Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Dan Shulman: Toronto Mike'd #325

Episode Date: April 13, 2018

Mike chats with Dan Shulman about his years on The Fan, calling Blue Jays games for TSN, the move to ESPN, why he left ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, his return to Blue Jays baseball, his new podcast and more.

Welcome to episode 325 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know that 99.99% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? GLB, brewed for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com, Toronto real estate done right. And PayTM, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot.

Download the app today from paytm.ca. And our newest sponsor, Camp Tournesol, the leading French summer camp provider in Ontario. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me is broadcaster Dan Shulman. Welcome, Dan. Thank you, Mike. How are you doing? Awesome to hear that voice in these headphones. You know, we have apologies to the late, great Mark Daly, who forever will be known as the voice in Toronto. Yeah, great voice.

Yeah, you're the other voice. I appreciate that. It's good company to be in, so I appreciate that. Oh, yeah. I was at the Starbucks across from 299 Queen Street yesterday, and all the memories were flooding back as I look at the building there. And I thought of Electric Circus and Mark Daly and all that great stuff. So thanks for coming out.

And you're a little late. I can just say that I was bumped for good reason. Yes. You just talked to Ross Atkins at the Dome. Yeah, for my podcast. I haven't done 325 episodes like you have. I'm just getting started this year, but I've started a podcast called A Swing and a Belt,

which was one of Tom Cheek's common calls, speaking of great voices. And yes, Ross Atkins, the general manager of the Blue Jays, was the guy I sat down with today. It's going to air in a week or two. So we were a little behind, and we got to chatting, so I apologize I got here a little bit. No, that's a great reason.

I'm telling you, I've heard a lot of excuses on this show. That's a really good one. And we will talk later about A Swing and a Belt, which I can't even read that title without hearing it in Tom Cheek's voice. That's one of the great calls, for sure. That's good. I like that instant recognition factor. That's what we were going for.

And now I addressed the listeners. So I don't want the regular listeners to freak out when they look at this episode and see it's 60 minutes wrong. Sorry, 60 minutes long. I don't want them to look at this episode and think something went wrong. Something went horribly wrong in the room because Gord Stelic

was here a couple of days ago. He did two and a half hours. Well, Gordy can talk. Gordy's a better talker than I am. I just introduced him and then I was quiet. Gordy's great at that. He had a lot of Harold Ballard stories. All right, so between me and Gord, you're averaging still about an hour and a half, an hour and 45 minutes per episode. And don't get

me wrong, I'm grateful for the 60. So this is going to be a jam-packed, tight 60. I'm changing some things up. In fact, in an effort to hear more from you and less from me, I'm not going to do my regular sponsor breaks. I'm actually just right now going to thank, very grateful for the support of our four sponsors here. And I ask you please to support them all

because they help keep this going. So go to campt.ca and look into sending your child to French camps this summer. Download PayTM from paytm.ca. There's a promo code TorontoMike that'll get you $10. Dan, in front of you, there's a six-pack of beer. I see that.

All yours, my friend. Well, thank you. Five cans in one bottle. That's more beer than a six-pack, actually. I appreciate that. I'm a fan of that particular sponsor. Well, I will say it's Great Lakes Brewery, and they're going to be tickled pink to hear that you enjoy their beer.

Much like this podcast, they're completely independent in southwest Toronto, and they're great guys. So take home the Great Lakes beer. You're going to need a pint glass to pour your beer into. So there's a pint glass for you. I see that. Courtesy of Brian Gerstein, who I'm going to need a pint glass to pour your beer into. So there's a pint glass for you. I see that. Courtesy of Brian Gerstein, who I'm going to say it, he's a Dan Shulman super fan.

Well, it's funny you should mention that because since I launched the podcast like 10 days ago, I've been on Twitter a little bit more looking for feedback, checking out what's going on, and that name has popped up a few times in the last couple of weeks. He tweets as a Raptors devotee. He's a big Raptors fan, but he's just tickled pink. If you would drink a beer out of his pint glass, I think it would make his day. Brian, I will do that. I promise

you. And for everyone else, yes, please call Brian at 416-873- 02... I don't have the phone number here. That's terrible. Oh, here it is. I got it. 873-0292. 92, as in the first World Series Blue Jays win there. Come on. So give him a call with all your GTA real estate questions.

He's happy to help you out. All right. Where to begin? Where to begin? Let's begin with this. What's become a legend on this show, people talking about this. You were going to be an actuary. Tell me, an actuary? Yes, an actuary. Tell me, an actuary? Yes, an actuary, yes.

How does one who goes to Western Ontario, University of Western Ontario to become an actuary, end up in sports media? Well, that's a long story, so I'll give you somewhat of a condensed version of it. So I did go to Western to become an actuary, and for those who don't know, and I was a little fuzzy on it back in the day,

but actuaries deal with things like insurance and pensions. And I was always a math kid, huge sports fan, like crazy sports fan, but a math geek growing up as a kid and went to Western. And my parents had always drilled into me and my sisters, get involved. Don't just go to school, do something, extracurricular activities, something like that. So on my first day at Frosh Week in Western in 1985, I decided I wanted to go to the campus newspaper office, the Gazette, which is a terrific newspaper, terrific university newspaper, and see if I could write some sports for them on the side. And I went into the UCC to the main building, and the lineup was like out the hall and down the hall, around the corner,

like a hundred people. And I said, well, the heck with that. I'm not standing in line my first day in university for behind a hundred people. So I'm walking back through the halls on my way back to my dorm and I see a door that says Radio Western. That's all it says. And I knock on the door and somebody says, come in. And I walk in, there are four or five guys sitting there. And I said, is this the campus radio station? And they said, yeah. And I said, do you guys do sports? They said, yeah. And I said, do you need volunteers? And they said, yeah.

And that was Tuesday of frosh week. And on Saturday, I was helping out on a Western Windsor football game. And I just loved it. So I worked or worked. I volunteered. I messed around at the radio station. CHRW is the call letters to this day. And did a lot of basketball games, a lot of football games, and had a talk show called From the Cheap Seats that I really, really enjoyed doing.

And actually, my fourth year, my last year, I didn't do anything at the radio station because I decided it was kind of time to buckle down, get a degree. So I did that, started working as an actuary for about six months after I graduated in 1989, and just wasn't feeling it and decided, you know what, if I'm ever going to make a change, if I'm ever going to try to make a change, let's do it now. I'm not married, don't have kids, no dependents, nothing. I think I was still living. I had moved back in with my parents after graduation for a while. Let's give it a shot. So, uh, I started sending out demo tapes, which, uh, for, uh, people who live before the internet, you actually

made cassette tapes, put them in an envelope, went to the post office, put some postage on them and mailed them out. And, uh, I called radio stations all around the province, seeing if anybody needed help and, uh, and eventually got an interview at a station in Barrie. And that's where I started. Did that for a while, left my actuarial job eventually, and things just kind of started from there. When you walked into CHRW, did you sound like this? Like, did you have your voice like this? No, I mean, I don't know.

People have asked me that, like, you know, when did you go get your training? And I said, like, this is it. You know, so I do remember probably when I was about 22, I worked with a guy. I don't know how I do know how I got in touch with actually somebody putting me in touch with him. And I worked with a guy for maybe like six weeks on pacing, pausing, enunciation, that sort of thing, things I had no idea about. But no, I guess I'm just, listen, what God gave me in voice, he didn't give me in hair. So I'll take one of the two. I have the opposite.

