Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Brian Williams: Toronto Mike'd #228

Episode Date: April 5, 2017

Mike chats with TSN's Brian Williams about his years at CBC, the 14 Olympic games he covered, the Punch-up in Piestany, calling Blue Jay games and the broadcasters he admired.

Hello everyone, it is time for Toronto Mike with me, Brian Williams, coast to coast and live from Mike's lavish basement studio where headroom is at a premium. And I tell you folks, the Great Lakes beer flows like the mighty Don River. Here's Toronto Mike. Hey Brian, did you call me? Did you see this beer down there? Stay up there, Grapes. I'll be up in an hour. He's Toronto Mike. Hey, Brian, did you call me? Did you say there's beer down there? Stay up there, Grapes. I'll be up in an hour. He's my ride. What up, Miami? Toronto.

VK on the beat. I'm in Toronto where you want to get the city love. I'm from Toronto where you want to get the city love. I'm in Toronto where you wanna get the city love. I'm from Toronto where you wanna get the city love. I'm a Toronto Mike, wanna get the city love producing fresh craft beer, and propertyinthesix.com, Toronto real estate done right. I'm Mike from torontomike.com, and joining me this week is Brian Williams. Welcome, Brian. Mike, it's good to be here. I'm not sure that was Don Landry when he used to be the morning man at the Fan 590 in Toronto.

He was pretty good at imitating me, but that's when I started. I used to talk like that. But listen, as Don Cherry says, if they're imitating you, you're doing something right. You're right. That was Don Landry. And thank you, Don, for putting that together for us. Don Landry, and thank you, Don, for putting that together for us. I got to say this. Don Landry and Gord Stelic were an outstanding team. They did just a super job in the mornings on the Fan 590, and I'm a Don Landry fan, and I've got to admit he's pretty good at it. He tells me a story.

Back in 1996, his first year hosting at the Fan, you phoned him during a commercial break just to encourage him and tell him he was doing a great job. And he said he hadn't even met you at the time. And he's heard many stories about you doing that for other young broadcasters. So good on you, Brian. That's great. When I was starting out, I'd contact people or try to contact people. They wouldn't get back to me, Mike. And I always vowed that if I was successful, and I'm not sure I am,

that I would take time to encourage people. His partner, Gord Stelik, one day did an interview, and I can't remember what it was, but I called him and I said, finally, you're a broadcaster. You're not cheering for a team. You're not a former general manager. You asked the right questions. You proved that in this case, sports journalism is not always an oxymoron. And so I've tried to do that. I just sent a young lady a note that was starting at TSN, and I was in makeup the other day doing pieces on the NHL saying they're not going to Korea. I believe they will. It's all about politics and money. I think you're going to see them in both Korea. I think I'm the only one

saying this, but I think they'll be in Korea and China. But she came up to me and she said, I'm the young woman that you sent the encouraging text or encouraging message to email. But listen, it doesn't hurt to help young broadcasters. We want to make this business better. When I started out and I, you know, I started at Chum in September of 1970. I'm a Canadian, but I'd come from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I went to university, and I worked on a university radio station, then worked for a rock station in Grand Rapids, and some of the jocks were Big Tom Rivers,

who came up to Toronto, became a great success. At Chum, and then CFTR, and then elsewhere, absolutely. Yeah, Tom long passed away, but I worked with some of those people in Michigan, but when I came to town, I always look back and think, you know, we can build this business. At that time, you looked at television, they were basically male, blonde, white, blue eyes, and probably Protestant. Today, thank God, the industry is based on talent. And I have three daughters, a wife and a female dog, and someone once said, you're enlightened. And I said, heck no, Mike.

I was dragged into it, kicking and screaming. That's great. That's great. Real quick, before we dive in, and we're going to talk about your years there at Chum. I have some questions about Chum and Grand Rapids, et cetera. Last week, Bob McKenzie was here, a colleague of yours at TSN. And we talked about what it's like for him to have the name. He owns the name Bob Mackenzie.

And all of a sudden, like overnight, there's Bob and Doug Mackenzie. Like all of a sudden, right? He shares his name with someone else. So I want to, right off the top, what's it like to be the Brian Williams? And then all of a sudden, there's another Brian Williams that's sort of famous. And what is it like when you have to share your name with another famous person? Well, Mike, it's interesting. You know, I worked with Jungle Jay Nelson.

His name was Frank Rohrabacher. In the old days, I mean, there was once, believe it or not, a jock when 680 CFTR was rocking and trying to get chum named Don Valley, I believe. That's great. So what I'm saying is they had these cool names, Jerry Morgan, Big Tom Rivers. And so I always used my real name, Brian Williams. And I believe once

at a small station out in Brampton, there was a Brian Williams. But then of course, I look at then MSNBC before he became a star at NBC and there's the other Brian Williams. And we finally had a chance to meet, and this is a funny story. Prior to the Vancouver Olympics, and I'm at CTV, and one of the producers came to me, the executives, and they said, we got a call from NBC Nightly News, one of Brian Williams' producers, and they said, could you have Brian or a member of his staff get in touch with us? And I said, staff? He's got staff?

And anyhow, we got in touch with NBC, and they did that great piece during the Vancouver Olympics. It went on the Today Show. I went to Aquinas College in Michigan. I was hearing from students, kids I went to university with, that are in California, southern Indiana, that heard CTV and looked up CTV. But we met on a Sunday morning. God, there were cameras everywhere. And, you know,

he opened our prime time show. I did a mock opening of NBC Nightly News. Good evening. And it was a lot of fun. He was a gentleman. He's very funny. He used to, you know, appear a lot on Saturday Night Live and some of these other shows. A year after Vancouver, I went to New York to NBC, and we're at the Rockefeller Center there. And we walked in, and the security guard, I said, hi, I'm here to see Brian Williams. He said, yeah, what's your name? I said, Brian Williams. He said, what are you, a smart African? I said, no, that's my name.

And we went up, and everywhere I went, people were. He said, what are you, a smart applicant? I said, no, that's my name. And we went up and everywhere I went, people were stopping saying, you're the other Brian Williams, because they'd seen the piece. We've got a great picture of the two of us sitting on the NBC nightly news desk. And Lester Holt, when Brian had knee surgery,

I think it was a couple of years ago, I got cards wishing me well. From a lady in Guelph, I'm sorry to got cards wishing me well. Oh, I did. From a lady in Guelph, I'm sorry to hear about your knee surgery. And then I tuned in to Lester, to Brian's last show before he was going off, and Lester Holt sat beside him, and Brian said, Lester Holt will join me or join you next week and take over. And Holt said, what's the matter?

Was the Brian Williams in Toronto busy? I was going to say, down there they can say you're the other Brian Williams. But up here, you're the original, the classic. He's the other Brian Williams. Well, I'm the older one. So I had it first. You had first dibs on that. That's funny. By the way, feel comfortable to drop the time throughout this episode if you want to tell me.

It's 12.07? By the way, right now it's about eight minutes after 12. That would make it just after nine in the morning if you're in Vancouver. And of course, if you're on the East Coast, it's after one o'clock. And if you're in Newfoundland, it's probably 20 to two.

But don't forget, we'll be live in prime time tonight. Do you ever get tired of people like me being smart asses and asking you for time checks? No, because listen, you never want, you got to be an original.

The great Ralph Mellenby, one of the originals at Hockey Night in Canada, Dave Hodge and I are very close friends. We were in each other's weddings. You know, Dave is one of the great journalists

that ever worked in our business. A lot of newspaper people can go on television, but not many television people could write a column, and Dave Hodge could write a column. Full of integrity, too. Yeah, full of integrity, but where were we going there?

If you're sick and tired of guys... Oh, yeah, time. Here's the time. So, Mellenby's tip to me was when I left CFRB to go to CBC in 1974, he said, be Brian Williams, don't be Dave Hodge, because there's only one Brian Williams and only one Dave Hodge.

So I always remembered that. And the air farce, God bless him, Roger Abbott's passed away from cancer. One night he came out, he goes, hello, I'm Brian Williams. And he pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and he had 10 watches. I said, do you know what time it is?

But the reason I started doing that, I can't remember. Because I love it. Okay, we're in Nagano, Japan. And it's say 2 o'clock or 1 o'clock in the afternoon. I don't know if it's 12 or 11 hours. But say it's coming up to 11 o'clock at night in Toronto. I'd say, all right, we take a break.

News coming up in Toronto. I know it's 11 on the East Coast, till 8 o'clock for you people on the West Coast. And then when I would welcome back viewers, I'd say, and on this Tuesday afternoon, I know it's Monday night back home, but it is just after 2 o'clock

on a Tuesday afternoon as we welcome you back to Nagano. Still to come, we've got the long track speed skating, men's downhill coming. We'll check at the Big Hat Arena, that big hockey game against the Czechs.

We'll check in with our crews there, and I go on like that. So it was just for a point of reference, because if you're sitting home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and it's 9.30 at night, and I'm coming on with bright sunshine and the sun glistening off the snow in Japan, it's a point of reference. And the other thing is that Canadian television, and this is not a knock on the United States,

I'm a big fan of colleagues and networks there, but we were live. Yes. And so if you're live, you've got, you know, let people know. People watch television for one reason. Do you know why? They can't be at the event. And I remember Denny Harvey,

former publisher, editor of the old Montreal Star, the Toronto Star, the Montreal Gazette. Denny ran CBC Sports and he ran the network. And he always said to us, you know, producers make these wonderful seven or eight minute openings. Don't do that. Take the person into the stadium first.

That's why Brent Musburger. And if you talk to Chris Berman, you talk to the Fox show, you talk to the CBS show, they all say Musburger started it with the NFL today. But they would come on at 1230. It was only a half hour show. And he'd have, there'd be about six games.

