Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - David Alter: Toronto Mike'd #1123

Episode Date: October 4, 2022

In this 1123rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by David Alter as they run down the extensive list of sports media gigs he's held since his last visit in 2015. And yes, they talk about Discothèque. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Yes, We Are Open, The Advantaged Investor, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1123 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals. Palma Pasta. Fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees. The Yes, We Are Open podcast.

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The lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed. Joining me today, returning to Torontoonto mic'd is david alter wow wow it's been a while it's been a while all right so i actually on that note right off the top this might be a record like i have to go figure it out but you were last here do you want to guess what calendar year it was yeah no i know exactly when it was it was either august or september of 2015 wow and it was episode number 137 i believe no you're off 129 133 oh 133 close but no cigar for you so has it it's been over a thousand episodes 1100 i mean i've been on for pandemic fridays well almost like i mean yeah so this is 133

uh that's when you were last on uh for like in person in my studio yes and then this is what is this this is uh 1123 oh so i should have waited 10 episodes not quite a but but i think this might be i gotta confirm with uh those who might be keeping closer tabs than I. So this is for you VP of sales, but this might be the, the, the greatest distance between physical appearances on Toronto Mike. You might have the record until, until Merrick breaks it because Merrick's going to come back and break your record. But right now you've got it, I think.

Okay. Well, so this is kind of like my favorite trivia question in hockey. Let's hear it. You know which NHL player has the longest gap between NHL All-Star appearances? Wow. See, I don't know off the top, so I have to think. Is it possible? Will I be wasting my time to think on this one? I'll give you the years.

He was an All-Star in 1986, and then he was an all-star again in 1999 wow first of all i love this question and uh i don't know i throw this out all the time it is wendell clark wow okay so in 99 who's he who's he playing with i think it was tampa because they had that rule where there has to be representation from every team. We call that the Brad Marsh rule. Yes. Okay, so shout out to Brad Marsh if you're listening. But Wendell Clark, that's fantastic. So I have the Wendell Clark all-star trivia of Toronto Mike gap appearances.

Do you want to hear what I wrote at the time? So this is back in 2015. This is episode 133, everybody. If you want to hear... The funny thing is your life has changed so much. Oh my God, yeah. I have to blow that episode up and just redo it here, which is what we're going to do today. But this is what I3 everybody if you want to hear it's a funny thing because your life has changed so much like oh my god i have to blow that episode up and just redo it here which is what we're going to do today but uh this is what i wrote at the time mike chats with mapleleafs.com writer david alter about his years at the fan 590 bobcat mike wilner the blue jays and much

much more so we chatted there uh earlier days for this podcast, but at the time, you had mysteriously disappeared from the Fan 590, and you were writing for MapleLeafs.com. That was like 18 jobs ago for you. I don't even recognize that person anymore. So much has changed, and there was so much change between now and then. Yeah. Wow. And like, that's actually part of the joy about why I'm happy to be here because there were times in that gap where I just,

I didn't think I would be doing this anymore. Well, can we walk through it? Maybe, maybe not quite yet. Let's pop open. We got Fresh Craft Beer in front of us. Yes, I've been waiting for this because. Yeah, on the mic, right in front, like right in front. Yep, there it is, right there. Great Lakes Lager. Yeah, like right there waiting for this. On the mic, right in front. There it is, right there.

Great Lakes Lager. Yeah, like right there. You want the sound. David, this is audio. I know, but I also see the Logitech webcams and I'm trying to do the product. Yes, we're live on the Pirate stream,

but I don't even record there. You have a Lager do you got there? Lager. So you got the Great Lakes Lager. Lager, and it's nothing against the brand. I'm just a lager guy as opposed to an IPA or a kale person. Lager guys love the Great Lakes Lager. Like, let me know what you think.

It actually is fantastic. So I'm going to crack open an IPA. Okay. So cheers to you, Mr. Alter. It's good to see you. Cheers. And I'll explain soon. I got a lot of

ground to cover with you but we'll explain that you have been on the program since episode 133 but not in person and you made a special appearance on a special episode of pandemic friday we'll get into all that i got lots of questions about that but here real quick before i forget yesterday on this program almost at this exact same time actually joshua cloak dropped by you ever heard of this guy i have i have uh i've done a podcast with him it's been a long like uh you guys co-hosted a podcast together well so we were both at the athletic at the same time when it launched in toronto in october october 13th 2016 is when it launched. And it was very bare bones at the time.

So much to talk to. And we were the first two day one people there. And before it expanded to what it was, we were actually doing the first Leafs podcast. And then there were two Leaf podcasts at one point. But yeah, so we did do that for a little bit. And I'm guessing you bump into each other quite often at the practice arena,

which is here. Not as often as you would think. Because he says you're always there. I am always there. So it's just whenever he makes the trek from Hamilton because he's in the Hammer now. I am always there. I am a day-to-day kind of news of the day,

be there, all that fun stuff. He does live quite the distance away. He's a family man, and he's got a lot of other projects. He does soccer as well, does a really great job with the soccer element. I believe he is going to World Cup, and I'm insanely jealous of that. Yeah, he confirmed.

On Toronto, Mike, that was an exclusive breaking news that, yeah, Joshua's going to the World Cup. Yeah, and I'm really jealous of that. I'm known for my hockey, but I cover a lot of different sports in my career. Been lucky enough to go to two different Olympics, and I love covering other sports and just kind of being multidimensional

in my sports knowledge as well. Okay, a lot of ground to cover, but now you need to tell us which two Olympics you attended. So I went in 2010 for the Vancouver games where me and Wilner were actually the only two guys that were stationed out of Whistler as part of Canada's Olympic broadcast media consortium where Rogers had the rights. So it's consortium to you. Cause I say consortium.

Oh, that's, that's pretentious. That's it's not that I don't even know. That's not as bad as the american versus canadian pronunciation of insurance that i've heard lately everyone in the states calls it insurance they emphasize the in part insurance and it drives we go insurance and we say insurance how do you and we say uh foyer and the americans say foyer yeah absolutely americans say foyer uh a bunch of great examples of that um yeah uh what

was the one that just came up recently oh pasta how do you say because you're gonna leave here with a large meat lasagna from palma pasta but i don't know if you're leaving here with that from palma pasta or if it's gonna come from palma pasta i say i say pasta because it's a very toronto canadian thing to pronounce it it's not the proper ital way, but it's like, I'll give an example. I have a friend, his last name's Giordano from Toronto, not Mark. Not Mark. Different Giordano, different family. But it's Giordano and it's pronounced with the A where like Americans usually go A and they go Giordano.

Okay. And they like Giordano's pizza and like I've seen a lot of Italian pronunciations where the a is kind of changed that way where here they prefer ah and so for pasta I just say pasta because I think that's a very Toronto Canadian thing okay strangely so yeah Jim Cuddy of all people called me out on my pronunciation because I say pasta and he said why do you say pasta uh we say pasta and I told him the reason which is that there was this um Dennis Weber ad for mother's pizza I grew up I don't know when I was like 12 or something I would air all the time and

he would say pizza pizza pasta made perfect so I've always said pasta because he said pasta but it sounds like most Canadians are saying pasta like I'm on the wrong side of this one. But regardless, you're leaving here with a nice lasagna. I'm excited for that because I haven't had a meal yet today. So that'll be my first meal of the day. It is frozen solid though. And I'm really happy for the beer too because I've had one too many coffees already for someone who hasn't had any food.

It's delicious, right? I mean, it's perfect. Again, I'm glad to see you here. We have so much catching up to do. Like when I think about, like, I follow you closely. Do you remember that it was my buddy Elvis? Yes. Who brokered the deal for you to make your Toronto Mike debut?

Yeah, this is our first Elvis-less in-person appearance. And, you know, I saw him Friday. He took me to TFC on Friday. It's good to see Elvis on Friday. I got to catch up with him. It's been a little while. Yeah. Did you remind me, did you work with him?

So I was a CHRW alum, like a lot of FOTMs of the show. Right, that's what it is. That's actually butchered that because saying FOTMs of the show is like saying Friends of Toronto Mike of the show. Right. But yeah, so. It's like when people say this is my sin number. I don't want to hear sin number. Yeah.

The N in sin is number. Did you ever do the Canadian Achievement Test in school? I don't remember it being branded that way. I did a bunch of tests in grade three. But it was called the CAT and people called it the CAT test. And it's like, no, you're saying the Canadian Achievement Test test. Okay. Yeah.

Tell me your Elvis story because I'll just say you're one of only two people he ever put on this show. Like he put you on the show and he put Greg Brady on the show. Oh. And both of you had a- CHRW, Western Radio. That's the link. That's the link.

So Elvis was one of the OGs. But I haven't let him do this in seven years. So it's wild to me you're here because you're such a throwback. 133, this show was just figuring out what the hell it was back at 133. But what's your Elvis story? That's why I'm so proud of how much you've grown. Well, I'm proud of you. You've grown.

We have to be proud of each other. Okay, tell me the Elvis story. And then- Yeah, so I started volunteering at Campus Radio, Radio Western in my second year at Western. And I was an AXI major, economics major. And I just kind of was like, you know what?

They have a sports department. So I'm going to give this a shot. And I just kind of was like, you know what, they have a sports department, so I'm going to give this a shot. And I ended up spending more time at CHRW than I did in class. And I kept hearing stories about Elvis through the old PD there, who his name was Carlo Caschiala. He was PD for like a year before that,

but before that he was a news and sports director. Okay. And so he, he's groomed a lot of people in this industry. And unfortunately in 2004, he passed away out of nowhere. He had type one diabetes. Oh no.

And he lived alone and he went into shock and no one was around. And that, that, that had a huge effect on a lot of us who had just known him. And Perry, I actually got to know, sorry, I just- Elvis is also known as Perry. Yes, we did that in one episode.

I broke the wall. But when I first met him, like I saw a picture of him in the TD Waterhouse press box. And I actually don't know if it's still there. It's been like 12 years since I've been there. But I first met him there. Then I met

him at the memorial for Carlo and since then we've kind of had that bond and he works at LinkedIn now I believe. He's been there. He tells me he's at 11 years at LinkedIn. And I haven't been 11 years anywhere. And before the pandemic hit,

we actually did start hanging out a lot again because we did go to TFC games together. Okay. And he's super helpful because during that time, I was kind of contemplating where my career was going. All right, we're going to get into this. He gave me a lot of good, helpful career advice,

and I cherish him forever. I was at a Crossroads a few years back, like four years back, where I wasn't sure, do I take another corporate gig and do another B2B software digital marketing job, which is fine, or do I do something on my own and see how it goes? I had Elvis in, but he didn't come in as Elvis. He came in as Perry. I listened to that episode. And I think I called it Making Lemonade of Lemons. I can't remember. But yeah, it's the only time

he's ever appeared as Perry. Every other appearance has been Elvis. I felt weird calling him Perry just now. When you said Perry, it took me a moment. I really, literally, I spent Friday night with him. We were at TFC together, and I never once called him Perry.

