Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Damien Cox Returns: Toronto Mike'd #451

Episode Date: April 15, 2019

Mike chats with Damien Cox about why he's no longer at Sportsnet, what he's up to these days, and a wild weekend of sports.

Welcome to episode 451 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Palma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair, Camp Turnasol, and Sticker U. Repair, Camp Ternasol, and Sticker U. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me for the

fourth time is Toronto Star sports writer Damien Cox. Welcome back. Four times. If you come back for a fifth time you get a jacket i do wow that's i'm surprised you can still have things to ask me we've pretty much covered everything

we've covered everything uh well actually there's there has been actually a development we'll get too early in this episode since you were last on but this this was also like a particularly eventful sports weekend. So I think a lot of people would be keen to kind of, if we chat about some of those things, if that's cool with you. That's cool. Let's do it. It was a great weekend, actually. It's a great time of year for sports. It is.

And we're going to touch on all parts, I think. But I want to just start off by wishing well. Somebody, anybody who listens to this podcast knows I'm a huge fan of Dave Bookman. So do you know Bookie? No, I don't. So forever, I knew him on 102.1. And they, for some reason, they let him go. I never understood that.

But he bounced back and ended up on 88.1 Indie. And I'm just going to play a little Bookie. And then I'll follow it up at the end here. Here's some Bookie. Hey, it's Bookie and welcome to something we hope our friend Martin Streak would like. A show that is about the music he loved and the people that mattered. Over the next three hours, not only will we listen to some incredible music, but we'll also hear from you, the Edge listener, as well as some of Martin's friends and colleagues. It's been almost two weeks since we learned of Martin's passing, and while there's been a lot of questions and emotions since then, tonight is about the music and what Martin brought to the EDGE listener through the video roadshows back in the 80s and the nightclubs in Thursday

30s in the 90s and into the new millennium. Now, it would be impossible to cover everyone's thoughts and memories in the three hours we have, not to mention all the music he loved, but we'll do our best to pay tribute to our friend Martin. And as Marty would say, we're going to go nonstop, full tilt for 180 minutes, and along the way, here's some Nirvanski musical perfection from Nine Inch Nails and more. Let's get it started. A track that Martin would start each and every road show with back in the day, The Cult and She Sells Sanctuary. It's a tribute to our beloved Martin Streak. So that's Bookie talking about Martin Streak.

We actually lost him. We lost Martin 10 years ago this coming July. So it'll be 10 years. But the reason I'm giving some love to Bookie is because on Friday, he suffered a brain aneurysm, and he's in the hospital right now. Oh, no. So, yeah, listeners know I love me some Bookie. The man loves his music, and I'm just hoping for the best

and sending good thoughts to Dave Bookman. Yeah, I mean, and sadly, you know, more me than you are getting to that age where things start happening to people we know and friends. And certainly I had a couple of losses in the past year and they start to hit you harder, I think, in some ways. Now, let me ask you about you. How's your health? I need to know. You look very healthy to me. You are healthy, right? Let's hear it. I feel like I'm healthy. Why would you hear? You are healthy, right? Let's hear it. I feel like I'm healthy.

Why would you hear? No, no. Oh, I did hear this. I heard you suffered a head injury last time you were on Toronto Mike. I did, but it healed. A gash. And that's why you wore a hat today. Yeah, exactly. To protect my, I think I wore a hat that day and hurt myself anyway.

Anyways, no, I'm, I think, you know, I have a bit more time to spend on being healthy and being fit. And hopefully if that time's well spent, I'll be healthy for a while. That's the plan anyways. Do you run or cycle? I used to run. I cycle a bit. I played a lot of tennis in the past 20-25 years I play more golf now but I'm trying to get back

into tennis and you know I have a stationary bike at home and do a lot of you know the old people stuff like stretching and stuff so I try and I think a lot of it is you just gotta try to eat the right stuff and so that's the plan well good now you mentioned

you have a bit more time on your hands. So let's address this off the top. Let's get right to it. Let's get right to it. But first, do you know a Bob Boutram? Does that name mean anything to you? Bob Boutram just sent a note telling me to go easy on you. He says, I'll read exactly what he wrote.

Go easy on the humble Hamilton, Ontario-born scribe who has moved on from that, he calls it them Intervest Avenue roots Inverness Inverness I'm I apologize yep so I'm been ordered to take it easy on you uh which will be effortless for me I always take it easy on you can you please tell us uh what happened uh last time you were on Toronto Mic'd, you were also on Sportsnet Radio doing various things. What's your status with Sportsnet? What's going on there? So I'm no longer with Sportsnet.

I know you were aware that I haven't been with Sportsnet since about the middle of December. I just chose to not really say very much about it. And we had an amicable parting of the ways we had a contract uh we decided to uh end that contract uh and um so i don't work for them anymore now um it was amicable you said so it was basically you you both decided this was best for both parties is that how that well i mean amicable i mean who what does amicable mean in business right i mean we had a business relationship um i wasn't terribly happy and and obviously they weren't terribly happy um with uh

the way it was set up and and what it was looking like so um, um, uh, yeah, it was, it certainly wasn't, um, me saying, I don't want to work for you people anymore. Um, but at the same time, um, for quite a while, I'd not really been able to do the things I'd wanted to do and the things I thought I was going to do. So, you know, I, I would say what it was, was a business relationship that didn't work out, didn't work out for them, didn't work out for me. And so there really wasn't much more to say. I wasn't, I didn't really want to do the sort of, you know, I loved working here and they were wonderful and it's so sad. And then for them to, they say, we really love this guy, but cause it's all a bunch of crap, right?

I mean, it's like, I mean, Bob Cole's a friend of mine and, you know, the stuff that went on with his last game, I mean, Bob didn't want to leave. They were pushing him out the door. You follow me into it, I don't know if you noticed, but I've been echoing those exact sentiments. He's been very vocal about the fact that he wants to keep calling games. I am of the opinion that he is still more than capable because he's he's still regardless of

maybe the odd um misidentification of a player which doesn't irk me in the least uh no one calls a game uh as a with such emotion and and captures the moment like bob cole so i wish he would keep i wish he was calling the leaf game tonight, so this whole celebration of the career 50 years, to me, it was so disingenuous because you're, you're essentially, and I don't know if this is the right terminology, but you're essentially telling this legend that his services are no longer required, right? Like it's, well, that's absolutely right. Yeah. That's bang on. There's an, and, and, um, to frame it any other way is disingenuous. Now, Bob went along with it as best he could, and I'm certainly not here to speak for Bob,

but I'm kind of with you. I think if you and I lined up the 10 top play-by-play people in Canada, he'd be no worse than fifth, in my mind. Who do you have in the top four? I'm just curious. Well, we've got to put a list together. But in hockey terms. Now, in hockey, just talking hockey,

you could argue he's number one. At least maybe. I know people always talk about Danny Gallivan. I never heard Danny Gallivan. Oh, Danny Gallivan was wonderful. But for me, he was the voice of the Montreal Canadiens, you know, specifically. So, I mean, I go back as far as, you know, Foster Hewitt,

Bill Hewitt, Danny Gallivan, all the guys who called in there. I mean, you know, Bob, because a combination of excellence and familiarity, I think, he can call a game for me anytime. I thought he sounded great. Honestly. You know, i know you know again it's not my place to speak for bob but um you know you it was sort of related to me and i'm certainly no bob cole but i didn't really want to get into that sort of oh we love you and we love you but we're we're not working together anymore that's's, to me, it was fine. So I thought it was the best thing

and you were nice enough to get in touch with me and I sort of said, I really don't have much to say. And I really still don't have much to say. Well, first of all, I will just say, I find it refreshing. You're not going to spew some bullshit right now. Like this would be an opportunity to kind of read a PR script or something,

but you're not going to play that game. That might be the smart game. Smart thing to do too. I know. Yeah. The Bob Cole, because the, not,

okay, so Bob Cole, there's a big farewell hoopla, even though they're essentially telling him. And they did a nice job of it. No, they did a fine job, but when I was watching that game,

I found it, like, I wasn't, like, it wasn't joyous to me. It was sad. Like, I felt sad.

Like, oh, there's, someone used this terminology on Twitter that they're putting him out to pasture. It just seemed kind of like, oh, you're 85 years old now. Thank you. You're done. Well, and really what it was, in my opinion, is ageism.

Bob Cole was relieved of his duties because he's 85 years old but not because he's not good enough because he's not as good as anybody else and i don't know and my guess would be i don't know i mean salary maybe had something to do with it it's a big deal at rogers these days um you know cutting costs so that may have had something to do with it it's a big deal at rogers these days um you know cutting costs so that may have had something to do with it um that you know so look i mean it's their decision to make there's nothing wrong with it yeah they can let anybody go they want sure they can let me go they can let bob go they can let you know uh glenn healy go they can let George Strummelopoulos go, they can let Darren Miller,

they can do what they want. I just, you know, I just, I don't really, I'd prefer to, that we all just be honest about it. And I think there was,

well, anyways, I've said what I thought about Bob. Bob's great. And it's just a shame that, it's a shame he's not calling the game tonight, is what I would argue. And it's a. Bob's great. And it's just a shame that, it's a shame he's not calling the game tonight is what I would argue. And it's a shame he's not back next year. And that's not slagging Jim Houston.

I think Jim does a fine job. You know, and I think in our country, we've got Chris Cuthbert. We've got Gord Miller. We've got, I think Rick Bald does a real nice job. I agree, yeah. You know, and I think we could go on Dave Randolph, various people.

But you cannot tell me that Bob Cole's not good enough anymore. It's just not true. A lot of people on Twitter come at me because they think it's some kind of a Leaf bias. They think of Bob Cole as this Leaf guy, and if you're not a Leaf fan, you don't have the same warm fuzzies for bob cole and then those those devil advocates will come at me and say and i got a lot of this because i was very tweety about this i went on a get tweety tweeter twitter uh rampage there but they'll tell me oh for a decade he's

been uh less than par and and butchering the calls and that this is long overdue and it's not so much ageism or is that it's that he's no longer competent and able to do an effective job. Now, I personally don't hear that or feel that, but that seems to be the counter argument. Yeah, I mean, I don't think that's true. But people, you know, a narrative starts

and people love to be part of the consensus. And if they feel like everybody thinks this way, then people love to be part of the consensus. And if they feel like everybody thinks this way, then they all want to think of that way. And that's, that's certainly the way, the way it is. I make mistakes in my work. You make mistakes in your work. Bob makes mistakes. I'm sure Chris Cuthbert or Gordon Miller or Jim Hewson, the guys I just mentioned, they would tell you, oh, I made this mistake or that mistake. So, you know, I just think that's not true. And, you know, for me, I actually never really associated Bob Cole as the voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I think of Joe Bowen, you know, Joe or people like that, or Bill Hewitt, I mentioned him. But, you know, I think Bob is

the voice of hockey, of the National Hockey League, of Hockey Night in Canada. That's what I think Bob is the voice of hockey, of the National Hockey League, of Hockey Night in Canada. That's what I think of Bob. Agreed, agreed, agreed. And those great calls, whether it be Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky or yeah, these are the Bob Cole calls we remember. Or as I played, was it last episode

or maybe two episodes ago, they're going home, they're going home. Like nobody captures the moment. And if you were watching that day, it was something else. But I mean, this is what happens in the business. I mean, you know, Vin Scully was able to continue going. Was Vin Scully as good as he was 30 years ago?

