Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Elvis in the Backyard: Toronto Mike'd #692

Episode Date: July 25, 2020

Mike catches up with Elvis who recently said goodbye to his father.

Welcome to episode 692 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Garbage Day. Weekly reminders for garbage, recycling and yard waste pickup. Visit GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike to sign up now. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals for your home and your business. The Keitner Group. They love helping buyers find their dream home.

Text TORONOMIKE to 59559. CDN Technologies, your outsourced IT department. And Pumpkins After Dark. Save 10% with the promo code TORONOMIKE. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is the return of Oshawa Elvis. I've been on twice during the pandemic,

but via Zoom. And this is the first time that I've been to the new outdoor studio. Well, I want to thank you because you were one of those, like, guys. You were the guy I used to test some stuff out. The throwaway podcast just to test out the new equipment. So your last visit was Festivus. Yeah, I guess so.

Yeah, that's probably right. Festivus 2018. Because I don't think I came before with the lockdown or anything, right? No. No, no, no. I like the opportunity to be able to wear sunglasses. And I like those sunglasses. Let me look at you on the camera here.

The camera loves you. I feel like this is... And there, if you want to wink at the camera, I know that they can't see your eyes. I feel like this is my Bob McCowan moment. Bob McCowan. What's he up to these days? I don't know.

Is he coming on yet? I don't hear from Bob. No, you haven't. What is he doing to these days? I don't know. Is he coming on yet? I don't hear from Bob. No, you haven't. What is he doing? Does he have a podcast? Yeah. Okay. He started one that was a YouTube show called Okay, You Got Five Minutes.

Okay. Actually, FOTM Brian Gerstein was one of the people. So basically regular people like you and I, we say we want to go ask Bob three questions or something. And Brian was tapped on the shoulder and said, okay, you're on. So via Zoom, you ask Bob three questions or something. It's five minutes long, the whole thing. I like that idea. Yeah, I'll be honest though.

Well, he started it as a YouTube show. Yeah. Then at some point, I guess everybody yelled at him like we want a podcast. Right. And then it became a podcast and then it died. So it's dead already. This thing came and went already. I never thought it was a good idea.

I mean, it's not easy. Credit to you. Like, what is it, 6,000 episodes now? Almost there. 6.92. I mean, yeah. I mean, how many podcasts got to that many episodes, right? Right, right.

No, not many. I would love to know that number. I bet you very few. that many episodes, right? Right, right. No, not many. I would love to know that number. I bet you very few.

But now, Bob McCowan is a talented broadcaster and for many years was Canada's most popular sports radio presenter. No, wasn't that Grapevine? Grapevine is the longest running sports show. Yeah, but Bob McCowan was the most listened to Canadian sports broadcaster. Well, I mean, for a while, there was nothing else really to listen to.

No offense to our friends at TSN. And no offense to Bill Waters. I enjoyed that show. Bill Waters? Like, in that moment, it was right. But, yeah, not sustainable. I mean, because then the Leafs really sucked. Right.

When the Leafs were flying high, it was pretty neat to have the former general manager on the radio every night. The former general manager is an FOTM, Gord Stellink. Wow, he's the former, former, former. But Bill Waters was never GM. Wasn't he assistant GM? Assistant GM.

Well, whatever. Come on. You want to call me a liar for assistant versus GM? Yeah, it's a big difference. To me, it's a big difference. But to me... I guess it would be like me saying I'm the host when I'm really the co-host.

Right. Well, right. You're not the host. I'm not the co-host either. Trust me. I know that would be like me saying I'm the host when I'm really the co-host. Right. Well, right. You're not the host. I'm not the co-host either. Trust me. I know that for all you fucking people. You were for a while though, right? I was.

Officially in the canon of. I guess so. In the canon of. Toronto Mike history. Toronto Mike. Rosie was co-host. Yeah. Yeah.

And then I. Rosie blew me off for Greener Fields in Markham. Listen, if I was closer, I'd be here for every episode, man. I really would. But you don't even listen. It's fine if I wouldn't have to listen. If I'd be on the show every day. Why have you not yet contacted Austin Keitner?

You can text right now. You can text Toronto Mike to 59559. Why am I contacting him? There's some amazing real estate opportunities in my neck of the woods. I see what you're doing. I see Long Branch. I see Mimico. I see New Toronto.

All over the place. Alderwood. I just reminded myself there, catching myself laughing out loud like a hyena in your backyard where your neighbors are probably thinking like, who the fuck is over there? Have you heard from the guy from India who used to love the show? Remember him? Of course. I know. I absolutely do. I'm trying to remember the show. Remember him? Of course. I know.

I absolutely do. I'm trying to remember his name. What was his name? Harsan or something? Oh my God. Almost called him Rupesh. It wasn't Rupesh. Shit.

He was a really nice guy. Honestly, he loved it from the beginning. He was like this random guy in India who just had this love of Toronto, which is so random, right? It's funny how I forgot.

He wrote me. He used to write me and comment all the time. He loved CanCon. so he loved cancon the way we do yeah so he's in india born and raised i don't think he's ever left india no i don't think so either and he would be like uh he loved the bare naked ladies he loved the headstones i don't know sloan he's like he's like he's like uh yeah hook up some uh the infidels. Dude, this sun is going to come right down on me. Oh, yeah, but you got your shades on. Do you want me to move this big umbrella or something?

No, no, no, it's good. I can just feel it on the top of my bald head. I know, I learned that with the Bob Weeks episode because he came at 10 o'clock. You're right, there's a period of time like between 10 and 11 when it's in. If anyone's bald, they're... So don't invite Damon Cox over.

Wait, let me finish the Bobcat thing real quick I thought it was a bad idea because I feel that people like us who are interested we want to hear long form not five minutes with some idiot like anybody Brian's not an idiot but he's a guy

there's literally millions of those guys in the GTA who have sports questions for Bob McCown I would rather hear long yeah, long form. The best part of his show, I mean, there were so many good parts, but he was on from four to seven. That five to 5.30 time slot

where he went for like a good 20 plus minutes with no commercials and he would just shoot the shit with his co-host. Speaking of Damien Cox. Yeah, that was the best, whether it be him or Brunt or, you know, even I, I didn't like that. The, uh, the, the hockey guy, but, um, the hockey executive guy. Oh yeah. John Shannon. Yeah. John Shannon. But even, even when it was him in that five o'clock sort of position, it still was good.

Like, I mean, cause that was Bob at his prime. prime and then i also i know they dialed back the phone calls in the four o'clock hour but when bob was on fire and those with the phone call uh times i mean it was unbeatable the only person who would beat him with phone calls would be uh mike walner and jay's talk right because you just get so cranky and so angry with phone callers which is who doesn't, that's great radio. I was sitting out here last night with a real radio. Wasn't streaming anything, like an actual radio. I have one in the kitchen for CBC Radio. I have two because I have one in the bathroom too. Bathroom and kitchen have radios. I guess I have a radio in my stereo. Oh, in your stereo. Like the stereo downstairs. And then in my car, but I don't, I mean, I listen to Sirius.

I hear you. I like, I still, I'll still turn on like uh like metro morning or something right anyway i had a radio out here tuned to 590 listening to mike willner oh all the blue jays game yes i got it it felt like it felt like it's i know they're in toronto and the blue jays are not but it sounded normal to me where did they play last night tampa bay tampa bay right and then they're going to be the buffalo blue jays of toronto that's what it's going to me. Where did they play last night? Tampa Bay? Tampa Bay. Right. And then they're going to be the Buffalo Blue Jays of Toronto. That's what it's going to be? Yeah, their home games are in Buffalo. Right.

It's kind of like Anaheim, right? But we, I mean, we went from Pittsburgh to Washington to Baltimore to Toronto. To Buffalo, I mean. Yeah, I think I might have even missed the Washington part. That was going to be Washington. I was busy. At one point in time. They went from, I guess, Washington and Baltimore are sort of a stone's throw away from each other.

So what were you going to say before I wanted to finish up my Bobcat ramble? Oh, so I guess he ended that show because no one listened. Literally, you can see it. No one listened. So he's just in retirement now? No, I think he's starting a new thing where he does what we all wanted him to do, which is I think he does like an hour with John Shannon

and somebody else. I think he's got like John Shannon. So it would be like a podcast. Yeah, like an hour, like a real long-form convo, and he's got John Shannon on board. It's funny, we mentioned Brian Gerstein, who told me once, I think I can say this because Brian's probably not listening and he's no longer a sponsor, and he's an FOTM for life, of course. But he said something like he used to record questions for guests.

Right, I love Brian. That was a big thing. He said if John Shannon comes on, he wouldn't be able to record a question because he couldn't be he was too in honest and he couldn't be insincere because he really disliked john passionately that's funny i saw john shannon on the subway one time i met him at the okay because i met him at he's always been kind of weird with me to be quite quite honest. Shannon. Shannon, yeah. I met him when the reporters were live at the... Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was introduced to several people who had been on the show, like Dave Perkins and people, Scott Morrison and Shirely Najak. These kind of people were introducing me about, like, hey, how have you not been on the show? All these people had been on the show, and John was kind of cool and distant about the whole thing. That's interesting. He had a whole, I don't do podcasts thing.

I mean, you pretty much have had everybody on except for Bobcat. I mean, you even have Michael Landsberg on. Twice now. Yeah, I noticed that. He kind of has a, doesn't he? Forgive me. I'm okay with him as a fan. It's not my opinion.

Who cares about Michael? You're okay with Michael Landsberg? Yeah, it's not my opinion. Who cares about my opinion? You're okay with Michael Lansbury. Yeah, who cares with my opinion? But doesn't he have a reputation of kind of being like a jerk? And he came on, and I'm sure he was lovely. And he was lovely twice. Yeah, which is great. And Damien Cox, I mean, I have a lot of respect for Damien Cox.

I mean, I like his work. But he also came on during some, and you asked him some pretty hard-hitting questions, and he took it, right? Not only did he take it, he came back for more. Yeah, that's right. Lots of Four times. Have you had the Have you had Steven Brunt on?

Twice. I don't know why I have you on. He's the greatest. You're the least Toronto Manic of everybody. I knew that he was on. I remember that now. Are you even an FOTM? Speaking of CanCon, this past Thursday, for the first time in a long, long time, I have seen these guys play probably, I'd have to go back to my tickets, but probably 12 or 13 times.

I was supposed to see the Bare Naked Ladies. Oh. At Budweiser, whatever they call it. The Ontario Place Forum. Is this the Hootie and the Blow thing now? The Ontario Place Forum. It's called the Budweiser stage. they call it. The Ontario Place Forum. Is this the Hootie and the Blow thing now? The Ontario Place Forum. It's called the Budweiser Stage. Is that what it's called?

