Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Don Landry: Toronto Mike'd #162

Episode Date: March 4, 2016

Mike chats with broadcaster Don Landry about his years at The Fan 590 co-hosting with Pat Marsden and Gord Stellick, why I should have Vic Rauter on the podcast and much, much more.

Welcome to episode 162 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com and joining me this week is broadcaster Don Landry. Welcome. Mike, nice to see you. You have some, you got some beer right in front. Are we supposed to drink as we go here? That would be fantastic, actually. You are more than welcome.

That's all yours. So everything on the table goes home with you today, unless you drink it during the episode. Seriously. In which case, I can't let you drive home if you have them all during the episode. It would be wrong. But if you want us, I know you got a coffee going on there, but if you have them all during the episode it would be it would be wrong but if you

honest i know you got a coffee going on there but uh if you wanted to crack open like this blonde lager from great lakes brewery it's yours so yeah go ahead mike richards for example and it was really early in the morning when he was here like 10 a.m cracked one open enjoyed it it helped you know lubricate, if you will. Morning beer. The only time I've ever had a morning beer that I recall, other than when you're younger, maybe you still do it, staying up all night and then having one at 4 or 5 in the morning. You would stay up.

That doesn't really count. But once we went to play paintball up north of Orillia or something, and it was 8 o'clock in the morning, and we got out and somebody just cracked open a bunch of beer and said, this is what you do at paintball. I went, okay. I think that's the only time I've ever had an early morning beer. Hey, don't tell us how to play softball.

Yeah. Hey, you know, this old expression, you ever heard it? Like, I once complained I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet. Right. Would it be rude of me right now to complain that I have balaclava hair? Yes, it would. I always went for a bike ride, and this balaclava, because it's kind of cold.

And I just saw before you, I passed a mirror when I heard the knock on the door, and I saw this frightful hair thing, and then I thought, I can't bring that up with Don Landry here. Sure you can. You know what? We're probably not going to dive into this a lot but i

started losing my hair when i was about 22 wow so it was tough it was really tough when i was younger it it hit me hard had i the money at that time i probably would have gone and gotten plugs or something like that because i'm 22 but i've been without much hair up top for so many years now that i just i got used to. It doesn't bother me anymore. I think it looks damn good, actually. I just got a nice haircut for my wife this morning. Trimmed that out nicely. That's the funny thing about having very little hair.

Yeah. Is you need haircuts more often. Is that right? You wouldn't think that, but the difference between, I guess, the starkness, it shows up more. There's a contrast. Yeah, exactly. So how frequently do you need to get your shows up more. There's a contrast. Yeah, exactly. So how frequently do you need to get your hair cut? Every couple of weeks or so.

I can let it go a third week maybe, but it's a pain. I would just get a wig. That sounds like a lot of maintenance every couple of weeks. Sounds like a bad idea. But your wife does it. Yeah. Eventually, we just decided, you know what? Why pay like $15 or $20 to go there every month or three weeks?

Let's just buy clippers for $95. Yep. And then, you know, a few haircuts down the road, you made your money. Well, you didn't really make your money, but you know what I mean. Economically, it made sense. I'm all about it. Like, my wife is like an amateur hairdresser person or haircutter or whatever. She's got these clippers set or whatever.

And when my son, my teenager, needs a haircut, he goes to my wife and just says, can I get a haircut? And I was like, yeah. It saves you a lot of bucks. Why not? It's convenient. Sure.

So what do you think of this studio since you're a radio veteran? I like it. This is much better than the setup I have back home, which I kind of set something up. Not huge. You've got one of these. It's an older school mixer, which I kind of set something up. Not huge. You've got one of these. It's an older school mixer, which is great.

Now you can buy what I purchased was just one of those small mixers. It's about the size of a piece of toast, basically. And it plugs into my Mac. And one day, Bill Hayes, a friend of mine, we went into Long and McQuaid, and he said, going to get you a good microphone. And I got a nice Apex microphone. You've got good stuff here. How much was your microphone?

I think it was about $600. Yeah, see, that's a good microphone. Yeah. Yeah. These ones, are these new? These are like everything, I got everything brand new when I started this thing

like three years ago or something. Right. Three and a half years ago. And the mics were complete, I'm trying to to think because there's so many parts to it or whatever it was 330 bucks per mic and i bought three of them yeah and i thought that was big bucks or whatever but then again i don't know like i know and that's the one thing we briefly talked about you know the new swing mics here because i just added these swing arms uh in fact the beer guys bought them for me the great lakes Lakes Brewery. That's why I love these.

Yeah, they bought the swing arms. So you have to be right on these mics. And I know that people like yourself who are used to microphones from the Rodgers, the Fan 590 or whatnot, you can wander, right? How far off a mic can you go on the radio? You could wander a little back. So you're hearing a difference right now. Yeah, yeah. Right now is a big difference.

But now at News Talk 1010, they have the same kind of situation because you sound much better right now yeah you need to be right in front of those microphones yeah they have and i think the the basic reasoning behind that is at a radio station maybe it's not there's not so much traffic here in your basement i don't know but if there are other people coming in and out and circulating a little bit they could be over over here, but you wouldn't hear them as much. Right. That was the idea. So the idea was there'll be noises around.

Yeah, so that was the idea. This is a nice setup. You've got a beautiful setup. What I have is a microphone and a little mixer into the back, and I don't even have mic stands or anything like that, and the furnace is right next to me, and I'll put a couple of pillows behind the microphone just to baffle it a little bit. But this is pretty good. I wasn't sure what to expect, although in listening to some podcasts, I knew that I had to watch my head coming down here.

That's become the thing. If Nelson Millman had to worry about hitting his head, then everyone does. You've got to worry. Milton Millman is a regular listener to this podcast, and I guarantee you he's listening to this episode. That's why I said it. He's a good guy. It was fun to do the uh like the ongoing history of the fan 590 with nelson millman i remember listening to uh well the very beginning on 1430 and then i was listening when

it switched over to the 590 so yeah one of the one of my two favorite stations uh you know coming of age in the 90s i suppose suppose, was the Fan 590. But we'll get to that. So a couple of like topical things, and then I'll hold your hand and we'll go down memory lane. It'll be fun for us. But the first thing is the law. So the skinny cable packages came out. Right.

So I did it. I actually, it turns out I pretty much, I worked, I pretty much watched three things, okay? I watched CBC stuff. I pretty much watch three things, okay? I watch CBC stuff. I watch the various numbers of TSNs, which will have Raptor games typically or regional Leaf games, right? Right, right.

Or whatever, Canadian Juniors, whatever. And I watch the various numbers of Sportsnet where I watch my Blue Jays and I watch a lot of hockey. So these are pretty much, I want a TSN, Sportsnet, and CBC. Right. And I go to the skinny

so I can get CBC, and CBC. Right. And I go to the skinny, so I can get CBC for the 25 bucks. Fine. Although I have to rent an HD terminal, so there's all these hidden costs everywhere to get the HD signal, but fine. Then there's like a, I'm trying to get the right number, I think it was $18 gets you like this sports package

that has a TSN in it, and a different $18 gets you the sports package with the Sportsnet. So you just do the math, and you realize you're pretty close to $100 to get three stations with the skinny cable package. The ones that you want. And actually, I had the same experience as you

because I did exactly the same kind of math. I went, okay, what's in the skinny? All right, I like that. I like that. I can do that. Now I need the TSNs and the Sportsnets. How much is that going to cost? And I added it up too and went, what the hell?

This is pretty much the same amount of money I'm spending right now, only I get the benefit of getting fewer channels. You're exactly right. It's pretty much the same money, except now, like the fact is, although those are the three I need, I don't know, sometime,

I've caught on an Oscar night, I've caught my wife watching the red carpet show on E! Network, for example. That would disappear because I wouldn't have that package anymore. So at least now I'm paying a big chunk of money I don't want to pay, but I'm getting a lot more stations. Exactly. So if it's revenue neutral, we might as well stay with the packages we have. And that's what we've decided to do too at our house.

So I just want to say that sucks because I feel like the CRTC asked for something and then the cable guys, especially as sports viewers, they really get us sports viewers. Going to be more changes. I mean, I will say this in fairness, I guess, is that the difference in those packages, the package that I have now,

I don't get TSN2. Oh, yeah, okay. And I don't get one of the SportsNets. But if I got those sports packages, I would get all of the TSNs and all of the sports nets. But again, I would get fewer overall channels and it would pretty much cost me the same amount of money. So yeah, I'm with you.

Because once in a while you're flipping around. I like that. There are channels that I won't watch that often, but I'll flip around and you never know when Big Lebowski's on some channel that you don't watch normally and you're into it. That's right. That's right.

Yeah, you can never turn down because that carpet really ties the room together. So you can never turn that down. And the other thing is, I don't know, you grew up in Toronto? I grew up just north of Toronto in a little town called Nobleton. Do you know it? No, I don't know. King City, Kleinberg. Yeah, I know King City.

Got me there. And Kleinberg because I went to the art gallery there. What's it called? The McMichael? The McMichael. Yeah, that's right. Beautiful spot. And, I don't know. King City, Kleinberg. Yeah, I know King City. Got me there. And Kleinberg, because I went to the art gallery there. What's it called? The McMichael? The McMichael. Yeah, that's right. Beautiful spot. Beautiful spot.

And then I had dinner there. So you grew up watching Toronto TV. So Gord Martineau, okay? So Gord Martineau, who I don't have a memory before Gord. Like, I was watching Sesame Street before Gord. Like, I wasn't watching, like, kind of news programming or whatever. was watching Sesame Street before Gord like I wasn't watching like kind of news programming or whatever so like the first memories I have of like news because I was a big fan back when the Moses days I was a big fan of the city tv kind of environment and that kind of a news program

like that was my go-to news station or whatever and Gord was always there so you know you knew your Gord Martineau and then all of a sudden uh he does his last show there's no goodbyes or anything then he a press release comes out from Rogers to basically say that was that was Gord his last show there's no goodbyes or anything then he a press release comes out from rogers to basically say that was that was gourd's last show and he's been here since the 70s or whatever and then i heard him talk to the raws and mocha guys uh he talked mori they have a producer named mori who got a hold of him and they aired this so i put this clip on my site but it was very clear that this was you know he wasn't going to go into detail about what happened but it really did sound in this short clip that gourd didn't you know he didn't control his own destiny here this isn't gourd saying okay i'm gonna i'm gonna say goodbye my own like my own

decision based whatever whatever so uh first of all do you know anything do you know gourd you know what happened well i don't know what you mean did the real story did you know the real story the way you're setting it up yeah i have a feeling that this isn't so good well i don't know the story the thing is i only know what i heard from more on the mori clip and then based on the fact that he did a normal show and then a press release went out like that's kind of strange because the mike cooper mike cooper for the same company just went said goodbye and it was like a lloyd robertson style farewell you know tour like they did the whole the whole thing for the guy i could i again i don't so do you have that clip that you're gonna play no i'm not that i'm not good enough to high five her a professional i'd have it going

if i had a producer it would be ready i can only surmise like i haven't talked to mike cooper or anything if if it went that way all i can surmise is that there was at least some kind of agreement that that that the time is up, and here's how you can go out. And if Gord Martineau just did a newscast, and then they sent out a media release saying that was his last newscast, I will guess that he didn't want that to be his last newscast. And they decided that it was, and we're moving on. And that's why they did it that way. And I think companies make these mistakes an awful lot when it comes to people like this. And it's been happening recently more often.

