Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Gare Joyce: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1888

Episode Date: April 23, 2026

In this 1888th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Gare Joyce about his memoir Portrait of a Hockey Scribe: Live on Press Row. Shout out to Dick Beddoes. #SORFH Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

I'm just glad that this isn't an immemorial episode. I'm so happy to be back in the basement with Toronto, Mike. It's Ger Joyce lately of the Kingston Wig Standard. And previously of the Globe and Mail and ESPN, the magazine, and Sportsnet, and several appearances here in the basement, as well as every spring of parade down Bay Street, which gosh, like now we're going into six full decades of consecutive Stanley Cup victories. So looking forward to chatting with Mike once more, and you never know, could always be the last time.

Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Welcome to episode 1,888, 18,000. 1888, aren't 8's a lucky number, Gere? I think so. And for the Chinese. Okay, well, the Chinese are excited about episode 1888 of Toronto Mic. An award-winning podcast, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online at greatlakesbeer.com for free, local, home delivery and the GTA.

Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palm Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Visit palmapasta.com for more. Fusion Corps own Nick Aienes. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline and Mike and Nick, two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recycle My Electronics.C.A. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home.

Pillars of the community since 19. joining me today, returning to Toronto Mike live in person in the basement. It is indeed, Gare Joyce. That's me. Welcome back, Gere. Great to be back. Always great to see you. You know, you made a little joke off the top that this could be an in-memorium episode.

Be very honest with me, how close have we come in the past five, the past decade? How close have we come to losing... The man we love, the man known as Gare Joyce. Well, let's put it this way. So how many times have you changed your oil in the last year? On my bike or my car? No, well, it combined, really. No, I actually have had more cardioversions than I've had oil changes in the last

year. Like I, uh, I, uh, I am having trouble keeping my heart in rhythm, but, uh, it's, it's manageable. Uh, well, you're alive. I, I am. You look good. Yeah. No, I, and that's everything. But, uh, uh, no, I, I had to switch. I, I, I, I had a bout of pneumonia in 2005. Right. knocked my heart out of rhythm. Right. And I was cardioverted way back and put on a medication. That was way back in 2005 or did it happen again? Like it happened since I met you. Yes.

Yeah. Well, that was when I had a bacterial pneumonia in 2019. That's the one I'm thinking of. It was pretty grave. I was holding on for dear life. But yeah, in 2005, my heart first went out of rhythm and then it went out of again in 2019. And I've had to switch medications, and it's been a bit of an adjustment and challenge.

But right now, I think I'm settled in. I've had as good a stretch without it, without a cardioversion. But I used to have a fine baritone voice, and there's been tubes jammed down my throat so often. I think it's scarred my throat. You know, it's given your voice a little character. Like, I think it's going to suit you. A little Brenda Vicaro or something like that.

Like, you know, like a singer who always said, Who is it, John, have you heard John Cougar Mellencamp lately when he sings? Oh, gosh. It's, it's, oh, my goodness, I urge people to go to YouTube and find a recent performance by John Cougar Mellencamp. But he's reinvented himself because his voice is so radically different. It just adds a little, it's just a different flavor. But I got to say, like, Gare Joyce, I'm very glad you're still on, you know, side of the dirt. I don't want to shut out really funeral home for you. I feel like we all need

you around. And here's my question. So like one, an observation, which is that you really never know what somebody's going through. Like, I've been thinking about this all of 2026. Like, you see people and you just think, oh, you know, there's Ger Joyce. He's a great writer. He's in Kingston. He's doing this. You really don't know what somebody's going through. And you're going through something. Well, I don't want to hyper-dramatize this, right? Honestly, it's like going to the drive-through window. I think I was in and out of emerge in about three hours. I'm seeing all the same doctors for the second and third time in emergency.

Not my cardiologist or electrocardiologist or anything like that. Yeah, but if you're going to emergency, that you're experiencing something that is an emergency. Like I guess, so can you just tell me what is it? I've had it done so often. But what is the sensation you feel? Like is it going, your heart going fast? Does it, like, what is it that you feel that tells you I need to make a trip to the emergency?

Honestly, it's really nothing much in particular. It registers on my Apple Watch more than anything else. I might feel a little dizzy for a second, but it's completely manageable. It really is just a difficult. transition from one medication to another. I was on something for the better part of 18 years, a thing called amiodorone. And it's pretty toxic stuff. I was on it for far too long, far longer than the recommended.

And he said, you know, this is going to mess up your thyroid and mess up your liver. We'll switch it to another medication. And that has been a challenge. but I'm getting out the other side of it, I think. Glad to hear that. And I'm wondering how your mental health is during all this. So you've got to deal with this. But keeping your spirits up, how are you doing inside there?

You know what? Like when you're getting cardioverted, it's literally like getting the paddles. But now in this time and place, it's really just a patch that they slather across your chest. In the old days, it was paddles, and that's what I had in 2005, and it was like leaving burn marks on my chest. But it's a long way.

Yeah. But it's a great room for a comic to work. You know, like you can't walk someone in an O.R. Right. So, yeah, I mean, yeah, you've got their attention. And so I just, I do material, right. Well, you'll give us an update on your stand-up career because you have famously, you and David Schultz played a TMLX event at Great Lakes Brewery. I say play, you know, you perform stand-up.

Infamously. Infamously. Tell me how the stand-up's going. Still getting out and doing a monthly gig in Kingston at the very least, a place called Daft Brewery, which is really pretty swell as far as a micro brewery goes, really a lot of fun. And they've started an affiliation with yucks. And so we're getting comics coming in.

It's the closest thing to a dedicated comedy club in Kingston. So Ryan Deney is kind of the Mr. Comedy in Kingston. and a long-time touring comic. And no surprise that by day he's in waste management. I mean, it's like the perfect fit for someone working in stand-up comedy. So Kingston's treating you well. Oh, yeah. Like no regrets.

Like you don't think, hey, hey, babe, let's move back to the big smoke. You're happy in Kingston. Absolutely. It's funny. I've bumped into, a fellow Ian McCallpine who was a sports reporter at the Whig Standard for years and now retired. We had coffee the other day and we were just going back and forth on names and he goes, so what was your connection to Kingston?

It seems like you know everybody, right? And I was like, well, no, it's been six years and like I'm a local. I mean, I will never quite be a Kingstonian by any measure. You know, the standard line I tell my one friend, Mike Patterson, who's a president of the Royal Bank, or Bank of Montreal, sorry, Bank of Montreal. Got to get those banks. Yeah, in Kingston. So he was originally from Chatham.

His father was, in fact, the team doctor for the Red Wings. Oh, the Detroit Red Wings? For the Detroit Red Wings. And I said, you know, like God bless him. You know, any man who had his finger up Ted Lindsay's ass is okay with me. Anyways, Mike went to Queens and his worked with the bank for 40 years. and you know what people call them? Mike from Chatham.

Right? So I have no opportunity to become like a Kingston gear. Yeah, Kingston gear. It's just not there. It usually takes three to four generations. So you mentioned there, the Whig Standard. Last time you were on this program,

we actually did a Zoom. You were in Kingston. I didn't make you drive all that way. We did a quick Zoom to talk about the, well, the Ron McLean and Don Cherry story. You wrote some pieces. You know, I think people who fall, I know I did an episode with John Wing about this.