Yeah. They tore up that forum a long time ago. The stage doesn't revolve anymore? No. Yeah, I was supposed to see the Branding You Ladies, and I was disappointed. It was another stark reminder about how much the world has changed since March.

Okay, so again, back to thank you. Yeah, I do now. I look in the video, I see the sun right in your eyes yeah but you're hanging in there it's all good sooner to be gone sooner for you i have to like admittedly i think i've been honest about this but uh when this thing hit like like i had a guest in person in my basement on uh march 13th right david rider from the toronto star right we took our photo like normal we were close i did not shake his hand because that was the week i took away the handshake so we never touched each other right i remember us talking about that but

we didn't have a six foot rule right and that was so that was 13th and then the march break i called the march break that never ended that week was like i didn't know what where do i like where do i pivot you know these words yeah because you've always been you and for good reason i think i i remember a hundred years ago we did an interview with somebody over the phone jim richards yes and you said you didn't like that i said that was your thing no and then you had to go you've been exclusively that up until just recently when you could do a backyard studio like i've said no to everyone from obama yeah like i just if you can't be in the basement, you don't get on Toronto Night.

Who would you say, now, after all of these episodes, other than me, of course, who is the most famous person you've had in your basement? Okay, you added the caveat, so I can't give my customary Chuck D answer, because he never made it into my basement. I went to him. Right. If I remove the basement, the most famous person on your show,

it would be Chuck D, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think globally, yes. How about in your basement? Okay, let me think. Ron McLean? Well, Ron McLean's really famous,

but if you're not a sports guy, and Brian Williams is very famous. Sure. But, I mean, these people like... I think Canadians know who Ron McLean is more than Brian Williams, no? What about Gino Vannelli? Isn't he really famous? That was the best of it.

That was second best too. I'm trying to think. Like, is there anybody like, oh, wow, he's coming over? Like, I'm trying to think. Yeah, like, or like your wife or family. Like, oh, my God. Maybe Boots would have been... Boots or Maestro Fresh West was popular

if my buddy Shem. Right. He still can't believe Maestro was on his street. Yeah. Twice. That's pretty insane. Good question, Elvis. It might be like a Ron McLean.

Oh, you know what? Dan Schulman is the answer. Dan Schulman? I think it's Dan Schulman. Yeah, because he would be famous in the US more than Ron McLean and Brian Williams. Big time. Yeah, big time. He's famous in the US. Yeah. I think it might be Dan Schulman? I think it's Dan Schulman. Yeah, because he would be famous in the U.S. more than Rob McClane and Brian Williams. Big time. Yeah, big time.

He's famous in the U.S. Yeah. I think it might be Dan Schulman. How about... Oh, shit. I had someone. Ah, shit. Sass Jordan.

No. Farley Flex, because he's coming back next week, so I just want to promote that. I like Farley. Yeah, and we're actually having a debate, because he's leaning like he'd like to do it on Zoom, which I've been allowing since the pandemic. Right.

But I actually want him in the backyard. So we're discussing. Have you had any of the Barenaked Ladies? Didn't you have Tyler Stewart? I've had two. Tyler Stewart? Well, I've had Stephen Page, but not in my basement. Oh, that's right.

You had Stephen Page. Stephen Page was on Zoom. Right, right. Which doesn't feel the same. And did you have to go through PR for that? Oh, kind of. Yeah, there's a lovely lady named Cynthia who connected me to Stephen Page

and also connected me to... Crap, where's my brain? Who's the odds guy? Who's the odds? I don't know. What do you mean? I know who the odds are. I don't know the guy's name.

Yeah, of course. He actually writes with Stephen Page a lot. And then you had Tyler Stewart, right? I had stewart in my basement for like craig northy so craig northy also cynthia hooked me up with craig northy who was great can you get ed do you think well that would be the i would want ed yeah like he'd be the next guy i mean that is i would like cool to have ed because he's you know the lead and he's been the well steven's not in the band anymore so it is a super lead yeah he's yeah he's the. He's been through it all. I'm going to work on it, buddy.

Maybe you can help me out. Have you been following them in the pandemic? They've been doing these, it started off sort of rudimentary, is that the word? And then got a little bit more sophisticated. Rudimentarily. Yeah, they got a little bit more sophisticated, but they've been doing these like songs. They'll play like a song, but it's like four Zoom cameras. Yeah, in fact, the first one they did, I think, was they had a rehearsal for it.

I had lined up Tyler Stewart to join Mark Weisblatt and I via Zoom for a monthly recap. Cool. And it was all lined up. And then at the last minute, Tyler had to drop out because he had rehearsals for that first one they did. Oh, right.

Okay. There's my connection to that. Maybe it's just because I grew up with those guys, but it's really cool to see them in their houses because it just seems like they're normal dudes.

Yeah, they're normal dudes who all got, I guess... They don't have carpet in their bathroom. I guess the Big Bang Theory song probably bought them all like nice cottages, for sure. It's so crazy. Because they still get checks on that.

I know, and they play that as though it's on their greatest hits album, and they play it as though it's a real song, which is so weird because it's a TV theme. So between that and having a number one hit in the States, which allows them to do American tours, even though they opened for the Hootie and the Blowfish, but still. But they were bigger before the Big Bang Theory in the States. No, I was just saying the number one hit was not Big Bang Theory. The number one hit was one week.

That's right. So one week. If you wanted to, it's up to you, but if you wanted to take the, yeah. And then you could just turn the... And there's a thing at the top you turn. I'm not describing it very well. That was in American Pie, right? One week, wasn't it?

It might have been. I don't remember, but it was a huge hit. Here, open that. What are you opening? This is the Great Lakes Lager. Vienna? Premium Lager. No, it doesn't say Vienna.

It doesn't say Vienna? Okay, because there's two lagers in your bucket. This is the seven barrel series. Okay. So there's a Vienna one somewhere there. There's some good shit in here. I love Great Lakes Brewery, man. Enjoy.

I didn't know if you'd crack one open at 1035. Oh, yeah. Oh, I love that noise. I just picked that up last week. Can I tell you, I feel weird saying this out loud, but I'm not trying to sound like an alcoholic, but one of the things that I do miss is draft beer because it has been, you know, just it's been wine or gin

or cans or bottles. Of course. And, yeah, that really, and I'm not going to, fuck that, I'm not going to a restaurant. But you won't even do a patio? No, fuck that. Because there's a lot of ventilation on a patio.

Yeah, fuck that. It's like this, except I guess we'd be a bit closer. Talk to me in a month. Okay. I mean, like after things have been open for a month and we don't see any spikes, okay. And in Oshawa where I am,

I mean, we're some days zero cases, zero new cases. So it's pretty safe. The odds of encountering a human who is positive with COVID-19 that could transmit it to you, the odds of encountering that person at the patio are so remote. Correct. However, we are...

Well, it's not zero. However, we are an hour away from Toronto, which is a lot of people, way more cases, still in the 40s and 50s, which when you compare it to the burning pile that is Florida or Texas, it's nothing. But still, we're only an hour away, and there's no reason why somebody, like, hey, fuck, I'm coming here into the middle of the pandemic, and I'm going to go back to Oshawa. Who knows what I bring back. But so far you haven't been. No, I came in here in a mask and I'm like, you know, 17 feet away from you. I don't even wear my mask outside unless, yeah.

I just wore it for a reason. Cause I'm a ventilation guy. I know you did it too. Cause my wife made that mask and wanted to show off the product. Dr. Brian Goldman is a FOTM who has been on the show talking and I listen to him a lot and it really does seem this, this virus has difficulty transmitting outdoors. Outside.

So I've been doing everything outdoors. Outside and then with a mask. I mean that you're pretty, you're pretty safe, but still it's, you know. Right. I had, I saw the first person from work yesterday. Oh. Um, a couple of guys, um, live out in the East end. And so we met at a Tim Hortons in Ajax. And so that was the first work in-person interaction. We brought lawn chairs, sat in the

parking lot and drank coffee for an hour. Yeah. And chatted. And it feels good, right? Like just to be with a human being and talking. It's crazy. I mean, all I've, you know, I'm sure you're going to bring it up, but the funeral for my dad, we broke a lot of rules, uh, but not as many as we probably could. But, um, that was probably the only exception to any of this. Like my, I'm pretty conservative as a, as a, as it goes with this kind of stuff. So we've been really isolated and quarantined from virtually every single person that we know, except for the last month, the last month we've, we've expanded the social bubble for our kids so they can, they,

they hang out with like one friend each and we know their families are safe and all that kind of stuff. So the girls go back and forth. All right, Elvis, let's, uh, let's change the tone for a moment. And then we'll come back to the frivolity because at some point i have to talk about your t-shirt i want to ask about tfc i got lots of fun things on the agenda but i do want to say right now offer my sincere condolences to you since i last saw you you lost your father i did my father was battling um cancer for a number of years and um it happened pretty quick um thankfully but it happened exactly

the way he wanted to, which was at home with all of his family around him. We were able to call people and his sister, my aunt and my uncle and my cousins were able to be in the house when he passed on June 13th. So that was June 13th. Thankfully for us on June 12th, the government changed the rules in terms of how funerals go. So instead of only having 10 people at a funeral, which would have included the priest as well, we could have a family bubble of 10 plus 30% of the venue. So we were able to have 16 guests. So it was still pretty small, but we were able to get it done with a little bit more people there than just the immediate family.

Because with only 10, I mean, we would have had people from the immediate family that wouldn't have been able to be there. Right. Which would have been really shitty. But yeah, you know, hey, it's a circle of life. And it wasn't a surprise, which I think makes it a little bit easier for me and my brother to get through.

But certainly for my mom, she's home alone for the first time in you know 60 60 years probably it's crazy you were i don't even know if she's ever lived alone actually to be honest with you because she's of the era where you lived at home until you got married right so i don't know if she lived yeah i don't know she's probably never lived alone now so So now she's like in this, you know, suburban house, which is,

you know, it's not big, but it's big by standards of one person living in it. And, uh, it's a four bedroom house and fuck sucks for her. Well, it sucks for you too,

man. Like, uh, I know that we were in touch at the time. I knew you were saying goodbye. And, uh, I think I dropped a note in the open mic that week.

And many, many, many people offered their... Yeah, I don't know why I did that, but I did ask the question. I asked the question about like, yeah, it was because COVID obviously complicated things. And so we did get confirmation from the doctor that it was okay to eventually hug him. And we were more concerned, not so much with him, but my mother.