And you know his trademark, he'd say, you are looking live at Soldier Field in Chicago. It's 19 degrees and snow as we look live at New York. So he took you to the various places and then came on. So the time, Mike, was quite simply a point of reference and a way to bring the viewer into the show. I love it. So at any time you want to drop the time,

don't hesitate to do so. And by the way, you mentioned you think it's all politics and that the NHL players will be going to Korea. It's worth noting that you were scheduled for yesterday, but this news that dropped

about the NHL not going to Korea, you were basically, I saw you on CP24. I guess you were with Lisa Laflamme on CTV. You were national. I did BNN. I've never been on broadcast, the business news network. It's like when Gordie Howe died. I'm on the highway and I'm going out to Woodbine for a race I was doing. And I get a call from Mark Millier. Where are you? And I said, I'm on the 401 at Avenue Road. And TSNS. ends up in aging court on

the 401. He said, can you get here? Gordie Howes died. I said, what about the hockey crew? No, you knew Gordie. I mean, I knew Gordie well through Mort Greenberg, who was a cameraman at CBC when I worked there. He was great friends with Marty and Mark Howe. The first TV I ever did was the Memorial Cup in Montreal. I think it was 1973. The Marlies with Marty and Mark played the Quebec Ramparts with Andre Savard. Medicine Hat Tigers were also in the tournament, but not the game I did. They had Tom Lysiak, Lanny McDonald, I mean, the late Bob Gassoff.

But you go back and you remember where you were, what you're doing, and again, I keep coming back to when you're doing a television show, people are watching a sporting event because they can't be there, take them there. I guess my point there is that you are, in this country, you're Mr. Olympics, and we're going to dive deeper into this. Before you do, let me quickly interrupt for one point to finish that. So they asked me to come in about Gordie, how I knew Gordie. I'd seen him play in Detroit. I knew

him personally. It was also the same with Muhammad Ali, and this gets back to what happened this week with the NHL. I had the honor of introducing Ali at Sky Dome in Toronto and meeting him ahead of time in front of 50,000 people. I also went to Michigan at the University of Aquinas College in Michigan in the 60s. And I can remember being on the national news with Kevin Newman. And he said, Brian, is it easy to compare Ali to someone today? And I said, Kevin, in the 1960s, if you were young, black, political, and male, there was a chance you'd have a rope around your neck and be hanging from a tree. So you put things in perspective. So this is why they came to me to a long answer to your question,

but they, you know, I've done 14 Olympics. What's your perspective? And the reason I believe they will go is that Korea needed the NHL. The NHL needs China. And when you've got Gary Bettman already over there with Kobe Bryant and David Beckham, and you've got four Pacific Rim teams, you've got Vancouver, San Jose, Anaheim, L.A., L.A. and Vancouver are playing there. You know they want to go to Beijing. The players want to go. This is all about politics and money. I think I'm probably going to look like an idiot, but I think I'm the only person that said they're going to go to Korea.

the only person that said they're going to go to Korea. Ethics, integrity, and honesty are not words you use to describe the International Olympic Committee. Right, right, right. You know my stand on some of those clowns. And so I believe, and I'm not saying the NHL or, you know, I think you could be a big business dealing with big business. It's about politics and business. And for that reason, I'm pretty sure the NHL will be in Korea.

You'll play this again in a year from now. You'll laugh at me, but you've got to be honest and have your beliefs. I don't think I've heard that opinion elsewhere. I hope you're right, by the way. I love watching the best on best in the Olympics. And I don't care if it's, I don't know, a 5 a.m. puck drop. That's part of the, once every four years,

you know, you get up really early for a hockey game and I'm okay with that. You mentioned Muhammad Ali. A surprise for you later is I have a clip of Muhammad Ali

talking to somebody that was a great influence in your journalistic career. First, a little housekeeping here. I urge everyone listening to go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike and help crowdfund this project.

Give what you can. A dollar a month is suffice, whatever you want. If you want an easy way to that page, just go to my website, torontomike.com, and click the big orange button that says Become a Patron and take it from there. Brian, in front of you, there is some beer that is courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery,

local craft brewery. Thank you. And they want you to take that home and enjoy that. Great. A new addition. You're the first one to receive this. It's a cup from Brian, propertyinthesix.com. He is a Toronto real estate agent.

God, I thought it was Donald Trump. If you lay the picture to the side. Oh, he's not going to want to hear that. I don't think that's a compliment, Brian. Brian, I'm just kidding. No, not Brian. Don't worry. I'll cut that out.

Don't worry. No, I won't cut it. No, you won't leave it in. Nothing gets cut. Nothing gets cut. So if you go to propertyinthesix.com, contact Brian. Tell him Toronto Mike sent you.

He's a good guy, great agent, and I urge you to chat with him before you buy or sell in this white-hot market. And tell him I was not comparing him to Trump. I was saying he was Trump. I said when I quickly glanced at it with that great hair and he's a good-looking guy, I thought, is that Trump? And, you know, when you associate property, you think of Trump. You know, he's got lots of properties. So I understand that completely. I associate other things with Trump when I think of him, but we're not going there. We won't go there because that's a whole different episode. And I'll just get so frustrated and angry, my blood will boil.

Brian, by the way, is a real estate sales representative with PSR Brokerage. So, Brian, you're Canadian, but you mentioned you started your career in Michigan. So tell me, I hear you called basketball for your college in Grand Rapids. Tell me about those beginnings. I was born in Winnipeg, went to grades 1 to 5 in the mountains of B.C., 6 and 7 in Connecticut, 8 in Edmonton, high school in Hamilton, University at Aquinas College. While in New Haven, Connecticut, my dad was at Yale University. He's a doctor. He's still alive, retired. He's 102. Wow, good for him. I got

listening to New York radio. New Haven's only an hour from New York. Mel Allen, the Yankees. I can remember the call on Don Larson's game, and I got really interested in broadcasting in Edmonton. Don Chevrier was starting out, and he encouraged me. And so they had a campus radio station, WXTO, the center aisle on your FM dial. And I used to do play-by-play of Aquinas basketball, and we'd travel in three Plymouth station wagons up to Lake Superior State and Sault Ste. Marie, down to Hillsdale, over to Wisconsin in the snowstorms. And I had my little remotes that I plugged into the telephone lines in my tape recorder, and I did play-by-play basketball.

You mentioned Mel Allen. I grew up watching This Week in Baseball. That was my weekly baseball. That's what we didn't have, you know, the 24-hour sports day. That was a big deal, and his big catchphrase was, I believe it was, how about that? Was that the Mel Allen? And he used to say, brought to you by Rheingold. Rheingold, the best in beer for New York City. That's great. I love that voice too. So you mentioned Muhammad Ali at the very beginning. And I happen to know one of your mentors or people that you looked up to in your broadcasting is Howard Cosell. Is that right?

mentor or people that you looked up to in your broadcasting is Howard Cosell. Is that right? Howard Cosell was, is, and always will be an idol of mine. I had the honour of introducing him in Toronto. One of my prized pictures is Howard and myself sitting together holding up a sports illustrated issue with Howard on the cover. But it was in Montreal in 1976 at the Olympics. Don Chevrier passed away, did Monday night baseball with Cosell and Jim Palmer. He did boxing for ABC. So ABC is doing the Olympics. It's an off day. Don says, do you want to go to the Maurice Richard Arena? Cosell's going to be there. I said, oh God, what a thrill. So we go over the Maurice Richard Arena. I was doing weightlifting. It was an off day at the San Michel Arena. Boxing was at the Maurice Richard. My wife always says, you can't remember the girls' names, but you can remember more things in sports. Anyhow, we go in, and there's Howard, and I believe Ethel Kennedy.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it was Bobby Kennedy's widow. The governor of New York, New York State Troopers. Howard's a big entourage, and Don, will you do my radio show to New York? And Chevy says, is there a script? And Howard said, no. He says, oh, Don, you don't need a show to New York? And Chevy says, is there a script? And Howard said, no. He says, oh, Don, you don't need a script. I'll show you. Puts the headsets on.

We're up in the broadcast section. The girl turns on the mic. Hello again, everyone. Howard Cosell speaking of sports for Budweiser, Montreal, Canada. I've just watched Boxing History. I will elaborate on Sugar Ray Leonard after this. So he does the show five minutes exactly. Puts down the stopwatch,

says, that's how you do it. So as we're leaving the arena, he says, you're a young man. You want a future in this business? And if I ever write a book, this is the title. He said, I'm going to give you some advice. And I said, what is it? He said, the best ad libs are rehearsed. He had rehearsed that. He had prepared. I said, you mean you put that together? He said, what do you think? That stuff just appears in your head. He says, young man, you prepare, you study, and the best ad libs are rehearsed. Never forgot that. Let me play a little bit.

Pause for a moment here. Let's listen to Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell. Doing anything differently up to the time you hit him from the first fight. Well, Howard Cosell, what he was doing was... This fella making all this noise is Howard Cosell. What he was doing, Howard... Good luck. I hope it's not an act. I hope you mean it. If it's an act, just look at my record and see.

Have the other fights been acts? Have they been acts? Not so far. Well, what makes you think I'm acting? And with that final stage of the act... This is unexpected. I didn't know you would invite me to do this. Hold it.

You must be on boxing position and just have a little dance like you're boxing and just for one second, I have to time it, and for one second, like that, see? Whom would you like to fight and where and when? I'd like to fight whoever you think's the best, the number one man.

I'd say he's Zor Foley. I'm not sure that there's anybody left, really, for you to fight. You. I could, you know, Brian, I could do this all day. I got lots of Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell. But, yeah, you know, I just caught the tail end of his career. Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell. But yeah, you know, I just caught the tail end of his career.