You have the opposite problem. Right, exactly. You probably are jealous of me, and I'm sitting here jealous of you. I'm actually, you know what, I'm very comfortable being bald. So it's the balding that I had a problem with, but bald is fine. As soon as I shaved my head, I was totally fine with it. Bald is beautiful. Yeah, bald is beautiful. Bald is the new cool.

But when I was younger, when I was probably 15, 16, 17, my dad, our voices were very similar. I assume I got it from him. It's not something I thought about for one second in my life until I got into broadcasting. And then people said, hey, you know, you've got a decent voice. But nobody ever told me that before. I'm glad you mentioned your dad because I have a message from longtime listener Dale

who says, my wife has met Dan at his father's dental office at Weston Road and King Street in the late 70s, early 80s when Dr. Sheldon Schulman was her dentist. She knew about Dan before I did, he says. So there's a shout out. Well, his name's not Sheldon, but other than that... Oh! So close, Dale. Yeah, his name is Arnie and he worked at... King Street

doesn't... It was at Weston Road near Lawrence. Well, he's got a couple of details wrong here. No, King Street could be the side street. I can't remember the side street, but yeah, my dad retired well, he's got a couple of details wrong here. No, King Street could be the side street. I can't remember the side street. But yeah, my dad retired, well, it's got to be 16, 17 years ago. So I guess, yeah, no, I'm buying it that they were a patient. But if they met me and my dad at the office, that was a while ago, yeah. And Stuart Coppins needs to know, what residence at Western did you live in?

Saugeen Maitland, room 748, 7 Middle. They put up a shrine there, I hear. No. I don't think so. That's coming. And CHRW, just before we leave that, and then I'm going to start talking at double speed to keep this on time here, but CHRW has had many famous Canadian alumni, and I need to give a shout out to former Toronto Mike guests, Stephen Brunt and Elliot Friedman, who went there.

Yes. CHRW was great, and a lot of people who were there wound up in the business in one capacity or another. And I did it just totally for fun at the beginning. Even the three years that I was doing it at Western, I don't ever consciously remember having the thought, I'd like to do this for a career. It was only after I started working as an actuary and said, you know what, I'm not sure this is for me that I started thinking about it. But it was a place not only where I went to go on air, but it kind of became a social hangout too.

We'd go there, we'd play bubble hockey in the UCC, in the student center, and there were some really great people working there. And had there been no line at the Gazette, who knows, right? Interesting how life works, isn't it? That's fascinating. no line at the Gazette. Who knows, right? Interesting how life works, isn't it? That's fascinating. Now, you mentioned you were working in Barrie, and then most of the people listening right now are aching for me to get you to the fan 1430. How did you end up on the air at the fan 1430? So I'm in Barrie, and for about six months, I'm an actuary Monday to Friday, and I'm doing

newscasts in Barrie Saturday, Sunday. And then somebody in Barry, uh, took a job at a different station and a full-time position opened up and I decided I want to do it. So I, I quit my job, probably wasn't an actuary for three, four months, maybe doing both. So I quit my job as an actuary and, uh, I was making, this is 1990. Now I was making 48,000 as an actuary and I quit to take a $17,000 job in Barry. And, uh, from that day on made the decision, I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to do what I want to do. Not because of any other reason, if it feels right, I'm going to do it. So I'm in Barry and I'm working weekends. And then somebody goes on maternity leave and I get to evenings and then somebody gets promoted and I go working weekends, and then somebody goes on maternity leave, and I get to evenings, and then somebody gets promoted, and I go to middays, and so on and so forth.

So I'm in very maybe a year plus. And a buddy of mine from back then, a guy I knew from Western, knew somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody who knew the program director at CJCL. It was not the fan yet. It was Music of Your Life, CJCL 1430, and got me an interview. And I met some people there, including the program director, Alan Davis, and the news director, Scott Metcalf, both of whom I'm still in touch with and both of whom were instrumental in me getting started. And they were transitioning into more of a sports station. So after working with me a little bit, Scott agreed to put me on the air

for a weekend run of sportscast. So Monday to Friday, I'm Barry. I drive back down to Toronto and I do sportscast Saturday, Sunday. And after my, after that Sunday, Scott said to me, he said, I hate to tell this to you, Dan. He said, we thought you were ready, but you're not ready yet. He goes, you need more work. And I was heartbroken. So I still got the job in Barry, but Scott said to me, come down here every Friday. When you come back to the city, come down here every Friday with a tape from that week and I'll go over it with you. And we did. And a credit to him for investing the time in me. And so I would sit with Scott and eventually a few months later, so again, it's transitioning

into more of a sports station. So they had newscasters doing the sports. They wanted a weekend guy. That's what I was supposed to be. So they went back to the newscasters doing the sports until the newscaster called the golfer Mark Kalkovecchia. He called him Mark Kalkovecchia.

This reminds me of Les Nesman. Yeah, exactly. That's right. And Scott called me up and he says, okay, you're ready now. And they decided it was time to put a sports guy back on the air. So, uh, I started doing weekends there for a while. And then probably about for about six months was Monday to Friday at CKBB in Barrie, Saturday, Sunday at CJCL in Toronto. And then they offered me a full-time job in Toronto. So I left Barrie and now we're in kind of, it feels like middle

of 91, fall-ish. Yeah, fall of 91, September of 91, I think, when I went down to CJCL full-time and did anything and everything, whatever was asked of me to do. Now, here are some of the names I believe were doing sports with you at CJCL at the time. These are crazy names. You're going to test my memory. Ken Daniels was there? Absolutely. Ken lived right across the street from where the radio

station was back then. Holly Street. It was near Yonge and Eglinton. It wasn't Rogers. It wasn't one Mount Pleasant or anything like that. If you looked out the window of the broadcast booth and Kenny's blinds were open, you could see his kitchen. But yes, Ken Daniels was an established... I mean, he was

working at CBC, too. He was a CBC television anchor, and he was was an established, I mean, he was working at CBC too. He was a CBC television anchor and he was doing some hockey, I think. Of course, now he's the voice of the Red Wings, has been for many years. And he was doing a lot of stuff at CJCL as well. Yeah, he was actually here a couple of weeks ago and just tremendous stories too. Yeah, you're right. The CBC, the CJCL, and then now Detroit Red Wings. So a couple of other names. Eric Thomas was there. Yes, he was doing Rac, too. Yeah, you're right. The CBC, the CJCL, and then now Detroit Red Wings. So a couple of other names.

Eric Thomas was there. Yes, he was doing Raceline Radio. Scott Ferguson. Scott Ferguson. So Scott Ferguson at the time was the very established, well-known pre- and post-game host for the Blue Jays show, for the Blue Jays game. So Tom and Jerry are doing the games. And the pre-game show was called, I believe, the Major League Report. And the postgame show, I believe, was called Baseball Today. And eventually, I started doing... Bob McCowan was doing Jay's Talk. Never heard of him.

Yeah. Bob McCowan was doing Jay's Talk. But when I got there, eventually, I started doing Jay's Talk. Bob kind of backed away from it. And so Fergie would do Baseball Today, and then I would do Jay's Talk. And we would rotate would do baseball today and then I would do Jay's talk and we would rotate every second weekend. Either I would do both to give him a weekend off or he would do both to give me a weekend off. That's just, to me, that's just crazy. And Howard Berger was there already? Of course, yeah. Howard was doing a lot of different things and evolving into just like a full-time Maple Leafs beat reporter then. As the station became a full-time sports station, obviously they had more room for specialists. And, and I mean, Howard did a lot of different stuff. He was a general reporter, but if memory serves, he was evolving into full-time Leafs beat.