You know, like if we somehow had it and didn't know, and then she's the one who's living with my father, of course, and if we give it to him, then yeah, he gives it. But thankfully that didn't happen. So I did circle two weeks after the funeral on my calendar to just sort of make sure that no one who was there, you know, for the most part, 95% of the people were pretty respectful in terms of masks and,

and distancing. But there was obviously some older people that just didn't give a shit and wanted to hug. Cause it's so hard. I mean, like that's what we do as human beings, right? We comfort one another and we,

and we comfort one another physically. And it's so, it just makes it even, I know it was really, really hard on my mom, like to to not be able to have that comfort. You know, and then, of course, the grandkids can't be around. And it's really shitty. But, hey, everyone has a story and everyone, you know, everyone's going through it.

Yeah, but this is your story. Yeah. And you're my buddy. Not everyone's my buddy. So, you did get to hug your dad yeah we did get to say goodbye i mean i don't know if anyone else i'm sure other people have gone through this but if you ever get the chance i mean it's very dude to see your parents that vulnerable you know and to see them in that in that state i mean you come out in the fetal position you go out in the

fetal position it's pretty pretty intense man it really position. It's pretty, pretty intense, man. It really is. And to just see, you know, and it, it just, it just like, it's, it's kind of like in the, in the, in the, in, in the movies, like, I mean, they're just one minute they're breathing and then the next minute they're not, there's not like this event. I didn't notice a soul leave or anything like that, but, uh, something does happen because as soon as you stop breathing, I mean, there is immediate physical changes. Like it just is like from the time that he went and then to the time that the funeral home came, which was about two hours later, he looked even different than he already had. It was pretty, it's weird. It's very strange, you know, and then I'm the older one. So I guess I had to do some stuff that is kind of weird, but, you know, rolling him over and, yeah, it's just, you're just, you become dust in the wind, as Kansas would say.

Because this is a man, I'm guessing, you know, when you had your, he would help you learn to ride a bike. Oh, yeah. You know what? I mean, he taught me how to drive. He taught me, like, yeah, I mean, he was, I quoted the opening lyrics from my hero in my eulogy for him. And, and really is, you know, it's poignant. Like the girl sings like, you know, there goes my hero,

watch him as he goes. And that's really what it is. You know, it is, he's, you know, when someone is sick like that, um, you, you quite literally just watch him go. Um, and it's, it's, it's pretty intense, but you know, like I said, it's, I think I'm okay with it because we, it's not like he got hit by a bus, you know, like my brother and I, especially because obviously it's a different relationship than, than husband and wife. But you know, we had, we had come to the realization that this was going to happen at some point in time. So it's not that it's not sad or shocking when it does, but we were, I, at least me, I'm not going to speak for him. I was, I was ready and, you know, sort of went into business mode. Um, yeah. And sometimes business mode is a,

like a self-preservation mechanism, right distract you from like warning i'm fully aware i'm fully aware mike that at some point in time this may hit me like a ton of bricks and just like you know have a you know a shitty shitty time of it but i i've been talking about it talking through it and you know i think i'm good with it but yeah i mean it is who knows because as you know you know he wasn't there for um, he wasn't there for father's day, you know, and then he wasn't there for my birthday and he won't be there for, you know, whatever else, you know? So, um.

And remind me, what's his name again? What was his name? Tony. Tony. Okay. I have a song for Tony and then I just want to, want to talk to you a little more about, about Tony here, but here's a little song for Tony. And now the end is near

and so I face the final curtain my friend I'll say it clear. I'll state my case, of which I'm certain. I've lived a life that's full. I traveled each and every highway

And more, much more than this I did it my way Regrets, I've had a few But then again, too few to mention I did what I had to do Saw it through without exemption I planned each charted course Each careful step along the byway And more, much more than this I did it my way

Yes, there were times I'm sure you knew When I fit off More than I could chew But through it all When there was doubt I ate it up And spit it out

I faced it all And I stood tall And did it my way I've loved To Tony, man, to Tony. It's, you know, he's, we played the song at the funeral and it's the story of, you know,

the immigrant. He came here at 16 years old with literally nothing. His family had a box that was smaller than the size of this table and built himself a life and a family. And here we are. I remember when I was younger, my brother and I got into a really heated argument with him because we tried to explain that, you know, like when you think about where you started, Pa, to where you got to,

that curve is way steeper than my brother and I would ever be able to accomplish because we started so far along the axis. Right. And he didn't understand that because he felt as though that that was implying that my brother and I were not intelligent or not capable or, and that obviously wasn't our point, but he,

you know, grew up in a household where it was all about education and then it was all about working hard. Um, you know, and that, that song is just a really i mean obviously it's frank sinatra and he's italian so of course you have to like it but uh i personally like the elvis version better um but uh written by paul anka yes canadian boy yes um yeah so i mean hey uh it's hey it's a yeah he

he was a good dude he tried his hardest made some mistakes along the way but you know who doesn't so yeah June 13th man I will it's another sort of milestone I guess that I'm not good with dates but it

seems to be a date that I'm remembering. Yeah. Well, you only got the two parents. Yeah, thank God. Oh, boy. Yeah. Man, yeah, I know. I think in the last month

there's been two such moments in this backyard because Stu Stone's dad just died. And you saw Jack of Old Trades, right? Yeah, I saw Stu's dad in the movie. There's a complicated relationship. So he died, eh? That was very Canadian of me there.

The Jack in Jack of Old Trades has passed away. And, you know, Stu talked about it. But Stu, after that doc, they really were never close. Yeah, I remember talking to you. I reached out to Stu after I watched that movie. Which is available right now for free with a library card. Like a Toronto

Public Library card, if you are sophisticated enough to figure out how to watch the movies online. Is it not on Netflix anymore? It left. It came and went. It was on Netflix. It's gone. Now it's at the library. That's where I watched it. I really liked it. I reached out to him

and I told him and I thought it was great. It was great. I really liked that movie because it certainly took a fucking left turn there midway through when he realized

it wasn't a... You think it's about baseball cards. Yeah, you think it's about baseball cards. There's Wilner. Wilner's there talking about baseball cards

and the next thing you know it's about his dad. Well, that sucks. Sorry to hear about that, Stu. But I guess his relationship was... That's why I'm always interested in... Did he go to a funeral? Yeah, I guess he's of the Jewish faith and they sit shiva.

Oh, sit shiva for 24 hours. But it was different. Again, they had COVID rules. So it was very different than they're used to. So it's like a modified. But he had to sit shiva for seven days, I think. I think. It's 24 hours. Is that it? For sitting Shiva? Okay, what's seven days?

I have to plead a little ignorance. This information I got from Sammy Cohen said seven days. Don't you have to be buried within seven days? Yeah, you have to be buried within 24 hours, and you sit Shiva for seven days. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, but what I, sorry, yes, but what I meant was someone has to sit with the body

pretty much until they're buried. Right. And pray. So you always have somebody who's sitting right beside the body, even during the funeral. Right. So, but, you know,

that Stu story and you got your story with Tony and you're always, you could tell Tony anything. That's what I'm always curious about because, you know, I got an 18-year-old son and my daughter turns 16 next week.

Holy shit. And my, my father and I weren't exceptionally close. Like we didn't have like a, it was a good relationship, but it wasn't like, you know, he wasn't my best friend or anything.

Um, but that, that, that's not, you know, no, I'm not criticizing him in any way. It's just,

that's no, I'm all, I guess I'm always curious. Like if you, uh, if you were my question, here's my question. Okay.

Cause I always talk about my talk to my son about this. If it's three in the morning, you're out with your buds, and the driver is hammered, would you call your dad? Back in the day, sure. Well, to me, that's everything to me. Like you would call your dad, and he wouldn't be pissed at you or anything. He'd be proud of you, and he would just pick you up and be gone. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah, of course. No matter how wrecked you were. Yeah. proud of you and he would just pick you up and sure yeah yeah yeah yeah oh yeah of course no matter how wrecked you were yeah you know the i told this story at the this this gives you an idea of of of my dad but also a little bit about uh sort of how cancer affected me um there was a point in time after my diagnosis where I was on short-term disability because obviously I couldn't work after my surgery and treatment and stuff. And I, I, you know, my wife was also on mat leave, so there was reduced income already on her side. And, you know, obviously I had a significant reduction, um, and just realized at a certain

point in time that if I didn't get help, I had to, I was going to lose the house. I just wasn't going to be able to make mortgage payments, let alone feed my family, which is devastating to, you know, I'm the man, you know, and I'm certainly not a misogynist. But there, you know, you grow up believing that, you know, you're supposed to provide as the man and that's your function. So it was, you know, and I was in my 30s and I had to go to my dad and I had to ask him for money. And that was one of the most devastating things for me personally. I know that it's stupid. But it was and it still is something that I, you know, regret to this day. Um, but credit to my dad, I mean, he didn't even let me really finish asking the question.

He just said, yep, no problem. And, uh, you know, he, I had a, I had a check. So, um, you know, he just, he, as you know, and he's an immigrant, right? So he was, he was cheap and he didn't, he didn't like to spend money. Um, but when it came to family, um, there was no, no price tag. Um, so, you know, I, I talked about it at the, at the eulogy and it's just something that I'm even, even to this day, 10 years, 11 years later, I'm still incredibly thankful because he didn't make me feel, uh, worse than I already did. He didn't make me, you know, it's not,

it wasn't my fault, but I certainly felt as though it was, but that's a whole other, that's a therapy session that I'll pay for next Friday. I was going to say, what about Jerry Seinfeld? He's got a few bucks. You didn't consider,

uh, uh, no. Is that joke too inside? Yeah, I think so. I don't know if anyone knows what you're talking about. No.

Did you consider him? No, not at all. Not at all. I mean, he's got his own family and shit. Now I'm thinking if I came to that point, who would I ask money of? Yeah, I mean, right? Does my mom have any money? I don't think she has any money.

You know, like at the end of the day, you hope that there is... I'm going to Steve. I've decided. There's probably some sort of... If Steve's listening. Probably some sort of mortgage that could probably be re-upped. Yeah, the Steve mortgage. His birthday was... Was it yesterday? Was it? Hey, Steve. Thursday. Steve, I cried again in a podcast.

He thinks you need help. Don't worry. I am. But you know, OHIP covers psychiatry. Yeah. And you probably have that great place you work. They probably give you lots of money for therapy. I'm not going to a psychiatrist. I don't.

Why not? Because you're like Tony Soprano over there. There's nothing wrong with them. I don't need medication. Okay, no, you can also talk to a psychiatrist. What do I know? I just know that OHIP covers psychiatry, but not Listen, I think if you have the means

It is a wonderful opportunity to be able to talk to somebody About stuff where they don't judge you And you don't have a connection to them Outside of what happens in that room I was going to say, until that last part You described Toronto Mike appearances. You can say anything here. No judgment. Exactly. There is no judgment. But see,

that's, I mean, that's where friends are just remarkable, right? Like, me and you, it's not like you and I, like, you know, bone each other or anything, but, you know, when we do chat, not lately, anyway. Did you see the BC government as part of their recommendations?

