Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Gino Reda: Toronto Mike'd #201

Episode Date: October 28, 2016

Mike chats with TSN's Gino Reda about his years on Sportsline, TSN and where I can get a Gino Reda mug.

Welcome to episode 201 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. And Chef's Plate, delivering delicious and locally sourced farm fresh ingredients in refrigerated kits directly to your door. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me this week is TSN's Gino Retta. Gino, welcome. Great to be here. I got to tell you, it was a little bit creepy though when you said, do you mind dropping by my basement?

There'll be beer, it'll be dark, and this just a couple days before Halloween. That's a little bit creepy. I just tweeted that somebody I said, I have a guest coming. His name rhymes with, I can't remember what I wrote, but Lino Chetta or something like that. And then somebody guesses, I can't believe they guessed correctly. They guessed Gino Retta. And I said,

in the flesh, in my basement. Well, it's fun to be here. This is great. This is a great setup you've got here. I feel honored. I feel almost really super honored because I think to be number 200 would have been like, you must have planned that one for months. I actually, they have dirty pictures of me

and they've sort of, my friends Humble and Fred sort of said, hey, we're 200 or we're putting this on our website. Those guys are legends. You know, they'll take the edit, they'll cut that out, that excerpt, and play it on a continuous loop on their show. Once, Elliott Friedman sat down here,

and I mentioned Humble and Fred, and I think he said something like, they're geniuses or something like that, and Humble caught wind that Elliott Friedman had called them geniuses, and they would play it on a continuous loop. Yeah, I'm not willing to go with geniuses, but they are indeed legends.

I loved listening to them. I half suspect Friedman had mistaken them maybe for Jesse and Gene. That's what I think. They're the geniuses. I'm not going there. Well, I have a question for you. Yes.

Is the best Gino Vanelli song. This is like his biggest hit, but for guys my age, I think... I can't believe you're bringing this up. You know the last time I had anybody make reference to Gino Vanelli? All my way through high school and every time I introduced myself, hey, Gino Vanelli, I did not know this was coming. You are the first person to make reference to this in probably two decades. I'm bringing back the classics, okay?

I'm bringing back the classics. That's cool. I don't know a lot of Ginos. Like, I know there's Gino Ogic, and I know you, of course, Gino Retta, and then, of course, there's the Canadian icon, Gino Vanelli. This might be as big as hit,

but I always preferred Black Cars, Look Better in the Shade. What say you, Gino? I am really impressed that you even know those titles. How old are you? You don't look old enough

to know this music. Oh, please. Did you just go dig this out of the archives now just to do this podcast? You know what? This one is a little before my time, this one,

but the Black Cars, I think it was like 85 or something. I remember it well. How old were you at 85? I turned 10 in 1980. Okay, so how did a 10-year-old know Gino Vanelli? No joke, I'll tell you. I had a compilation cassette

called The Hits, I think. The Hits album, and it was on there. One of the old K-Tel things? Something like that. Honestly, that cassette, The Hits album, strange name for an album, but it was called The Hits album, and it had Gino Vannelli's Black Cars and that's how I knew

Black Cars by Gino Vannelli. That's classic. And I'm sure my 680, I'm sure Tom Rivers played it for me on 680. Oh, Tom Rivers. Man, that goes back in the days. Back in my days at 680,

back when it was 680 CFTR, long time ago, back when I was working the Spirit of Radio. What were you doing at 102.1? I did the entertainment. Did you? Do you remember Skip Prokop from Lighthouse?

Yes. Skip and I did Sunday night, an entertainment show. We did a couple hours every Sunday night. Skip was the best. I don't think I knew that. So I often have some of those old, like Ivor Hamilton's been here, and Marsden's been here,

and I sometimes have these old CFNY cats. That's a long time ago. I think the studios back then were still in Brampton. Are there studios? They're not still in Brampton now. No, long gone. So you're talking about the Yellow House, right? Oh, yeah. So Fred Patterson. I'm really impressed that you even know this. I've never obviously been to the Yellow House,

but I know the Yellow House. And Mike Stafford here, he used to, on the Pete and Geet show, he was doing the news while Fred Patterson from Humble and Fred was doing the sports. And this was the morning show. And I've had Mike Stafford in here. He talked about the, he actually said the studio was better stuff than

he had access to in the Yellow House in Brampton. Oh, the Brampton place was amazing. Yeah, my radio days in the early days, that was great. Mike Cooper, who just retired now, he used to be Coop on 680 years ago. Well, CFTR, we called it CFTR back then. Jim, soon to be famous,

Johnson. Chris James, did you know him? Because he's been here. He's on Boom now as KJ. Do you think he's rebranded himself as KJ? I told him to his face, I said, nobody knows KJ was Chris James, right? Well, you know what? That's radio, though.

