Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - David Alter: Toronto Mike'd #133

Episode Date: September 3, 2015

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.

Welcome to episode 133 of Toronto Mics, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavour. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me this week is MapleEats.com writer, David Alter. Welcome, David. Wow, I actually get to see the setup this is quite nice do you really like it i do no no no i do i mean as someone who tried to arrange a podcast and just decided uh maybe not right i wanted to kind of see how someone else starts one and this is this is a really nice setup i'm i'm incredibly impressed with the board the mic setup i like it no i like i like to hear that but right away i

gotta say this you have a connection to western university yes i do well i won't call it that i don't think anyone no one calls it no no i when that got rebranded as such and i don't remember how many years ago it was i'm just like i'm calling it uwo oh wow i'll fight him over this i can't because it sounds like an American college of some kind that I don't identify with at all. I'm sorry. Okay, so that UWO connection explains why you brought with you the legendary Elvis.

I was wondering where the fuck my introduction was going. I had to segue over with the Western. I should say he brought me here. I like how you did that. I will say this is the here. I like how you did that. This is, I will say, this is the second time Elvis has brought in somebody via his Western connections. The first was Greg Brady. That's right.

But Greg, I just use the Western connection, literally. Dave and I have known each other, and we've been on the air together, we've broadcast together, we've had beers together. So Greg and I, I don't really know Greg, I just hold the western card but dave and i know each other so is that why you're holding hands that you should have seen

we drove over here actually together um so yeah carpooling it was a mess getting here but yeah but it was good it's it's september but it's not quite past labor day so no one really knows if they're back at work yet or not. It's really strange. Yeah, this is definitely still summer because the X is on. That's how you know. The X. Oh, yeah. But I got to say, I got to point out

that you promised to deliver Elliot Friedman based on your Western connections, and you failed completely. Well, I'll take two out of three. Yeah, so you're two out of three. That ain't bad. So how did you get him on then? I took the reins.

Oh, okay. And I said, I'm going to go, hey, Strombo did you get him on then? I took the reins. Oh, okay. And I said, I'm going to go, hey, Strombo did it. Merrick did it. Cox did it. You know what? It just takes one.

Once you get that name going, it just snowballs. There's momentum and then you're all set. Yeah, once you land the first big fish, you just dangle it in front of the others

and you're like, I need a piece of that. I'm sure once you got, early in your podcast time, once you got a couple names there, then the begging becomes a lot easier. When Jonathan Torrance accidentally emailed me, that was...

Right. I will admit with the Elliott Freeman, not to defend myself, but I didn't actually really try very hard because I was trying to... The problem with my schedule is I didn't want to bring in somebody and not actually be here

and sort of be that conduit. So that's part of the reason why. But Toronto Mike's got way more pull than I do at this point to get guests in. He doesn't need me. I got to say, I feel privileged to be on here given the list of guys you have on the show. That's what I want to hear. And girls. This is what your podcast has elevated to.

Sorry, guys and girls. Although you are white. I see guys in a generic term. You are white. I've been working on that, Elvis. Come on. Amber Giro and Matt Galloway. And Roz.

No, sorry, not Roz. Roz is a white guy. Who was it that was busting your balls about that? Do you just do that or did someone bust your balls about that? I think, no, I busted my own balls when Amber Giro came on. I realized it was the first non-white person and I was shamed. But Mocha, he's not a white guy oh yeah mocha all right anyway i'm glad to have david alter i know this name people in the toronto sports media world know the name david alter he's been around for 100 years it seems like well it looks like it's no well i've i like to think i

still look 24 and uh i'll try and hang on to that for as long as I possibly can. But yeah, it's a weird road getting to where you get to and there's always bumps along the way. But it's been a lot of fun and it's kind of strange to just every year kind of realize, OK, I'm still kind of doing this kind of thing. You started broadcasting at Western, obviously, and that's where you and I met. You started broadcasting at Western, obviously, and that's where you and I met. David's quite a bit younger than you and I are, Mike, and I went back as an alum and he was doing sports. You're one of the few guys, though, that, you know, sort of the romantic story of radio broadcasting is that you go to school for it and then you end up having to go, you know, to Timbuktu or Sudbury or some sort of remote, ridiculous place and your teeth and then you end up coming to the to the big city to broadcast you actually went directly from Western to Toronto you never had to do that sort of in between that that's true but I was ready to do

that avenue also going out to anywhere that kind of situation it's a long road that got to it. I mean, I did a lot of the Western volunteering like you did. I did a lot of play-by-play. I ended up getting thrusted into a lot more responsibility for play-by-play than I expected. But doing that for a few years, studying something else, I studied economics at Western and then just kind of fell into it. I went home after i was done and i started sending out demos and uh the fan took me on and uh they took me on as an

internship at first but it really took a lot of okay this guy actually responded to my email now i've got to make sure he remembers me and i gotta keep pressing but not pressing too much am i being annoying too much? I don't know. You don't know when you're in this situation. So you try and take as much Intel as you can and try and, you know, send the demos around and plot your points.

And I got lucky. I got an internship in April of 2006, which turned into an employment later that year. And then, and almost eight year employment at the fan. And then an almost eight-year employment at The Fan, and it was a great ride. Wait, how long were you at The Fan? So I started as a part-time producer slash reporter

in December of 2006 on the payroll. I was doing some on-air stuff before because Doug Farrell— Because they love free labor. Well, that's radio in general but like what happened in the summer was they needed bodies and they needed people who could go on the air comfortably because they had this sponsorship with bars around the city to do live hits from bars at the world cup in 2006 so fun with it with it with it yeah i'll tell you there's there were some crazy stories there there's

a month and a half into that i started doing that and at that point there was the thing with radios they're always having a shortage of bodies so i knew that if i just made myself available 24 7 365 that um even if i'm not the first choice i'm just going to get the opportunity because i'm going to be annoying and be there. And that's what happens with radio is a lot of times you're just kind of thrust into a sink or swim situation and you just have to be always available. And I was to the point where maybe not through voice quality or through preferential treatment or whatever the case may be.

You just put yourself in that situation to succeed. And as long as you survive it, you can go a very long way. I'm kind of proof of that. I think everybody who knows the name David Alter knows it, I think, from the fan 590. Would you agree? Yeah, I'd say so. I mean, the voice, for sure.

You sort of were self-deprecating there with the voice. But you've got a unique vocal. Yeah, well, I only say that because I remember when I started at The Fan, the biggest beef that I got was that you need to work on the clarity of your voice and try to go lower and try to speak from the diaphragm. It became one of those things where you have to pay attention all the time. And I remember playing around with my voice. Some people have like this different

dialect they go into it got the reporter voice i call it got to that but then i actually went from that which sounded terrible when i was doing it to just learning to just speak with your whole voice and um i remember there was one time when i actually did get employed when my parents were actually in support of what i was doing at first they were like yeah at first they were like you're crazy don't do this and then when they actually saw some success they're like okay well now that you're here let's try and help you out i actually went to go see a vocal coach for like three lessons oh wow and you know what was the most surprising thing about it is it's more yoga than Oh, wow. and use your whole voice. But one thing that you didn't learn from the vocal coach, because they have better microphones at the fan, but you got to be right on these things. I just see you're doing what a lot of the pros do,

which is they... Oh, yeah. Yeah, well, you know what that is? But even now, like... Everyone's always worried about popping their P's. Oh, yeah. Which I just did. And because if I get really close,

that's what happens with me. I demand you pop every P on this podcast. Or I should just turn the microphone sideways like I'm doing now. That's what Aaron is going to say. That's what Aaron Davis does. Yes. But just, yeah, there. It's just, it's so asymmetrical for me it's hard for me to handle it i never used to this is how i go at an angle now for for football we had the we had the

the microphone that came right in front oh yeah headphone yeah but when i was doing my radio show i would turn it to the to the side because i would also pop my peas but now i don't so now okay there we go so i'm right into it but i always feel like i'm gonna kiss it and i just don't want to get my erin davis kiss that and the last person to kiss that was josie die so i think it's go for it i love that yeah go for it once in a while i do actually take uh we got these uh lysol wipes once in a while i wipe everything down i'm totally not a germaphobe. And because of that, I believe that that's why I never get sick,

because I've built up all the antibodies over the years. So the question that everyone wants to know the answer to is, how many headphones have you lost over the years? Oh, geez. I got to the point where I just didn't invest a lot in them, because you can't. And I'm more of an earbuds kind of guy i don't know what really well just something that kind of plugs up the ears but small didn't ruin the hair

uh or just going out and about and um something that was kind of compatible with my ipod one of the things when i started at the fan too is when you looked at radio in the mid-2000s people were still kind of using mini discs and Marantz machines, and some people still do. I was like, I'm not doing that. I used my old school iPod to record interviews so that I can send them remote. It used to be when I was there that you had to drive back to the station or head back to the station and submit things there. And when Starbucks early days, when before a lot of people were going to Wi-Fi, I was filing from there, going in my car

so no one looked at me like I was crazy. I like how we talk about 2006, like we're talking about like 2026. Sorry, 1926. A lot's changed over the years. Even in that small timeframe. And you know what? That's awesome.