Was Mike Hogan there? Yep. Mike Hogan was, uh, an, uh, an anchor at times. Um, and he was a talk show host at times and he was always CFL had a kind of a CFL angle and specialty to him and, and, and still times. Um, and he was a talk show host at times and he was always CFL had a kind of a CFL angle and specialty to him and, and, and still does. So, uh, you know, it's funny when you think about all the people who were there because some, I was very young. I mean, when we went all sports in 92, I was only 25 years old. I mean, they just, they just kind of threw a bunch of us on the air and said, figure it out. And, concept of an all-sports radio station is second nature now, but it wasn't then. Nobody thought we would succeed.

But, you know, you had Bob, who obviously had built up the reputation in the city then as being the preeminent sports talk guy. So that really helped. You had Jim Hunt, who was working with Bob and who I would later work with. I've got gym questions. Yeah, and you had a lot of younger people like myself and others who they just, you know, they had some belief in and they let us go make some mistakes. Dan, I could do an hour on the fan 1430 here. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to, because I mentioned he was here two days ago. Now, I've had so many people on this show who have basically sang your praises.

So I couldn't take all the clips and play them or you'd be sitting here for three hours like this is your life, Dan Schulman, and you'd just be swimming in the glowing praise. So I'm just going to play a very short clip from Gord Stelic two days ago. So this is still piping fresh. Let's hear from Gord. Tell me a bit about working with Dan Schulman, if you

don't mind. Oh, geez. The only criticism I have was Dan would have us in on a show when the fan launched, like from noon to four. And Dan was so good, and I was so nervous and new, that I would quite often try to make my voice sound like Dan Schulman's. You know, try to do it because he's so perfect. And Don Cherry gave me a great line.

He goes, Gordy, Gordy, Gordy, my boy, you're doing great. I love you. I love you. You're great. And you know what? Don't ever get smooth like those other guys. Which, for Don Cherry, is actually a compliment, but I realized, yeah, don't try to pretend your voice is like Dan Shulman's because he just blows you out of the water. You know,

Mike, he is, he stayed in Thornhill. I know he lives downtown Toronto now. And, uh, I can, we can name, I can name a lot of people. You can name a lot of people too, that things went to their head, both on the hockey side or the media side. Uh, he ain't one of them. He is not one of them. And just he is as good as it gets broadcasting-wise, and he is the real deal as a person. Wow. I don't know what to say. I mean, the last part is the part that resonates with me the most, and I feel the same way about Gordy.

Gordy is awesome. Known him forever. One of the nicest, I'm sure, as you discovered when you had him in here. I mean, as nice a person as there is. And I remember it was 93 or 94, maybe, when Gord Stelik and Damian Cox started coming into the station and I would have him on my show. It was during the hockey strike.

Well, hockey lockout. I'm sorry. Baseball was a lockout. Hockey was a, I don't know, whatever the heck it was. A hockey stoppage. And try having an all-sports radio station in the wintertime when there's no hockey and the Raptors weren't here yet or anything. But Gord is great. I mean,

you know, enthusiastic and friendly and knowledgeable, as good a memory as anybody I have ever met in my life. It's actually remarkable. And he'll say what day of the week it was. There's an actress, Mary Lou Henner, and I saw an interview of her once, and she was able to say it was Tuesday There's an actress, Mary Lou Henner, and I saw an interview of her once, and she was able to say it was Tuesday, it was sunny,

and she was able to have this gift of recall. Gord's not far off. No, he can recreate. I remember when we made that trade. I was sitting in the room having a coffee with this person and that person, and it's unbelievable. And he's had a great career. I mean, you know, Boy Wonder is a GM,

and then a second career in the media covering hockey, as well as he does TV and radio, a number of different, you know, responsibilities over the years. But that's right. We had a tremendous amount of fun. And again, back then, not that we weren't getting direction, because we were getting direction, but I think it was almost like our bosses were our parents, and we were kind of puppies who were just about to turn into, uh, into slightly more mature people. And they just said, go have, go see what happens,

go figure it out. And if you, you know, if you go too far, we'll pull you back. But they gave us a lot of room to, uh, to have fun and experiment on the air. And, uh, I loved working with Gord. Well, because he's listening, uh, right now, uh, do you have, what would you say about Nelson Millman? Uh, Nelson was great. Now, well, let me ask you right now, what would you say about Nelson Millman? Nelson was great. Well, let me ask you a question. What do you mean? Is this a live podcast? No, no, no. I just know. See, we're Gord. I don't know. Gord cherry picks, although I'm sure Gord will listen to this episode. He cherry picks. Nelson listens. Nelson was great. So Nelson was at the... I don't think he was at the radio station right when I got there. He got there about a year later, I believe.

And Nelson's been a friend for a long time. And again, you know, he instilled confidence in you. He gave you freedom, gave you latitude to do what you would want. If he had to get on you about something, he'd get on you about something. But he'd do it in such a nice way, you couldn't even be angry at him. So Nelson's a terrific guy. And I really enjoyed working with him and working for him. I have a question from Kevin Ahoy, and he says, what's your favorite memory of doing the afternoon show with Barb DiGiulio?

Well, so I did the stage that Kevin's talking about. I did the noon to four show for a while. I bounced around. I went from evenings to middays and then eventually wound up on primetime. A lot of people forget because it was a million years ago, but there have only ever been two people to host primetime sports. I'm the other guy. I did it for about two years. I remember. You remember. But before that, I did noon to four. And Barb, at the time, did a lot of different things. And we had an hour for a while from three

to four called Lady and the Tramps. It was my last hour of the 12 to four show and McCowan's first hour of the three to seven show. And it didn't stay that way for long, but I would say maybe a year. And so Bob would come in and Barb would come in and be a co-host and the three of us would just go. Whatever we wound up talking about, we would talk about.

And I promise you, we never rehearsed it and we never knew what was going to happen. And sometimes I'm sure we fell flat on our faces because of it. And sometimes it was a lot of fun. It was a little risque. It was a little out there. I don't think I would have the stones to do now what I did then. But Barb was great.

Another really good friend, very talented broadcaster. And did you ever do, I guess you did Lunch Bag Letdown with Barb and Gord? Yeah, we did that. Again, now you're really digging deeper into my memory bank. We did do lunch bag letdown during the 12 to 1 hour, I think. So, you know, things changed a lot at the station in the first couple of years. Like I was saying, I got there, I want to say September of 91 is when I got there full time.

And I was gone February of 95. I was only there three and a half, maybe four years. And in that time went from weekends to evenings to middays to prime time. Actually, even did the morning show for a little while. They were trying to convince both me and Bob to do the morning show, and whoever didn't do it would do prime time.

And I kept saying to them, I don't want to do it. And they said, okay, well, we'll pay you more. And I said, you're not listening to me. I don't want to do it. And they said, okay, well, we'll pay you more. And I said, you're not listening to me. I don't want to do it. I did mornings in Barry for six months. I've woken up at 3.15 in the morning. I don't want to do it. And eventually they got Bob to do it.