But gosh, just hearing him and that delivery and that cadence, just amazing. I'm a child of the 60s. And when he said, I ain't got nothing against no Viet Cong and refused to go to Vietnam, I mentioned I have a picture of Howard. I have a picture of Muhammad and I sitting together shaking hands. It's the prize, the two of them. And the reason I respected Howard for being a journalist, you know, he was critical of former athletes just because they were an athlete that could be a broadcaster.

And someone once said to him, you know, you never played football. How can you be so critical on Monday Night Football? You know what his answer was? Tell me. If you have a heart attack, are you going to a victim or a doctor? He had the answers. But here's why I respect it, Cosell. Howard Cosell was Jewish, so he understood bigotry and racism. When Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay, changed his name to Muhammad Ali, a lot of top writers refused to call him that. They kept calling him Cassius Clay. It was Howard Cosell that stood up and had the integrity to do that. And when I took a stand in London in 2012 against the International Olympic Committee,

my dad always said the hottest places in hell are reserved for those whom crisis remain neutral. It's the 40th anniversary of the slaughter of the Israeli athletes, and they're not going to do anything. And I had the backing of the executives at Bell. I have great respect for them. They said, just make sure you don't libel people and make sure you're not strident. But, you know, I thought of Howard Cosell when Israel came out.

I'm not Jewish. I'm Catholic. But it's wrong. It would have been wrong if they were refusing to honor Muslims, Hindus, Protestants. It'm not Jewish. I'm Catholic. But it's wrong. It would have been wrong if they were refusing to honor Muslims, Hindus, Protestants. It doesn't matter. But when they came out, I said, you know, on the 40th anniversary of the slaughter of the innocent coaches and Israelis, I find it shameful. There's not a minute's silence. We had one for a loser in Vancouver, as we should have, that was killed. But I said, you know, what disgusts me the most is the president of the International Olympic Committee,

Jacques Rogue, saying we can't do it because it's political. And I paused and I said, I got news for you. You walk behind flags and play national anthems, it's all damn things. That's correct. So it was Howard Cosell and Muhammad Ali were and still are heroes to my generation that attended university and grew up in the 60s.

Tell me about CFRB. Is that your first foray into mainstream media? No, CHUM. CHUM. So you were at CHUM before CFRB? I joined CHUM. I graduated. I taught school for one year, political science.

I'm a poli-sci major. That's what I told Business News Network about the NHL and not going to Korea. I said, I know it's politics. I'm a poli-sci major. They got a kick out of it. But no, I don't know how to explain it, but I went to Aquinas and decided, you know, I wanted to be in broadcasting, and that's where it all started. So at CHUM, I've had, for example, I've had... That's prior to CHUM. So that's prior to CHUM. And then coming to CHUM, I was leading into coming here in September of 1970.

I taught school for one year to legally beat the draft. My family was living there. We had to register there, my parents, my brothers and sisters. So if you were a teacher and I taught school, then I went to the draft board. It was the Vietnam War era. And I said, I'm going back to Canada. They said, great. Do you volunteer?

Do you register? And I went to CKLW. No, I didn't go to CKLW. It was the big 50,000 water. I went to Chatham. They turned me down. I went to London. I went to Guelph.

Finally, I came to Chum because Johnny Mitchell was a disc jockey that I'd worked with with Tom Rivers and Big Tom was there. I'd never met the legendary Dick Smythe. And so I go in and I have a tape and I play it for Dick and I'm nervous. And he says, take this newspaper. I said, yes, sir. He said, rewrite these three stories. We're going to record them.

And I said, why? He said, Dick was smart. Audition tapes are easy to manufacture. I want to hear you do something. He says, so I do it. And he says, will you work for this amount of money? And I said, sure. I assumed it was Barry. They own CKBBM Barry at the time. He says, no, you're doing the six o'clock news here tonight. You'll work overnights, two nights a week. Roger Ashby did the overnight show. We're now working together at Bell.

Hodge and I work together at the CFRB. We're all together at Bell Media. But I worked those two overnights, but Dick Smythe used to say to me, I'll never forget. He says, I sent Williams today to cover City Hall, and I told that son of a B, if he comes back with another sports angle, I'm going to kill him because I always wanted to do sports. And the sportsman was always a step away out of the door

or a step away from the door, it seemed, on a big rock station. Although he had a great news department and Smythe was great. But I got the offer from Bill Stevenson and Dave and I worked for Bill. I was the third man on the totem pole. And I remember telling Bob McCowan on the 20th anniversary of,

I was his first ever guest on Primetime Sports with Wayne Parrish and Bill Waters, and TSN, to their credit, allowed me to go on the anniversary show, and Sportsnet allowed me to come on. And I was telling them, you know, you've got TSN, you've got Sportsnet, you've got the fan, you've got everything. With, you know, you've got TSN, you've got Sportsnet, you've got the fan, you've got everything. With, you know, 30, 40 announcers, we had three. That was a big deal in this country. Three sportscasters at a radio station.

So I was a chum from 70 to 73. Then I went to RB for one year. Met my wife, Geraldine, who was a switchboard operator. Went to CBC in 74 and stayed there until 2006 when I went to CTVTSN. So CFRB, that's with Bill Stevenson and Dave Hodge. Wow. I mean, Dave Hodge had been on the show, but what was that like working with the trio of you guys? It was intimidating going to RB because a younger

generation wouldn't understand this, but CFRB and Wally Crutter had more listeners at eight o'clock than every radio station in South, forget Toronto, Southern Ontario combined. I mean, they were massive. And Jack Dennett, who worked for Hockey Night in Canada, did the eight o'clock news. So Stevenson did sports at five to eight in the morning and only Hodge was allowed to fill in. I mean, I'm the rookie and Hodge was as good as Bill. I mean, two of them are the best. And so I had to fill in one morning. So I'm sitting there, it's about six minutes to eight and I'm looking at my script and a little nervous. I'm shaking a bit like this. Jack Dennett opens the door. He said, good morning. I'm Jack Dennett. I said, yes, sir. He said, I have the biggest audience

in North America. I have some advice for you. Don't screw it up. Only he didn't use the word screw. And I went on there, good morning. But those were great times. It was Bill that taught me. One night I did a report from an Argo game, and I said two things. He said, we were behind, and I think. He said, number one, you never, ever say we. And I've never said it. Jim Hunt, these were my mentors, Shakey Hunt. And the other thing is, he says, you don't think it was a bad game. It either was or it wasn't. You know. And I learned those principles. Dave Hodge was doing the Argonauts and ripping them to pieces, not unfairly, but he was honest. And Hodge today, you know, people say, you and Hodge, well, it's no accident that we are critical when need be. Being a journalist doesn't mean being negative. It means having some integrity. And Bill Stevenson taught us that. It was a great year. I met Geraldine. I was married

in August of 74. Dave was in my wedding. Dave and Sharon were married in September of 74, a few weeks later, and I was in Dave's wedding. That's fantastic. By the way, I don't mean to put you on the spot here. Is there any chance you happened to catch any of the Dave Hodge interview that I had? No, I did not. But he told me where I can get it. And I talked to Dave because I said, look, I have heard it. He sounds good. Is he great?

And Dave said, no. He said, let me tell you something. It's enjoyable. He's a professional and he's prepared. I didn't call anyone else. I just needed to know. When you get an anonymous, and I'd heard, I know who you are, but I wanted to make sure. You've got to vet it. And I only needed to hear. When you get an anonymous, and I'd heard, I know who you are, but I wanted to make sure.

You've got to vet it. I only needed to hear from Dave. He had nothing but compliments about your research, your preparation, and he loved the beer. It's funny, I saw a tweet from Strombo, George Strombolopoulos, and he's like, it said something to the effect of, Dave Hodge

is at my home and we're talking music. It's funny, I read it. And then you could do the subtweet thing. And I said, this is going to be awesome. But he came to my house first to talk music. So I've had Dave Hodge at my house to talk music. Well, people, I know that.

Then you know Dave because he's been down to Austin, to South by Southwest. Unbelievable. Dave introduces obscure, not obscure, but new, unknown. He'll go to music concerts at bars all over southern Ontario, and he's asked to come up on stage and speak. Dave, myself, and our friend Sandy Botso are close friends with Gordon Lightfoot. We have lunches or had a lunch. I couldn't make it, but Dave will have Gordon down in wine country this summer

to interview him, and there's a group called Gretzky that's going to... Oh, Dwayne Gretzky. Yeah, that's going to play. And no, Dave knows his music. I love country music. I grew up in, as I say, until I was 11 in Western Canada,

and I thought, you know, later in life, I thought Merle Haggard was classical music. But Hodge kids me all the time. But I say, well, at least Austin is home to Willie Nelson, so don't give me that kind of crap. They have, there's this thing where you can, you know, what is the number one song on the Billboard 100 the day you were born or the week you were born?

My answer is Gordon Lightfoot. Sundown was number one the week I was born. So there's my Gordon Lightfoot fun fact. Okay, so you're at the CBC in 74. Coincidentally, the year Gordon Lightfoot had the number one hit with Sundown. That's the year you were born? Yeah, 74. See, I do listen. I wanted to see if you were paying attention. You were at the Summit Series, though, in

72? Uh, 19, you were at the Summit Series though in 72? I was doing, I was doing news, but wanted to do sports. And, uh, so when, uh, the Summit Series came about, I had the petition to get Bobby Hull on the team. I've still got the picture from the Toronto Sun people signing it because he was with the WHA. Right. But I can remember going over, we flew Toronto, Copenhagen, Moscow. Jim and Carolyn Hunt, Foster Hewitt and his wife, Dick Beddows. We were dear fives.