And then you came on after the long-form piece was published, the Wig Standard. But remind everybody, what is your affiliation with the Wig Standard? I am a staffer there, and I divide my time between sports and courts. And I've been covering a couple of epic trials. one gruesome sexual predator who's there's been there's at the end of the day there'll be

28 women who'll come forward with complaints. Wow. Against him and it's it's going to stretch out over 18 months in court time. It's it's just a grind. It's tough to cover on a daily basis. Well, on that note, so I'm always curious about this, do they offer you some kind of therapy or something to help you deal with what you're going to witness and learn?

No. Yeah, I will say that sometimes I need a full clearing. And thankfully, what I can say is that there have been so many delays and interruptions and breaks. It's kind of been for a few weeks at a time and then we're in recess. And so it does wear at the end of the day. And it's pretty distressing to write. I don't know. I mean, I have trouble seeing how I'm not going to race to judgment on all this.

I, it's too much of a bad thing, right? is the best that I can say. I don't know at this point, like a pattern has been established. I don't know if number 28 will close the deal on the Crown's case in a way that, you know, 24 or 18 might not. I just don't know. It's piled up.

But the full range of charges against this fellow stretch over, I think the better part of 17 years. I don't have the paperwork in front of me, and it includes sexual assault and child pornography and just everything under the sun. physical assault, assault with weapons, everything. You know, it's just such a deep and sworded dive. I long, during the summer, last summer, it was the focus of my attention almost entirely. And I couldn't wait for football and hockey to start. Well, I was going to say, like you said, sports and courts, okay?

So, especially when you're covering trial, like that. Like you're going to inevitably you're going to carry home some shit. Like you're going to wear some of that because you're going to be immersed in this this world. And it must be like such a relief when you get to cover like, let me go back to the toy department

for a little bit. You know, sports. Like it must put sports in perspective. Well, the one thing I would say is that generally there haven't been sessions in court on Friday. And Friday would be a hockey game and Saturday would be

Queens football and they won the Yates Cup this year. All right, good for Queens. Yeah. So it's it would be difficult I think if I was in court by day filing and then at a hockey game at night. Right. You know, I can't switch hats so easily. The consummate professional here. Okay. So Well, I guess, yeah, I'm going to ask you now about this private eyes thing because, of course, you are the man behind the IP that is that the, the, so what is the current status? There's going to be a spinoff or a revival of some sorts for private eyes.

What am I misremembering here? Yeah, they're actually organizing the shoot for season two. Season one was shot last summer and is going to surface. But what's the series going to be called? Is it private eyes? Coast. West Coast. That's the deal here.

So they, so you, because you wrote the book it's based on, remind us what the name of that book is. The original was the code. The code, that's it. Okay. I almost called it No Code. And I'm like, Mike, that's a Pearl Jam album. Okay.

It's not called No Code. So the code. And based on your characters in the code, then the Jason Priestley series, the Private Eyes is born. And we all watch Private Eyes. And at some point, they canceled it. And then we learned Private Eyes will come back as Private Eyes. West Coast. So does that, are they wire transferring a couple of bucks into your account because they're using your IP? That's the way it goes. Yeah. How much money? Can I see some documentation?

No, we're not going to go there on that. But like, yeah, the character, uh, Matt Shade, it was Bradshade in the book. And they had to change it to Matt Shade because there was actually a Bradshade in Toronto who was, if not distressed, then seeking compensation for the use of his name. Interesting. Yeah. So that's how that piled up. Okay, so this character, Matt Shade, has gone to the West Coast and is going to be part

of this revival. Yes. So am I... With A&G. Right. Okay. So thank goodness they didn't pull like a pit on you, right? So it's like, we don't want to give Gare Joyce any money.

So we're going to call this guy Brad Jade. And he's going to be similar character, but we're going to change a few details. And we're not going to call it a privatized revival. It'll be like a reinvention and we'll cut gear out, which is kind of like what the pit does to the Michael Crichton estate with regards to ER. Like so they pitched an ER reboot with the character, Noah Wiley's character, John Carter. Yeah. And they couldn't reach a deal. deal with the the Crichton family.

Like he's a co-I guess it's based on his original material, right? Michael Crichton wrote a book that John Wells then made the series about. So because they couldn't strike a deal with the Crichton family, or the estate, the show changed. They said, okay, now he's no longer playing, the same guy is not going to play John Carter.

He's going to play a new guy. Michael Rabinovich. He's going to be a different character, and to prove it, we'll make him Jewish, okay, instead of a wasp. And we're not going to be in Chicago anymore. We're going to be in Pittsburgh. And there's going to be no characters that was on the first show in the second, and we're going to call it the pit.

And it's a different show and a new show. It's the same guy, John Wells, but there's no, you know, Crichton doesn't need to be compensated, his family, because Crichton, of course, is no longer with us. That's what happened. And the Crichton family filed a lawsuit, and we don't yet know how that suit will turn out. But that is why the pit is so reminiscent of ER.

Very interesting. I've always had a great relationship with, with the producers and with Jason. Like, we get along like rice and crispy. And yeah. Well, I read your book. We're going to get to your book in a moment. Sure.

It's called Portrait of a Hockey Scribe, Live on Press Row. I almost want to call it Live on Press Row, but it is, you know, that's one of those things. There's a tragically hip live CD. live on two legs? Maybe it's a pro. Maybe it's Pearl Jam again. There's one, okay, I think it's called Live on Two Legs. No, live between us and then, no, that's the hip. I'm getting my hip and Pearl Jam conflated right now, but I think it's a tragically hip helping called Live Between Us, which I often called Live Between Us. It's one of those words where it kind of works both ways. How would you say it? It's live on Press Row, right? Yeah. I knew that. Okay. But we're going to get to that in a moment, but I did notice on the cover that there is a nice quote from Jason Priestley. So he's definitely. a gear booster. Jason and Donal Logue,

my fast friend. Let me just, because I know I'm out of order, I don't care, it's my show, but Donald Logue had a pretty, Donald.

Donald. Donal. Donal. Donal Logue, who almost became an FOTM, right? We'll get him at some point. I took notes.

We'll get him at some point when he's in Toronto. Donal Logue was, had a pretty long arc in a season of ER. Yes. You can probably more easily name the things that Donal hasn't been in. But we just talked about ER, so I have to connect those dots. And what he wrote, because I actually took down this note, he wrote,

Gere Joyce is my favorite. I marvel at his skill. I love his new memoir, devouring it in one sitting. And this is a guy who I don't think he would speak the language that I speak. Like, you're dropping names. We'll talk about some in a few minutes. But there's a lot of Canadianity to borrow a term. and he's he's enjoying it

and I think that means it does transcend beyond the Canadian sports media landscape but we're going to get to, I don't want to talk about the book I just wanted to point out that Donal is a big fan because he wrote that quote The ultimate crossover would be to get Donal onto private eyes like I would I will

go out and be an extra on the set for that I will be the corpse right yeah that would be the the ultimate crossover. Remind me how you met him? Like how did you become buds of a guy who's bitten so much from the Dow of Steve? There's so much stuff he's done.

Like how did you become his bud? Well, we, you know, we first went back and forth on social media about Terriers. I don't know if you ever saw Terriers, the, the PI series. Absolutely the best post-Rockford PI series ever. And Donald was so invested in it. And it only lasted one season. And he was really, I'm not speaking out of school saying this. It was a blow to him when it wasn't renewed.