Did Van Horn tell you about the fact, his two names? Did he tell you about that? Probably. I know it's a fake name, Van Horn, but tell me the story. Well, what happened was he was Jim Van Horn on Chum FM and on AM. He also did shifts on AM. You're right, yeah. And they didn't want the same guy to be on both, so he used his real name.

It was Dave Melnick is his real name. I remember I was hosting Sports Desk back then with JVH. And the phone rings. And the guy, can I speak to Dave Melnick, please? And I went, Dave Melnick? Dave Melnick doesn't work here. I don't know that. And he goes, oh, no, sorry.

Van Horn. I think it's Van Horn. And I said, JVH, is your name Dave Melnick? He goes, yeah, yeah, give me the phone. I had no idea. I had no idea it was the same guy because it was a completely different voice. But did they think listeners were stupid back then? Like, he sounded the same, right?

But you know Van Horn, how great he is with voices. That's true. He just, you know, on Chum FM, it would be, you know, you're listening to 104.5 Chum FM. And on 1050 back then, he would say, hey, you're listening to Dave Melnick. It was a whole different persona. You're right. Like, David Marzen's a good example. He was Dave Mickey. This is way back hey, you're listening to Jim Van Orden and Dave Melnick. It was a whole different persona. You're right.

David Marsden's a good example. He was Dave Mickey. This is way back when, but he was Dave Mickey on Chum, I think Chum FM, I think. And it was like a whole manic persona, and it wasn't anything like David Marsden. Completely different.

FM back in those days, and it's different again now because it's mostly talk radio and AM, but FM back then was very, you know, I smoked a pack and a half of cigarettes per shift, and speak very slowly, and AM was manic. That's right. I had no idea.

So is that your first foray into broadcasting at CFMI? No. My first foray into broadcasting was when I was 16 years old, and I was at Kipling Collegiate out here in Etobicoke. That's nearby. Yeah, and I was a football player at Kipling, and I wrestled there as well. And I called the cable, then it was McLean Hunter Cable TV, and said, why don't you guys ever come out and cover sports? And they said, tell you what, I'll make a deal.

If you come out and do the commentary for the sports you're not involved in, then we'll work with you to find somebody to come and do the commentary for the sports you are involved in. So then all of a sudden I became the voice of girls midget basketball, the National Dart Championships, gymnastics, volleyball, you name it, football. I called many a football game. And this all was Cable 10 stuff. I was 16 years old. And Landsberg started on a Cable 10 show, right?

Yeah, he started at Rogers. Yeah. I started in the West End out here. I'm not sure how long ago McLean Hunter actually disappeared, but I started here and I did it for years, man. I did everything from the National Dart Championships to the Miss Italia pageant to whatever they asked me to do, I would do.

It was awesome. It was tough to get you to do those Miss Italia pageants. They had to twist your arm. That one, not so tough. No, that one's not so tough. I remember I used to work for a game booth that worked at the C&E

and then I remember this guy. Did you do the doggy, doggy, doggy or no? Sort of. I would go on the microphone and say one and to win was our thing

for this called Pop-A-Ball. But I remember Ardo was the name of the guy who owned these. He still owns them, I think. Ardo Guidaro, if you want a good Italian name, like Gino Reda. Ardo Guidaro, if you want a good Italian name,

like Gino Reda. Ardo Guidaro. That doesn't get much more Italian than that. And I remember, and he asked me one day, would I work the chin picnic? Because they were bringing a game booth to the chin picnic. And I remember I was working the chin picnic.

The bikini contest was like 100 feet away or whatever. And I'm like, I'm getting paid? This is amazing. That was good. Yeah, well, I wasn't getting paid. I'll be honest with you there. When I was working at MHTV10, I think they make some money

now doing the local cable, but I was getting nothing. You know, just since we're on the topic of Cable 10, I know Mike Wilner started. He had a Cable 10 show called Let's Talk Sports. Yep. And I know Ed the Sock started. Steve Kersner started with Cable 10. So a lot of big Canadian Toronto broadcasters

cut their teeth on Cable 10 programs. And you know what? It was the best. It really was the absolute best way to do it because my very first gig, I took one of those little recording, I don't even want to call it. Little micro cassettes?