Six years from now, the technology will be increasing. Yeah, there won't be any radio personalities well radio has transitioned into podcasts i truly believe that podcasts were kind of an underground thing that apple kind of started with the hence the pod in the term but it really has taken over in terms of how people are kind of digesting okay i'm going to start with some like uh the heavy question and then we're i have some lighter fan questions yeah then i'm gonna we're gonna i'm gonna have some lighter fan questions. Yeah, do it. Then I'm going to have some good light chatter with you guys. I have to talk about what's on Elvis' head here and some topical stuff going on.

Yeah, do what you got to do. So when did you leave the fan? Because a lot of people think you're still there. That's the strange thing about radio, right? You don't say goodbye or whatever. People think you're there. They think, oh, they just missed you because maybe you're unpredictable with the times you show up and everything. So a lot of people think you're still there, but you're not at the fan.

Yeah, no, I'm not at the fan, and I haven't been at the fan for a little over a year now. It was July 22nd, 2014. I have a very chronologic memory. So that's like eight years? I can remember a stupid amount of, like, exact dates and times. I got it too, brother. I got it too.

It helps in this world. It definitely does. He doesn't have it, Elvis. I do not have it. It happened in mid to late July, and it was one of those things where in September of 2011, I was promoted from my generic part-time fill-in absolutely every stupid role possible to becoming the Maple Leafs reporter. And that job was a dream for two years. Two of those years, it was amazing.

The first two seasons going on the road, establishing a relationship with the teams. And it was a lot of fun. Because that's the old burger job, right? It was the old burger job. The infamous Howard burger job. It was. And you know what?

For someone who is cutting their teeth, you could be on the air kind of filling in roles and people would hear you here and there. And being at the fan was a dream come true, especially in a part time role, just being on the air. But after five years of just kind of being generic, I was kind of in a place in 2011 where I'm like, where's my career going to go? Is it going to find a defined path? Am I going to have to leave? There were opportunities to leave and I I turned them down but what happened was uh this opportunity came out uh doug fairway is a big mentor of mine he was the one who brought me in at the fan he was a sports director at the time i'm sure everyone knows that name because he filled in hosted a lot of shows on the fan

and uh he he handpicked me for that position uh it's uh two days after i became the leaf reporter he was dismissed at the fan right and then i i was reporting to don collins and uh just a couple of other people around there and uh the first two years it was great there were a lot of challenges along the way being the new kid on the block even though i had been at leaf practices in support of howard to be the guy certainly carried a lot of weight to it so that happened then came uh september of 2013 when i got uh brought into my immediate superiors office there's a few bosses at the fan so i i went into my immediate bosses uh he told me to come in and he said that uh we're not sending you on the road anymore and i thought to myself, OK, at all.

It was like, well, we'll see about Buffalo, but we'll see. So I'm like, you know what? What does that mean? As someone who has an economics background, I knew that was a bad sign right then and there because here's a full time salary. And my salary was not that much. And it was to the point where it's radio so it's it's radio gets paid the lowest in terms of all the media i'll tell you that right now but it got to the point where i saw my salary in the radio mind and i thought to myself well what am i

supposed to do in that time like oh well you might call you on for here uh things here and there but don't really know so that's not a good sign if there's no plan for you that's when i started to think to myself okay maybe my time here is starting to run out because i can't do this job for for half of what it is and and the worst was probably going to work every day everyone everyone out at leaf practice being like so you go on the rope no they're like why i'm like i don't know so it got to to that point where I started to look at other avenues. I started pushing my way into other departments at Sportsnet because the Fan 590 really became Sportsnet 590 around the time that I became Leaf reporter. And I thought to myself, you know what? Make myself useful for

other departments. It got to the point where I was doing Citi, I was doing some other things, and I was literally volunteering my services for free because I had the time and they didn't have me doing anything else. So that happened. The summer came and I was dabbling in other opportunities. I got shortlisted for a position within the company that i didn't get and then after i didn't get that uh we we parted ways in july and i was actually relieved because i just i wasn't i didn't want to do the job the same way the upcoming season and i caught on with the leafs pretty quickly they were very gracious to have me, and it was a great relationship. So you basically, was there any time between the fan letting you go and MLSE bringing you on board?

Well, okay, so what happened was I officially started with the Leafs October 20th, 2014. So not a lot of time. And in that summer in July, there wasn't anything going on. So really it was just kind of collecting a negotiated severance slash talk in other places. And it was great because once that happened, the other people I started to talk to in the industry at other employers started to take me

more seriously because even when I had meetings with them before, they're like, well, I don't understand. You're the fan. You're happy. There's this perception that once you're employed, no matter what you say, you know, everything is all h-dory but uh it got to the point where i was meeting with other places and saying look uh my time is running out there yes i'm still with them but it is running out once they saw it officially and it went down people were like oh okay so you were serious about that i'm like well yeah so things got moved together pretty quickly. And I know Elvis has a bunch of questions. Yeah. Real quick, though,

was Rogers fair with regards to severance at the end of the day? You know what? Those could always be more. But at the end of the day, it's one of those things where I had only been there for nearly eight years. And so I guess the standard...

Which, by the way, is a long time. It is. Well, maybe in my world, it's a long time it is well it is maybe in my world that's a long time in let go world of and trust me at the fan i saw a lot of people let go i saw i was there for the old regime into the new regime so i saw everything and it was one of those things where based on what they were getting and what i i thought it was going to be one of those things where it's, you know, per month, whatever, I don't know. In the end, it ended up being, I was satisfied with

it, but more so I didn't care because unlike other severances, it's not like one of these clawback situations where I was prohibited from working. I could have taken a job tomorrow. And that's what I cared about more than anything else was just being completely washed hands of the whole situation. So I was happy. So moving from Rogers to MLSC, obviously there's, you know, you were covering the team for Rogers and then covering the team for MLSC. Sure. And I know that, that they are your current employer. So maybe you can't honestly, honestly answer this, but I'll try anyway. Sure you can. How much of a difference, if any, are you treated as a reporter? Because that's what you are.

You're a journalist. You're a reporter. Are there things that you see and hear about the team that they ask you to not write about or talk about? Or is MapleLeafs.com, sort of the journalistic side of it, completely separate from any sort of editorial? They are slanting towards being separate. They still are under the marketing wing of the team, so you have to be cognizant of that. But I've never been told, you can't write about this, you can't write about that. Now, when it came to situations that I thought maybe I shouldn't, that's where I

kind of took off the reporter's hat. And I just didn't even bother because I didn't want to put myself in a testy situation so quickly. And Lord knows this past year, there could have been a lot of things we could have wrote about with the Maple Leafs. But it was one of those things where I just was able to write stories and the job is officially writer. So it was one of those things where I just was able to write stories and the job is officially writer. So it was one of those things where I wanted to not really push the button as much as I used to in terms of my journalistic standards and practices and become a better storyteller and kind of change the way I'm perceived in the marketplaces. Okay, well, this was just a guy on the radio. And I say that perception because when I talked to a lot of people, I'm perceived in the marketplace is, okay, well, this was just a guy on the radio.