And I think that was at the point when he got out of acting and started driving an 18-wheeler. got his license and Interesting. Yeah. And he still has an interest in a trucking business. He did return to acting thankfully. But we met on social media, just yacking about terriers. And I was lamenting, I was lamenting terriers.

And somehow we, like over the course of about seven years, we started chatting back and forth. And then when I was in Providence, you know the relationship I had with Peter Robbins, the original voice of Charlie Bram. So after he was released from federal prison, I met Peter at a Comic-Con in Providence. And sure enough, Donal was there. So I went up, I go, hey, Donal, I'm, I'm, I'm, we've chatted in social media.

How are you doing? And he goes, yeah, I've been waiting to meet you for so long. Come on. And like his agent came over later and was like, how long have you guys known each other, right? You know, and like we were, we were brothers, like, at the drop of a dime. It's funny how that works with some people. Like, some people just jive. Yeah.

And we're, like, we're back and forth weekly. And when he was writing the Danny Treo memoir or autobiography, you know, I was giving it a read for him in trying to help out as best I could. and yeah, and we exchange notes. He has a memoir coming out. And from kind of very early stages, we went back and forth discussing it. He gave my memoir a read as well.

And yeah, we, we, I introduced him. He had a YA novel that I still think it has legs. and I introduced him to the editor that I've worked with Nick Garrison at Penguin Random has Nick I've worked with for 20 years. And so, yeah, now Nick and Donal are besties. If I do get Donal on the show, I'm going to have to train myself to pronounce that name properly. I'm working on that. Donal.

Donal. Yeah, it's not like Donald. No. It's Donal. And that was Brendan Chanahan's father's name. Donal. He was a Donal. Oh, you good Irishman.

Okay. Shout out to all the good Irishmen out there. Now, two quick hits, and then we're going to dive into this memoir. Sure. But did you take a trip to TNT, the South Atobico Institution? I've been there before. I was up against the clock, so I will go there on the way out. But I'm a sucker for old Army surplus stores.

Yeah. So when I was a teenager, me and my buds would, we didn't live in this neighborhood, but we would bike to TNT for that reason. I would buy like an old backpack or something that looked like it was been through Vietnam or something. Like I love these old surplus shops too. And it's been there since 1954. But I have lived in this hood now for over a decade. And it seems to have had much, much better days to a point where now I would go in and look around. And, you know, it just feels like, okay, I think this is like the roof is leaking.

and I think there's a lot of mold in here. I'm not sure I should be breathing this air. I'm going to say this is all, I shouldn't be careful. I don't think Lorne Honickman wants me to say these words, but I just wondered if you had been in there and how it's doing because it's just occupying this valuable real estate at Lakeshore and Islington, and it's been there forever. It's just amazing to me that it's still there.

It's got to be worth far more money to a developer. Yeah, well, you'd think. I imagine it would be a toxic cleanup as well. Kind of like... Right, they won't be able to build on it because... Yeah. The army fatigues or something like the love canal or something. I just hope there's no Agent Orange or anything.

I don't know what's going on over there. But okay, shout out to TNT, a South Atobico institution. And I got to return and see maybe they fix things up in there. Maybe it's safe to breathe the aug. But they do have gas masks there. I remember during the pandemic thinking, I should go to TNT and get one of those like old school gas masks and just freak people out. For the pandemic, it would have been a great fit. I know. Geez, I was in the right spot.

I've got to execute. Next pandemic. I'm going to do that for sure. I think some of their army surpluses left over from the Spanish influenza. Right. When they had schools outside and I was the only one apparently interested in doing the same thing back in, you know, September 2020 when the kids were on Zoom. And I was like, what if we all had a class outside? I know, right? I was the only one who seemed interested in that idea. Let's get back together in outside. I don't think this is going to travel very effectively outside.

Okay. So, yeah, because I'm a doctor, you know, all back to ER here. So I'm going to thank a couple of partners, and then I have the big question, and we're going to get into it. But I want to thank Great Lakes Brewery. I believe they're here tomorrow to record a new episode of Between Two Fermenters. I love what they're doing. They're like inviting other independent craft breweries to have conversations about the

business, about the company. It's amazing. The founder of Left Field was over, and I'm meeting all these interesting brewers, basically, in this fine province. So, shout out to Great Lakes Brewery. It's all I drink. You can bring some home and, I don't know, gift it to a loved one or give it to a

neighbor there in Kingston. They'll love you in Kingston if you give them some great lakes. Absolutely. On that note, I have a frozen lasagna for you from palma pasta.com. Alan Zweig was here yesterday, and he ate a cold open where he sort of apologized for his behavior at a TMLX event we had at Palmis Kitchen. I don't think he needed to apologize for that because it was a memorable moment that I quite enjoyed.

But regardless, that's almost like a perfect segue to say it involved Brad Bradford. And Brad Bradford, who is a mayoral candidate here in this city, Toronto, he was a guest of Nick Iienes on a live recording of Building Toronto Skyline, and I produced that show. Produce that show. That's not an endorsement for any candidate. It's a gig, right, Gare? So I would say subscribe and enjoy building Toronto Skyline.

We're recording a new episode tomorrow. So thank you to Nick Aieny's. And speaking of podcasts and change, Life's Undertaking is a podcast from Ridley Funeral Home, and we recorded a new episode yesterday with a wonderful woman who is here live in the studio, and we used music that won't get us booted from Spotify. We basically stripped out the John Williams and we replaced it with something

Rob Proust put together. On that note, Rob Proust will be on stage with me at the Elma combo on May 21st and tickets are now available and one way to get tickets is to go to Toronto mike.com, click Elmo gig and buy a couple of tickets to see Gary Joyce, my one-man show at the Elma combo on May 21st. That's happening, brother. How, how, how, how, how, how, how, How long is your set? Is it what a nice set? I'm using air quotes here. So it is this,

this presentation will be 90 minutes. 90 minutes. Do you have any idea of like what it is like to fill? I don't know, 20 minutes. You sound like Humble Howard, who when he heard I was doing this, phone me with lengthy tips because he went to L.A.

to be a stand-up in his younger years. 90 minutes. You kind of have to. hear it to get it all. Like it's nothing I can really explain to you right now, Gare, except I'm, I don't know, like, I know it's going to be me in a microphone

for 90 minutes, and I know Rob Proust will be doing some music. And I actually believe it to be pretty, pretty damn good and compelling, especially if you if you like Toronto mic. I think that might be something important. But I think it's going to be rad, and I also

don't think it's ever going to happen again. So it's like a you miss it, you miss it. Shout out to Bay Bluer Radio. And it is happening at the Elmo and it is happening on May 21. And tickets are now available. And I don't have much more to say except I know you as a standup will say, okay, Mike, you have no idea what's going to happen because I'm not doing, I'm not workshopping this anywhere.

Like I'm not going to do it at a club. I don't know. I'm just, the first time I do it in front of an audience is going to be on May 21. But I'm eerily confident that this will be good. Do you think I'm delusional? You can tell it to me straight. Zweig said afterwards, Zweig and I were chatting privately,

and he talked about, he once wrote a one man show, and he ended up doing it in his living room where he read it to some friends, but he was sort of, you and him, I mean, I think,

I think this ignorance I have in this naivity is going to work to my advantage. Like, I'm too stupid to know how ridiculous this is. Oh, brother. So I'm just going to do it. Yeah, well, God bless you.

You know, I think I would let the audience know not to spark a lighter or light a match afterwards. You probably just go up in flames. Enough about TNT. Yeah. It is fraught with danger. You know, the only actor to be nominated for an Oscar for a one-man performance. Can I guess?