There was a newscaster in Ottawa that Bell let go who had been there 27 years. I can't remember her name off the top of my head, but people were just outraged by it. They hated the fact that she got let go. They don't even think about that kind of thing. Steve Garrison in London, who'd been doing a morning show there for, I don't know, three decades or something like that, has basically walked out the door by security. See you later. Now, they've since brought him back to, or they had brought him back to do like an hour, but it's just, these things aren't done properly so often. And, okay, I have some sympathy for the companies, but they go, look, we need to make these moves. And if the other person, if the person who is they go, look, we need to make these moves and if the other person, the person who is the target

is saying, I'm not ready to make this move, then everyone's in a difficult situation. But you'd like to think that a guy like Gord Martineau could call his own shot.

That was a lot of, many years of service for the same station. So basically, the way it works, and you know this better than anybody, we'll get into it,

but people, in your example, we hear you, but for Gord's example, we see him. He's in our living room every night for decades. It's one of those things where you and I, basically, you feel you know the guy.

This is like a friend. He's in my living room every night for decades. So the no goodbye thing is really tough in that situation. Thank goodness for social media, I guess, where people can start campaigns. They can write their columns and post them online. They can tweet out, get a hashtag. I'm worried about Gertrude, though.

Little Gertrude doesn't know what social media is. You're right. She has no idea why Gord Martin, Little Gord Martino, she calls him Little Gord Martino, is not on the air anymore. Where's Gordy? All right, so I noticed you didn't crack open a beer yet,

but I should point out you are drinking a coffee, so that's a pretty good reason. But thank you for my coffee. No problem. Years ago, I picked this up from Adam Vancouverden, I think, in a way. We were on the air at the fan early one morning. I don't know, Gord and I were just talking about some nonsense and I'd brought up that I was very disappointed because I can't get peanut butter on my bagel at this wherever I was going. I can't remember, was it Tim Hortons or something else? I had to eat this bagel without peanut butter. And then Adam was scheduled to be a guest a little later in the morning.

And he shows up, sure thing, after eight o'clock, shakes my hand, nice to meet you, and plops down like four packages of peanut butter on the desk. And I'm like, see, that is good guesting and that's what I need to do. And that's why I decided to bring you a coffee. Because of Adam VanCouverton.

Well, two things. One is I also love peanut butter on my bagel. Like, I love it. It's fantastic. It's fantastic. And secondly is Adam VanCouverton will be coming on the show post-Rio Olympics. So right now, he's literally down under in Australia or New Zealand. I think it's Australia, but then I saw him say something about being in New Zealand.

But Adam Van Couverden is training for the Olympics in Rio because he's got already a few medals, including a gold, and he wants to add to the collection, which is great. And then I'm going to have him on because I want to kayak the Humber River, and he's going to tell me how I can do that. So he is coming on after the Olympics. That's fantastic.

To get advice from Adam VanCouverden on kayaking? It turns out, and I can't reveal any more details other than it turns out he's a friend of a friend.

That's all I can say. Dun, dun, dun. All right. Everyone listening, Don Landry wants you to help fund this podcast. He's having a great time and he wants you

to go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike and give what you can. I'm reading your mind. I'm reading your, and he wants you to go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike and give what you can. I'm reading your mind. I'm reading your mind. I know you want to say it. And he wants you to give what you can and help keep this podcast going. I don't mind them doing that, but I did not say that. I put words in Don Landry's mouth. I'm all right with that. I should stop doing that. All right, let's talk before the fan 590 so i first heard your

voice on the fan 590 when you were doing mornings with uh pat marsden correct so how did you end up at the fan 590 what what happened pre-fan 590 that i i didn't know about don okay um right back the beginning a uh humber college then got a job at ckBB in Barrie as a disc jockey and doing some news and things like that. Then I did get a job at the fan doing some part-time sportscasts while I was there. This would be 1992-ish or three, like right in the early days. Right. So I was kind of doing double duty. Then I went to London and I got a sports director's job down there at CKSL, which was becoming AM 1410, news talk for the

90s was the slogan for it. Yeah. So I was the sports director there and still doing some sports casts at the fan. A little later on in the history of that station in London, they got me to do the morning show there. So I was hosting the morning show, only did it for about five or six months when they decided we're pulling the plug on the whole format. London's not ready for news talk radio. And we're going back to, I think they went to music of your life. They went to, you know, that's like the CJCL thing, right? Yeah. They went to what was cheaper. We're going to have a computer over here. It's going to play music and we're going to have jocks from the other stations do some, some voice tracks and that'll be the end of it. So I was offered a buyout or a job at the fan,

and I took the buyout because I actually went and met with Bob Makowitz, who was the program director at the time. Right. And I got the sense that he was told, you know, we can save a buyout price here if you give this guy a job. And when I met with him, there wasn't really a job. He said, you know, you could maybe do some stuff, do some traffic, and then maybe do some stuff

on the morning show, da-da-da-da-da. And I went, nah, that's okay. And I took the buyout. But then Scott Metcalf, who to this day remains one of my favorite people in broadcasting, he was the sports director at the fan at the time. Now he's the news director at 680 News, phoned me up and said, what are you doing?

You got offered a job here. I explained it to him and he said, well, look, how about doing some part-time sportscasting? Continue to do that. And I went, okay, I'll do that. And from there, I just kind of picked my way in. This was back in the days of National Sports Radio. I don't know if you remember them doing that at night.

I don't remember it. I just, I've been told it by a few, like people like Nelson Millman and people like that. Yeah, they tried to cobble together a few markets all across Canada or portions of Canada and do some kind of a network. And since I'd done hosting before, I remember saying to the people who were in charge at the time, I can host too. They had me doing updates all the time. I can host. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Go away. You're bothering me. But as fate would have it, as it often does, one night they came to me and said, so-and-so is sick. I can host. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go away. You're bothering me. But as fate would have it, as it often does, one night they came to me and said, so-and-so is sick. I can't even remember who it was. Can you host? And I went, sure, I'll jump in. And I did it and I did a decent job and they got me hosting on NSR from there on out. And I'm trying to remember how the rest of it went after that. I ended up doing a show with Mike Hogan during middays called Monsters of the Midday. And at that time, I was also the update guy with Derringer and Marston.

Back in 1997, I think when Ken Daniels went to Detroit. Remember Kenny Daniels? Yeah, of course. He was the voice of the Detroit Red Wings. He was the morning update guy. So he left, and then I hopped in there and did updates on the morning show and filled in for each of those guys when they were on vacation. That's how that went.

Cool. You know, once I think, so you heard the Millman one. I once misquoted him because he said Marsden saved the station. This is his quote on my show. And I misquoted him in another episode. I misremembered it as Derringer saved the station. And then I

did try to apologize, but, you know, once it's out there, who knows what people believe now. But I remember, yeah, so he said the station was in big trouble because there were lockouts and strikes and all this stuff going on in the big sports. And, yeah, Marsden comes along and, yeah, Millman says save the station. He did.

I think Pat Marsden did save the station. And because everything you've just said there is true, the station was floundering. There were great rumors of its demise because the numbers were low, because there was a baseball strike, because there was a hockey lockout. Everything that could go wrong was going wrong,

and it was hard for the station to really get a grip on Toronto. And how were you going to do that? There's one great way, and that's to bring in an icon of Toronto media. And that was Pat Marston at the time, who had been happily ensconced in Florida in mostly retirement, playing golf. The story I've heard, and I want to believe it's true, is that the first time they went down to ask him to come up and work for the fan, he and Doug Ackerst were on, who was great, the great Doug Ackerst, who ran the fan for Telemedia for so many years. They're on a golf course, and right at the beginning, Mars Bars had just said to him, well, how much money are we talking about, Doug? And Doug told

him, and then he said, not even close. Let's just have a good game of golf. And Akers came back without him, is the story that I've heard and want to believe. And then soon after that, I guess they upped the ante, went back, got him, and brought him up. And the rest is history. Let's just make that story fact. I don't think— Why not? Who's going to stop us? Doug Akers could, I suppose.

But he would probably just say, well, that's basically what happened. I suppose, but he would probably just say, well, that's basically what happened. It's funny me messing up that Marsden and Derringer quote because today I woke up and somebody said, oh, you know, Agar just retired, okay? I have to confess, I've never heard any Agar on the radio. I never heard either. And I thought it was Jerry Agar.

He's the right-wing guy on Tencent. Jerry Agar is the mid-morning host. Right. So I've never heard either. And I thought it was Jerry Agar. He's the right-wing guy on Tencent. Jerry Agar is the mid-morning host. Right. So I've never heard him. And then I actually tweeted, Jerry Agar, I didn't realize there were two Agars. I just got my Agars mixed up, and I messed that up completely. And then I apologized.

And then a lot of people are wishful thinking. I guess some people find him a little uh right wing maybe i don't know jerry is a um is very is quite right wing he's well he's quite conservative he's very passionate and uh and he stays on that note as a guy he's very i find him very likable sometimes you know i don't want to listen to a show for for long periods of time because you know i don't swing that way but as a guy he's a terrific guy guy. I love him. Would I like this guy? Yeah, you'd like him. I mean, we just met.

So, you know, well, since you're putting words in my mouth. I already put words in your mouth. And beer in your mouth as well, by the way. Yeah, that's true. New rule.

All guests have to bring me a coffee and the trade-off is you will leave with beer. That's pretty excellent beer. You know, if you play your cards right, if this goes well the rest of the way, I mean, do you like craft cards right, if this goes well the rest of the way. Yeah. I mean, do you like craft beer, generally speaking?

Generally speaking, I get made fun of because I go out and I order a Heineken. Oh. So I'm like, I'm not a beer guy. All right. The beer snobs like to make fun of me. I was going to offer you an EPA from Black Swan Brewing in Stratford in my trunk right now. But it has to go. Yeah, it would be wasted on me, I think.

