like, NWSL, a lot of pro teams, especially in the soccer world, they've banned white shorts. They just don't wear white shorts anymore. So smart. And I had a former player for the Canadian women's national team when I had talked about this. She reached out to me and said,

you just hit such a nerve with me because we had just qualified for the 2008 Olympics this is a big deal and the night before our first game of course she gets her period and she's like and what kits does Canada choose

the white ones and here I am performing now in front of millions representing my country trying not to screw up and that's all I can think about and I'm glad you wrote it because honestly I don't

maybe I'm stupid I never even consider this well why would men like men would and I get that you know but you know Now you know, and that's why we don't want to wear white. Where were you when Donovan Bailey won gold in the 100 meters in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games? I was at my cousin Roberta's house, babysitting, baby sitting, dog sitting.

Okay, it could be a baby dog, I don't know, a puppy. Well, it was, it was a puppy, little pumpkin. That's what we called her. Little pumpkin, who, you know, obviously is no longer with us, but she was awesome. And I was dog sitting, and my dad came to, pick me up and the race was about to start. So we're like, we stayed there and watched Donovan Bailey crossed that finish line first. And we just went absolutely nuts. And that puppy went, you guys are nuts. She's like, I'm now in a family of screaming people. But it was incredible. It was just so

wonderful to watch him do what he did. And subsequently, you've had the opportunity to work with Donovan. I have, I have so many pinch me moments. You mentioned Perdita Felicien. I work with her too. I watched her win that world championship title and then my heart broke when I saw you know what happened to her at the Athens Olympics too but she is so tough she is so funny she is so wonderful working with her working with Donovan Bailey

working you know with Peltier David Peltier that you know the figure skater remember Jamie Saleh David Peltier where they were robbed of their gold medal because of that you know judging error it was it was the voting back in the day of figure skating there was still some corruption going on and they got the i think it was not for anything it was like the russian um judges you don't say you don't say got busted for some corruption so they got their gold act but i just you know i remember just following that whole journey

so when i work with these people i'm like are you kidding me that i get to work with you so yeah here's the one i think we have nothing else in common except the fact that i also work with donovan bailey i produced donovan bailey running things his podcast with jason portwondo which is It typically records right down here. And I'm wearing these biopod shoes. This sounds like an ad, but it doesn't mean to be. Maybe that was a plan all along. But Donovan gifted me, yeah, these red shoes that Donovan Bailey gifted me these two pairs of these biopods shoes.

And many people have remarked, I'm not nearly cool enough to wear red shoes. No, they look great. By the way, I just, well, not just, but a month ago, I finished Donovan Bailey's book. Okay. Well, there you go. I finished your book. You're finishing Donovan's book. a book. Shout out to Hebsy. He's got a new book. He was here yesterday. And you're in his book,

by the way. I am. It's all positive. Yeah, I should lend you my copy. You can check it out here. Okay. So I'm curious what made you pursue a career in sports. So I've always loved sports, played sports, watch sports. But I actually, as I explained the book, too, always thought I was going to be an investigative reporter. Because as much as we watched sports in my household, we were also obsessed with 60 minutes, you know, fifth of state. So hard news, you mean. Oh, I loved it. And I wanted to be a voice for the voiceless. Like, I wanted to expose the bad people and bring them out of the shadows into the light and then bring them, you know, take them down, right? Power to the people. And I always thought that's what I was going to be. And I did enjoy that. But it was actually in college and I was taking a radio course.

And Jeff Howitt, who was the professor of that course and also was like the program director at Chum Radio for many, many years. And he would make us do every week on a cassette. We had to do a news report. So it was, was news, sports, weather, traffic. So about, you know, 90 seconds, we had to do all of it. And about two or three, you know, tapes in, he just stopped it in the middle of, uh, critiquing one of mine and said, do you notice that your voice and your demeanor absolutely change when you're talking sports? I said, well, I love them. And he's like, well, I can feel your energy coming through. Have you ever thought about pursuing a career in that? And I had it. Number one, because of, you know, me, I thought, again, I was going to get into investigative reporting,

a war correspondent, but also I was never really encouraged by professors, and it's not like I grew up in the 50s. Like, it was the early 2000s when I was in school, but still they were pushing the boys towards the sports. Well, it's going to say, we could count on one hand, I think. I mean, not talking print, because there were more in print, I think, but I'm thinking, like, Hazel May was probably on Sportsnet, and you had Mary Ormsby had been on the fan 1430, turned 590. I know she had a show of Steve Simmons, for example. But there was a there really weren't many women in sports media. No, so I didn't have anyone that I would look to and say,

that's definitely who I want to be because it was still fairly new and fresh, but at the same time, I wasn't encouraged until Jeff Howitt. And I went, okay, and at the time I was volunteering at a local station, Rogers Cable. Well, I want to ask you about that. This is the famous Cable 10. Cable, yeah, which I am so sad. Those are like, because that's where you cut your teeth.

That's where you've got incredible experiences as broadcasters. Now a lot of them are kind of being thrust into roles that, they're not ready for at the big networks because they're not coming through the ranks. You want to name check some people who started at Cable 10. Just go for it. I mean, other than some, I mean, Carolyn Cameron, for example. Yeah. And I don't, Michael Lansberg started, I believe, on Cable 10 show. Mike Wilner, for sure, he had a show at Newton, Cable 10.

Newtonbrook, Newton. But anyway, he had a show on Cable 10. But, and I know Ben Ennis, I believe, had a show on Cable 10. but there are a whole bunch of past and present Toronto media personalities, sports media personalities who cut their teeth. Yeah. Not to mention the Ed the Sox of the world

or the Tom Greens. Ed the Sox. That is a throwback. Ed the Sox still can be heard on the air. Stop it. Oshawa's Rock 94.9 overnights. Does he still have this cigar? He has a cigar, right?

Of course. Oh, my God. So the guy's name is Steve Kersner. He's been over here several times. And absolutely. Ed's still rocking a cigar. I love it. And I'm so sad that those don't really exist if they do,

like they're sparse, but it was amazing. And that's where I cut my teeth. And I went there, case in point, at the time I was still doing news. And I said, hey, I want to start doing some sports coverage. And they went, okay. And I started doing some sports coverage. Okay. And we talked about Palma Pasta in depth earlier in the conversation,

but you were on a magazine show called York Region Living, hosting a restaurant segment. Yep, so the show was 30 minutes and it would always feature different businesses in the York region area. So that's where I worked, right, Rogers Cable, York Region. And I happened to be the restaurant reporter. We would do every Wednesday and we would shoot three restaurants in a day. So the first restaurant we would eat at because clearly we were hungry. But then the second and third restaurants were already stuffed and we're talking like rackal lamb, your filet mignon.

Like they would bring out the best dish that they could make because they're featuring themselves. So those other two restaurants, the producer and the camera person, because they were actually getting paid. They would say to me, you can take the food home. That's your quote-unquote payment. And I was enjoying that for a week until my dad quickly figured out every Wednesday I was bringing home, rack of lamb. So he would come home from work, open the fridge, and go, what am I having for dinner

tonight? I'm like, that's my payment. He's like, you live under this roof? It's my payment. He's right. Yes. I think technically he would eat my food. Okay.

Amazing. Did you know, there's a fun fact for you. I'm going to drop in some fun facts on you as we go, because all these names are people I know or know of it. They're quite an interesting read. But Michael Landsberg's already been mentioned. Did you know he would call U of T sporting events with Steve Paken? No.

I guess it's now called C-I-U-T, but I think it was just called U-FT Radio back then. But yeah, Paken and Lansberg. I once reunited them on this very podcast because they worked together before they made it famous. I love that kind of story. Yeah, and I know from your book that you got some interesting advice from Michael Lansberg, some good advice. He was great to me right from the get-go.

I worked with a gentleman at Rogers Cable again, doing a weekly junior-a hockey game, and he was already like an analytical kind of stats guy before it became a cool thing. So Lansberg had... We called them nerds. Yeah, so he was the nerdy guy. Kevin Hewn, lovely gentleman,

and Lansberg had already. had him on off the record a couple times. And then Kevin Hune put in a word and said, listen, I know this young woman. Excellent. Do you want her on the show? Lansberg said, bring her along. Let's see. And right away we clicked. And he became a mentor early on, right down to even just how to do a demo tape. I didn't know how to do a demo tape. Like the first one I did was like seven minutes long. And he's like, that's a documentary. He's like, what is that? It needs to be like two minutes, three minutes tops. Like two minutes, two seconds. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, he just helped me with little things like that and other advice in the industry.

But the big one, of course, was, you know, as I share, I had the opportunity to be in an infomercial, which, again, as a young broadcaster, you don't know the difference between an infomercial and a commercial. Infomercials. Oh, I like the story. The hoes live forever. They just, they can't. Commercials have expiration dates, not infomercials. And at the time, I was going to get paid $2,000. I'm like, oh, my goodness. This is like, I can buy a mansion with this money. I'm so excited. And Michael burst my bubble and said, it's an infomercial. You never know.

Like, you could make it one day. And you could be hosting the Stanley Cup final. And the next thing you know, this infomercial of you, you know, doesn't matter that it's from 20 years ago is going to pop up. And by the way, it was for Dr. Ho. And he's like, do you want to be known as the Ho girl? And this is not to say anything against Dr. Ho, who's a real doctor, a chiropractic doctor.

but he's like don't don't do it like it's i'm like but that he's going to throw in one of his machines and he's like and too don't yeah two k was a lot back then it was all it's a lot now like you're not you're not you know the andy petrillo who sits before me now like you're still rising listen i was so broke that when i was doing rogers cable and going to york university um i would just have just enough two dollars and 25 cents would get me a hot dog and a water and that was pretty much my lunch. So, yeah, you're offering me two grand. You can still do that at IKEA, by the $2.25.