So Bob moved to the mornings and I moved to primetime. But there was some turnover early, but we had some great people. I mean, Steve Simmons and Mary Ormsby were there doing 10 to 12. Gordon Damien eventually took over the midday show when I went to primetime and Bob went to the morning. Storm and Norman Rumack made his mark back then. Hammerhead alert. Yeah, Wendell Clark and all that. Of course.

And you know what really helped too? Early, this is before the hockey, I'm going to get this right, before the hockey strike and the baseball lockout. No, that's not right. Well, the lockout's in 94. Yes, the hockey lockout and the baseball strike, before that happened, before the hockey lockout and the baseball strike. So before that, obviously the Blue Jays win the World Series in 92 and 93,

and the Maple Leafs make the conference finals in 92, 93, and 93, 94. So you want to talk about someone from up above looking down on us. It's like Toronto is now. It's like Toronto is now. Perfect storm. It's like Toronto is now. But we needed that back then because we were just getting started. Absolutely. And let's get you to primetime here.

So you mentioned Bob McCowan takes over Mornings, the morning show. You become the other host of Primetime Sports, and you're co-hosting with Jim Shakey Hunt. So many people, I opened it up to Twitter, got questions, and I got a lot of emails dms tweets a lot of them asking about uh shaky so i'll use jake the snake as my example he would love to hear your thoughts and memories of working with jim shaky hunt loved loved loved it now i will say about once a month we got into a we got into brawls sometimes that you couldn't believe so

shaky for those who don't know um so i again i was a kid. So I'm 26, 27 as I'm doing the show. And I remember Shakey was 40 years older than me. So may he rest in peace. So he's 66, 67 at the time. Very prominent columnist for the Toronto Sun. And now he's doing radio as well. And you want to talk about a guy who didn't have a filter and a guy who just said whatever he was on, whatever was on his mind. Shakey was that guy.

And he loved, had a passion for the CFL, covered a zillion great cups in a row, had a passion for hockey, really loved baseball, obviously. And, you know, I had a squeaky squealy, Daniel, he called me Daniel all the time, Daniel, I don't, you're not making any sense, Daniel. And the only thing we would fight once in a while, because, you know, we came from different generations and we would argue about that a little bit, but actually the only time he would really get upset at me is he had this knack. He never remembered to turn his mic on. Not he never did, but he often did not remember to turn his mic on. Like you've made it easy on

me here. You're controlling my mic because you don't want me to worry about it. But when we moved into some new studios at Holly street, you had to turn on your own microphone and shaky would forget. So I'd have to reach around and I would point or gesture and he wouldn't know what I was doing. And he didn't wear headphones. So he couldn't tell he wasn't on the air, but I could tell he wasn't on the air and I'd push the button and he'd get all upset at me. But we absolutely loved, uh, I mean, I think he felt the same way as I did. We loved working together. It was two hours. I think I did, but at that point, three to four was with Gordon Damien, I believe. Four to five, I was on my own and we had, you know, it's like trivia contest, phone calls, that kind of thing.

And then five to seven was with Shakey leading into a Blue Jays game or a Leaf game or anything. And it was, he was a character. If I could sum him up in just it was, he was a character. If I could sum him up in just one phrase, he was a character. Joe has had his moments, trying to lay off that ball, low to the outside part of the plate, and he just went after one. Two balls and two strikes on him. Here's the pitch on the way, a swing and a belt, Left field. Way back. Blue Jays win it. The Blue Jays are World Series champions. As Joe Carter hits a three-rub home run in the ninth inning.

And the Blue Jays have repeated as World Series champions. Touch them all, Joe. You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life. I've got the chills, Dan. I always get the chills when that gets played. You were there that night. Yes. What was it like?

Because I've now heard from 600,000 Torontonians who were there, but you were really there. Okay, so I'll tell you a funny story, which I guess you don't know, or you would preface this differently. So my job, as I said, was doing the post-game show. Pre-game show, post-game show, 1993. I didn't have any responsibilities during the game. So I had, through the Blue Jays, I had purchased two tickets to every game. So I'm sitting in the seats down the right field line. Philadelphia takes a 6-5 lead going to the bottom of the ninth.

50,000 people there. I've got to be in position in the lobby of the hotel, which is a different setup now than it is now. It's called the Sky Dome Hotel, I think. I can't remember what it was called. But it was in the lobby of the hotel out in center field. So as the game goes to the bottom of the ninth, as the top of the ninth ends, I leave my seat,

and I start making my way towards the lobby of the hotel because As the top of the ninth ends, I leave my seat and I start making my way towards the lobby of the hotel because I've got to be in position. And there was this freight elevator that they would let us use to try to kind of avoid the crowds. And it was one of these that has, you know,

like the, it looks like a cage, like the door closes side to side and then the other one comes down. Is this how I get to Andrew Stokely when he's doing audio? You probably do, yeah. So I been in this. Is this how I get to Andrew Stokely when he's doing audio? You probably do, yeah. So I get in this elevator, and it's just not going anywhere.

And there's a big crank to close it, and it just takes a couple of minutes to go anywhere. And all of a sudden, I feel this like an earthquake. And I'm in the damn elevator when Joe Carter hits the home run. That wins the World Series. And didn't see it until for who knows how long. And there's no smartphones back then. You don't even get the real-time alerts. So I figured either we had had an earthquake in an area that I don't consider to be earthquake country or that the Blue Jays had won the World Series. Oh, that's great. Yeah. If I had known that story, I'd forgot I'd known that story. So it was great to hear that again. Now, I play that for two reasons.

One, that you were at the Dome that night. And secondly, because I was curious what influenced the great Tom Cheek. And you can even speak to Jerry Howarth, too, had over your career. So both. I'll start with Tom because Tom got to Toronto in 1987. Jerry wasn't until 81 or 82. So 1977, I'm 10 years old. 87. Jerry wasn't until 81 or 82. So 1977, I'm 10 years old. And at the time, I am, in my opinion,

the biggest Maple Leafs fan in the world. Absolutely in the world. Daryl Sittler was, is, always will be my guy. We had the same initials. You can try to tell me that's coincidence. I'm not buying it. February 7th, 76, six goals, four assists. I wasn't there, but I remember it like yesterday, five goals against the Flyers in the playoffs, game-winning goal of the Canada Cup against the Czechs, the whole deal. Love the Maple Leafs. And then all of a sudden the Blue Jays show up. And I had not been to a major league game before April 7th, 77. And I don't remember really following baseball much. I followed basketball a little bit as a little kid, eight, nine years old, but I don't really remember following baseball. I remember a Sports Illustrated cover, which I

think is the preview issue for 77 with Rod Carew and George Foster on the cover. And I had it for many, many years, might still have it. But I am hooked, day one, 77. And of course, it's a different world. Very few games are on TV. Wednesday nights are on TV. Sunday afternoons are on TV. That's it. If you're a kid, if you're anybody, you're listening to the radio. So Tom Cheek was a big part of my life from the age of 10. Jerry shows up when I'm about 15, and I've got Tom and Jerry for years and years and years and years. Now, fast forward to 1991, and I'm getting into the business, and I'm getting a chance to meet these guys. And Tom, I'm a pretty big guy.

I had to duck significantly to not hit my head coming down into your basement here. But Tom was bigger than me. Tom was a big guy. And more than just being a big guy, he was a big presence. If Tom was in the room, you knew Tom was in the room. You know, my high school buddy of mine and I, they used to have these things called Blue Jays Luncheon of the Month. And Tom would host them. And they would have somebody there.