I almost would feel bad accepting it. It needs to go to somebody who wants to. Yeah, someone has to appreciate that. I almost would lay down and say, just sacrifice myself for somebody else to enjoy that. Now, what the hell are we talking about? We're talking about the wonderful news about Dave Agar retiring.

Well, we're at, so Pat Marsden's on, and Pat Marsden is teamed up with some guy they pulled out of Montreal, this John Derringer fellow. Who had been in Toronto before, and I used to listen to when he was at Q107. Me too. He was a wonder kid at the age of, what, 22 or whatever, doing afternoon drive at Q107, I think. Was he the one who did the 5 o'clock rock report?

Was that him? Maybe. That was my station for a while. They used to have a top 10 at 10, and it's where I would hear the new Guns N' Roses single and all that kind of stuff. And I used to record at the cassette, the top 10 at 10 on Q107 every single night.

I loved Q back then when they were playing the rock. I was a massive Q107 fan as I was in college and even as I started to work in radio at Barry, but I had this job at a horse farm. I remember in Bolton, Ontario every weekend it was freezing cold and I'm mucking out stalls, but I've got my tunes cranked on Q107 and you know what?

Play me some Chilliwack, baby. I want to hear it and whatever else they had for me. All the great stuff. Great stuff. I remember when Steve Earle's Copperhead Road broke or whatever, and that was on the charts, and I would be like, I just love that track. Great album. Just played great stuff, yeah.

He's also, by the way, a character on The Wire. I'm pointing to the box set over here. There's a box set of The Wire, but there's a lot of crap here. I got to do some cleanup here. So, Pat Marsden's teamed up with John Derringer. So, how, I guess, at some point, Derringer. So how, I guess at some point, Derringer announces he's going to leave.

Oh, yeah. It's very abrupt. I remember, because as I told you, I was doing the updates for Derringer and Marsden. And one morning, I'm sitting at the desk in the newsroom, and I'm typing away, getting ready for my, I guess my 9 o'clock sportscast or whatever it was, and they had just finished getting off the air.

So I'm not exactly sure what time it was, 9 or 10 o'clock. I think they only went until 9 o'clock. And I'm typing away, and all of a sudden there's a tap on my shoulder, and in turn there's John, and John goes, well, Pally, that's it, I just went upstairs and quit, so nice working with you, and he turns and he walks away. And I'm like, what the heck just happened? And about 10 seconds later, Nelson Millman comes in, looks at me, points at me and says, you're in tomorrow. And that's how that happened. So I guess John had decided, I don't think it was exactly spur of the moment.

He had something else he was going to go to eventually and had just decided that's enough. I'm moving out of here. And he did. and he stayed off the air for a number of months you'll recall before he ended up at q107 and then i was in the next day on a tryout basis with the great pat marsden and yeah because derringer replaces uh howard stern essentially i think that's right i think you got that right yeah i think so uh yeah so what what did think? What kind of guy was Pat Marsden? Complicated guy. Wonderful sense of humor. Wonderful guy. I loved him and sometimes hated him. And I think a lot of people would say that about Pat. In the end, I have just tremendous gratitude for what he gave to me and some lessons that I learned that I didn't even know I was learning at the time.

Right. I just the great thing about Pat or one of the great things about him. I happen to think he was one of the great football play by play voices, bar none, anywhere, either side of the border. He was sensational. But beyond that, the greatest thing about Pat to me was that he didn't give a crap if he was the butt of the joke it didn't, as long as it was funny he's okay with that so if he said something that he found very funny

he would laugh hysterically if someone else was the butt of the joke, it's fine even if you pointed at him and zinged him hard he would just laugh his ass off because to him that's what it was all about. It's just a good line, the art of a good line. So that's okay. It's funny. You got me. We move on to the next thing. And you know, he was probably thinking in the back of his head,

I'm going to get you in a couple of minutes anyway. And a guy who liked to really stir it up. That's right. And a guy who liked to really stir it up. And we had a bit of a love-hate affair for a while there. We got along beautifully, I think, mostly. And I really grew to have a great love for him. I think he was fond of me. He told me that.

His wife told me that. And I'll believe it because I want to. We had days, we had moments where we were going to kill each other from time to time. And not proud of that, but he brought that out in me sometimes for sure that happens when you work closely with uh somebody like that it can you know um one of the great things pat taught me by the way was how to let things go and i had to learn it the hard way but i did learn it from him and i don't remember the exact details but one morning morning we were on the air. He had said something.

We'd gotten into it. And then we got into a commercial break. And we just laid into each other. F and U, F and that, U, S, O, B, blah, back and forth, red face. It goes on. It goes on. And then there's just silence. And we're sitting there just frosted yeah for about 30 or 40

seconds and then i think jeff sam it hits the intercom just goes back in 10 guys and without missing a beat pat goes what are we doing here pali what's up in the next segment and at the time i was like what the hell we hate each other's guts right now it took me a while to get used to that to figure it out but then i embraced it as well. You can have, you can be buddies, you can be pals. Yeah. And you can be so pissed off at each other that you don't even want to be in the same room. But you can let it go and move on to the next thing. This is Siskel and Ebert.

Like, because I mean, I watched, I just recently, about a year ago, I watched the Roger Ebert documentary. It's on Netflix, actually. It's fantastic. And these guys, yeah, they loved, hated each other. Like, sometimes they had the same, they would just hate each other. And then, you know, you start recording, and suddenly you're doing your shtick, and you're doing your thing. Did they have love, too, though? I'm trying to remember.

Well, in the documentary, yeah. But there's, if you watch the documentary, there's, like, there's Roger Ebert before he meets the love of his life, and then there's Roger Ebert after. So the Roger, it sounds like, and we have interviews, obviously Gene's passed, but Gene's wife is on the documentary, and she kind of speaks on his behalf. And it sounds like he completely changes. He goes from being a pompous ass, which is, by the way, the name of beer there, pompous ass. It is not.

It is. Okay, hold on. You have a beer called pompous ass, and you put it in name of beer there, Pompous Ass. It is not. It is. Okay, hold on. You have a beer called Pompous Ass? And you put it in front of me. Here you go. That's subtle. Look at that. That's fantastic. So he sort of meets the love of his life,

who he was with until his final days. Right. And he changes. It's kind of a fantastic doc to just kind of hear how he changes. Anyway, so it depends which version of it's a fantastic documentary and it really what i like about it is it's how he dealt with life and death like it's almost i found it calming and almost reassuring because we're all going to die and this unknown death and what's it going to be like the

exit and like this like i don't want it to end that whole that can be really scary to even like think about so most of us don't bother going there end that whole that can be really scary to even like think about so most of us don't bother going there but it kind of forces you to go there because he had to go there and it felt very calming like when he the way he approached death like i just found it very like reassuring i hope to get there one day i don't mean i hope well you will get there one day i was gonna say i don't have to hope i'm gonna get i hope i get to that peace of mind too where you know you can just be accepting of things like that. I hear stories like that. You know, yeah.

And if you know it's coming, sometimes, yeah, acceptance is sort of a key part of a graceful exit, if you will. You can only do so much to fight it. But, yeah, let's hope it's not for a long time. How about that? All right. All right. So why does Marsden leave? He retired.

Gordon Martineau retired or Mike Cooper retired? Yeah, I think more of a Mike Cooper retirement. Pat may have stayed a little longer, but I have vivid memories of at least a year before he retired. At least a year. Him sometimes coming in and going, I'm just so tired of this. I've had it. And it wasn't always after we'd had an argument with each other. I think it was grinding on him a little bit. He

was getting a little bit older. He still had amazing energy for a guy who... The Keith Richards of broadcasting, by the way, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard the tales. The great legendary stories of pat mars unbelievable stuff but he had for at least a year he'd been saying i'm getting kind of tired i'm getting kind of tired and uh you know i think the show kind of changed at that point and uh so if he didn't just you know walk into nelson's office and say 100 i'm retiring that's it i'm gone, at least was, I don't think he was exceptionally upset by it. Now, he never said that to me specifically. I'm great. But he did kind of kick it around, like I say, for a little while. And so he made his exit, and then we went on to the next chapter.

And the next chapter is Landrian Stelic, Gord Stelic, youngest GM in Maple Leaf history. Is that true? Oh, he worked for the Leafs? Gord did? Did he really? He's probably never mentioned it to you. I've never heard that story before. He keeps it like a closely guarded secret.

He's very silent about it. And a very different kind of show. Very different kind of show. I mean, Pat and I were the argumentative types, competitive that way. Gord and I were more both looking at the humorous side of things. And the competition we had together, I think, was to try and be funnier if possible or get the best one-liner out. So it changed a lot. I had people who loved Marsden and Landry tell me how much they hated

Landry and Stelic. Interesting. And the opposite. And the reasons were like, you and Pat just argued too much. I like this better. And then with the second go around, it was guys, don't get into it. You're too nice, guys. Yeah. So it was

kind of strange to hear that from people. But from your standpoint as co-host, if you had to choose, and I understand there's pros and cons to each, but what was the more enjoyable experience? Well, I don't know how I answer that question without, you know, somebody taking it. Pissing off one side. Well, I mean, Pat has passed on, so I guess the easy way for me to say, oh, Gord, of course. Yeah, they both had their great advantages and some disadvantages, too. I can't really choose. I mean, I had a great 10-plus years as a morning show host there, and I was lucky to have Pat Morrison as a co-host and Gord Stelic, too.

So that's kind of the way I look at it. I honestly don't think one is better or worse than the other, truthfully. That's a fair comment, for sure. Gord Stelic, to me, I only know him from radio and what I hear, but he just seems like a nice guy. He's got at least the shtick I see is nice guy. It's the shtick, isn't it? I'm sure he puts that on, right?

He's probably a jerk when you stop recording. Oh, we're all jerks when we stop recording. But jerks don't bring coffee. Come on. Yeah, that is true. No, I think that's the image that he has cultivated. And mostly he is a good guy, too. I mean, we're none of us perfect, right?

So, yeah, I can't really say that he's a jerk. You're not going to dig some dirt on Gordy here? Well, I don't think there is any to tell you the truth. You think always there? Do you have something you're going to drop on me right now? I do know he was going to come on this show like 18 months ago, and he felt the distance was too far, so he asked to kind of put it on like a hold.

And it's been on hold for like 18 months, so I don't even touch it anymore because when someone that sounds familiar when things go on hold for that long a time it's like a sales prospecting like you're a sales guy that's like a dead uh what do you call rotten apple or whatever like that's not going in my pipeline or yeah yeah yeah i'm not gonna close that deal this quarter it's uh yeah i don't know you should get them on you'll have fun there are a lot of people you should have on, although I haven't heard each and every one of your... Give me the list. Who should I have on? I want to talk about one guy who was on recently and

worked with you on the morning show. Who should I have on? Well, you should have Vic Rauter on. You absolutely should have Vic Rauter on. But I can't, and we're going to get into this in a minute, but I'm not even able to fake my way through a curling convo. We're going to get to this. You don't have to, though. That's the beautiful thing about it. Vic's more than curling? Oh, way more.