The lunch of champions at university. So, yeah, you're going to offer me two grand, plus you're going to throw in some chiropractic machine that's going to help with my lower back. Right. That's a lot of hot dogs. You just signed, you might as well have just given me a million dollars. Have a fantasy where hot dogs, they find out,

oh, we can make hot dogs good for you. I'm still waiting for Tidemi Su to be. be good for me, but that's not. But only because, like, look, and again, we're different humans, but my experience, if I, give me like a nice bun with a sausage or a good, you know, hot dog and you, you slather on some mustard, okay? To me, this is one of the great foods ever, and then you find out you just poisoned yourself. It's highly disappointing that all the tasty foods in the world are out there to murder you.

I know. And shout out to not a sponsor, but down the street from Great Lakes Brewery is the coffee. And you can still get a pretty good size hot dog and drink for a $1.50. What? I was getting ripped off then at York University. It's a lost leader. But once you're in there, you accidentally buy yourself like a $4,000 this or... I always walk into Costco with, do you need a cart?

No, no, no, I'm good. And then trust me, you always need a cart. Always need a cart at Costco. Okay, oh my God, so much ground I want to cover. At some point, you are shadowing Libby Zinimer and Laura de Batista at City. news. When I was young, I was very fortunate. My mother worked in politics for many years. So Lauda di Batista, she came across her because Lauda was on the political beat for City. And then with Libby's Nymer, I mean, I'm very fortunate, like the connections that I had. So my mom,

you know, approached Lauda. Can you do a favor for my daughter? And then my aunt, who's like a world-renowned interior designer, was doing some design work for, I think, for City at the time. Like a $2.99 Queen Street West. Yeah. So she got to know Libby. You know, I just had the architect who was responsible for the Chum City renovations to 299 Queen Street West when they moved in. This guy, Les Klein, like this just happened last Friday. Kind of freaky. Yeah, continue. But my aunt was doing some stuff with them and some set design, and so she got to know Libby.

So they were on two separate occasions, but through those connections, I was able to shadow them for a day. And I loved it. I loved every second of it. That's when I knew it was for me. I loved being in the editing room, just watching even how a news piece came together. the whole day, how they gathered a story, and then the 6 o'clock news, how it all came together. City polls, right? Oh, Gordon Martno walking around and Roshowski.

I mean, because they were so revolutionary. They didn't have a desk. They sat on top of a desk for crying out loud. And then a couple of years ago. Well, Moses wouldn't let them sit behind a desk. It had to be some kinetic energy. They were always walking. It was wonderful.

And to be there live and witness it, I was like, what is happening? I'm like, this is the coolest thing ever. And then two years ago, I was able. to guest host on breakfast television and Gord Martinot was one of the guests and I brought that up. What did he say? His eyes just lit up. He goes, we were ahead of the time. Like he just loved, he knew.

He knew what they were doing. Right. He knew how they changed things, how they, you know, revolutionized broadcasting. And he's very proud of that. And it was just a cool moment for me to be able to meet him too. Absolutely. Shout out to Stu Stone who puts Gord Martine in every one of the movies he makes, like in a cameo. Gord gets into every single

Stu Stone movie. That's a true story. Can you get me into a Hallmark Christmas movie? I don't know about Hallmark, but I can probably get you into a Stu Stone movie. They're pretty good.

I got a shout out Stu Stone. He's a good guy. They're pretty damn good here. I wonder, though, this industry you've chosen, because we're going to hit some high points any moment now. We'll actually get you working

for mainstream media, but it's coming soon. But I wonder, like, you know, you pick this industry and we'll talk about it because you talked about a bad year you got when you got fired twice and then, you know,

you rebounded, and we all see you on our our TV is doing a whole bunch of cool stuff today. You're very good, by the way. I think that's why I pursued you as a guest, even though I didn't really know how to get to you. Like, I feel like you're kind of a private person online. Is that true?

Very. And I only do stuff online because I'm told I have to. And where do you do it online? Instagram. Yeah, so Instagram mostly, and then I have, you know, Twitter where I'll do some stuff on. But I've never had Facebook. Right.

I don't know what other things, threads. No, but now that you're on, you know, Instagram is, it makes sense. but you're still on the, the X? Once, like, it's just, it's there and I will mostly look up what other people are writing because still a lot of writers in the industry, insiders, right? Follow them to get whatever information they're putting out there. And once in a while, I'll post stuff, and it's usually all work-related that I'll put out there. But yeah, I try to be private.

I try, you know, and I, there's a chapter in the book about social media. Right. And in particular, right, how women and also even like female, athlete studies have been done and just you know the type of attacks that we come under on social media so you have to put up guardrails you have to be and what i wanted young women to know and just women in general and just anybody in general that it is okay to block people it is okay to turn your mentions off it is okay to not care about the opinion of strangers and i really wanted people to know that because i feel like especially when x was early on and even in my career and people would say to me

you got to take the good with the bad and the bad with the good. I'm like, you're an idiot. I don't have to take any bad. It's my life. I think that's the facts of life theme song you're singing there. Take the good. Yeah, well, yeah, the facts of life. Yes, I know that theme song too.

But it was almost like they were saying it was a badge of honor to take the bad, not block them, all that kind of stuff. But women get it differently than men. Yes. One thing women get, and we'll touch on this, because you talk about it in your book, but, you know, your appearance is picked apart. Like your physical appearance. I don't think guys get it like that. No, because my co-workers who are men, I ask them what kinds of attacks they come under.

And oftentimes it's, you know, people don't agree with what they said on air. There's a different opinion. You're an idiot if you think McDavid's better than McKinnon. Or like, you know what I mean? So it's always very still sports oriented. It's still very results based. Whereas with women, it's there's a sexual undertone.

There's a rape undertone. There's, yeah, there's, there's, um, it has, It doesn't have anything to do with results. There's just sexual violence that sometimes it's just outright in your face or there's an undertone of it. So it's a completely different level of attack. It's like it's frightening. It's scary type of attack.

Last week I had a guest over named Supriah DeVetti who had a morning show of Mike Stafford on AM 640 and she talked about having to quit that job because of the threats of sexual violence not only against her, but her child. Oh, this is when I get cops involved. This is when I get maybe underground involved too. people and find that person. You mess with children. That's it.

You're going down. You're going down here. All right. So I can find you. When I tag you, our photo we take by Toronto Tree, when I link to this, I can find you on Instagram.

Yes. What is my Instagram? Andy Patril. We'll find you. I'll find you on Instagram. I think it's, yeah, Andy Petrillo 33. Not verified, by the way.

Just so everyone knows, I'm not verified on either Instagram or X, but it's me. Well, X changed their whole rules. Like X used to be, you could be verified because, because you're Andy Frickin Petrillo from the television, right? Yeah.

Now it's, you just pay them for us. I ain't paying. That's the, I ain't paying. It's just, it's just, I've drawn my line in the sand. It defeats the whole purpose. Because anybody can pay and it's ridiculous. Yeah, I'm not doing it, but it's me. And that's actually why, to your point about being private, got Twitter because I was told I had to in the industry. Yeah.

And got Instagram because somebody was posing to be me. So I figured, let me just get a real Instagram account. But if I didn't have to be on any of these, I would. So where I was going 20 minutes ago with the industry you chose, because Gordon-Martineau, for example, decades on City TV as the trusted anchor for the 6 o'clock news, City Pulse it used to be called. And then suddenly he literally got a, because he's been over to talk about it, he got a tap on the shoulder. And they're like, oh, your last day is Friday. And essentially, I think his last words were something like coming up next, modern family. And that was it for this career.

Like, then he got packaged out. So I just always wonder like nobody's safe in your industry to be discussed. Let's put a pin in that because one more name I want to ask you about as you rise and before you get your mainstream media gigs that we know you from. And this ties nicely

to the 1800 episode of Toronto Mike. So you're 1802. But episode 1800 was a remote where I packed up this studio and biked it to Casilloma and recorded live from Casaloma, the history of Casaloma. You

got to have lunch with FOTM, friend of Toronto Mike, Lloyd Robertson, and it kind of ties together with Casilloma. Tell me about your lunch with Lloyd. Oh my goodness. So yeah, Casaloma, there was this wonderful charity event that was happening there. And one of the silent auction bids was for lunch with Lloyd. And I went, oh my goodness. Again, student, completely broke. And my wonderful aunt came to my rescue and said, I'm bidding on this. And anyone who came by, you know, she's a little Italian bulldog, right? She's like, you can bid all you want. I'm outbitten you. You might as well just walk away. So she got the lunch for me and we went to a beautiful restaurant. And Lloyd was lovely and he gave me incredible advice. And he also, you know, played a bit of a devil's advocate

with me and he warned me. He goes, you know, I love your passion for sports. He goes, but it's very niche. It's very small and it's very hard to get into and break through and, you know, and he was honest with me. I'm sure he could have been more honest. He was probably being polite, because I'm sure he probably wanted to turn around and say, and at the end of the day, for a woman, it's extremely difficult. Well, he's 75 years older than you. Yeah, I think he knows a thing or two about, like, how hard it is, too, for women in all aspects of media.