Sure. It's going to be the guy who did that one-man show about Samuel Clements. No. Close. Because he was in Designing Women as the... Right idea. Okay. But no.

Jason Strayhorn did a one-man show about... Was it Lincoln or something? You tell me. I don't have the answer. James Whitmore and give him hell Harry. Doing Harry Truman. Okay. That's a fun...

I like the trivia. I like it. Okay. And the only time the two actors... The only two actors in a movie were nominated for Best Actor, not Best Supporting and Best Actor. Two actors, one movie, both Best Actor nominees. That is a fun fact.

That's a fun fact. That would be Michael Kane and Sir Lawrence Olivier for Sleuth. Not the two guys from my dinner with Andre. No. Okay. No. Quick shout out. I'm losing my voice here.

I might have to crack a beer. where did my voice go, Gare? I hope I don't lose it for May 21st. That would be a nightmare. At some point, at some point, I anticipate that. I can see that sort of like at the 25-minute mark. All right, we'll see. The only comparable I have is I recently did five minutes.

It was exactly five minutes. I did five minutes in front of a crowd at a place called Handelbar in Kensington Market to open up the book launch for Cam Gordon's book, track changes. And it was me in a microphone for five minutes. And that, so entirely based on that, I've just extrapolated that to 90 minutes. Yeah, I don't know. Make sure that the defibrillator is charged. Don't you dare miss it.

There's oxygen available. Don't you dare miss it. Does Rob Pruse have a St. John's ambulance? I'm eerily calm about this. I'm a little worried myself, Garrett. You know, I feel I need to be scared straight on this one. But I feel eerily calm about it. And I just hope my only fear is it'll be an empty room.

But I'm going to do it anyways. If it's just Rob and I, I'm going to deliver it as if there is a hundred people watching me. Any crowd work? Do you crowdwork at all? There's absolutely, there are elements that are what I would call improvisational just based on whose face I see in the crowd. Crowdwork will buy you time. That's the one thing. Well, no, I've already, so I hear, so, okay, well, I like that you're the right guy to talk to about this.

So, again, I'm basing everything on this stupid five minutes thing I did, like a a couple of months ago. Maybe it was last month, probably. But anyway, so I wrote something that was three minutes long. And then I set it to myself on a bike ride and I'm like, okay, and I timed it. It was three minutes long. And then I did that three minutes in front of these people at Handelbar and it was five minutes long. So based on this math, okay, I realize I'm not creating 90 minutes of content. I'm actually creating an hour of content and I know this is going to be a 90 minute performance. Yeah. Well, listen, I'm with you in spirit. Like my best wishes, I don't know what more to bring to the table on this.

I, you know, the good thing, you've booked it for one night. If this was like a national tour. It's one time only. Yeah. I would strongly recommend against that. The Lvl Swig is convinced, and I can't remember, this is off the record, on the record, it doesn't matter, but he's convinced I'll do it again. And I'm convinced I will never do this again, because I don't want to do this. Back by unpopular demand. No, I'll do it in the backyard. What I would say, listen, I'm not in a position to tell you how to fill 90 minutes. I can't tell you how to, you might buy some time.

and that would be some audience participation. I know we did a crowdwork show, so that's basically improvving. And it was, you could do an opening and then you had to go straight to crowdwork at Daft, up in Kingston. And I ended up laying across a table and showing members of the audience how to administer a cardio version.

Right? Like so you can you can build on. See, I have zero worries about filling the 90 minutes. My concern is going too long. I've already, you know, I've been crafting this for much. That's everyone's concern is you going too long. See, I'll need you to be the opener, maybe the closer too. But shout out to your, shout out to your former best man, Tom Terminator Henke. There you go.

I remember everything. I remember all our chats. You've been here many times. I'm just glad to see in person because I've been letting you. Zoom because you put in, like when somebody does make the effort to be in the basement, I will throw them a Zoom now and then. You earned a Zoom or two as a Kingston native, and I'm glad you're back. But I haven't shouted out yet, Recycle My Electronics.C.A.

because even in Kingston, this works. And if you have old devices or cables or laptops or computers that you have piled up in a closet or maybe you've got a room full of junk, you're not going to put that in the garbage gear, Joyce, because those chemicals will end up in our landfill. go to Recycle MyElectronics.ca, stick in that Kingston postal code and find it where you can drop it off to be properly recycled.

Now, I've already thanked Ridley Funeral Home, but because you're a returning guest, and this is going to tie into my first question, I actually have, so first time guests are getting the traditional measuring tape, which is this plastic green one you've had in the past, I'm sure. But because you're a returning guest, this I'm holding it in my hand,

courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home, it's a bottle opener, it's a leveler, it is a measuring tape and it is a flashlight if you pull that out of work it's a flashlight it's yours i was looking at it it looks like a forskins uh snipper i don't i'm in that club i'm in that club i think i was born in the 70s it was mandatory i believe to take my hat off to you so i mentioned a big thanks to riddley funeral home and my question off the top here as we get into the memoir is okay so you've written a memoir gear joyce does this mean like this is something you're doing because you're planning die?

No. No. And I wouldn't say that it would be the only memoir that I would write. In fact, it's the second memoir when you consider the audible original that I did back in 2022 out of succeeding sports writing without really trying, which was kind of... But that's not a book. It is and it isn't. According to the arts people in the federal government, it's a book, right? That's how they regard it.

It was an original text. I had originally thought it would be a podcast series, but my friend at Audible, Susie Bright, She's gone from Audible now, still with us. But she saw it more as an audiobook, and that's how I did it. And when I went to ECW with the text, they said, well, you know, for federal funding, it has to be 90% new material. You know, is there another memoir, sports writing memoir you could do?

And I said, well, I'll do one that's kind of Toronto-focused and hockey-focused. And that is what, the original working title for this was a portrait of the artist as a young hockey scribe. And they thought that was a little too wordy, so ECW has cut it down. When I do signings, I will have a stamp, and I'll go with my original title. I'll stamp it in. Portrait of the artist as a young hood. Something like that. No, I wrote an essay that ended up getting on the long list for the CBC nonfiction contest a few years back about being an auto mechanic's son at Upper Canada College.

And I got long listed. I didn't get to the short list. but I've kind of played with that somewhat more than played. I have a 60-odd-thousand words written around sort of being a misfit at the sort of breeding ground of the Canadian establishment. So that's something else that might get a life later on. We'll see. but this isn't this isn't the story of my life.

This is a story from my life is what I would say about portrait. So I've read Portrait of a Hockey Scribe. Oh, have you? Live on Press Row. Yep, I had an advance copy. There you go. I won't tell you my sources. But as you read it, you remember, not that I needed reminding.

I've said this many times on Toronto Mike, but you are one of our, this nation's greatest sports writers. And this is not, you're writing about sports. It's really about you in sports. But you're such an excellent. excellent writer, Gerard Joyce. And I know you know that, but I feel I need to share that with you and the listenership. What a great writer you are.

Don't blow my cover. But it's like going way back on this one. Like there's a quote I took from the book. It says, when I was in grade three, I told people that I was going to work at a newspaper someday. Like, so this legit, this comes early to you. You knew what you wanted to do. You're in grade three. I think I wanted to be a firefighter.