He's just a ride. He would make the drive to this neck of the woods? Yeah, he would. I think he would. The true story is when Pat left, we started sitting around going, okay, who's next? And at the top of the list was Vic Rauter. Now, Stelic was

not far behind. But the truth of the matter is we approached Vic and said, what would it take? Do you do requests? Could I request a little Vic Rauter? I haven't done it in a while. Well, I guess if you don't watch Curling, I just make the final. I should say, since I'm in your basement, make the final. This is a great podcast.

That's my new bumper. Vic is a guy who, this might be an interesting story. Go ahead. I started doing an impersonation of Vic Rauter in high school because I'd seen him on TV. He was with CBC at the time and I liked him in that.

But as fate would have it, he starts dating my English teacher. Get out of here. It's the truth. And I never met him at that time, but I have memories of being in the cafeteria it's amazing and and entertaining people with hey what's it sound like when vick's on a date with the english teacher right you know and so i was doing that and i was kind of honing the

router impersonation at that time and years later i you know when i finally met him i said to him i you know there were rumors that you were dating my English teacher. And I gave the name and he went, yep. That happened. That's almost as good as the story I'm not telling, but Adam Vancouver did. That's a fantastic story. Make the final. Vic Rauter, I remember him from the old TSN sports desk.

Just Vic Rauter, like, yeah, I would love to have that guy on. Why not? Let's go. He's fantastic. The thing is, I went from impersonating Vic Rauter. Like, yeah, I would love to have that guy on. Why not? Let's go. He's fantastic. The thing is, I went from impersonating Vic Rauter when I was a high school student to he's, we're close friends now. I'm happy to say that. We met each other through him co-hosting and then we would have him on whenever we possibly

could. Dueling Vics, right? We did Dueling Vics. I remember Dueling Vics. We did that whole thing, yeah. Which I won. I'll remind everybody that we used to do these best of seven dueling Vicks and best of seven in callers calling in. And we did seven separate ones. It went to a seventh and deciding dueling Vic and I won it.

He was supposed to change his name legally to something else so I could be Vic Router. He never did it. That's the one thing I find very shameful. But he's a smart guy. He's as smooth as they come. I think he's doing his 30th briar starting this weekend. He's a great friend. And I think he's one of the superior talents when it comes to play-by-play in this country. Well, listen, you do a great Vic Router. In fact, Landry and Stelic as a morning show, because I had a commute back then. So during a commute, you're more likely to listen to a lot of terrestrial radio. I sure did in my car.

My car only got AM and FM, okay? There was no other options in my car. I listened to a lot of your morning show and it was very different and I liked it, but some might not like it, but you had a lot of comedic bits. Right.

There was a lot of comedic skits and stuff. Jeff Samet has been on this show. You're sitting in the Samet seat. I heard that show. He was sitting in the Samet seat. I heard that show. He was excellent. That guy's a bundle of energy. But I'm worried I got him fired,

so I didn't get him fired, right? Because somebody said I had a pink slip jinx going on because Brady was on too. Well, I don't have to worry about that at this point because I'm my own boss right now. Oh, goodness. I'm worried about Vic, though. He might not do another briar. No, but he's not actually here, so it's okay. It's right. It would be just by association. Oh, goodness. I'm worried about Vic, though. He might not do another briar.

No, but he's not actually here, so it's okay. That's right. It would be just by association. So what was it like? Tell me about Jeff Samet, working with him, and what he contributed. And then I got more requests. If you did Vic Rauter, I'm thinking you might do some of these other guys I want to hear. But tell me about Jeff.

I might do some of these guys, but you know what? You don't have to. I haven't done a lot of them in years. That Vic came out pretty good. It was good. I'm glad. I still do it. I walk around the house and I do Vic when my wife's in the kitchen and stuff like that just to try and drive her. But is there more? Because if someone said, Mike, go do Vic Rauter,

I would do, make the final. I have nothing else after that. I'm done now. Make the final. That's it. Make the final. What is that? Three words? Well, see, when we did these things, they're not really impersonating i they're they're like they're caricatures is what i like to think like the don cherry stuff i did it didn't really sound like don cherry but it sounded like don cherry might sound if you know it was the audio equivalent of you know when you used to go down to ontario place and they would draw your picture of you on

a skateboard and they would sure you take the you accent a skateboard and they would make me super bald in a big nose. Sure, you accentuate the... Yeah. So they're more caricatures than anything. Do you know Jeff Lumby? I don't know him. No, I know the name. I know the name, yeah. He's been on the show

and he does a pretty good Don Cherry. So if you could do a Don Cherry, I'll tell you whose was better. Can you do a Don Cherry? No pressure. Well, the last time I did a Don Cherry was about four years ago on the Jim Richards show. I Don Cherry was about four years ago on the Jim Richards show. I think it was about four years ago.

It was when Rob Ford was getting... Do you get sworn in as mayor? Remember they had the ceremony? 2010. They had the ceremony. Oh, with Don Cherry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He came over.

It was the fall or winter. Because he called everyone... I'm wearing my Pinko shirt for the first time. The cyclists and everything like that. Yes, and that's why... This shirt is because of that moment. So they had Cherry on it. And then Jim asked me to phone in as Don the next day. And I think that's why, this shirt is because of that moment. So they had Cherry on it, and I think, and then Jim asked me

to phone in as Don like the next day, and I think that's the last time I've ever done it, but. Until Toronto Mike's exclusive here. Yeah, let me, maybe towards the end of the show. Okay, okay,

we'll let you more of them. So liminally, I'll start thinking of some things that maybe I might say, but I mean. And we'll get back to Sam, and I will get back to Sam, but what about Jerry Howarth, okay?

Because, you know, right, these guys you do, you're right, it's like caricatures. These are kind of distinctive presentation styles that you kind of put on steroids, if you will. Yeah, exactly. Jerry Howarth, you do a great Jerry Howarth, too.

Well, thanks. I appreciate that. And he's another guy who's, he was wonderful about it. He always had a really good sense of humor about it. Not everybody did. No. I thought the first time I met Don Cherry, I thought I was dead because we'd been doing some of these bits with Don, and I'd never met him,

although he'd been coming in to tape Grapeline all the time, but I'd miss him. Now, one day, I guess he was looking for me, and I come around the corner, and he's down at the other end of the hall, and he just points at me, and he goes, are you the guy? And I'm like, oh, hi, Mr. Cherry, it's nice to meet you. Are you the guy? And he's points at me and he goes are you the guy and i'm like hi mr chair it's nice to

meet you are you the guy and he's still getting me from down the hall you the guy who does me in the morning everything like that and you put me in funny situations make me sound like i'm goofy all that stuff are you and i start walking toward him i'm like oh god i gotta simmer this down well don we're just doing them kind of i go are you the guy i said who does all that and he's walking towards me i'm like oh no and i go you know i'll just give into it and i go yes i i'm the guy and he just puts his hand out and goes put her there i love it those things are excellent keep it up good stuff and i'm like thank god i thought i was gonna get punched out by don cherry that's a fantastic story. I could just see it.

Yeah, that's great. He was great about it from day one, and so we kept doing it. It's funny, guys, because I've had a guy on my show, this guy named Mike Wilner. You ever heard of this guy? I've heard of Mike Wilner. No, it was Sam that did Sleepy Wilner, right? No, that was me. It was you?

Okay. So I asked him. I remember Sleepy Wilner because I thought it was funny, which was the whole objective here. Well, I was going to say not everybody thought these things were funny. Grapes was fine. Vic was fine.

Jerry was fine. I heard Mike never said anything to me, but I heard he didn't much care for it. No, I can tell you. And if I were, again, if I were on my game, I'd play the clip, but he did not like it.

The fact of the matter was when he was on our show, more often than not, he sounded like he was just getting up. And maybe he was. I don't know. He was. We go, yo. So, quite a game last night.

Boy, that Halliday, he can really chuck them, you know, whatever. Great question was. Well, yeah, these guys get online for Cy Young. The only thing we didn't hear was like an actual, like that, so we decided, all right, let's just have a little fun. Everyone loves our comedy, right, Jeff? Let's do this.

So let's do Sleepy Wilner. Why not? That's you. Sometimes I can't remember, because Schultz's mustache, that's Sammy. That's Sammy, yeah, which was great. Chris Schultz's mustache that's sammy that's sammy yeah okay which was great we we just chris schultz finally shaved off his mustache and and we just we were talking away and then we just born was this idea that it had a life of its own and screw you schultzy i'm living without you and

so jeff just did the voice which is very much like crusty the clown yeah it's because yeah schultzy's mustache would phone up once in a while and be on the show. Who lost it first? Him? Because Alex Trebek and Schultz and Rod Black, they all seemed to kind of lose them at the same time. There was some memo went out to the mustache guys

that said this is no longer in fashion. Lose it. That is something, isn't it? Yeah, and it's all like... I don't know who did it first, but there's some great... We lost some great mustaches at that time. That's all.

I miss the mustaches. Bring them back. Have you ever grown a mustache? I try, sometimes like out of laziness because I work from home and sometimes I don't see humans for a long time except my family. So I won't shave for a while because who wants to shave if you don't have to? And it looks so horrible that if I ever have to see like go out or someone's coming over, I will shave it all off because I look bad.

Like, it's not thick enough. That's the only thing I can grow on my face that actually looks fine. I can grow a good cop mustache and do it pretty quickly. Like a Quebec cop. Yeah, and a bit of a goatee. But then the cheeks, the side, that just stops. I'm like, you know, I don't know if you remember the kid, the neighbor in the Burbs, the Clopex kid who had that weird, awful...

Or Cliff Clavin's beard when they had the contest before he cheated. So I don't even try to bother. But you make a good point. We lost a lot of mustaches and I don't know, maybe we shouldn't have made fun of it at the time. Schultz, I think, at the time was a little uncomfortable with it too, but he came around pretty quickly, you know,

to enjoying it. Because it's still upsetting Wilner. He's been on a few times. Why would it still upset him? We haven't done it in, I don't know, five years. I think it's still, next time he's on, I'm going to see if we can get some closure. Maybe I'll have to get you in here and figure this out.

Remind him I went to bat for him when they suspended him. Maybe that'll help. Okay. I wasn't going to mention this, but... Why? Well, the suspension, according to Wilner, Rogers never told him what the suspension was for. He said they just told him to

take a leave, if you will. That could be true. So we're left with the optics of him criticizing Cito and then getting put on a paid leave. I don't doubt that it was about that. That it was about that kind of stance towards the ball club. I don't doubt it it was about that. That it was about that kind of stance towards the ball club.