That's so strange. I'm too formal. This reminds me. You're a proper gentleman. Okay. I remember now I had a review on Apple podcast. Toronto Mike gets lots of reviews.

Most of them are pretty damn good, which is good news. But I got what it goes. I like Mike in this podcast, but sometimes it might be respectful to listeners to provide some background on guests. For example, we couldn't figure out who the guest identified only as Elvis was.

He goes, I know this is not the CBC, but dot, dot, dot. So because if I had Elvis on, let's say tomorrow Elvis came on, we would just start shooting the breeze and I'd be like, this is Elvis. And I would talk as if all listeners of Toronto Mike Now were there in the first 50 episodes and know Elvis was my co-host for a period of time and he was like here all the time in the beginning after Rosie left. So I don't even have,

I don't remember that. Yeah, most listeners of Toronto Mike Now think we're talking like, are we talking Elvis Stoico, Elvis Costello? Is it the ghost of Elvis Presley? Did he not die? He embodies the spirit of all those guys. Shout out to Elvis Stoico.

Okay, so, oh gosh, so much ground. I will say one more thing. You were here so long ago. There's no photo of us together. No, that's another reason I wanted to come back. I see all these photos you're sharing. I'm like, man, I remember the days when I could get photos. I think I tweeted about it once.

Well, you're 133. So I'm trying to remember. I have to tweeted about it once. Well, you're 133. So I'm trying to remember. I have to go dig it up. There was definitely no photo. At some point, the photo became a mandatory prerequisite. Like, you are going to take a photo with me before you leave. Everyone had to do it. There was no beer drinking online, I don't think.

So this is pre-Great Lakes. Okay. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Lots of great stuff has happened since then. But we are going to take a photo today and that'll be the first photo we've ever had together which is uh quite exciting that's

why i got a haircut before like literally my guy just moved studios his name where you live in these days i'm in young and eglinton i've been there since 2000 yeah since 2009 and uh yeah no i made sure my guy who used to be at Eaton Center. Now he's actually right here by sure way. So I'm like, okay, I'm going to go get a haircut and make sure I look great for this photo. So shout out hair by GV. Okay. Shout out to GV. Absolutely. Young and eligible. Okay. By the way, I see you're friendly with Mark Masters. Is that true or false? I don't think there isn't anyone who is, who is like, I don't think Mark Masters has any enemies in this world.

He's just a salt of the earth, earnest gentleman. Okay. This is all my way of saying is, how has Mark Masters not been on Toronto Mike? I'm going to make sure he is. Kyle Bukoskis has been on Toronto Mike. I'm thinking,

how has Mark Masters eluded this program? That guy works so hard all the time. And is he often at the new Toronto location where you guys practice, the Ford Center of Excellence? Yeah, we're both always there. Will you introduce me to Mark so I can see if after work one day

he wants to go the five minute... I will make sure, but it's going to be a difficult thing for you to bend to his schedule because the demands of that guy are something else. Well, let me worry about that, Alter. And he just had a kid. Okay, well, I've had four.

We're going to work this out. Okay, just you introduce me to him and we'll figure all of this out. So obviously lots of ground I want to cover, but this note will kind of start us off. It comes from Craig M. And he writes, I'd like to know more about his time at Fan 590

and The Athletic and what he honestly thinks of the long-term futures of both. So can we do this? Can we walk through everything? You've done a million things and I know you're in a new gig and I can't wait to talk about it,

but like maybe start at the fan. Like what was before the fan? Before the fan was CHRW in school. Let's not count that. If Elvis did that, it can't be that difficult. The fan was my first job in this industry and it was a dream come true.

Okay. Like it really was dream come true. Okay. Like it really was. Did you like remind me, were you, did you take over for Burger or no? I did. Okay. Howard fucking Burger,

by the way, who used to have the record for longest episode of Toronto Mike. Anyway. I'm not surprised that guy can talk. I like the how man, but okay. So Howard Burger was let, let go.

And then you became the beat reporter for the, the Maple Leafs beat guy for the Howe man. Okay, so Howard Berger was let go, and then you became the beat reporter for the Maple Leafs beat guy for the fan? Yeah, so basically I started at the fan as an intern in 2006, and I worked my way up, and I was there until 2014. The last three years, so the fall of 2011 to the summer of 2014, I worked my way up to becoming

the Toronto Maple Leafs beat reporter. Dream job. The very last beat reporter for that station because they have not had one since. Right. Well, you know, you broke the mold. They're like, we can't do this again. Okay.

That's one way to put it. So that is, I would think a guy your age, you're a bit younger than me, but you know, the Fan 590 was- Not that much younger. Really? I got you at like 42 Am I up to lunch? You're a little on the over. So you're 39.

No. 40. I just turned 40 in May. Okay, so you look awful for your age. Yeah, I keep hearing that. I don't know, because I was trying to think of what's Elvis' age, and I took back a bit, because he's a bit younger than me. Okay, so you're 40 years old. You got the whole world ahead of you.

I hope so. Look at this. Wow. You grew up loving sports. You grew up in Toronto, right? Born and raised. Yeah, me too, me too, buddy. And you stuck around, so a lot of guys are escaping.

This cloak, he went to Hamilton, for goodness sakes. Well, I mean, come on. What? Like Hamilton,, he went to Hamilton, for goodness sakes. Well, I mean, come on. What? Like, Hamilton, saying you escaped to Hamilton is like saying you escaped 416 to the 905. Hamilton was... Hamilton's not, like, moving to Mississauga. No, but, like, with urban sprawl now,

most people who move to Hamilton now with real estate are just Toronto expats. They're not necessarily Hamilton culture guys. Like, do you know what I'm saying? Like, it's not that they went necessarily. They went looking for cheaper real estate. They didn't go to embrace Hamilton culture. Let's put it that way. They didn't go, hey, it's good enough for Tom Wilson from Junk House. It's good enough for me. Okay. Or this is where, you know, this is where the great Steve Paikin grew up. I got to check this out. By the way, on live.torontomike.com,

the pirate stream, the great Ian service, we were talking about Wendell Clark, because he's the answer to that great trivia question. I'm going to steal from you, but he just chimes in to say, Wendell Clark has big hands, a mighty handshake.

But that's true. I find of a lot of these, like, I mean, I've, whenever I shake a hand of like a pro athlete, I find they just, they're there to crush my little baby hand

and break it, and that's what they do. The biggest hand I ever saw was Andy Fantuz. In the CFL, he used to be a Western wide receiver when I was calling games for the Mustangs and got invited to Bears training camp at one point. And he had what many scouts at the time revealed as the longest measurement of thumb to pinky that they had ever seen you know what that means i'm not going there big gloves david he's got to wear big gloves come on where's your mind going so so so yeah it's um that and i

and watching him as a wide receiver for the mustangs was something else was a good guy who was overqualified to be there. Why does it end for you at the fan? And by the way, I know you talked about this in 1.33, but there's a lot more people listening now. A lot more people listening now. So we can recap. Yeah, the last year of my time at the fan,

it was kind of made clear to me that there probably wasn't going to be a future for someone like me there is it money because it's definitely not money but it in in some way it is money because i wasn't making that much but in radio it was considered a lot at the time i guess but as we speak in 2022 they don't even send joe bowen on the road no in fact the podcast i'm doing the post game show podcast is the only leafs post game show that actually has someone in the building for all 82 games and we will get to

that later i'm sure drop the name of it now and rink wide toronto rink wide toronto yes rink wide toronto and you have a co-host for that i have rotating co-hosts right now yes where do i apply subscribe wherever you get your podcasts oh no that's to listen i want to i want to co-host oh okay well we can we can have that conversation elvis will get that gig okay so okay so the fan 590 it is it can i ask uh because you do bounce around a bit for a time and i don't know maybe you've changed a bit but maybe you were and i was like this too but maybe you were not particularly corporate or not maybe you you, and I was like this too, but maybe you were not particularly corporate or not maybe you played by your own rules?

So I have a couple of fatal flaws. I'm not going to lie. Only a couple? Only a couple. One, I'm too smart for my own damn good. Well, that's not true. Okay. Well, the other one is I don't take bullshit very well.

I'm allergic to bullshit as well. That's why we have to be rogue soldiers. soldiers no but basically but like look like the truth of it is in the final year of my time at the fan they took all the resources out of the job i was traveling i was doing all that stuff but they're still paying for your hotel room and your flight well no i mean at the final year i wasn't traveling at all you weren't traveling the final year. And you know what, at that point, like when you take that stuff out, I have no problem with that. But the issue was, okay, so what am I going to do

during the interim time? And it's like, well, you know, we'll find stuff for you to do otherwise like that. And it was one of those like, okay, I can kind of see what's happening here because I kind of feel like I'm doing half a job here. And I feel like there isn't,

like I'm not doing post-game shows while they're on the road. I'm just kind of watching and just tweeting and other than that. And I'm here to work. I'm not here to just kind of collect the check. And you're a hard worker. I got this news from Joshua Cloak yesterday.

He says you're a very hard worker. Oh, that's very nice of him to say. No, but like, I show up a lot. Like, I like to... Oh, no, that's what I mean. You're just, you're always around. Right, but the thing is, I just, I don't know. It just felt like, you know, they could have pivoted me to do some other things,

and we were reaching that point. But would you do hits on, like, The Morning Show? And I don't even know what The Morning Show was i did when i was traveling but i just didn't feel like i was doing much of a job like there i wasn't really set up for success let's put it that way okay so so it was one of those things where when the summer came around i actually started going rogue and reaching out to other departments to see what i can do to advance my career because i just felt like there was nothing happening for me but you didn't i mean you did this at the fan 590 right so basically you're looking for other things to do at sports net yeah sorry no but everything was very siloed there at the time they're trying to bring everyone it's not like

you went to tsn and said hey no no i mean obviously that's crossing the forbidden door right and uh you don't do that which is a whole other debate we'll get to but but they didn't like the idea of you you showing this initiative and going to other uh other silos in the sports i don't know if it was that but it just got to the point where and listen like the people that were involved in this when when it happened like it's since all been straightened out like time time allows perspective who was your boss at the time my immediate boss at the time was dave cadeau and me and dave have a talking relationship we're very good like it's it's one of those things where you know situations change perspective changes you learn a lot about yourself and you go through job transition i unfortunately have had to go through it so many times.