I don't know. Tell me what as good as means. Right. When it comes to broadcasting. You know, we can go through alex trebek you know still on television a little ill these days hopefully he'll get through that any number of people who are um broadcasters it's not it's not a nice business to grow old and and the guys who do it and do it well are the exceptions but to say they're not as good as well you know what to you maybe but not to a whole lot

of people ageism damien that's what's going on here oh my goodness but back to you for a moment uh so i often talk i thought i'd done a really good job of steering this i know i'm coming back because uh okay i'm gonna put this i mean fourth visit now we We have some rapport here. You know I'm not going to. What's your question? Just blurt it out. There are some personalities in Canadian sports media that I consider rather polarizing. Like Glenn Healy you mentioned earlier.

If you were on Twitter, people love to kind of go at Glenn Healy and how awful he was. And I saw literal celebrations when Glenn Healy was released of his duties at Hockenheim Canada or whatever. Similarly, it happened with you, okay? he was and there was i saw literal celebrations when glenn healy was released of his duties at hoggin in canada whatever similarly it happened with you okay i think i put out a simple tweet something like damien cox is no longer at sportsnet and i get these replies and it was kind of gross like it was christmas time and family time and i'm getting all these replies about like i'm popping the champagne it's an early christ gift, like because you lost your job. Like you made a lot of, a lot of people, uh, in the city were very happy to learn you lost your job. Uh,

I just wondered how self-aware are you that you're, uh, you have this, um, ability to like rile up people like very few. I mean, there are others. Wilner had this going on and Steve Simmons and some other people, but you really have this ability to kind of get at people. Uh, and I just wondered what you thought of the fact people were, were, were, were thanking, uh, Rogers for the early Christmas gift that Damien Cox no longer had a job there. Well, I mean, people can say whatever they want. I mean, and, and when you're in this business, uh, you know, you gotta, if you're willing to give it out, you gotta be willing to take it. Um, I don't really view Twitter as a, um, as representative of anything. I had a, I've had lots of people come up to me and still do say nice things. I've never, I don't think I've ever had one of these people you talk about ever come up to me face to face and say anything. Right. So

generally speaking, they're cowards and nobodies and they, and this makes them feel like they're big people and that's what they should then carry on. Um, but it doesn't really impact me. Um, we'd all like to be appreciated for our work, but I think the job of a columnist, uh, a newspaper columnist, at least as I understood it is to be polarizing, is to have strong opinions, is to make people mad, is, uh, is to, um, um you know go against the flow and and not necessarily just wait and see what everybody thinks and goes along with that so if you call me polarizing i take that as a huge compliment well said in fact what i argue i did this when glenn healy was like

okay he was my one of my favorites because he had opinions and he and they weren't always with the consensus and it was always interesting like he had these the fact that he he was one of my favorites because he had opinions and they weren't always with the consensus and it was always interesting. Like he had these, the fact that he was saying something, like I found that so refreshing and I totally dug it and much like yourself and I would argue with people,

are you looking for like, we're all gonna sing Kumbaya and agree and like how boring would that be if we got rid of everybody who has a little bit of sandpaper going on, like a little interesting character, like how boring would that be if we got rid of everybody who has a little bit of sandpaper going on, like a little interesting character? Like how boring would the landscape be? So, I mean, I had a discussion with somebody a while ago,

and I asked them what paper they read, and they said this certain paper. And I said, why do you read that paper? And they said, well, because it kind of goes along with what I think. So that's why you read a newspaper, to make you feel better about what you think. And I think Glenn's a great example. I think if you look at the decisions they've made at Rogers in recent years, whether it's myself or Glenn

or George Stromoulopoulos or stuff, they wanted, I think it's fair to say that they wanted a more vanilla product. They didn't want people who were stirring it up and being sandpaper, like, as you say, and, you know, you know, they wanted, they wanted to narrow the bandwidth of, of the opinion and ideas that were expressed on their shows um and again that's their right they get to do that i don't have to agree you don't have to agree but that's their right and i think if you look at hockey night in canada today versus what it was four or five years ago

they still have some excellent people but it's i think it was going in some really great directions and now it's just very tame vanilla is a good term for it i think uh they've done the same thing with uh jay's talk uh and again scott mcarthur is fine he's very knowledgeable and he he does a fine show but i use that word fine you used it with jim hewson earlier jim hewson's a fine broadcaster but uh i guess i'm looking for something more memorable or something more engaging and noteworthy than fine. I know Mike Wilner's Jay's Talk

was a lot of people love to tweet about how condescending and arrogant he was because he had these like, he stood firm on his convictions. He was very pragmatic. He didn't, you know, whatever.

And they removed him from Jay's Talk for his dream gig. So he's fine. But it's not the same show anymore. There's that word again, fine. Yeah. Well, you know what? Everything's fine.

Yeah. I mean, you know, I think when you do a job like I do or what you do and people start calling you condescending or arrogant or whatever, what that generally means is I either can't or I'm not smart enough or don't have the ability to actually debate the point that or disagree with you in terms of refuting your point of view. So I'll just call you you names and usually it's names that other people call you right it's not unique names so you know if if you hold a point of view and hold it strongly you're arrogant if you don't then if i if i talk to you on radio like mike will or whatever and you don't right away come around to my point of view, you're being condescending. Right. And these are names that people like to call out to people.

And I would imagine that broadcasting companies are sensitive to all these things because really, Rogers, like Sportsnet and everything they do is a tiny, tiny part of what Rogers does. They sell cell phones. Right. They don't want anything that interferes with their ability to sell cell phones right they don't want anything that interferes with their ability to sell cell phones whether it's the blue jays or sports net or hockey night in canada or damien

cox or bob cole or glenn healy or whatever right and i think that that has become more of a driving corporate message that's come from um sports net and look, they're making lots of money. A lot of people watch, a lot of people listen. So that's their way to do business. And they're a very successful company and they should keep doing what they want to do. Absolutely. Absolutely. I guess that's your phone going off. I won't answer it. Only if it's breaky. Maybe it's the Cadry suspension has been announced. Let me know. Okay, so what about your status at the Toronto Star?

You're still writing there. So I've never stopped. So you've been there since the mid-'80s, right? The mullet days? I wrote my, yeah, no i i wrote my first newspaper uh article for the toronto star in uh the winter of december of 1990 1982 wow so i was at ryerson i was at ryerson i think i've got that right yeah i think that's right um no hang on it might have been 83 anyways um no i've got that wrong it was 1984 i why because i i was at ryerson and i did a winter uh internship they had a two-week

or three-week internship program and i went there and i remember clearly because i went and it was well there were a bunch of stuff i did but i remember the first front page story i ever did was when they were renaming a street in Toronto. They were renaming it Via Italia. I drove past it the other day, and I saw it, and it was that long ago. So my association with the Star is 35 years old. It's been a privilege to be there,

and when I left full-time employment in 2014, they were kind enough to say, well, would you still write for us? And I said yes. And so I keep doing it. I do it twice a week. Are you at all interested in another mainstream media gig like ahead of Rogers?

Are you available? I guess I'm curious what the future holds for you professionally. I'm definitely available. But what I would want to do and what I want to do is sort of something I'm still trying to figure out. What I would say is I would never want to go back to doing what I was doing, particularly with travel and things like that. I'm not interested in that anymore. Television, I think really, I sort of had a love-hate affair with it and it really wasn't, you know, my best medium and something I enjoyed as much. There's just no time

to talk and to say anything. Radio is always of interest to me. So I guess the answer is yes, but only kind of yes. What I'd really like to do is sort of find, you know, and continue to do things. And I've actually got a few new things on the go that kind of work well with the lifestyle I want to lead. So that's the plan. Are you writing another book?

Not at the moment. Not at the moment. Okay. You got to get a hockey book. Got any ideas? I was going to say a hockey book for Christmas 2019, I think, is what it's called. Did you read the last one? No, but I have a sponsor who read it and has a comment.

In fact, maybe I'll play it. Now, here's what I'll do. I'll read a question. I have a lot of people had questions for you, so I want to get to most of them anyways. So Jason, he says, can you ask him, that's you, Damien, if he ever watches the roundtable, watches. I forget that thing's on TV. And if so, what do you think of the performance of Richard Deich? I hope I said it right, Deich.

I think it would have been a great roundtable with you guys and Brunt. So, I mean, since you left Sportsnet, do you ever listen to 590? That's my question. I'm piggybacking on Jason here. No. So that means you've not, you've definitely not been listening to any. I hear bits and pieces,

but no. Is that like, you break up with your girlfriend and maybe. Usually they broke up with me. Is that right? And then you, maybe then you don't, you know, it hurts to see them with, maybe then you don't, you know,

it hurts to see them with somebody else. I don't find that with the radio. I found that a couple of times on television when you're watching a game or something and something happens. And there's always a part of you that thinks, geez, they didn't want me. They'd rather have that person than me.

So there's always a bit of, I think you know ego well that's not unique to media that's everything right like if you've ever been restructured i've been restructured out of a job and then they they hired somebody in frankfurt germany who's responsible for the things i was responsible for and i have like a like a hex doll what is called like a voodoo doll you know i'll poke it it'll be like oh no way can I be replaced with this. This is impossible. Yeah, you know, in a lot of ways, I mean, you know, the end doesn't come of people's working careers. That never comes in a nice way.

And very rarely do they get to choose it. So there's always going to be that sense of, you know, they didn't want me or they don't want me anymore, and now I've got to get on with the rest of my life. So I feel in a way lucky in that I get to get on with the rest of my life now. What I would say, and I've had long discussions about this with my long-suffering wife. Poor girl, she just has to listen to me.