And I say that perception because when I talk to a lot of people, I was perceived as a radio guy. And that is both good and bad because I think I'm more digital than I am anything else. I've always, even when I was at the fan, I was very tech savvy. The old fan590.com blogs, I was one of the first few to write on that on a regular basis it became one of those things where i wanted to kind of show my digital presence you taught howard berger how to blog i i did not teach him oh no okay but um he's still waiting but but there but there were a lot of you know he goes on the road of the team on his own dime no that he doesn't do that anymore. Well, he did. I do know that he did.

That was in the... The court documents are publicly available. I read that and I was... And I don't mean to do this tangent. I'm just fascinated by the great Howard Berger. Howard lives in my neighborhood. When I was at the fan, I looked up to him. I respect it.

I mean, our age. We grew up listening to him. But is he a tiny bit crazy? He's not crazy. He's just unique. Is he a curmudgeon? No. Is he a curmudgeon?

I don't know. I can't say. I can't say for sure what he is. Good. Better safe than sorry. Look, I'll say this. I don't know how I would have handled being through what he went through. Maybe I went through a bit of it in a microscopic way.

Maybe he went through what he went through so that I wouldn through a bit of it in a microscopic way. Maybe he went through what he went through so that I wouldn't lose my shit when it happened with me. Well, he was there a long time. I bet you he wasn't making altar money. He was making real money at the fan. You know what? It was a different time then. Yeah, no way down. I know that.

In the 90s and 2000s and the people who are grandfathered in their radio was a medium that was taken far more seriously than it is now. So what did Berger do before he was at the fan? Because that's the part I don't know. I don't remember the fan before Berger. He did write. He actually has a couple of books based on the Maple Leafs.

Oh, wow. I do, yes. He wrote in Calgary as well for the Calgary Sun. Oh, wow. And so he was a writer and then was working in radio. But the radio thing kind of happened where if I remember correctly and Howard, I'm sure you'll correct this. It's one of those things where when he jumped onto radio and he started covering the team full time, it was because a book kind of like a publisher kind of got on board with it and said, we'll pay your ability to go with the team. We want you to write a book about what it's like to go on the road with the team.

And so when you got to do it and double dip with radio, radio didn't take it on. But then once the book was done, radio said, you know what? It was so good. Let's keep doing it. And they did it for a very long time. Who is a bigger Leaf fan? Maybe not today, but back in the day. Howard Berger or Storm and Norman?

You want Storm and Norman back in the day? Yeah. The Hammerhead Alert. The Wendell Clark is gone. I'm sure he wasn't the first, but he was a broadcaster here in this city that broke that cardinal rule that you're not supposed to. First of all, I don't believe that a lot of these guys aren't fans they say that they're on no no i think that rule only exists for journalists not for the uh like the host guy but that rule never existed for the you know what i will agree with that for the hosts it's a different hat you put on that but to that level like storm and norman

at the time was like it was unbelievable he's selling fucking t-shirts i'll tell you this i was i was uh 10 11 years old where i was not allowed to tv in my room during the glory days in the early 90s when when the fan launched and i loved listening i love storming on i i that should be a name on your fucking list i i when i went on man that was the biggest that was one of the biggest thrills for me when i started interning at the fan is that norm was there i'm like oh my god it's norm like yeah yeah all these people i grew up listening to they're like oh my god it's norm oh my god it's barb and all these people i was just so enamored like i almost felt like i was not worthy to the point where i was so more nervous to do that than anything else in any other walk of life because growing up listening to the fan when i was

11 years old on the walkman was was like uh it was a dream for me to even land there and to to progress to that point where i i saw norm norm lit up when i told him all this stuff and he always does and he gave me a hammerhead alert shirt uh which i still have yeah why did you wear it you should have wore it the only reason i don't wear it out is because it's like xxl and i'm like a small it's like one of those go to bed shirts but uh it's one of those things where he was the way he was and it was really entertaining and i remember i was crying in laughter at times when he would ream some of the other uh uh collars out and then there was one time i think he went over the line where he was kind of worried about his job and he had to pull back a little bit the dead things and then recall

the murder city dead things i remember that there was something that happened with the leafs that that kind of changed his opinion about him and then he no he went to the saber yeah he's a saber that's i think that was the great mistake like that's i think that whole like you know what wwf like a heel turn no but that's, you know, WWF, like a heel turn. That's what it is. It was a, it was a, the only thing is he didn't jump on it to be this guy that would still chirp people about it.

He, he changed his show to being more intellectual, informative talk like that. And, and that's, that's what it came to. I don't think I answered your original question. No,

I got it. I got to go back to it. Basically. Yeah. Okay. I agree. I think that was a great question it came to i don't think i answered your original question no i got i think i gotta go back to it basically yeah okay i agreed i think that was a great question by elvis i don't think i'm speaking as just a guy i don't think you can be employed by mlse cover the team that they own and be an impartial journalist i don't think i think i understand why mlse has you in the marketing department because you're essentially a pr wing of sorts yes and no i mean look i'll tell you there were situations where i could have taken a an employment role or i could have we were talking about other situations yeah and it was a difficult balance because i still wanted to maintain credibility and i still wanted to be able to kind of i think

of my becoming a good friend by the way i have a wilner update okay so when the blue jay's magic number and we'll get to jay's chat quickly here soon but when they get when this when the magic number gets the single digits mike wilner's coming back on tron yeah fucking confirmed and we're gonna talk just jay shit yeah just quickly oh yeah this is the first multiple guess you've had? No, Hebsey is the first one. Hebsey's done it twice? But real quick on Wilner, real quick is, I remember when he criticized Cito Gaston and got suspended.

It was the shot across the bow, which is basically you work for Rodgers, Rodgers owns this team, and basically they didn't say it, but it was clearly watch when you bite the hand that feeds. I'll tell you the large reason for why that was was because of who was in charge then. And now who's not in charge.

Who's that? Well, I won't say, but you can initial, you can, you can, you can connect the dots there because when that was his name, when that Collins,

when that happened, Millman. Yeah. Nelson, Nelson's there now. Oh, I think he was brought back when the guy left, Collins left for California. But, he is? I think he was brought back when the guy left, Collins left for California.

Right. But 2010, 2011, when all that stuff happened, was probably one of the stranger years of the fans in terms of the turnover, in terms of the management style, in terms of a lot of different things. I know Elvis is itching to get in there because I wanted to find out about,

you keep mentioning that there's a lot of turmoil.. I know Elvis is itching to get in there because I wanted to find out about, you keep mentioning that there's a lot of turmoil. What were the biggest disappointments in terms of letting them go? Like, I remember being disappointed that Barb DiGiulio was out of a job because she was a veteran female broadcaster in the sports space,

which is rare unto itself. And she had been there since the beginning. And it seemed to me like she did everything that was asked of her to the best of her ability. And she was fine.

Nobody had a problem with Barb DiGiulio. And suddenly she was out the door she's been on the show which got her the job at 10 10 somebody must have heard her episode of toronto mic because she got a job at 10 10 shortly thereafter but that's a great way to plug your podcast by the way uh yeah she got her reps in uh on that note kelly catrera is coming in soon and she just got let go by chorus so we'll do the same magic for her. Nice. Nice. There you go. So who are the names that left during your tenure at

The Fan that were sad to see go? Gord would have left and came back, right? Yeah, Gord left and came back in a different role and he's back now. I believe he was co-hosting with Bondell this week. Yeah, which is... Is that the odd couple? There's like no chemistry whatsoever. I didn't

listen. I'll tell you, like before I before i sorry this is the add podcast no no that's why that's how i am it's because we have both of us in we almost never interview someone together and we both have these different directions we want to go i find nowadays i'm listening to flow more than anything else these days i'm listening the radio because it's new cap right it's old school hip hop it's it's the perfect formula of music that i love so and they just recently changed that too and there were studies i think as someone told me a station in indianapolis was like rated 15th in their in their books and then they're like okay well you know what before i heart radio or whatever comes in let's just change to old school 90s and last

decade hip hop and they went from 15th to first i like that station when i have the cars that have the cxm there's a station um it's just before the regular hip hop station but it's old school or whatever they call it but it's the old school hip hop i think it's called old school yeah i tune into it when i'm on these road trips all the time humpty dance whatever let's go no yeah baby got back yeah it's all good anyway so right and then elvis has to get into his question i'm being very i don't want to i don't want to name i don't want to name anyone specific because i really did enjoy working with everybody who got let go it really was tough

because i mean that entire net of people no assholes there no no i mean not not of the among the people that were let go but it was one of those but it was one of those uh situations where the darkest day was when they got gutted everybody in 2010 when they got rid of everybody and just brought a couple people yeah because hogan left okay on that one day it was hoagie landry stellick rick ralph uh There were a bunch more. There were a lot of behind the scenes people. Brian Angus, who was producing the morning show, was let go too. It was just a massive bloodletting.