But he was just saying, like, this is tough. And if I were you, I would still keep the door open to news and kind of explore all this other stuff. I appreciated the advice. He never said, I couldn't do it. He just said, here are some of these obstacles you're going to face. Yeah, and options are good. Yep.

And, but if anything, it emboldened me and I went, okay, but, and you know what? I like it when people do tell you about the tough road ahead, because then I can also better equip myself. There's nothing worse than saying, you can do it. It's great. Don't worry about it. No, sometimes it's like, listen, this is crap. You're going to face this.

You're going to face that. But if you arm yourself properly, these are things you can navigate. And I feel like he helped me do that. So I want to get you to Leafs TV, but it is a fun fact, as I read in your book, you applied for the score to work at the score and Sportsnet and FOTM Darren Dregor plays a role in this. The score said you were overqualified. And Sportsnet said you were underqualified because Darren Dregger said you weren't quite ready yet. So Dregs claims it wasn't him and Jeff McDonald who was responsible for hiring at the time says it wasn't him. They point the finger at

each other. But I tell them, relax guys. I'm not here to like seek revenge because whoever said it, you were right. Like I wasn't ready because that was actually for, you know who ended up getting the job? This goes to show you how I was actually underqualified. Can I guess? No, maybe because my guess, I was going to guess somebody like Sophia Yerskukovic. No, she's too young. She's younger than me. Is she younger than you? No. The person who, yeah, she's a baby. Love Sophia. Martin Geyard. Okay, yeah. So, hello, Martin Geyard, it's far more qualified.

She ended up getting that gig over me back in, I think this would have been 2005, 2006, and she's still with Sportsnet. And the score position was strictly to do voiceover of highlights. That's why they said, you're overqualified for this. Right. But you're underqualified for the sports tech. Again, then Darren Dregor, in my audition,

which he was not supposed to be a part of, comes and sits with me to pretend that you. Again, this is sports nets. This is before he crosses the parking lot. Exactly. I know. Some people might be wondering, what are you talking about? Yeah, yeah.

We have to clarify that because people don't know that this was something that could happen because you never see it anymore. Oh, no, Dregs was the one who created the poop storm that essentially stopped the crossover of any kind. It is literally crossing the parking lot. Yeah. Yeah, it was literally crossing the parking lot. But that whole thing, I mean, you talk to executives in the industry, that set off a firestorm of

restrictions for honor talent. But that's called pollution. I believe that's. It's illegal. I think it is. This is your investigative reporting coming out. I'm just saying, like you don't see it often. I mean, most recently, and it wasn't really even a crossover.

It was mostly because I just don't think he renewed, but Chris Johnston to go from Sportsnet to TSA. But he's not even, yeah, he's, because he's not at either place right now, Chris Johnston. I don't know the details, but I just. Yeah, he works like independently, but is on. But do you see what I mean? I know what you mean. It's very rare. Because before him, think about it, whoever made the crossover, nobody.

So Darren Dregor caused a wee bit of a stink storm, all of that to say. Oh, you don't mean Chris Johnston. No, no, no. Oh, you mean Chris Johnston? I mean, well, Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson's, that's another story. MJ is another story. I think Sportsnet parted ways with Mike Johnson, and then he ended up doing a great job.

And he went back to TSN. He went back to TSN. Well, he went to TSN because, yeah, he was on Sportsnet, and they said, peace out as they do with a lot of good broadcasters. And now, now he's doing a great job at TSN. But Chris Johnson. Chris Johnston. Okay, yeah.

The insider. Who is from either Colburn or Coburn. I get these, where's the big apple? Oh, geez. I know, okay. I'll leave you on my mom on that. But there's a big apple if I drive to, if I'm driving. Because my daughter lives in Montreal, so I know this like 401 East.

And I just made the drive, by the way. I drove back from Ottawa a couple weeks ago and I saw the big apple. Yeah, it's there. Have you ever done? So I did this two summers ago. I drove to Montreal and back in the same day. You ever done that one? Not in the same day.

there is my husband drove to Ottawa we did the CPL-Fi he drove on the Saturday and then we drove back on the Sunday but you shared the driving but we shared the job yeah yeah that doesn't count sorry I can't count that here so how do you end up oh by the way you've never worked for Sportsnet right not technically but when I worked for MLSC and we were partners with them in the early days of made not the early days of major league soccer but the early days of Toronto FC yeah I was the sideline reporter for SportsNet with MLS. So I was with Craig Forrest and oh my goodness, why am I blanking on play by play? My brain's going. I need to take more creatine. Stephen Caldwell. No, no, no, no, no, no.

I can see his face perfectly and it's really bothering me. But yeah, so anyways, I did, I, D. D. D. D. Dabney? Is it Dobson? Is it Dobson? I think it's Dobson. Okay. Oh my goodness. You know what? I got to dig him up and get him on the show. What happened to Dobson? Yeah, he was around. I don't want to pick up my phone because I want my brain to work. I'm sure if I looked it up. But yeah, so I did soccer sideline for Sportsnet for a few years. Okay, I think it might be like Greg Dobson or something like. Why do I, it's, yeah.

Gary? Gary Dobson. Okay, I think it's Gary Dobson. But we do have, I see Tobias Vaughn is on the live stream, live dot Toronto Mike.com. So Tobias Vaughan, he knows everything about soccer. He'll let me know what's going on there here. So how do you get the, and this is this MLSE gig you're referring to, that's, that's Leif's TV. Correct.

So how did you get the gig for Leif's TV? A camera guy worked with at, once again, all roads lead back to the Cable 10 channel. He got a job with Leafs TV and he had left us. He'd been there for about a year. I bumped into him at a golf tournament. Some Leafs were in it. So in York region, so I was able to cover it.

And I said, if you ever hear anything, let me know. And he happened to be the camera guy during these auditions and called me up and said, they're auditioning people for Toronto Marley's reporting. And I went, Marley's, my name. So got my demo tape together I explained the whole story there I was at the gym You can read it in the book

It's actually kind of funny Because my mom called me Jerry Dobson Jerry Dobson Jerry I can't believe Colburn Okay Moose Grumpy So shout out to the live streamers

Before we get you back To the getting that gig at Leaves TV Which apparently wasn't for the Marleys We'll talk about that But Moose Grumpy Who I hope to see at TMLX 21 Is on the live stream And she says it's Colburn

So I believe that's where Chris Johnston is from If I'm remembering correctly When he visited many moons ago Jeremy Hopkins is on the live stream. Jayho, he joined me at Casilloma. We did not see Lloyd Robertson there, but he enjoyed that story

about the Lloyd Robertson connection. And yeah, Mike, oh, Mike is an alias called Tobias Vaughn. It's very confusing. Don't worry about it, Andy. But he says, yeah, Jerry Dobson, and I remember Jerry very well. Jerry, yes, oh my goodness, I completely blank.

This is what happens when you get older. But Jerry Dobson and Craig Forrest and myself, we were the trio that would do soccer, MLS Soccer for Sportsnet. It was wonderful. It was really wonderful. Okay. So you have made a good contact at Cable 10 who let you know they're auditioning for Marley's. Yes. So you go into full Marley's prep mode. Which I do and I get in there and I start, you know, the audition and I'm being asked a lot of questions about the Leafs. And I'm like, this is weird. But I answer them anyways because I know about the Leafs. Meanwhile, I had studied the whole way about the Marley's. And then when I go into the room with the two execs who continue

the audition part's over. Now you're doing the interview part. They're still talking to me about the Leafs. And if you come across the players, it's Mr. Sundeen or, you know, and then we need to get permission from John Ferguson Jr. here because you'd be traveling with the team out.

And I'm like, what the heck are these guys talking about? So finally, very calmly, I said, just to confirm this position, right? Is it like for the Leafs? And they're like, yeah, yeah. This is the reporter position for the Leafs. And I'm thinking in my head, I'm going to kill this camera guy who told me it was for the Marley's, right?

Because now I'm like, I go into like extra nervous mode. Sure. But yeah, that's kind of how I found out just by chance that it was going to be for the Leafs, which I think maybe was to my benefit, so I didn't crap my pants. And then a few hours later, they called me and offered me the job. And I went, well, clearly I impressed. And that's how I got the gig. And this is the big break for Andy Petrillo.

It was the big break. It really was because that was me covering the NHL. And MLSC was wonderful because through them, I was able to cover NHL, MBA. I did Raptors, you know, MBA TV. And when they eventually brought in Toronto FC, I was then able to do soccer at the same time. So I was doing all three sports. And I was, I really was having the time of my life. But, you know, it was also a digital channel.

And I wanted to go big. Yeah, I remember you had $2.99 or something. You had to add it. Because there was at some point, probably when you were there, but at some point they said they were going to have exclusive regular season games on. Leaves TV. They had 13. They had 13.

We always had anywhere between 12 and 13 games on Leaves TV. Isn't it funny that back then people would lose their minds over having to pay for a digital and look at the world we're in. Well, I lost my mind

and then I spread my cheeks as Freddie P would say and I coughed up the three bucks a month or whatever the heck it was so I could see the Leaves regular season game. People would give anything to pay three bucks a month now for any app.