Glory hole. You should have said that. But they need to add a caveat because glory holes are great. But as I understand it, glory holes are mainly used anonymous. By strangers, right? Anonymous. You don't know. Yeah.

So you need to make sure you know who's on the other end. Correct. And as Sue Johansson would say, sometimes you got to double bag it. I don't know. I think she said with anal, she wanted you to double bag it. Did she really? Oh, I didn't hear that. Yeah.

I don't know if that still holds up. Like sometimes I wonder if that, but yeah. And she's still with us, by the way. Can you imagine dating in COVID? Oh my goodness. Oh yeah, like Tinder stuff? Tinder stuff? I've heard stories of people.

Yeah, like just- I can't imagine dating in general. Like, I don't stories of people. I can't imagine dating in general. Like, I don't know. I know. But just, like, trying to not hook up even. Just to, like, you know. Yeah. It'd be on Zoom, I guess.

And then you'd have, like, you'd go to parks. Yeah, you're pretty much. It's like walking dates and stuff. Well, on my birthday, I really felt like this was a moment of normalcy. Like, I biked to Ontario Place, and I sat on a rock looking at Lake Ontario. And Cam Gordon and his girlfriend, Megan Fitzpatrick, were on rocks, like safely apart. And we drank Great Lakes beer and looked at the lake and chatted.

You drank outside? Yeah. I'm pro park drinking. Wow. I'm an advocate for park drinking during the pandemic, at least, and maybe beyond. You're such a communist. I've been to Amsterdam several times. You can go to Vondelpark and crack open a beer.

I don't understand that law. I really don't. It doesn't make any sense. And if you have the law, which is probably part of Ontario's old Protestant roots or something, the no fun province. But in a pandemic when it's less safe to be on a patio, you're afraid to go on a patio and have a draft beer or whatever. Like to me now is the time you don't crack down on the beer drinkers who are not, you know, not drinking and driving, especially me and my bike here. And I don't drink that much.

I'm not advocating to walk down the street with a beer like Vegas. But if you're in a park, you know, or you're. Yeah, if you're a responsible adult. Theoretically, the bylaw officer, if you're out, I don't know if you've done this with your neighbors, but we've gone outside and hung out with our neighbors very socially distanced across the street. Oh, like King of the Hill. Yeah, yeah. In theory, because actually we live in the suburbs, so we were able to put our chairs on the road. Technically, that's city property.

You know, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but theoretically, a bylaw officer could you could buy and give us a ticket yeah which is dumb you know but yeah um if you're in a park and you're being safe and all that stuff like who cares and what is remember it was a bunny fire it up with bunny colvin in the wire i think he says something about how it's a it's a poor man's lounge like having that beer in the park with your buddies is the poor man's lounge and he was advocating because he was a police officer and he says sometimes cops it's you can't kind of flaunt it like they have to enforce these bylaws and stuff so they all he asked this is bunny colvin he said a paper bag a paper bag put the beer can in a paper bag and we don't have to bother you because we don't want to we don't want to waste your time with this nonsense and you you

can respectfully enjoy the poor man's lounge. If you're not bothering anyone, who cares? It'll be interesting to see how many of these changes to the liquor laws that have been made thus far, like being able to buy booze for delivery, which in other places is normal, but for here is new. I wonder

how many of these things are going to get rolled back, if any. With this government, I bet you none, because this here is new. I wonder how many of these things are going to get rolled back. If any. Well, with this government, I bet you none because this government loves beer. Which is so ironic because Doug is he's a teetotaler, right? Doug is the largest vegetarian I know. He is dry and outside of his previous endeavors in the drug industry. Selling hashish in jatobico yeah you'd have to it doesn't seem as though i mean maybe you think he's crazy but it doesn't seem as though he's

getting high no i doubt doug ford's getting high right i think doug ford probably enjoys uh pasta a great deal and i'm just looking at that actually don't take that box home because that's empty who doesn't your pasta you have you are leaving here, Elvis. I almost called you Elvis Presley. You are leaving here, Elvis, with a frozen lasagna from Palma's Kitchen. Can I tell you, I have made two trips to Palma's Pasta. One, two, during the pandemic. Palma Pasta fed my family at Easter.

We spent some good coin at Palma Pasta for even better food than I could have cooked, my mother, my father could have cooked. It was remarkable. And I don't know how Anthony is doing. I did see him a few days ago. I hope he's managing. It can't be easy.

But goddamn, if you are in the West End, you need to get to Palma's Kitchen. Holy shit, that stuff is good. And, you know, one of the bright spots of, you know, my father passing is that I have to be in Mississauga more often now because that's where my mother lives. And so that means every time I go, if I can, it's a quick trip to palma's kitchen to be able to grab is that is palma's kitchen because there's the four locations only one of which is actually palma's kitchen the other yeah the palma's kitchen one is the one that's the one you go to to my that's where anthony is and you could uh you see him there yeah every time i i see him but i mean admittedly he's always busy and stuff so we say hi we we've talked a couple of times but uh yeah

he's a busy dude but fuck that, that food is good, man. So good. You've seen how trim he is now. No. Because he lost a shit ton of weight. I haven't seen him recently. Okay. I haven't seen him since Easter. Did you go to TM?

Okay, at Easter. But Easter's kind of recently. Okay. Yeah, he was trimming at Easter. But anyway, shout out to Anthony Petrucci. And good job. He's a good dude, man. Palma is good stuff.

And it's good food. Fuck. And like I said. And you know what? You feel, I felt safe in there too. And this was way at the beginning when it was like super lockdown. Right. Yeah, you feel safe and he takes care of his customers.

Like you're safe inside. And I'm, like I said, I mean, for weeks and weeks and weeks, the only place I went, no one else left the house. I would only go to the grocery store and that was once a week. Every other moment and time we were in the house. We did not leave the house

unless we went for a walk. Yeah, we were like, I don't know about you, like we were pretty hardcore in the lockdown. Okay, so if I, okay, so I was still doing a daily bike ride. Right. Until I broke my wrist.

Right. Oh, yeah. How was the wrist? I don't know. It works. Like, I don't even. Do you have to go to physical therapy for that? No, I didn't.

I just, I know. I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot. But, yeah, it's my left hand. So, I typically masturbate with my right hand. It's like someone new. It's like a first date, I think, was the Andrew Dice Clay line. We talked about Ford Fairlane.

Remember the adventures of Ford Fairlane? We talked about that on Thursday night. It's funny you mentioned that. There was another comic that you said. Was it Jim Carrey or someone who would say you would sit on his hand to make him go to sleep? I don't know. That's a good tactic. Andrew Dice Clay.

Can you imagine him today? Oh, Hickory Dickory Duck. I won't finish that one. I don't think he would be. But he's a big time actor now. He's in Academy Award winning movies. Yeah, he was good in that Shallow movie. Or not Shallow.

The Green Book. Yeah, but he was also in, he was Lady Gaga's dad in the movie where they sang Shallow. What was that called? Yeah, the one they remade a couple of times. Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. Yeah.

That one. Star is Born. Star is Born, yeah. Bradley Cooper. Both of them were. Oh, that's when Bradley Cooper channeled his inner Eddie Vedder. Yeah.

He sounded good, right? He wrote it? He wrote that movie? Well, I mean, it's a remake. Sorry, he didn't write it. He directed it is what I meant to say. Right, he directed it. And starred in it and He wrote it? He wrote that movie? Well, I mean, it's a remake. Sorry, he didn't write it. He directed it is what I meant to say. Right, he directed it. And starred in it and sang in it?

Yeah. Goddamn, that guy's good. I forgot I saw that movie, but I actually didn't mind it when I saw it. I just forgot I saw it like an hour later. But yeah, that's right. And he's good in that, but he's very good in Green Book. He's in two, I think. Yeah, so he's good doing some stuff.

Where did he go? Dice. Dice was in a show I used to watch then it got canceled called Vinyl, an HBO show called Vinyl. Oh, I heard. That was... Didn't last very long.

Mick Jagger was... Yeah, and his son was in it. Yeah. And Martin Scorsese was involved. But I heard that was a really good show and people were really disappointed it was canceled. Well, I really liked it

because I like seeing like 70s stuff and behind the scenes music stuff. I've been watching, obviously. I've been into some new shows, dude. And I don't necessarily like to get into TV shows because I find them to be long and it's just not my thing. They take a long time. I need like, I need quick, quick, quick. You need Curb Your Enthusiasm.

I haven't watched any of those. I've never seen one episode. Is that right? I've seen one episode and it was the one with the tented pants. Sometimes I think that show is actually better than Seinfeld. I should watch that show. But it's 11 seasons now. Okay, but they're really easy to watch, but go ahead.

Okay, so amazing, amazing show, Bosch. It's on Amazon Prime. Okay, I've heard of it. Titus, what's his name, is the actor. He was in Sons of Anarchy and he's lost maybe or something else. Okay.

It's a detective show. It is raw. It's good? The writing is great. Is there nudity? It's not the one. And they swear? I don't watch network shit anymore. I need there nudity it's not the one yep it's not the way i swear yeah yeah i don't i don't watch network shit anymore i i need the nudity and swearing right at least yeah so bosch

if you haven't seen it's b-o-s-c-h it's on amazon prime oh yeah i got a dishwasher from bosch yeah six seasons and the seventh season will be the final season and that'll come out in you know 2035 at this point in time okay i'm gonna take a note um really really good really and and of course just like with any show it gets better and better you know once they start to get a budget and you know they really are able to lean into character development yeah okay so that's good what else then i also watched uh started to watch sons of anarchy my brother ryan uh i like loved this show which is I couldn't get into it it's ridiculous is it good? it's ridiculous

but the first two seasons were on Netflix at the beginning of the month and then they just released seasons three through seven a couple of days ago so I'm back into season three so you can watch

all seven seasons now straight through on Netflix it's I mean it's silly but it is it is good it's really good and What's Her Name

is fantastic in it though Katie Segal Segal from Married of Children yes Peg Bundy but it is good. It's really good. And What's Her Name is fantastic in it, though. Katie Segal. Segal from Married of Children. Yes, Peg Bundy. She's fantastic. She's married to the- No, Peg.

She's married to the creator and writer. And a voice on Futurama. Yes. Banshee. I don't know if you've ever seen it, but it was on Cinemax, or Skinemax, as they say. Wow. So a ton of nudity, but also a ton of ridiculous violence.