I don't doubt it. But doesn't Rogers, and I know you don't work for Rogers now, but you did work for Rogers. I partially worked for them. Did you? Every year I go out to Alberta and call some curling for them. Okay. That's the extent of it right now. But wouldn't it be important to a company like Rogers to

appear like, to separate, I want to say like church and state here, but to separate the journalist, analyst part of their regime from the ball club PR part. Like, why would you want to have a blurry line between PR and reporting? Like, that to me sounds like a bad idea. Well, I think that's probably why we never got an explanation, a full explanation on it.

At the time, you just got, you know, it's an internal matter, and we're not going to talk about it. Go home, Wilner. Yeah. So you can decide yourself what it might be about, but you don't know. And now I was never told by somebody in charge that this is what it was about, but we all kind of knew. We all kind of were able to surmise exactly what was going on there.

That might could be a little bit cantankerous. Maybe that's the wrong word. Critical, could be pointed, that sort of thing. And maybe that CETO didn't much care for that. And maybe some other people didn't much care for that. And so you go home and you think about it for a little while. But now, 2015 notwithstanding, because in 2015 everything came together and it was a wonderful time for Blue Jays.

But prior to 2015, let's say 2013, after the Dickey moves and all that stuff, a lot of high hopes going into 2013. They've got their big PR machine going, and I will say that Wilner, for the longest time, was what I would call almost like a Blue Jays apologist. His famous catchphrase was, and this would be, not really, but let's pretend it's September 1st. It's early.

Like, okay, I'm saying. It was early until September 23rd or something, and then he's like, oh, yeah, we're 20 games back. It's no longer early or whatever. Now it's over, yeah. And now because of this aforementioned shot across the bow because he was critical of the Jays, I mean, I don't know. As a fan, I feel like they're going to sort of artificially prop up the Rogers decisions,

like whether it's an AA thing with Shapiro or whatever. Like it's just now who are we to trust these guys? They're going to say what doesn't get them suspended or fired. Well, you're smart to take things with a grain of salt, but not just when it comes to Rogers employees and the Blue Jays. But in any... I've talked about this before with some friends. Whatever information you're getting about anything,

sports, politics, entertainment, you always have to be aware that there might be some kind of an agenda there. Maybe. Sure, it could be a bias. Who's benefiting? You can't just listen to everything and go, well, that's the way it is. You're absolutely right.

So just generally speaking, that's the way we need to ingest our information. We need to do a better job of that as participants in that whole thing. And I agree 100% with you. But having said that, when I read something in the New York Times, it's got more weight to it where I will trust,

even though I won't completely blindly trust, but I will trust, I will better trust the unbiased integrity of this composition, where if I read something on sportsnet.ca, for example, about the Blue Jays by, I don't know, Shai Davidi or something, now I realize this guy's paycheck comes from the company that owns the team that once suspended Wilner for being critical. And it's not like the New York Times. It's a completely different level of integrity and respect. Right. You can still get good stories, and they do a good job of building stories and doing profiles and things like that.

And you're going to get some stories that will break there. And not always because the ball club is owned by the same company, but sometimes. because the ball club is owned by the same company. But sometimes, they've got some good reporters who, no matter who they were working for, they're going to get this kind of information. But the other thing is, you know you can get more critical, more objective, if that's how you feel about their presentation,

information on the Blue Jays, elsewhere. And you know where to find that. A lot of it's on the internet. You can maybe find a bit of it at TSN. They don't own the Blue Jays. I know they're in bed with Rogers and some other things, but there are places you can go. No love lost there, though. Yeah. No, no love lost there. So you can go to other places and get that kind of information, at least. But it's good to be aware of where you're getting your information and what it might all mean. You're right. You're absolutely right. Just check

your sources and be aware. Could be biased there. Okay, back to the Landry Estellick. I haven't let you off the hook yet because I still have you at 590 doing a morning show with Gord Estellick and Jeff Samet's there. So Jeff, you heard the podcast and he's a good guy, this Jeff Samet?

Wonderful person. He's a great guy. I mean, we had fun working together, and I feel like he's a brother. And he said the same thing to me. That's the great thing we got out of that. We got a lot of fun times, but we also got a really close friendship out of it,

and I'm grateful for that. Now, unfortunately, and I referenced this earlier, but Rogers Media made a bunch of big cuts, and on that day, or that week, I guess, two Fan 590 personalities were axed. One is Greg Brady, and the other was Jeff Samet. Right.

But I did see on Twitter, because I follow Jeff on Twitter, that he did appear on Barb DiGiulio's show. A couple of nights ago. Right. So at least he's, you know, surfaced somewhere in the public realm and maybe working towards something

else. He's going to do some fill-in at News Talk as well. I think he's going to do some Sunday afternoon shows. You're going to hear him. Cool. What was it like working with Barb? How's Barb? I didn't really... Barb's fine, but I... Oh, you never saw her in the hall? Yeah, you... Well, I worked with her, but not together.

Rarely did we work together. Sometimes she did some morning sports when I was doing that job. We never hosted together, I don't think. Apologies, Barbara. No, I'm sure we didn't. And then she had, by the time Rogers took over, then she was doing morning sports at 680. So we'd see each other in the halls and stuff like that,

and we'd sit and we'd chat. She's a wonderfully talented broadcaster and a really good person and uh yeah i don't have any great stories about her no i realize now that she would have so your co-host gourd stelic did a show with uh barb for for quite a while because i remember listening to i think i don't know if they call this electricity or whatever they were calling this thing but there was a lunch bag letdown thing going on that was a barb and gourd thing And so you're kind of like one degree separated. Yeah, exactly. And it's funny how, I mean, there were a number of people that I worked with for years that I didn't really see that often. And you can imagine that to be the case when you're getting up at four in the morning

and then you're leaving at 10 in the morning. Like you'd probably never see Bob McCowan, for example. In the 10, 15 years that I was there, I rarely ran into him in the station. And when I did, probably more often it was at some kind of a function. Right. You know, like a station function or a charity thing or down in Dunedin, I think, when we'd go down on a Blue Jay trip

or something like that. Right. Yeah. So I know him as well as you do. Is that fair to say, Bob McCowan? Yeah, I really don't know him well at all. Me neither, by the way. We have something in common there.

Mike Tyson, do you want to do a little Mike Tyson? And this will be my last request. Or you don't want to do Mike Tyson? Again, I haven't done it in years. Let me just say this about the Mike Tyson stuff. Wait a second. Are we taking calls? I am actually.

It's my daughter. Sure, go ahead. Hello. Oh, hi, James. I haven't decided whether I edit this out, so I'll record like I'm knocking it. We'll see. How's it going?

Good. Oh, no, because I have a pal over recording a webcast, Don Landry, who was on the Fan 590 and elsewhere. Okay, good. Good. Love you, buddy. See you tonight. So are you going to...

And as I clear my throat, are you going to leave all of this in now? Nah, I'll probably kill it. We'll see. We'll see what mood I'm in. I don't, I've learned, this is episode what, 162 or something? I've learned to do as little post-production as possible.

So this is pretty much like whatever you would call it, live to tape or whatever. Yeah. Like it's going to be, that's why I do all the music and elements live and then I literally just have to throw it on FTP to the web server and then edit the XML file. You did tell me there was going to be 80s music

here too, right? I've heard none. Remember that when we first started messaging back and forth? Did I say that? I promised you. Oh yeah, there'll be 80s music. This is a throwdown, a showdown. What is this? You know, you remind me of Greg Brady who lost a job because he's always wanting to play

the 80s tracks. I remember, look, you're not talking to a puppy here. I remember the 80s. But I think your 80s was my 90s, if I do the math on that. Yeah, okay, fair enough. So I love the 80s. My first album I ever bought, album on vinyl, was Rio by Duran Duran. That was the first one I ever bought.

I don't have that. You see, my first albums came in the 70s. So we'll back it up again. I think we have one decade. You know what? The 70s are, to me, what the 80s are to you. Right. Because the 90s are your 80s, while the 80s are my 80s. Right.

I think I nailed that, didn't I? Yeah, you nailed it. So I played that. I had it queued up only because he's coming on. So Maestro Fresh Wes, who I loved in the late 80s, and I just think he's great, is going to come over and chat me up. So I'm pretty excited about that. Not that I'm not excited.

You're great too, but you and Maestro and I can, I can shut it down. I think that's it. If this is episode 162, you've done a baseball season. That's right. We're going to playoffs now.

Are you kidding me? Yeah, we're going to playoffs. What was it like working with Late-night vampire Storm and Norman? Did you cross paths with him ever? Not very often, again, because he was on later. In the early days, I crossed paths with him more because I was doing, going back to those national sports radio days,

I was hosting in the evening or I was doing updates during the evening, and so I would bump into him then. I love Norm. I haven't talked to him in a long time. And this is the way it goes. Sometimes you drift apart from people. It doesn't mean you don't really like them. And I like Norm a lot.

For all of his bombast on the air, I found him to be often quite soft-spoken off the air and very polite to people gracious and quick to laugh which all of these things are are very attractive sure when you're gonna hang around with somebody just laugh at my jokes that's all i ask exactly whatever i say just laugh i need you in the front row be polite and laugh at my jokes damn it yeah he's a good man what about uh roger lejoie work with him even less even less the truth yeah i saw him on the odd weekend i think he co-hosted jokes, damn it. Yeah, he's a good man. What about Roger Lajoie? Worked with him even less. Even less. To tell you the truth. Yeah, I saw him on The Odd Weekend. I think he co-hosted

one morning show. Nice guy, but again, I don't have... He's never worked directly for the station. Is that right? He's always been an independent contractor. That's a smart way to do it. That's probably why he's lasted so long. It's a smart way to do it. You're never on the payroll. It's like a different

designation for accountants or whatever. No, you're right. How does he last so long? Some people wonder because he doesn't have the big shows would be like the morning shows are the most important along with the drive home and then everything during the day, but the evening and weekends maybe, you know. The higher

the profile at any radio station or probably any media outlet, I guess, but particularly radio stations, the higher you fly, the more likely you are to get the rifle shot eventually. Well, let's talk about your rifle shot, okay? Sure. I know that'll be pleasant for you. That's okay. You and Stelic were gassed on the same day, is that right? Along with Mike Hogan

and Rick Ralph. It was Dan DeLevy on that day or is this not? No, I don't think so. Rick Ralph was though. Rick Ralph, that's right. So the whole morning. This is like 09, right?

Oh, this is 010. 010. 010. Yeah. This is June 010. I don't remember the exact date. I remember it was near the end of the month, and I knew it was coming. Like, did you really?