They put us in groups. They were wolf sixes. We were dear fives. And my roommate was Dick Beddows. Wow. And the Ukraina Hotel. Now, I'd been to Moscow in 1967 as a student at Aquinas. A poli-sci major, I mentioned.

So a group of us with Professor Clark went to London, to Copenhagen, to Stockholm, to Moscow, to East Berlin by plane, then through Checkpoint Charlie to West Berlin, Paris, and home. We had to write a 50- or 60-page term paper. Wow, that's a pretty trip. Yeah, we had to write a paper on comparative government.

So, you know, I had been to Moscow. So we head over, and I knew the Ukraine Hotel. It's one of what they call the Five Sisters. Great pieces of architecture back to the days of Stalin. Oh, God, I remember being in that arena. I remember the da-da Canada, nyet-nyet Soviet. I remember Eagleson going out on the ice. Pulling up his pants.

I get sick because when we got there, it was like plus 33, maybe 95 Fahrenheit. Then it snowed a few days later. Wow. And I can remember getting really sick and this big babushka lady sat near the elevator and she came in and rubbed something on my chest. I thought she was going to kill me. But we ate ice cream and drank champagne. Those were the two best things to eat and drink.

But one day, Mark Mulvoy, who was the editor of Sports Illustrated, Jim Hunt and myself were on the subway, and Hunt goes, hang on. You know that voice he had. Yeah, shaky, yeah. Shaky says, look at this. And he goes to the kid and he goes, Monopoly, Monopoly. And the kid looks at him and he says, yeah, idiot, goes monopoly monopoly and the kid looks at him he

says yeah idiot monopoly the u.s embassy's up above i'm from new york city but and and when the when the the the uh the game ended uh the final game uh hunt the police said and yet and hunt just knocked went broke they had their hands, and he just broke through the line to get, and I followed him. I thought, we're ending up in Siberia for sure. But I remember rooming with Bedos. He took me to a racetrack, and we're on the train or the subway, and he's got green pants, orange socks, something like that, how he dressed, and he's holding a news conference. There's 15 Russians or Soviets, and Dick, they don't speak English. He doesn't speak Russian.

And yep, yep, Dick Meadows, yeah, Bobby Hall couldn't come. And we get to the track, and it's Troika racing like Ben-Hur. And he says, look at this. He called me Rooms. He said, Rooms, look at this. See the people just like in Woodbine. They got their programs out and theirding. It was a wonderful experience. Wow. I watched this documentary series called the Summit on Ice. It was called Summit on Ice. And then it's funny because you mentioned

Alan Eagleson. There's two versions of this, okay? There's the version I recorded to VHS in the 80s, which had a lot of Alan Eagleson, and there's a lot of him on it and pulling up his pants. And then there's the newer version where they edit out so much of the Alan Eagleson is gone. And it's just because of the controversy.

I don't remember the pulling up of the pants. A neighbor of mine is Frank Mohavlich, and a dear friend. I'm not dropping names. Frank and I golf together. We shovel each other's driveway sometimes. But Frank was there and we've often talked about it.

I mentioned my first TV was the Memorial Cup. That's actually right around the same time, the year after 72. Channel 3 Barry redid the eight games and I hosted with Paul Henderson. And Paul and I would discuss and look back. I'd say, all right, what were you thinking as you went? Because he had not just one winning goal. He scored the winning goal in two or three games in Russia. And, you know, it was a different time. I've always said, Mike, people say, what was it like here?

What was it like there? The Olympics and major sporting events, such as the Summit Series, reflect the world as it existed at the time. You know, before 72 in Munich, this is why I was so appalled when they didn't honor the slain athletes on the 40th anniversary. Because after Munich, whether you're bankers, athletes, titans of industry, security became the story. And, you know, you look at the world as it exists, whether it's breaking apartheid at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, you know, South Africa's back. And so 72 was a very different time.

Wow. And so you joined the CBC in 74 and you do a lot of things. I mean, like you said, you were there a very long time. This is where people like me get to know you at the CBC. I'm going to talk about the Olympics shortly, but first, I guess it sounds like you were doing, covering the CFL, Formula One, horse racing. I'm going to get, what's interesting to me is, of course, you're the announcer for the Blue Jays coverage in 93 to 2002.

Can you please, I have a question from Twitter from a Rob J. Please ask Brian Williams his thoughts on his time working with John Cerruti calling Blue Jay games. John Cerruti was one of the most decent human beings I've ever known. I keep in touch with his wife, Claudia, his son and two daughters. Not with the son and two daughters, but through Claudia. John was just, he was so decent and so respected. He was a scratch golfer that came within a stroke of making the U.S. Open.

Wow. And we'd go into Baltimore, and we'd go to Kansas City, the phone rings. Brian Williams, yes, George Brett. I'd say, really? Well, yeah. Do you know where Cerruti is? We have an off day tomorrow. Can we play golf? I'd say, really? Well, yeah. Do you know where Cerruti is? We have an off day tomorrow.

Can we play golf? I used to get that from him. Amazing. John would go with the rookies to the White House. They would take rookies to the White House, explain drugs and so on. John was just a very special person to work with. I will never forget, before Athens, I was afraid of terrorism, before the 2004 games being so close to the Middle East. And Geraldine and I took John to dinner. I was no longer working

with him. He was now working for Rogers. And he said, don't worry, everything will be fine. And I went and it was fine. And one Sunday afternoon, I get a call and it's Dave Perkins, one of the great writers. And Perkins says, are you sitting down? I said, and it's Dave Perkins, one of the great writers. And Perkins says, are you sitting down? I said, what's wrong? He says, Sir Rudy is dead. I said, what? He said, Beeston wanted you to know.

We still have regular lunches. Perkins, Beeston, myself, Danny Loisel, the track announcer at Woodbine, the former great Hall of Famer. But I said, what happened? And he said he passed away in his sleep. He had his group very devout to Catholic. And John was just, I went to mass with John. I'm a Catholic convert, the worst kind. I once said to one of my daughters, let's get up and go to mass.

It's Sunday. They said, Dad, be quiet. Unlike you, we were born Catholic. But John and I have been to mass in Texas on Good Friday when we were doing early games, Cleveland. I can remember we went to his funeral in Albany, New York, and we went on a private jet. The Blue Jays had it. And Don Pepin, who produced CBC myself, just people that knew him well, Beeston. And I can remember it was a big family, and his sister got up, and the first thing she said was,

Dear, dear John. And it was a special time, and he was a very special friend. That 2004, I believe, 2004 Blue Jays season, I wrote about it once as the season from hell, because forget how horrible it was on the field, because it was the worst season I can remember ever on the field. But that year, Tom Cheek had to end his streak, and then shortly thereafter was diagnosed with his

malignant tumor. And then John Cerruti suddenly passing away in his hotel room. I think that was the last day after the last game. It was the weekend. I believe it was the day of the last game. John's dad had come up from Albany, and they'd played golf on Saturday. And John was late for the production meeting

at Sportsnet. And I can remember Perkins saying, anyone else, they'd probably figure a blonde and a bottle of scotch, but not John Cerruti, a decent human being. And they found him. And the Cheekster was, Tom was great because he wasn't a cheerleader. He was paid by the Blue Jays, but if it was a bad

game, he told you it was. And Tom loved to play golf with Cerruti in Florida. And Cerruti's this zero handicap club champion. I'll never forget. One day there's myself, Cerruti, Cheek, and Cerruti's dad. And Cerruti's dad goes up to the forward tees. And Cheek says, where is he going? And we said, he's a senior. Cheek said, I'll be a senior soon. So he started. And to play golf with Cheek, he was so wonderful. He'd say, over there on the side, there's an alligator.

Now the alligator will move. And he did play-by-play all the way around. But it was a season to remember. But I did a lot of sports there. I started doing local. I did 6 o'clock Monday to Friday. And Thursday and Friday I would do also the 1120. The national news at the time was only 20 minutes long.

And that's where I became dear friends with the great Lloyd Robertson. On Thursdays and Fridays we would go to a little restaurant called The Studio on Church Street. Here's this icon. He was so kind to me, and when I got to work with him at the opening ceremony in Vancouver at one of the highlights of my life. But I did the local. I did the 76 Olympics in Montreal. God, what did I do? Formula One with Jackie Stewart, IndyCars with Bobby Yuen, sir. I've introduced curling. I've done play-by-play skiing. Ken Reed and I actually traveled much of Europe. We were over there, not doing them from here. I hosted one time for CBC, a hockey night in Canada,

at Christmas from Los Angeles. I did the World Juniors, including the famous punch-up. Okay, maybe this is a good time. I know I'm going to jump on this one because I have a clip. 1987, and let me tell me if I get this right. Piestany. Piestany. Piestany. Yes. And then Czechoslovakia. The country was not the Czech Republic. Right. The Czechoslovakia. We call it maybe the punch-up in Piestany. You got it. So let's start. Maybe I'll start by playing a clip of Don Cherry and yourself. I believe this is right after they announced that both...

You know what? Do you mind setting the table before I play this clip? Yeah. I get a call from Don's late wife, Rose, and Ron McLean and I had the honour of doing the eulogies at her funeral. Rose called in December and said, Will you talk to Don? CBC wants him to host the World Juniors,

and they want him to do it with you. You'll do it from Toronto. The late, great Don Whitman and Sherry Basson and Fred Walker will be in Piashtani. Whitman's like Chevrier. Today we have specialists. These guys did hockey, curling, baseball, football. Anyhow, you know, it's Canada, Russia.

It's a Sunday afternoon. It was cold all across the country. Audience in the millions. And, of course, this fight broke out, and Don had waited all his life to see a Canadian kill a Soviet or a Russian. Right, right, right. And they turned out the lights in the arena. And I can remember saying, that's a terrible thing.