Right, so when you leave the fan, so they basically fire you, right? Well, yes, but it was one of those things where there was like an element of constructive dismissal to it too because we had a conversation. It's like, well, you can make you do other things. I was not interested in doing other things

because at this point I had established myself with an audience for what I was doing, and I didn't see a direction there by me taking a backseat doing some other stuff when I'd already built up this audience. So there was a firing, but there wasn't a firing. Because at that point, if it was a straight firing, they would have hired a new Leafs reporter, but they never did that. Nor do I think they could have done that.

So it was just one of those things where they went in a different direction. And listen, it was good for both sides because what the Fan 590 is now, it's all shows-based. Reporters are not anything about that station. And I wanted to grow as a reporter, and that was not a place to grow for that.

What was your next stop after fan 590 so after that uh i i worked out a deal where i was writing content for mapleleafs.com and it was great because it was it was a nice little bridge deal i had as i was trying to find work and i was writing for the team's website which was good but all like it allowed me to keep that leafs audience going i was really happy to the guys who made it happen uh it's not without its challenges when you're writing for a team as opposed to writing for a an outlet sure uh but i was very grateful for that opportunity it allowed me to extend and i stayed there for about a year until okay that's when you were here so it was yes during your stay so now that's when you

drop by and now we're going to discuss all the things that happened since your last appearance yeah so so remember i think i teased it either on the podcast or afterwards that i already had something yes you kind of said you had something yeah you wouldn't tell me yeah and i i so i put you on my black list i said that's why i haven't been on for so long. Hey, I learned that from Bobcat. If there's anyone who knows how to build himself up, it's him. So you're taking the page from the right book. Let's put it that way. Well, you got to listen to Gare Joyce's recent appearance, man.

Does he go off on Bobcat? It's great. I actually listened to his book recently. Oh, which one? He's got two, but he's got one he talks about. The one about the release. How to Succeed. Oh, okay. which one is it

he's got he writes a lot it's so i i it's horrible because he wrote a he has an audio book it's about the leafs it's an audio book he sent me an advanced copy oh is it i'm really oh every parent it's about the parade david schultz is the voice it's about a david schultz voice he plays red york I actually listen as well. It's every spring a parade down Bay Street. Thank you. Thank you. I listened to it.

I was driving to Traverse City and I finished it off. And Schultz does a great job on that one. Yeah, and he actually made the joke that Schultz's voice sounds like it's made up because it's so old-timey that everyone who listens to it is going to think that this is a made-up voice. That's funny. like it's made up because it's so old timey that, that everyone who listens to it is going to think that this is a made up voice. That's funny, but it's actually not.

That's actually Dave Schultz. Yeah. He was born to play red York. Yeah, exactly. Anyway. So, so,

um, back at that. Yeah. So, um, I'm really happy. I, I ended up getting a,

there was an opening at the national Post, and I get a full-time staff reporter job at the National Post with a specialization on Leafs. But because I have a history of other sports, in the off-season, when it would get to it, I would be expected to cover other things. But I essentially, I was really proud of myself at the time because I took a bet on myself and i had to build my way back and going through job transition was really emotional uh with the way the fan ended

and um just having to struggle a little bit and having to build myself back up to that it was a really proud moment like it was a really proud moment that i was able to get that kind of job and be at a newspaper that prioritizes reporters as opposed to any other place that doesn't prioritize reporters. And I love the people I worked with. It was the best environment. And I got that job on September 29th, I think was my first day. It was late September of 2015. 2015.

So not too long after you were in my uh basement yes and i remember you tweeting about the such because i i made a you know it's one of those twitter job announcements some personal news all those oh yeah i know i've done a lot of tweets uh a little snark means i like you just no i loved it so so I was really happy. And that was the story of my very last job with full-time benefits in this industry. Wow, okay. Okay, so why does it end for you at the National Post? Okay, this is the only time in my career

where I go through job transition that I never saw coming. January... Oh, fuck. I remembered the date and I forgot it. January 19th, 2016. I think it's two and a half weeks and my probationary period had just finished.

Okay. So, you know, I'm working on some pieces. I went to go cover a Rogers news conference on 4K and I'm trying to write about how... Like, I'm a big tech nerd, so I'm trying to write about how, like I'm a big tech nerd. So I'm trying to write about how 4k is going to change how people watch viewing and all that stuff. And I get a phone call from the editor in chief of the national post.

And it was a conference call with an HR rep and I'm not expecting it. Like I'm literally had like three quarters of the way. That's no good. That's no good. And I'm not expecting it. Like I'm literally like three quarters of the way writing. Yeah, that's no good. That's no good. And she tells me that there's the National Post Sports Department's no more.

Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. You know what I love about you is product placement. You just know when. Right, rest in peace. National Post Sports. And I just remember being, I was, I was devastated. I was just, cause I just worked this hard. I was past probation and I, you got shit luck here and yet shit luck.

No, but what bothered me about that too was the reasoning, because listen, like what they did, like everyone who went through it at the national post like you know eric kareen went through it okay name them all i want to hear this uh caitlin mcgrath a lot of athletic people yeah who else uh john lott but john was an athletic guy john lott was on a bit of a different deal where he wasn't really staff at the time so it was an easier pivot for him okay um and then he's uh he's retired because when andrew stowden was on and we'll get all this yeah the athletic but i guess andrew stowden was fired and then john lott retired like three weeks there were some other staffers who were involved as well some editors but um but basically the the

company line or at the time was you know they were merging they they laid off 90 people across post media i remember trudeau think, tweeted about it as well. And one of the weird things was in the CP Canadian press story about it, my name was noted as a notable layoff of those 90. And I would get LinkedIn mentions. Hey, you're in the news. I'm like, yeah, thanks. Well, it's better than not being notable.

Imagine all those people that were working hard at the National Post and don't get mentioned in the Notable. But what bothered me about the whole thing was, you know, for over a year, Post Media... Sorry, that's my alarm. Okay, well... And I just shut it off. Is that alarm like you're in the middle of Toronto, Mike?

Yes. No, it's... Anyway, so... Take your vitamins. So what happened was... Yeah, that was really brutal because that happened and unlike everyone else and even at my time at rogers i had severance i'd been there for eight years and everyone else had at least gone through severance i had two weeks yeah because

i wasn't there long enough right and i remember the last time you went to a dentist right that's your last checkup no um i have been to the dentist since then but that was the last time you went to a dentist, right? That's your last checkup. No, um, I have been to the dentist since then, but that was my last time having benefits in a job that I've had. Um, and you're not married, right? No, no. I'm see, I would get married for the benefits. No, but then that has other costs. Well, maybe. Okay. Anyway. So, um, no, but the point is, yeah, it's, I think the number one lesson i learned from there is that anyone who hires you and you think you're getting stability doesn't necessarily mean you have stability that's the number one lesson i learned absolutely from that because you know at least i thought because i was so new that maybe they would be like hey you've got to do

this other stuff because the reasoning for getting rid of the National Sports Department seems so reckless because they had the Sun Sports and they were merging it. Yet they still hired someone when they already had owned both entities for over a year. Who did they hire? What do you mean? Did you say they still hired someone?

No. Oh, okay. No, they just had the Toronto Sun Sports repurpose his national post sports. Right, right, right. So, but the thing was, by using that as the reason why you're laying me off, is just essentially acknowledging that three months ago, you already knew you were doing this. Yeah, that's the shitty part.

Why did you even hire me in the first place? That's the shitty part. That was the really shitty part. And I had people advising me, you really should do something about this. But at that point, I just wanted to move on. And so... And there's not much you could do

because anyone can fire you for no reason if they sever you fairly. You got your two weeks because you hadn't been there very long. It's easy to say goodbye. They don't have to tell you why. No, but at least in probation, it's like, you know, it's not working out.

It wasn't that. It had nothing to do with my skillset. Right. But it was still devastating. Like I went through some real stress. Well, do you want to talk about it, man? Like this is something people can relate to. I mean, there's so many people,

especially with the pandemic and everything. There's people who get laid off, let go. And especially now you're only 40. Imagine you're like, imagine you're 55 and it happens to you like so my first time was 32 when i was at the fan it happened to me at 32 uh when it happened to me at the national post i was still 33 turning 34 right see there there you can know you're still so young it's the second time you could start over somewhere but a lot of people i know a lot

of people going through this that are you know in their 50s or even let's say 60s, but they're not ready to retire. Like you're stuck in the middle. But even then, it's not easy to start over because I have no established contacts in other departments. And I'll get to that because I like at the National Post, I was still so after like being depressed for like two or three days, I had a, I'm going to show them kind of attitude. Like that I'm going to come around and get back. And Cam Gordon, friend of the show. Not only friend of the show, but I think he's got the record

for most appearances on Toronto Mic'd. Like number one. Number one. Oh, I'm sorry, but you're going to say a point. Like number one. He's this guy, number two. but you're going to say a point. Like number one. He's this guy. Number two. No.

Okay. I think, you know, I know Stu Stone would be number two, but I believe, no, I don't think any human being who's not named Toronto Mic'd has been on Toronto Mic'd as often as Cam Gordon. Yeah. No, but like he was instrumental in helping me through my transitionary phase. So tell me more of this. He's listening right now.

Yeah. So what happened was I had met him for the first time a few weeks before it happened instrumental in helping me through my transitionary. So tell me more of this. He's listening right now. So, so what happened was I had met him for the first time, uh, a few weeks before it happened because working at Twitter, you know, he had, he liaises with different news publications. Wait,

Cam works at Twitter. So I honestly had no idea. So, so spreading, spreading, uh, the tools and everything like that. And he knew I was a big tech nerd.

So we had stayed in touch. And so when I went through this other stuff, he had put it a bug in my ear that, listen, Twitter's launching this new product called Moments and that they could really use someone like you who knows sports for the Canadian launch. And I'd seen the product because I was traveling at the national posts

and a lot of times features on Twitter would start showing up when I'm in the States that weren't available in Canada yet. I'm like, okay, so I know this. So, you know, I had a couple of interviews and I was able to work there on a contract basis. You worked at Twitter Canada with Cam Gordon. I did.