No, it was way before micro cassettes. It was probably about the size of, I don't know, like four packs of cigarettes. And I would take that up into the rafters at Maple Leaf Gardens and go off into a corner and do the play-by-play into this thing. For myself, when the Toronto Marlies, they used to have a junior team called

the Toronto Marlies at, I almost said Air Canada Centre, at old Maple Leaf Gardens. And I would do that for hours. And then the next step up for me was to do cable TV, and it was great because we did live TV. We did every Friday night, we did something called City Sports. Myself and Frank Ginoni, who was working at Global Sports at that point, we did live call-ins, and oh, man, we had so many great, fun stories.

Our regular caller every Friday night was Mrs. Shanahan, Brendan Shanahan's mom. Calling from Mimico. She would call in all the time because she'd want to talk about her boys, not just Brendan. You know, her boys, they were in Michael Power. Yes. I went there too, so we all knew Brendan went there.

Not too far from your Kipling. Not too far. Look at all this South Etobicoke referencing we're doing here. And you still live in South Etobicoke? I just live in, well, Central Etobicoke. Central. Yeah. I moved back there.

My parents still live in Etobicoke in the same house they lived in from 1970. I moved in a little closer to them. So you're just a little below Ford Nation then. Yes. Just a gotcha. Good for you. Just below Ford Nation. Just below Ford Nation. Hey, I do, I mean, that's great. The cable tends to start. We're Gotcha. Good for you. Just below Ford Nation. Just below Ford Nation.

Hey, I do, I mean, that's great. The cable tends to start. We're going to get into this. But the reason, I need to tell a quick story. Okay. It can't be all about you, Gino.

You understand? Fair enough. I have to tell a quick story because today was going to be Christopher Ward, one of the first VJs at MuchMusic. He's promoting a book

and my quick story is, so this is episode 201. So I think I've had maybe three times I had to deal with a PR person instead of direct connect. Like you and I connected directly. We did connect directly. We talked yesterday. Incidentally, you emailed me while I was on the air. Nice guy.

You couldn't even wait until I was off the air before you emailed me. Well, did it ding or something? Ding, ding. Oh, it's just the Toronto Mike Bats symbol. I know he's going to get this at work because he's actually at work right now. Yeah, no excuse here. So, yeah, so I can't...

Well, let me tell the whole story really quick. Is that Christopher Ward was booked. So this is the first time in the history of my podcast a confirmed guest was booked and then canceled. Oh, is that why I'm invited? Because he canceled on you? Is that why? Almost, almost.

Although I don't actually, I had an episode this week because the episode 200 was this week. So no, so it's not quite true. But Christopher Ward, he didn't cancel. His PR company said they no longer had the time

to get him here for the interview. But they knew where they were going and what time it was happening. Like, I'm really just disappointed because I was all set for this much music retrospective, all set for much in the cable stuff. And then I lost Christopher Ward, which I didn't like. And then I thought to myself, like, I need some kind of 80s cable, you know what I mean? Much music.

I'm thinking TSN. And I'm thinking, oh, I need one of those like early TSN guys. And I thought of you. And then I sent you the email. The vintage, the vintage. That was a long time ago, my friend. Been there for a long time. So even though you're not Christopher Ward, that's, I won't hold that against you, but I did promise my friend Retro Ontario, that is his name, that during the Christopher Ward episode, I would promote something that's happening Friday. So even though Christopher Ward has bailed on me and I'm very disappointed, I need to tell everybody listening that this Friday, November 4th at 8 p.m., there is this

really cool, they call it Much Music Retro Mixtape with Christopher Ward. And it's like the book launch. And where is it? I should know where it is, right? The Royal Theatre? I think that the Royal was at a college, I believe, like a college near Spadina, I think, but the Royal Theatre, I'm trying to remember where that is. This Friday, it's $10 for tickets and $12 at the door. I'll tweet a link to where you can actually buy tickets.