And I wouldn't say it went downhill, but it was pretty riveting television after that. So there was a lot of audio here, so I tried to grab. Here's one minute. Let's just listen to Don Cherry and Brian Williams for a minute here. Canadian kids will not take what comes up. We've been

brought up, not what give us, and we come out in the short end. Did I not say that? Everybody was talking. The game was going. It's a matter of coming out in the short end. Both teams should be thrown out of the game. I'm not talking about that. Whose fault is it? I'm getting here black, Mark, because you know Canada will get blamed for this. Canada will get blamed for it.

The Russians won't get blamed. You know that. It's coming up here. There's no question that both teams should be blamed for this incident. Regardless of who started it, John, there's no justification. I'm going to shock people out there. I'm going to shock people out there, and I'm going to say it because I want to say it. They ask me on here, I'm going to say it.

If I had a big coach in there, and Bert's going to take a lot of heat from this. Bert Templeton's going to take a lot of heat. He never had them under control. I will say this. If he hadn't sent his players over there when 19 Russians were out there, then he wouldn't have been a man. Now, he's going to feel bad. He lost the medal and the whole thing like that.

But I'd like to ask him, when we're having a pop in a week, if he would have felt better keeping his team on the bench and watching the Russians beat up the five. No way. So we didn't get the medal, but at least we stood up for it. Both teams have been disqualified, and that is, as it should be, a disgraceful incident. There's no justifying it.

I don't care who went over the boards first. It appears the Soviets did. I'm not blaming the Canadians. Both teams are wrong. Both teams have been disqualified, and they should be disqualified. We talk about the feelings of these young men. These young men had better learn and learn quickly. You don't go through life conducting Pier 4 brawls.

Stay with us. Sports Weekend will continue right after this. So that's over. That's over and the producer, the late Bob Moyer, says, Don, you went too far. And Sherry says, we'll see who went too far. But what happened

was I had to go to San Diego to speak to the NCAA convention the next day, I believe, for the CFL about Canadian football. I wanted to jump out over Kansas. I mean, you know, I'm now public enemy number one. My kids are in school.

The principal wants to know if their dad was born in Moscow. And so, you know, Don and I left, and I said, Grapes, I love you, but I think you went too far. I've worked with Don longer than anyone. You know, we just finished our 33rd year in radio. It wraps up Friday. Right. And so, you know, I drive home and I'm worried and upset.

So I phone Don from San Diego and Rose answers. And I can hear her say, Don, it's Brian. You know how sensitive he is. And he goes, hello, comrade. And then a couple of weeks later, he had to appear at the Streetsville Lions dinner at the arena up north of Mississauga, part of Mississauga. And he said, I'll see you there. I said, I'm not going in public with you for the rest of my life. And I realized he was doing it for free as a favor to me and my friend, John Dunn. So we went. I'm sitting in the

audience and Don gets up to a thundering standing ovation. He says, it's good to see Brian Williams here tonight. And the applause was about like that one person. He said, I knew Brian was here because his Lada was parked next to the front door. And then he says, Brian, no, he says, we shouldn't make fun of Brian. He's the only celebrity that paid to get in here tonight. He says, by the way, what's the RuPaul trading at? Look, we both had strong opinions, but I'll tell you what. Don has always respected me for standing up. I heard from other broadcasters who said, man, I respect what you did, but I never would have done it. I never thought there would be the outpouring there was, the reaction there was.

I just thought, you know, you don't carve your initials in someone else's forehead and you don't turn out the lights in an arena. But it, you know, it taught me, I always believe that I'm not a show for a brewery, ownership of teams, and you have to say what you believe. You can't always think it may not please people. And Don is I are very close friends, and I have tremendous respect for Don. I don't always agree with him, but you know why I respect him? Because he's got the guts to say what he really thinks, as you heard it there. You know, Don will affect. And Don doesn't go after small people.

He goes after the president of the team, the captains. And you know what he says? If he's got something to say to you, he says it to your face. So it's an incident we both look back at and smile at, and I can laugh at it now, but I'll tell you, I was not laughing back then. Did he, I couldn't find this clip, but did he threaten to choke you or something like that?

No, I can't. I can't remember. I think he said something about if you say that one more time. I can't remember. That would be exagger something about if you say that one more time. I can't remember. That would be exaggerating. But it was riveting television. And, you know, people, you've got to understand, too, that in a lot of cities, the sportscasters were the PR guys for the teams.

Oh, I know. That country had not seen this before. But it was vintage Don. And although I disagreed with him on certain aspects, I respected him for his opinion. And believe me, this was not staged. Some people said, we were just reacting. And you could tell.

I mean, I listened to the 12 minutes or whatever straight the other day, and you can tell this is a natural convo. Well, now you mentioned, of course, Grapeline. Grapeline. So actually, I have a... Don Landry, by the Well, now you mentioned, of course, Grape Line. Grape Line. So actually, I have a... Don Landry, by the way, used to do lots of... Oh, he introduced us in the morning. He had more fun with me.

But I got to set the stage. Pryor Smith is a legendary newsman from CFRB. He does Canada Calling to 20 or 30 stations in Florida, Daily Canadian Show, Texas, Arizona, California, and for snowbirds. And back, it was after the LA Olympics, I think in 84, he came to us and said to me and said, look, would you like to do a daily radio show with Don Cherry? I said, I don't know Don Cherry.

He says, well, he knows you and wants to work with you. So we met, and they had this check from Bridgestone, a tire company who Don did commercials for that knocked people's eyeballs out. And I can remember we then, like a dog and pony show, went to ad agencies trying to sell commercials for the show. Don said, do you think I've got enough stories to last until Christmas? You know, 33 years later, he's the most amazing storyteller with the most amazing memory.

He is as funny as the day is long, and the show is the longest-running, most successfully syndicated radio sports show in Canadian history. The three of us own it on a handshake. We don't sign with each other. Don, Pryor, and myself, we have a great, we've had directors over the years. We have Brett at the fan, and it just, I never thought it would go 33 years. I said to Don the other day, I said, I'm 70. Do you realize since I've been 37, for 33 years, I've spent Sunday mornings taping radio shows. He said, well, I was only 50 when we started.

No, it's amazing. The longevity is amazing, but you're right. And I would listen sometimes on the fan. And I'm always amazed that, yes, Don Cherry does not run out of stories, and they're all interesting, and he has this memory. It's different than Coach's Corner. This was the original premise.

I mean, Dave was there then, and Ron came. I said, look, this can't be, and Pryor, who's brilliant, he said, this isn't Coach's Corner. On Coach's Corner, Don has to often react to what happened in the first period or at the end of the game when he comes on. But this is different. He can talk about various subjects.

You know, I remember the day about, I don't know what happened. We were talking about something in Denver. And he said, by the way, after the bar or after the game, we went to a bar. Have you ever seen blood and beer? And I said, what? He said, well, you're a sweetheart. You wouldn't have seen that. But I'll tell you what Blood does

when it drops into beer. We did a whole show on it. So he is an amazing storyteller. Kevin in Alberta wants to know, in what span of time are the segments of Grape Line recorded? Are they all in one take? So how is it, like five episodes at once?

Yeah, we go in Sunday mornings. But this week, I went back down, had to re-intro one show because we were guessing whether or not they would go, and then when Gary Bettman pulled the plug. Right. No, we go down, Pryor's in, and Brett at the fan in Toronto,

and we record five at a time. We have recorded as many as probably 10 or 12 when Olympics are on, and we've done them. I've done them from the Olympics being in Vancouver. He would be here. Uh, I've done them from France. Um, uh, I've done World Cup. I've done them from Austria. I've done them from Japan. Um, he's done them from Sochi, uh, at the Sochi Olympics. Uh, uh, Pryor, uh, makes it happen. We, you know, it takes, it doesn't take that long to do the shows.

It's the storytelling before and after and the laughter that keeps us there. I got to record that. That's the good stuff. Toronto Brent wants me to ask you if you think all the stories Grapes tells on Grapeline are real. Yeah. Grapes doesn't make things up. They're real. I mean, he had an amazing, amazing life.

Or he's had an amazing life, has an amazing life, whatever you want. It's still very much in the present and will be for a long time, hopefully. But no, his stories are real. And he played with the characters in the American Hockey League, the Western. You know, he played out in Vancouver

in the Western Hockey League, the Western, you know, he played out in Vancouver in the Western Hockey League, the league with Seattle Totems, Guile Fielder, one of the best. I mean, he can talk about players that today would have been stars in the NHL. The buses, he did a show, we did a whole week on buses and you know how they kept the beer cold? They got pillowcases in the hotels and they got cans because they didn't bang like bottles and hung them out the windows i mean he's talking about buses he said when i'd fall asleep i could tell whether we were in new york or ohio or pennsylvania i said how he said well in new york they had cement expressways so we'd hear but once it got smooth i knew we were into ohio because it was astro i mean just the stories are great. That's amazing.

Now, let me play a clip. So my first Brian Williams exposure is the very first Olympics I watched. I watched the 1984 Olympics from Los Angeles, LA. And at the time, I had no understanding of boycotts or anything of this nature. So I distinctly remember, we did very well at these Olympics. 40 plus medals. Yeah. And I think...

40 plus medals. Yeah. And at the Icors, I assumed, well, Canada is this great all the time. But let me play a CBC promo for the 84 Olympics and then I want to dive into the Olympics with you. This is the CBC Television. This summer, the ultimate experience in sport.