This is amazing. Because you're talking Elvis, who's Mr. LinkedIn. Now you're talking Cam Gordon, Mr. Twitter. All solid FOTMs like yourself. Wow. At the same time, at the same time, I hear from some people that The Athletic is starting up in Toronto. They already have a couple people in Chicago,

and they're interested in having conversation. And so that part starts and I'm kind of excited about it, but also pessimistic just because I had already been through the gamut a couple of times. And I do want to kind of get back, but I don't know how I feel about a startup. I know the leafs can be very difficult when it comes to credentialing process for startups and I'm not sure how that's going to work out and so you know push comes to shove we finally work out some sort of arrangement where i'm able to come back and i kind of had to moonlight at the same time freelancing for nhl.com because at least

we're not going to credential the athletic if you could believe that when we started wow okay yeah and in fact when cloak started he actually was getting credentialed through who i do stuff for now which is sports illustrated wow so so it was uh yeah you kind of had to find your way in because they just didn't want this to happen but anyway in october of 2016 i signed a one-year deal with The Athletic. It's a contract. And it's a weird experience because you go in, you don't know what to expect with this startup, and the rules and procedures of everything keep changing by the day.

And it just wasn't the right environment for me. Like, it really wasn't. Tell it really because you're on the heel so obviously Joshua cloak here yesterday who's been there since you know day one and it's still there me going to Qatar with on the athletic dime and then you have Andrew Stoughton who's a fresh FFOTM he only made his

debut maybe one or two weeks ago something like that and you know he was very honest about like he wouldn't go back to the athletic thing but he his experience was not so good, Al. So real talk, what is it about the athletic that, you know, didn't agree with you, David Alter? I never felt that they were so much interested in my success at that place, more so about growing as fast and as big as they possibly can right it was all about subs right like it was all about uh velocity of well it wasn't even about that it's

just like um i go there they tell me how it's going to be and then within three to four weeks they hire someone who has a different vision to be my boss. And it's like, okay, well now what am I? No consistency. And then I find out after the fact through a Slack message. And I'm like, okay. And that person doesn't even keep me in the loop on everything. So I don't really, like this thing I'm kind of excited to be a part of now doesn't feel like.

And the thing now that you're excited to be a part of is Sports Illustrated. Or the Sports Illustrated group. We'll get to that. Yeah,rated group. We'll get to that. We'll get to that. Of course. But it was one of those things where it's like all these things are changing and I'm trying to be part of the team and doing all this stuff. But I can kind of see that everything's not necessarily about subs.

Subs are important. But it's about clout and becoming as big as you possibly can. Because is it fair to say it's built to be sold? Like this is the- Oh, 100%. Yeah, I know. You got to say that. Okay.

So, and it has been subsequently, right? Who owns it now? New York Times? New York Times owns it. Okay. In fact, they, well, that's the funny thing. When it actually sold, it got like a marginal amount more than the valuation it had pre-pandemic so you can make the argument for against if it was a success at that

point because there's a lot of series b investors who got in later who felt like they made nothing on it because they got in late and they pretty much got one% back on their money, like the rate of inflation at that time, maybe. Like it was not great. But if you're there on the ground up, then you did all right. I love the way they did business, but as someone who was trying to establish and regain my career,

it wasn't a good workplace environment for me to set myself up for success. That's a shame because you seem to be an ideal fit there. Like it just made sense. Yeah, but when people above you have different visions after and they come after the fact, it's hard to feel like you actually have any value there. Are you going to do it?

I'm not going to, but you can deduce it. So the surname, does it rhyme with turtle? I'm not going to but you can deduce it so the surname does it rhyme with turtle i'm not going to deduce anything but basically that that that's essentially what it is like it was very clear to me when he hit his head on my uh ceiling uh is he a very tall gentleman there's a lot of tall people that's a lot of tall people out there. And I would hit my head on that ceiling and I'm not that tall. So listen, it was pretty clear to me that there was no path going forward. In fact, when it all ended, it was a conference call in the late summer. I know it had nothing to do with my numbers. The unfortunate part is... When you say your numbers, is that clicks?

Yeah, no, it's clicks. that clicks like what is it so like this is like okay so none of that stuff was ever shared with me in the later parts of the company i would think you'd have a dashboard like i had nothing of it i was going based on what my boss was saying oh man it was so nascent at the time and i've talked to other people who've been at the athletic since when it was a more mature company and how things were done then. And they had, you know, reports. It was a more mature company because they try to gamify that. Right. Right. But, but that's important. At least if you're given the analytics, you can know how to improve. And that's what I love about my thing with SI right now is I have access to everything. So, so I can see what's working, what isn't working and, and go about that way where

but of course we could have a bigger not now but we could have a larger discussion about the problem here with journalism when you write for clicks is that you just you feed everybody what they're hungry for which is like yeah i have to i have to temper that because there is seo and all that other stuff but like i make room for me because I'm not going to be that person. I'm not going to sell myself out. There's other ways to monetize yourself in this industry that make up for a bad click month. The key now, what you're doing, what I'm doing, what the future of this business is, is multiple streams of monetizing yourself. Look, I love this chat. Listen, and I'm pausing you because we have you at The Athletic, so you're about to depart The Athletic.

There's so much, the ongoing history of David Alter. Can we, that's what I'm going to call this. Can Alan Cross voice this? I'll call him up. I got him on the, I got his number in the, that would be a dream.

Alan Cross. Cross is not his real last name. There's a fun fact for you here, but I do want to give you a couple more gifts here real quick here. So you did not get a Toronto Mike sticker when you were here last time because StickerU.com has been on board for many years now. That David Alter is from StickerU.com. Do you put this on clothes or does it just go anywhere?

Sticker. You put it on the back of your car before you drive away. I'm going to put it on your bumper. And when you're stuck in traffic and people are behind you. It won't peel the paint off? I don't think so. It's quality stuff anyway, but you can put it wherever you want. Let me know. I hear so much about this sticker you use. Sticker you? Amazing.

They're based in Toronto. Shout out to Andrew Whitkin, but you can get them all over the world wherever you have an internet connection. Quality stickers. Good people. Thank you, stickeryou.com. Do you smoke weed, Mr. Alter? I don't, but many people have told me I should. You should, listen.

That's my suggestion to you. Not to say I've never had, but it's not a recreational thing. Regular, okay, okay. By the way, I should remind people because sometimes I smoke weed. He's like, I don't want to smoke something, but you can drink it.

You can eat it. There's many ways to consume your cannabis. But that's a can of Cabana Cozy for you. You can put your Great Lakes beer inside that. Good man. I should have done that. There's something, there's such a confluence about a beer cozy from a cannabis place, keeping your beer cold.

Wait till Toronto Mike gets his way and we have the can of Cabana Great Lakes Brewery blend, like the cannabis beer from GLB. But can of Cabana will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories, man. They got over 100 locations across the country. So they're ready for you, Alter, when you're ready to become a pothead. Do you want me to get back to the athletic? Okay, then later, before we segue to another completely different topic, I will give you a couple more things.

Okay, so with The Athletic, basically, it's, you know, I get a call in the late summer. It's a conference call, and they're moving on, but they're also expanding. And I believe, like, my contract wasn't actually expiring until October, and they pay me out to for the whole contract and another month and it was one of those things where i'm thinking in my head why are they being so generous like in business no one just pays you out because they feel bad right and so

it's it's come upon clear to me that, you know, they're expanding and they're, they're very cautious about anyone who might say anything bad about the company. And so, you know, I, and there's temptation to do it because I'm worried about my future and my career as well, because I'm worried about how that's going to look. But I fall on the sword because I have friends who work in that business. And it's a company at the time that's hiring people when they're not, when a lot of places aren't. Right.

So I take the high road and I just stay quiet. Well, this is the time to abandon that policy. I'm not going to abandon it too much because things have been fine. But you know what? I will say this. When that ended, I had a lot of job interviews and I felt that was going to be fine.

And it felt like I was getting to the final round of all these interviews and then not getting the job. And that would begin a period of lengthy struggle for me like lengthy struggle um not knowing like i mean i didn't work for a year because i just kept i i just couldn't find something that was to my qualifications and when you reach a certain age you really don't want to

accept anything for the sake of anything. Right. And that's what I think most of your listeners could probably relate to. But did you ever have a moment, I mean, we mentioned Howard Berger early on because you replaced him, but Howard Berger at some point realized he needed to leave the industry.

And Howard Berger works at a funeral home, shout out to Ken, shout out to Ken and Cabana, shout out to Ridley Funeral Home, but he's not at Ridley Funeral Home, so don't go looking for Howard Berger there. But he left the industry. Did you have a moment

where you strongly considered leaving, you know, journalism and sports media and saying, I'm going to go do something else? It wasn't in that first year. I was still pretty high in my resolve. But the problem was I kept running into such bad luck that i thought it was the universe trying to either test me or tell me so do you really believe that like that the universe is going to talk to you alter like the fact you what is that that's that karma what is

that um you tell me you know what i think it is i think you know know, the regression to the mean. Sure. Yes. So I think when I came out of school, I was able to email someone my demo and I was able to make an impression. And I was very fortunate early in my career to work my dream job in the first eight years of my career that I thought maybe this is the later struggle that I didn't have to have earlier in my career coming back to me and balancing things out because it just seemed to be so much at one time that like I know a lot of people who go through this once and it's so scarring and emotional that they just never want to go through it again but I I just too stubborn for my own good that would i would rather not move

on to something and regret what if i waited a little bit more and really tried to push things for how do you eat like like i i don't know did you have savings from these jobs like like how did you pay your rent um did you have someone helping you no No. I mean, I learned other things along the way, especially during the pandemic, which is later, but I invested well. I bought the place I lived in back in 2008. Okay. So I learned from a very early on in my life

that if I pick this industry, I have to have other means because people don't go into media to make money. They go into it because they love it. And that means making sure that you spend well, that you save well, that you have enough money signed up for a rainy day and you have a good support system because it can wreck you if something goes wrong.

And it's gone wrong for me several times over. Well, Dave, it's so smart, man. It's like you knew how to plan, invest, and live smarter. If I didn't have parents who... My parents came to this country with nothing in 1982 and had to build themselves up from scratch. Where did they come from? Israel, and before that, the former Soviet Union.

Okay. And so they built up their own private security firm and then invested and i remember they were like i was going to tell them i was so sick of living with them when i was in my 20s that i was going to rent and they they screamed at me not to do it to the point where they're like don't don't don't we'll help a little bit with your down payment if you don't. And so I waited an extra year and they helped a little bit with that down payment on my first place in 2008. Hey, could I shout somebody out just really quickly here? Is this your real estate sponsor?