But if you've got nothing going on this Friday, that kind of sounds neat to hear Christopher Ward talk about his book since you can't hear it on Toronto Mic'd. Good on you. That's for Retro Ontario. These people cancel on you and you still go out there and promote them. Good for you. I honestly thought about not doing that,

but then I thought that would hurt my friend, Retro Ontario. So there you go. I did that anyway. And by the way, when we talked on the phone yesterday, I mentioned the mug you were going to bring me. I tried and I could not find one. And that's tough because people have asked

me for it and they said, come on, you've got to sell them again. Just to clarify, at no point did I ever say, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go put my face on a mug and sell it. They didn't seek your permission. No, that was Jay Onright, the legend that he is and the following that he's got.

The Trade Center, we did Trade Center, oh, I don't remember how many years ago, five, six years ago. Right. And he went out to the mall and took an old picture of mine. Yeah, you can take a picture, like 10 bucks a mug or something. And had one made and actually was drinking his coffee out of it on the air. And people started calling and saying, where do we get one? Where do we get one? And Jay said, do you mind if I tell people, you know, we can get them? And would you sign them?

And I said, well, how many are you talking to? He goes, oh, a couple of dozen. Like, we'll just sell a couple of dozens. I said, sure, no problem. So he called our public relations department or whatever and said, can you guys help me organize this? They organized it. public relations department or whatever and said, can you guys help me organize this?

They organized it and they opened up the line, whatever number it was to call or the email address or whatever it was. And I guess within an hour, because Jay, not because of me, but because Jay has got this incredibly committed following, they sold like 1,200 of these mugs. Wow, 1,200. Yeah, they sold 1,200 and all the money, the proceeds were going to go to Movember, which was fantastic. Which makes sense, because it's a mustache, yeah.

And so Jay kind of sheepishly, Gene, remember you said you'd autograph those mugs? Oh, that's right. Yeah, and he goes, there's a lot. And they started literally bringing them down. They came, I think, 12 in a case, and they started bringing like five or six cases. But you get carpal tunnel syndrome. You can't sign 1,200 cups. But we raised a ton of money for Movember, which was great.

No, that's great. And then people keep saying to me, can I get one now? And I'm like, I'm not walking anywhere and saying, will you make some mugs with my face on it? So if somebody wants to go out and make them and we'll raise money for charity, I'm happy to help. Yeah, listen, if Jay can't do this because he's busy shining his Rolls Royce or whatever he's doing down south,

we'll get to him in a minute. But I know a place where you can get a good volume discount. Get that image on our mug. We can help. I'm just saying, we're at the end of... As long as the money goes to charity. That's what I'm saying. We're at the end of October. The time is now. Movember starts Tuesday.

I'm happy to help. They won't let me grow the stash anymore, though. I actually tweeted. I think you saw it because you replied, but I tweeted at Jay and asked him. I thought he took maybe the last Gino Reda mug, and I asked him if there was an extra one somewhere that you could bring to me. When he loaded that big moving van, I think he just forgot

all about us. Well, he threw it back at you. I'm like, dude, I've been there, done that. Okay. I would say bought the T-shirt, but I'm trying to buy the mug here. So we'll bring back the Gino Reda mug. All right, everybody. We're about to begin, but first you need to whip out your here. So we'll bring back the Gino Reda mug. All right, everybody. We're about to begin. But first, you need to whip out your credit card and go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike

and give what you can to help crowdfund Toronto Mike. You heard Gino say what a great setup we have here. That wasn't cheap to have a great setup like that. No, it's a good setup. I'm impressed. Do you like the microphones? I do. It's a good quality sound.

Good headsets. The headsets are setup. I'm impressed. Do you like the microphones? I do. It's a good quality sound, good headsets. The headsets are great. I'm impressed. You thought I was going to press record on my laptop and it would be some external mic might pick it up or might not. But yeah, I'm glad. If I can impress Gino right, I've done my job here. You might have noticed there's a case of beer in front of you.

I see that. Is that supposed to be consumed during the broadcast or is that for post-broadcast? Mike Richards consumed during the podcast or is that for post-broadcast? Mike Richards consumed during the podcast? I'm not surprised. I always say, people are always surprised and

I always defend him, but he did wake up at like 3 a.m. Yeah, for him it was 5 in the afternoon. That's right. But yeah, you can bring that home or enjoy it.