What's it called again? Banshee. B-A-N-S-H-E-E. Okay. Four seasons, but each episode is an hour long. Similar things like that, too. Bosch is an hour long. But dude, this is how it opens.

Okay. Guy gets let out of prison. You find out later he's been in prison for 15 years. Goes to the nearest town, small town in North Carolina. Walks into a bar. There's a guy eating lunch at the bar and the bartender and the bar is empty. He grabs a drink. Two guys come in to rob the bar.

Finds out that the guy sitting at the bar is the new sheriff who's supposed to be sworn in on Monday. And you assume it's like, you know, Friday or Saturday. They kill the sheriff in the robbery. The guy who's in jail is like this crazy fucking fighter dude. Steals the badge. Calls his buddy who's like this crazy hacker. Gets the identity of the sheriff. And lo and behold, on Monday, he's the new sheriff. He assumes the identity of the sheriff and lo and behold on

monday he's the new show he assumes the identity of this dead guy wow and so for four seasons madness ensues as he is a con but is the new sheriff of this small town it's all this is the the unauthorized biography of donald j trump i think it's really fucking good and there's some good nudity in it and i mean and the action scenes are just remarkable it's really fucking good. And there's some good nudity in it. And I mean, and the, and the action scenes are just remarkable. It's obviously really unrealistic, but it's fantastic. Okay. Look,

if you're having it, like that sounds like a hacker issue. And if there's any hacker issues with your network, if you want one of the smaller medium sized business or just work for one, honestly, you need to talk to Barb Paluskowicz at CDN Technologies about outsourcing your IT department to CDN. Like, what a way to, like, why bother? You're doing whatever you do best.

Focus on that and let the good people at CDN Technology, they're available 24-7. They'll take care of any computer or network issues. And again, don't worry about hackers. Let CDN Technologies take care of that. So Barb is available now you can call her now at 905 542-9759 and give the hackers the finger that's what i say can i tell you that garbage day is has changed my life it's go ahead wonderful i you told me about it. So I signed up for it using the Toronto Mike link.

GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike. Dude, I set it up 5 p.m. the night before. I get a text message. I get a notification on the app. So I get it twice. And you don't have to guess. It's amazing. It tells me exactly what is on that day.

Yard waste. Yard waste. Is it yard waste day, garbage day, or is it just organics and recycling? Right. And then eventually, can I put my pumpkin out? Can I put the fucking Christmas tree out? Right. Can I, I don't know.

Is it battery day? Is there a paint day? Or do you have to go to a dump of that? You have to go to a dump of that. Real quick aside is this shed that's getting just torn down next week. How many cans of paint do you have to go to a dump or that real quick aside is this shed that's getting just torn down next week how many cans of paint do you have well get this they were in they were in the corner when i moved in like they were in the shed the previous owner left cans of paint in the fucking shed there's a special because i i love the dump tell me more i love the dump and there's

a special section in the dump wait Wait, paparazzi are here. And you just drop off your empty paint cans or full paint cans, whatever. And is there a charge to this? No. Maybe. I'm not sure if they charge. Yeah, I think they probably. There's a minimum charge for me for my dump is five bucks.

And I rarely go beyond ten because they weigh your car. Well, I mean, I'm happy to pay. It's the price I paid. They weigh your car paid to safely dispose. So if, you know, like realistically if you're just dropping off the cans of paint, it's going to be $5. I got to take care of that.

Dude, garbage day, man. It's fucking awesome. I was on a call with Garbage Day yesterday and we're doing some things I hopefully can announce soon, some exciting things. But they started it as just a way for homeowners to not have to guess what's going to the curb.

That was kind of the impetus of this a couple years back. But what's the revenue? Well, it's evolving into this very green ecological angle that they've discovered. The small team behind Garbage Day are realizing that they can now, that we've tied to Garbage Day and notifications like you described for what's going to the curb tomorrow are basically green-friendly initiatives that they can promote.

So like when you get an email, for example, that says tomorrow's recycling and the perishable food stuff or green bin stuff or whatever, you might see there might be a message in that email to help you be more efficient. Oh, right. But they want to go harder on this angle. So there's some really cool stuff in stores.

So I can't announce it yet, but we're working on it. Going back to TV, did you... Yes, Bill Brio. One last thing. I don't know. I don't announce it yet, but we're working on it. Going back to TV, did you... Yes, Bill Brio. One last thing. I don't understand that reference, but okay. That's the official TV critic of FOTM TV critic is Bill Brio. Did you talk to him or did you watch at the beginning of all this,

Tiger King was all the rage? Remember, everyone is watching Tiger King. No, I did watch Tiger King. Did you watch it? Yeah. Did you want to barf. No, I did watch Tiger King. Did you watch it? Yeah. How, did you want to barf at all? I thought it was horrible. I never cared for it.

I was actually kind of semi-hate watching while I surfed Twitter and stuff. I enjoyed it. I only watched it because Stu Stone and some other people told me, like, this is fucking crazy. You've got to watch this. But it was really kind of, to me,

it was really kind of sad. Yeah, it's very sad. It's sad. I saw Carole Baskin is on Cameo as of last week, and I'm like, talk about not understanding your moment. It's months and months later, and now she decides to go on Cameo? No one cares about Carole Baskin anymore. But I did enjoy some of the memes or some of the signs that people,

at the delivery, having fun with your delivery guy, and you put a sign on your door. Did Carole Baskin do it, and it was yes or no guy and you put a sign on your door. Like did Carol Baskin do it? And it was yes or no. And you put the package on. Oh, yeah. That's funny. That's funny.

Yeah, I did. I forgot I watched that, actually. I even watched. They did like an update on everybody with the guy from Community. That was horrible. That was horrible. I don't even know who that guy is. Joel Hale.

Well, you never watched Community, which I think is on Netflix now. It was actually a fun view. I watched that with the team. I thought that was just I don't even know who that guy is Joel Hale you never watched Community which I think is on Netflix now it was actually a fun fun view I watched that with the team I thought that was just a bad job Community is funny I like it but that was a bad job

Ozark came out as well I bailed on it oh dude you gotta get through it you gotta get through here's my thing about Ozark it's phenomenal I guess

I mean I'm not even the biggest fan of Breaking Bad but Breaking Bad felt so much better than Ozark. A guy I work with described Ozark as awesome show, just, and like Breaking Bad in a way, but just with worse acting and writing.

Right. So yes. And more boring. If you're going to compare it to Breaking Bad in that way, of course. I just, I mean, maybe it was. It's still enjoyable. Okay. I liked it.

Well, I might try Bosh. Season two, two like admittedly you got to get through it but season three was off the chains as the kids would say of course ended with a cliffhanger and now you know season four will be the finale how are your tfc doing so uh started off with a little bit of a uh covid issue in this tournament so for those of you don't know mls is one of the first professional leagues to come back maybe the first in north america yeah i think so i think so um because golf came first and that's not a right and you as well they never they did you have seen ever stop they probably kept going. You're right. I don't think they stopped. Neither did WWE, but they're not sports.

Right. Yeah, so anyway, they came back with this tournament and of course, like, you know, stupidly, they put it in Florida. I understand why

because they have the facilities and, you know, they were able to keep some sort of a bubble. But of course, TFC in their first match, they got postponed for a day because they had two players

test positive, one on each team but ultimately those were false positives but yeah tfc is back they went through the bracket stage and finished first in their group so all those points that they that they got in the group stage now count towards the regular season which you know i have no no no reason to believe that the regular season will be played at all. Unless, of course, they keep everyone in Florida, but I just can't imagine players wanting to do that. And now we go into the tournament.

Well, don't they do it for money? Like, isn't that why all this is happening? Like, isn't money the reason? I think there's an element of, like, being away from your family for that long. Because, I mean, we played, Toronto, we. Toronto FC played two played you can say we we played two matches before the lockdown and this is this is also something where in hindsight now um it's kind of like should i've really gone to bmo field in early march i'm not entirely sure

that i should have done that you know uh i think it was march march 9th was a match or something uh but i was there at bmo at the home opener so we played two matches so that means you know uh i think it was march march 9th was a match or something uh but i was there at bmo at the home opener so we played two matches so that means you know i think they play 32 games in a season so they still have 30 games to play they've played three more so now they've played five total for the regular season that's a lot of matches to play if you're going to live in a bubble in in florida so i don't know who knows anyway they go into this tournament now they're they play again on sunday and now it's the knockout stage. So you've got to win.

Who do we play Sunday? We play New York City FC. So rivals there. That's tomorrow. What time tomorrow? It's tomorrow at 8.30 p.m. Eastern time. I bought TSN Direct just to watch the tournament. So that's $20 there.

But, yeah, how many games do you have to win? I games you have to win i think you have to win four four games or something to win the to win the the tournament um but i mean it doesn't mean anything but it's fun it's fun to watch and mls experiment here i i know you had this debate with hubsy they had some games at the beginning of the tournament with crowd noise piped in and yeah we've been debating this hard never on tsn tsn always just use the coach mics um because what they've done is they put a ton of mics on the sidelines so you can hear which i liked when i tuned in i liked it there's a couple of guys that are transcribing everything that coach vanny from tfc is saying during the match which is pretty funny to see it written out.

He's just shouting out people's names. So what do you think when you watch it and you hear all the players yelling and Vanny? I love it too. I mean, I miss the crowd noise, but yeah, but if there's a crowd,

I don't want fake noise because it's stupid. They put in like on soccer, they make them so that they're singing and stuff too, which is not just, it's not just. Did you watch any? You don't have it, I guess.

Do you have sports net? No. No. Okay. So I watched. What are they doing for baseball? So yeah, I tuned in to the final... I listened on the radio

and then I watched the last two innings on Sportsnet. By the way, is Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez, which is the dream team, right? Yeah. Are they on radio? What are they doing? Mike Wilner and Ben Wagner. No, no, no.

Sorry. Okay, so yeah. On radio, what are they doing with... There's nothing, as far as I can tell, it's in the stadium. Right. So the stadium. They've mic'd up the stadium. The stadium itself is making some kind of crowd noise in the stadium.

So from the, yeah, so because, so the feed you saw on Sportsnet, it's not like they're adding anything to it. It's called the world feed. They get the world feed. And then actually our buddy Stokely adds stuff to it. Interesting. But in the stadium, you're hearing the typical, da-da-da-da, da-da, charge.

Like you're hearing it as if there's a crowd. Yeah. That's interesting. And a lot of stuff, a lot of those, a lot of the typical organ stuff or whatever, I don't know if it's an organ anymore. It's all being played in the stadium. And there's some kind of, I call it like a din.