But yeah, that's what Leaves TV was. That gets a two hot dogs at the Costco. We're going to go back to that. It's a full meal with a water. but yeah so that that really opened the door for me but you know again you kind of want just like I went from cable to digital I wanted to go network baby and it was because of my MLSC days that I was recognized by the executive producer at hockey night in Canada so you know they're great look it's like you're a pro you know we got to get you to hockey

in Canada here so it's yeah seeing you on Leafs TV helps get you the gig at hockey night in Canada And I got this incredible note from Cassie Campbell Pascal, welcoming me to an exclusive group. And I never really digested the importance and the history of it all until I looked it up and realized that I was just the fifth woman to join hockey night. And while I was there, hockey night celebrated 60 years. So you think about it, 60 years and I just became the fifth woman. Can you name the previous four women on hockey night in Canada? I always forget the very first, which is embarrassing. You know what?

And it's so sad because I remember, I acknowledge that. And I was like the very first, I always forget her, but I know Martin Geyard, Brenda Irving, Cassie Campbell, and I keep forgetting. I'm going to bail you out. Thank you. Helen Hutchinson. And I should know that because it's actually easy. Helen Hutchinson.

And then me. So Helen Hutchinson was the very first. She was the very first. Absolutely. But you're, you know, this is, and this is partly why you, it's, you're a trailblazer. I need you to know that that book, though, I wanted to say, just call me Andy, the wannabe athlete who made it as a sportscaster. That was what I wanted to name it, but my publisher convinced me otherwise. Damn publishers.

By the way, I didn't, I just breeze by it only because I don't think you want to hang out with me for three hours, although I would love it. This is fun. But, you know, when you were way back in the day, when you were a mere, I guess, eight, years young. You tore your MCL, your ACL, and you got cartilage damage. Like, you really messed up your body. Yeah, and I remember her name perfectly. Tahiti, number 10. That she was on the opposition and she kicked my knee as if it was the soccer ball and that blew it up. And yeah, I had to have reconstructive knee surgery where they took at the time, you could still have the option of the cadaver or take from your own hamstring. And I would, I would, if I were to give any kind

of advice, I would probably say do the cadaver. Because take a chunk of my hamstring to reconstruct the ligaments in my knee, then messed up my hamstring. And it took me forever to strengthen that up on my left leg. But that was the end of your, you know, competitive sporting career. It was, it was done. Because at the time, we did have scouts coming out to our games. I did have a scout coming from Seneca College, York University.

What sport? Soccer. Soccer. So it was all soccer. Yeah. So I thought this was going to be like a path I was going to go into. And that didn't happen. but again, like I said, my passion for sport was always there.

So the fact that I still get to, you know, be a part of this world is incredible. And I always joked. I said, I always knew I wanted to go to the Olympics. I just never made it as an athlete. I made it as a broadcaster. Yeah, you got to the Olympics. We'll get there soon. Caroline Sched was a very good soccer player in the NCAA,

and then she blew out her late. She played in the youth system for Canada as well. And she was very good. She obviously has, she does wonderful things in the soccer world, and she's very knowledgeable in that. And I was really sad when she ended up moving to Edmonton because I would see her a lot. We worked together too at CBC.

But yeah, she played in the youth system for Canada. My thirdborn, who loves soccer and plays all the time, went to Montreal to try out to be one of these FIFA ball handlers. Ew. And not interviewed for Caroline Schwed's Instagram feed. She was there covering it and interviewed my boy. Oh, see? Full circle.

She's a good one. And she's now, yeah, like you said, She's living in Edmonton, but where my wife is from. So here, it's all full circle. What's going on of Edmonton here? Okay, hockey night in Canada, Andy Petrillo, a few choice, you know. But one thing is you put in the book that I found interesting is an unnamed executive producer. You decide who gets named on this show.

Suggested possibly young Andy Petrillo get into a bikini and do an interview in a hot tub. Oh, yeah. So that's unbelievable. Well, Don Sherry never had to get in a bikini and get in, do an interview in a hot tub. Sure did not. I even asked Elliot Friedman if he was asked to do that, and he went nup. He did it voluntarily. He would just walk around a speed, no matter what.

Love Elliot. So in my book, too, I make perfectly clear that I didn't want to name the names of the people who were moronic because it was more about the story and the lesson that I really wanted people to hear. It's not about the outing of anyone, but I most definitely wanted to name all the people. who have been and continue to be wonderful to me because they deserve their flowers. The idiots, I don't want to give them anything. But I wanted the lesson there. And the lesson, of course, is that women are still asked to do things in this industry

because they're women. Like, don't try to BS a BSer. None of my male counterparts were going to be asked to do that. I was asked because I was the only woman on the show, right? So I wanted to make that perfectly clear. And I hope that my story can, you know, if there's any exec who's even thinking about, asking that. Hopefully that's like a red light, like don't be dumb. Well, personally, it never happened because I can't imagine, at least at this time, we should

remind the listenership. This is when CBC controlled hockey night in Canada. Like, I can't imagine the outrage if the young woman reporter was in a bikini or a bathing suit of any nature in a hot tub doing the interview. And I also make it clear in the book, it was a very awkward time at CBC because everyone knew, even though it hadn't been announced yet. We all knew hockey night, like CBC was going to lose the rights. So there was some executive roles that needed to be filled, but no real hockey execs wanted them because they were like, why would we go to a place that's not going to have the rights? So this person who came on over came from the music industry and tried to bring a lot of these music, you know,

Tani Catan stuff. I can just see her on the top of a car, I believe, of David Cleverdale's in Cloverdale. Listen, you want to, if you, like, the music world is different than the sports world. And this, this exec tried to convince me, hey, I remember, you know, MTV Award or whatever, these awards, we did this whole, I'm like, yeah, those are, like, that's music. That's MTV. Like, this is sports. This is hockey.

And we just, like, women, we don't do those things. Like, it's just, anyways. And again, I was asked. Elliot wasn't asked. PJ Stock wasn't asked. Kelly Rudy wasn't asked. Like, let's just be real. We all know why I was asked.

So it was, it was very. Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Please, if you don't mind, while we have you at Hockey Diet in Canada, could you tell me about your experience with Don Cherry? I do have a chapter dedicated to him in there, and I had an incredible experience with Don Cherry.

He was lovely to me. He was respectful. We would sit in the makeup room and just chat about life and chat about animals. He's a huge animal lover. And I happened to be there when he made that comment about women shouldn't be in the dressing room because that was the whole Duncan Keith situation where he spoke to a reporter a certain way people thought he did that

because she was a woman and it prompted this whole discourse about should women be in the room to begin with so of course you know Don went and had his say and then the second coach's corner was over he made a beeline to me and he's like I want to make perfectly clear that women should be in the industry I respect what you do in the industry and if anything I'm trying to call out the players. Like I think the players are stupid and moronic when they treat women that way and I don't want you to be exposed to that. And he went on to tell me that he was one of the first coaches in the NHL to allow a female reporter in the room. And I believe her name is Robin Herman. So when I researched that at the time, I just took his word for it. And then when I researched it

is true. He did. He was, you know, he allowed her in, well, actually at first he would allow her in the coach's room. And then eventually, you know, he would let her into the room because he felt like women should have the same access as the male reporters. And he, you know, there's stories out there too of Don Cherry getting yelled at by male reporters because they're like, why are you letting her in, right? So he has a history of supporting women. And I make it clear in my book that I'm not trying to erase any of the other stuff that

he has said, you know, about French Canadians and the visors. and, you know, how he's felt about Russian players. And we all know what ultimately led to his release from Hockey Night and Canada. That's not to dismiss any of that. But my experience with him was different. And I wanted people to know that there, like, there was definitely this grandfather side to him. Good to hear that. But he definitely was clear that he said women do not belong in the NHL dressing room.

Which is crazy because of what his actions are. What he said and his actions were so different. because trust me, it confused me too. And then he came to me and then said, this is what I meant to say. And I felt like Don did that a lot. This is what I meant to say. And, well, what you meant to say and what you actually said,

you know, didn't exactly come across that way. So he's definitely an enigma. And everyone has their right to an opinion because he can be very polarizing. So now that we've talked about Don Cherry, who most recently on Coach's Corner, was teamed up with Ron. McLean, it's worth promoting that next week,

the gentleman who has teamed up with Don Cherry originally, Dave Hodge is going to be in this basement to share with us his 100 favorite songs of 2025. No, he's not, is he? Would I lie to you, Andy? Okay, I've never worked with Dave Hodge, but I've been to a few events where he has been honored or he's gotten up to introduce somebody else.

He is hilarious. Yes, he's very funny. He is so funny. So, yeah, it's always a pleasure when I can speak. But nothing brings Dave Hodge more joy. We've done this eight years in a row where he's come over to, and during COVID, I think it moved to Zoom, but he's been on Toronto Mike to unveil his 100 favorite songs of the year.

Nothing makes Dave Hodge happier than talking about music. That man, and he's either he's 80 or he's about to turn 80 years old. That man, if you are looking for Dave Hodge, I don't know, go to the horseshoe or on a Wednesday night, See who's in the front of the room right by the stage. Dave Hodge loves his music. I did not know this, and now I will tune in for that because I just want to hear like his commentary around it too.

I can do better than that, Andy. I can tell you, thank you to the VP of Sales. And VPLC Friday, we are going to Guelph to see Hawksley Workman. That's what's going on Friday. You want to join us? I'm getting all these invites. Well, yeah, I can get you on the list. My social calendar is just like, join up.

You and I are going to spend a lot of time together. You're going to regret ever accepting this invitation. Okay. I'm not letting you go that easy. Okay. But Tyler, VP of Sales, maintains a website with me called hodge100.com where we archive all the old lists. So you can go back and you can hear all the Toronto mic episodes. So the last eight years I mentioned, he's done this. You can see it all there. There are Apple and Spotify playlists for the songs.