And the funny thing about that is we're reading blogs and we've heard about this for weeks. And we're just kind of walking around not hearing anything. And everyone's just like, oh, well, it's probably's probably nothing or whatever i mean we heard there might be changes i remember even when nelson stepped aside in late 2009 before we all went to the olympics it was we found out he was leaving and then someone else was being brought in it didn't make a whole lot of sense and it just we knew things were changing we're lucky whoever was kind of sticking around to kind of stick around but uh that's where that was probably the toughest day i would say i everyone had a long face we were brought in for an emergency meeting and and i i

don't know i i remember i got a lot of phone calls more texts than anything else being like do you still have a job and i was like yes i'm fine. But this just happened. It's pretty bad. Chorus just did this with our friend. It's radio. I think, you know, Mike published a list. I don't know if you saw it the other day on his website of the top 10. Was it top 10 guests? Yeah, the guests I'm pursuing. The guests he's pursuing.

And it's, you know, it's a who's who list, essentially, of people that he hasn't had on this podcast yet. And one of the names on there, I think, probably, that is the longest of the long shots. Cause they're, they're almost all of them are pretty long shots. Is Bob McCallum. Yeah. And I think I keep hearing every podcast. He's been like,

how do I get Bob? Well, we talk about, we talk about Bob too. And Mike does to all the different guests that used to work at the fan. And so it's not, so I'm not, you know,

we're not, I'm not going to ask you to take out your phone and text them even if you could. Um, but could you tell, what can you tell us about Bob? Cause it's interesting. The evolution of Bob is, um, has changed over the last number of months because there was this article that came out. Uh, I can't remember who wrote it. The Schultz one. Yeah. I talked about a little bit more about his behind the scenes persona. And've heard uh steven brunt i think it was in the past in past interviews talk about this idea that the bobcat is really a character and i think that's that's a new evolution in terms of uh you know removing the

veil i think over the last couple of years because before there was never acknowledgement that bob wasn't bob right he is so good at that character that i was legit afraid of him because even when i talked to him or anything he was just so stone-faced and stoic in the in the building and to the point where it was like i i felt like i couldn't never connect with the guy because i would never be able to be in that mode where i could have that kind of conversation a i was never a name enough to kind of be involved in that and be the only times I would talk to him were the 20th anniversary of Roger Center. I spoke to him because he was one of the first public address announcers for the Blue Jays back in 77. story that I voiced and got clips and and did a lot of what you do here uh just getting memories of Roger Center in 20 years and so I call I contacted Bob's producer just being like hey would Bob be okay to talk about this stuff he's like oh yeah no problem and when I spoke to him

on the phone just casually totally different like totally casual hey I'll help you with anything in the I'm like who is this guy there was another situation 2007 gray cup so i was employed for maybe a year uh we were at cinnamon and sokolowski's always when bob was like the uh on the board of the gray cup yeah the one in two the toronto the first the toronto one in 2007 because there was that one then there was the 100th anniversary in 2012 but in in 2007, we go to this party, and so we're there, and so a bunch of people I worked with at the fan also show up, and then Bob shows up,

and he's wearing eyeglasses, not sunglasses, because dark, and it's different, and he's making the rounds. He's like, hey, Bob McCown, nice to meet you, and he shakes my hand. I'm like, wait a minute, who is this guy? It was a totally different persona. This is good.

I feel like I have a chance and my friends humble and fred apparently bobcat's wife is a fan of the humble and fred show oh wow i feel like i have a side door in if i can just your podcast is growing with momentum to the point where it will be something that he'll be wanting he's i think he's good i like that too but i think he's pro podcast because i heard him talk on the i think humble and fred went into his bobcat studios at some point when they started the podcast and uh bobcat sounded very very like enthusiastic and pro podcast i gotta just get to him look he's of a certain age where it doesn't matter like in terms of uh of what he does next well that means he's out of fucks to give right but i love those guys but but no i don't mean in that i mean he still has his

show he's still very proud of his show but i mean anyone who's radio when you go back to the podcast anyone who's radio and not pro podcast has no future whatsoever you have to be except for howard stern you have to be well he says that now anti-podcast you know what down the road he i'm sure he'll change his mind well when he goes i mean the rumors are that he's going to go to either apple or pandora or one of these streaming sites was essentially howard stern is a pro buck and as soon as as soon as satellite radio or whatever the case may be okay so out of money he'll he'll make the. I'm glad you asked about Bobcat. I wanted to hear the real – because I've heard this too.

This is a character. This is a curmudgeon persona he puts on as Bobcat. But the guy, when the mic's not on, I think he's a sweeter, gentler guy. He's a sweet guy, but he's a guy who doesn't want to be out in front of people. But for me, I never really got to see much of that guy outside. But he does sell his wine. Those are the only two examples I can give you because every other time I'd see him, he'd be in the building.

And if he's in the building, as soon as he opened the doors, that mode has already taken over. And he's in Bob mode in that sense. That's your Bobcat analysis. What about Wilner? What do you think of Mike Wilner? You ever met him? Yeah, I've met him plenty of times. I like Mike Wilner. I'm a big. What about Wilner? Do you have any... What do you think of Mike Wilner? You ever met him?

Yeah, I've met him plenty of times. I like Mike Wilner. I'm a big fan of Mike Wilner. Because, you know, he's a divisive figure in that I get a lot of... He is. He is polarizing. It's freaking hilarious. Oh, I love it. I was just going to say, I was driving home the other day because Wilner's on fire now

because all the people that were calling in in the spring saying that the Jays are shit. It's early. It's early. It's early. Everyone's going to come around. Now, now Wilner is just like, he's in his head. He's had this reserve tank for a while waiting for this moment. He is just crucifying people on the radio. That's why I got to get back in.

I heard him the other day, and he won't even engage in conversation anymore. He's like, now he's hanging up on people and it's the greatest fucking thing ever it's the greatest radio he's he's not hammerhead alert yet i don't know if he'll ever get there but he's pretty fucking close and i love it i mean it's entertaining you know it is entertaining wilner wilner is a unique character to the point where he dishes is that he dishes it. And there's times where behind the mic when we dish it back to him, he'll be like, oh, whatever.

But on the mic, it happens to a lot of people. Everyone kind of transforms into almost a bit of a more exaggerated version of themselves. You have to. I hate to make this comparison. It's almost like WWE in terms of... It's the reviews of Mean Gene Okerlund?

No, I mean more so like when the Attitude Era came in 97, instead of being these fake characters, they just became amplified versions of themselves. And that's exactly what Mike is when he's on the fan. And that's what I love about it. And, you know, very personal guy. I had all the time for you uh when he is in studio and there were times i produced for mike early in the days of baseball or blue jay central i don't remember

what we call it baseball today is what we used to call it and uh it was fun because we you know you'd order food you shoot the shit it was a lot of fun it became part of what my nights were for a lot of that at the fan and wilner was a a large part of that. And he's hilarious for it. And I'm a huge Mike Wilner supporter. The part about Wilner that surprised me yet made me respect him more was when he said that he hates it when callers call up and say, here's my question. I'm going to hang up and listen to you. And he's like, no, no, no, I don't want to do that.

I want to engage in dialogue with you. And his whole point is, is I want to engage in in dialogue with you and his whole point is is i want to engage in intelligent dialogue with you sure if you come on and say you know because jose bautista went over four that they should trade him he's like well that's what makes it funny and he drives him right up the wall and it's the greatest thing ever that's what makes it funny because a lot of calls that he gets it's one of those things where you can't expect everyone to come on and argue to your same level because you are you are very encyclopedic in your knowledge and you're talking about this every day that it's you, it's your job. People are going to come in and they're always going to come in with a significant disadvantage no matter what.