Yeah. So you, like, dead man walking? Oh, yeah. I had a horrible last, I don't say this to get sympathy, but as a matter of fact, it was every day for a good month or so, I was going in there going, is this the day? Is this going to be the day? That sucks, right? It sucked.

It sucked huge. Thank you. You're right. It sucked. And then huge. Thank you. You're right. It sucked. And then, well, look, to back up the train a little bit, I mean, I had had a lunch with Nelson Millman in, I think it was November or December of 2009. We were just talking things over. And he was moving over to Sportsnet.

He was going to do TV. And I'll never forget, we were talking about things and what was coming next, my contract's up, Nelson, da-da-da-da-da-da. And he said, whatever you do, don't quit. And I went, what? He went, just remember that. And he didn't go on any farther. But I remembered it.

And then it became kind of apparent to me why he said that to me. I think there had been a decision. I don't know if this is true you'd have to ask Nelson have him have him back on again but he's not even told me this but I'd like to know if he went to the TV side because he was told you need to trim and maybe he didn't want any part of that and so they bring in the new guy and it's it's apparent from day one that he just doesn't give a crap about me or the morning show or whatever's going on. I just went, okay, let's maybe it's his personality. But when the Wilner thing happened and I went on the air and I protested, uh, I got hauled into the office

and, uh, and, uh, I was, I was papered. Here's a, it's an official sanction against you for management. I'm like, okay. So I add my piece to it and sign off on it. And then I say to him, look, are we okay here? Are you and I going to be able to move forward? He went, oh, yeah, sure, fine. I went, okay, well, you know, my contract's up in about two and a half months. And he goes, I haven't even thought about it.

And I said to him, okay, I got all the information I need. And then he emailed me later and said, like, I'm sorry to be that way about it. But, you know, business is business, basically. But I knew on that day. So the writing's on the wall. I would say a good month ahead of that, or, yeah, I knew. And so every day I was going in there going, it's happening soon.

And when he walked into the studio next to us and leaned in and Jeff then just looked at me, I went, oh, it's today. Today's the day. So I knew just a few minutes before that, that was likely going to happen. So can I ask something? So when you,

since it's coming, do you, did you start to minimize the, your personal items that are at the workplace? Like, yeah, I did. Like,

so you basically, you're almost like prepared to sort of disappear and never come back. Yeah. There were lockers in the hallway there, and I had a bunch of junk in mind, but some things that I wanted too. And I took all of that stuff out a few weeks ahead of time and made sure that I had anything that was mine, just in case I got marched out of the building unceremoniously.

So yeah, I was getting prepared that way and then mentally prepared for it too. And you know what? Yeah. I had another conversation with Nelson before the one I just told you about where I said to him, these hours are really starting to pile up. I mean, they're killing me. And I had this idea of maybe moving to middays. So we were already having those discussions. So when I got let go, part of me felt a little bit of relief.

A little bit. But mostly I was pissed off and mostly I was upset and mostly I thought it was unfair. All of that stuff that you think. Okay, when you're a permanent full-time employee of a company like Rogers and then they let you go, unless it's for cause or something, they have to sever you fairly. Like there's a severance you get. Right. When you're on contract, they have to sever you fairly. Like there's a severance you get. Right. When you're on contract, they don't, right?

Like you just have to pay out the contract and then if you don't, you just not renew a contract, right? Yes, but I... You were a contract guy? I was, but it was a weird situation where my understanding

was that I was contract full-time. And even if that wasn't the case, before I ever got my first contract, I had been a full-time employee. even if that wasn't the case, before I ever got my first contract, I had been a full-time employee. So back in the 90s, they had hired me full-time. And then when I got the morning show, that's when I signed my first contract. But I was still getting benefits and things like that, things that full-time employers do. So it was kind of a murky situation. And they didn't play around with it. They gave me a very good... Okay, so you were fairly severed,

as they say. They treated me exceptionally, just perfectly, when it came to the finances. Because they have deep pockets over there. I hate to hear them, you know, scuse a good guy like you out of a fair severance.

So you and Stellar could let go, and I remember distinctly, because the aforementioned Jeff Lumby, they actually have him as, like him coming in as the summer guy after you guys to bring it to the new morning show, which was Andrew Crystal, which I thought was a terrible morning show. I didn't hear any of it.

I'll take your word for it. And look, you know what? The day I got let go, I took the Fan 590 off my preset. Sure. You know, it's understandable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's never gotten back on, and it's not because I'm still ticked off, but over time,

you know, habits, new habits of listening were built in and things like that. But certainly at the beginning, it was like, I'm not listening to that. No, I can totally get that. Yeah. So I didn't hear any of that. I just heard reports about what was going on there every once in a while. So, I mean totally get that. Yeah, so I didn't hear any of that. I just heard reports about what was going on there every once in a while. I mean, you probably don't care,

but when you hear big news like, I don't know, Dean Blundell is the new morning guy, are you like, that's interesting? Or do you have any... Do you think that's... I don't think you could find a morning show more different than yours, I think, than Dean Blundell. This might be the... Yeah, I don't know.

I obviously know of him. But when he was on the air at The Edge, I was on the air at The Fan. So I've never heard his show. And I've never heard him on The Fan either. So I can't really tell you what the differences might be there or what kind of a show that is. But, you know, when I hear news like that as time goes on more and more I'm starting to feel like that's interesting what do you got going on here have you ever heard this song yes so you know what I'm playing right now and you can't read it on this thing together I don't know all the lyrics

but it's the that's pretty good Argos fight. So can I ask you when this disappeared? Because I never heard it until somebody pointed it out to me on YouTube years ago. But I don't remember hearing it. No, me either, growing up. I'm like you. The first time I heard it was when somebody had brought it. It resurrected. All these CFL teams have these.

Here we go. Go, go, go. Pull together. Fight the bull, go, go. Roll together. Fight the bull, bull, bull. So that was the first time I'd ever heard of it. I guess these were put out in the 60s or something like that. And there was a whole album of them. Like each CFL team.

I remember having John Shannon on one morning on the morning when this was resurfacing again. And then he started singing the BC Lions song. I'm like, what is that? Oh, there was a BC Lions song too. You are a CFL fan. Yes. And pardon my ignorance, but I know I've seen footage of you doing PA announcing at Argo Games.

Are you still doing that? I hope so. Okay, good. No. I don't know about this season coming up i honestly don't know they haven't gotten in touch with me to tell me so they didn't uh okay when does the season start uh june the 20 seed come on june the well they're they're the new the opener at the new stadium is uh june 26th or 24th against hamilton okay so yeah

well i hope i hope so too, because it sounded good. So, tell me, when you're doing PA announcing at the Argo Games, first of all, the video I saw looked like a lot of fun. It is.

This looked like a lot of fun. I grew up loving Murray Eldon when he would do his, like, Tony Fernandez, whatever, or Willie Upshaw. Exactly. Murray was awesome, too, by the way.

Why did we lose him? Paul Morris before Andy Frost, and Andy's sensationally good. Isn't it interesting that in my lifetime, there's only been two public address announcers for Leafs. Isn't that incredible? When you think about Andy Frost now has been doing that since, it still seems to guys

like us who grew up with Paul Morris, that's still a fairly new thing. He's been doing that since 1999. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is a long time. And I like Andy Frost, his delivery style too, but I still, once again, goal scored by number 93, Doug Gilmore.

Says number 12, Errol Thompson. If I could just mix eras. For some reason, I mix eras. I went to Gilmore only because... I went back to... It's okay. We were going back even further. Number seven, Greg Tarian.

I came of age in this Dan Dau, Greg Anderson kind of, this mishmash, just before Wendell comes to save us. Yeah, see, me, it was... I was actually a Habs fan because I adored Ken Dryden as an eight-year-old. Sure. And why wouldn't you? I'm eight or seven, and he's new guy, 1971 playoffs starring.

So, of course. Right. Then I became a Leaf fan, you know, shortly after that, when Wayne Thomas got traded from Montreal to Toronto and, you know, that sort of thing. But it's funny how – I think Ken Dryden said it too, by the way. We're off on a bit of a tangent. Yeah, that's okay.

But Ken Dryden said – you know, he was asked, what's the golden era of hockey? I think was the question. And he had the astute answer, as he often does. He said, the golden era is whenever you were 12. That's right. It's like, what's the best time for music when I was a teenager? Exactly. But it took Ken Dryden about 18 minutes to deliver that thought.

That's the only knock. Ken Dryden is sometimes succinct, like that answer that I just relayed there. It was succinct. Oftentimes very long-winded, but a smart fella. And one of the highlights of my broadcasting career, by the way, is back when I was in London, I had read The Game 10 years previously. It's still one of the great sports books of all time, in my opinion. And he was doing a book tour for another book. And I brought in my old copy of the game, and he signed it for me. And I had a nice long conversation with him.

That's back in 1994 or something, and it's still a prized possession. Okay, it's funny you mention that, because right now we're in, like, minimize cleanup mode in this house because baby number four arrives this month. Congrats. But almost, almost. You gotta hold it. So like maybe today. That phone, the reason I had to check the phone,

the phone rings, I answer it now because literally I could get a call like, hey, you gotta come to the hospital. I'm in labor or whatever. So I'm answering all my phone calls now. But what I'm saying is I'm cleaning out a lot of crap. And in front of you on this chair, I actually had some old books that I didn't want to get. I'm giving away all my books, my paper books, except what's on this thing, table.

And one of them. I can't have the Homer book? I know. My kids like the Homer book too. So this, I'm holding this up to you and no one can see it because it's a podcast. But this is called The Great Gretzky and it was written by Terry Jones. And I got this, I received this in 1982. Okay. And I read it and I don't know what grade I was in in 1982, but you know, I was pretty young and I read it and I read it once. I read it twice. I read it three times and this is 82. So

think about Gretzky's career. Like he's still a puppy, like he's a young man. And I couldn't believe that, you know, they they talk about this he had like a 400 300 and something goal season once it's like whatever and i'm i couldn't believe i loved gretzky and i loved this book and for some reason i could never throw it out like this 299 great gretzky book which is so outdated now i still have it because it's like i fell in love with wayne gretzky when i read terry jones's the great gretzky when I read Terry Jones' The Great Gretzky Book. And here it is now. It's pretty dog-eared.

That thing got beat up. It's 1982. That's a long time ago. I just met Terry Jones at the Alberta-Boston Pizza Cup a few weeks ago. Because as I said, I go out and do some curling. Wow, it's a small world. And he was there covering it. So it is a small world.

Oh, he's a legendary scribe from Western Canada. You know, I married a girl from Edmonton. Did you? See how small a world it is? It's crazy. Yeah. She want you to go back there? No.