And I think the best I can tell you is because i certainly don't want to slag shows that i was on and say i don't watch that anymore i don't listen anymore that's all crap i don't feel that way what i would say was in my working life 35 years when i loved my job was at a certain point in time. I would say particularly between about the late 90s and 2010 because I got to do anything I wanted. I got to travel. I got to write on all kinds of events from the National Hockey League to the Masters to Wimbledon to all kinds of stuff, the Olympics. to, you know, all kinds of the Olympics. And I got to do it largely on my terms. For me, things changed after that. And then when I went to Rogers, things changed again.

And I never enjoyed my work as much as during that period of time. And that's not because it was bad work or it was a bad job. It was if you you you know and and the reality is that job that i loved doesn't exist anymore it really doesn't exist in the same way anymore right would you ever consider and i'm not going to pretend like i feel like this reached out i know yeah have you would you ever consider joining something like the athletic for example like a more a modern uh take on the old model yeah i mean uh you know i've never heard from them so uh they're i would imagine their their interests lie with other people and and doing other things would i do it depends you know depends on the on the conditions and the circumstances they got a lot of good people there um and i really am impressed by what they're trying to do. So, you know, but again, what's the job? So it's hard for me to give, you know, a yes or no, but, you know, I'm, I guess the best I can

say, I'm available. But it depends. Of course, it depends depends it depends uh i meant to say this off the top but i guess uh with the news about bookie i got distracted there but uh i want to say congrats to jimmy so jimmy is a listener of toronto mic he heard about the new sponsor sticker you and he turned to them to get some stickers made up for his wedding so i want to say thanks to jimmy and congrats to jim got married. So he used Sticker You. Damien, if you ever need stickers, okay, anything that sticks, to be honest, like stickers, labels, decals, tattoos, magnets, any size, any shape, any quantity, go to Sticker You, that's Sticker You.com.

You can make your own customized sticker labels. In fact, I'm going to get some. We're on periscope uh so the podcast listeners are like what's mike talking about but we're live on periscope so hello on periscope we're gonna get some uh sticker you and some toronto mike logos for the back wall here because you saw since your first three visits i flipped the studio around yeah so hello uh we could have like a we could sell seats i. Why did you decide to do this? When?

Why? Oh, why? For the video. So I record every Monday and Friday with Mark Hebbshire, his podcast. Before I forget, I always let Hebbsy know who's coming in because he's always curious who's coming in.

I'll be like, oh, you know, Kevin McGrath's coming in or whatever. And then I'm like, so I won't name this name, but I said somebody was coming in. And Hempsey doesn't like that person and explains why. Okay. So, and then I said, oh, Damien Cox is coming in.

And he said, I like Damien. Okay. And I said, I like him too. And I think we feel like we're in some club or something. We need to defend you against all those Damien haters out there. But, and so we start talking about, and he basically, in a nutshell, likes you because you have opinions and you're saying something,

and it's interesting. So I think Hepsy's in that club of people craving a little sandpaper. Oh, okay. Well, I mean, he seems to be doing well, and we never really worked together. I knew Mark just to see him and stuff. He was, I mean, I remember when it was Jim and Jim

Taddy and they were yes guy they were big they were they did very well for a time and uh it's I'm interested that he's sort of branching out and doing different stuff with you and all that kind of he wrote a book so he's pushing his book uh the greatest athlete you've never heard of and he's here every Monday and Friday so he was in this morning and he wanted to do some live streaming stuff like i was always kind of anti-video like i'm like this is an audio presentation i'm really big on this being a great you know world-class grade 8 audio experience it's a podcast so i was like i don't want any video cameras but you know he wanted them so that's why this experimentation is happening and and because he wanted them, then I thought I should try this too. Are you finding any difference in listeners or viewers or anything like that?

Well, okay. So this is probably the third or fourth time that I've actually live streamed an episode. And I'm always interested to see how many people joined in. And there were over 300 on the last one. Okay. So I don't know what the number will be. I'll let you know afterwards. Well, thanks for tuning in. We'll say that to them. And I'm sorry I don't know what the number will be. I'll let you know afterwards. Well, thanks for tuning in.

We'll say that to them. And I'm sorry I don't have a makeup person. I don't need a hair person for Damien. What, do you think I need makeup? Yeah. Well, you don't need a hair guy, is what I'm trying to tell you. So that's why the flip was for Hebsey. And then now I'm kind of interested in experimentation.

I like to try new things. So let's see how it goes. Oh, so thank you, StickerU. Again, StickerU.com. I have a question for you from another sponsor. This is Milan from Fast Time. So the next voice you hear belongs to Milan's. And you'll know it's not mine because it sounds much more broadcast ready than mine.

So here's Milan. Hey, Toronto Mike. It's Milan from Fast Time, watch and jewelry repair. Hello, Mr. Cox. Wanted to mention that I really enjoyed your book, The Last Goodyear. My question, is there a Canadian sports broadcaster or sports personality you miss that is no longer on television and or terrestrial radio? And two, your thoughts on TSN Radio's Overdrive making significant ground on primetime in the latest ratings book.

Now he's trying to get me in trouble. Thanks, Damien and Toronto Mike. Good job, Milan. Milan's trying to get me in trouble. I'm going to be very available soon if I keep talking about all these things. Well, first of all, a Canadian broadcaster that I miss. Boy, oh boy, that's uh right off the top of my head

because most of the guys are still what about like a Dave Hodge do you miss well there's a well yeah I mean fortunately I'm gonna have dinner with him next week so I don't have to miss him too much um I mean there's another guy why isn't he on TSN right you tell me you tell me uh yeah um he would be he would be one i'll give you one i'll give you one who i miss is um because he's not with us anymore and that's don whitman don was another guy very much like bob cole who had a great ability to um create a moment and sell you on that moment. Plus, he was just a nice man. I remember early days going to Winnipeg for the first time, and Witt was always the first guy to say hello. So Don Whitman would certainly be somebody that I would mention.

And do you listen to Overdrive with Jeff O'Neill? No. Well, no. I mean, I've heard it. uh do you listen to um overdrive with uh jeff o'neill no well no i mean i've heard it what do you mean tell me what you mean by do i don't know what i mean by that except have you ever tuned it in to listen to it on 10 50 in an afternoon drive i have uh yes in a very once in a blue moon i'm gonna drop a big German word on you here. Are you ready? Do you feel any scholden Freud with the reports that Overdrive is making big strides in catching up to the primetime sports with Bob McCowan? In some key demos, some say they're pretty neck and neck. I don't think many people would have predicted this

a couple of years ago. Any scholden Freud? Because there seems to be a, I don't know, I don't think many people would have predicted this a couple of years ago. Any scholden Freud? Because there seems to be a, I don't know, I'm not, I don't see the numbers. I don't get the book. I just catch wind when people like Jonah at Toronto Sports Media and people leak some things. It seems like without you, there might be a ratings slip.

What say you, Damien Cox? I don't feel any vindication i would if i go with that word no i mean no show don't pray look i think i i feel like i did a good job there i think at times bob and i really worked well together um and i felt uh that we were able to challenge each other um professionally and intellectually in a way that I think Stephen Brent does. So do I think I could help that show? Yes. Do I think their ratings are what they are because I left? No, I don't.

One thing I learned a long time ago is I remember when really good people left the Toronto Star. And you know what happened? They published the next day. And when I left Primetime Sports, they broadcast the next day. It just keeps going. that you're somehow leaving a legacy or an imprint or that you're doing something so important and so profound that people are going to want, my God, if we only had him back, it would be so much better.

That's just nonsense. The world keeps moving along. The world keeps changing. If the guys at Overdrive are doing well, I know, well, I know Jeff and I know Jamie. They're good guys. You know, I think they're obviously primarily hockey guys. And they have, Jeff in particular has strong opinions,

which I like. I like the sandpaper element of it. So if they're doing well, congratulations to them. I hope they do well too. But I also, I mean, Bob's a friend of mine and Steven Brunt is a friend of mine and I think they're still the best. And Brunt's a Hamilton guy.

Well, that's one of the things. Such a high quality person. Can you name all the Hamilton guys? Oh, speaking of Hamilton guys, since you were last here, I believe it was since Tom Wilson came on the show. And like what a cool guy. I don't think he'd

remember me, but we met last summer. Yeah. And really interesting guy. Good book and good musician, obviously. And a very interesting story and an interesting guy. We met actually out at Brunt's Music and Literary Festival in Woody Point,

Newfoundland, which is a terrific, terrific gathering. And we're going again this year. And are you flying there? Am I flying there? Yeah. Why? Is there room in the car if you're driving? I was wondering if I could come.

I'm only half joking. You should go. You would love it. So Tom was there with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, who I'd never seen, and they were terrific. Yes. So a very interesting guy. He would have trouble with this ceiling, I'll tell you.

Well, you know who's coming in? Leo Roudens is coming in soon. I think he might become my tallest guest yet. So we'll see how that works out and get him in here. You mentioned Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, so I need to let you know and others know that Stephen Fearing did this most amazing two and a half hour deep dive and jam kickings

that any fan of music and fan of Black in the Rodeo Kings, you need to listen to what Stephen had to say in that episode. So there's another shameless plug. Speaking of shameless plugs, that question, that two-fold question from Milan. Did I answer it all? Yeah, one was, who do you wish was still broadcasting,

who's not broadcasting? And on about Overdrive. Overdrive, yeah. And Milan, of course, as he said, is with Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. They've been doing quality watch and jewelry repairs for over 30 years. If you need a watch battery replacement,

go to Fast Time and say you heard about them on Toronto Mic'd because they'll give you 15% off any regular priced watch battery installation milan assures me no one else gets that deal that's just for toronto mic listeners so fast time watch repair.com lets you know a location near you they have a new one in richmond hill and that's where milan hangs out so you can say hi to him you liked uh you got your lasagna in your last episode you got meat lasagna the whole family liked it that's not a shameless plug i'm just telling you a fact and i have to ask now if it wasn't good you wouldn't say that right like because you know that would you would you would probably say nothing if it wasn't good because you would want me to say that because you say you value

my willingness to have strong opinions true i gotta practice what i preach here absolutely but i'm glad you enjoyed it because i got another one for you. This is courtesy of Palma Pasta. Go to palmapasta.com. They have four locations in Mississauga and Oakville. Their brand new Palmas kitchen near Mavis and Burnhamthorpe is really exciting because it's got the hot table. You can go in and have a hot meal. There's pizza. There's a good coffee, cappuccino, espresso. They have a retail store with some they make all their stuff there uh it's fresh uh as ted wallachian told me uh they got the sauce right that's the hardest thing to get right once you get the sauce if you get find a place that

gets the sauce right you know everything's going to be good and that's why he goes to palma pasta so i urge you all to go to palma pasta tell, tell them Mike sent you. So Damien, enjoy your... Thanks. You're going to have so many sponsors soon, you're not going to have any time to actually talk to anybody. Well, hey, I am interweaving it. We're going to have more Damien

than sponsor mentions. That's my promise. But also, you're an Etobicoke guy now. Mm-hmm. Great Lakes Brewery. Mm-hmm. Wonderful craft brewery here in South Etobicoke. They want you to take home another six-pack.