And we will like literally when we record this episode next week, Dave Hodge and I, like almost like turning the nuclear code, the keys or whatever at the same time. As soon as the episode drops, we are going to update. Hodge100.com with the new list. I love it. Isn't it so exciting? Okay, I just had to mention that Dave Hodge is coming over. But Ron McLean was a good guide to you, right? He was amazing.

I've been, and it's so sad to say that I've been fortunate because, again, like, there are a lot of women as well that I hear with certain experiences. And even when that went down with the whole hot tub stuff, the men I worked with rallied around me. And they were like, this is, like, don't even go there with it. Like, this is ridiculous. Like, they supported me, which is also incredible. amazing, but also doesn't happen all the time. Oftentimes women have that stuff,

requested of them, ask of them, whatever done, and then they don't even have support of coworkers. So I got all of that at CBC, and Ron McLean was always awesome to me. And I did say, like, in the book, I actually was kind of miffed because when I was getting set to host my first ever Olympics in 2014. Right, which we're going to right next. I went to him. And I'm just like, what do I do? And I wanted him to be detailed, where you wake up and then you do this, this, this, this, and this, or in your preparation, you do this, this, this and this. And he just turned around, he goes, Andy, you're going to have to find your own identity. And you're going to realize that, I mean, he did tell me about, like, the hours and prepared

me for the grind and all that kind of stuff. He's like, but how you prepare and how you want to present that knowledge is up to you. That's what you have to come up with yourself. And I was like, ugh. Right? Like, where's the cheat codes? Exactly. I wanted the Coles notes on everything.

Here, let me give you Brian Williams number. Yeah. Well, I'm like, help assist. her out, but he was so right. The time in Sochi right now, 614. He was known for the time, all the time Brian Williams. He was lovely to me

too, by the way. Dear friend of Dave Hodge today. And he actually, I invited him on, this is going back several years now. I said, Brian Williams, please come to my basement and South at Tobago. I want to talk to you for 90 minutes. And he phoned up, he saw the list of people who had been on, and he saw his dear friend Dave Hodge on the list. And he phoned up

Dave Hodge and said, Dave, this guy, Toronto Mike, who wants me to visit his basement and talking and Dave said to him do it and thank me later that was Dave Hodge to Brian Williams he came over

and was delightful maybe you shouldn't lead with like come to my basement I like I like the fact it sounds a little dangerous so yeah like sometimes somebody will mention name like Elliot Friedman

yeah he's been in the basement okay so can I be honest with you you were scared to come here and you phone somebody who did you phone James Duffy okay who wrote the forward

in your book he wrote the four word I said James so what did James say, because James is still mad about how long it took him to get here. I guess he doesn't live near. Well, that's his problem. But the second time, he said, please don't make me do the drive.

And he begged for like a Zoom the second time. But please tell me, what did James say when you went to vet this whole thing? Well, he was very funny. He's like, no, he goes, don't worry. Mike, completely harmless. It's great. He's like, I think he lives near you. So you're going to be fine with the commute.

He's like, so your commute will be fine. He hated the commute. Yeah. And I just said, but what are the chances of me like not making it? out of the basement. He's like, oh, oh, less than 20%. Someone of the live stream will notice if you disappear. There's people, there's moose grumpy is keeping an eye on things. It was pretty funny. See, I kind of expect there's going to be a little vetting, but it's worth noting that 99.5% of guests, I speak to directly when I booked them. You're actually

an exception where I actually went through the publisher. Which is so new to me. I've never worked with a pub. And so here's the other thing. And I will put this out there to everyone now who has ever try to DM me on Instagram, because I know that's how a lot of people... And you're talking to me now. That's probably what I did. I don't check my DMs. I thought you just ignored me.

No, I just, I don't check them because in the beginning, I did. And other than just seeing certain messages that were like, yeah. Or like, like, oh, you looked hot today. Yeah, and then like, there's photos. And I'm just like, this is, this is creepy. I don't, so I, unfortunately, a lot of the good people with well, you know, good intentions who DM me. Baby with the bath water.

They get flushed, yeah. So it's very unfortunate. I think Elliot gets the same message as you looked hot today. Yeah. Especially when he's walking around in that speedo. Oh, he grows that summer beard. Is that what that is? Yeah, he does this like, you know, he gets the off season.

He distracts from what's happening up top so he grows the beard. You know what? They used to see the infomercials that I thought you were in one. No, that was the whole guy. No, no. But you spray the top of your head so that you can't see the bald spot. You remember this? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was like spray paint for like your bald spot. By the way, they still like, many people will know about. about it, this hair dresser or hairstylist, even for networks and stuff, they have these like fibers. A lot of men use them, as they should. Look at my hair. Do you think I would know anything about this? No, you've got a full-headed hair. It's the only thing I got. But even women use it. Like when I do, my hairstylist, when she puts my hair in a ponytail, oh my God, I'm giving some hair lessons here. But sometimes the hair can be pulled so tightly and some skin just gets exposed. She just uses the fibers and fills it in. These are just

little tricks of the trade. Make your hair look fuller. I like these tips. And thank you, James Duthy for encouraging you to make the track. Yeah. Again, I couldn't, again, I'm not a stock or anything, but periodically I'd see you on the TV and I'd think, oh, she's very good. I would really like Andy Petrol and Toronto Mike. And then I would do a little Googling, like trying to contact you and I'd very quickly strike out.

Either I'd probably slide in your DMs and get ignored because you get all those awful DMs and you're ignoring them. That makes sense to me. So I never knew how to get to you. And then I learned, I learned about the book. Just call me Andy. and I had previously had a relationship of the publisher for somebody else.

And I basically just wrote a note and just said, hey, would Andy Patrillo visit the basement? So this is a long-winded way of saying that you showed up here, but we had never even had an email interaction. Like, I literally only dealt with the publisher. And here you are.

And here we are. Okay, I want to get you to Sochi. Yeah. So, I mean, tell me about it. That's amazing. 2014 Sochi Olympics. That's your first Olympic Games, right? First ever Olympic Games.

And what was really funny is I had gone to the executive producer of CBC and said, I want to be a part of the Olympics. And at the time, working with Hockey Nine Canada, I meant I wanted to be a part of the hockey coverage. And he went, I see something bigger for you. And that's when I became an Olympic host. That was the first time. And I was completely blown away and a little overwhelmed,

but loved every second of it, never slept, barely ate because you try to stay on top and in tune with absolutely everything. And that was the advice Scott Russell gave me, where he's like, Andy, slow down. This is a marathon and is not a sprint. So you have to eat. You have to sleep. You have to actually disconnect with the Olympics for a few hours a day.

All of that is easier said than done. But it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life scene, the camaraderie. Oftentimes, as broadcasters, when we have our gear, we get coats and stuff. We're not trying to pretend to be the athletes by any means, but it's pretty obvious what country you're from. Because, you know, like we had a red coat and we did have the maple leave. And whenever a Canadian... That's always a giveaway. Yeah, where are you from?

I figured out. But whenever a Canadian athlete was competing that day, or if a Canadian athlete meddled, like other reporters from other countries would be congratulating me. Amazing. Like it was just, yeah, like the Olympics, it's so hard to explain, but it truly is the world coming together. And Marie Philippe Poulin.

So I also got a call. So not only am I like barely staying above water hosting my first ever Olympics, but I get a call from one of the execs saying, do you want to do color for the women's semifinal? And then they ended up adding it on afterwards because it was, you know, we did such a good job myself, Steve Armitage. And then the women obviously made it to the gold medal game. I ended up doing color for the final, all on CBC radio. So I can't say no.

I'm like, sure, I'll do it. I'll work on two hours sleep because why not? I'm a stressaholic. And it was the most incredible experience ever. So they obviously, they win the semis. They go to the gold medal. It's against the Americans. The Americans are winning.

The American reporters all in the press box are high-fiving each other. You're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed to be a special. But maybe the Olympics is like an exception, do you think? A little bit. You're still supposed to be professional. It's nationalistic as opposed to, you know, rooting for your club team. But it's also like five minutes to go in the game.

Bro, like we know how hockey works. Relax. So, of course, they're already high-fiving and doing their thing. And I'm calling the game. So I can't really turn around and give anybody stink eye because I got to keep my eye on the ice. But as we know, the Canadians, they tie it up. Marie-Philippe Poulin has been captain. Clutch for many Olympics, you know, she, well, I think at that time, 2010, that was her first,

and she was obviously Captain Clutch in that one and getting the winner. She comes through again in 2014. She gets the O.T. goal. And everyone who was high-fiving each other, now I'll have messed up hair because they're all just completely stressed and pulling it out. And now I'm the one turning around, kind of doing the hey-ha-ha-ha, right, to everybody. Right. So, yeah. Take that. Take it. But that was an incredible, to be able to call that. And it was very emotional for me, because I didn't tell anybody about the semi-final. But then when I knew I was calling the final, I told my mom, and as a good Italian woman,

she told the entire family. And my dad, now retired. He at the time, you know, an iron worker. He grabbed his little radio, and he went into a quiet room and told everyone, these are the two hours where you're not going to bother me because I'm listening to my baby girl doing color for hockey. So it's special.