Or a fire truck maybe. It was all sorted out at that stage. God's honest truth, I was reading the globe and the star before I was big enough to pick it up. I had to lay it down to read it. Yeah. Yeah, so it comes to you early. So what I'm going to do is because I want people to get this. So is it available now?

That was one thing I was confused about. Can you actually buy this now or can you buy an advanced copy of Portrait of a Hawking? of a hockey scribe live on Press Row? Not quite yet. Okay, so we're a little ahead of it. In October, it will be here. See, I got this advanced copy. I just assume this thing was launching.

Those are uncorrected pages you have. I corrected them. I'll give it to you later. There you go. The highlight in there, I correct me. I can't pronounce words, but I can spell them. Okay. So I'm going to hit some hot spots here.

Sure. And hopefully I don't trample. You can tell me if it's, you know, you can give me the Nick Kiprios. It's in the book. You know, it's in the book. Oh, you dated Joan London and New York. Yeah, it's in the book.

I'm like, okay, Mr. 700. Let's get out of here. All right. So one thing I just, one thing I want to ask you about is you took a penalty shot at Maple Leaf Gardens. Yes, I did. So I'm reading this. Like, I'm living through you. And then, I mean, it sounds bigger than it is, I suppose.

But the fact that the championship final of the Crescent School intramural season took place at Maple Leaf Gardens is a mind blow. Like the full ice of Maple Leaf Gardens? Yes. So do you want to tell that? It's really early in the book. I think it's maybe chapter one or something, but it's going to tie into a guy. I'm going to play some audio and talk about a gentleman that no longer with us showed out to really funeral home.

But tell me and tell the listeners about how you ended up taking a penalty shot at Maple Leaf Gardens. So I did attend Crescent School way back at a school that's on Bayview now. and I was in fact in the first class that was ever convened at Bayview. It used to be on Dawes Road where Crescentown is at Victoria Park. It's on Dawes Road between Victoria Park. It was the old Massey estate, in fact. and Charlie Conacher donated the science lab at Crescent School. So there were some leaf connections to the school,

and that's how we ended up having ice for our intramural final. And I was captain of the Wolf House, the student body was divided into three houses, Hudson, McKenzie, and Wolf. And I was captain of the Wolf team, not really for hockey, mostly for character. And I was like the high mark kid. I was a good student in those days, hard as that is to believe. And our game ended in a tie, and our tie break was, in fact, you know, decades ahead of time. This was grade 8, so I would have been 13.

Our tie break was identical to the NHL tie break. It was three shooters, right? And God knows there would be, I don't know what we would have done if it had gone. onto a four-shooter or tied, but we scored, I had the first shot and I got nowhere. I, it was kind of closing my eyes and shooting as hard. You were a defenseman, right? I was a defenseman. And I had a crazy curve stick, a Stan McKita, and I had no idea where the puck was going

or no control. But Brian Morton and David Larkin scored and Dean Waterfield made the saves and we saw the championship with that. So when you're at Center Ice and you're taking this, you're terrified. But I'm wondering, like, are you aware of what else has happened on this ice in your young life?

Well, of course, you're, because in grade three, you were reading the globe, you were reading the star. But like so, so did you carry that weight that, you know, this happened here this many years ago? Like, you're on Maple Leaf Gardens Ice. Yeah, it was, it was only a couple of years removed from, you know, George Armstrong, icing it into the empty net. Right. From my hero, Bob Pulford. And I believe a young Peter Gross climbs on the ice after that.

You got to get telling you. He tells a story about climbing on the ice after that moment you're describing. There you go. Yeah. I remember watching that series. I remember I was sent to bed when I had to peek through my closed bedroom door to see Bob Pulford score in double over time in Montreal. Jeez, you know, talking to me who's not a young man in his 50. It's like I'm listening to Grandpa telling tales from the war or whatever.

Like, oh, that happened in this city? Yeah, it was all new back then. So it was in real time. So, yeah. All right. So here's this. I don't know if this is working or not, but lately I've been playing this. So, uh...

Dittaloo! Dillaloo! Although I guess talking about you in grade eight, we've already gone in the time machine. That's fine. We went back to grade three guns, for goodness sakes. But I'm going to play a little bit. something that FOTM Hall of Famer Ed Conroy

put on his YouTube account and it's kind of kind of well let's listen together here well water in the frozen variety of water lead to sports tonight in the Canada Cups Dick what's happening well in the Canada cups it's over the Canadians hung on to beat the Swedish 65 Canada now has a

Canada Cup back they didn't steal from anybody they won it by mistake but they won it yeah listen the other team came right at them and it wasn't over until it was over true and in the Canada Cup of sailing Kug has the lead. They're going through one more night on the water out here against the Americans. And speaking of Americans, the American League East is finally been won by Detroit Tigers. All right. All of that in detail. Coming up momentarily.

Hamlet Wentworth says no thank. So hearing that the, you know, of course, because the Tigers ran away with it in 1984. So we're in 1984. Tell the listenership, Gerard Joyce. Whose voice do you think we just heard there? Oh, I'm pretty on the spot here. What if I told you that was Dick Beddows? Was there? Oh, really? Okay. No, I, I... You have to see it because he's got the hat.

Yes. He's doing the whole Dick Beddow's thing. But I'm hoping we could take a moment here. You know, I want to do a... I'm wondering how much you'll give me here because it's kind of really a key part of the... I have a brewing in the background because I want to bring Dick up. He comes back. Yeah.

But that was a Dick Beto's on C-H-C-H doing the sports in 1984. Okay. Yep. That would be a fit. Tough to find, by the way. So that's why I shouted out, Ed Conroy, because he takes the time to kind of archive this. It's tough to find video footage of Dick Beddows doing, because I grew up with Dick Beto's, but you, at a pretty young age, you met Dick Beddows.

I met him when I was in high school. Now, what I should say before we go down this road. Sure. If you want to talk Dick with you, Gare. If you want a Dick Beto's, like an idea of what Dick Beddows sounded like. Joe Flaherty did a great Dick Beddow's knock off

on SCTV on Saturday night curling. Was it Monday night curling or Saturday night curling? You're asking the wrong guy. With regard to Swaroo taking any of that region's garbage. At City Hall, Bob Ireland, TV, I'll have a newsroom. I'm just listening to an old... What would you do if your life changed dramatically tomorrow...

I could envision a podcast where you and I just... listen to old newscasts and comment on what we hear, whatever. Like, it's kind of fascinating to hear the CHCHH news in 1984. Like, what were we talking about? When Dick Beto starts telling you about the World Series of whatever it was, boat racing or yacht racing, I'm thinking, oh my God, you'll never hear about that in mainstream media. They're never talking about who's winning the America Cup or whatever.

What I can tell you right now, without giving too much away. And this one, I can't say it's in the book. It isn't in the book, but it's in the offing. I'm actually working on sailing stories right now. But that's for a very, like it's very wealthy audience. So I, you know, Rolex might be interested in sponsoring that because you get a wealthy audience, but it's tiny. Well, and what's funny is, but rich. There's a great pushback by the people that I'm writing about.

one gold medalist was the son of an oyster fisherman. That's how they came in to sailing the old-fashioned way. So I'm doing... Stay tuned. Yeah, I'm doing a historic sailing piece. Inspired probably by Dick Beddows. By Dick Betoes, yes. Because you were inspired by Dick Betoes. I was. I was a huge Dick Beto's fan in his day with the Globe and Mail

I look back on it now and I can see that it would have it would have like amused me as a kid, you know, just the florid language. Now, no, it's not my style at all. There was no influence or anything like that. But it was just fun, you know. And it had a bit of the AJ labeling sweet science, you know, the overly ornate language and high flute and highbrow as applied to something as mundane as sports.