The Olympic experience on CBC Television. This is CBC. There you go. So what was your first Olympic Games that you covered? 1976 in Montreal, I did weightlifting with Aldo Roy at the San Michel Arena. And tell me if I'm correct, but for CBC, you cover every Olympics through the 2006 Winter Olympics. No, there's a few I missed.

1980 was boycotted in Moscow. Remember the Americans, Canadians boycotted Moscow, the Soviets boyc of Los Angeles. Right. I did, I've done 14. I did 84 in LA, did 84 in Sarajevo, 88 I did in Seoul. That's the famous or infamous Ben Johnson. Right. I did 88 in Calgary.

We had an hour a night. CTV was the main rights holder, but we could really do, we did an hour for every time zone. So it was like covering the Olympics. I did 92 in Albertville, but CTV had Barcelona and Lillehammer. So I missed 92 Barcelona, 94, Lillehammer came back in 96 in Atlanta did 98 in Nagano, Japan

2000 in Sydney, 2002 in Salt Lake City, 2004 in Athens 2006 in Turin 2008 I did not go, I went to CTV, I did 10 in Vancouver and 12 in London Can you tell me a little bit about, so in 88,

so I mean, any Canadian old enough to remember, remembers the jarring, like the high of the new record. Was it 973? That's in my head somewhere. Yeah, roughly. No, 979, I think. Yes, it was 979. 979, yeah.

Because it was 983 in Rome and then 9-7-9. So, Olympic, yes, we all watched that race. I think Don Whitman had the call. Don Whitman and Jeff Gowan. When Don was dying of cancer, we had a day for him at the Winnipeg Stadium. John Shannon, I think, spoke on hockey. I spoke on the Olympics. Don Duguid on curling.

He did so many sports. And I said that in the history of English-speaking television, anywhere in the world, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Don Whitman and Jeff Gowan, the finest track and field announcing team in the history of track and field announcing. Don called it, you know, I said the games reflect the world as it exists. You've got to understand, in the winter games,

Canada is competitive in the glamour events. Hockey, figure skating, skiing. In the summer games, not always so. Now, the centerpiece, the two most competitive titles in the world are the world's fastest man, because it's objective, not subjective. Every country, no matter how poor, they can run. You know, not maybe competitively, but you can run.

Right. And the heavyweight champion of the world. You know, everybody boxes their fights. So, you know, the centerpiece, Percy Williams from Vancouver had won the 100 and 200 in Amsterdam. Ben, by the way, Harry Jerome, favored to win in Tokyo in 64 from Vancouver. There's a statue of Harry whenever you jog around Stanley Park.

Harry won a bronze in Tokyo. Ben won a bronze in L.A. People forget this in 1984. So now it's the showdown with Carl Lewis. Here's Canada. I mean, this, it's all anyone talked about, all anyone thought. The race was on a Friday night around 11.30 in Toronto. You want time? That makes it

830 in Vancouver. It makes it one o'clock in the morning out in Newfoundland. And it was Saturday afternoon, I believe, around 130 in Korea. And this is a great story. I will never forget. The buildup was intense. And we were going to go to the national news at 10 o'clock in Toronto and the race would come on at 1130. Remember, I mentioned Denny Harvey. He was head of the network, and I phoned him, and I said, Denny, NBC's not going to news. We got to stay with this.

We're live. No, you're not running the network, Williams. He said, can you give me a good reason to do it? And I said, sure. I went down the hall to CBC News. Their first three stories are from here, but they're on tape. We're live. He said, you convinced me. They dropped the news. The race, I mean, the 979, Dave Toms, a great researcher who worked with us,

you know, he said everybody's standing. He predicted 979. By the way, Dave Toms predicted the exact time before the race. Okay, because Ben holds up at the end. I remember him putting his hand up, his finger up. Yeah, he could have done faster. You know, I said, calm down. We're journalists. We have to, you know, we come back. So, you know, we talk, and it's a big deal,

and, you know, the race is over, and a couple of days later, I'm awakened in the middle of the night and told that Ben has tested positive. We're going to take you in, and to CBC's credit, to Arthur Smith and Bob Moyer, Arthur's now out in Hollywood as a top producer.

Bob passed away, unfortunately, recently. They decided to drop all commercials. We would not go to sports. This changed television sports. So I came on. I said, good morning from Korea. We dropped the day one brought to you by Labatt's, Molson's, Cadillac, Ford, whatever. Today, Daily Times.

You know know they list what happened we dropped that i just came out of what we call coming out of black local stations fade to black after the id and red deer toronto or newfoundland and talked about it there's been a positive drug test and we understand it's stanisolo and it's ben johnson i can remember caroline lethran the chef de mission coming in and she proved you don't hire, she was the first female. You don't hire male, you don't hire female. You hire the best, and she was outstanding. I had a writer from Winnipeg with me, and we were on the air.

I remember saying to Carol, who took the medal? I did. Where? The hotel. What had been said? I mean, it was riveting television. Yeah. And we were on for like four or five hours.

No commercials. And when I got off, I couldn't even lift my arms. The tension in my neck, and then I step outside the studio at the World Broadcast Center, and there's cameras from all over the world. Can you talk about your nation's shame? I had no idea until I called home. I knew it was big. But my wife said, Brian, this whole country is at a standstill.

She said, this makes 72 look small. Of course, it was a different era. You got more television. There's more access. And of course, it followed with the Dublin Inquiry, and we did the right thing. We, I say the country. I can say we because I am a Canadian.

I'm not saying I'm a member of a team. And exposed what went on. And Ben wasn't the only one. There is no question. He was not the only one. Um, uh, I know Ben, I respect Ben. Uh, he did something wrong, but he was not the only one. But my message is that if you and I drink here, we drink this six pack of Great Lakes beer and I get stopped going home and I say, hold it, Mike Boone, he would, you know what the cop says? I don't care. You're the one I caught. So if you do that, he paid a tremendous price and it was terrible for Ben. And I think it was sad for a couple of other reasons. Dave Steen,

who became a Windsor, Ontario fireman, I believe was at the University of Toronto, won a bronze in the decathlon. That was the first time Canada had ever won a medal in the decathlon. And Canada won a gold medal in boxing. Horace Lefty Gwynn, little guy from Midland, Ontario, 1932 in L.A. The next gold medal, Lewis. Lennox Lewis.

Lennox Lewis, super heavyweight, 1988, later heavyweight champion of the world. He was on stage when I introduced Muhammad Ali years later at Skydome. But it affected the other events that followed. And I don't think Donovan Bailey has ever received the credit he deserves for his masterful performance, both in the 100 and the 4x100 in Atlanta. I was going to follow up by asking you about whether,

because from my perspective, the Donovan Bailey performance in Atlanta, I want to say exercises those demons somehow. I'm a proud Canadian. The Ben Johnson being disqualified because of the steroid use really weighed on me. I could feel the weight on me. It really crushed me. I don't know if it should, but I think that's the impact of sports in really weighed on me. I could feel the weight on me. It really crushed me.

I don't know if it should, but I think that's the impact of sports, in particular the Olympics. The Olympics is more than a sporting event. I used to receive piles of mail, and people would say, I'm a woman in Sudbury, a man in Sudbury, or a man or a woman in, say, Lethbridge.

I don't watch sports, but you've been a guest in my home for eight hours a day. They watch the Olympics. Donovan, you know, I love Donovan. He's got a great personality. Downhill skiers look down on the slalom skiers. It's not dangerous. Sprinters are the cock of the walk.

I mean, I'll never forget in Athens, Donovan is coming in the studio with me. I said, well, it's day seven, Donovan is coming in the studio with me. I said, well, it's day seven or day eight. Track and field begins today, Donovan. What's this day eight? The Olympics starts today. I said, no, it doesn't. He said, sure it does. The other sports are merely lead up to the big event. So these are sprinters. He had a great answer in London when I said, who's the better athlete or the greater Olympian, Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps? And he looked at me and said, Brian, every able-bodied man in the world can run. They all don't swim. That is true. But no, that was a highlight. I mean, the Olympics, I'm defiant. I still get people. I get kids. Are you the white-haired man that did the Olympics?

Everywhere I go, why aren't you doing the Olympics? It was a great run. I certainly enjoyed CBC. Certainly enjoyed Vancouver and London. And, you know, people used to say to me, will you be better than CBC in Vancouver? I said, no, that's not the issue. CBC did a great job.

CTV will do a great job. CBC raised the bar every time they did it with technology and, you know, new inventions. And we will raise the bar in Vancouver. And they certainly, we certainly did. And again in London. So I've been very blessed and blessed to work with and for some great people. So with CBC covering the Olympics, a couple of people you worked with, I just want to ask you about. One is Peter Mansbridge. The other is Ron McLean. Both good friends. Peter is a great sports fan, and I can remember in Los Angeles, I think it was L.A., when I wanted to know who was doing the National.

And people said, why? Because I used to say, all right, we'll take a break now. Don't forget, coming up two hours, 10 o'clock Eastern, Peter Mansbridge and the National. And Peter's quite a golfer. Ron, funny, intelligent. I remember when he came, first of all, first two Hockey Night in Canada. I mean, I've worked with good people. Dave Hodge I've talked about.

There's none better. Ron, Peter's a pro. Lisa LaFlemme, being on with her, she makes you feel so comfortable. I worked the Olympics with Lisa in London, of course, and the great Lloyd Robertson. When I was introduced, when I left CBC, it was a big secret, and I was being announced at the Hummingbird Center downtown. It was full.

And when I came out on the stage, I remember Rick Brace, who's now back at Rogers, but ran CTV and Yvonne Fetsam were out, and Rick looked at his watch. He said, we have a big announcement today. The announcement is, if it's 4.15 in Toronto, it must be 1.15 in Vancouver, and you could hear a, and Ken Thompson, the billionaire that owned, at the time, CTV and the Globe and Mail was in the front row, and I used to see him at a particular restaurant.