Okay, I'll agree to do that. Thank you to you and to them. Enjoy. Damien, no pressure, but since it would be such a short commute for you, I need to let you know that on June 27th, which is my birthday, but that's neither here nor there.

That is also the day of the Toronto Mic Listener Experience 3. I call it Tmlx3 oh is this what i missed last year yeah you're not missing this one to my book launch either did you invite me i did well it's probably because i have too many kids and it's a pain i try so hard to get to all these things i have too many kids too many things going on i was in markham all weekend pretty much with this dance uh competition oh don't do the dance. I didn't really get consulted. It just sort of happened. I just cut the check.

You have daughters, right? Three. And how old are they again? 28, 24, and 13. Okay, so you have one still in that world because I got the 14-year-old daughter. Yeah, I agree with you. I wanted her to do more hockey and soccer

and she ended up doing soccer for me, but mainly she does competitive dance. And yeah. But she enjoys it. Sorry, Delaney's 25. I should not get her name wrong. I don't blame you. I couldn't remember how old my third kid was the other day.

I'm trying to forget how old I am. Well, again, we're just glad you're healthy and you're out there doing courage. I'm trying. So, oh yeah. So, oh yes. That's why I couldn't make your book launch. I'm trying. So, oh yeah. So, oh yes. That's why I couldn't make your book launch. But if you could come,

here's who's going to perform there. And this is what I think is really cool. Lowest of the Low are going to perform on the Great Lakes Brewery patio on June 27th. The event is from 6 to 9 p.m. I think Lowest of the Low will hit the stage around 8 p.m. after my speech. I make a big speech

and if I see you out there, I'll be giving some demo spin love. What time would I have to show up to miss the speech? 8 o'clock. The speech is right now scheduled for 7.30.

All right. Well, if you send me a note closer to that, I'll come. Okay, cool. So everybody come to Great Lakes Brewery and you get your first beer on the house. All those people who say nasty things to that, I'll come. Okay, cool. So everybody come to Great Lakes Brewery. And you get your first beer on the house.

All those people who say nasty things to me, they can show up and say them to my face. And I'll do you a favor. I'll point them out and say, you should see what this guy tweeted about you. And then I'll introduce you and see what happens. So yes, there's your, you got your beer. You got your lasagna.

Let me just. I can go now. You can go now. I have some more things people have said about you and this is before i want to just let you know it's not all like i don't want to cherry pick just the happy ones so i just want to let you know um paul henderson and i don't think it's the paul henderson i think it's another paul henderson i hope it's not the paul henderson there's a couple of paul henderson's there's the paul henderson there's paul henderson who was involved in

getting trying to get the Olympics for Toronto. Right. That's right. I don't know if this is that guy, but this Paul Henderson says, ask him if he has to think really hard about his horrible takes or do they just fly out of his fingers to his keyboard? So you don't even need to dignify that response. We've kind of addressed it, but I got that from Paul Henderson.

Well, what would be the response? Do you think he really wants a response? I don't know. He wants you to know. He thinks your takes are horrible. By the it, but I got that from Paul Henderson. Well, what would be the response? Do you think he really wants a response? I don't know. He wants you to know. He thinks your takes are horrible. By the way, can I... I think yours are too, Paul. There.

Are we further ahead? Why do we call them takes? Aren't they just opinions? When did the opinion become a hot take? Well, and I think too, whether it's Paul or whoever, basically he means, I don't agree with you. Right, right. That's what he means. I don't agree. Now that your takes are horrible, I don't, when I, whether it's Paul or whoever, basically he means, I don't agree with you. Right.

Right. That's what he means. I don't agree. Now that your takes are horrible, I don't agree with you. Therefore, your takes are horrible. Right.

And there's a gentleman named Norbert Dutra or Dutra. I don't know how he pronounces that, but Norbert, or nor do I know if that's a real name. That could be a fake name. Norbert Dutra says. I met Norbert once. I think I played lacrosse with him.

Was he smart? I figured all Norberts would be smart. You'd have to be. Why does he come off as a miserable prick who hates the sports he covers? I guess he'd rather be covering tennis. That's Norbert's reply. Which to me sounds like he thinks that I love tennis,

so therefore I don't come off as a miserable prick with the sports I cover. Which again sounds to me is he loves the Leafs or the Raptors and I was critical of them. And therefore I'm a miserable prick. Does that sound likely? So do I, so is this a question?

I don't know what, no, that's it. I think he just wants you to know, he thinks you're a miserable prick. He just wants to slag me. Now I do have a tennis. Consider myself slagged,

Norbert. I have a tennis segment scheduled for later with a good question about tennis so there will be tennis talk later the cleaning guy i can tell you and i have a little news when it comes to tennis okay good okay wait that's great i'll play a breaking news sound effect uh the cleaning guy says uh always enjoy damien shame he is no longer on primetime sports or sports net so the cleaning guy misses you. So it's me, him and Hebsey. So we got three of us so far. Hey, you never know.

Look, I've been, I've come and gone from sports net or from a prime time sports several times. Never say never, never say never. All right. We're going to dive into some of this weekend sports action,

but first a little Nana Muscari. For camp turn us all. weekend sports action. But first, a little Nana Muscari for Camp Tournesol. Now, you mentioned your youngest daughter is 13, so she's kind of right in under the wire because Camp Tournesol provides French camps in the GTA

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It was Jay Onright was shocked to hear that. He was sure that Nana Muscari was Canadian. But I had to tell him the sad news. Oh, Jay. Oh, Jay. Jay. Jay, by the way, Jay's a big Hebsey fan. But I guess everyone that age has the warm fuzzies for Jim Taddy and Mark Hebbshire

because we all watched Sportsline. Those two guys, they were it. And there was only really them for a long time. Yes, guy. And Taddy, they just, I don't know what Hamilton, you're an old Hamilton guy. They got 1150. They're doing a TSN radio there.

You probably know. But they just got rid of their live local afternoon drive show with Jim Taddy. I don't know what's going in there, but I think they're going to do more like repeating overdrive or something. But Taddy's no longer doing that show, which is too bad. Where to start in the weekend?

Can we start with this gentleman, Tiger Woods? Do you know this guy? Did you watch The Masters? My wife asked me that yesterday. Is that his real name, Tiger? No. Tiger Woods is a cool name. Not only did I watch it, I wrote about it today in The Star,

and I've written about Tiger a number of times over the past two years during his comeback. I've really watched it really closely. I've become a bit of a golf fanatic myself in the last few years, so his return has kind of caught my eye, and I'm really interested in his story and what he's tried to do to get his game back to where he was able to win the Masters.

So I think it's one of the great sports stories of the last 25 years. One of the great comebacks all time, you know, right up there with Michael Jordan, Mary Lemieux, Ben Hogan, a few others. And there aren't as many as you'd think that are truly great comebacks. When you get an opportunity to witness history like that,

I think you take it. I watched every hole, every shot yesterday, and it was great. Now, he did need a little help right what's the molinero francesco molinari close close i should know after the palma pasta sponsor mentioned i should be better at my italian there but uh he had to falter i guess on the back nine uh to give tiger that chance but uh all credit to tiger i was watching i think it's one of those things like i don't watch a lot of golf but when i see on twitter that tiger is in contention on a sunday of the masters i find a tv like you know

i'm gonna watch this like even though i'm not a big golf guy that to me is like an event and i want to like well in in his in his sport he's right there with nicholas and palmer um and hogan as you know and he may be the very best player of all time he has a chance now if he could stay healthy maybe to go after nicholas's all-time number of 18 majors um and i also thought think beyond he is you know in my lifetime in the planet you know you've got pele you've got muhammad ali got, you know, who else are we into at that point? Certainly Michael Jordan when he was riding high and Tiger Woods, you know, Tiger Woods is as big a brand, as big a sports figure. And what makes him unique

compared to those other ones we mentioned is he had a huge fall from grace. And other people still hold that against him. I've been reading people say he's a bad guy. He's this, he's that. I don't know what kind of guy he is. He's probably a bad husband. I don't know.

Maybe he was and maybe he isn't. Maybe, I don't know. And people who claim they know about people because they're athletes, it's a bunch of nonsense. You don't know who they are. You don't know the circumstances of their lives, why they became what they did.

At any rate, he had an enormous fall from grace. Probably the greatest of a superstar athlete ever, except for OJ Simpson. And he came back. greatest of a superstar athlete ever, except for OJ Simpson. And he came back. And he didn't just come back after all the public humiliation and losing all his sponsors. He came back after a couple years ago,

he couldn't even stand up. He had four back surgeries, multiple knee surgeries, wrist surgeries, all those things. I think it's pretty clear he was at some point addicted to painkillers. So he had to overcome that, overcome all those things, personal, physical, and then find his golf swing again, and then be willing to go out there and perform on the biggest stage imaginable.

I think that is extraordinary. And I don't claim to know whether he's a good guy or a bad guy, but he's a fantastic golfer and one of the great sports figures of the last 100 years. And I'm always, I'm like yourself, I'm surprised the people who like just hate the story because, I mean, I think he's gone on the record that he was unfaithful to his wife. I think that is... Is he the record that he was unfaithful to his wife.