Golden goal and so cheap. Is that like, is that a career highlight? Like, is that a moment? It's up there. it's up there. I mean, I guess we'll find out. I mean, I've hosted things like obviously being a part of the Canadian men's national team, the soccer team and their whole journey to qualifying for the 2022 World Cup

when nobody thought they would. So many incredible moments along the way. But if you're talking about that one, like a golden goal at the Olympics. Right. And I'm calling it. And it's Captain Clutch, which it, you know, it's interesting to me that in Sochi, which is in Russia, everybody, if you're wondering where so she is,

it would have been against the law for Marie-Philippe Poulin to give her lover a kiss on the lips. Ugh, I don't even, yeah. It's just ridiculous. It's amazing we allow them to host. Like, it's amazing, I know that, you know, we can get into the corruption

of the IOC and everything, and, you know, money, you know, was it? Cash money ruins everything around me. But, like, it's wild, we would, you know, give a country and Olympic Games and essentially homosexuality is against the law.

But look, I mean, so you had that? You don't have to defend Russia or anything. Oh, I'm not defending them at all. I'm talking about the actual governing bodies and how disappointing they are. So the IOC has done it on numerous occasions. FIFA, I work in soccer too. I mean, like FIFA is the most deplorable of them all.

And now the next year's World Cup, you're going to have, I mean, people are calling for it to be removed from the states like everything that's going on in the states right now like the governing bodies just see dollar signs they suck yeah well they do and that's why i'm glad you bring that up too because who i will defend though i will defend the athletes um because people always try to come at the athletes you should boycott you should do this you should do that and it's heartbreaking because i'm like no they shouldn't it's easy for us sitting at home and you you can have your own opinion. And, you know, if you think they should boycott, then let's have a conversation

and a very healthy debate over that. But my reason why I don't think they should is there actually has been research and there's been proof that the boycott of the 1980 Olympics. Yep. In Moscow. The Canadian athletes, the mental health that they suffered from that, because what people don't realize that when you're a high performance athlete and your job literally to be on the best stage ever comes once every four years and you are now telling them to give up everything that they've worked hard for that they've spent money on. By the way, these athletes don't really get a lot of funding. They have to work

two, three jobs and train like a high performance athlete. You tell them to give that up. I think that is so unfair. I think that is so easy for you to say that from the comfort of your home and your couch. And the athletes, by the way, are not choosing the locations. You should always go after the governing body. Always,

always, always go up, tear down that ivory tower, but do not go after the athletes. They have every right to continue competing. Well said. And that window is so short. And I'm always thinking of my friend Donovan Bailey because if you look at his career projectory, in 92, he's simply not ready.

Like he's not ready to be a world-class sprinter. By 2000, he is Achilles tendon. He's done. Okay? So there was one Olympic Games when Donovan could run under 10 seconds. And of course, he gets double gold, runs the 100 meter 9.84.

By the way, he was the fastest man in the world. but do you know there's another Canadian sprinter who has run 984? Do you want to guess who it is since you're such a track aficionado? Like once ran it? So the Canadian record for 100 meters is still 9.84. I'm trying to think 100. I mean, right away I'm thinking it's got to be their Andre deGrasse or Aaron Brown. So good guesses, except you're wrong.

It is Bruny Surin. Oh, that's right. Oh, I thought you meant currently like somebody. Who shares the Canadian record with Donovan Bailey. Oh, yeah. Bruny Surin. 100%. Right. He was on that 4x100, of course, that 1 in 96 here. Okay, so this is a highlight for you, 2014, Sochi Olympics, Golden Goal. And then you're fired twice in a year. Like, what the heck? Yes. That's how the industry goes. Sometimes it's personal. Oftentimes it's not. And at least I'm going to tell myself that. But the reason why I was let go was because CBC lost the hockey rights. So as much as, as As they loved me there and I loved them,

they just could not afford to hold on to me. So CBC has to say goodbye, which makes complete sense. But here's what I don't understand. And of course, again, nothing personal here. But you mentioned Ron McLean. There were a number of hockey night in Canada people who were offered contracts by Rogers to continue of hockey night in Canada.

What the hell's wrong of Rogers? They never hire Andy Petrillo. You'd have to ask them that I don't know. I don't know because... Was it Scott Moore? Who was it? I met with them. Gord Cutler at the time was the one in charge of that, and I was basically told that, yeah, they just,

they decided to, and they did. They brought in a lot of outside people, and they brought in outside women who were not with CBC prior. So they just decided to not keep me. And it was very heartbreaking because I didn't know why. Nobody gave me a reason. And right away, and this is where I feel pretty blessed, and, you know, it's obviously a compliment and it feels good,

but the second people did find out I was available. like right away the NHL network snatched me up. And I have a, you know, credit to, you know, my good friend Kevin Weeks, because he put in a word, he said, listen, just so you know, they haven't hired this woman, like bring her on. And boom, right away, I got on with the NHL network. But they also fire you that year. So they, they, again, circumstance, because the NHL and Rogers could,

so when the national rights holder in Canada would also house the NHL network. So at the time, CBC and TSN were splitting those duties, the national rights duties. So the NHL network studios were in the TSN building. So of course, when TSN's no longer the national rights holder, they're like, well, you've got to get this NHL network out of here. So the NHL turns to Rogers and says, well, since you're our new partner, we need to have the network here. And Roger said, no. So the NHL network ended up moving to SACACUS, New Jersey. and they opted to hire Americans, paperwork, visas, you name it, all that kind of.

Would you have left us? To go there? If they had, oh, yes, I would have. Oh, yeah, you did apply at N-E-S-N, right? Yep, and at that time, though, I would, I just realized you would leave us in a heartbeat, Andy. I would have stayed in hockey any way I could have. Right. Let's put it that way.

Well, the aforementioned Sophia J., whose name I keep butchering, who is much younger than you. I don't know if I should apologize. I guess I'm apologizing to her. I don't know if I apologize. And I know her quite well. She's been over a few times. There's a picture of her holding my fourth born when my fourth born is a baby. Yeah, because we do this photo by tree and I guess I like her very much.

I guess because she's been around so long. I had this checked on the live stream that, yeah, you've got several years on Sophia. I sure do. And I have a story for Sophia because, as you know, she went through some heartache here as well in the industry and kind of being left out in the cold and eventually, you know, landed on her feet with Nesson. but I took her up for lunch and you know I was consoling her and I told her that story said I've been dumped on my ass twice in one year her eyeballs popped out of her head and she goes like I never knew that and I said well yeah I mean A I hustled B I was fortunate that I was able to land on my feet

quickly each time and I said but I'm telling you this because you are going to land on your feet too but she was just kind of blown away that that had happened to me and I put that in the book because I want a lot of young, up-and-coming broadcasters to know it's not going to be smooth sailing. Oftentimes, it will have nothing to do with you. It will have to do with the network you work for, lost the rights, so they just can't afford to keep you, or there's been a relocation.

A lot of times, it's nothing personal. It's just the damn industry. Good advice. Okay, so we're going to spend like a couple of minutes here on TSN, of course, and then just a general questions I have for you. But you've been amazing. How's it going so far? Was Duthy right to say you should drop by?

Duthy was very right. Duffy does not lead me astray. Let's put it that way. And I've turned to him for advice on many things. And this was one of them. And I'm glad I took this advice. I'm thinking of who she called. I hope she didn't call Molly Johnson.

That's what I was thinking. But you call James Duffy and that's a good thing. And there's one guest to actually complain more about the commute than James Duffy. Dan O'Toole. Oh, gee. Because he drove from Orono. Yeah. Okay.

So again, that's your fault. live there. That's your fault, Dan. Okay? Also, he could do it. Many a great broadcaster's done and said, no, thank you. Yeah. Listen, I love where you are because this is close to me, and I think this is an amazing area, so I won't complain. Okay, thank you for not complain here. I'm just going to shout

out a couple more partners, and then I want to ask you about TSN, because you're at TSN from 2014 to 2021, and we've got to get you there. But I want to thank Blue Sky Agency, this gentleman who runs Blue Sky Agency, his name is Doug Mills, And you, Andy, probably don't have an office, right?

You're sort of, are you a freelancer? I am. So you don't, your office is like the home office. It's the home office. So you probably don't need, you know, dynamic and creative office furniture and silent privacy pods and all this important stuff. But if anyone out there has any questions about such office furniture, Doug is your guy. He's Doug at blue sky agency.ca.ca.com. And Andy, I don't know.

I won't even ask you this question. It's your private business. But if you are any loved ones are in need of cannabis, it's legal, Andy. Okay, your dad won't be, is your dad going to listen to this? You do you, babe. Does your dad listen to this? No, I mean, he will.

Oh, he will. Yeah. I'm curious, like, will you share the link and just say, hey, dad, if you want to hear me yak about myself for 90 minutes? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do it. And then you could plead the fifth on this one. But anyone who does want the very legal substance that is cannabis, go to shopkindling.c.c.

I know Hebsie was here yesterday. a big fan. You get that cannabis in your hands in under an hour. It's free one hour cannabis delivery. You can track the order and it's discreetly delivered to you. So like I could literally go online now, order it. And by the time we're taking our photo by Toronto Tree,

some guy shows up and hands me my weed. Like this is the world we live in today. Okay. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. They sent over a measuring tape for you, Andy Petrillo. That is courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of this community since 1921. Wow. I would

just a kid back then. It's been a long time. And much love to Nick Aeney's. He's the host of building Toronto skyline and building success. You mentioned iron worker. It's your dad who was an iron worker, right? Yeah. There's a guy named Jack Mesley who was an iron worker who was on, when

they finished the CN Tower before your birth in 1975, he was up there receiving the, I guess they had a helicopter that was delivering the final tower and then the iron workers were doing their thing. He was up there in 1975 when the CN Tower was completed. And he was a guest on Nick I. Enie's podcast, Building Toronto Skyline.