I went back once. Her brother got married. And so we actually flew to Calgary and we rented a car and drove through Banff. And the best part of that trip was like Calgary was great. Banff was amazing. Yeah. And then I got to Edmonton. I didn't take to it.

But no, I don't know. You can compare anything to Banff. Banff makes Toronto look like Buffalo. No. I was in Cinque Terre once, which is like on the Italian Riviera during a trip to Italy. And I'm there and I've seen it on.

I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. And then I was in Banff and like Lake Louise and all this. And it's like, wow, like we're right there, man. We got it all right here. I would say that somebody else who had traveled out to Alberta recently, and I said to them, if you're anywhere near Banff, I said, do yourself a favor is go and walk behind the Chateau Fairmont at Lake Louise.

Yes. And just look. That's right. It's the most incredible thing. That's the scene right there. You get that, the color of that water with the, yeah, that's the scene right look. That's right. It's the most incredible thing. That's the scene right there. You got the color of that water. Yeah, that's the scene right there. It's amazing.

So CFL, I want to say that I like people who like the CFL. I don't know how to explain it except that I find the true CFL fans seem to be genuinely nice people. You don't get a lot of jerks that are CFL fans. I don't know if there's anything to that. Do you? Yeah, you do. Like any sport, anybody who's passionate. Every sport has its jerk fans, okay?

And the CFL is the same way. Curling has jerk fans too. They don't come out of the woodwork as much because it's not like Toronto versus Edmonton or whatever, that kind of thing. But maybe fewer, I don't know, but they're there. And, you know, that's a silly general statement I made, except maybe it's because I've met so...

Maybe there's not a lot of, like, super CFL fans in Toronto. In Toronto, you're right, you're right. I had an argument, yeah. To me... Well, no, go ahead. I was just going to say, look, I'm a football fan, and I love the NFL too. So I scratch my head a lot at people on both sides of the fence. I don't understand CFL fans who refuse to watch the NFL because it's the best pro football league on the planet.

By the same token, I don't understand NFL fans who just go, it's not the NFL, so it's crap. So I won't even give it the time of day. So I usually don't give either of those types of people the time of day. They want to have a discussion about things. It's fine. But if you're entrenched one way or the other, I'm like, all right, I'm just going to go get a Coke or something. I hear you. I'm one of those guys where I liked the Argos, and I would go to Argo games,

and I liked the Bills, and I would watch them, and I liked NFL football. And then one, not exactly overnight, it was a buildup. But at one point I realized like I just stopped watching all football except for playoffs and the finals. And that's where I'm at right now. Is that right? Yeah. And it was like it started, believe it or not, it started when Phillips, Wade Phillips went with Johnson over Flutie. Right.

The Tennessee game, yeah. Yeah, the Music City Miracle game, I believe we call it now. And I had my Flutie jersey on, and I'm watching it, and then all Flutie did that season was win for the Bills. And he never got a play in the playoffs, and they ended up losing on that Miracle play. And it just started, for some reason, that was like a catalyst. Wade Phillips is to blame

for your eroding fan interest. But I'm glad we have a CFL, and I'm surprised when people make an argument with me, some people will make an argument with me that in Toronto, the Argos are more popular. And this is a real argument people I know and trust have made with me.

The Argos are more popular than the Raptors. That's the argument. And then when you press them, because anecdotally it doesn't even seem close, but they always point to the same thing, which is television ratings. And the fact of the matter is, if you look at Numeris' published television ratings, Raptors are surprisingly low

and the Argos are always pretty strong. The CFL gets pretty good TV ratings. These are national ratings is what I would say. And I have not seen a breakdown of Toronto ratings. But if you broke down the Toronto ratings, I think you'd still get pretty strong

Argonaut numbers. But you'd have... The golf wouldn't be there. And maybe the Raptors would get more eyeballs in Toronto itself. It's quite possible. So it's a tough distinction to make. It's a tough comparison to make, I think.

Yeah, and it's just a guy who absorbs... I know the media is not close in the media. The coverage is not close, in my opinion. And then I know that a big move, you alluded to it, but the Argos are leaving this cavernous dome, which never really felt right, and they're going to play at BMO. And I mean, I bike by it all the time.

I was biking by it today and they've got up the new roof or whatever on the ends. And they've got a lot of renovations, which I guess they have to be ready. And then my buddy Elvis is a big, is a TFC season ticket. He's pissed off about it because you're going to mess up his grass or something. Well, maybe. I mean, we'll see. I don't know how that's going to go. Don't mess up Elvis's grass.

I know. The soccer fans are like that. But we're told it can be done where the pitch will be nice for soccer, and it'll be great for CFL football, too. So I'm going to just take that to heart. I'm going to believe it. And I'm glad my football team has a home. So that's where I come down on it.

The rest of it, figure it out. I hope you are the PA announcer because I think it'd be a much better ambiance and I think it'll be a lot better in this venue than the Dome. Yeah, I think so too. I mean, it was great. Grey Cup Sunday 2012 was phenomenal

because there were 55,000 people or whatever it holds. Right. And the Argos were in it. And it was a wonderful world. And they'd get the, even, you know what? Yeah. Even if you got 25,000 to 30,000 people for an Argo game at Sky Dome, it wasn't bad.

It was pretty good. Because they shut down the top, 500 level gets shut down, basically, and they put everybody in the 100 and 200. So, but the funny thing about that is, and you'll get a few more people now, because in the last couple of years, I think they were getting 17, 18,000 people.

Sometimes they'd gust to 21,000. Well, you're going to have crowds of 24, 25,000. It's going to be hopefully packed in all of a sudden that's going to be massive success, right? Whereas you go,

well, that's four or 5,000 people more than they had before, but it looks a lot better. You're right. You're right. And I, I mean, I,

I would, I just think the ambiance is going to be greatly enhanced. Just having not the big cavernous empty seats and all that will be good for you. I hope you're the announcer. Thank you. I appreciate that. I hope I am too because you're right. It's an awful lot of fun. You said it looks like it's fun. It is. It looks like it's fun. It's something I'd like to do.

If I had decent pipes, I would like to do it. I just don't have them. You've got decent pipes. You're alright. I don't even think I could fake the football thing though anymore. But curling is the only sport I follow less than CFL. By the way,

somebody tweeted at me, you're the most Canadian guy they've heard of because you're like a curling CFL guy. That's the most Canadian you can be. That's Canadianity.

Well, it's, yeah. I mean, it's where I'm making my money right now. I make money writing about curling, doing some TV broadcasting. I make my money with the CFL.ca and the Argos and that kind of thing. This is Sarah Harmer's Silver Road with the Tragically Hip doing backgrounds from Men With Brooms. See, when I need a curling content, this is what I come up with. This is my curling content. Because Men what i what i need a curling content this is what i come up with this is my curling content because men with brooms is like a curling movie so you're

gonna say what else you're gonna come up with so for some pop culture curling we need some more we need more curling uh songs i think yeah maybe so so you're well i'm not restricted to that by the way so no i didn't mean to pigeonhole you or anything except people today that's what i'm thinking of today is you're a CFL curling guy today. But we're all hockey fans. It's just that I've gone with hockey the way you've gone with football

in that I'll tune in. Like last night, I tuned in for a while late in the third period, the Leafs in Minnesota, and it's 2-1. And my first thought is, oh, great,

another 2-1 hockey game in the NHL. But then I go, all right, entertain me that's still there's six minutes left let's go right and it was just not happening but when they pull I found this we had three games and it's funny I'm back in to see Nylander's first goal I think that's what's drawn me in here I want to see Nylander's first but uh the last three games I've caught the end the last like I've caught the last like five six minutes of the last three leaf games and they've ended identically which is we put up a pretty good effort I guess against

better teams and we are down by a goal and then we pull uh the goalie and we we threaten with the extra attacker and it's exciting and we end up losing by one goal which means we don't get the points which helps us in like the Austin Matthews sweep. So I've actually, with the extra attacker late in all three games, I've actually found it entertaining, and I'm always relieved we didn't get the points. It's kind of an interesting scenario, right? It's kind of weird, right?

Well, it's the art of tanking. You need that balance, right? Yeah, you don't want to lose 6-0 every night, right? Yeah, just give me some hope that these young kids know how to play the game and are doing a decent job job but don't be successful yet because we want to add another kid yeah don't get the points because we don't want edmonton to get another first overall are they really gonna do it again no the leafs are uh look at the shannon plan rebuilds one of these rebuilds will work and you know you've got a great coach behind the bench i like

brendan shannon i like what he's the The only thing, I'm not worried about it, but it's just how many executives do you need? It's like they have a vice president for each player. It's like, I'd just like to introduce our executive vice president for William Nylander. There's a lot of cooks in the kitchen, right? He oversees the kid, and that's it. So I hope that doesn't come back to haunt them.

I was younger than him, so I missed him,'t come back to haunt them you know i went to high i was uh younger than him so i missed him but i went to brendan shanahan's high school he's a mimico boy yep yeah did you hear that mimico boy speaking of don cherry i used to curl with a guy who's good friends with him and i'd hear about it all the time good mimico boy he went to michael power which wasn't actually was not actually in mimico but in eticoke. And yeah, this is the first time in my lifetime that I feel like we're actually doing a true rebuild. Anyways, I know we always took shortcuts, and this time it feels real,

because we really have sort of, you know, you unloaded Clarkson, and you unloaded Phaneuf, and Kessel, and it just feels like we have a good Marley's team, for what that's worth, like a great Marley's team, and dudes ripping up the OHL Marner. I just saw another highlight on Reddit that this Marner kid keeps doing... Everybody's about Mitch, right? So, let's see.

At least it feels like we're trying to do a true... The Shanna plan seems real. I don't feel like we've gone away from the plan like we've done in the past. And they're serious this time, aren't they? It's like when you know when they brought babcock in and then all through the season this is like homes on homes it's like all of this has to go we're taking out everything right down that's right in fact let's knock the whole friggin house down and build a new one that's basically there's almost nothing

salvageable here yeah there's nothing you mentioned Bill Hayes like an hour ago, and you were doing a podcast with him. So may I ask the status of this? So does this podcast with Bill Hayes still exist? No. So you stopped doing it, but Bill Hayes kept doing the show for 1010, right? Yeah.

Bill and I did a podcast for, a weekly podcast for, it wasn't very long. It was about six or eight months, and my Yeah. Bill and I did a podcast for, a weekly podcast for, I don't know, it wasn't very long. It was about six or eight months and my goal with that and his as well was we're going to shop that around

and I'd keep sending it to Mike Ben Dixon at News Talk 1010 and one time he just said, hey, you guys want to do your podcast on Wednesday nights, 10 till midnight? Sure, we'll do that.