It's some kind of a crowd din being put into the stadium so it's not quiet for the players. And probably, I think it's all for the players. But the World Feed has that because it's in the stadium. Right. So far, what we're hearing on Sportsnet, I believe, is what's happening. I believe it's what's happening in the stadium.

So they're not adding anything then? I don't believe so, no. With baseball though, because there is so much I mean like with soccer at least even if you're not talking you can hear the ball hitting players feet, right? You've got that little bit of a noise but

in baseball if you don't have any noise and you're on the radio especially, there's no visual you would have a lot of silence. I don't have any noise and you're on the radio, especially there's no visual, like you would have a lot of silence. Well, I don't think the players, I don't think the players want silence because the players don't want the other team hearing them calling their thing. Like, so they need some kind of something to mask that. It was pretty, I've seen numerous commentators comment about how it's been the loudest they've ever heard that stadium in Florida. Way too many people.

When there's an obvious joke like that, I let it go right by. Let the common people use it. It's still funny. It's a good line. I know that you and Hebsey have been going back and forth. I do see that on your website. Friday mornings, Hebsey on sports. Yeah, so what is

your anti-crowd noise? Yeah, I don't want fake crowd noise. I actually don't like laugh tracks. What does Hebsey say? He seems to be, so Hebsey seems to be into it. He wants him, and I do believe the sound effects from

EA Sports are available. I don't know if Stokely's going to use them or I don't know what the deal is there. But Hebsey would like it. I think if there's a breakaway for the home team, Hebsey wants the sound guy to press the button of the cheer, the crowd going, yeah. And if the goal is scored in overtime,

yeah, so Hebsey wants it to be like a video game and I just want it to be its authentic self. Yeah. If they score a goal, do you want the horn? Yeah. I mean, yeah. Do the horn.

We can debate the horn all you want. No, go nuts with the horn. I'm okay. And again, if the horn is happening, because again, I heard on the Blue Jay game, da-da-da-da-da-da, charge!

Like, who's that for? So, if they, whatever they have to put in the stadium, that's the real deal. Like, just don't, I don't want Sportsnet to decorate things. Right. I like the soccer I've been watching, where it's to put in the stadium, that's the, that's the real deal. Like just don't, don't, I don't want Sportsnet to decorate things.

And I like the soccer I've been watching where it's, I don't know, undecorated. Right. It's just, it's fascinating to hear the players and the coach yell. Um, and I,

and because of that, now they have like a, a warning at the beginning of the broadcast. They're like, you know, some, some, some things that you hear.

Yeah. You're going to hear F bombs. Um, especially in hockey, right? What will we hear in hockey? Well, some things that you hear are not suitable. Oh yeah, you're going to hear F-bombs. Especially in hockey, right? Yeah. What will we hear in hockey? Well, I think that the coaching to the players and managers are to let them know,

like, listen, you're on the broadcast. Tone it down a little bit, but still. Because remember, there was controversy and it turned out it wasn't him, but there was someone on Twitter thought they heard Morgan Riley yell the homophobic slur. Oh, right. Remember?

This is recent. Apparently he didn't. They reviewed the tape. But, like, yeah, there's nowhere to hide. Like, you've got to be careful what you scream. Yeah, very careful. An EL premiership manager got really pissed off at the end of the match the other day and was just littered with F-bombs and stuff and got in big shit for it.

But, yeah, interesting time for sports Because your TFC big game tomorrow Jays have started already Jays have started Formula 1 is Do you watch Formula 1? I do See I've never

Formula 1 is Maybe when Jack Villeneuve was there I watched it Right So it's really strange to watch Formula 1 As they've tried to put like What they've done on the big grandstands. They put big vinyl sheets or whatever with the driver's faces on it and stuff to cover up. But it's still weird to see them driving around with empty seats.

I do like baseball's idea. I wouldn't pay for it, but I like the cardboard cutouts. Because it's for charity. Someone bought their own section. Did you hear some guy got he bought the whole section so every seat in the section is him and i don't remember which field this is but it's going to be him yeah and it's like an infield section too so you're gonna see it and you should you should get a toronto mike one i don't think you could be like get cardboard cutouts of you and then all your guests are they doing this in buffalo i don't know i don't think you could be like get cardboard credits of you and then all your guests. Are they doing this in Buffalo? I don't know. I don't think they're doing it in Buffalo.

But good for Buffalo getting like $1.5 million in light upgrades. Yeah, that's right. That's what, cause I, you know, last week, if anyone,

by the way, listening wants a good, a good solid 2020 blue Jay season primer, I highly recommend the Keegan Matheson appearance. He came to the backyard last week and Keegan's, we just just you know because i only pay i pay attention but i'm not one of those guys who's like following it really closely so i kind of need help like all right so who's the rotate who's the starting rotation

and who who's in the outfield and who's at third base and all that stuff so it was good like i would recommend it okay i have a philosophical question for you. All right. In any of these sports, maybe not so much the NBA or NHL, because, well, maybe even so, but let's just say the Blue Jays win the World Series or take the home team out of it. Whomever wins the World Series, do you regard them as the champions in the same way that you would throughout the entire season? Or does their championship have an asterisk beside it?

This is the question because I've noticed myself and my thoughts on this evolving. So I think most definitely, if you would ask me this question even a month ago, I really didn't even know if I'd tune into a Jays game. I was thinking of opting out. Like it didn't feel right. Like should they even be playing? Like maybe there's a reason Pennsylvania doesn't want you coming. Like maybe we should shut this down and look out for health and safety

matters and try again next year or something like that. So I was not like, I haven't been like rah, rah, get that hub in Toronto and get some NHL games going for my tv view and like i've i was kind of fine if they all shut it down and they didn't shut it down they kept going and that's because of money by the way but money is important to them so uh i was ready to opt out and then i found myself uh following yesterday's jay's game and i realized like maybe this will like maybe we shouldn't have that outlook that this gets this doesn't count like people are saying oh the, the COVID Cup.

But winning this Stanley Cup, theoretically, will be more difficult than winning any other. You think, yeah. The Leafs will have to win an extra three games. Normally, we'd have to win 16. We'd have to win 19 games to win this Stanley Cup. I feel like I'm warming up to the idea that this is going to be just as important. But I am glad the Raptors won last year instead of this year.

It seems, though, like for the NBA and NHL, though, it seems a little bit more legit in the sense that they got through the majority of their season and, you know, it's going to be a full playoff. Baseball, though, with 60 games versus 100. Well, that's it. Not only the 60 games, which would allow a team like the Jays to have a hot start and actually make a wild card,

but they've added how many playoff spots? Six playoff spots. Now, theoretically, because we were guessing in my backyard how many games will the Jays win, and we guessed around 28, 29 out of 30, okay? Like, we'll be close to 500 team. But a 500 team might make the playoffs this year. Right.

Because of the new rules that they decided. Well, yeah, and you could have the Edmonton Oilers then, right? Like the Oilers were the eighth seed and made it all the way to the final, right? Which is, I mean, it's fine. That's the way that it works. But I mean, that's not the way it's supposed to go. Right.

So I don't know. The answer is I don't know. What do you think? I don't know. I think that, you know, certainly for MLS, for Toronto FC, if they, you know, this tournament doesn't really mean anything.

But yeah, whoever wins the MLS Cup this year, it's major Asterix. I think if you win the Stanley Cup again. Whatever. Thank you. Asterix is the cartoon character that I used to read. You're right.

Thank you. I correct you all the time. You deserve to correct me. And it's et cetera, not et cetera. That's right. And it's espresso, not espresso. Espresso. Like your morning espresso I used to cetera. That's right. And it's espresso, not expresso.

Like your morning expresso I used to read. It's espresso, right. Jerome tries to be bonkers when people say expresso. Anyway, I think if you win the Stanley Cup, it's legit. It's a short drive. I think it's legit. Yeah, I think I'm warming up to that. I'm warming up to that.

It's legit too. Right. Like does Liverpool. By the way, James says the Clippers are going to win it all. Liverpool won the premiership. Yeah, no asterisks. It's legit. It's totally, because they're going to play the same amount of games.

The only reason there might be an asterisk, if the team that wins the MLB, what do we call that? The World Series. The team that wins the World Series, if it's one of those teams that got in because they decided to add all those new, like that to me will be a bit tainted. Like they would normally not be eligible.

And the 60 game is, like you're right, it's big. NBA is going to finish the regular, they're doing eight games I think of the regular season before they even get

to the playoffs, the NBA. Like you're right that the baseball one is a bit weird, but. It's a fraction. It's not even,

like what do they, they play 180. It's almost a third. 182 games is it? 18 even hot like what do they play 180 almost a third 182 games 162 no they normally play 162 162 and now they're playing 60 so it's almost it's almost like every win and

I heard Wilner say this on the broadcast but it's like you win this opening day it's almost like you're on a three game winning streak like it's almost three well three game winning streak

yeah and we won both those games in Boston so these these kids that was preseason right that was preseason, right? That was preseason, yeah. Yeah. All right, good stuff. I wanted to just ask you if you've thought about Halloween for your kids.

We talked about that, actually, at dinner maybe a month or so ago, a month and a half. Because it's going to be different. I'm prepping my kids for there not to be trick-or-treating. A lot of parents are thinking like that. They seem really upset, obviously. And I said, listen, that doesn't mean that we can't dress up, and that doesn't mean that you don't get candy. And I said that, and they were fine.

And realistically, come on, if you're a kid, fuck the walking around and getting candy. Like, just give me a bag of candy. Isn't that the better scenario anyway? Yeah, well, without a doubt, the kids are going to get their damn candy. Last year, it was really rainy.

I'm with you. It's not happening. They still dress up. I'm not turning the lights on either in the fucking house. Are you going to carve a pumpkin? I'm not giving out candies. Are you going to carve a pumpkin? Sure. That doesn't change anything. Here's a great suggestion for you going to carve a pumpkin? Sure. That doesn't change anything. Okay, well, here's a great suggestion for you and all the other parents and grandparents. Oh, I know

exactly what you're going to say. Because it's going to be different. And because it's different, because, you know, we're living in this global pandemic. Pumpkins After Dark, which I talked about last October and September, October, I talked a lot about Pumpkins After Dark because you walk through the park in Milton. This year, you drive through like 2.5

kilometers. There's a bigger sculptures than ever before 7000 pumpkins. Of course, I'm talking about country heritage park in Milton. So pumpkins after dark.com you buy like you're you buy the ticket for the carload and they scan the ticket through the window. It's completely contactless. But the kids can dress up. You're all in the car. You're doing this. It's amazing. Bigger and more impressive towers and tunnels and sculptures than ever before.