No, I don't have a real estate sponsor. Oh, I see. But if you're learning how to plan, invest, and live smarter, like my good friend David Alter here is doing, the Raymond James Canada podcast, The Advantaged Investor, hosted by Chris Cooksey, features insights from leading professionals. It provides valuable perspective for Canadian investors

who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success. So I'm going to be sharing episodes of The Advantaged Investor from Raymond James Canada on torontomike.com. And I'll be talking about them throughout 2022 here. It's a great podcast. And David, it sounds like it's the right podcast for you. I'm going to have to subscribe to that.

You already have shown evidence that you love learning how to plan, invest, and live smarter. And they're there for you. It's the only way to keep doing what I love. By the way, I see you have a fan 1430 folder on your desk. Ask me who gave that to me. Yeah. Well, I'm worried this is going to

expose me that it's an episode I haven't listened to yet. It probably is. You wonder who gave this to me? A wonderful FOTM that you worked with. Is it Wilner? It's not Mike Wilner. Is it Peter Gross?

It's not Peter Gross. Is it... Peter Gross technically never worked here. Oh, that's right. Because he was sitting... He worked at 680, right? Right. Brother station or sister station.

Nor Rumac? Good guess. Roger Lajoie? No. Although Roger Lajoie is, he might make, I got to see how long it's been since he's been here. He's in the calendar to come back in October and he hasn't been here in forever.

But yeah, go on. Dan Schulman? Great guess. No. But this person did come on and played the audition tape from Dan Schulman. Oh, I listened to it. Scott Metcalf.

Correctamundo. Yes, I listened to that episode. Okay. And there's a micumentary in the works on the fan 1430 slash 590. I never got to work with Scott, but there were times where 680 and the fan intersected when I was there.

Oh, you didn't? Okay. And he is the nicest man you'll ever meet, and I've had very few interactions with him. And it's actually like a career regret that I never got to have him as a boss because I wonder how things would have shaped up with me had I had him as an actual boss. One of my good friends in the industry,

Jeffra Homan, has had him as a boss at 680. He pivoted from the fan to 680 and got to work with him before Scott retired and has only said good things about the man i've never heard anything but good things about scott metcalf and he's got brilliant brilliant taste in podcasts because he loves this one and i know he's listening right now so hello to so so that's why it took me a hard time to guess because i actually technically never

worked with yeah my bad i forgot you came so much later you're right he was at six but he was on the same floor there was actually one story where i had to do updates and i wasn't ready for it and dan dunleavy was late to show up and i was late to show up and they had no one who could do updates during bobcat show and i'm just in the bullpen hanging out and he's on the phone with nels he's like no one's here who can do updates or whatever and then my heart's beating a mile a minute i'm like are they gonna make me do updates while they're waiting for dan to get here like i'm kind of scared and then all of a sudden i see him hang up his clamshell cell phone and scott points to me he goes you're up and i was just like oh shit i think i i stumbled once in one of my updates there. Because it's not that I hadn't done

updates before, but it was evenings and weekends where you can get your reps in. Not one during Bobcat show, which is A, national and B, you have to time it out perfectly. Like you actually have to be out right as they count you down because it's simulcast with a TV network. And I think that pressure is what got to

me more than anything else. I hear you. Wow. Okay, so this period of time when you're not working, and it sounds like you're struggling. Like I can kind of hear your tone here. No, but like it sucked. But how's your mental health during this period? It sounds like it's in the doldrums here. It sucked. It really did suck.

Like I actually, because, so first off, I went through job transition for the third time in four and a half years. Right. Okay. And, um, it's like the first two times you can kind of just be like, you'll get back there, you'll get back there. But when it doesn't happen right away, you start to get in your own head a little bit and you're like, okay, well, was I just not good enough for this? Was I just, you're doubting yourself? Like maybe it's me. You're saying maybe it's me because it's happened multiple times. There was serious doubt. And then, you know,

there were some other jobs I was going for and I didn't get them. And then it was coming to the point where also no money was coming in and it was becoming a really dark time. And so at that point, I was like the worst version of myself at that point. Like it's hard to watch Leaf games at home when you're like, you know, I was there, all that other stuff. You'd call Elvis out and you'd give him analysis and say, you know.

No, but like it was just one of those things where it's like you're not even looking at sports in the same way anymore. Like you're enjoying it, but you're also like kind of bored. And I'm home and I'm not doing what I want to do. And I had some job interviews for out-of-market jobs that I was excited for that also didn't work out. Whether it was Visa or some other thing that come up. There would seem to always be an excuse why I didn't get a job. So what breaks the streak here? What brings you back to the working world well the lowest of the low in terms of all of that band yes so after a year after i finally miss out on another job and and and it

just it's one of these things uh fotm, Aaron Bronstetter actually reaches out to me. He kicked out some mean jams, man. That's a great app. Childhood friend since grade nine. Love him to death. Wow. And I'm incredibly proud of his success. Reaches out to me and says, listen, TSN needs a web producer.

I know it's not what you want, but it'll get you out of the house. And you'll be around people. And who knows? And you're still in your field of choice. Kind of, but it's a desk job. And it's also a job that they give most people out of school. And I'm 36 at this point. Right.

And I'm like, you know what? I'll do it for a short time just to kind of get me out of the house it's variable shifts working all over the place but i'm like listen i've never worked at tsn before i'm kind of crossing that bridge maybe they'll get to know me for me right you know i don't know so and also and you're like you're kind of collecting them all right like you got the rogers now you got the bell you had the post media you had the athletic like you know you had nhl.com i'm sorry i always joke that my twitter bio should be where have i not worked what's it yeah it's a great point now that we're adding si like it really is true but okay so you're at tsn doing something which is better than what you were doing well so i'm web producing but it's exactly what you think it is like as news comes off the

wire you're just writing stuff anonymously staff writer writing stories or whatever in fact i remember when i had my first phone call about the job yeah um and i love the staff there i do uh the first thing said to me on the phone is i'm surprised someone like you even wants to do this i'm just kind of like yeah you're right i probably shouldn't and but like i'm not gonna say like no i need a job right like that's when you get the uh the worst feedback ever which is you're overqualified for this job where do i go now right well like but this is this is kind of what leads to everything that's happened after and so and where are we are we now? Are we in the pandemic yet? 2018.

November 2018. Pre-pandemic. This is one year after The Athletic. Okay, gotcha. Like about a year after The Athletic and I hadn't worked for a year. So there's the lost year and then you're not... Yeah, now I'm freelancing every now and then

for the Canadian press, which I still kind of do for non-hockey stuff. But it's strictly freelance. Gregory Strong is there. Gregory Strong is there. He's a good FOTM. He's a good FOTM. He is a good FOTM. There's a lot of good people at CP, by the way.

Not just Gregory, just kidding. But it also allows me to flex my non-hockey muscle too because, like I said, I like doing other sports too. But anyway, so yeah, that happens. And I work at TSN. We initially agreed to just a short-term thing, see how it is for six months. After a couple of weeks, I get told, you know what, let's let's take the the six months out of it. You're obviously a good fit here. All that stuff's great. career because the pay is straight out of school pay uh the the hours are all over the place i'm at a point in my career where i kind of want to feel like i'm going somewhere and i've always been this way about my life right like i i always evaluate myself in six month increments and um

and i'm just kind of like you know there's stuff coming up but but like, I'm not, I just don't see myself factoring in here. And then as jobs start to come up within the company, I'm not getting talked to about these jobs and push comes to shove. The pandemic does hit. I actually remember I did have an interview for a job that would have got me back to something I was more qualified for. The second interview for that job was March 6th, 2020. And like, this was just another one. I texted that to a friend of mine. He's like, you have the worst freaking luck in this industry. And, and they ended up filling that job a year later, but I ended up getting something else in that interim. But anyway, so finally in November of 2020, you know, things are not going well for me. The pandemic is not going well for most people, right?

I'm there longer than I thought. I finally like, okay, I don't need this for the money anymore because I've learned other skills and doing all this other stuff because of all the free time everyone had. Then I'm just like, I got to get out of here. And I'm being asked why. He's like, well, listen, like it's been two years. I'm doing a job I'm overly qualified for.

And there are positions that are better suited to my qualifications, but I'm not getting talked to about these jobs. So if I don't leave, then I'm telling myself that I'm okay with this and I'm not. And they don't argue with it. They're like, do you have anywhere else to go? I'm like, no,

but I'm okay to not work for a while and I'll just serial freelance because that's better for me from a career development standpoint than sticking here. And so they let me go, but they also want to break it down. They convinced me to stay a bit longer than i had signed up for because there was world juniors coming up that was a very big seo time uh for them and uh they wanted me to help out in that regard and nhl training camps were not opening until 2021 and here's the weird freaking luck yeah of course. Literally a week after I do that,

I get an email from the owner of the hockey news asking me, what are you doing between January to May of 2021? Now I had had a conversation with him on the phone last summer about something, but it never turned into anything. And then he just emailed me out of the blue on a Saturday about an opportunity to cover the Leafs for the Hockey News. Wow. And so I'm like, yeah, I'm totally free.

That's amazing. And so literally my last day at TSN was January 5th, 2021. And my announcement at the Hockey News was January 6thuary 6 2021 the same day as the capital you you've been everywhere man i think johnny cash wrote a song about yeah no so and it was weird timing and i got a lot of like wow this is amazing like it's the first place that actually put out a press release about hiring me and that that to me i'll never forget forget because it was great in that regard. And I got to be back on the beat and I'll forever be indebted to Graham and the hockey news for at least getting me back to where I felt I should have been. Regardless of pay, regardless of structure, whatever.

I didn't care at this point. I just wanted to be back in that role. I just I really badly wanted to be back in that role. just i really badly wanted to be back in that role and so i got back in there i felt great and i was able to do something that no one else was able to do in that time with the exception of winnipeg i covered every game home and road during the pandemic how'd you miss winnipeg? They had their own internal rules about traveling during that time. But for every Montreal and Ottawa game I drove, it was a long ass drive. But listen, there was nothing to do during those times. So it's not like I was missing anything back home.

You could always put on a nice Toronto Mic'd episode, maybe a Mark Wiseblot special, get you there. No problem. I had a lot of your podcasts and a lot of music to fill my time for these drives. Oh, we're going to get to music. Yes, I forgot about that. I thought we were actually going to forget about it entirely. Well, I got to ask the questions that came from FOTM. We'll get there. So you're at the Hockey News.