And so the people who don't like Mike Willner kind of push that button saying, well, this isn't a fair playing field. Mike Willner kind of pushed that button saying, well, this isn't a fair playing field. But the people who are a big supporter of good radio, like I am, love it. No, I'm on board. Absolutely love it. So that's my analysis of Mike Willner. I once wrote an entry years ago.

Am I the only one who likes Mike Willner? Do you remember this? I read that entry. Because I get emails. I get emails, tweets about he's condescending, he's arrogant, I can't listen to him. I guarantee you that 90% of the comments you got on there are his callers. Not just people who listen more than anybody.

I don't like this. People who just want to observe from a distance love it. Very brief. Wilner's story, it's very fresh. It's from yesterday. So this guy, he's a trucker, and he tweets me and and he's like can you talk to wilner on my behalf i got blocked by wilner do you know remember when edwin saw this edwin hits three home runs fans throw their hats on the field i've never seen it before yeah in baseball and wilner's initial reaction via twitter was like i hope this doesn't catch on this is awful the hats thrown in the field okay you can imagine because

i can tell what you guys feel like like what what about the no fun police? Like what a ridiculous take. Like, and he did change. Wilner changed his mind and said, I was wrong. But initially he hated the hats being thrown in the field. This trucker tweeted at him something like, uh, how can you hate that? Get over yourself or something like that. And then Wilner blocked them. Okay. So once you're blocked by Wilner, there's like, what is a regular guy going to do? And this guy loves the Jays, loves Wilner, loves his tweets. So this guy contacts me and says, can you do something? So I had a chat with Wilner yesterday about this trucker guy and about how, look, he did, he didn't mean to be rude. This is what he said. Here's the context. He loves your show. Can you unblock him or whatever?

And Wilner, we went back and forth. You think, and Wilner said, do you think I overreacted? And I told him in that heat of the moment, when you're being pummeled by all these guys, he probably got swept up in the group on its own. You probably wouldn't have blocked. And he goes, yeah, you know, you're right. Unblocked, like we had a rational discussion, me and Wilner, about the blocking of this trucker.

You've created this niche that you could be like the Twitter conduit of blocking and muting. And I wrote this guy back and I said, he's going to unblock you. And I think he wrote me back something like, thank you, Toronto Mike. Like, I felt like a hero. Wow said, he's going to unblock you. And I think he wrote me back something like, thank you, Toronto Mike. I felt like a hero. I got the trucker unblocked by Wilner.

You just created a business idea. Is there money in this? You should be the conduit to the stars of Twitter to be like, you'd be like the official third party block police. But I thought,

so Wilner, two things there. One is, because Wilner, he's on the wrong side of history with that I hate the hats. How often does a J hit three home runs at home? Right? This is the,

you know, come on, please. Throw your hats. I loved it. I loved it so much. It's not often when Wilner will actually acknowledge that he was wrong. But at this point, it's because he's acknowledging not that he made a mistake

about the Blue Jays, it's that he made a mistake in terms of social media etiquette. That's what it is. I think it's more that he realized how infrequently it happens and how fun it is for the fans. And I think he remembered, this is for the fans. That's the moment. This is for the fans. I'm sure he's learning this now and he's probably learned this.

Just push the mute button. Mute is the best thing on Twitter. If you want to get rid of the haters but not give them the satisfaction or or or get them angry about being blocked unless they go really off base just mute he doesn't he didn't he didn't like the get over yourself like that triggered something in wilner where it was a block on his and then i had to talk out of it that's basically. That's maybe... I don't know what that is. I get told to get over myself several times a day. I don't block them. And most of them are by me.

Elvis, my wife, my mom, my kids. It could be one of those things where it's a mute-worthy, it's not block-worthy, and he just doesn't know the mute button. A lot of people don't know about mute. We all agree. Wilner is a rational man and an entertaining broadcaster what do you think I love play-by-play though what do you think

of his play-by-play I like it I like it's growing on me yeah I think I think he's improving what we know based on your conversation with him that that it is a dream of his to be a play-by-play guy

and I heard he's slowly poisoning Jerry Howard slipping things into his tea well is this because Jerry Howard wasn't on the air for a little while? Yeah, he had laryngitis or something like that. And he got the, I know that during that period, that's when Willner got the call, the walk-off.

Edwin hit a walk-off home run. I can't remember, but it was like, now that's the definitive Willner call. So I still go to Jay's games as a media member because I do some freelance work for AP Radio. That's the dream. So I've been there and I, this year,

which is awesome. And AP was actually really great because when I didn't have the fan affiliation anymore and I was in that purgatory state, uh, they found out, I told them and they said, well, if you need access to anything,

just let us know. They, no one turns down. That's amazing. So, so that was huge. Do you get paid by AP? Yeah.

Yeah. It's you. It that was huge. Do you get paid by AP? Yeah, it's US dollars. In cash. Some guy shows up at the ballpark with a bubble hat. I'm worried they could pay him in bobbleheads. No, no, no. It's good. The Associated Press, for fuck's sakes.

It's good, but it's just a nice little freelance gig. But what happens is, yeah, it's one of those things where I actually get to still be there this year and show my face. And it was good because I get to see Wilner and all his glory in terms of the play-by-play and stuff. And as someone who did play-by-play for him, I'm incredibly happy for him. Play-by-play was my dream radio job, too. It's why several years after I was done at Western, I continued to do it. A lot of it was carrying the mantle for Carlo Coschiala,

who was, Elvis and I know was like the mentor in terms of when we were at CHRW, was kind of the guy who kind of showed us the ropes. Oh, I've seen Facebook posts. This gentleman passed away. Yeah, well, he passed away while I was there. And that was the hardest thing for me because it was kind of a turning point

in terms of I didn't know where I was going to go if I was going to continue to pursue what I was doing for education or go to radio or do whatever. And then his passing kind of was like, well, now I'm going to be thrust with doing a lot more play-by-play for football for a guy who's really exclusively done.

I don't remember how long he was doing it exclusively for for yeah a long time and i had to and that first year i did it i was terrible but uh you know eventually i found my way and i had so much fun with it that nothing made me more engaged in what was going on a game than doing play-by-play out there and you have to love it to put it in context mike like to do to at that time anyway technology is a little bit better now but uh when i was doing it and when dave was doing it technology was not like this board here would just like like destroy the technology that the station had at that point yeah you're quite literally going to cis football stadiums that are not equipped to do anything um when it comes to broadcasting

connecting via analog car you have to like find at the time it was like you had to call in advance and order a phone line to plug a phone line into the board and then some places didn't like you to call we did a game from york university one time on our cell phone yeah and this was in the in the like probably 97 or something like that. So cell phone calling long distance from Toronto. The Zach Morris brick. Unbelievable cost for one. But two, like, literally passing a phone back and forth to one another.

And we could not hear the station back. So when we threw it back to the station for commercials or whatever, we just hoped that the guy wasn't, like, you wasn't surfing for porn or whatever on the other end. You usually can't soden. Yeah, we had no idea if they were listening. And porn was so slow to load back then. Exactly. My point was, in order for Dave to continue to do this type of broadcasting after Western and go back.

Now, you were also doing Argos at the time, right? Yes. I was doing back and forth sideline argos and doing play-by-play western and really wearing a lot of football hats i thought my career was actually going to traject to being somewhat of a football guy in 2008 uh the fans sent me to cover every bill's home game for like three seasons because it looked like i went to their training camps too it looked like like Rogers and NFL was imminent. So they,

they had me kind of jump on board there. And I thought that's really where things were going to kind of go, but then that kind of fizzled out. But so my point is, is that in order for Dave to continue going back and doing all this other stuff, like you really love play by play, play by play is where it's at.

It's the bees knees. It's the best. It really is. It's you get, you get to enjoy it. You don't have to worry about being journalistic. In some ways, you don't want to show too much homerism,

but you want the voice and the inflection to kind of change based on excitement. Listen, if you're, if you're listening to it on radio, especially where doing football play by play was incredibly hard because you've got to know all the formations and be able to explain that for a person listening. You've got to really be engaged in what's going on.