And if you buy the tickets now, they're going to sell out. Just FYI. These will sell out. Buy them now and save with the promo code TorontoMike mike so you go to pumpkinsafterdark.com you uh there's a place to buy tickets use the promo code toronto mike one word toronto mike and i didn't know that i could that will make it it'll make a yeah it'll make it like a an exciting something exciting for the kids to look forward to at halloween so here's the deal i wouldn't normally go to this because it's far away. Milton? Is that far away? Yeah. From me, from me, from me personally. You're in Oshawa.

But man, I'm in, I bookmarked it. I haven't bought it yet. But the plan was to buy it this weekend. Yeah. But I'm in, I went to the website and I'm like, this is, this is perfect for us. You know, this is something different. So how about changing your life? Say that again. I was thinking I've changed your life, Elvis? Constantly looking for something to do. Say that again? I was thinking, I've changed your life. I introduced you to Garbage Day, now Pumpkins After Dark. You love Palma Pasta, and you love your Great Lakes beer. I have stickers all over my car. Do you want another Toronto Mike sticker?

StickerU.com. Yeah. Elvis stickers. I was thinking of as you were giving the promo for them, in my man cave downstairs, I've been trying to figure out a way to recognize all of the sports teams in Toronto. Because I have a whole bunch of sports memorabilia up on the wall. But those are things that I personally like.

Like the Canadian Olympic team winning gold, Michael Schumacher, a ton of Toronto FC shit. He was your guy? Yeah. Because you're a Ferrari guy. Yeah. Because you're Italian. shit. He was your guy? But I want to kind of have like a, yeah. Because you're a Ferrari guy. Yeah. Because you're Italian. Right. It was amazing.

Enzo Ferrari. It was amazing how my father did not like Michael Schumacher because he's German. And, you know, my father's still fighting the war in certain respects. Right. When he was at Benetton. Right. And then came to Ferrari and all of a sudden he was a fucking legend. He was the man because he also won like, you know, six titles and stuff.

Anyway, on the top of the, like just underneath the ceiling, I have this like little ledge. And I was thinking like, what's the best way for me to like, you know, put like different things on there to like call out all the different Toronto sports teams. I thought that would be kind of cool. And I haven't been able to figure it out. Like I thought maybe license plates,

but not all the teams have it, especially like the smaller ones, like the rock and stuff but maybe i get no custom go to sticker you.com there's a whole bunch more even more than stickers they have so many cool things there and you just upload the image and safely arrives at your front door beautiful i don't have to talk to anybody fuck no i don't i i love how we've pivoted completely from like Domino's pizza, for instance, it's horrible pizza, but I love it because you have the app and normally like,

I just loved it. It is horrible. My daughter loves it. But before COVID, I loved it because you didn't, you didn't have to talk to anybody to order. Right. As soon as COVID hit.

And I always said, the only thing they're missing from the app is the ability to pay. Right. Lo and behold, COVID hits. Now I can pay with the app. So're missing from the app is the ability to pay. Right. Lo and behold, COVID hits. Now I can pay with the app. Now I don't even have to talk to anybody. They ring the fucking doorbell and they go away. Right.

They leave it. I know. It's fantastic. I don't have to talk to anyone. There is, I will say, if you're looking for your silver linings, like there's a whole whack of stuff that COVID brought. Like, you noticed my car is not in the driveway? Yeah.

What happened? COVID hit. Monica never leaves anywhere. Right. I realized this 21-year-old gas machine. Well, I know insurance too, I'm sure it was. Yeah, well, basically, I phoned the kidney people. Oh, right, and they took it.

And they took it. And at some point, apparently, I'll get a tax receipt or whatever. Yeah, for $50 or something. But I mean, it was, I love driving it, but it was 21 years old and i didn't need a car dude if i had if i had not just bought my car a year ago and i still have my old one i would have done the exact same thing we don't need to so my car i in fact i took video of the tow truck taking it away and my 21 year old mazda i do not i i did 65 flights last year and 15 before covid hit this year i don't anticipate being on a plane until next spring or summer at the earliest i have no need for two cars no right and to go to the airport

i can take a taxi service and expense it right i don't need a car right i really don't but i'm stuck with it so i'll whatever yeah but well you're in oshawa i almost think you need one car you need one car i can't walk around but yeah think you need one car. You need one car. I can't walk around, but yeah, we only need one car. You can't get here on public transit. When and if the kids go back to school, it's a little bit more complicated.

So we, you know, we could probably make do with one car, but two makes, it does make it a lot easier, but certainly right now, we're just fucking sitting around. And don't forget the other big thing that's come out of COVID that's going to stick around is the summertime backyard episodes.

Okay. So this here, let's just take a moment. Even though, and we have these mics, they probably can't hear it, but we can hear that there's like someone mowing their lawn because it's Saturday morning and that's when you mow your lawn. I did mine yesterday. I need to do mine when I get back. So,

like, isn't this so much better than being in the basement? Oh, dude. Yeah, it really is. Take a moment. You want to crack open another one? Yeah, sure. What else you got there? Well, how long have we been fucking talking for? How much longer do we have to go? Okay, well, I'm going to play...

Here, I'll play a song here. It's just a little bit of a... A little song, and then I want to talk a bit about... There's some new ones here from GLB. Maybe I didn't treat you... Dude. ...fucking nice.

...quite as good... Crack open an octopus. You're an asshole. Why would you play this song? You're going to make me cry. Willie Nelson or this song? Or this one? What's better?

For me? Yeah. Willie Nelson. By a mile. I love the way he does it. As much as I love the king, Willie Nelson does a great job with this song

But for you I play this version Although I play the Frank Sinatra version In my way for Tony I'm drinking the Oh that's a special one for Mike That's okay So a little background is

The chief brewmaster at Great Lakes is a guy named Mike Lackey. Mike Lackey had a milestone birthday. So that's a special brew for old man Lackey, a special brew for his birthday brew. Is it any good? Because you can't get that anymore. It says Lackey's 50, and I immediately thought it was an ode to Labatt 50. No. Which, why would they do that?

Like that's like so if you liked that you'd be able to look. So it's a darker beer. It tastes like it came from a barrel. One of those like barrel infused flavored type of things. Yeah so this is

dark malty. That's it. Dark malty English strong ale. Dark Multi English Strong Ale. But I do see that they did an ode to Labatt's 50 on his hat. That's a Labatt's 50 homage. It's really... This is good. You can't go buy that. So if you love it...

I should go... You know what? I always say I should go buy them when I'm here, but I never do. You know, they haven't opened their patio yet. Because that's probably the question I'm most frequently asked. It's not huge. I mean, they could probably fit a decent amount of people have you ever been you haven't been but if you've been to the uh the annual pig roast for example they have much more than the wooden deck oh they have they can drink they can set it up on the the lawn for example

like i've seen hundreds and hundreds of people at these pig roasts tmlx is if they can get 100 people in there for tmlX3, but go ahead. I love the concept of us, and this is, you know, who knew Toronto could be this innovative? But I love the idea of converting more of these streets into pedestrian-only streets and having patios flow over onto the street. Like, it's brilliant. Even though you're not going to partake.

Even in fucking dirty Oshawa, a lot of these, you know, pubs and stuff are, like, in plazas or whatever, so there's parking lots. The owners, obviously, have allowed the patios of some of these restaurants and pubs to be expanded into the parking lots. And I just think, like, that kind of, you know, flexibility is good.

Okay, look, Can you pass me the Octopus Wants to Fight? You want one? You're having this. This is Octopus Wants to Fight IPA. This is a classic. It's good. Because it's 11.30, you can drink now? Well, I was still in coffee mode.

Right. However, I didn't stop at Starbucks because I was late. Here's another. This is how things have changed for me. I haven't been to Starbucks. I've been to Starbucks once. Once? Excuse me.

Since the lockdown. Meanwhile, I would normally go like almost every day. Well, how do you drink your coffee? And the reason why is because it was just convenient and it was easy and I didn't, you know. The one time I went, it was on my birthday, which was last month. Oh, you get a free drink. My free drink. But I've, yeah, I use Nespresso now.

Okay, you're Nespresso. I'm a diehard everyday French press. I got an Nespresso machine and fuck, it's easy, man. And it's good. There you go. It's good. I'm a fan. A lot of things.

I think we'll be more, I guess, green-friendly out of this. Like, we'll just, you know, we do the family walks thing, too. Jarvis has become a, like, my bike, teens are working full-time hours, and they bike to and from work, so they don't use their Metro pass because it's safer to bike. And the six-year-old has become a biking fiend. Amazing. He wants to be on it all the time.

He bikes on the street. We don't go on busy streets, but he goes on the streets and he's good for it. He can go to Port Credit and back. Sweet. He's really not the fastest. Port Credit's like what? It's like 75 kilometers from here, isn't it? No, it's not? That's like 75 kilometers from here, isn't it? No, it's not.

That's like... That round trip is probably 20. Well, if it's 75 kilometers there, round trip, that's probably 400 kilometers round trip. That's pretty awesome. That's pretty good. That beats my record. So, okay, I want to play a little song for you.

What is your record for K's in a day? Oh, it would be that trip to Hamilton Mohawk College for the Ride to Conquer Cancer that I did for my kick. Right. How many, was that, what was that, like 150 or something?

125. So have you ever done a century in miles? No. Actually, I didn't like doing the 125. I got like, almost like a little pinched nerve

right back here. So I actually pretty much capped myself at 60K. Gotcha. So I don't, I try not to drive on 60K. My buddy who's a big cyclist down in the States, he's, and I've cycled here and there.

We were talking about century. Oh yeah, miles. And just like, you know, we realized that we were talking about totally two different distances. Well, when my buddy Mark Carey, who just ran around Toronto, when he talks century, it's always miles, right? Because that's the century run or whatever. Yeah, that's stupid, by the way. Running 100 miles? Like, good for him for what he did.

He raised a lot of money and a lot of awareness and stuff. And he ran around the city. And I can't remember how long that was now. 135K or something. I've never heard of anyone doing that before. It's pretty cool. Yeah. So he just ran on sidewalks, I guess, the whole way.

Well, no. There was like Waterfront Trail and maybe Humber. Not Humber. But he just did it himself, right? Well, he did it with a latecomer, Claire, who is an emergency room physician. Gotcha. She ran the whole thing, too. She ran the whole thing, too She ran the whole thing too.

Gotcha. And then I guess they had like a support car or something for like water and food? Yeah, there was a guy who was doing that. And then I met them at Marie Curtis Park. I hooked up with them and I was trying to document it on Twitter. How long did you bike with them for? Not very long at all. You were too tired.

No, I was not. I was too fat. And did he run the whole thing in a day? Yeah. Or was it... Like he started early, early, and they finished up by midnight. So, yeah.