Yes. And it sounds like a great fit, but you're not there anymore. Yeah, so it was a short-term deal. But when I joined at the hockey news the structure was such that they had a partnership with si and i had been talking to si before the hockey aside that's what cool people call sports illustrated right but i i had talked with them about a partnership where you have the si branding but the site is yours and you get 70 of all the web traffic revenue.

And when the hockey news had entered their partnership, they didn't want to do it this way. And I felt that if I was ever going to grow and make money, I had to at least either have better terms or, or find somewhere else to go because I couldn't do it at this point. I was happy for the opportunity to be around again, but at this point, I was at a stage in my career that just having the opportunity to be around is not enough at this point.

You need to find ways to make it so that it's financially viable for yourself. And so for those reasons, I had to walk away from the hockey news. So that's where I worked out a bridge deal with the nation network. Okay. And, but SI and I had been talking and they said,

listen, we do want to do a site with you because we liked what you were doing with it. Yeah. And so in the summer I brokered my own deal to do inside the Maple Leafs for sports illustrated and I'm the publisher of it. So whether I hire staff and I build something out, I'm more invested in this

than anything I've ever done. Dude, I'm so happy for you. Look where you've come. And that's amazing. Congratulations. Yeah, but listen, you have to go through this stuff. But like I was ready to,

like if something came around and said, listen, we want you to do this other thing and it pays this and whatever, I would have welcomed it. But for whatever reason, any other thing I was applying for to try and move out of the career,

it just never happened for me. I couldn't do it. And here's the other thing. I never gave up on the fact that I could be a success in this industry. I wasn't actively trying to get out. The reason I succeeded at the fan was because I was able to differentiate skills that I had that no one else did. And when I was an intern in the summer of 2006, I was an intern against 20 other people. Okay. It's really hard to separate yourself there.

against 20 other people, okay? It's really hard to separate yourself there. The way I did it was I was super tech savvy. I had a BlackBerry in 2006 because I love tech gadgets. And I found a way to put my work email on my phone that when Doug Faraway would send out a blast, who can do this, who can do that, I was always the first to reply. And showing that initiative using my tech savviness

and tech smarts allowed me to separate myself from the rest and some of the other things I'm doing now is allowing me to do things that no one else can because I've been able to use tech and other things that separate myself from the rest which is why for all the other experiences whether it was the athletic the national post where I went through some mental struggle and doubted myself, I will never let myself feel that way again. Because you just have to rediscover who you are and knowing how you separate yourself through your strengths and skill sets and lean into it. And that is the way forward, going forward for the rest of your life. You're Andy Dufresne, man.

You just had to get through all that shit to come out clean on the other side. Yeah, it's tough. Like I still like get a bit teary-eyed talking about it because those scars are forever, but they are what motivate you. Oh man, look, I know you're a tech guy. So I'm giving you some tech right now.

Here, I got somebody to get you. Where is it? Oh, shit. Well, Ridley Funeral Home'm giving you some tech right now. Here, I got somebody to get you. Where is it? Oh, shit. Ridley Funeral Home is giving you that. That's a flashlight, so you got to pull out the paper on the bottom. Oh, this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David, oh, the batteries are falling. Okay, yeah. You're going to build that back. You're a tech guy. You're going to build that up. So while you're building that flashlight up, much more tech here. This is a Bluetooth speaker, okay? okay this i need that for the road you need this for the road man this is courtesy of moneris this is an awesome wireless speaker

uses bluetooth moneris the payment system you got it buddy the one of the same because season three of the award-nominated yes we are open podcast podcast hosted by FOTM Al Grego launches this month. Al's been traveling the country interviewing small Canadian businesses. And then he tells the story of their origin, their struggles, their future outlook. And if you're a small business owner or an entrepreneur, like myself and like you, Mr. Alter,

you'll find that podcast both helpful and motivational. But if you just like human interest stories, this podcast is also for you. Yes, we are open from Moneris. And that is where you're going to listen to it on that Bluetooth speaker I just gave to you. I'm excited. I need this for the road.

And how many, be honest, how many guests knew what Moneris was before you explained? I would be shocked if a guest didn't know what maneras was come on david they've heard the name but they don't know exactly maybe they're not quite sure what they do but they know something to do with money something but that's my point like i'm pretty aware of stuff around a stuff around that and um yeah look uh a few months ago i added always betting on myself into my twitter and lee gave that to you yes he did but seriously it's the message works sometimes when you're at your lowest points you need you need reminders around you to keep yourself going and um that's one that's one because there's not a day

where like I don't doubt myself sometimes where I'm like, am I going to make money out of this? Is this the right way? But then I look back on all the other experiences and I'm like, this is the freaking way. Oh God. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Buckle up, Alter.

The podcast starts now Grab it You can hold it, control it No, you can't bag it You can push But you can't direct it Circulate, regulate, oh no You're far out connected You know it's you and Bob O'Gone You know what that is, but you still want some You just can't get enough

Of that love that you're destined You can't not love that riff. I don't care what you think of the song. That riff is amazing. Let's start with some comments and questions that came in from FOTM. So Mississauga Phil writes in. This is Mississauga Phil, so don't shoot the messenger here, David. You two have become completely irrelevant.

Great live show, of course, but their music has been in a steady decline in quality for the last years, ever since discotheque. That's Mississauga Phil. Then Cambrillo writes in. When he heard you were coming on, he wrote, all discotheotheque all the time. Is he still a fan?

This is when I give a little context to those who don't listen to Pandemic Fridays that, yes, your last appearance in person was way back in 2015. But you popped on an episode of Pandemic Friday with Stu and Cam. We now call these episodes Toast. But we had you come on because I had an FOTM Kick Out the Jam episode. I did a bunch of these during the pandemic. And I asked people to record themselves and then they sent me the recording and I put it

on top of their favorite song of all time. David Alter True. Can I open another one of these? Yeah, you want me to run up and get you a cold one? No, it's okay. You sure? It feels relatively cold. Okay, that's good. I don't want you to interrupt. It's yours,

so you can always open that if you want. That's your Great Lakes beer. But I do have a cold one in the fridge for you. It's fantastic. Okay, as long as you're happy. Okay.

The quality of a good beer is even in room temperature and it's a good beer. I hear that a lot. A lot of people are like, I like my Great Lakes at room temperature. I like it out of the fridge,

but to each his own. Okay. So, you came on to defend this song because you said, and you're going to now speak on the record, and then I'm going to get into it with you. But this is your favorite song of all time. It is one of my, probably the favorite song of all time. But look, you have to understand in context,

sometimes the song isn't necessarily about the quality of the song, but about the quality of the song at the time of your life. I was 15 when this song came out. Okay. I'm in grade 9. It hit you at the right time. Grade 9 is a very transitionary time for everyone in their lives. First year of high school, you're kind of figuring out who you are as a person.

I had been a casual U YouTube fan for my older brother who's six and a half years older than me one of his first CDs was Akhtung Baby and I liked it but I wasn't a big fan at the time and I'm developing my music taste and I hear this and I see the video debut at number 19 on Much

which at the time was the highest in the top 30 countdown a song had ever appeared on. How do you know that to be true? They said it. Okay. They said it. Because it would always voice over before playing the song.

It's like, this is the highest debut at number 19. It is the highest debut for that particular week. At that time. Right. At that time. I don't know what happened after 1997 but or even 96 it was late 96 early 97 okay and um yeah it was uh i loved everything about it it was so different they were like shedding skin it didn't look like the u2 of old and they were experimenting and that

riff that riff that down on and out down, like that chorus riff is incredible. And that speaks to Edge, the guitarist. Like, the Edge is a scientist of that band, and the riffs that he's come up with over the years have just been incredible. So I want to ask you about more U2 questions, and then we're going to get back to Disco Tech. This version here we're listening to is the one that appears on Pop.

That's important because there's a different version on Best Of. Well, the very first version you actually played when I was on Toast, a.k.a. Pandemic Friday, was like a radio leak. Because in the late 96... I screwed that one up. No, no, no, it's okay. In late 96, there was a leak of an unfinished copy that started circulating around radio.

And so everyone's like, what the hell is this? Like I learned that, you know, get it right, Mike. So that version, that's the version on Pop. I'm going to play in a moment

the version that's on the best of YouTube. And that one's a remixed version, which I don't like. Okay. Well, you know what? We won't play it then. But I do want to ask you, Eric Warner writes in.

Eric Warner says, not Kurt Warner, Eric Warner. I'd like to know more about his traveling to see you two on multiple tours. How many times have you seen you two? So full disclosure, Eric Warner is actually a friend of mine in person, in real life.

Any relation to Kurt Warner? No. Actually, Eric Warner, he's a very successful talent manager of bands. And he actually, do you remember the Over the Top Music Festival in Toronto? Yeah, Over the Top was the name of the store that Edna Garrett started up

when she left being a housekeeper at different strokes. He had a different thing called the Over the Top Music Festival where it was like multiple shows. Oh, no, no. You know what? That was Edna's Edibles. And then the lady who took over for Edna,

whose name will come to me in minutes, changed it to Over Our Heads. But yes, everyone. Anyway, so a good friend of mine also went to high school with Aaron Inouye. Okay, Eric. So Eric Warner says you've been traveling to see U2 on multiple tours. So the last one I actually saw was before that TSN job, after I agreed to go to TSN in November of 2018.

I'm like, okay, you know what? I've got a week before the job starts, and U2 is playing the last show of the Songs of Experience tour in Berlin. So I took a six-day trip to Berlin. Nice. And I saw the last show of that tour, which a lot of people thought might be U2's last show ever because it was a makeup show

for when he lost his voice and they had to cancel the show. And so everyone's like, oh no, is Bono lost his voice for good? I went to that show. It was recorded for DVD release. Okay. Or whatever format is called now.

And they played so many Zoo songs because it's the birthplace of Acton Baby and it was an incredible show. But that's one of 35 shows I've seen you two of.