And when something exciting is happening, your voice and your inflection has to dictate that. It was incredible. It was awesome. I got to do it for many years. I still miss it. And it was a lot of fun. That's really what got me into radio, what got me into this industry altogether. And why can't we call it Western anymore?

They rebranded from the University of Western Ontario to Western University. The official name in the UWO Act, because all universities have their provincial acts, is the University of Western Ontario. Quick trivia question, or quick trivia answer. The University of Western Ontario is the only university in Canada that has the. That's part or quick trivia answer. The University of Western Ontario is the only university

in Canada that has the as part of their official name. Anyway, but they rebranded to Western University. Dave's point, it does have a little bit more of an American feel. It's also a better marketing tool to be called Western, like Harvard, like Yale, as opposed to

the University of Western Ontario. Not to be mistaken with Trinity Western in BC, which a lot of times we'd all go to Western, you'd go to BC, like, oh, well, we have a Western. I'm like, yeah, okay, whatever. I did apply to get into Western. You had to apply to three on the form.

I had the same form. U of T, York, and Western were the three. I had the same three. I knew I was going to U of T, so I had to pick three. I picked York as local, and then I picked Western just in case. See, when I was still in OAC, I was one of the last few to have OAC.

Yes, because you're a young man. Because I am a young man, sort of. But so in those, I had the three OACs, but then they did allow for an additional fee you can apply to more. I do remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I did the additional fee just to cover my bases,

and I really didn't know where things were going to go, but my main three were those same three that you Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I did the additional feed just to cover my bases, and I really didn't know where things were going to go, but my main three were those same three that you mentioned. Oh, wow. I had U of T, Queens, and Western. So you're two out of three. And Western was my first choice. U of T was just a pass to find my parents. There's very little variance in our three selections.

There was no chance I was going to U of T. None. Because you're a Western man, and you had a tattoo of the Western logo on you. I went to go see the 1994 Vanier Cup final at the Sky Dome before I was even a student because I knew I was going to go. Yeah, I think there was eight people.

London is so unrecognizable now. It is. Like, I went back recently and half the stuff that I used to go to does not exist. I was just there last week. It was just crazy. Is that where Cuckoo Bananas is? Is that a Western place?

No. No, okay. The Lindros thing with the beer on the head? No, that where Cuckoo Bananas is? Is that a western place? No. No, okay. The Lindros thing with the beer on the head? No, that was St. Thomas. Was it? It was St. Thomas. But he was a western guy, right?

I never went to St. Thomas if you could believe me. But Lindros was a western guy, right? He was. Why do I have visions of... He's from London as well. Yeah, I thought he went to western... The closest I ever went

to St. Thomas was the Flying J gas station at Highbury. Yes, that's right. That's the closest I've ever been. The truck stop. Okay, so David,

did you ever, do you listen to the new Fan 590 morning show? Occasionally to never. Okay, when you occasionally listen, what do you think of it? You love it? Not particularly.

I'm not a big fan of that kind of, of that kind of radio per se. Now, to be fair, I'm usually not up before nine so even in the additions today was difficult for you no because i listened to flow and i listened to my ipod and i heard a bit of the fan and i heard a bit of tsn 1050 uh and i i just i'm not a i think they're still figuring it out it's also the the summer. So it's like the summer programming version of it. So I've been pretty hard on Dean on this podcast.

I don't like him. I was never really a fan of his when he was at CFNY. Sorry, The Edge. You can call it CFNY. It's officially CFNY. Sure. CFNY. That is the call.

It's like the University of West Ontario. It's like CJCL. What does the NY stand for in CFNY? Usually all these call letters stand for like. I don't know. Nothing. It just sounds good. Okay.

All right. So anyway, I'm not, I'm not a huge fan of Dean, but I will say that in, he has grown on me a little bit. I don't like the show, but it's grown on me a little bit. It's the two other guys that are with him that are horrible.

George Russick. Is that his name? George Russick. George Russick. And, and Brian Favreau, who's a producer, right?

But Ryan, Ryan Favreau. Ryan Favreau. Sorry, Ryan Fabbro. Fabbro. Sorry. He used to who's a producer, right? Ryan Favreau. Ryan Favreau. Sorry, Ryan Fabbro. Fabbro, sorry. He used to be working with Bob, right? Seems like a nice enough guy.

I just don't think he's an on-air guy. And George just seems like an arrogant fuck. I don't know. Them fighting words. I'm sure I'm going to get a phone call now from Mike via Humble. For all we know, George is a wonderful man. He might very well be. And maybe it's a character,

uh, or maybe it's stuff that I've heard off the air that I'm not allowed to talk about. That's what we want to hear. But to me, it just doesn't work. There's no chemistry. And then you put Gord Stelic in there and there is even less chemistry.

Look, I, uh, I don't know. I've worked with a couple of the guys there that you mentioned. And, um, I mean,

I like George. I worked with ryan i love he was he was hard on me but hard in a good way i remember ryan fabro when he was he was a part-timer like i was but he was hired on long before i was i was an intern and he had this thing where he didn't he purposely was a dick to interns for like six months just so that interns would not get this feeling like they belong yet. I still don't like that move. They had to earn it, and I respected it. I think it's a dick move. No, no.

I mean he wasn't purposely like dickish. He just would not openly engage in further dialogue with you. He would just kind of be short. He would just kind of be there, and you thought that this was kind of him. But then once you gained his respect, then you kind of had a real good, meaningful conversation with him. And I respect him a ton. But you know what? He's got a very difficult task because he's also the producer of that show. Right.

And so he has to ring in everyone involved. And I think he's kind of been the star of that show in a lot of ways in terms of his knowledge base, in terms of making that and continuing that to be a sports show that you can actually listen to. The other two, I mean, that's never been my style. It never has been. It probably never will be. I don't think I'm in the minority in that. I don't think I'm in the minority in that. But if you put George and Dean in a hat and you were to say, okay, tell me which one is arrogant.

And I come out and say, George is like, that's, that's a pretty, but that's a sports show. And Dean, Dean does not know a lot about sports. So he seems to know a lot about baseball,

at least at a cursory level. Like he seems to have a pretty good memory about it. That show doesn't go in depth. It doesn't. It's not like, it's not like Brady Walker. Call me old fashioned. I love the old landry and stellick i loved it because it was a nice balance of that humor in the morning i loved the bits they did because at the top of the hour they play a bit

and that's how you should start your hour it's just something stupid whether it's funny or not oh they had a veto and woodbridge as i I recall. My favorite was Sleepy Mike Wilner. Oh, yeah. Mike Wilner hated it. Mike Wilner hates it, which is why we loved it even more. I asked him about that in episode whatever that was, 96 or whatever. Sleepy Mike Wilner was my absolute favorite. Hey, guys.

Don Landry did the voice of it. My favorite one they did was, I remember what year it was, 2009, 2010, the J.P. Ricciardi stuff where he was at the baseball winter meetings and they did a thing where they called him in his hotel room at 6 in the morning and he was like, yeah, hey, Mike, it's J.P. Ricciardi. I just want to let you know I got Gilmash. All this stuff. And then Mike would be like, what?

It's 6 in the morning. I mean, thank you for telling me but pretty good that's a pretty good uh landry doing wilner it was just what i'll say i'm dying a pretty good landry doing it was it was awesome it was the best and so those things i don't know if i was close to it yeah we're old well you're not old we're old though they don't want us i still feel like they don't care about us anyway so wait how old are you am i allowed to ask yeah i'm 33 i have to get a gay okay i am 33 he's not that uh much younger than we are couldn't tell because he does look 24 that's what yeah no i i get that a lot i mean if i show any great you're old 33 i don't show I don't show any gray yet.

Look at our beards. I just came off two weeks vacation. Physically, I haven't come out of it yet. So I look ridiculous. You've got the gray in the beard. I can't even grow a beard as nice as that. And that's not a great beard. No, it's not the greatest.

I can't do that. I grow a fantastic beard. Do it. If I could grow do that. I grow a fantastic beard. Do it. If I could grow a beard, I would never shave. My problem is it's a lot to do with my girlfriend doesn't like it. Say no more. You don't get any when you have a beard. We're married.