And we'd skip school every now and again in high school when we're 15, 16, and go to these luncheons. And we'd be the only high school kids there. And, you know, just to try to get a chance to talk to Tom. And I didn't realize, of course, I had no idea I'd get into broadcasting back then, but I was as enamored with the broadcasters as I was with the players, really. So Tom was a, both Tom and Jerry,

good friends, very, very good friends to me, big influences on me. But Tom probably more so just because, you know, he was there at a younger age. And, you know, some of the calls, and you just played that one, I mean, you're not going to hear a better call. That call and Jack Buck's,

and we'll see you tomorrow night, are my two favorite calls of all time. And I was really, really lucky to work with Tom and really, really sad when he took ill. Do you remember this song? Sure. This is TSN music. This is Labatt Blue Jays baseball on TSN in the 90s.

Am I right? You are correct, sir. I'm wearing a black blazer with a yellow TSN. There it is. That's Jim Van Horn, right? I believe it is, yeah. You buy Labatt Blue. Now you're laughing. Yeah, that sounds Jim Van Horn, right? I believe it is, yeah.

Yeah, that sounds Jim Van Horn-ish. Yeah, Black Blazer, Yellow Crest, Bad Glasses, Balding. That's me in the 90s. So you got an offer. What happened? Tell me how you left the fan for TSN. So I met the fan, and it's the fall of 94, say November of 94. And Jim Hewson, to whom I have owed an overdue thank you card for 24 years now. Jim Hewson, great broadcaster.

I heard him last night. Yeah, one of the finest broadcasters this country's ever produced. He's doing hockey, but he's also the Blue Jays guy for TSN. And at the time, there are three different networks, three different entities doing Blue Jays games. TSN's doing about 80 games a year. And Jim Hewson decides, as far as I understand it, he's going to move back to Vancouver. He's been away too much. He's just going to focus on hockey. So I get a call. Actually, I don't know if I get a call or I initiate the call. I don't even remember that. But somehow I wind up getting TSN to okay me auditioning for the job. I am 27 years old. I'm turning 28 in February, but this is like November of 94.

And I go into TSN to audition. And Buck Martinez is there. He was, is, with the Blue Jays. And Scott Moore, who's now my boss at Sportsnet, is running things at TSN then. And two things, well, a number of things I remember. So when you go into audition for something like this, we went into a studio, and there was a big TV up in front of us, and they had a tape of a Blue Jays game from the 1994 season against Kansas City, Pat Henkin and Kevin Apier.

But not 94. Yes, 94, from before the season. Oh, right. The season ended August the 12th. There was no hockey season at all. No, my apologies. Baseball went into August. Of course, of course.

Yeah, that's why the Expos are still hard-broken. So it's a Pat Henkin, Kevin Apier game in 1994. And so I would have some background. They, uh, well, they didn't email them to me. They mailed them to me, uh, game notes, stats from that day as if I'm in the moment. And so I, uh, I can see what happens in the game.

Like I know what happens in the game. The funny part was it was a one to nothing game and like everybody struck out. Like nobody was on base ever. There was nothing going on. Right. The other thing was I was sick as a dog. So, uh, I go into the studio and I, I sit, I, I knew Buck, but barely. And we go in and we do, I think five innings. I don't think we did the whole game. And we're just, we're just sitting alone in the studio. And I don't even know that up in the corner office in Scott Moore's office, there are like six people listening to us do it. And I'm not smart enough to know that there are people

listening to us do it. Otherwise I really would have been nervous. Um, and I walk out and I get a call a couple of days later and they say, thanks very much. Uh, but no thanks. And I said, okay, just like CJCO. Thanks, but no thanks. Every job I've ever gotten has been thanks, but no thanks. And so I go back to the fan. And I'm doing my thing, primetime, Monday to Friday. And in like February, I get a call. And they said, come on in. We'd like

to talk to you. And I go in and they offer me the job. So whoever out there... So we don't know who that was. I don't know. Whoever out there held out for too much money, God bless you and thank you because I've had so many breaks in my career, but I was young, cheap, and local. And I think if I had a business card, it would say, hire me. I'm young, cheap, and local. And that helped. And so I don't know who didn't get the

job, but I did. I watched many of those TSN games with you and Buck. And I'll say it was my favorite tandem on TV were you and Buck. Thank you. And I have said this about Buck. I have said this to Buck. I've had a lot of people who have been great to me and have guided me along the way. But I don't know if I would have gotten anywhere close

to wherever it is that I've gotten without Buck beside me when I started at TSN. He was so helpful. And I was so green. and I didn't even know what I didn't know, and Buck just helped me so many times. Let's just get a little taste of you and Buck. They've got an outstanding shot at it. Boston way back in second, and the Blue Jays behind them in third. Baltimore has dropped to fourth.

The Yankees have really made a mockery of what was considered to be, and may still be, the best division in all of baseball. Now for the Blue Jays, how tough a loss is that last night? Does that blow away all their momentum? No, I don't think it really does. The Red Sox lost, as we know, to the Yankees, and the Blue Jays are still four and a half back, and it's an important game for

them tonight, because just as we saw last time, the first game of a four-game series... It's like a time machine, but it's fantastic. But you were seven years at TSN calling games with Buck? Yeah, 95 through 01. Well, six with Buck, one with Tabby because in 2001, Buck became the manager.

Right. So, yeah, the first six were with Buck and the last one I did there was with Tabby. Now, at some point, the Americans come calling. So, tell me how you, it was a tough decision. So ESPN calls and you leave TSN for ESPN. Oh, there's a lot more to it than that.

Well, tell me, please. This is the craziest of all the crazy stories. Okay, I'm ready. I'm working in the evenings at CJCL. I'm not even on prime time yet. You know what I'm doing? I'm doing a post-game show for a Leafs game or a Jays game or something. So it's probably 93.

And the phone rings in the newsroom. Again, this is way earlier, way back in 93. The phone rings in the newsroom and I pick it up, CJCL 1430, and I hear a man say, good evening, I'm looking for Dan Schulman, I said, speaking. And he goes, my name is Al Jaffe and I'm calling from ESPN. And I'm wondering if I could talk to you about auditioning for ESPN radio. Now, again, kids, this is 1993. No satellite TV, no dishes, no internet, nothing. And I know what ESPN is, but I don't know what ESPN radio is. That's like saying two words that don't belong together. What does that mean?

And I think it's my roommate, my college roommate, Rob, messing with, punking me. So I said, that's pretty funny, Rob. You even gave yourself like a New York accent. And there's this long pause on the other end of the phone. And then I hear, I'm going to say this again. My name is Al Jaffe. And now I'm going, oh man. I said, I've really screwed this up, but I'm still suspicious. So I say to him, hey, Al, I just got to do one more sportscast, which was true. I said, can I take your number and call you back at midnight as soon as I get off the air? So he gives me a number, area code 203, which at the time was Hartford, Connecticut. And I call him back and he says, we'd like you to come down and audition for ESPN radio, which I do to fast forward a little bit. Um, I find out that again,

fast forward a little bit, I find out that, again, pre-internet, Al is sitting in Connecticut and was told there was a promising young radio talk show host on a station like in Albany at 1420. And somehow, you know, there were no buttons then. You're tuning a dial to get to the radio station. He accidentally gets me in Toronto from Connecticut at 1430 instead of whoever it was in Albany. I'm really sorry, whoever you are, at 1420. And he takes a liking to me and he calls me. And I go down to audition for ESPN Radio. So while I'm doing primetime sports. Ken, this story is amazing.