Great conversations there. And building success, some great guests have been on that, including the aforementioned Steve Paken and my buddy Keith Stein, who owns the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball team. Lovely. There you go. Next summer, we'll get you to Christy Pits for a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball game. You'll love it. You'll love it. There's hot dogs there, too. Last but not least, if you, Andy Petrillo, have a closet or a drawer for full of old cables, old devices, old electronics. Well, don't throw it in the garbage, Andy Petcherlo, because those chemicals end up in our landfill.

Go to Recyclemyelectronics.ca, put in your postal code and find out where you can drop that off to be properly recycled. Lovely, I'll do that. How do you get the gig at TSN? TSN, how do I get the gig? So... Don't run out of gas.

We have about 15 more minutes. No, no, so you just... My brain needs to work. I'm getting older here. Oh, please. Getting older here, right? Wait to get to my age. So being in the industry for as long as I had at that point, you just make a lot of connections.

So I had made a connection with then executive producer, Mark Millier. And when he found out again that I was out of a job because the NHL network had moved to New Jersey, we went out for lunch and we got to chatting and he basically had said, you know, would you think about being on Sports Center and stuff? And when I was younger and I wanted to get into the industry, I wanted to be like the person who did. the nightly highlights and everything. But once I became a host, I got a taste for the live game and pregames and post games

and I wanted to be in the trenches. And I just, I said to him, thank you, but I just, I don't see myself doing that anymore. Like, I want to be the one steering the ship. And he agreed, he goes, I see you in that role. You do great, you know, in that role.

And if anything were to ever come up, I'll give you a call. Actually, this was before the NH&R, my apology. So this was when I had just been let go by CBC. Right. So I end up getting the, job with the NHL network, which is in the TSN building.

And shortly after that, Millier calls me. And by the way, after that lunch with Millier, I was scared because I spoke my mind. I told them what I really wanted. But then I also thought to myself, like, am I being picky? Like, you know, beggars can't be choosers type of thing. Like, here I am. Like, how dare I be like, oh, I don't want that gig. I want this one.

And I thought I booted myself out of the industry because I was too honest. Right. And, but I guess it worked to my benefit. So as I get the NHL Network gig, he calls me at the same time, because of course, when it rains, it pours. And he's like, it's not full time, but when Luke Wyleman needs to travel for MLS, Luke Wyleman being the play-by-play guy, he's like, can you do our English Premier League coverage? And I said, you got it. So while I was doing the NHL Network, which was my full-time gig in the TSN building, on the weekends,

here and there, I would do EPL coverage for TSN. And then once the, the NHL network left, they enjoyed, like, they loved my work. They wanted to keep me at the time, you know, Jeff McDonald, who I told you was the guy at Sportsnet way back when with the Darren Dregor audition. He was now at TSN and he's like, I promised you that we would always work together at some point. And he's like, and now I want to make that happen. You can still do your soccer coverage, but during the week would you like to be the host of Leaf's Lunch?

on TSN 1050. And apparently, I learned from your book that you're the first woman in Canada to have her own daily sports radio show. I didn't know that because to your point is you mentioned Steve Simmons, right? And Mary Armsby. And Mary Armsy. Like they would do weekly, like one day a week, like those types of shows. There was another young girl at the time.

Like she would do like every Saturday on like serious NHL network. Is that the babe? There's a babe. And I think about the sports babe. The fabulous sports babe, do you remember this? I don't think that was her. She was like a kickboxer, this girl. Okay, okay.

No, I think you'd be very scared of her. So these aren't money to fry. So Ormsby, who's been over, a funny thing, we've talked a lot about Donovan Bailey, who got the, who had the gold medal for running 984. Mary Ormsby wrote a book about Ben Johnson, who ran 979, but it was stripped from him, of course. But Ben and Mary were in this basement fairly recently,

and you have to, I know you probably don't, don't listen to Toronto Mike. You're phoning James Duthy to find out what's going on over here. You have to listen to Ben Johnson on Toronto Mike. That I will definitely listen to. Promise me? I will promise because listen, I was young, but that was something that just was so pivotal, I think, in so many sports fans' lives.

And I mean, it's not my story. It's Scott Russell's story, but which is actually kind of hilarious. Because being over there and the time change and before this world of social media, yeah, like he went to bed. So Ben Johnson wins. Yep. Scott Russell goes to bed. then the testing happened.

So he gets called to do a morning radio interview and it's about Ben Johnson. So he wakes up, again, social media doesn't exist. So he wakes up thinking Ben Johnson is still the Olympic champ. Of course. And he starts to get drilled by the radio host

saying, what do you think of the result? I think it's a great result. They're like, what are you? He's got no phone to check and see alerts. And they're like, what are you talking about? So it took Scott a good like 90 seconds to figure out what was going on. And he had to be honest.

he goes, I just woke up. I don't know what you're talking about. But that's actually symbolic of the, like the collective, our nation, Canada and how it was for us, because it's so jarring, right? It was so jarring. We were all cheering in the streets, 979, New World Record, Gold Medal, Canada over Carl Lewis. What a moment. And did to have it reversed so suddenly and quickly, I think we stuff, I think the nation

suffered some trauma from this. Yeah. And to the point where. And it's not to be dramatic, but heading into the Paris Olympics and, you know, the very first thing that we're showing is women's soccer and we have the drone scandal. Right. That was the first thing that came up. I'm like, when was the last time Canada really had a scandal like this? And it was like Ben Johnson.

And it started to bring up all these emotions. And that's one. There's one more for you. Silk and Lawman was using some kind of pseudophed or some banned substance with her. And this was a thing for sure. and she was a skulls? What is it? She's a roer.

Yeah, for sure. But there was definitely, I know what you're saying. The last big scandal like this was Ben, but there was definitely a Silk and Laman scandal. Yeah, there was always some like little things here and there that you heard. But like the big one where, I mean, Ben Johnson had his gold medal stripped.

Yeah. The women were stripped like six points. They were still able to compete at the Paris Olympics, but stripped six points. It virtually became impossible to like kind of overcome, which by the way they did, but then ultimately got eliminated. But you're like, you're so.

And I'm so. I got to be honest with you, and I adore these athletes, and it's not necessarily the women, you know, that's obviously a little bit more complicated than the Ben Johnson stuff, but like there's an embarrassment. There's a shame there, to your point, as a collective nation, where you're like, oh, man, right? Which just feels like other nations cover it up for their athletes. Like Carl Lewis. Oh, Carl Lewis is a cheater. Don't even get me started. Right. But America would sort of cover, would help him cheat where we leave our guys like, oh, you're out to dry, Ben. you got caught.

Yeah, and I guess because even that drone scandal, the amount of even like American soccer players, because the whole soccer world was talking about it, and they all kind of went, ah, we all do it. Like they all kind of, they're like, eh, it's kind of thing. We're kind of goody, goody over here,

and it sort of works against us with these. It can be annoying. It can be really annoying. 100%. Some say Canada is the Andy Petrillo of Nations. Just a sweetheart. Well, they were sold to Bill of Goods. That's the next book.

By the way, I will, okay, so we're wrapping up here very shortly. You've been amazing. But I read your book, and I feel like the sequel is the warts, because there's not a lot of warts in here. Maybe there might not be warts. What do you, like, what kind of warts? Well, I don't know because I don't know the warts. Like, I'm not saying there are warts, but sometimes you read this.

Like, there's basically, if there are warts, you've decided that's not for this book. Like, of me or other? Yeah. Like, again. There may not be warts. Like, you just may, you may not have warts. I bet you that's the case. I'm not suggesting you're hiding anything or keeping anything from us.

I'm not even suggesting that, yeah, I'm saying that it's interesting because you get, sometimes you get these things and you get the warts in all thing. And I was thinking, I don't think Andy is wortful. I don't, I mean, I'm not perfect, but I think, like, things that I bring up in my book is I try to be aware. If there's one thing I am, is like, I observe and I take things to heart. So one thing I bring up in there, which is I try. really to not be this way.

The whole thing about there's only room for, you know, one woman, the token female, all this kind of stuff. And obviously, it's this mentality that was created by men in powerful positions. But the effect of that is women become pitted against each other. And older women don't want to share pearls of wisdom with the younger women because they see that younger woman as a threat. They're there to replace her. And then the younger woman also becomes rude and nasty.

And she doesn't appreciate and respect what the older woman has done because she just sees her as an obstacle that needs to get out of the way. So we have this very strained relationship, women in the industry. And I felt that. Like, I did have some older women who weren't the kindest to me. And as I grew into this industry, I wanted to make sure that I didn't become that way. And I don't, I don't begrudge. Like, I don't resent, I guess that's more of the word, I don't resent the older women

who were that way with me because they were a product of the environment. they were a product of a very toxic environment and if anything my heart breaks for them but I wanted to make sure I didn't become that because it's easy to become that way it's easy to look at a young woman and think oh you're here to replace me or you think you're better than me

or like you know like there's this kind of like screw you this is my territory I peed on it first type of mentality and I work really hard to not be that way because A it's not right there's more than enough room for many of us B it's not fair and see, I just don't want to be that person. That is such a horrible way to live with that kind of paranoia, fear and grumpiness.