We did it for a while and then, you know, I didn't really want to go in there Wednesday night at 10 o'clock once a week and, you know, and then I ended up going to Stratford, although uh you know i i didn't really want to go in there wednesday night at 10 o'clock once a week and you know well i mean i ended up going to stratford although you know you know so and bill was perfectly capable and willing to do it on his own and did a great job with it now that's just ended this past well because okay so the david eddie who's a global mail column writer for global mail right has has a new show on10, which is live from 10pm to 2am

Monday to Thursday. I communicate with Taggart and Torrance, for example, because they were one of the guys who had to get bumped. Although they are going to start doing their show Sunday nights. I'm going to ask you, you don't have to answer it, but my understanding is the late nights and the weekends on 1010,

it's like you do it for PR or exposure. You're not do it for PR or exposure. You're not doing it for Moolah. I wasn't doing it for Moolah, that's for sure. I mean, I wasn't getting much money to do it, but I wanted to get back on the air in Toronto. Right, right, right. It's 1010. And then there were other factors beyond that.

It's a great shop. There are some really talented people working at that radio station. And to be a part of that, there's something about it. it's great shop. Like there are some really talented people working at that radio station and to be a part of that, there's something about it. I mean, that what I miss the most is the team stuff. Like when you're in a radio station and you're certain that everyone around

you is more than capable or they're at least exceptionally capable with Gus to superstar. It's an awesome feeling to be a part of that. I can only imagine it's like when you're on a great hockey team as opposed to a crappy one. Sure. And so I miss that kind of energy.

And they definitely have it in that building. So that's what I wanted to do was to get in there and be a part of that once again. And so it served its purpose for me. But you're right. I mean, if you're going to do that, now I don't know, who'd you say the new host was?

David? David Eddy. I don't know what his, you'd have to talk to him. I don't know what Who'd you say the new host was? David? David Eddy. I don't know what his, you'd have to talk to him. I don't know what his deal is. But yeah, for me personally, we weren't getting rich doing that. Yeah, because I happen to be friends

with people who have had 10, 10 shows that were on late at night, like midnight, for example, or evenings. It sounds like you do that for one reason and one reason only, which is the exposure, the experience, the PR, if you will, just to, you know what I mean.

You're not doing that to pay the mortgage. Yeah, exactly. It's cool. So, by the way, I think people know this, but I'm going to point out that Bill Hayes is John Derringer's brother. Correct. See, I knew you knew that. And Brian Hayes' father. Right, on TSN 1050.

It's easier to connect those dots, isn't it, because of the name thing. So John Derringer is John Hayes. That's right. Yeah. And he stole the name from Rick Derringer. That's right. I've never asked him. Bill is your last name, actually, Derringer.

That's right. That's funny. Hey, you know, I think I asked you to come over for an hour. I just glanced at the time and see that I've stolen 30 minutes from you. I'm not making you late for anything super important here. No, you're going to edit most of this out and make it sing anyway, right? So take your time. It's singing on its own.

I might edit out my son's call, but that might be it. That's the best part. So I guess I mentioned I'm not a curling guy, but I feel like I should be. I will tell you that if... Why? I'll tell you this. Every four years, we have these Olympic Games. And if Canada

is in a gold medal match, they're called matches, right? Can I call them out? What's it called? Well, they're games. They're games. So it's okay. So when Canada is in the gold medal game, I always tune in because I love... No matter what, even if I don't give a crap about the sport, I love to watch Canada win gold in the gold medal game, I always tune in because I love, no matter what, even if I don't give a crap

about the sport, I love to watch Canada win gold in the Olympics. So almost all of my curling watching has happened in either a semi-final or a gold medal match

at Olympics. Right. But when it comes to this briar, and I understand Canada loves the briar and it's huge numbers and I'm very excited

you're a part of it. Toronto Mike just missed the boat. I think it's fair to say I have no interest in the briar. And that's fine. But Canadians love the briar. Why don't I love the briar? Some do.

I think we're talking again about in Toronto. Look, I know a lot of people. I'm in Toronto this weekend because I'm going to be curling in a bond spiel at Leaside, and that club is full. But some clubs have closed. But there are lots. I'm in Toronto this weekend because I'm going to be curling in a bond spiel at Leaside. And that club is full. But some clubs have closed. But there are lots of curlers in Toronto, lots of curling fans. But in Western Canada,

which is why I love so much going out to Alberta every year to do those. They're nuts about it out there. Manitoba, I hear, is even more nuts. And even if you go up north, right? Like if I go to, I don't know, Collingwood or something like that, I'm sure it's a bigger deal.

So it's just, Toronto has a lot of things going on and we don't grow up, I have to admit, I've curled once in my life because in grade 11 we had something called Lifetime Gym and we did everything.

Like I golfed, yeah, and we tried everything and it's like a lot of things I've only done in grade 11 for Lifetime Gym. It's also the last time I skied, by the way,

so I'm missing out on lots of popular activities. Well, I'm with that one i haven't skied my nephew took me skiing at snow valley in 1990 i think and i haven't gone since i didn't dislike it i liked by the way i like skiing but it's a big thing to ski like you got to go like rent stuff and you got to like go do it to me i just i just have other things i'll do i just have when people say to me you know uh i hate curling i usually go yeah okay i that's fair enough i get and you know part of the reason only part of the reason is well one is i just try to be understanding of that it's like okay you hate something i love we don't really need to talk about it anymore because it's just going to agitate me i know yeah, yeah, yeah. That's going to agitate you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I also get it because when I was in my 20s and teens and that, when it would come on when I was a kid, it's like, oh God, I hate

this. When I, and as a young man, when, when we went to this new universe of some cable stations and TSN was on, you didn't have a lot of stations back then. So when I was on TSN, I wanted my hockey and my hockey highlights. And when it's 30 years ago now or so, they

started to change curling by broadcasting more of it with, again, the inimitable Vic Rauder. Oh, make the final. I was like, oh, for God's sake, this is just such utter crap. Would you stop? And it went like that for a few years.

And one year, I think, I guess I just started going, well, that was kind of intriguing. Why is that? Why did... And I think I hated that at first. Like, no, no, I'm not going to like curling. I am not going to. I think you resisted.

I got drawn in. And now I'm a massive fan of the game. And one night I was driving by the Barry Curling Club in 1995, and it said open house Tuesday 7 to 9, and it was Tuesday 7 30 I went in I threw a rock and I went yeah so it took a while but again if people say they look at if people tell me they dislike anything sure I'll go okay yeah fair enough you got your reasons I might want to inquire as to why but normally it's just like okay well you don't like uh you prefer

strawberry ice cream and you hate chocolate ice cream okay see i'm the opposite i don't like strawberry ice cream i love chocolate ice cream okay and different strokes for different folks you know cricket always like like i every once in a while i tell myself i'm gonna figure out this cricket thing and it just doesn't take and i'm done trying now it's like i'm just you know it's just i think it's got a hundred percent to do with you mentioned you mentioned what's your favorite era for hockey it's like when you were 12 and what and i always say what's your favorite music like the music when i was 17 like you know that's why i still put on my alice in chains and my pearl jam you know there you go i mean it's just it sticks in your psyche right it just sticks in your psyche but the only thing i i won't i won't stand

for it but i i don't really like it when people just say it's easy, anyone can do it. Like, it's really not. The curling you see on TV, these guys are the Rory McIlroys of that sport. And they have to work that hard to do what they do. So when you see Rory McIlroy and he takes a shot and he makes it look easy, you know it wasn't, right? So I would only say give curling the same respect go out and try it yeah and you'll find out just how difficult it is like when you when you think about you the guy starts to shoot he's 126 feet away from

the middle of the other circles 126 feet by the time he lets go of that rock he's 80 93 feet away I think it is from the middle of those circles. And the button is one foot wide. It's pretty much the width of a curling stone. And to hit that, it takes a lot of skill and teamwork. And that's what I love about the game. And also, if you're playing, never mind that shot, if you're going to play a shot like knock one back onto an opponent's stone and it's on an angle, shot, if you're going to play a shot like knock one back onto an opponent's stone

and it's on an angle, from again, that release point of say 87, 88 feet away, you miss it by an inch either side, you miss the shot. So when they make those shots, that's how accurate they are. And they work really hard to get that

good at it. It's a hard game. Darts is hard. I still don't tune in on a Friday night to watch the darts. Yeah, see, that's fair enough. But the Brits like it. Yeah, if it doesn't take your fancy, yeah, once in a while I'll watch a little bit of darts. But again, it's not for me. You're not taking my passport away from me that I

don't watch the Briar. No, not at all. So, the Briar, which is next weekend? It's starting this weekend. And you're going to write about it? I'll write. I wrote a preview. It's starting this weekend. And you're going to write about it? I'll write. I wrote a preview. It said Yahoo Sports.

Just Google Don Landry Yahoo Sports. Just Google Don Landry Yahoo. I like how that sounds together. That's right. Don Landry Yahoo. Yeah, and it's being held in Ottawa. I'm not going to make my way up there, but yeah, I'll watch a lot of curling.

I will watch so much curling that the little voice inside my head will sound exactly like Vic Rauter. By the way, that's a fun thing to do as you go around just doing whatever you're doing every day. Pretend Vic Rauter is narrating your every move. I'm going to do that.

A lot of fun. It sounds fun. I'm going to do that, and I'm going to get Vic Rauter. I've decided during this episode, I've decided I'm going to get Vic Rauter on this podcast. I'm going to do that. A lot of fun. It sounds fun. I'm going to do that and I'm going to get Vic Rauter. I've decided during this episode, I've decided I'm going to get Vic Rauter

on this podcast. I need to get Vic. Project Vic. You'll love it. I'll help you. I'll work on it. And I'm going to do the whole interview

as Vic Rauter. I'm going to work on it because right now I only got three words. Make the final. Make the final. So I'm going to have to work. You're going to have to

give me some tips. Did you have a good time? I did. I had a riot. This was a lot of fun. Thanks for having me on, Mike. Do you want to pick the winner in the briar, like just so I can listen back and see if you nailed it?

This is no lie. People are calling this the toughest briar ever. It's the competition's fierce. In my blog, I picked Brad Gushu. But to go back to darts, you could just throw a dart at the wall with all the team names on it, and whatever one you hit, it might be the one.

That callback is why you're the pro, and I'm not. The darts pro back. You set me up. We're equally as pro. Thank you very much, and that brings us to the end of our 160-second show. You can follow me on Twitter, at Toronto Mike, and Don Landry is

at Don Landry Media. Don Landry Media. See you all next week. And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away cause everything is rosy and green

Well you've been under my skin For more than eight years It's been eight years of laughter And eight years of tears And I don't know what the future Can hold or do For me and you