He always said, when are you going to come to my network? And Lloyd was sitting there in a state of shock, and I said, for 32 years see him at a particular restaurant. He always said, when are you going to come to my network? And Lloyd was sitting there in a state of shock and I said, for 32 years I worked at a great network. I had the honor of working with Peter. Lloyd, I'm working with you in Vancouver. So June 5th, 2006, that's the day

you announced your plans to move in December 2006 to rival CTV. And of course TSN is in that. It's of course over there. And then, I guess, two days, I don't know, three days later, the CBC, I guess, fires you.

Well, I don't know if it was firing. If I ever do a book, I'll talk about it. But I had in my contract, you could... I remember Yvonne Fett saying, I was up at CTV doing something for Special Olympics, and he says, when's your contract up? This was, I think, in 05 or something.

And I said, after Beijing in 80. He said, oh, that's too bad. We're interested in maybe having you work, but we would never do anything wrong. I said, I have a six-month out. He said, you do? And I said, yes. It says either party can terminate this without cause for six months. So I did it properly.

And CBC was good to me um i uh worked with great people i still see them it's a small business as i told you here hodge and i and hodge myself roger ashby back with the same company and i we had a chum reunion uh i see the cbc people trevor pilling i send emails to ron to uh to scott rus, to the producers, to Andy Petrello, everybody on. I thought the track and field team was great on that Sunday night with the grass and the 100s, so I sent them an email. So we keep in touch. It's a small business, and you respect the people you work with.

Andy Sorensen on Twitter asks, What's your all-time favorite Olympic moment? It's not my favorite, but it's the most memorable, is Ben Johnson, when you have to announce to the world that a small country, not geographically, but population-wise with, at the time, I don't know, 30, 33 million people, has won the most coveted prize in sport, and then you have to announce to the world that it's gone. That's what I remember. There's so many others. Los Angeles, I always

remember being below that Hollywood sign at Columbia Studios is where we were. I did skiing for so many years, currently Gartner winning. A Canadian male has never won the downhill, but Gartner won in 1992 in Albertville. Vancouver, without question, the first gold medal. We're the only country, or were the only country, to host two Olympics. Montreal, we had the high jump medal, of course, and we had the figure skating medals in Calgary. medal, of course, and we had the figure skating medals in Calgary. Two of them, two silvers, but Montreal and Calgary, no gold. And we all were trying to figure out who would win. We thought it would come in freestyle

skiing the first day, but I always remember the first medal on the Sunday when the family came down. It was very special. That was Bilodeau. Yes, Alexander. And his brother. So I said, and this is great credit to the people running the Olympics, our telecasts, Alexander Bilodeau came down with his mom, his dad, his brother Frederick.

That's right. And I believe his sister. I can't remember. And they said, well, the brother has cerebral palsy. And I said, I don't care if he takes 20 minutes to answer a question. It brings dignity to the disabled. And it turns out, Alexander explained to me, you know why he took up skiing? Because his brother could ski, but he couldn't play hockey. And so, you know, wonderful stories. I remember being with Steven Brunt. I'll never forget a year prior to, it was 09, Brunt and I were in Whistler doing features. And we now go down to Cypress mountains to do a feature on a real top female, uh,

freestyle skier. But when we get there, her boyfriend, the coach Dominic, he says, you should do one on this Alexander Bilodeau. And I said, well, who is he? Oh, he's going to win. I said, sure. And I always remember that when he did. A year after the games, we went back to do a story to Quebec, south of, I'm trying to think of the name of the town, Saint-Sever, the ski resort. And I said to Alexander, how's Frederick? Alexander says,

he's a real pain in the neck. He walks through airports signing autographs as a celebrity. So, you know, that Vancouver was memorable. I just, I think London, having to take the stand I did, I, three or four days before the opening ceremony, knowing it was the 40th anniversary of the slaughter in Munich, I talked to people, I talked to my wife, and I want to do this, and I didn't sleep much, and I wanted to make sure I did it right. And, you know, Bell Media was the partnership

between Rogers and Bell at the time. But they supported me. As I said earlier, don't be strident and be reasoned and be truthful. And I was shocked that on the 40th anniversary of an event that changed not only sports but the world, there was no minute silence. There never had been. They'd done one for what happened on the Luge track in Vancouver, as they should have. It was the right thing to do.

And I went after the IOC. So I think that's maybe what I'm most proud of. And that was your last Olympics, right? That was my last Olympics, yeah. So 14th and final Olympics in 2012 in London. So they just said that the IOC said we aren't political? No, I was wanting to know why it wasn't going to be done. So they just said that the IOC said we aren't political? No, I was wanting to know why it wasn't going to be done,

and Dr. Jacques Rogue, whom I have great respect for, a good relationship with, said the event, one reason is it's too political. And that's when I said on the air, I quoted him, and I said the fact you march behind flags and play national anthems, this whole darn thing is political. It was anti-Semitic, but I was very, very clear, Mike, to say, look, these happen to be Jewish athletes, and I believe that's why they're not being recognized.

But it would be the same, I would be just as outraged, and again, I'm Catholic, I'm not Jewish, if they were Muslims, Hindu, Greek Orthodox, Protestant, any number of religions. The fact is, human beings were slain during the 1972 Summer Olympics. If that's not worthy of being honored... I've never understood why there's never been a moment's silence, but it's beyond me.

Ross Friedman on Twitter asks, what research goes into hosting an Olympic Games? It's non-stop, Ross. I have an office at home, a library, and believe it or not, I'm cutting out, I have a file for Olympics coming up in Pyeongchang. I'm not even doing them. You know, McMorris and falling, and I'm just taking notes of the freestylers, the skiers, what goes on.

You constantly prepare. Ross, I believe it was, that asked this question. Ross, what you have to do when you do an Olympics is you not only have to be aware of the sport, because let's be honest, you don't go down on a weekend to a bar and watch Skeleton, but you watch it during the Olympics. You're absolutely right. So you better know these sports and you better know the history.

And of course, John Montgomery with a pitcher of beer is legendary in Vancouver. But you have to know the history of the host city, the country, and the people. Greece, an example is Greece. I'm a poli-sci major with a history minor. Greece, it's an ancient civilization, but it didn't become a country

until something like, I think it was 1846. I can't remember the exact date now I had it with me, but because they were city-states, Sparta, Athens, and they didn't unite. But you have to be aware of the history. And what you do is you constantly read. I'll give you an example. In 1936, I got this piece of information long before London. But in 1936, the Canadian men won a silver medal in basketball. They were called the Windsor AKO Ford, sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, or a Ford dealership. The score was something I don't remember. It was 16 to 12 or something lost to the United States, but it was low scoring because it was played outside in the rain on a converted tennis court.

But Canada did not win a medal in team sports at the summer games because rowing is not considered team. They did not win until the women won the soccer medal in London. And when the women won that medal and they came back to the studio, I said, before we take a break, I want to put this into perspective, what Christine Sinclair and her team members have done. You know, the last gold medal for a Canadian team at a summer Olympics was at the Hitler Olympics of 1936 in Berlin.

The Windsor AKO Fords were beaten by the United States. I had the exact score. You have a researcher, but you have to direct them where to go. Right. You know, they can't do everything. And I said, so this puts this medal into perspective, and we'll be back in London right after this. So, Ross, there's an example.

I'm always clipping in the years in between. And once you've done so many Olympics, when you're doing an opening ceremony, you can have the credibility to go back and talk about others. And again, there's no shortcut to preparation it's howard cosell the best ad libs are rehearsed i don't care how good you are you are in your feet i don't care what a great voice you have i don't care how smart you are as cosell said to me that material just doesn't appear in your head. It's got to be put into your head. Wow. Brian wants me to ask you,

do you see a day where the Olympics are held in rotating permanent venues due to the cost factor? That's a great question. I would like to see it. I'm not sure. I mean, Athens built a baseball stadium. It's in ruins. They don't play baseball.

It's better than any... Oh, Rio has a bunch of venues. I just saw photos. They're on ruins. The equestrian competition. Look, the Winter Games has basically 10 or 12 sports. You know, there are many skiing events, but

I'll give you Vancouver. Calgary. Calgary made money. Vancouver didn't lose a lot, because Calgary, the legacy is the Oval at the University of Alberta, right near the football stadium where the Stampeders play, where the opening and closing ceremonies were in Calgary.

But they have short tracks. They have the national team training. They have mountain bikers training off to the sides. They have the women's hockey team. There's an ice pad in the middle of the oval. It's used to this day, and that's one of the reasons. And the bobsleigh start, it's the only this day and that's one of the reasons and the bobsleigh start it's the only one in North America

this is why Canada is so strong in the winter so many of these, Katrina LeMay Doan and some of these great athletes were able to train in Calgary in Vancouver you really just had to build the long track facility Whistler existed

the Callahan Valley 10 miles they had to build the cross-country courses, but they're there. They're already there. The Rogers Center, whatever it was called, the big home of the Canucks, the former home, the Pacific Coliseum, where they had some figure skating. So, Brian, it's a great question. Calgary is considering bidding for upcoming Olympics. I think it's 1926. That has not been awarded yet. Oh, 2026. Yeah, 2026. I wasn't alive in 1926. I'm smart, Alex, saying, did you work those games, Williams? There were none in 1926. There were 1928 and 24. But the first Winter Games, by the way, were in 1928. But Calgary is thinking of bidding, and they may join it a bit with Edmonton. Edmonton would have some hockey, perhaps,

and Calgary has the facilities. I am not one for holding it in two countries. That's stupid. Someone wanted to have, you know, something in New York, something in Los Angeles. If you're an hour apart, maybe. But, you know, you want to have all the athletes in the village. It's the athlete's village. But Brian, you ask, do I foresee a day? I hope there will be a day. I'm not saying permanent. Los Angeles, by the way, and Paris are in the bidding for the summer games,

and LA's got all the... This is the... And Brian, the question is so good, because when Toronto was thinking of bidding for the Olympics and they might go against LA, I said, hang on just a minute, okay? LA, Rose Bowl, remodeled, 100,000. Coliseum, 100,000, okay? Home of the Dodgers, 50,000.