I think that is... Is he the first to have been unfaithful to his wife? I'm pretty sure he's not the first. Was he breaking the mold there? Right. But what a great redemption story. Like you said, to fall so far and to be top of the heap again,

like on the golf's greatest stage. I mean, the Masters is the biggest one for at least viewers. Amazing. I just find this such a compelling, remarkable story. And I mean, I can't speak to Ben Hogan at all. I don't know. I wasn't there. I don't know much about that story

and all these other great stories. Of course, I remember Mary Lemieux and I remember Michael Jordan, of course. But this one to me feels like the biggest ever like this is it this is the greatest comeback story in sports well and and you know whether someone cheated on their wives obviously that's not something you want to do but i can i know for certain many of the greatest athletes that we've mentioned in our conversation cheated on their wives right so if you want to hold that against anybody and,

and for the rest of their lives, then I understand. Then that's your point of view. I tend to take a little bit of a different point of view. It usually takes two to be in these relationships. People make mistakes. I've made mistakes. People,

you know, hopefully learn from their errors and, and move on. But to simply hold it against him because of what happened that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me now but like again i don't know if he's a good guy or a bad guy right and it's not my damn business really i can watch him as a golfer and appreciate him as a golfer and i just leave it there but when you were covering like they were covering the blue jays back in the 80s, did you ever find yourself

maybe rooting, not rooting against obviously, but that some of the, I'm thinking of like a Dave Steeb because I've, only because I have so many conversations with Mark Hebbshire

who was covering those Jays teams and he'll tell me essentially like what a dick Dave Steeb was to the reporters and stuff. And I always wonder like, do you at least have a, I don't want to use the word

schadenfreude again, but do you ever have any like uh like like like like an extra degree of happiness when something negative happens to that particular athlete because they're they're they're a dick like i don't i always wonder yes okay yes um not i didn't really have a lot of dealings with dave ste, but there have certainly been athletes who, when they failed, I went, oh, that's a shame. At the same time, I'm sure there's athletes who I wrote things that they didn't appreciate it. And when I failed, they thought, oh, what a shame.

I mean, I think that's a lousy way to live is to hope for other people to fail because they were mean to you. You know, there are, you know, people in the broadcasting media world who have failed since whatever. Am I supposed to be happy about it? No, I'm not. I try not to live my life that way. Let's do a little tennis talk here. But let's let Brian Gersteinstein introduce the question here's brian

hi damien brian gerstein here sales representative with psr brokerage and proud sponsor of toronto phase one of the galleria mall redevelopment plan and its condos are being sold exclusively late spring by PSR, all ready to move in for 2023. Contact me now by phone or text at 416-873-0292 and I can put you on my VIP first access list. They will be both investor friendly priced and also ideal for end users. and also ideal for end users. Damien, I've always enjoyed your tennis analysis, and I am sure that you agree that Canadian tennis has never been in better shape, both presently and for the future.

If you had a crystal ball and we were in 2040, how many majors, if any, do Milos, Dennis, Felix, and Bianca win, and do any of them rise to number one in the world? Crystal ball time. You didn't mention Dennis Schappell-Vallon. Oversight on Brian's part. How many do they win? And I want to do it by each person. I want to hear, like, okay, this is how many I predict for Felix.

Okay, so let's start with Milos. I think he's got a chance to win one before he's done. And that's Wimbledon, right? No, I think it could be the US Open. I think he's got a chance. And he's done well in Australia. He's getting outside the envelope, but he's playing pretty well if he can stay healthy.

I think he's got a chance to get one. Denis Shapovalov. I haven't seen quite enough yet. He's the 19-year-old, right? Yeah. Okay. Or he might have turned 20. To win a Grand Slam is a huge thing.

Yeah. So I'll say he could win one. I think Felix Ogier Eliassime, I think he could win four or five. Wow. Crystal Ball is looking good. All right. That's what, I mean, it's total.

And that's a lot. Four or five is a lot. Well, I mean, no Canadian, we should point out in case people don't know, because some people don't love tennis or not. No Canadians ever won a major singles title. So we've got three players in the top 35 or 30 right now so uh ojiali has seen and this is not just me i mean this has

been for a long time people have seen him coming he's the whole package we've seen that in recent weeks and he's got a real if he beefs up his serve and makes it more of a weapon obviously it let him down and that last unfortunate loss he had to john john isner um if he does that i think he he could win a couple bianca is very interesting because um she's had even in just the past year so many physical challenges so it's going to be a huge question to me if she can get herself to the point that she can compete i mean in tennis being healthy is like that's one of the biggest things about roger fetter he's been remarkably healthy so i i would need that but uh to to know whether she can win one but i think based on what we're seeing she might be able to win one or two maybe but again

you know what i would say about her i think she can win one of their one of their premier events i think she could well she did win indian well so she's already proven that right that's another step to win a grand slam do any of these people you've mentioned uh in your crystal ball do they ever hit number one seat number one overall i think felix i think felix i think felix could i mean i just i like his mental makeup just a little bit better than uh chapo valovs but chapo valovs a lefty with a big lefty game and a big ability to come back and to hit you know go for winners he you could see him having just a sublime two weeks somewhere and winning wimbledon or winning you know uh

something like that so both those guys have all court games um so it's gonna be great to watch now a similar question a little bit different i'll just read it from mike gregotsky he says uh bianca milosh dennis or felix who will be our first grand slam winner and then he goes he's got a nice ps he says ps looking forward to reading your Leafs Kings book. So remind people the name of the book again. The Last Good Year. The Last Good Year. And it's about...

Seven games that ended an era. Yeah, I'm trying to delete that series from my memory bank. No, just kidding. I remember it very well. And who's the first of those tennis, Canadian tennis pros to win Grand Slam? Well, I guess it would have to be, because he's coming close, it would have to be Milos. So if he could win, I think he's got a chance as Roger and Rafa fade a little bit

and we're still not exactly sure where Djokovic is. I think if he's going to win one, it's going to have to be this year or next year. How about that? Okay. No, sounds good to me. I mean, I'm amazed you have a crystal ball. I don't even have one. This is amazing.

I got a couple. There's a joke in there somewhere. DAZN. Glad you caught it. Do you subscribe to... I always catch it. Do you subscribe to DAZN? Yes.

So you're aware, of course. I watched that. When BB won that Indian Wells tournament, I watched it on Twitter. And do you know, by the way, do you know, did DAZN decide to give that away for free to promote their product? Like, do you know how that came about?

I think it was in conjunction with Tennis Canada that they worked out some sort of a deal. But I thought it was really smart. Yeah. I mean, it let us all kind of share in that moment and whet your appetite that, Hey, there is that maybe there's a reason to subscribe to DAZN if you want more BB, right? more and more proponent of things where I can decide what I want to buy. And I'll pay you a specific amount of money for the, your product as opposed to,

I want to buy this. Well, then you've got to take all this other stuff with it. And I think we're going to start seeing a TV go that way. TV's facing some interesting challenges right now. And I think what you're seeing, you saw it with golf. We saw it with last night with hockey.

I think they now are aware that people like me do not watch their shows live i cannot watch an nfl game live i don't watch hockey games live i record them and then i speed through all the commercials and all the stuff in between periods and i just want to watch the game but that tells me that you're staying off of twitter during these games no sometimes i go on sometimes i do because I can't even... But I don't worry about being... I don't worry about it happening at that second. Anyways.

So I think that's why you're now seeing them jam commercials into... When they go to their split screens and all that sort of stuff. And I think we're going to see more and more and more of that. And the advantages of places like DAZN or some of these other places, they don't need to worry about that

because you're paying a subscriber fee. Like the Netflix model. Right. And, um, so, you know, and, and, and Crave is like that. And I'll tell you if Crave, a good example is because I watch Billions. Yeah. It's a fantastic show. I can't get it unless I subscribe. So I'll buy your product, but I don't want to have to buy, I'll buy your product, but I don't want to have to buy, I'll buy your bike, but I don't want to have to buy your house with it. You know, and I think that we're going to go more and more down that path

and conventional television is going to be, we have more and more challenge. The problem for those of us who like multiple sports, like I like to watch my Jays, I like my Raptors, my Leafs. I wanted to watch Tiger yesterday. You know, I want to see, and we'll get to this in a minute. But if Canada is playing in a semifinal in the Women's World Cup of Hockey,

or whatever it's called, like, I want a world championship. I want to watch that. By the time you kind of buy all the individual parts to stream these things on demand or whatever, you've paid more than you used to pay Rogers or Bell for your cable bill. Like it adds up if you watch all this. Right, and I see that, and certainly from a cost perspective.

But I like the fact that I can choose when I want to watch it, under what circumstances. I prefer to have the personal choice. And like I say, generally speaking, I'm willing to pay for a specific product. So it's going to be really interesting to see how all these things change.

By the way, you were talking about tennis. Yeah. You were asking me about my availability. I am actually going to start and have started doing some work for Tennis Canada. Oh, good. So that's one of the areas in which I think there's a market out there as mainstream media organizations have changed and got rid of a lot of people and don't cover what they cover.

There's a lot of appetite for areas in sports that maybe don't receive the coverage that they should. Canadian golf is another one. And there are a few others. So I think there might be opportunities within those areas. And so I'm going to do some work with Tennis Canada. So there you go. Okay, great. And this is the

right time. Nobody else knows that. Just you. And the people on Periscope over here now know it. Oh, are they still here? They're here, yeah. Just FYI. So it's not live, but it's live. It's you and the people on periscope over here now are they still here they're here yeah just fyi so it's not live but it's live it's very confusing but okay so tennis canada this is the time i mean uh again i'm not actually i kind of dig tennis like if i know roger's gonna play in a major final like i try to tune in and watch like hey this is roger federer like i'm so i think i actually am a tennis fan just not a diehard guy like i haven't subscribed to the zone yet like

yourself but uh although they got lots of good stuff there right because they got the soccer So I think I actually am a tennis fan, just not a diehard guy. Like I haven't subscribed to DAZN yet like yourself. But although they got lots of good stuff there, right? Because they got the soccer. The NFL. Right. Yeah, see? Okay. Maybe one day I will.

But I guess I'm telling you that this is a great time to be doing work with Tennis Canada because the appetite for tennis in this country has never been higher. So you approve? I'm saying good good i'm always curious how our canadians are doing now that we actually have chances to win tournaments which is yeah so i'm uh yeah uh that's definitely something i'm kind of excited about so i think

it's like how do you you know in a broader sense for me in my sort of situation now, how do you find some things that you, that you find interesting and would like to do in a media landscape that is changing day by day? I mean, last time I was here, there weren't cameras. So that includes this show. And you know,

I, I laugh now. Uh, they talk about, um, uh, when you see ads for podcasts on CBC and they call themselves the national podcaster.

Right, okay. So CBC is now getting, so everything is changing. Yeah, those are. I don't really, you know, a lot of the stuff I don't see, I just sort of read books a lot of time anyways. Oh, well, you're, it's because you're an academic. Okay, that's right. Maybe that's what I'll do.