Well, that's for me. That's for you. You're bringing that home. Well, thank you very much. That's from the good people at Great Lakes

Brewery. I have trouble saying the word brewery, so I try to call them Great Lakes Beer. I find it easier. They're going to change all their advertising campaign just to make it easier for you to spit it out there. I really wish they would because I'm not a professional broadcaster like you.

I struggle with these terms. But I got more news. Gino. News. The exciting announcement for you that not only are you going to take that beer home with you, but I'm going to score you I'm worried about where you're going with this.

two free meals from Chef's Plate. Get out of here. I'm serious right now. You almost fell off the chair. That's outstanding. I'm all over that. You want to eat healthy. Yes, I do. You're a busy guy. I am. So you don't have to worry about meal planning with Chef's Plate because they send you the pre-portioned, locally sourced, farm-fresh ingredients

and easy-to-follow recipes and refrigerated kits. They send it directly to your home. It's so easy, even I can do it. So if you're not Gino Retta but you want to give this a try, go to chefsplate.com and use the promo code Toronto Mike, and that gets your first two plates completely free. So you save 22 bucks just by putting Toronto Mike in the, you'll see in the form, they ask for a promo code. So you do that. But if you are Gino Retta, you get two meals for free. So Gino, I'll send you a link. You tell

me which two meals you like the best and chef's plate will send them to your you know what sadly I think this is going to cost me some money because this sounds like a good deal if you want to eat healthy sounds like a good idea you got no time what you go to McDonald's and you get a Big Mac combo no your body doesn't want that right this is the way to eat healthy and if you don't have a lot of time and uh that's like most of us all right cool so let's dive in here. So you mentioned, here's the first fun fact, actually, before you dive in. The first fun fact is that you were born in England.

I was. How did you find that out? That's good. I'm impressed. I knew Ron McLean. Do you know he was born in West Germany? Yes, I did. And you were born in England.

Yes, I was. My parents are both, like, first and foremost, I am Italian-Italian. Like people say, are you really Italian? Is Gino Retta your real name? It is. Absolutely my real name. And I am Italian-Italian. My parents still make the homemade sausage and the pasta and the sugo and all that.

So I'm Italian-Italian. My dad, as a young boy, grew up in a very impoverished area of southern Italy. And when he was in his early twenties, he moved to England to a very small town of 300 people called Sultry Mills, very, very small town where he basically went and worked as a young boy on a farm to grant rather than working for money, he worked for land and made a deal with the farm, the landowner and said, if I work X number of years, will you give me a plot of land? And I was probably just a couple of acres or something. And they made that deal. Then he went back, got my mom,

brought my mom back over to Sauterie. I was born there. My younger brother was born there. And my dad then, after he had accumulated a certain amount of land, then in the early 60s, he took and sold the land that he had in England, and then we all moved to Canada. And we all moved to Toronto back in the early, in the mid-60s, mid to late 60s.

So you went, obviously, to high school. So it was a stepping stone. You went to high school around here. So how old were you when you ended up in Canada? I was six years old when we came to Canada. And I still have my European Union passport. I still have it. I'm a Canadian citizen.

I became a Canadian citizen about five years ago, at which point the judge looked at me and went, what the heck were you waiting for? And I finally had to make the move because when I traveled, Bob McKenzie and James Duthie going across the border, as a British subject, you've got to get a visa, a travel visa into the U.S. It's very easy. It costs like $12, but it takes about a half an hour of paperwork at the border.

And so whenever I was crossing the border, I always had to stop. And McKenzie and Duthie just said, listen, dude, you got to become a Canadian citizen or we're going to stop traveling with you. Right. Well, you do what Mackenzie says, that's for sure. You don't mess with him.

So I have a note here that you actually, you went to, you won an evangelism, evangelism award. See, I can't say words. Yeah. You need to tell me, but evangelism award at the Ontario Bible College. Yeah, I studied. Are you like College. You're a super religious guy?

I'm not sure what super religious means. I'm a Christian, and when I graduated high school, when I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I went to Ontario Bible College and ended up as a... I worked with... I worked with kids in Jamestown. Do you know the Jamestown area?

Just north of West Humber Collegiate? Is that... Is it Rexdale? It's an Ontario housing... Yeah, it's south of Rexdale. Okay, yeah, yeah. Probably... Okay.