Yeah, this is my favorite story. While I'm doing primetime sports Monday to Friday, I'm doing ESPN radio for 18 months Saturday, Sunday. They had a Saturday night and Sunday night show. So I would finish primetime Friday. I'd fly Saturday morning down to Connecticut. I would do Saturday night, Sunday night radio, fly back Monday morning and go right to the station and start all over again.

So then when I get the Blue Jay job in 95, now I can't do the ESPN radio because I'm doing weekend games. So I leave ESPN. So now it's 1995, my first year of doing Blue Jays games. And in late August or something, I get a call. The Blue Jays are in New York. It's Tuesday night. And I get back to my hotel room at the Grand Hyatt. Again, pre-cell phones. Like how anything happened back then is beyond me. It's funny, right? And my light's flashing on the

hotel room at the Grand Hyatt. I pick it up and I hear, hi, my name is Jed Drake. I'm with ESPN. I'm in charge of baseball. Somebody has come down sick. I think a play-by-play guy got sick. They said, you know, we know who you are from radio and we know who you are because Buck used to work for ESPN or still worked at the time forSPN. They said, we have an opening tomorrow in Kansas City, and we need a guy. Can you fly to Kansas City? We know TSN's not broadcasting the Blue Jays tomorrow. Can you fly to Kansas City and do a game? Like, I call them back at midnight, and this is the conversation we're having.

And so I fly to Kansas City the next day. And I do, I think it was the Angels and the Royals, I believe, with Jim Rooker, the old pitcher, left-hander, was the analyst. And I do one game, and they call me the next day. And then I go back to New York and do the Blue Jays game Thursday. And they call me the next day, and they say, thanks very much. We appreciate it. And I said, great, thanks very much.

And then I get a call about a week later, and they said, do you have a demo tape, a TV demo tape? And I didn't at this point. And I said, sure. And they said, can you send it to us? And I said, sure, just give me a couple of days. And so one thing that had happened earlier that year, 1994, the world championship of basketball was in Toronto. Dream Team 2 happened in Toronto. And CTV had the rights to it then. And John Shannon, who you've, I don't know if you, have you had John Shannon on your body? Not yet. Oh, you got it. It was you. John. I need him

because I want everyone who was in the room when Dave Hodge flipped his pen. That's my goal. So you got to get John Shannon. Yes, I got to get John Shannon. So John Shannon at the time was an executive with CTV and hired me to go to the Olympics in Lillehammer in 94 and to do the World Championship of Basketball in August of 94. And I did both. So when ESPN said, do you have a demo tape?

I cobbled together a Blue Jays bit and some basketball from the World Championships and probably some hockey from the Olympics, too, and sent it down to them. And I get a call a week later. Now we're like September, October 94 from a guy named Dave Miller, who at the time was in charge of their college basketball. And Dave says, we didn't know you did college basketball. And I said, I said, I'm sorry, Dave. I said, like, I don't even know what's going on. Like, I just I'm so young and new. I said, I didn't know you did college basketball. And I said, I'm sorry, Dave. I said, I don't even know what's going on. I'm so young and new.

I said, I didn't know what I should tell you. I didn't know. I just sent you my tape. And Dave says, would you like to do college basketball for ESPN? And I'm like, wow. So while I'm doing the Blue Jays from 95 through 01, I'm doing college basketball in the winter for ESPN. And Buck and I, whenever TSN is not broadcasting a Wednesday night Blue Jays game, Buck and I do a Wednesday night baseball game for ESPN together for years. So to get back,

so forgive me for the long interruption there, but to get to your question about, was it hard to leave? For seven years, I was doing both. I was back and forth. And then after 2001, the Blue Jays rights came up and this is the beginning of when Rodgers started to come in. But I don't think it was Rodgers yet. But all 162 games were going to one network. And I was offered the chance to do that. I guess it was Rodgers at that point. But at the same time, I had ESPN offering me, I had the college basketball.

They were now offering me Sunday night radio to do the Sunday night game of the week on radio and do a full slate of baseball. And I had to choose between all here or all there. It was an extremely tough decision. But I decided to leave Toronto professionally. As we heard in the GordPN from, I guess, 0-1-0-2 up until I came back and started doing some Jays games again in 2016. All right. Wow. That story is amazing.

That's an amazing story. But let me play a clip of you calling some college basketball for ESPN. I like this one with Dick Vitale. Let's listen to this here. Take the charge, Dan. Take the charge, buddy. Hey, Dan, you got the charge.

I'll give you a charge. Charge, baby, charge. Oh, you're okay. You got the charge. I'll fade it down so you can tell us what's happening. Yeah, well, there's a reason you don't hear me. So that's the ACC tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina in 2011, I believe. And I'm working with Dick Vitale, Dickie V, however you want to call him.

I think it was March 14, 2010. 2010, okay, 2010. Whatever, well, Kyle Singler was there for Duke, and there's a long rebound, and he goes to save the ball. He does save the ball, dives out, saves the ball, flies over the table, and lands right on me. I mean, just crushes me. Knocks over my television monitor, breaks the headset,

breaks the chair that I'm on, because now I i'm on the chair he's on top of me and we're both kind of lying on the ground and he kind of pushes himself up kind of stepping on me to get back in the game because the game's still going on and my headset's broken and that's why you only hear dick for about 30 seconds saying he took the charge so uh yeah i get asked about that one a lot it was pretty funny the best part was because dick is such a big name, the next day in the Greensboro newspaper, the story said, and Hall of Fame announcer Dick Vitale was almost run over by Kyle's no mention of me whatsoever.

He's still going here. Let me just hear him. Look at the water. What did I miss? Water. What did I miss? So you're okay, though. Oh, yeah, I was fine.

I'm Canadian tough, right? That's right. You can see Dick was scared for a moment. He'd have to do play-by-play. I don't think that's... Oh, he was petrified. He wouldn't admit that now. He and the nation were petrified

that he would have to do play-by-play. Oh, that's great. Here, let me fade out of that. That was fantastic. But here's... I don't know which I should play first. You or some guy named Howard Cosell. Hey, let's do this.

Let me play Howard Cosell first. Let me switch it up. So this is Howard Cosell. John Smith is on the line. And I don't care what's on the line, Howard. You have got to say what we know in the booth. Yes, we have to say it. Remember, this is just a football game.

No matter who wins or loses an unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City. John Lennon outside of his apartment building on the west side of New York City the most famous perhaps of all of the Beatles shot twice in the back

rushed to Roosevelt Hospital dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that newsflash, which in duty found we had to tell. Frank? Indeed it is. That, of course, Howard Cosell breaking the news to many that John Lennon had been killed back in 1980.