I'll be an academic. When you, you know, you're an academic. Okay, that's right. Maybe that's what I'll do. I'll be an academic. When you're doing work, I guess we're going to get more details when you're ready to share more details of what exactly you're doing with Tennis Canada. But when it comes time to start the Tennis Canada podcast hosted by Damien Cox, you should do it here.

I'm just throwing a short drive. All right. We have the setup here. We could produce the official Tennis Canada podcast hosted by Damien Cox. I need do it here. I'm just throwing it. You know, short drive. All right. We have the setup here. We could produce the official Tennis Canada podcast. I need somebody to do it with, right? Well, yes, but I have a Bluetooth channel here where you could Bluetooth, which means as long as you can connect on your phone by Skype or Zoom or phone, you could have whoever or they could come here, right?

Whatever. We can talk later. But I'm happy to help make that happen. Maple Leafs. Yes, sir. Game three is tonight. Is it? It is.

It is. It is here. I got to know, what are your thoughts on Nazem Kadri? I like Nazem. I've known him since he was a junior player. I think he's immensely talented. And I've always admired him because he fights his own fights, and he doesn't look for anybody else to back him up.

He's not a big guy, and he doesn't back down from anybody. You get an idea there's a butt coming here? Yep. He's got terrible judgment in, well, I don't know about his life, but on the hockey rinkink and it's cost him. People forget he got suspended by the Leafs a few, by the Leafs a few years ago. Right. You know, and, and he's been suspended by the NHL. He was suspended in the first round. What use of a guy is a guy that you're paying, I think 5 million or 4 million or whatever he's making. If he gets

suspended for multiple games every time you get to the playoffs, you're counting on him. And even in that game the other night, it was 3-1. There were six minutes left or whatever. A goal, a lucky bounce. It could have been 3-2.

They were still in the game. Right. Even though they'd been outplayed by such a wide margin. For him to do that, I think, was selfish. Above everything else, it was selfish. And he's going to get suspended, and I feel sorry for him, but not that sorry because he knows.

And I mean, he's a repeat offender, so the punishment, I'm sure, will be harsher as a result, right? Yeah, I guess. But I mean, Tom Wilson's a repeat offender, not the Tom Wilson of Blackie and the Rodeo Club. Not our Tom Wilson. No, a different one, and it doesn't seem to slow him down.

And Jake DeBrusque was wrong. I mean, he could have been suspended for a couple of things the other night. The NHL right now is, to me, a bit of a mess with its refereeing. I'm watching last night, and some of the calls in the various games are like, really? Seriously? So, I guess they've decided that nasm kadri is the bad guy and he's going to take all the punishment for everybody

is there any other sport uh big sport like nhl that uh officiate so differently in the playoffs versus the regular season like that's unique to hot to nhl right yeah i mean some people might argue it's about the NBA as well, but certainly not football and certainly not baseball. No. So, yeah. And, you know, the NHL,

you know, the more and more as I've thought about this, is really, you've got a rule book, but there's only really a small number of rules they actually enforce. They enforce offside, although I think we're learning they miss a lot rules they actually enforce. They enforce offside, although I think we're learning they miss a lot of them.

They enforce offside. They enforce icing. They enforce the puck over the glass. They enforce the legal stick, if anybody's caught with that. And then everything else depends on the day, depends on who's playing, depends on the score, depends on the time of game, depends on the period, depends on the day depends on who's playing depends on the score depends on the time a game

depends on the period depends on the player and it is the the referees are given complete carte blanche to do whatever they feel like at that moment and that's why people say oh he missed that call he didn't miss that call he just chose not to make that call he decided yes that guy broke the rules i'm just not going to call it. And that's what makes the NHL unique. Some people like it. I don't know. How many games do you think Kadri is going to get? I mean, again, it could be coming down right now. I have no idea. I mean, George, George Peros of the NHL is so bad at his job. I mean, he is the worst ever at that and completely unqualified a goon throughout his entire career with no very little ability to play the game at an elite level and he's been given this job and he's been fumbling

it around now for a year or more and i'm sure he'll fumble this one but from what i hear people think he's going to get well and the fact that he's getting an in-person hearing means he's going to get five or six or whatever. And I think it's ridiculous, but that's what's going to happen. Do you think... Hang on, I shouldn't say. I think Kadri should get suspended. How many games he gets, I think, is open to question. Do you think he's played his last game as a Toronto Maple Leaf?

If they lose this series, yeah, I do. I think A, they're in a cap crunch and b I think as I said before if you can't count on a guy um then he's a liability right if he can't uh and you know what the other thing is he'll have he'll have a lot of value on the trade market he's got a he's got an affordable contract he scored 32 goals last year um he plays a tough game he will be he'll be a tough guy for them to let go if they didn't have a cap crunch i would say i don't know i think they're going to work with him but they do have a cap crunch and they're gonna have to figure out some answers now don warren on twitter his question kind of ties into that but he says who do you trade ny, Nylander or Kadri or both?

So I think we'll use that as an opportunity to ask you. Don Warren is wondering if you'd trade William Nylander. So my understanding is that Nylander's been promised by Kyle Dubas that he won't be traded. So I take Kyle Dubas at his word and William Nylander at his word, and therefore I assume that he won't be traded. But we think Kadri will be traded because you just said so. Yeah, and I also don't think I would trade William Nylander

because if you're trading him now, you want to trade guys at their peak value. Right. You do not want to. And Kadri, I think, has a lot of value. You don't want to trade guys when they're not playing well because you don't get very much for them. I find it difficult.

I mean, obviously, I find it difficult to be a Leafs fan. You know, my whole life, never been to a final. I would think so. Yeah. But here's, okay, so game, after game one, so I watch with my 17-year-old son, and he's got his, you know, Aston Matthews. I'm going to ask you about him in a minute,

but he's got his Matthews jersey on. We watch these games. This is everything to us, okay? We're watching game one. After game one, we were flying on a cloud. Like, we were so high. Like, it was such a natural high. Like, it was like world beaters.

Like, yes, you know, now we're the favorite to win this. It had all turned, okay? The Leafs were going to beat the Boston Bruins, and I was flying high. After game two, we were on suicide watch. Like, it was, like, so cranky and depressed and down and like the hope was gone like it on one game it went 180 like is this a leafs fan thing or like to be so reactive to one game like we all we all thought we were world beaters after game one

and now we think the leafs are done in five. No, I think that's about being a sports fan. That's the emotion of it. That's the excitement of it. And I think here in Toronto, I think Toronto and Boston, this sports series, in this hockey series, is a great example of the fact of if Boston loses game one, it's because they were terrible. If they win game two, it's because they were great.

If Toronto wins game one, it's because they were great and they lost game two. Why? Because they were terrible. If they win game two, it's because they were great. If Toronto wins game one, it's because they were great and they lost game two. Why? Because they were, people forget there's two teams out there trying to win. Right. And there's a lot of factors that go into whether teams win or lose.

So I understand the emotion of a fan and that's why I think you get this reaction from people on Twitter because they're emotional and then someone says something that they don't like and they react emotionally i don't know who's going to win this series you know i think it's going to be tight it's going to be close i fully expect the leafs are going to come out and play a really good game tonight um i think this series will ultimately be decided on if f Anderson can outplay Tuka Rask because he hasn't before.

He's been erratic. He was erratic last year. Austin Matthews has got to get involved in the game here somewhere. Yeah, because last playoffs, he, I think, ended up with one goal or something. But he was mostly… Well, it's tough, right? I mean, if you are the number one center,

if you're Austin Matthews, then you're going to play against Daniel Chara all the time. Like, they don't make it easy for you. Look what's happening to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Unbelievable. It's quite incredible. And that's because there's two teams out there. And it's not because Tampa doesn't want to win.

You know, they're not trying hard enough. They're they're not hungry enough they're not this you know what the other guys are trying to win too and they're playing very well and getting great goaltending and i would say i know that's not a fan's approach to sports but that's sort of how i look at it but look i mean i took on with my son and I three years ago we decided we were going to be Cleveland Browns fans so we went through 0 and 16 and 1 and 15 and then last year it started to turn around right and now this year you know they've they've you know they've got they've got backup they're gonna they're gonna do a few things so did you randomly pick them or did you have some connection kind of randomly I I wanted a team that played in cold weather, that played outdoors.

I don't like domed. I was a Vikings fan forever until I just said, that is it. And so, no, and I picked them when they were at the absolute rock bottom. And the only other team that I get emotional about is I cheer for Notre Dame football, so I can get a bit emotional about that. Sometimes about the Hamilton Tiger Cats too. So I know how you feel. And you're going to feel that way tonight too.

You're either going to feel really up or you're going to feel really down. Yeah, it's day by day with these guys. Andrew Sheehy on Twitter asks, with the success of the Islanders and Blue Jackets in the Stanley Cup playoffs so far, do you see the neutral zone trap becoming rampant in the stanley cup playoffs so far do you see the neutral zone trap becoming

rampant in the nhl again next season uh thus causing a significant drop in goal scoring so goal scoring was up this year and i think it'll continue to go there the neutral zone trap i think people see it as a certain thing pretty much everybody plays the trap whenever you see guys forward skating backwards through the neutral zone defending that's the trap there's different styles of the trap some teams are better at it than other teams some teams you know and usually it still relies on sturdy goaltending at the at the other end the islanders to my mind they didn't become this much better defensive team because they played the trap they got better goaltending this year right um so i I don't think the trap is really changing anything.

But I think the National Hockey League and hockey in general always goes through periods. And thankfully, we've seen a lot of goal scoring this year. I mean, how much we saw. Nine in the Winnipeg game last night. Nine in the San Jose game. We're seeing more goals. We often see goals in the first round.

Whether it'll continue through will be the question. And if you think we're curious about Austin Matthews not having a point yet in Pittsburgh, they're looking at Crosby, right? Yep, no points. No points in three games. Well, and the playoffs are hard on good players. They are really hard on them.

That's why you'll see a Jordan Eberle, you know, I think he's leading the playoffs and scoring her right up there. Well, he's not getting the focal point of the other team's checking efforts. Right, right. Oh man, I always remember that junior tournament when he was money, like the Jordan Eberle.