Yeah, yeah. So it's just north of West Humber Collegiate, which was an Ontario housing development there where there was problem issues with young kids growing up and stuff. So I worked in the high school in coordination with the high school and worked with kids. That's excellent. So I worked in the high school in coordination with the high school and worked with kids. So basically they

recommended kids who wanted to spend time with somebody who can kind of look out for them and stuff. So I did that. I coached a number of teams at West Humber. So I had a great opportunity there. It was great. I loved my time there. No, very cool. And you've already mentioned City Sports. So we've actually it's like in Pulp Fiction where you jump

back in time. So you did City Sports on C cable 10 and your co-host had some affiliation with uh sportsline is that right yeah frank ginoni frank ginoni was a producer an associate producer and then a producer at sportsline and uh but that's not how i got my job there but you know that's where i'm going with this. Did that help you get your gig at Sportsline? No. And you know what? I wish it was a real fancy story. I had worked in cable TV for years and trying to cut my teeth.

And one day, I randomly walked into Sportsline, to Global Sportsline. And I found out at that point that Jim Taddy was in charge and ran Sportsline. And I said, listen, I'd love to meet with you. I'd like you to look at my tapes. And he looked at my tapes, and he liked them. They were good.

But he said, listen, why would I hire you? Tell me why I should hire you and not look at the stack of tapes on my desk here. Why would I hire you and not one of them? And I said, because I'll work for free. I don't know why I said that. But right away I said, I'll work for free. And his eyes got so big. And I remember this was in June, I want to say of 85, it was probably June of 85. And he says, tell you what, you, I need somebody just basically just to run down to the Jays game

every day. They're in town, go gather sound and bring it back to me. Can you do that? And I said, sure, I can do that. So I did that, and it started with me just holding a microphone. Then it became with me holding a microphone to do voiceovers. Then it became me holding a microphone, voiceovers, and stand-ups. And I did that right until August, because I said, I'll work with you until August, the end of August. The end of August, I walked into his office, and I said,

thank you very much. It was a fantastic experience. I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity. He says, well, what are you doing? And I said, well, all I asked you for was to let me work with you for the summer to prove myself. You've done that and I appreciate it. I don't want to push it.

He goes, no, I want to hire you. And I said, okay, so I'll stay. Excellent. And that was it. He hired me at that point and I started working at Sportsline full time. Sportsline, which I loved, by the way. It was uh it was awesome he's been on the show a few times i just love that show yeah i worked with hebsey and tatty for years but i gotta the first question i have is when you

start at sports line uh do you have the mustache i did i'm trying to think of how old i would have been yeah i would have had the mustache then. Because I started growing the mustache, I want to say around 18, 18 or 19, and had it right until the time I shaved it. I ask this because, as legend has it, Taddy was insanely jealous of your mustache. No way. No way, Taddy. Is there any truth?

Do you deny these rumors? Taddy had a pretty good mustache himself, but yours put it to shame. No. Taddy had a great stache, but nobody, nobody had a better stache than JVH. That's right.

Van Horn, you could hide small children in that stache. There are things in that stache that have been there for years, for decades. Did you listen to my episode with him? I did not. No, I didn't know he was coming on.

I like to put people on the spot like that, so it's an awkward moment. Thanks for embarrassing me. I appreciate it. How do I didn't know he was coming on. I like to put people on the spot like that so it's an awkward moment. Thanks for embarrassing me. I appreciate it. How do you think I feel? How do you think I feel? I asked him, I just mentioned,

I actually referenced your mustache and his about the 1980s TSN glory days of mustaches. Like, we will never have such a great era again, I fear. I remember the first time

I did Sports Desk with him and he didn't know me from Adam. And he just turns to me and says, kid, how do I pronounce your last name? Is it Rita or Retta? And I said, whatever you want. I was nervous. I was with Matt Horton. He goes, you can't say whatever you want, kid. Just tell me. Say one or the other. And I said, Retta. Because that's what my family calls it. He goes, okay. And then Retta it is. That's funny. That was my first experience with him on the other. And I said, Retta. Because that's what my family calls it. He goes, okay. And then Retta it is. That's funny. That was my first experience with him on the set. That's funny.