Now, that is a very sad. And how do I say this? That was something that everyone who heard that news was saddened and distraught over this news. Yeah. So it's similar but different to what you announced to the ESPN audience on May 1st, 2011. So let's listen to a short clip of you. This on the ball game. ABC News is reporting that Osama bin Laden has been killed

at a presidential news conference is upcoming momentarily. We ask all of you to go to your ABC stations for further details on that situation. For those of you staying with us, we'll be back for the ninth inning momentarily here in Philadelphia with a game tied at one. So tell me what it was like when you got the news and you had to share it with the audience. Well, first of all, and I'm asked about this a fair bit,

and the Howard Cosell one is always brought up. I look at them very differently. I mean, Howard Cosell was an extraordinary broadcaster and I thought did an extraordinary job. I remember in the moment being so cautious and nervous. Not that there is a play-by-play handbook, but if there were, this wouldn't be in it. And I was very, very careful just to not say anything erroneous, not to say anything I shouldn't, keeping in mind, too, that I was broadcasting to an American audience about an American situation. And I was Canadian too. So I wanted to be very sure that I was very respectful

and neutral. How I found out about it was Bobby Valentine was one of my broadcast partners at the time. And he nudged me with his elbow. He was sitting right to my right and showed me his phone and there was a text on it. And I don't think I ever saw who the text was from, but all it said was, we got Bin Laden. So he just shows it to me. Now we're on the air. It's not during a commercial break. And he looks at me and I look at him and in wide eyes and all that. And I call a pitch and I look at him and I call a pitch. And then I go on talkback, which means I have the ability to talk to the producer in the truck without it going out over the air. And I say, do you guys have anything on Bin Laden?

And he said, yes. Don't say anything. We're corroborating. Call the game. OK? So I call a few more pitches, call a few more pitches. And then they tell me they've got it. It's been corroborated.

And then I say the part that you just played. And then we go to break at some point. So I say we'll be back for the ninth inning. So that's obviously bottom of the eighth. The game, I think, went 12 or 13 innings. Game went a long time. By the top of the ninth inning, with the world being what it was and what it is, everybody found out.

Everybody. And the ballpark breaks into an enormous chant of USA, USA, sounding like you're at an Olympic hockey game with the United States leading in a gold medal game or something like that. So now it's a story. And everybody but the players knows what's going on. The players eventually found out from security guards or cameramen or something like that. And for the next hour and a half, however long we were on the air, it was this surreal

broadcast bouncing back and forth between the biggest event in the world and a regular season baseball game and wanting to be cognizant of the fact that for very different reasons and on very different levels both mattered i mean we couldn't just ignore the game right so we're talking about it for a little bit but then we get into conversation having bobby there was great because bobby was the manager of the mets on 9-11 and was very present and visible down at ground zero in the aftermath of 9-11. So having Bobby there was terrific. But I remember during the game, Mike Tirico, a good friend of mine, phenomenal broadcaster, good friend of mine, texted me. And he said, you need to remember one thing.

You are at the largest gathering of Americans right now, anywhere in the world. Plus, a ton of people are watching on TV. He said, don't sell that short. He goes, this is important, and you've got to tell the story. And it was great. It was like he gave me smelling salts with that text. He got me back in the moment. And I understand people switched to ABC or CNN or whatever they did. Um, but for all the people watching the game at the beginning, uh, you know, we broke in live to a sporting event and it was just so unusual. Uh, and then because of the way the, the crowd reaction actually became the bigger part of the story almost instantly. And you had people just through luck of the draw who were wearing USA jackets and you had Mets fans who were in

Philadelphia. It was the Mets of Phillies. You had Mets fans, you had New Yorkers who were there. And obviously that resonates back to 9-11. So, um, you know, to be honest with you, and I say this all the time, I think I could have done better. It was a scary moment for me as a broadcaster. It really was. Yes. Now, here's a lighter moment, if we will. I love this call. So this is December 10th, 2011.

Let's listen, and you can tell us about this call. This is one of my favorites. Timeouts for Indiana. Jones. Watford for the win! Yes! Yes! Oh! Oh! Unbelievable!

Unbelievable! Can't believe it! By the way, I love it when broadcasters like yourself, I don't want to say shut up for a bit. Layout. Yeah. Layout. I love the layout. And I can tell you after the first two or three of Dick's,

I can tell you my right arm is on his left forearm, my right arm is on his left forearm. My right hand is on his left forearm. And I didn't do it often, but he knew when I did it, I was saying, let it go. Let it go here. It's so good. So that is Indiana, Kentucky. And I think whether you're a hardcore college basketball fan or a casual college basketball fan, people know that college basketball at its best can be as exciting as

anything out there, right? Absolutely. So that was a totally stacked, loaded, number one undefeated Kentucky team. I think that's Anthony Davis's team. I think he's on that team. Indiana's rebuilding. They're unranked. They're not a great team. The game is at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, the home of the Hoosiers, a great environment. And it's one of those where they're down. I think they won by two. I think they were down by one and won by two or down by two and won by one. Like it was win or lose. There was no overtime here. And Christian Watford hits this shot. And I think I was a little bit lucky. Watford for the win sounds good because of alliteration. You know, if it was Jenkins for the win, it's not quite as good.

It was Watford for the win, and it's one of my favorite, favorite moments ever. And without fail, whenever I go back to Indiana to do a game, a couple of the students or something will walk by me and just yell, hey, Watford for the win. And I was at Indiana later that season, and I've never done this before or since, I don't think. Actually, I've only done it two times. But I went up to Christian Watford and I said,

he knew who I was and I said, listen, man, I said, that was such a cool moment for me. Can I get a picture with you? And so I have a picture of me and Christian Watford who, you know, never made it to the NBA. I think he's playing overseas. But, I mean, the noise in that arena after that shot went in was just unbelievable.

It's a fantastic call. It's a great call. Thank you. Great moment. And, yeah, thank you for putting your hand on Dick's arm there. Because I actually, so just the other day of Gord Stelic, we were talking about Jerry Howarth. And I played him calling the bat flip home run.

Yeah. And he does his call. Jerry does the call, then shuts up. And it's pretty much like you did there. You get yourself, the crowd noise is just overwhelming and fantastic. And that's when you get the goosebumps. So I think being, and I've never called a

game, but I think it's as much of what you say is almost equally as important when you say nothing. Yeah. And television and radio are very different too. That call that you just played is from television.

Right. So the pictures are telling the story. They've stormed the court. The students are going nuts. You can lay out longer on television than you can on radio. Absolutely. That's a good point. So 2011 National Sportscaster of the Year,

and you're the first Canadian-born announcer to be so honored. That's pretty cool. It was very cool. So that's an American award, obviously, which is why I was the first Canadian to win it. It was very cool. It was a great honor. They had a ceremony down in North Carolina.

It was then known as the National Sportscaster and Sportswriters Association. I think it's now the National Sportscasters and Media Association. They've changed the name of it now. And what was very nice is the ceremony was on a Monday, and I was doing a Sunday night game. We were in Cincinnati. I was with Oral Hershiser and Terry Francona. That was my booth that night, that year for Sunday night baseball.

And Oral and Tito came to North Carolina with me. ESPN flew them there and they were part of the ceremony. Two of my kids were there. You know, it was really nice. And it was very, very flattering just to be on a list. You know, you see they have 10 finalists every year. And just to, that was the first year, I believe, I was even a finalist. And to see, you know, Al Michaels and Bob Costas and Mike Tirico and, you know,

little old Danny from Canada wins the award. That was, I'm not in it for fame. I'm not in it for awards. I'm in it because I love sports and I'm lucky to do the job, but that was a pretty fun night. All right, I'm going to talk really quickly now because there's a few more points I want to get before I say goodbye.

But in 2016, 2017, a lot of us were excited to find out you were coming back to do upwards of 30 Toronto Blue Jay games on Sportsnet. So that was three-man booth. So A, I want to know how that came to be really quickly. But Don had a question about whether you ever thought maybe the booth is a little busy with the three of you.