Saskatoon. Yeah, unbelievable. And that one goal he scored, I don't know, one second left or whatever. Anyway, another oiler who's having success elsewhere basically I have never been in fact I was thinking about this the other day uh I've never been to a Blue Jays playoff game I've never been to a Maple Leafs playoff game and I've never been to a Raptors playoff game but tomorrow night I am taking my oldest son to uh the Raptors

playoff game so I'm breaking that streak. Congratulations. For decades, but that's good. And I'm super jazzed about that. But let's talk briefly here about the Raptors because that was a... Unlike though, that's an example where the Raptors lost that game and I never had any sense of,

oh, we're going to lose this series. It's kind of like, oh, it's going to make it a little more nail-bitey and interesting. But I mean, Kyle lowry had zero points um a lot of things yeah we lost i think three points but uh i still feel the raptors are winning this series like in five or six games uh what are your thoughts on the raptors in this series i think they could lose this series i don't think they will but i think they could lose this series. I don't think they will, but I think they could lose this series. Orlando is better than other teams or many people give them credit for. They were like 22-9 down the stretch. They play great defense.

I love their point guard, what he does for them. They've got some good young players, a really good coach. You know, the Raptor thing this year I've found uncomfortable the entire year. I wasn't really into the Dwayne Casey being fired because I sort of said, for what? For LeBron. Why are you firing? So that's fine. So they made that move.

They brought in Kawhi, who is an extraordinary player, but I have not been comfortable all year with this load management nonsense. And I can guarantee you, wherever he goes to play next year, he won't sit out as many games. So they have catered to his every whim this year. Okay. And now they get to game one. They only play him 33 minutes, which didn't make a lot of sense to me.

But they've had different changing lineups. Do they have the cohesion required to take on an orlando team that looks pretty cohesive maybe they do um but i've never liked i haven't liked that the whole season long um i don't think kyle lowry was a very good playoff performer as much as demar de rosen got slagged for it um and some other guys you know i mean they're they live and die in the three-point shooting and when they don't shoot the three well they get in big trouble somebody dug up the numbers on kyle lowry in game ones and pretty awful like i mean zero is another story i mean he even missed his free throws but uh yeah kyle lowry historically does not uh show up for these game ones and uh see and i i see and i

object to that term when you say he doesn't show up, I think he's trying. Sure. I do. I think he's trying really hard. I think he gets in his own way. I think he wants it so badly because he knows what people are saying, and I think he wants it so badly to play great basketball. And that's a game where it's not like hockey

where you can go out and hit somebody. You've got to play with that kind of controlled, intelligent aggression, and I saw very early in that game the other night, it was really early, their second or third possession, he came down and just threw it into the, I think it was Gasol coming down the lane, it was a turnover, and I went, that's not a good sign.

I think he gets in his own way a little bit and it'll be very interesting to see you know fred the presence of fred van vliet will be helpful because he wasn't there last year and that helps take the edge off when uh lowry isn't playing well game two is going to be very interesting i'll be there so i heard i've never been able to say i didn't know you had that kind of coin congratulations the show's doing well the sponsors yeah right right this is a key detail my son's fifth birthday party was on uh saturday uh three o'clock to five p.m okay so i'm chatting up one of my son's friends dads dads. We're just shooting the shit. And I'm saying, oh, I'm glad this game ends.

I'm glad this party ends at five because my 17-year-old son is waiting for me at home to watch the Raptor game, and I can't wait to watch that game. And we're chatting, and we're just talking. I'm talking about how much my 17-year-old loves the Raptors. He's got his Kawhi Leonard jersey. It's like my boy.

Just a diehard. It's unbelievable. And I have the time to just follow it enough. Like I watch Raptor games. I don't have time for any other games unless it's maybe a playoff game

and I, whatever. But my son can like deep dive into all games. Like he has the time and the energy to dive deep into everything.

It's like, he'll tell me who's on the bench for, I don't know, the Sacramento Kings or whatever. And I'll be like,

I have, I'm not sure I could name the starting five. If you could put a gun in my head, I probably couldn't name the starting five for the Sacramento whatever. And I'll be like, I have, I can, I'm not sure I could name the starting five. I could, if you could put a gun in my head, I probably couldn't name the starting five for the sacramental Kings. But anyway, regardless,

I'm just sharing, we're just shooting the shit. And then on Sunday morning, my wife gets a text from this guy. His name's Andre. And he goes, I'm sorry. I don't know your husband's name.

I didn't know his name either for what it's worth. But, um, I, I would like to email him tickets to, uh, the Raptor game on Tuesday so he could take his son. So there was no charge. It was free tickets were emailed to me.

Isn't that nice? I know. Just the nicest gesture. And man, what a kind thing to do. He could easily sell those tickets easily for, I don't know, 200 bucks a pop or whatever without even any effort. More than that. Yeah. I didn't know what they go for their fourth, the upper bowl.

Oh, you'll have a great time. I would take standing room seats. I'd be happy with that. So, Raps Raptor talk real quick. TFC. Yes. You follow TFC. I do.

They lost on the weekend. I didn't see the game. Yes. You follow TFC. I do. They lost on the weekend. I didn't see the game. That was the big, I think all four MLS-E owned teams lost because Marley's, sorry, Jays are Rodgers only.

So Marley's, Leafs, Raptors, and TFC lost on Saturday. Things look good. Like prior to this loss against Seattle, things look good. And what's the gentleman's, Alejandro, what's his name again? Pozuela, Pozuelo. He looks really good. And what's the gentleman's, Ole Andro, what's his name again? Pozuela, Pozuelo. Apparently. He looks really good. Right.

And him with Josie Altidore, there's some nice chemistry and stuff going on. So last year was so disappointing, and I'll tell you why, because after they won the championship the year before, I actually covered that game for the star. And then my wife played soccer at a very high level and is a great athlete.

And so for Christmas, I bought her TFC season tickets. Nice. And so we had them all last year and we went and we gave some away and their kids went. They sucked. Like it was pathetic. The number of goals they were giving up, they'd have three nothing leads and lose five, three. And like, who does that in soccer? So it was a massive disappointment.

And there were so many other guys that were injured. They put so much into their Champions League effort. And then like the regular season was an afterthought. And they paid dearly for it. They've come back this year with a lot of their guys healthy, with some new players. They seem to be back to that possession soccer that they were before. But, you know, a couple of games, you know, they're giving up goals again.

So they've got to try to shut that down a little bit. But they're back to being entertaining. I'd had enough of Jovinko. I just had. And Victor Vasquez was a really good player for them, but he couldn't stay healthy. So I'm really excited about this season. Good.

In all this hype about Raptors and Leafs and TFC, the team that gets lost in the shuffle, in my humble opinion, is the Toronto Argonauts. I'm actually curious whether, can the Argos continue to, how do they continue to exist? I don't mean to say that they should shut it down,

okay, 100 and whatever, 30 years. Well, I got an easy answer for that. They're owned by MLSC. That's how they continue to exist. And the CFL gave a huge television, or got a huge television deal from TSN, which funds the league. And you can't have a Canadian football league

without a Toronto-based team. I don't know that, but I... Maybe. I take your higher level of expertise. Like, I've been watching the CFL. I went to my first CFL game, I think, in 1970. They had nine teams. They have nine teams now.

I've seen this thing go up and down and be buffeted and change and do all sorts of stuff and stuff. You know, I'm concerned. I think it's become, in a lot of of ways almost a television studio league. Yeah. That it's basically set up for television. Because it gets good numbers, right? Like people do watch, apparently.

I guess. I don't know. But they don't, you know, I think the awareness of the Argonauts is at an all-time low in this market. You know, they don't even try to put games in 40,000 or 50,000 seat stadiums now they build 22,000 seat stadiums like in my hometown of hamilton um it's a much smaller league than it was and without that ambition now randy ambrosi says he's going to do this and that they're going going to expand here and that. Well, we'll see.

He's got to get a new collective bargaining agreement soon. But yeah, I'm certainly worried about the Argonauts. You know what the weirdest thing with the Argonauts is? Tell me. Is Ricky Ray retired? You mean the only Argo most people could name? Yeah. I don't know.

They had their meeting or they had their PR stuff in the winter. They didn't even mention his name when they hired a new coach. So bizarre. But he hasn't officially retired. What's going on with Ricky Ray? I'm assuming he won't be back.

And if he's not back, I don't know how many of the guys on that team are. Well, the only guy I could name if he's not on the Argos is a guy named Poop. And I only know because I read a thing about his name. Poop Johnson, right? I think it's Poop Johnson, on that team are. Well, the only guy I could name if he's not on the Argos is a guy named Poop, and I only know because I read a thing about his name. Poop Johnson? I think it's Poop Johnson, but that's it.

That's where we're at with the Argos. I was of the belief that moving from the Dome to BMO Field would invigorate this team. I never believed that. I never believed that. But there seems to be people, at least maybe this vocal, people will tell you, okay, the TV ratings are strong. There must be Argo fans in the city.

And they won't go to the Dome, but they'd come to BMO. But that proved not to be true. No, and why the television numbers, television numbers can be twisted to mean anything. Right. But the fact is, is they are number five in this city and falling. Moving to that stadium hasn't helped them. Winning a great cup hasn't helped them. Being owned by Larry Tannenbaum and now ML stadium hasn't helped them winning a great cup hasn't helped them being owned by larry tannenbaum and now mlse hasn't helped them um people don't care about the

argonauts now whether that will again change i guess it's possible it changed when uh when keith pelly was the president and david cinnamon and howard sokoloski on them. People started to care again. And then once they went to what's-his-name on them, that just killed them. So I suspect that they are never going to again reach a level where they can even consider competing in any meaningful way with Blue Jays, Raptors, Leafs. And once upon a time, they did. Or TFC, right?

Because it's easy to compare those two because they play in the same place. And there's no comparison. Well, TFC has done such a wonderful job of building up their supporters and that people go down there and making it an interesting experience and playing high-level soccer.

But you would think that that's a model that people go down there and making it an interesting experience and playing high level soccer. And, um, but you would think that that's a model that they could look at and maybe try to do better with. Have you ever been to a Wolfpack match? No, it's fine. I mean,

it took me a while to figure out cause they don't have a screen. Like they don't have a, yeah, a screen, a video screen. So, but I will tell you this year or a couple, a few weeks ago,

I went to the CIS women's basketball semifinals down at Matamise, and I thought that was great. Cool. Okay, well, so... I'm more likely to do that than I am. I'm not a rugby guy. I don't know anything about rugby. Okay, so we'll pack aside then.

Let me ask you about women's hockey. I know you're a big proponent. I guess it was a real schmazzle yesterday in Finland. I didn't see the whole thing. I didn't see it. Once Canada lost that semi-final to Finland, I lost my interest in the final. Yeah, that's how I typically am on those tournaments.