It's fine. But I mean, I remember when I first did it. And when I first did it, I i was maybe 28 29 when i first started doing it comfortably and the reason i did it more than anything else was because i was starting to get bigger like i wasn't working out and um my face was starting to get even fatter yeah like fat because bigger could mean whatever but when you start to get fat in the face you know the beard kind of helps it a little bit so So it hides the chin. It does. Yes, that's what that's what it was. But my first year covering the Maple Leafs, I was going on the road

all the time and my metabolism was slowing down as everyone's metabolism starts to in the late 20s. And I was eating crappy and getting no sleep. It was the perfect mix of all three bad things you can do to your body in one calendar year with no time off. So I initially did it for that because it kind of hid that. It was a good look. I thought, you know what? The beard does all that stuff. Then I started enrolling in boot camps and CrossFits in like summer of 2012.

And I had my first time off I never had at the fan, my first off season, like after the Leafs. I worked a stupid amount of hours i did 14 shifts in one week one time when we had that massive let go and i i didn't know what to do with myself for like a few months off yeah it was like being a university student again so i just enrolled in the boot camp and i spent so much time there and i just transformed to getting a skinny face skinny everything and trying to change my outlook on things and so ended up not needing it as much so I don't care as much you just reminded me of those glorious pre-child days do you remember those days when you think revert back to like I'm happy I'm happy to say I'm still in those days no you're on I have I haven't told you

yet that baby number four is coming oh wow I think I saw that tweet or something. I didn't tweet it yet. Is this breaking news to your following? There's a comment in the Josie Dye entry. That's where it is. This is breaking news. I slipped it into the very end of the Josie Dye podcast to see who's paying

attention. I was listening. The very end, because she's very pregnant. She might have given birth by now i thought i was going to deliver she has your baby you can't you can't leave the good stuff till the very my wife or josie no no you can't leave the guy i was going to say back in the podcast you can't leave the very good stuff towards the end because once they said but that kind of stuff because i wasn't uh i still don't have permission to go public with the info

so i slip it at the end of a podcast. She doesn't listen to these ones. She doesn't. Monica liked, she loved the Roz one and the Mocha one. These ones she loves. She's never, no offense, she will never listen to the David Alter episode. No, I wouldn't.

She just won't. Although. I wouldn't. She did like, but she loved. This might be your lowest rated podcast. No. You might be. Actually. You might be. Actually,

it might be. No, just kidding. No, no, it might be. There's a lot of like, where it's just Elvis and I shooting the shit.

I'm totally okay with that. You're definitely going to meet the ones. You are worthy though. Your podcast. Does she listen to the ones which is you and I or no? Well, she went on a mat leave,

so she didn't listen, almost nothing during the mat leave, which seems to be reversed because she likes it on her commute or whatever. So this is the opposite of Mrs. Elvis because Mrs. Elvis doesn't listen to any of your guests, but she doesn't listen to the ones of me

and you. I know. It is the opposite. But Monica likes it when she knows the guest. By the way, she's bless her heart. I don't know who's blessing her heart. I don't believe anyone's blessing her heart. But that's a good expression. Sometimes my kid will sneeze and I'll go like, bless you. And then I think, who the fuck's blessing?

You are. You can bless your own kids. I'm trying to go German now. Gesundheit! It's scary. Germans are scary. Remember that. He works for a German. Very scary. We used to yell yes like a group of friends of ours whenever we would sneeze. You're so good looking!

We had our own room. She's like, yes! I'm going to go back to your good-looking thing. Where am I going with this? All of this is to say, yes, so baby number four, I wanted to just tell you because I haven't told you yet. David looks excited for me, too. And then I'm done, by the way, because I gave each wife got two.

I'm excited that it's you and not me. I feel like I've given each wife two. Everyone's happy. Nice. There you go. Sure. And there won't be a third wife, so we're done. We're done.

In your mind. Where was this going? I thought you were going to ask me a question your mind we're done in your mind where was this going i thought you were dead this is it i okay because i see the time i have to do i have to uh ask you real really quickly sure because i know you uh covered uh the pan am and pirapan yes games like this is the freshest awesome shit you did how was that experience what who'd you cover for sorry i the games news service okay so this was actually awesome how i got to get to do this so in my time at the fan i was one of two people alex sixero being the only one who got to cover both olympic games for uh the broadcast consortium for the radio arm. So we did that in 2010, 2012. So me looking for something to keep busy in the summer

because the Leafs are quiet, there wasn't a lot to do, I reached out to someone who I used to work with, Teddy Katz. I didn't work with him. That's a great name. But Teddy Katz was a CBC radio reporter, and when Doug Faraway would have me cover anything and everything, no matter how big or small the event, usually the only people that were there were me and Teddy Katz.

So I just reached out to him saying hey, I don't know if you have anything to do with this, but I saw this posting, can I get on board with this? So I reached out, I put in my application, got a couple of interviews, and got hired on to do Games News service reporting. So what that is,

is it's completely not controlled situation because you are working for the journalists that are covering the games. So everything bad and good has to be reported because otherwise you are not doing a service for the clients. So it's not one of these things where, Oh, or you work for Toronto 2015. So you have to know that they have a separate arm for that in fact we would get into a lot of we get into a lot of

arguments with them about stuff we're putting in there because we have to feed the beast for the journalists that are covering the games so it's games news service reporting so it's writing stories and getting to go to every event and write the compelling stories that the journalist from Belize that can only send one person to be at one thing at one time will have that story that they can use that copy and be able to tell that story. That's cool. Got to do opening ceremony. Got to do wheelchair rugby for Parapan, which I loved. I saw Murder Ball 10 years ago when it came out in theaters.

It was amazing. loved i i saw murder ball 10 years ago when it came out in theaters it was amazing so i actually volunteered trying to make sure i got to do that event because yeah it just it's an amazing sport to watch so when i got to see it over in mississauga and just see i wouldn't do that it just looks so dangerous but uh that was a lot of fun i got to see what happens at a lot of games. It always starts very negative, and then it kind of evolves into a positive. There was someone from a newspaper publication that works in a newspaper publication that kind of jokingly referred to the Toronto 2015 games

as, I'm sure it'll be fine. That was the slogan that they internally created before the game started, because no one knew. They didn't know if there'll be fine. That was the slogan that they internally created before the game started. No one knew. They didn't know if there'd be interest. And then it turned out to be everyone kind of rallied behind it and had that joy, which you learn to come and expect. And you know what you learned about Toronto is as much as it is diverse, you really get to see it in real life because Toronto's so diverse that maybe your close friends didn't care, but there was a large

segment of the city that did. And then because it got pushed into the mainstream, everyone kind of jumped on the TO bandwagon. It was a lot of fun. Did you cover any of the Degrass track? I did. The 100 meters. Nice. The 200 was the one.

That 200, you were there for the 200 final yeah the the 200 one was the one where like it looked like he wasn't gonna be he came from behind at the yeah yeah yeah he was kind of slow it looked like he was kind of getting tired he's not fast out of the blocks no he's gonna work on that he's not and his his reaction time is one the one thing they're working on i guess and uh hopefully and uh hey but to go go into the Worlds, that shocked me that he was able to medal at the Worlds. You know what? He's been put through the rigors so much. Everyone rests.

I actually, like, so when he went, I watched that, I streamed it from the CBC site. I'm talking about the Beijing world now, not the Parapan. Sure, the Beijing 2008 CBC Games. The Beijing 2015 World Championship. Oh, sorry, The track and field. The one that just happened, yeah.