Was there any thoughts of maybe having just two in there? Well, I'm used to a three-man booth for ESPN. It was an adjustment, I think, for Tabby and Buck. It wasn't really an adjustment for me because that's what we have not all the time, but a lot of the time at ESPN. But we did, of the 30 games I did in 2016, I think maybe 18 were a three-man booth. Of the 30 I did last year, I think maybe six were a three-man booth. It's not as much as people think. And this year, I'm doing 50 games,

only two are a three-man booth. Opening day was one and Canada Day is the other. That's it. So, hope that answers the question. No, that's great. And it was great to hear you back with Buck. And let me get you to the big question here, which is, why did you quit ESPN Sunday Night Baseball? Well, a few reasons. And again, I'm the luckiest person in the world,

so I don't want anybody to take this the wrong way or feel like I'm complaining or anything. So I had done Sunday night baseball for seven years. So obviously every weekend is a write-off, plus I do the playoffs on radio. So March to April, I'm never home on the weekend. College basketball, the most common day that I work, the most common day for there to be games is Saturday. And it goes no deeper than I just wanted to be home a little bit more. So I always thought at some point I would come back and do some Blue Jays games. I'm getting remarried actually in just a few weeks. Congratulations.

I recently did that. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Congrats to you too. And I just wanted to have a bit more time at home. You know, in all my years at ESPN, I believe I did two Blue Jays games. Obviously, there's no NCAA basketball team in Toronto. So, you know, life in a suitcase is, as you get older, you know, it just wears you on a little bit. So the big reason I left Sunday Night Baseball was to be able to come back home a little bit more. And I'm

very grateful to Sportsnet and to the Blue Jays, you know, for welcoming me back. And I do a package of games here, more home games than road games. And, uh, Tabby and I joke about it actually. So he's getting more road games, but he lives in the state. So I'm getting more home games. He's getting more road games. I'm doing 50 this year. And I just decided that, I guess I just placed my personal life first and decided I wanted to be home. Now, as you get older, your work-life balance becomes more important. Absolutely. And that's a phrase I use a lot. Work-life balance. And my buddy, Aaron Boone, who was my broadcast partner for a number of years and is now the manager of the Yankees, he would joke about it because he pretended like he had it written down on a

card. Whenever anybody would ask him why I left, he would pull out the card and say, work-life balance. That's great. My question, this is me, have you ever been approached at all about taking over primetime sports? Now that you're back in Toronto, is this something you've considered? Bob is the host of primetime sports.

He just re-upped for three years. I wondered if they would, if you were ever approached as maybe like a bargaining chip or something. No, no, no, no, no. Well,

firstly, Bob's the guy. Bob is the guy. Until he doesn't want to be the guy. Bob is the guy. But if he decided after this three year contract, would you consider it? No,

no. Uh, I think at this point of my career, uh, I'm a play by play guy. I was a talk show host back then. And back then I could follow tennis and CFL and NFL and hockey and basketball, everything.

But I think over the last 24 years, I've completely immersed myself in two sports, baseball and basketball. And to be honest with you, I mean, I could get up to speed, but I don't know about you, my brain doesn't work as well at 51 as it did at 27. You know, for me to go on and do a two-hour show where we're talking about F1 and then CFL and then tennis

and then all sorts of other things, I don't think I could do it. At this point, you know, I do some hits on the fan, talking baseball, and I could go on with Blair and talk baseball, that sort of thing. And I've got the podcast now, which is baseball. But the nuts and bolts of what I am is a play-by-play answer. Play-by-play guy.

Okay, great. And the big recent announcement, pretty recent, is that you were going to do some radio games on 9590. Well, so Jerry retires, as you know, and Joe Siddle goes to the TV side, as you know. And it all happened late. It all happened in February. So Ben Wagner's the guy. He's the voice of the Jays. He's going happened late. It all happened in February. So Ben Wagner's the guy. He's the voice of the Jays. He's going to have a great career here in Toronto. But they asked me

if I would be interested. They don't really have that second position filled. So they asked me if I'd be interested in doing some games just this year while they sort out what it is they're going to do. And I said, sure. And if they asked you to continue beyond this year, you'd consider it? Because it is what you do. Oh, I don't think they're going to. But to be honest with you, I mean, again, getting back to wanting to have a little more time off. And I don't know. I think it's just a one-year thing.

I'm doing 50 Sportsnet games this year, and I'm signed for 50 next year. And I see myself as primarily being on the TV side. All right, let's close with the podcast. So this is very cool. So you have a new podcast, A Swing and a Belt with Dan Shulman, but you do it with your son, Ben?

So Scott Moore, my boss, who I mentioned earlier, calls me about three weeks ago. This all came together fast and says, have you ever considered doing a podcast? And I said, no. And he goes, are you interested? And I said, I don't know. I don't really know anything about it.

And we talk and talk and he goes, listen, it's the, you know, they're incredibly popular. They're becoming more popular. And, and, uh, and I said, all right, I'll think about it. And he goes, I know a way to get you to do it. And I said, how? And he said, well, every host needs a co-host. Every one needs a two, every this needs a that. And he goes. And I said, OK, well, who are you talking about? And he said, Ben, my son, who's 17. And he's known Ben since Ben was a baby because we've just come in and out. Scott and I have just been in and out of each other's lives over the years. And he's known we would always joke. You know, Scott would call me and say, do you want to come back and do some games? And I'd say, well, I'm coaching my son in baseball, so I can't. And I said, but when I come back, I need a nepotism clause in the contract. And we,

ha, ha, ha, ha. And I would say, no, I'm serious. I need a, so obviously I don't have a nepotism clause in my contract, but, but he's known, uh, for many years that Ben has always wanted to get into broadcasting. And in fact, Ben is going to Syracuse university next year, the, the, probably the best place you can go to go into their broadcast program. So I'm very proud of him. He's very excited about it. So I said to him, are you serious? Do you want Ben to be a part of the podcast? And he goes, yeah, figure it out.

And he goes, like, and we talked about different things. So Ben's not on every segment. Ben, I've only got two out right now. So I'm only two weeks into this. Early days. Exactly. So, but Ben does a segment a week.

And Ben is also kind of like a researcher, production assistant. So the first week, we just kind of introduced people to Ben. This past one, which just came out yesterday, Ben took Twitter ideas for segments that we should do on the podcast. And he kind of presented them to me on the podcast. And we tossed those around. He could take questions like you've done with your podcast. And he could ask them to me. And I and we tossed those around. He could take questions like you've done with your podcast and he could ask them to me. And I've also got them lined up. He's going to do a couple of interviews for the podcast. Now, I'm not going to send him down there to talk to

Josh Donaldson or anything like that. We're going to work him in slowly, but Ben will do some interviews as well. And then we'll try to feature him in a variety of roles. We're not going to overdo it. But so far, the feedback's been good. I think the kid sounds pretty good for 17, and as a dad, obviously, it makes it a lot of fun. I love it. I have a 16-year-old, and I can't get him to come on my podcast. Well, I've got a 22-year-old who wouldn't come near it, so yeah, he's not a sports fan at all, but I'll take it with this one. Dan, this was an absolute pleasure. Thanks so much for dropping by. Thank you. Appreciate it. And that brings us to the end of our 325th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Dan is at, is at D showman underscore ESPN.

Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthesix.com is at Raptors Devotee. Paytm is at Paytm Canada and Camp Turnasol is at Camp Turnasol. See you all next week. I want to take a streetcar downtown. Read Andrew Miller and wander around. And drink some Guinness from a tin. Because my U.S.