So I'm not saying I'm perfect, but there's certain things that have been done in the industry where I just try not to be that way. So if there's a young up-and-coming, if there's a young woman who wants to be in this sports media industry, part of the complex here, what advice would you give them? Well, I guess what I would say is, you know,

you're not alone in this industry as much as it can feel that way oftentimes and that there are women who have been doing this a long time who do actually want to be there for you and help you. That's first and foremost. When you feel like you have nobody to talk to or lean on, it can be really discouraging. And the other advice I would give is if you know your stuff, work hard, obviously, but if you know your stuff and this is something that you love, do not let anyone get in your way. because there will always be people out there who will tell you know. There will be people out there who will tell you no simply because of your gender. Surround yourself with supporters and positive people.

That is what you have to do. I once hosted a roundtable discussion on Toronto Mike, and I had Scott Moore, who we mentioned briefly, just before he left Sportsnet actually, Shoraleigh Nayjack. Yes, Shirelli, love him. And Sophia, who's come up many times in this program, who is much younger than you, I've learned. And the topic of discussion was the lack of diversity in Canadian sports media.

Is it better now? It's getting there. I think so. I mean, in some aspects it is. In some other aspects, it's not. And I don't think I need to point that out. All you got to do is turn on your TV and take a look at it. I do feel like to me, when you start to make progress is when you start to see people like

Cheryl Pounder because women deserve to be analysts. Women deserve to have the authoritative voice. That's how we see that type of change. So they're on panels. They're not just hosting them. They're not just a sideline reporter, which are all very respectable and obviously I'm a host. These are gigs that are important.

But when you're also in a position where you have an authoritative voice, when you're in the booth, whether you're doing play by play or you're doing color, when you start to see women and when you start to see people of the BIPO community in those positions, now you're making progress. I totally, you're totally right. And, of course, we all watch the Jays in the World Series. And yes, Hazel May does a great job as a sideline reporter,

but we had plenty of time with Madison Shipman. And I loved her. And it was, you know, kids today just see another baseball expert talking about, you know, what's going on in the field. But if you're a certain vintage, this is pretty revolutionary. We aren't used to tuning into World Series action and having a woman, not just be a sideline reporter, but be an actual analyst. breaking it down.

And when you start to tune into those types of shows and not bad an eye, that's when you know you've made, you know, a difference and you've turned the corner on certain things. And I would say that even with these, the young athletes coming through now, like when I first got into this business, I would often be the only woman walking into that hockey room. The hockey room would go silent because it was like an alien walked in there. They just weren't used to seeing a woman in there. Right. Now the guys don't even, because they've come through junior hockey where they've had female reporters or even like female coaches or you name it GMs and stuff like they just it doesn't

even matter to them and then I'm like all right been doing this 20 plus years and I'm finally now seeing that type of progress do you and you alluded to this in your book but do you feel like you're allowed to age naturally in front of the camera that's the next challenge and the answer is no the answer is absolutely no and it's so infuriating because I see men and they have every right to still have their positions. Don't get me wrong. But I see wrinkle faces. I see gray hair. I see balding. And pot bellies. Yeah, pot, whatever, you name it. And nobody says anything. They're just like, wow, that's a really good analyst. And it's like, okay. But a woman's up there. And it's like, duh, you can, you, bad die job or get some Botox or you look haggard. There's the double

standard. You're 100% right. Yeah. And I don't think people are commenting also. I'll just say my good friend Jamie Campbell or Joe Siddell, for example, since I'm on Blue Jays baseball mode here now. Like, nobody's talking about their face and their appearance, but I got so many comments for people telling me about Madison Shipman and how she looks. And the question I have for those people is, why? What is your obsession? Like, what is it?

You know, because a guy can look like a leathered baseball mitt on your whole baseball analogy there. And nobody says, boo, but a woman looks like she didn't moisturize that morning. and suddenly what she's got to be off the air? Like, what is going on? So that's the next big challenge. And obviously, I'm in it because I'm 45. And, you know, and most recently I also saw, you know, there was another woman and she was being basically,

you know, high definition is not doing her any favors. And she just wrote back and she's like, yeah, because I'm getting older. Like, who cares? Right. Well, some people, I hope more people do this. I'm going to do this, okay? But I'm not in front of any camera. So it's easy for me to say.

but aging naturally, like without surgical intervention or without Botox, like we need to normalize this. Well, of course we do, because then on the flip side is when a woman gets work, she looks like she's had work done.

Oh, right. And it's like, yeah, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. So you're just like, I don't know if we're allowed to swear on here. You can swear on here. I'll just say like, F off, right?

And I swear in my book. Well, can I read the quote? You can. Honestly, between our clothing, our body, and our face, I can only think of one thing to say,

leave us the fuck alone. That's a quote from Andy's book, which is very good code, just call me Andy. I realize as we wind down, though, we never got you out at TSN, and I know you're not naming names on some of these wards,

I guess, from an industry perspective here, but somebody at TSN, and you're hosting Leafs lunch, and by all accounts, you're doing a great job hosting Leafs lunch on TSN 1050, okay? You mentioned that's the first woman in Canada. You are the first woman in Canada

to have her own daily for Mary Orms, I got to emphasize that, daily sports talk radio show. But somebody on the television side of TSN told you that you weren't a part of TSN's television future. And that was unfortunate because I had been the last few years hosting all of their major league soccer coverage. I was James Duffy's backup, did all of their Leafs games when he couldn't do them.

And then Duffy and I would split the playoffs. duties. I was part of their World Cup coverage for both men and women. Right. And then there was a change of regime. And this new person who came on board just went, yeah, I don't see it on the TV side. I just don't. And I went, like, it was heartbreaking. It was so heartbreaking. Even to the point where like that year's MLS coverage, like a whole press release went out saying, no, this is the coverage that's coming up. And my name wasn't mentioned. And yet nobody even told me that I wasn't going to, like I was the host for Major League Soccer on on TSN and that just kind of got unceremoniously stripped.

So it was really unfortunate because it really was like one person because everyone else was pretty amazing and obviously my radio people were amazing, which is why I stayed on as long as I did because I loved doing what I did and I loved being with them. But at some point as a freelancer, you make a decision on where to put your energy so you got to move on. But my memories there will always be incredible. And you won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Sports Host at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022.

I did. It's amazing that I became the first woman to win a Canadian Screen Award for sports hosts, which blew me away that no other woman had won it. I've won it three times. So my husband has his MLS ring. You are trailblazing. Yeah, the MLS ring kind of got put to the side. My three CSAs are in the middle of the three.

So you got three of them. Okay, I shouted at one, but you got three of these bad boys. Yeah, I got three of them. And this is part of like women supporting women. I was so happy when Kate Burness got hers. I think it was last year now, or two years ago now, sorry, she got hers. And I just went, finally, because as a woman, I'm not, I'm not going to, like, lie to anybody. My ego loves that I'm the first.

My ego loves that I'm the only one that has three, and I'm the only one who won back to back. Right. But what are we doing if we're not opening doors for other people? And it got to the point where I felt lonely. What I'm doing needs to bring other people along or what the hell is the actual point and when she won it, I literally cried and I just was so happy because she deserved it

and it's like these are the floodgates I wanted to open. More women deserve this recognition. So we mentioned James Duffy wrote your, what's it called at the beginning? The forward. Forward. What's it called? What's that word? What's it? Fork?

Okay, forward. Yesterday, Hebsy was here. He's got a new book on sports media actually and I can't mention you're in it. But Adnan Verk wrote the foreword for his book. And I love Adnan. One of my good friends. Incredible human being.

Work with him every Monday on Prime Monday Night Hockey. Yeah, that's where, yeah. So you're on Prime doing that. I see you all the time on the TV on a lot of soccer coverage. A nice note came in on live. Toronto Mike.com from Mike who says, I've enjoyed Andy's football analysis. He means football like soccer.

Footy. He's right. He's right. He's right. Okay. I've enjoyed Andy's football analysis. since the gold TV days. Too often she was host

but knew more than whoever, whatever dude was sitting next to her. I just ordered the book and I'm looking forward to reading it. So we made a sale. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Gold TV. Now that is someone who's been watching soccer footy

for a long time. He went to Qatar for the World Cup. Like, this guy gets around. Nice. That's dedication. I love that. And by the way, Canadian fans travel well. Yeah.

Because Tobias Vaughan is there. You were amazing. Did I miss anything you wanted to share? No, my husband's texted me. Let's see if he's concerned about how long I've been. He's like, well, James was wrong. All I got was you good? Yeah, you know, good husband.

You never know. Although, you know, I sent you the list, or at least I sent the publisher, the list of all the people who have been in the basement. They're all... No, I've looked it up. It's all good. Okay, I let your husband to know everything's okay. You're bringing home a lasagna from Palma pasta.

Oh, he's going to love you now. Okay. Well, I hope to see him at TMLX-21. You'll get him on the mic to say hi. that's November 29th. I'm running out of song, so I'm going to burn through this. You ready? And that brings us to the end of our 18002nd show.

Go to TorontoMike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Much love to all who made this possible. That's retro festive, Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Nick Aini's Kindling, Recycle My Electronics.comi. Here's a fellow Italian lover, Gino Vanelli, in the background, doing black cars, okay? Sky Agency and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all Friday when my special guest is Rance, Mullinix.

Thank you, Andy. This was great. Thanks for having me. Loved every second.