That's fucking crazy, man. He did it all in one day. I know, it was crazy. Yeah, good for him. How much money... Do you know how much money he raised? I can't... The target was $10,000

and they beat the target. Good. That's cool. Good for him. And it was money for frontline workers. It was for Red Cross COVID relief fund, Red Cross. Now, so I played that song. I was just going to ask you before we wrap up,

like, can we talk about, can we talk about like some of the good things coming out of COVID? And you had a personal sadness in June, mid-June there. But like overall, like when you're dealing with people, because you, you know, people work for you and stuff, I want to, I feel like we're not really talking enough but like overall, like when you're dealing with people, cause you, you know, people work for you and stuff. Uh, I want to,

I feel like we're not really talking enough about the, the anxiety and the depression that comes out of this whole, like, it's real man. Like, okay. First of all, the,

the positive, one of the other positives for me is like for the first time in nine years, I'm at home every single night for dinner and I see my kids every single day. Now there's also the downside of, I see my kids every single day. Now, there's also the downside of I see my kids every single day. Like, I mean, it's a joke, obviously. No, I get it. They're like, Jesus Christ. They're always here.

For a long time, it was just the five of us, and that was it. Like, they saw no one else. Right. Other than, you know, like maybe a friend would come over on a walk or we would see a friend on a walk, and they would be like distanced, right? Well, but that's not the same. But I have people who work for me in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Detroit, and especially the people in New York. I mean, they were telling me that, you know, in the height of this in, you know, April and May, New York was just silent. The city

was silent. There wasn't that buzz. You talk about that din in the, in the crowd of the crowd noise, there wasn't any din. And the only noise that they heard was sirens. And it was, it's, it's, it's real, man. Like this shit is real. So a lot of people got out of the city, went to go back home for the first time since they graduated university, this shit is real. So a lot of people got out of the city, went to go back home for the first time since they graduated university, which is, you know, a whole other bottle of, you know, ball of wax that you have to deal with. Like, you know, you're 20, 25, 26, 30 years old

going back to live at home. Like, that's a mind fuck. Yeah, I mean, it's, who knows what, and, you know, I don't know what this is going to do to my kids long term. You know, like my, my, my kids have not had social interaction. My five-year-old doesn't really have friends in the same way that his eight

year old and 10 year old sister do. Right. So he, you know, his best friend right now is his mom. Right. And maybe that is the case, even if there wasn't COVID,

but certainly he doesn't, he doesn't get to talk to the other girls and boys in his class because you can't do zoom calls. I mean, those zoom calls and fucking kindergarten were just ridiculous. Oh, I know we had one for our, well Jarvis.

Yeah. So what is that doing to my son? I don't, I don't know. But I mean like for, you know, for, for someone like myself where,

you know, a lot of my social interaction came from my travels at work. Because when I'm at home and I'm home, I'm with my family. Like, that's where I want to be. I want to be with my family. But when I'm on the road, you know, I'm not going out drinking at bars and fucking partying at Devil's Martini or whatever the fuck it is. Like, I have a pretty fucking boring life.

But when I, and I choose it that way, but when I would go on the road, you know, I'm going out for a drink after work or dinner with a friend or whatever. Like I had a social component to my life that I don't have now. So I'm a little bit okay with it because I do, I'm lucky where I have a separation of work and home. I have an office that I've had before. So I've been able to, I can close the door and get that mental break. But I got people who work for, work with me with me for me that you know they're working with a laptop on their lap on their on their couch or on their kitchen table and there's no end in sight

like my company is not anticipating opening up offices anytime soon especially with what's happening in the u.s and it's i don't know what that does man it's got to do something yeah like sometimes i think we need we need like some light at the end of the tunnel right so we can we can get there but we don't know where that light is like we don't know how long the tunnel is yeah dude i have this is happening at work right now like covid hit we had i had two people you know i know multiple people who whose first day was during the lockdown so they've quite literally outside of their interview, never met anyone at the company in person.

And we're a very social company. Right. Then we had, you know, so you're, you're dealing with all this fucking COVID shit. Then we had, uh,

we had an incident that was in the news about some racism at the company because of black lives matter. Then, you know, and again, this is, you know, everyone has a story, but then, then my, my father dies. Right. Then, you know, and again, this is, you know, everyone has a story, but then my father dies.

Right. Then this past week, we lay off a significant proportion of our team. And it's just, you know, we talk about this idea of peaks and pits. We've been in pits. We've been in a pit for a long time and we just want to fucking peak.

And, you know, it's such a cliche we just want to fucking peak and you know it's such a cliche but you hope that you know it's darkest before the dawn but every time something happens you hope it's the darkest point but then it just seems like there's an there's an opportunity for it to get darker and i'm not even talking about now the greater stuff like god damn can you watch fucking tv right now like the news no i know jesus christ it's fucking like the whole world is burning well not the whole world but the closest place no you're right you got to kind of tune out the trump stuff yeah you got it because it's you know so i'm thankful dude yeah i know i was wondering who was going to reach out first was i going to reach out to you

or are you going to reach out to me about doing one of these things because i know that you probably were trying to give me some space after my dad passed away but um because normally we're in contact about doing one of these things like every quarter or you know whatever and you've always had an open invitation but something like this is just so it's it's it's it, it's fucking awesome. I mean, like to be able to do this, to be able to do this is something, you know, this is like a milestone, which is, I don't mean to downplay because it is always fun to be here and I enjoy the opportunity and I'm lucky. You're like, fuck that basement. I'm lucky to be able to. Bump in my head.

No, I'm lucky to be able to do it. I love doing it. I wish I could do it more often but to have the opportunity to do this on a beautiful like look at the sky like where is a beautiful saturday morning we're safe we're healthy um it allows you to appreciate the world and life a little bit more and maybe that's one of the positive things that comes out of this too is that we can stop and smell the roses a little bit more often than maybe what we did before because 65 flights right now just doesn't seem like it's worth it. You know, beyond the health risks.

Like, why bother? I don't need to. I don't need to do that anymore. Like, we don't need to. You've been fundamentally changed by this. We don't need to commute to work anymore. I don't need to go anywhere else. I've been able to perform at a higher capacity than I ever have been before at home.

Welcome to my world. There's no need for me to go back into the office anymore. Having the option to go back is something that I would want. I would want to be able to choose when I go back and I think that that's probably where a lot of workplaces will go to. Because I don't think there are some companies that will go fully

You can burp into the mic. I know. I lie solid. I got the lie solid behind me. I lie solid afterwards. I didn't think there are some companies that will go fully. You can burp into the microphone. I know. I lie solid. I got the lie solid behind me. I lie solid afterwards. I didn't even think about it. I didn't even ask. I'm not licking the microphone, but yeah,

I'm, it's just, it's a, it's a whole new perspective, dude, you know? And in that respect, I'm thankful,

but God damn, I wish this would fucking end. Do you ever want to shake anyone's hand again? No, I'm done. We talked about this months ago. I'm way done of handshaking. Me too. Do you do the elbow smash still? No, I feel you get too close for that. I really do try to keep six feet

between me and my friends. I make exceptions though. Like, I know you're safe. I'm safe. If you want to elbow smash, hell no. But if you really thought I was safe, you'd kiss me right now. I would hug you. I would hug you right now. I would. I have to ask Monica if I'm safe. If you want to elbow smash. But if you really thought I was safe, you'd kiss me right now. I would hug you. I would hug you right now. I would. I have to ask Monica if I'm allowed.

She has very strict rules. I'm not suggesting that we should. I'm just saying. Especially since this is on. Elvis. When are we going to bang again? With a glory hole. With a glory.

I got one, don't I? Just a board with a... Now, I think... Is the new shed going to have one? For you, I think I have to make the hole a little wider, though. So I got to get another drill bit. Just a tiny, tiny hole. It's like a nail.

I took a nail. A pinhole. That's exactly it. A pinhole glory hole. That's all you need. For Elvis. Dude, dude,

thanks for coming, man. It's not, you know what? Your invitation came pretty early. I only started the backroom sessions like relatively recently. Like I was doing, I was zoom only in the basement for at least three months before I had this,

like I was on a bike ride and I had this moment of like, wait a minute. This is way better, dude. Like dude like zoom there's always like the you don't know when to talk and it's so much harder to I'm so bored of it and also when Steven Page is on Toronto Mike via zoom it's it's it was a great episode I know it was a great episode but I almost like it doesn't feel the same as when my guest is in my sights. And the way you have it set up, Mike, like you, you're way far away. This is super safe.

10 feet away at least, right? Super safe. Yeah. Super fucking safe. Now I could, you know. What, spit on a hort? You got to burn the microphone after this. And you wipe down the table and all that shit, I guess.

Look at you. Well, I don't know. I wipe down the mics. I wipe down the table and all that shit, I guess? Look at you. Well, I don't know. I wipe down the mics. I wipe down the mics. I didn't wipe down the table. But, like, I mean, as Dr. Brian Goldman, okay, because he told me it's all about viral load. It's all about viral load, so we're good to go. Has anyone dropped their viral load on the table?

That's for the glory hole. Hold on. Oh, my mom is calling, calling I'll talk to her later And that That brings us to the end of our 690 second show Viral load You can follow me on Twitter

I'm at Toronto Mike Elvis tell me tell the people I don't know anymore because you're not a Twitter person But why Twitter's wonderful I don't like Twitter it's too not a Twitter person. I don't do Twitter. But why? Twitter's wonderful. I don't like Twitter. It's too negative. But you must be following the wrong people. I don't follow anyone. Follow

Elliot Friedman. He's wonderful. I don't know. I didn't clear up the following. If someone wanted to follow you, would they do it on Instagram? Elvis Run. I'm on Twitter at Elvis Run. I don't check it. But if you want to go onto another platform, I may be on that. Our friends at Great Lakes

Brewery. Wait, but they're going to search for Elvis on there. Brewery. How do you say it? Great Lakes Brewery. Thank you for the fresh GLB. They're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta. Is that Palma Pasta? Elvis, I do have a lasagna for you in the freezer. Viral load. Do you want veggie or meat?

I'll take a veggie. I did get one veggie and I'm just hoping I think I have it. I'll take the meat then. Well, if I have a veggie, you have it, but I'm worried I gave it to Cam Carpenter. No, no, no. If I have a veggie, it's yours. Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Kite-ner Group are at the Kite-ner

Group. Pumpkins After Dark are at Pumpkins Dark. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. And technologies are at cdn technologies and garbage day i'm going to pumpkins after dark elvis will be at pumpkins after dark he loves his garbage day he got it at garbage day.com slash toronto mike see you all next week viral load I better not name. And I've seen the sun go down on Shackley Coo. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls.

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