Okay, because yesterday when Cloak was here we were talking about the Tragically Hip. Yes, he's a big fan of theirs. And he dropped the number

like 40, yeah, we wrote a book about them and everything. We were at, I think he said 45 times he saw them or something but you've seen and by the way nothing will ever compare to brad fay you ever met brad i've not actually met him but i i'm aware of the person the human that is brad fay sports nets brad fay uh claims to have seen bruce springsteen

a hundred times a lot of people people seen Bruce a lot of times. And the one thing I'll say that I wish you two did that Bruce Springsteen does is play longer sets because they have the back catalog. Oh, yeah. They have the back catalog to do a three hour show, but they just don't do it. They only do two hours. So you miss a lot of songs you wish you would hear or variations. Right. I mean, part of its age their argument is that people don't necessarily want to see a show that long i disagree i think they have enough of that catalog including this one well here okay so i actually am

a casual youtube fan which means i bought many of their cds and i like a lot of their material but i haven't lately ever gone out of my way to listen. Although you know what's funny? I will go out of my way to put on Rattle and Hum because I like the live version of Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Is that the one with the gospel choir?

Yes. I love that version of that song. Randomly, I was thinking and you explained it well. You were 15 or you were going to grade nine and this,

the song Disco Tech hit you at the right time. Yes. And I can totally relate. There's some shitty songs from legacy bands that I like a lot because they hit me

at the right time. I can totally understand. But it's not shitty to me. I still love it. No, not shitty to you. I think it's a misunderstood song and like if it came out six years later,

it would have been appreciated like much more. Okay. So now we're listening to Sunday Bloody Sunday, which is some older U2. So we all know this one. So we're kind of soaking this in. And how about, oh, this guy's got a slow burn at the beginning here, but maybe I'll just talk over it.

But you can already hear what's coming in here. We'll give it a moment because it's worth it but like this of course this is what this is an amazing live song and i don't know if you know the story of this song about how it almost didn't actually get well tell me now because we got a good minute here before it kicks in basically the story is they kept struggling on the start of this because the timing at the time signature and everything to the point where bono didn't even want to hear this song ever again after so many bad recording sessions of it that he threw it out and said i never want to hear this again and daniel lanois canadian shout out to the hammer uh yeah he uh he retrieved it from the garbage and he's like just

give it one more chance because i think it could be something here. And it's, it's a staple of all their live shows because it sounds the thing about you too, which most people don't appreciate unless you see them live is all of their songs sound better live than their studio recording. That's what's allowed you to, to last as long as they've had.

So you could have talked longer. There's a real good buildup here. But I want people to experience this too. All right, let's listen for a moment. Let's listen for a moment. I wanna tear down the walls And hold me in silence I wanna reach out And touch the flame

Where the streets have no name I wanna feel Okay, so there. This is where the streets have no name. Perfect transition. I was practicing all morning. Highest mountain I have run Through the fields Only to be with you Only to be with you

I have run I have crawled I have scaled These city walls, these city walls. I'm glad to be with you, but I still haven't found what I'm looking for. All right, so I quickly grabbed a few songs that I quite like from you too. Sunday Bloody Sunday, Where the Streets Have No Name, and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

And this is not the Rattle and Hum version, but I like that even better. Now, I understand what you're saying. You're in grade nine. It hits you at the right time. Wow. Smack right in David Alter's face. What could he do? Forever he will love discotheque

But if you remove that personal experience of that time And you just look at these songs And I know it's art You can't look at art this way So I'm actually completely contradicting myself But are you going to say on the record here For everybody listening Mr. Alter, are you going to say that

Discotheque is a better song Than Sunday Bloody Sunday Where the streets have no name and I still haven't found what I'm looking for. Look, everything is objective, right? It's one of those things. But for me, it's the fact that... No, everything is subjective.

Oh, that's right. Subjective. This is why... I'm an English major, Mr. Alton. I was not. I did do creative writing as an OAC course. Shout out OAC because two years after me, there was no more OAC. I wondered when it ended because my kids don't have it. The 84 kids were the last kids.

84, 85. So my daughter is 18 and she's living in Montreal right now going to McGill. She's actually coming here this weekend and I can't wait to see her. It's Thanksgiving because I miss her very much. I love you, Michelle. But think about that we were doing another round through high school at 18 yeah

she's often and it's like my wife's from Alberta so there's no OAC so she came out of grade 12 and went to university and she was making she always makes fun of me like we did five years of like what are we doing five years of high school my first year at Western when I did calculus was an exact review of the OAC course

for the first half of the year. And I was just like, really? Like, it almost, it was like, I felt spoiled. Like, I felt like I was going to coast because we already knew this. We weren't learning anything new. And this was an Ontario university. You would have thought that they would cater.

Yeah, most of the people there are OAC students. Right. So, I don't know. It was weird in that respect. But, listen, going back to this, these are great songs. Don't get me wrong. This is an excellent...

This is a much better song than Discotheque. You know what? The live version of this has a better opportunity of being a better song than Discotheque. Oh! Then the studio recording. I won.

But when it comes to studio recordings, Disco Tech wins. So now that we've got that, and I'm going back to your version, or at least the pop version that is better than yours. Brian Eno U2 is always the best U2. Brian Eno, yeah.

Brian Eno, Daniel Lannoy. For sure. Okay, so here, let me try that. We're going back. Just a little bit going back. Now that we've heard a few U2 songs that I think are much better songs, we're going to go back.

There's a part of this song, David, that reminds me of Bullets with Butterfly Wings. They came out around the same time. So I'm going to tell you the part, and I want to know if FOTMs agree, and then we're going to do some quick hits before we get out of here. It's coming, it's coming.

So think about Smashing Pumpkins. You can push But you can't direct it Tell me I'm the only one The world is a man's life Jesus was his only son for me. Okay, now listen. That's Bullets with Butterfly Wings. I think this came out before, though.

Okay, so I'll bring it down here. You can talk a little more about U2 while I Google that. They either came out around the same time or they were released around the same time. You're going to look up... Yeah, I'm going to find out release dates of these songs. So when did the... Smashing Pumpkins, Bullets with Butterfly

Wings came out in October 95. Okay, so it is old. Yeah, it's old. It's a... Tell me I'm the only one. Jesus was the only one. And in discotheque was late 96. Let's go, let's go.

Let's go, let's go. Secret destroyers hold you up to my knees. I had this album too. Yeah, well, we all did man what a great album but I loved Siamese Dream too

I would argue it's the best double album of all time wow double album what about The Clash like and calling it's not my era

that's the difference what about Appetite for Destruction that's about the subjectivity here it comes is Appetite for Destruction not Appetiteary Destruction. Use Your Illusion.

Is that a double album? I don't... I'm not as musically inclined to know. Hey, are you going to come back and kick out the jams at me at some point? I would love to do that. But you only get one song per artist.

Oh, I have other artists. Okay. My era is the 90s, so we can have some RHCP. We could have some Offspring. I have the Smash album. I love the Smash album. I love Bad Habit, man. Bad Habit is still a staple of their live shows.

Goddamn motherfucker. Have you heard the recent Offspring album? I haven't heard anything recent. No, I have not. He does a piano version of gone away now like like which is incredible i'm i mean i mean yeah dexter holland you know phd thesis or something what was the big story we all told on yeah well he was actually a big covid speaker because um he actually knew about infectious diseases so david let's get back to this because I have some more.

I'm going to just, but these are gonna be rapid fire questions. You ready? Manoj Prajapat. Spoke to him today. We had a long conversation on Twitter today. Did I say his name properly? I hope so,

but he'll forgive you. He's a forgiving guy. Manoj Prajapat writes, was David ever a Leafs fan growing up? Can you cover the Leafs and still be a fan? Also, was there a player he specifically likes to deal with? So, yes, I was a Leafs fan growing up. I grew up in the era of Gilmore, Sundin.

Felix Podvan was my favorite player growing up because I was a goalie. The cat. And, I mean, who didn't love that era? Sundin, Felix Podvan was my favorite player growing up because I was a goalie. The cat. And I mean, who didn't love that era? If you're a Leaf fan in Toronto in the early 90s. Oh, absolutely. Like it was a fantastic time to be alive and a fantastic time to be a Leaf fan. And I was a Leaf fan for a long period of time.

But then when I did get this gig, I realized the scrutiny that is being a fan and covering the team. And you do have to learn to divorce yourself and kind of not be a fan anymore. No cheering in the press box. That was a rule that was stressed to me even when I was calling Mustangs games for the Mustang radio booth. Interesting. So I learned that at a very early time in my radio career um but then even when i went in there i was like wow like i remember my first time i was actually covering a

leafs game before i was a leaf reporter for the fan and i had a seat there covering the visiting room and i was like i can't believe i'm here right now like this is insane right like to be up here where i remember how hard it was even to get tickets friends of mine who had seasons all that stuff was just insane so um yeah like but when i got that gig like i i celebrated i celebrated the old me but i kind of had to learn listen if you're going to be taken seriously in this you really can't be a fan anymore because you don't have you don't have your objectivity there i made sure that one's right so okay so let me ask you this uh i've noticed now we talked about mike wilner your first appearance but like like you know whenever we'd talk back in the day we'd talk with john gibbons his manager

and he'd be like oh gibby did this and gibby did that and i was thinking like even the fact that you're calling the guy by his nickname, it seems too close for a reporter. Like, I mean, I don't know. Am I thinking too much on that one? By calling him Gibby? Yeah. If he prefers it.

Like if you're the journalist covering the team and the manager's name is John Gibbons, shouldn't you call him Gibbons? There's two schools of thought. Like sometimes it just depends on what that person prefers. So you're talking to me they like call me gibby or whatever you kind of go in that way usually i try first name like i usually just go by that way i feel it's more personal like one of my biggest pet peeves is when someone calls me hey bud or or man or chief do you ever ever get cheap? Not as much.

That's a little bit out of favor, but even like, or I just, I, when someone says, Hey, Dave or Davey or anything like that, I feel like they're making an attempt to make it personal. And that, that goes a long way with someone like me. You know what I mean? So I don't mind it in that regard because they're trying to, you know, you're trying to foster relationships. And yeah, maybe I got to foster relationships. Yeah.

Maybe I got to get over that one. No, no, it's fine. Um, if it's like a, a nickname, like,

uh, that curb episode where he's like, call me rusty. And it's like, uh, nothing related to that person. Right. Sure.

Like then, then, then fine. They got a new season, by the way. That's right. Season 12. Yeah.

I saw Richard Lewis was tweeting about it the other day i'm glad because richard sue richard lewis was barely on that season 11 and everyone i thought he was dying yeah he's he's he's looked old for a long time right like and he seems frail remember in that season at 11 where where larry goes and why don't you die already well without no when bob einstein passed away super dave osborne, they just sort of, his character disappeared and was replaced by, what's his name from Swingers? Oh, yeah, it's Vince Vaughn. Vince Vaughn as his cousin, but they didn't say the guy died or anything.