It was just fun. And that's why I really went towards. uh, Beddows is, as a writer when I was a kid. And his, his write-ups by, uh,

Team Canada in 72 were hysterical. So, where are you as a high school student? Where are you that you see Dick Beto's? At the groaning board, uh, the old, uh,

it was the one of the two first vegetarian restaurants in Toronto. It used to be on Bay Street, the original. And he was there. one night and I was there with my buddy Gus Papajanus who became a Mowny and I've stayed in touch with and sure enough there was thick bellows and he was easy to pick out he was unmistakable so he was wearing the hat he was and he was wearing um he was he it was a case of uh a a it was a case of uh a a it a clash of of hat, jacket, shirt, cravat, everything, nothing went together.

It was, it was about 120 decibels. It registered. And how did your interaction with Dick Beddows go that first time when you were in high school at the groaning board? He couldn't have been nicer. Like he really couldn't have been nicer. I went up and said, you know, Mr. Betoes, You know, I'm looking at writing for a newspaper someday. I read you religiously. I listen to your radio show. I've phoned in. I've never got on.

And he autographed a napkin for me, said, Robert Marvin Hull told me, you know, always ask the name of the person. you know, personalize it, you know, and that Bobby Hall was giving advice to Dick Beto's about handling celebrity, tells you something about Dick Beto's self-regard. And, yeah, Dick Beto's said, well, you know, there's nothing like working in a newsroom. I was talking about going to journalism school and getting applications in, and And yeah, that that lingered with me.

Not that I ever imagined being Dick Peros. I just thought like his talent was way past anything I could pull off. And so, you know, that I could be kind of, you know, a middle-tier average sports writer someday. who, you know, fetched quotes for a great man like Dick Beddows. I saw that as kind of a calling. So, again, I'm not here to, you know, make you read your book here. So, but, but, you know, Dick Beto's at this time, he's at with the Globe and Mail.

You're reading him in the Globe and Mail. Yes. And eventually you yourself will be working at the Globe and Mail. In fact, that's true. So maybe what we'll do for this conversation here is if you could tell, because there's some younger people who aren't sure how it ends for Dick Bettoes at the Globe and Mail. And I know this story, because I didn't live it, like I sometimes forget I know it,

and then I know it again. And every time I'm interested in the story, and it's in your book and you get it again. But how does it come to an end for the legendary writer Dick Beddows at the Globe and Mail? He was caught plagiarizing, not just copy, but he was caught plagiarizing. I think it was Russell Baker in the New York Times. If you're going to steal something, you know, don't steal something in the window during business hours, right? It was almost a cry for help.

And the psychology of those who perpetrate journalistic fraud and plagiarism, I can't imagine doing something like that. But there does seem to be a cry for help. I think it's fairly safe to presume that if you've caught someone doing it, you're not catching them the only time they've ever done it. That would be pretty exceptional circumstances. And, you know, the cases, you know, whether it's Jason Blair at the New York Times, Dick Bedros was the case here. Beddows was knocked down for it.

He wrote an apology in the Globe and Mail. If you go to the micro-fiche or any sort of database. referencing the Globe of Mail historically, there's a blank space where his plagiarized column appeared. It's been erased from all record. I don't know where you could find what it was about and match it to passages in the New York Times. They've kind of...

That's interesting. They can scrub it from like a micro- Grophish of that day's paper. Yeah. If you go to Metro. Somebody has to have the paper version they saved. Yeah. Well, from 1979, or sorry, from 1980,

I don't know that there's a paper version out there. Interesting. Yeah. Do you remember that? So you did print like some of his final comments on this, but that is the last time he appears in the Globe of Mail, right? His apology? Last time he appeared in a newspaper.

Yeah. He did a couple of books after that. Didn't he write R. Pal, Howl? That was before. That was before 1980. Okay, well, we did, we know he resurfaces on CHCH. Yes. As we just heard.

Okay. And he would go about and claim that, you know, I'm making more money. Well, just because I know, I don't know much before 1980. Like, I don't have a lot of memories of the world around me. In fact, one of my first memories is hearing a beetle was shot, and that was 1980. But I know Dick Beto's. He was around. So maybe it was CHCHH.

I definitely would see some CHCH. Maybe he was a character on that, Channel 11. And maybe he had a show there, and that's how I knew Dick Beto. He had a talk show there as well. And, yeah, he tried to present it as a triumph. rather than a disgrace, because that's, that was just kind of his personality. So if he, it comes to an end for Dick Beto's at the Globe of Mail in 1980, when does Gear Joyce arrive at the Globe of Mail?

I arrived there in September of 94. 94. A week before the lockout. Right. Okay. So I, what I, and again, we're not rehashing this. And you've been on Toronto Mike to 100 times. We've got so many great gear stories archive.

So if you ever do kick the bucket, I can do like a week series of Gear Joyce stories and Gear Joyce's boys. W-E-A-K. Right? Yes, that's right. Chairman of the board. It's B-O-R-E-D.

Okay, but what I did enjoy is hearing how you end up at the Toronto Sun because you start at the Toronto Sun and it really does feel like you kind of, you know, it just seems like your entry into the Toronto Sun seemed kind of effortless, if I may use that word. Like, it seemed like it was tough for you to get into journalism school,

and there's some great stuff about that. But getting the gig at the sun, it just felt like it happened. Am I wrong? I walked in the door to drop off of a resume, and I worked that night. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So what I'm going to do, because for time purposes,

and because I want people to get this book and get all the details in between here, we're going to revisit Dick Beto. in a moment here. But I do want to ask you about the, you know, you took that penalty shot at Maple Leaf Gardens and then you cover the final Leafs game at Maple Leaf Gardens. And I mean, I got to say, I'm living through you in the way you write

and what you're going through with your mom, with your dad, what's going on in your personal life when you're covering this game at Maple Leaf Gardens? Yeah. When the Leafs were shutting down the garden, the gardens. My mother was terminally ill.

And my father was in failing health, but he held on forever. He had a bout of angina. And he was failing cognitively as well. So I had to move home while my wife, it was with the two girls who were quite young at that point.

They would have been 10 and 8. So I'm an only child and I had no extended family. So really, there wasn't a lot of support available. I was running my mother for radiation treatments on a daily basis. You know, it was a pretty decent fit for leaf practices, funnily, as it timed out. I would be writing columns in the waiting room at Princess Margaret Hospital. Right. Like that was just kind of the grind I was in this cycle and I would get back and deal with things. So I was pretty in extremists. I will admit, I held it together as best I could, but it was tough.

And, yeah, my mother died shortly thereafter. My father held on for a good 10 years and all. I live to the ripe age of 92. But at the end, the last few years, he called everything a table, right? He called his a table, a table. He also called a bed a table, right? Like he lost the names of household items.

You know, they talk about forgetting names. He lost that much more. So, yeah, I was trying to negotiate that. And, you know, people have a certain. age with parents who hang on through modern medicine. You know, they hit stuff like this. It would have been nice if I'd had family members that we could play past the parent. But no, that was me.