But I did hear, of course, that I guess Finland scored an overtime and they call it back. After about 10 minutes of a replay review and they gave a penalty to goalie yeah which means the goal should have counted right like i don't know i guess you had to yeah i'd have to see it your word schmozzle i think was the right schmozzle uh yiddish is that yiddish what do i know so uh i want to ask about the professional league so we we had a, tell me, we had a league here. I should know this, right?

The Canadian Hockey League? The Canadian Women's Hockey League, CWHL. And there was a team in Toronto called the Furies. Furies. And there was also a league in the United States called. NWHL. Right. And of course, we all got the news

that this Canadian Women's Hockey League folded. Correct. And now it looks like the NWHL is going to expand to Canada, probably Toronto and Montreal. And do we know whether this will still be the Furies or do they have the... No, we don't know yet. Although it would make sense that it would be the Furies. They're an established organization. Sammy Jo Small runs that organization.

They've done well. I think the reality is, though, is that there were six teams or seven teams in the CWHL because they had two teams from China and then they had one team from China. There's a team in Calgary. There's a team in Toronto. There's one in Markham.

There's one in Montreal. Anyways, there's a lot of women players, female players who are going to lose their jobs, whether we consider them high-paying jobs or players, who are going to lose their jobs, whether we consider them high-paying jobs or whatever. They're going to lose their jobs, which is unfortunate. But I'm hopeful that out of all of that we'll become a stronger NWHL, and they're going to be able to find their level,

whatever that level is, five, ten years from now. I could see a league in which teams would draw four or five thousand you know um maybe ultimately you know junior hockey kind of that sounds great uh four or five thousand yeah and the problem is you can't judge things by here in toronto because toronto is a graveyard for hockey, except the, the Leafs and the Marlies had done all right. Um, and I guess the team in Calgary did well sponsorship with NHL teams seems

to be one way for these teams to find sort of a level of stability. Um, we are at early, early days. If I took you to the early, early days of the NHL, you'd think this thing is never going to make it. These guys are idiots. They don't know what they're doing.

Well, they've done okay over the decades. This is early days of women's professional hockey. It's going to take time. Do you think this kerfuffle going on with these leagues and women's hockey leagues here had anything to do with the fact that Canada

lost the semifinal, which we kind of got lost in the weekend here. But Canada lost the game to Finland in the semis, and we all would have probably bettered our houses on the fact that it was going to be a Canada-US final. So I didn't see the game, so I don't know how they lost it. Finland has been sort of the third power for a long time, and then they had a, what was her name?

Vikkanen, I think was her name nikkanen i think was her name um she was an outstanding player um you know some of their players are playing in north america or in uh u.s colleges or in canadian universities um so they're so obviously now they've been able to get things back finland's a remarkable hockey country um what a great victory for them. So whether all this nonsense going on over here affected Team Canada, I wouldn't even hazard a guess. Okay. Now, that concludes our sports talk. I think we covered almost everything.

If there's anything I missed, let me know. But I want to know. I screwed the things that I didn't want to talk about. Which is fair. That's your right, which is Wolfpack. That's okay. Poor Wolfpack. You know, what are they in, sixth or seventh place seventh place i don't know i thought they were really good

no uh they almost uh went to the super league i think it's called the super but they didn't no i was at this match it's called the million pound match they don't have it anymore you know it was a big who's always there is greg brady he's always at these matches yeah uh and his wife of course at the globe mail uh rachel brady so uh basically we had to win this match called the Million Pound Match to go to the Super League this year. And we didn't. And we did not. Who did we lose to?

A team from England. How's that? I can't remember now. London something, I think. Okay. Yeah, you think the Chinese team has a much further way to, not that this league exists anymore, but that's a further travel. But this is still,

imagine all these teams are in Europe except for the Toronto Wolfpack. So anyway, we are still in that second level and we have to win it outright this year because they got rid of this million pound match set up. And anyway,

I could bore you to tears on this, but we're in the second tier is where we are. So I want to ask you. We're at the end of the sports segment. What else do you want to ask me about? Music? If a young, well here, I'll play a little music want to ask you... We're at the end of the sports segment. What else do you want to ask me about? Music? If a young...

Well, here, I'll play a little music while I ask you these questions here because I was thinking this might be... You know who I'm going to see later this year, by the way, in concert? Tell me. This is a bit of a bucket list thing. Mark Knopfler.

Oh, yeah, from Dire Straits. His new album is fantastic. But I'm still hoping, and Brad Fay, if you're listening, and I know you are, we're planning to maybe go see Seeger again this year. I had Brad Faye on based on your suggestion. Was I wrong?

Yeah, he was fantastic. Of course he was. My wife made this bed. I have two young children, and it's called a loft bed, this style of bed. Anyway, it's not bunk beds. It's called a loft bed, but she made it herself out of wood all by herself herself i helped her carry things but she did all the work

and design and stuff and i was tweeting photos and brad fay i think he was only i think he was being serious could my wife come build that for him like so i might set that up this summer brad if you're listening but brad was fantastic but yeah has he hit the hundred mark on uh bruce springsteen uh concerts because he's approaching 100 yeah i don't know okay we got to get that get him back in here to find out here so i was thinking for you like with the whole sports thing i was considering playing this and i thought that that's too much i think you're i think you were i think you came into our chat today thinking i was going to be be bitter and unhappy about the whole thing.

No, no, no. I just look for the truth. I don't look for trouble. You know that. Best advice, Casey Duffson. I don't know if it's a man or a woman. It doesn't matter. But the question is, what's the best advice you would give to young sports journalists? young sports journalists? Well, first of all, I think sports journalists, and this has kind of been lost in some ways, should become journalists first, in my opinion, because the principles that apply to journalism also apply to sports journalism.

Unfortunately, as I say, a lot of people don't approach sports journalism that way. I think that's a failing of the industry. So I would suggest become a journalist first. What's the best way to become a journalist? Well, I'd probably go to journalism school. That certainly helped me, you know, become a reader of everything, not just things that you are interested in, but everything from economics to politics, to sports, to music, to entertainment, to whatever, um, the, your ability to quickly synthesize information, regardless of the topic will become a big part of your life and then become a journalist, become, uh, an insatiable

reader. And then, then if you have an interest in sports, you may get an opportunity at some point, um, to go down that path. And the, the things that you've learned through reading, um, through reading about a lot of different things and by probably by journalism school, um, will allow you to be as successful in that business. Now, the only thing I would say is the business is changing really quickly and i can't imagine where we're going to be in five years at this very moment what i'm hearing from other uh scribes uh is that uh people are would be leaving their jobs either taking a packaging going or moving on to something else or leaving their job and back in the day i don't know how long back you got to go they would

fill the position of someone else and now they don't like now they so that's true seems there's fewer and fewer uh such jobs to begin with well and as i said to you earlier what a great song this is um i know but i still prefer the metallica cover and i don't know that i've never heard the metallica cover nor do i wish to oh it's even better than this honestly can't be better than this um We'll just have to agree to disagree You have to hear it before You know this as a good journalist You have to actually listen to the Metallica version Before you can definitively say it's not as good

Okay, I'll give it a go What I would say is Well, it's what I said to you a while ago The job that I had that I loved During the part of my career Where I really loved my work what i was doing doesn't exist anymore right so but other new exciting things do exist podcasts and you know all kinds of different things so i think people are gonna have to be flexible

it's just like the job that existed when i started in newspapers. I mean, I started, I learned on typewriter. You know, changes. Fortunately, Bob Seger never changes. He remains great. Unbelievable. Forever. Really? Who else is on your bucket list, by the way, that you haven't seen yet? So you said Mark Knopfler. Yeah, I don't really, I think I'd like to see

um, geez, that's a good question. What voice he had, you know? He doesn. What a voice he had. He doesn't have that voice anymore. There's Alto Reed finishing it off. By the way, anyone listening wants to hear Damien Cox kick out the jams,

there is an episode of Damien Cox kicking out the jams, and it's fantastic. So this is his fourth appearance. Go back and listen to the... That was fun. That was fun. In fact, I looked at it the other day,

and I'm going, I wonder if I would change it at all now. I wonder if I would, because it's got, you know, our musical things sort of change. Actually, my kids, you'll laugh at me, so I'll let everybody laugh at me. Everybody ready to laugh at me?

I'm ready. You know who I'm really keen I'll let everybody laugh at me. Everybody ready to laugh at me? I'm ready. You know who I'm really keen on these days? Cardi B. No, Pink. Oh, yeah. Well. And my kids laugh at me because of what she used to be, but what she is now, she's a fantastic singer.

She sings with incredible emotion and passion. I think she's fantastic. So I have been listening to some Pink, but I don't think there's, no, I don't think there's anything that would make it in the top 10. Bucket list. While Knopfler was on my bucket list,

I've always wanted to see James Taylor, but I haven't been able to see him. Yeah, he'd be good. I have no interest in, I've never seen, I have no interest in seeing the Rolling Stones, even though I'm a fan. I'm not sure I have another.

Oh, well, I'd like to see Coldplay again. I'll obviously want to see Bruce again. I don't have anybody else. Oh, I might want to see, my daughter and I keep talking about it, is Florence and the Machine. Oh, yeah. I think she's great.

She is great. She is great. If you want to bring your daughter to see Lowest of the Low, that's June 27th. Lowest of the Low? They're playing right now. I've heard of Lowest of the Low. Where are they from? Here.

Okay. Super, hyper local, actually. Okay. Like, under the Carlisle Bridge and all. I mean, just. Well, if you remind me. I will. I will try to come back

and then all your friends that insult me can insult me to my face. I think those are Twitter people. Don't confuse them with the listener. The listeners like Damien Cox. I like Damien Cox. Otherwise, I wouldn't have invited you over four times. Go count the number of people

that get invited over four times. Well, I appreciate the invitation. I appreciate once again our conversation. It's nice to be able to sit down. This is a great thing about, this is what radio was. This is what podcasts can be and it makes it a really pleasurable thing to be part of. Long form, real conversations.

Thank you, Damien. Enjoy your lasagna, your beer and I hope I can get you back here at some point for a fifth episode. And I get a jacket. And you get a jacket, for sure. And that brings us to the end of our 451st show. You can follow me

on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Damien is at Damo Spin. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR.

Camp Turnasol is at Camp Turnasol. And Sticker U is at Sticker U. See you all next week. And eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you. But I'm a much better man for having known you. Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't stay today. We'll be right back. I've been told that there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who

Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of gray