Home of the Angels, 50,000. UCLA basketball, 20,000. King's Staples Center, 20,000. The Duck Pond for Anaheim, 20,000. King's Staples Center, 20,000. The duck pond for Anaheim, 20,000. I mean, the facilities are there. We don't have those facilities here. So, Brian, it's a brilliant, brilliant question. I hope we see it. I'm not sure the IOC's smart enough. Brian has one more question here on the Olympics, then we'll move on. But he asks, on a scale of 1 to 10, how corrupt is the IOC now, and do you ever see a day when corruption is no longer an issue?

I'm not, I can't, no, I don't. I think human nature being what it is, it's nowhere near as corrupt, and I haven't been that near it now since London, As it was, you know, Salt Lake was a big problem. We saw the corruption, people being paid off. Now, the bidding isn't what it was. I think what's maybe making them a little less corrupt is that the Olympics have become so expensive. Beijing, yeah, summer games, 08. The Winter Olympics are in Beijing in 2022.

You know why they're in Beijing? Because Oslo, Norway, that hosted in 1952, when the Edmonton Mercury's won a gold medal in men's hockey, there was not another one until Salt Lake City, when the team, coached by Pat Quinn and Gretzky running it, won gold. Munich and Oslo bowed out, so it went to Beijing. I can't say the level of corruption. I just think that if you put ethics and the IOC in the same sentence,

it's probably an oxymoron. Now these days, this current day, contributing to CFL on TSN. Yes? Yes. Doing features, journalism. You know, they wanted, I really enjoy that. They allow me to be outspoken. Boy, we had a couple of great features at the Grey Cup.

Mylon Hicks, the player from Calgary that was murdered from Detroit, going to talk to his family. We had a great one. I stood. James Duthie said, where's Brian Williams? And I said, he said, I wonder if he knows we set this up. When the last Grey Cup was played outdoors in Toronto, I said, James, I'm standing just

south of BMO Field. This was the old exhibition stadium. It was the Edmonton Eskimos and the Toronto Argonauts, Condrich, Holloway, Warren, Moon. This is, that was the last time it was played. It was the game that led to a dome stadium. Paul Godfrey, then the Metro Chairman, now the head of the National Post and the Sun.

In fact, let's take a journey back. And we went down to Tennessee, interviewed Holloway, went to Houston, interviewed Warren Moon, talked to Paul Godfrey. We went up to Ottawa to interview Huey Campbell, who was the head coach. We talked to Bob Obilovich, who was the head coach of the Argos. So I'm doing those things. I'll do the plate and the horse racing. The plate will be big this year with Royalty in attendance because the country is, we're 150 years old as a country,

July 1st is Saturday, the 2nd is the plate. I think it'll likely be Prince Charles and there has been no announcement they'll be in Toronto for the race the next day. I have the Invictus Games. I figure skating, the Invictus Games are huge

and I had the honor of introducing or interviewing Harry and William in London and spent some time with Harry when he was here, Prince Harry, His Highness, when he was here in the spring, introduced Prince Harry, Prime Minister Trudeau, Premier. He's dating a girl who works here? Yes, dating a young lady from Toronto. I know nothing about that.

I don't want you to be TMZ. I'm not a friend of his. We don't talk about that. I'm just saying, you know, I said, Your Highness, and we talked, and I had the pleasure of introducing him. He and his brother, Prince William, have great senses of humor, and I interviewed them, and we went into the corner when they came to the studio, and I said, look, these questions from the palace approved,

yeah, I don't know if you guys, how about if I become, you know, they're a little more human. I mean, they knew everything about me. They knew congratulations and the Order of Canada, which I just received. Which I was about to do as well. Yeah. I was very humbled. And anyhow, so the interview starts and we're talking. And I say to Prince William and Harry, I say, Prince William, we know the phrase royal family, but we don't think family. We think royal. And the background of the question was, Daniel Craig 007 in a tape goes into, the helicopter lands, and they're playing this in the stadium on a screen. A helicopter landing at Buckingham Palace. He walks in. Her Majesty the Queen has her back to him. She's at the desk, and the corgis or dogs

are around her. And he goes, she says, yes, James. He says, it's time, your majesty. They get into the helicopter. Then suddenly a helicopter appears over the stadium and a mannequin dressed as a queen drops out. Then they cut to her. She's sitting in the stand. So I said, we don't think family. What was it like seeing your grandmother hanging with 007. I had no idea. Now, he is a pilot, so this is how smart they are. He says, well, Brian, I wasn't really surprised. I said, you weren't?

He says, no, I was flying the helicopter. They both have great senses of humor. Now, you mentioned Order of Canada, so I just run down a short list of sort of accolades that have come your way. in Order of Canada, so I just run down a short list of sort of accolades that have come your way. You, in 2011, you're made an Officer of the Order of Canada for your contributions to sports broadcasting, notably that of amateur sports, and for your community involvement. How, what kind of an, what did that mean to you to receive that? It meant a great honour. You talk about helping, you know, young broadcasters and sending notes. I've had the honour of being a member of the Board of Directors

of North York General Hospital, Ronald McDonald's Children's Charities, Tim Horton's Children's Foundation. I was stunned. I was out in Portland, Oregon, doing a feature on Don Matthews for the Grey Cup, and the plane landed. It was November of 10.

And I looked at my BlackBerry, and I saw 613, a number, so I hit it. And it said, Rideau Hall. And I said, Rideau Hall. And the lady at the switchboard says, Home of the Governor General. I said, Oh, I'm sorry. She said, Who's calling, sir? I said, It's Brian Williams. She said, From TSN.

She said, We want to talk to you. Just a minute. So they said, Would you accept the Order of Canada? I said, Is the Pope Catholic? So I couldn't say anything. Scotty Bowman was there, Prime Minister Martin. We were all receiving it that day. It was special.

I still, you know, I'm sort of stunned, actually. In addition, you're in the CFL Hall of Fame. That's in 2010. You were inducted into the Canadian Football hall of fame uh that's in 2010 you were inducted into the canadian sorry the canadian football hall of fame i guess that's what you call that uh you have eight gemini awards a couple of foster hewitt awards one's canadian screen awards so do you have like a trophy case somewhere in the home oh they're in my office i'm very proud of them i'm proud of the fact that the foster hewitt Award became the Gemini Award, and I have the first Gemini, and I also have the first Canadian screen. The Gemini went into the

Canadian screen. So listen, as I say, I've been blessed to work with great people. It's all about opportunity. Don't ever forget that, folks. I don't care how much talent you have in any profession. You've got to be in the right place at the right time and get the breaks. And I've been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to work with good people and to be inspired by good people to prepare and study. Now, my last question for you, I don't want you to interpret this as if I'm trying to push you out because I think we, you know, you were all over our TVs just yesterday and we love seeing you, but do you have any plans to hang up your microphone and retire and enjoy? The worst thing would be my age and have to work. I'm working because I enjoy it. I enjoy what I do at TSN. I'm able to, as is Dave Hodge, to bring a perspective that not everyone has due to our experience.

I've always believed you don't go young, you don't go old, you go good. You can't live in the past. I don't live in the past. I love young people's music. I love what the young are doing. You can't live in the past, but you had better learn from the past. That's, my dad told me that once. And so I'm enjoying what I'm doing, you know, as long as I have good health.

My three daughters are all, you know, long out of the house, long married. I have three grandchildren. No, I just, I really enjoy what I do. And I'm able to, like with that feature when James Duthie, who is just a great talent, threw to me. And, well, you know, none of the other members of the broadcast crew were there in 1983. I worked the stadium. When I'm interviewing Warren Moon, I said, do you remember? He said, oh, yeah, I remember you standing on the sidelines.

And so I'm able to bring a perspective. You can't teach experience. No, and I love working with the young people in the industry today. They're so talented. There's so much more opportunity. When Dave and I were starting out, as I say, a three-person,

I was going to say man, it is three men in that case, but there weren't women doing sports like there are today. Today they three men in that case, but there weren't women doing sports then like there are today. Today, they hire you based on ability, not male, female, color, whatever, age. No, I just really enjoy it, enjoy being around the young people in the business. It all networks, and there's so much opportunity with TSN, with Sportsnet, with The Fan, with TSN Radio. I mean, those didn't exist when I started out. That's right. I'm going to tell you, Brian, I really enjoyed this conversation.

Well, as you know, I don't like to talk much. Do I get a final time check before I... Well, as we wrap it up on this Wednesday afternoon here near the shores of Lake Ontario, coming up to 1.30 in Toronto, that would make it about 10.30 on the West Coast, 11.30, or excuse me, 2.30, maybe 3 o'clock in Newfoundland, 2.30 in Halifax. It's been a pleasure. It's been a pleasure here too. And that brings us to the end of our 228th show.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. And my question for you, Brian, is are you on Twitter? No. No desire. I will be. I'm just so busy. I'm always on the Internet, always emailing and researching.

But it's one thing I haven't had time for. But hopefully I will move into the new century soon. And our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. And propertyinthesix.com is at Brian Gerstein. See you all next week. ¶¶ Read Andrew Miller and wander around And drink some Guinness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in

Ah, where you been? Because everything...