And I was, I ended up sleeping in the old bedroom that I, you know, of my youth, where I used to tack up sports illustrated covers and where I saved all my old sports magazines and clippings and things like that. And you were still able to cover the final NHL game at Maple Leaf Gardens, was it Leaves and Blackhawks? And, you know, in the book, you cover it pretty well. But I find it interesting that you, focused on, your writing focused on Dave Keon,

who completely ignored the invitation to attend this finale at Maple Leaf Gardens. Yeah, if there's another, if there's a follow-up memoir to this one, it'll be where I actually had a chance to talk for an extended period with Dave Keon years later. But, yeah, what I should dial back, to is that, you know, kind of the arc of the book, in the first chapter,

I talk about, I write about going to my first leaf game, which was pre-Bobby-Oar, Boston Bruins, the day that the Toronto subway opened, or the Danforth line, Danforth Blower line opened. and I was in standing room, you know, at the age of, I guess, nine, eight or nine. And like I could see nothing from standing room. I was on my toes peering over a railing and could see very little except Bob Pulford's red face. Bob Pulford's red face.

And, of course, this finale in 99 at, it was 99. right? Yeah. At MLG, another. Bob Probert scores the final goal. That's the answer to the trivia question. That it is. With Doug Gilmore skating for the hawks. Right. Yeah, you took the opening face off against Matt Sundeen. Absolutely. Now, Kingston's own. Kingston's, absolutely. What did you keep from this final game? So, you know, you've got a lot going on in your life. You gave us a taste there,

but it sounds, you know, and you got the kids, you've got the parents you're caring for. there's a lot going on. You're at the game. I guess it's interesting to hear you say that, you know, you wanted to make sure they didn't surprise everybody with a Dave Keon appearance in the last minute or something. Like, oh, here he is! And it would blow your story there.

But what did you keep as a memento from covering that final game at Maple Leaf Gardens? I kept the seating plan. They posted the seating plan on press row. And as I was leaving the press, row. I was actually one of the first out. Like, I'm sure that the other guys hung out and went for beers or whatever. I had to get back to look after my parents. Right. So I just pulled down the press seating and I had it in my papers for years and it surfaced one day kind of this Burgess shale of paper in my office

and I framed it. And in the proofs that you saw, the actual plan wasn't in it. It's going to be in the actual book when it comes out. That was one of the slip-ups. So seeing all those names, though, it's quite something. This is the name of all the people.

First of all, these many, many FOTMs on that list beyond yourself. But also many who are no longer with, us, like, it is kind of fascinating to see all the people who, from the media, who covered that final game at Maple Leaf Gardens. Like, you saved the best thing. I think so. You know, I, I, I, I, I, you know, the Leafs gave out certificates saying, oh, you were at this game and they did it for, um, all patrons, you know, all spectators, all ticket holders,

received a certificate, everyone on press row. I didn't even bother with that. Like I didn't. I just wanted this seating plan. And it was an impulse in the moment. And I don't want to say that I forgot about it. I do remember doing it. Where I put it when I got home was, you know, when I got home,

when I got to my parents home, where I put it at that point, I lost track of it, but it did surface in time. So I want to conclude our chat here by talking about Dick Beto's again. Here we go. You really did write Dick Beto's memoir, didn't you, Ger Joyce? Something like me and Dick, yeah. It's kind of like, they're very, it's a very interesting way to bookmark your career covering hockey. Yeah.

Not that you're done, by the way, because you wrote that piece about Don Cherry's Cottage. on Wolf Island, the one, and then the whole Ron McLean story that spilled out of that. Did you ever win any awards for that? So that's what I'm in town for is the National Newspaper Awards are tomorrow night. We almost buried the lead here. We almost buried the lead. Okay, so that I was going to say, how did I get you back in the basement gear? Yeah, so I'm one of three finalists for that.

And, yeah. Well, congratulations. It was so well written and it got so much exposure. I did two episodes that Toronto Mikeed about it. Okay. Well, and this is, you know, the Paul Harvey, right? Now you know the rest of the story. Yeah.

But how we're going to close this and it won't be your last appearance? You're not going anywhere, Garrett, okay? And I always, and I don't know if I should ask you on the record here, but I always know whenever I ask you your age, you give me a number that is far higher than I think it would be because you present so much younger. Yeah. Like, did you want to say the number?

Next one The next one will be 70 Yeah I think that's the mind blow of the episode That Gere Joyce is almost 70 Yeah Yeah I am closer to 70 That's natural

No that's natural Well it's amazing you have hair Let alone pigmentation It's always It's always great in stand-up Crowdworking bald people Young bald guys Oh, you know what?

Bald people hate me. Oh, yeah. I don't think, they really do. Like, sometimes I won't name names, but there are some regular visitors who are her studically struggling. I don't think that's a word at all. I think I invented that word.

But they hate me. Your suit is what you're looking at. Thank you. Thank you. But I think they hate me. And they kind of look at you of like, you lucky son of a bitch. But it's really all I have gear.

Yeah. Well, I don't know if you remember the cover of the audible audiobook. I do. Yeah. You and the, yeah, I can picture younger. That was back when I had a perm. I do. Right? And I look

like when, with freshly permed hair, I look like Ian Hunter or Roger Daltrey. I would get Roger all the time because the perm sort of lightened it up and I was blondeish. Could be worse. Chicks dug them. Okay. But please let's close here if you don't mind.

So your history of Dick, so your history of Dick. Phrasing, Michael, okay. So we talked about you at the vegetarian restaurant and you meet Dick Beto's. You're only in high school at the time. So, you know, you want to go to journalism school. It's all in the book. Everybody's in the book. The journalism school is the sun and then, of course, if I knew the globe, and then we

as I, and of course, something called MVP. So tell the listenership what was MVP. MVP was a more or less sports monthly. It was 10 issues a year. Like they would skip an issue here and an issue there. And it went from 85 to 88. One a few national magazine awards. I won my first national magazine award with them for a story about baseball in the Dominican Republic.

that wound up spinning into a book about baseball in the Dominican Republic, the only ticket off the island. But that's in the, I ended up getting a ride back to my hotel from Tony Fernandez back in his, wasn't even his first season in the Bigs, 85. in meeting Damaso Garcia and Juan Marischel and George Bell and all of them. Tony and Domiso, now. Sure, Damaso Garcia.

Shout out for Ridley. Gone too soon. Yeah. So MVP was really kind of how I got back into journalism after the same. after the sun. I was, with my experience at the sun in the newsroom,

it just put me off so much. I vowed that I'd never work for a newspaper again. I just saw so many broken and unhappy people and just such an awful life-negative

lifestyle. I, I didn't want to work in a newspaper. And I ended up pitching, not even pitching. I just submitted a story to MVP and wound up getting it published and getting a staff position. And that's kind of how I got into sports writing. I was out of the game for good three years, probably, three, four years maybe. So while at MVP, you...

I was working as a doorman. That was the thing. After I left the sun, I was working as a doorman at the Shamrock Tavern on Coxwall and various other jobs. Right. And working in a Coca-Cola bottling factory. Right. MVP time and Dick Bettles, returns to your life?

This is true. So our editor, at that point, I'd written a few stories for MVP and a couple of road assignments as well, the Dominican trip, which ended up at a club med with a bunch of models. and then the Dallas Cowboys training camp where I walked into Tom Landry's office and grabbed him by the arm in pure desperation. So, yeah, I'd gotten a foot in the door at MVP and the editor had the idea that he was going to resurrect the career of Dick Beddows.