They didn't actually kill him in the show. He just sort of was replaced by his cousin. I always felt like that was a, like they'll never say it on record, but I feel like that was a Bob Einstein request. I feel like that. It's like one of those things where it's like i don't want people to feel bad for me just move on just move on larry like he seems like that and they did have albert brooks in the beginning of season 11 which is his brother of course and i feel like that was like a nice little tribute oh you'll like a toronto mic episode in the can for you that you might like

is john beiner because uh he worked he worked on Bizarre and that's where Super Dave became famous. Yeah. You might dig that. Okay. Jeff Preston says, ask him about the time he was on Price is Right. Jeff Preston's another guy I know away from. Are all these questions from your buddies? No, but I didn't know they were actually asking it.

Oh, by the way, is there a player, before we get past Manoj's question, is there a player you specifically like to deal with uh well there's a player now who's not in he's now like an analyst you remember frank corrado yeah barely yeah frank corrado was on the maple leafs and now he's an analyst for tsn and what i liked about him is he just give you the straight goods he's very authentic uh gives you like phil esposito james reimer was always a pleasure to deal with when he was with the maple leafs such a super nice guy and um i always gravitated to the goalies too just because i i played in that position at a minor league level that i i kind of understood that and it's a different game like it really is the only sport where there's a different game within the game even soccer goalies don't have to deal with the same kind of pressure and scrutiny

that hockey goalies do. It's a way different expectation, and it's a different game altogether. So those are the two guys. Okay. Jeff Preston wants to hear about the prices, right? So in 2003, myself, Aaron Bronsitter, and another friend of ours

went on a trip when we were 21 to Los Angeles. Woo! And we got tickets to the prices, right? We never actually got on, but we were in the third row as an audience, did the whole interview process with Bob Barker and everything.

It was the wildest hour of my life. Like I couldn't believe what it was like sitting there, having the name tag with my name written in that, that font, like all that stuff, doing the interviews. And then my favorite moment was there was a guy like i have a really loud voice and there was a guy who was in the final showcase showdown and he's like he's like trying to hear what to bid and i'm yelling 26 5

26 5 and he bids what I guess. And I can hear myself on the broadcast being like, yeah! He picked my bid. And then he ended up losing. And I felt so bad. I was like turtling in my seat. Hopefully this guy doesn't find me after the show. But yeah, it was the wildest hour of my life.

And I have no desire to go on the new one because Bob Barker was Price is Right to me. Yeah, get your dogs spade or neutered. Right. Paul Palermo, how is his golf game? That's for you. You got a good golf game? He says, how is your golf game?

Terrible. Is Palermo a buddy? No, I actually don't know this person. That's authentic. I don't, terrible. And I need to know more because as we live in this world of uh self monetization everyone wants to take you out to the golf that's why i'm poor because i don't i

refuse to golf i find it very boring i did go recently with you know rob leff yes yeah so rob leff invited me out uh in the summer one time i rented golf clubs and i was terrible like are there better things to do but i I'm getting better. Okay. My problem is I'm moving my head when I hit. Okay. And if you move your head, it's terrible. And like, I'm very fidgety. I move around a lot, as people on the pirate feed will see.

But yeah, it's one of those things where you just, I move my head way too much. Stephen Ellis writes, Ask him about interviewing players in different languages. Steven Ellis also works in the industry. So because I told you my parents were in the former Soviet Union and came to Israel, I actually grew up knowing Russian and it's actually helped me at times with different Russian interviews and translations.

So the Leafs have a prospect right now known as Rodin Amarov. He was going through, he had a brain tumor. Right. And he's still currently recovering from that, but it looks like he's getting better. And he did an interview in Russian on YouTube. And I was able to, through my knowledge and through conference calling my parents,

who are very fluent in it, able to translate that. And even in 2016, when I was in that transitionary phase, I was freelancing at the score while working at Twitter. And I was able to interview Nikita Sashnikov in Russian. And I told him, I said, listen, answer as comfortably in Russian as you like. I'll ask the questions in English and Russian hybrid. And then my parents translated it word for word. And I got some really good detail and intel that way. Nice.

Okay, cool. Jimmy Martans. Where is it Martans? I'm going to say Martans. I like to put a little Martans on it. It says, did Robertson just make the team? It's looking like that he's got three points in the last two games and

they wanted offense from them and you know I was saying before this camp given the depth that this team had that Nick Robertson really had to earn his spot and he's done everything and more when it comes to that so they've

got a couple more preseason games left before but as long as he continues to produce like that they have an opening on the second line left wing spot as someone who can produce and he's looking like he's finally hit that point okay so when andrew stodin was on a couple of weeks ago we basically talked about andrew stodin like uh i find i find him a little mysterious i wanted to know what happened at the athletic i had a bunch of questions for him and and i got a couple of people who are like hey you didn't ask any jays questions but my thought on this david is that like if you want to hear stowden talk about the 2022 blue jays the playoffs start friday very excited you know there's that's where he's there he's his channel exists for you to like read what he wants to and hear him he's got a podcast like that's his show if you want to hear stoden on the 2022

chase if you want to so that's not really what i'm doing here so i actually uh you know i'm sure i'll get a note or two like hey you had david alter there who's attending all these these leaf games and covering the leafs for sports illustrated what is the name of this page people should go to again say it again like so it's inside the maple leafs inside Illustrated. What is the name of this page people should go to again? Say it again. So it's Inside the Maple Leafs? Inside the Maple Leafs. Yes, but the web URL is si.com slash nhl slash maple dash Leafs. Okay.

Okay. Okay. It's easily Google-able. Right. Inside the Maple Leafs. David Alter, that's how David gets paid. Go there and check it out. So if you want to hear all his takes on the Leafs, it's all there and then he gets paid, right? So the only thing I'll ask you in the 2022 Leafs is about goaltending because I'm pretty jaded

for regular season Maple Leaf action. Like, let me know when the playoffs start and not that I won't tune in or whatever. I like to watch with my kids, but here and there. But I'm really like, I don't care how if Austin Matthews scores 70 goals. I don't care if we win the President's Trophy.

This is a team that hasn't won a playoff round since 2004. Did you hear me, David? Yes. We're in 2022. You know what's really sad? When I was in Tampa for Game 6, I took a photo of a fan that had a T-shirt on from Tampa's playoff run that said,

Party Like It's 2004 from when they won the cup so I was ready to share that right that photo on Twitter had the Leafs finally advanced right and that would have gone super viral but they didn't get the job done so my only if I'm going to get a take from you on anything of the 2022 Leafs and people should go to uh read David's stuff uh to learn more but and listen to Rinkwide Toronto. The only post-game show that has a reporter on the road for all 82 games. Yes, Legacy Media has post-game shows. Yeah, do all your promo right now, actually.

Get it out of your system. I'm asking about Goal 10. There are other post-game shows out there, but there is no post-game Leafs pod that has someone, i.e. me, in the building for every single game. Wow. Wow. Okay. In an age of Legacy for every single day. Wow. Wow. Okay.

So you've got a podcast. In an age of legacy media where everyone's cutting back, we are leaning into it. No, that's awesome. So we know where to go on the web to find you. We know you've got a podcast. We need more Alter in our lives. We're happy for you that you came out on top, smelling sweet. I hope this is really successful for you.

How does the Maple Leafs goaltending look heading into this season, which starts soon? So far, smelling sweet. I hope this is really successful for you. How does the Maple Leafs goaltending look heading into this season, which starts soon? So far, so good. Look, the thing is the Leafs have always had the offense to kind of outwork those problems, right? Like their goaltending was not great last year. Even when Jack Campbell was okay, there were periods of struggle.

And what I think they've recognized is the playoffs are about having that ace to play when things are going wrong. Like when the goalie doesn't look good in those one-on-one situations, do they have someone they can throw in and has been battle-tested in those pressure situations? And that is what I think the Matt Murray play is all about.

I don't really necessarily think that the regular season and how he performed there matters because they've got Elias Samsonov and they've, if you look at their save percentage compared to their scoring in the regular season, they can make the playoffs. There's no question there. What, what really matters is when it comes to game two, game three, when there's one-on-one opportunities, do they have confidence in their goaltending tandem that they have a guy that can make those saves when it matters? And you know

what? In that preseason game against Montreal where Murray was finally tested, he looked good in those opportunities. It's preseason, but there were some really difficult saves he made. And I think that's what the Leafs are invested in. It doesn't really matter what happens in the regular season. They really need to have a guy that they have confidence in when all the chips are in front of them, that one-on-one they're not going to get beat because Jack Campbell got beat in some of those situations. No one beats Alter. Look at you rising like cream.

You always rise to the top. It was awesome seeing you again. And for the first time ever, we're going to take a photo together. I'm excited for that. Really excited for that. Make sure you look handsome because when people go to Google Images...

That's why I got the haircut. This is going to follow you, man. I get notes from people who are like, that photo of us is number two on Google Images, number one on Google Images. This is going to be the go-to de facto. I need better looking photos. I looked at my Google Images over the years. Okay, let's get a Number one on Google Images. This is going to be the go-to de facto. I need better looking photos. I looked at my Google Images over the years.

Okay, let's get a handsome one here. We will. Let's get a handsome one. Thanks for coming by, buddy. This was awesome. I can't thank you enough for having me on. And that brings us to the end of our 1,123rd show. You can follow me on Twitter.

I am at Toronto Mike. David is at Dalter. D-A-L-T-E-R. Shout out to Alter Bridge. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. Moneris is at Moneris. Raymond James, Canada. Every time I hear, think about the words Raymond James, I think about the Kenny Rogers song, Ruben James, but more on that later. They're at Raymond James CDN. E-P-R-A, all right, E-P-R-A underscore Canada.

Ridley Funeral Home. They're at Ridley FH. A new episode of their podcast, Life's Undertaking, will drop on Wednesday. Canna Cabana. They're at Canna Cabana underscore. See you all Thursday when Mark Weisblot returns for his monthly. See you. when Mark Weisblatt returns for his monthly. on 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 speed a day. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Cause

everything is rosy and gray. Well, 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 green Cause I know that's true, yes I do Maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of gray.

Cause I know that's true. Yes, I do. I know it's true. Yeah. I know it's true. How about you? I've been picking up trash and then putting down roads. And they're broken in stocks.

The class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn because Everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine

And it won't go away Cause everything is Rosy and gray Well, I've kissed you in France And I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down

on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow

Warms us today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy now Everything is rosy and Everything is rosy and gray Thank you.