So it was early in the morning, which I kind of liked on a weekend or something. And then basically, I think I was setting the expectation, which is, you know, best case scenario here

is he can maybe steal a bronze. Like that's the best case because you have Gatlin, you got Bolt. Like I don't have expectations he's going to beat those two guys. But maybe he can steal a bronze if he runs like Race of His Life or whatever and he did exactly that like he's basically his

progression is such that if you were to map it out on a board he's hitting all the points right and his body is still the mature and he's smaller than the other guys and it'll be interesting to see what he has when he has the appropriate amount of rest because everyone else was kind of right towing setting up for that tournament where right and he was doing pan am he was doing ncaa right he was constantly aiming for peak points and that and where everyone around him at that level yeah was kind of going on a different path right just skipping that bolt and gallon weren't going to do no for that reason so so i mean it's one of those and a lot that's the problem with Pan Am Games is

we didn't see any world record smash because you're not going to get the best of the best. Yeah, because Bolt's not running it. A lot of these events, you know, when it came to covering Toronto 2015, some of the events I preferred covering was ones that I knew that the cream of the crop go to because it becomes a qualifier for

Rio. The ones that are qualifiers for Rio from an individual standpoint and not an NOC, an Olympic qualifier for just the nation. It was one of those things where I was more compelled to that because I knew I was going to see the cream of the crop. I'm kind of spoiled that way. I've been to Olympics

before, so maybe it's different for me. But I think for me as a fan, I just turned a switch in my head that this is not the Olympics, and I i didn't put like olympics expectations on it i knew i wasn't gonna see both and my friend elvis here in the very last episode he was on i think you basically i i listened to it and i think you said something like you could not understand how anyone could take something positive from the game is that your quote yeah and i'm sticking to it i know i'm sitting here and i'm david who covered the event will tell, lots of Torontonians were very excited by lots of the Pan Ams.

They were. I've yet to meet one. Honestly, I worked- But you met me. That's why. There's another guy who speaks to the diversity of the city. But he's in northern Oshawa. I worked downtown every single day of the games,

and I saw nothing that would indicate that there was anything happening in the city other than just the same number of tourists that had been there before. It does a little bit shock me. And my office is at the inside. Because I live here and I saw so much every day. Saw nothing. You know what? If you're in the downtown core, core.

That's where I was. Young and bendous. You wouldn't see a lot of it. But I mean, you could say that about a lot of things. Grey Cup 2012. I see. Grey Cup 2012, there was a little bit of a walk-up party. But that week, if you've been to a Grey Cup in another city, you know it's happening there.

But in Toronto, it was... I see Blue Jay hats and Blue Jay t-shirts everywhere. Right. It's littered with my Facebook wall. It's downtown, everywhere, walking around. Your friends are similar to mine, and I'll tell you what it comes down to. It's this feeling of Toronto being this world-class city

that has this inferiority complex that if it's not the big ticket thing, it's hard to get up and support and be really an everyday fan about it. That's the Argos problem. That's what... It's the Argos problem now. It wasn't back in the day.

Right, no, now, I mean, yeah. Yeah, but it's to the point where, to Toronto FC, they love it because they know that at least that's the best soccer they can get. Yes, there's nothing better that could play here. It's not like the premiership of what we're going to put a team in Toronto. Right, where with Argos, there's still that stigma that maybe there's a better level of football that could come here.

Right, there is. So there is. No one's expecting EPL to ever come to Toronto. That's just, it's never going to happen. No, you're exactly right. That's why the Marlies and the Argos, all these teams, that's what they sell. And the Marlies sell well because they,

you know what, they found a linear marketing. Right, future Leafs. Future Leafs. Now the Marlies are more compelling to watch than they've ever been. True.

And a price point that works. With this build that they're going on right now, the price point works. Although Marley won't be there. Remember the Toronto Roadrunners days? Yeah, I do. That was an Edmonton farm team, right?

Yeah, but no one went to it, and they didn't care because there was no... To say my girlfriend's from BC. We just came from BC when we were trying to wake up at 6 a.m. for that track and field thing because she's a big track nut. But we were talking about, and I'm just talking to some of the people who grew up there, Abbotsford should have been the Vancouver affiliate,

but they were the Calgary affiliate. And that's why that team with other reasons failed and they have left. And eventually they'll probably move back there because every HL team is now moving to be closer to their NHL affiliates. Well, it makes sense for call-ups and stuff too. Yeah. So Vancouver is the only one that still has their affiliate way in Utica. So they're at a massive disadvantage.

They're going to have to change that. Okay. Up against it here, so I just want to say I am so in love with this Toronto Blue Jays baseball club. I just want to say that. I know Elvis is going to be shocked. He's like, he can't imagine anyone feeling something positive

about this baseball team. What are you talking about? Why would I say that? I'm wearing a Blue Jays hat right now. Not only is he wearing a hat, he's wearing this straw Wiccan Blue Jays hat I've never saw'm fucking with you. Not only is he wearing a hat, he's wearing this straw Wicked Blue Jays hat I've never Were you at that game? No, I wasn't at that game. That's a giveaway hat? I know a guy.

Was it the country hat? That's the giveaway hat. Well, there's a TD logo on the back. Okay. I know a guy who works at the game, and I brought my team from work to the game, and he brought up a bag of goodies, and this was one of the hats. And I was saying to my team, I'm like, this is a fucking horrible hat. I hate this hat.

And they're like, no, no, no, it's cool. It's cool. They're a lot younger than I am. So I think they have a better vibe as to what's cool or not. I still don't like the hat, but it's the only Blue Jay hat that I have. So my kids are upstairs, and we're going to the aquarium after this. Oh, nice. And we have timed tickets, so I got to take them very soon.

All right. Okay. But I'm hitting up the Blue Jayays store while we're down there. Cause we're going to the game on Sunday. The, all five of us, including a one-year-old. So I got to outfit. I have brought a one-year-old to a game this year.

I have to outfit the entire team. So did you? The Jays have been fun to watch. I mean, couldn't be more fun to watch. I grew up in that nineties thing where I'm a first generation Canadian. And so the hardest thing for me when I was a Jays fan growing up was dragging my dad to a game. Right.

Because anyone who grew up in Europe trying to go out there, my dad was just sleeping boring. He was just like, I don't get this. Everyone's loving it, but I just don't get it. But I'm there. So he's there. And it's one of those things where now at least I have there's more people I grew up with. There's more people that at least my friends' kids, they can take them and they're enjoying themselves. Dude, this is

once in a generation offense. How can you not like this fucking team? I'm using the hashtag now. Two years later, I've decided I'll use the love this team hashtag. They pushed it on us in 2013 and I quickly grew to hate that team. Two years later, amazing how that can happen when

marketing goes wrong. Can I tell you, everything from how the broadcasters sound to what you think of the uniform and the logo, everything to a team depends on winning. That was the first big good move was going back to the Blues. Oh yes, I agree. And no one is complaining about the SkyDome anymore. No one complains about anything

when the team wins. Did you hear about all these SkyDome improvements they're going to make? Yeah, dirt infield. They want to replace all of the seats and make them green. They're going to replace all the team wins. Did you hear about all these SkyDome improvements they're going to make? Yeah. The dirt infield, they want to replace all of the seats and make them green. They're going to replace all the railings. They're going to

replace the top of the roof. And they're going to go back to calling it SkyDome. Is that correct? No, that's not true. But green seats, I think that'll be weird,

though. Green seats in the SkyDome, that'll be weird. I'm surprised they're not red, but yeah. That's what they're going to do. Yeah, that'd be exciting.

David Alter, it was a pleasure. Thanks, Dave. When you turn that mic around you even much better okay thank you let's i should have told you that before we started you great to meet you elvis nice to meet you mike nice to meet you let me know what george says george russick or george strombo gotta get you straight and that brings us to the end of our 133rd show. Go to my website and click Terry Fox Run. The website's torontomike.com.

Click Terry Fox Run at the top. And I don't care if it's a dollar or $100. Pledge my ride. Terry Fox, 35th anniversary. I'm doing the run on September 20 at Hyde Park. Love that event. And that, oh, yeah, we got to talk Twitter. So if you're going to follow me, it's at Toronto Mike on Twitter.

David Alter is at D Alter. I like to say Dalter. I say Dalter too. Good. It sounds right. Elvis is at Oshawa Elvis, which explains why he didn't care about the Pan Am Games. It was in Oshawa. Oh, yeah.

Weightlifting and wrestling. Oh, yeah. The most popular events. Base was in Oshawa. Oh, yeah. Weightlifting and wrestling. Oh, yeah. The most popular events. Baseball was in Ajax. Oh, that's right. Sorry. That's an ignorance from me. Walk-off failed pick-off attempt.

It was amazing. So ridiculous. See you all next time.