Listen, merit there. Plagiarism means one thing within the community of journalists. I don't know what it registers with the public. You know, if people actually knew why Dick Betoes was no longer writing at the Globe and Mail. This would have been seven years after the fact. and yeah our editor gave dick the assignment of like a very open-ended thing right you know your five favorite international hockey games you covered 72 and various other hockey summits um knock yourself out give us your personal story uh which should have been you know the red carpet for for dick bettos

And I was handling copy at that point. And, you know, in terms of editing, proofreading, getting it into print, pasting it up, doing display, all of that. And so I was charged with looking after Dick Beto's copy. Now, this is your cue to jump in. Wow, I love this part of the book where you talk about, you know, you're telling Dick, you need it. He's like, oh, next week, right? And then you're telling him actually last week. Do you know when I can get your copy?

And then you talk about, you know, you get this envelope delivered to the office. And he submitted his story about mainly about this. Well, you're jumping one ahead here. You do it then. You do it then. Okay. So he was late with his copy. Yeah.

uncomfortably late. And I received a letter from a publisher for a Canadian sports history book that a brewery had an interest in. And I gave it a quick look and it mentioned that Beddows was one of the writers contributing. to this book and that there was a luncheon for the launch. And so I called up and I said, I would love to come out to your luncheon. Will Mr. Beddows be there? And so I managed to figure out, okay, I can have this showdown.

Dick Betoes wasn't picking up the phone. This is before email or anything like that. And so I confronted Mr. Beddows at the luncheon. and when I tapped him on the shoulder, he asked me what my name was, and he was going to sign a copy of the book. And I was like, no, I'm actually your editor from MVP. And, you know, no guilt or remorse or anything like that.

He goes, well, sit down and join us. You know, there's an open seat at the table. And he's like, oh, by the way, do you know Rocket Richard? Right. Right? And Rocket Richard is sitting with Dick Beto's. And, you know, I'm like, you know, the pen dropping out of my hand and, you know, my arch is falling. Yes, I know of him. Right. Anyways, I was able to put across to Mr. Beto's that your copy is desperately needed. Get it in, you know. And he did deliver. copy of a sort.

It ended up reading like a letter to penthouse. Right. The penthouse forum or something. It was filled with sexual innuendo, right? And you excerpt some of it in this, in the book, in your memoir. And yeah, so double entendre's galore. Just so hack, right?

It was, it was awful. And, you know, I think about it, Dick Beddow's then was younger than I am now, right? You know, like, he had thrown in the towel. Because, I mean, like, let's, he dies in 1991. Yeah. It's only a few years later. And he's only 65 when he dies. But, I mean, when I'm looking at him in that 1984, uh, CHCH, he looks like he's 65.

So he presented, well, a lot of guys did back then, but, you know, presented older. Yes. But, and he, like, he wasn't supposedly. a big drinker or a smoker or the bad habits. I, I, maybe guilt. I don't know.

Maybe, maybe, you know, cornball, uh, jokes in your copy aid you. I don't know. But,

but, but, but Gary, you get this, uh, copy that, you know, you can't publish this.

It's, uh, like from Penthouse forum or whatever. And what, what do you do? I, I, kind of recreate Dick Beto's.

And you rewrite it in the guys in his style. Yes. That's what I did. And I, Listen, I doubt very much that he even read it, right? When it was published.

So I don't know that it was going to bounce back. But he invoice for it. He invoice for it. I salvaged what I could and, and worked around the rest. A lot of it, again, it would be like,

if you gave a Wikipedia entry of the 72 Summit series and a letter to penthouse and then put it into AI and said, you know, mash this up. That's effectively what the copy you read like. But it is absolutely a mind blow to read that, so you get this copy from Dick Beto's for MVP and it's not what you can use, it's what the hell. And you literally, like, just on your own,

you don't go to a public, you don't, you do it on your own. You rewrite it as if Dick Beddows wrote it that can be printed in MVP. Like, I'm curious about the ethics around that. Like, I mean, now the statute of limitations has expired. You're here writing your memoir. But when did you first reveal that you did that? Or is it in this book for the first, are we revealing it right now for the first time?

Yeah, this is the first time that it's been broadly revealed. Okay, well, you know, you put it in the book. I look at it. I don't look at it as plagiarism or whatever. I look at it as ventriloquism, right? I was putting words. I was in character. You know, I was improvising.

But I was so up against the deadline. We were already late. I was working overnight to get this into print for the morning. I think journalism classes could have a field date with this one because, of course, everybody kind of gets why you did what you did. It's almost like, like, of mice and men, like it's out of love or whatever and here you did what you did for Dick Beddows

kind of to save him from himself but it's still it's not plagiarism it's like I don't know if there's a term for this but it's definitely misrepresentation because it publishes an MVP as written by Dick Betoes but in actual fact it was written by Gare

Joyce It's in the book It's in the book Dude I love this I had no idea we have to wait till October To get our myths Well, not me, of course. I'm very important and very special.

But people have to wait a little longer to get their myths on your memoir. It's called Portrait of a Hockey Scribe, live on Press Row, well-ridden, very interesting. I highly recommend it. You attended the 1977 Kentucky Derby. Seattle slew, I bet against them. Bet against the Triple Crown winner. Peter Gross doesn't want to hear that. Peter Gross doesn't want to hear that.

So tonight, when you are up for this award, who are your... Tomorrow night. Okay, who are your competitors? I'm up against a writer from the Globe and Mail, Jana Pruden, I think it is, and a writer from La Pruss. So what do you think your chances are? One in three.

I can do no worse than the bronze, which is Canadian gold. And that brings us to the end of our 1,88th show. It was a lucky number, lucky episode. 1888. He's not dead yet, folks. Eight is infinity on its standing up as right is. Times three, which is also an interesting number. Let's do a numerology episode on this number.

Go to tronomelike.com for all your Toronto mic needs. So people can read you in the, what's the proper name? The Kingston Whig. Whig standard. Whig standard. Whig, W-H-I-G. I remember that from my history classes. Okay.

But go to that link at the top of Toronto Mike.com that reads Elmo gig and buy a ticket. It's coming together. I'm proud of it. Before it comes apart. I'm working some shit out in this thing. It's more like a therapy that you'll have to witness. But it's happening. Much love to all who made this possible.

That is Great Lakes Brewery. You got your beer. Palma pasta. I've got your lasagna. Nick Aini's. I'll see you tomorrow, Nick. Recycle My Electronics.c.c.a. and of course, Ridley Funeral Home.

We dropped a new episode yesterday with a new theme song that Spotify can't complain about. See you all Monday. I gotta go to my calendar. Hold on. What's going on in the Toronto mic calendar gear? What's going on here? Stand by.

Stand by. I'm standing by. So I have a couple, very interesting week. I have a chap named Johnny Max. He was in the calendar before he's a musician. And he forgot. And I wrote him off. and then Blair talked me

and had given him another chance. So Johnny Max is my guest, but Barry Hertz comes by on Tuesday just to dive deep into Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie. He's been covering these guys since their inception. He's the man.

Barry Hertz from the Globe and Mail, by the way. There you go. Colin Cripps will be here Wednesday to kick out the jams. It was fun to kick out the jams with Alan's Y. yesterday.

We're going to do it Colin Cripps next week. And Paris Black. There is a name from the past. Paris Black makes his Toronto mic debut. Don't you dare miss anything. Don't miss any of it. See you all. Next week.