So back to Sportsline, which is on global television in Toronto. And Hebsey and I were chatting about your appearance. We chatted yesterday. This is Hebsey. I will quote him. Ask him about the time in the Blue Jays clubhouse when one of the Jays was ranting

in Spanish about how the team sucked, etc. And Gino understood every word he said and got him to talk on camera for Sportsline. And he believes the player, you'll tell us what really happened, but he believes the player was Juan Beniquez. It was. And he was gone shortly thereafter. Gino

got him traded or released. Nobody knew. Gino spoke perfect Spanish. Okay, that did happen. That is so funny. I can't believe that Hepsi actually remembers that story. Okay, now let me give you the backdrop to that story of what happened. Back in the days of the old mistake by the lake,

what we were supposed to do as reporters is swing our way, even if we were inside or in that third base dugout. A lot of times I spent the time in the third base dugout during the game. And then you're supposed to swing around through the exterior part of the building, walk up the stairs, come back downstairs, the elevator, and then come in through the clubhouse doors in the underbelly of the building. That's what you're supposed to do. I didn't realize that.

Not that I was trying to be smart or anything like that. I just didn't realize it. So game's over. Juan Beniquez has had a horrible game. He's had a couple of horrible series and we knew something was going to happen. So now I go in through the player entrance into the clubhouse. I wait 10 minutes or

so. I walk in. It's empty. There's just players. What I mean by empty is there's no media there's like what i mean by empty is no media at all none and he gets throwing his stuff he's whipping his glove and i turned and i and he starts swearing in spanish and i say you know i started talking to him i said uh are you okay and he's no and he starts going on a rant and i have no idea what's just happened so he says this organization i'm not happy with this organization i don't know where they're going he goes on and on and on in english though he started in spanish and then got to english so now i'm gathering sound start asking the questions in english

so that we can make sure that we get the sound so that we'll deliver this stuff so then then the rest of the media horde comes in everybody comes running and they all go to benica's but now he's done now he's done. Now he's done talking, doesn't want to talk anymore, throws his glove in the thing and heads for the showers. And the media relation guy comes up behind me and goes, what was that all about?

And I said, well, we were just talking about what's happened. And now they call us into the manager's office and we find out he has just been sent back down to the minors. He's been optioned out to the minors and he's furious. Yeah.

So now, this is the days before cell phones, I'm phoning from the clubhouse saying, Jim, I got some great sound. Leave me some space in the show for this. Usually it's like 15, 20 seconds, maybe 40 seconds. I said, you might want to leave a couple minutes for this. And I bring up the sound, and he looks at it, and he goes, this is fantastic!

Yes, guy! Yes, guy! Yes, guy. Total fluke. Total fluke on my part. But it was great, and it established me in Taddy's eyes as somebody who wasn't afraid of going after the story, which is fantastic, and then I built off that.

That's so funny that Hebsey still remembers that. Yeah, he says it's one of the greatest moments of the show, and it helped you become a credible reporter, like the credible reporter you are today. That is so funny, Hebsey. That's gold. And in Hebsey's opinion,

you had a better mustache than Jim Taddy. That's on the record. Wow. So you can take that. That's quite the comment. High praise. Okay, so tell me then, before we move to TSN,

what was it like working with those two guys? So, you know, guys my age, that was, yeah. Yeah. That's in the days for our younger listeners. There wasn't, you know, there was no TSN to the

level that it was. There was certainly no Sportsnet. That had never been heard of. Nobody anywhere did anything more than eight minutes of sports. Anywhere. And we did a full half-hour show. That was the original 30-minute sports show. If you were a sports fan in the GTA,

it was must watch TV. I watched it every night. And when I ended up taking, I'll give you a little segue to TSN. When I ended up taking the job to go to TSN, my friends were like, are you nuts? Are you high? Like, what are you doing?

You're working at Sportsline. Everybody watches Sportsline. Why would you go to TSN? Because at TSN at that point, we had just barely gone in 1988, just before they hired me, had gone from, in order to get TSN in your house,

you had to have this pay box. And so the number of homes that actually had TSN for the first four years, you could count on one hand. So nobody knew what Sports Desk was about. I just did my homework for a much music retrospective,

so it was the same situation. There was that moment where all of a sudden the number of people who could access your product just ballooned. Went up by millions, literally by millions. I think it went overnight from 300,000 to I think 2.5 million. The number went exponentially.

But saying Sportsline was like saying Kleenex or million. The number went exponentially. But, but, you know, saying sports line was like saying Kleenex or ketchup. It was the name, like, are you watching sports line tonight? That's just the term you would use. Did you see that on sports line? Did you see the Hebsey awards on sports line? You know, the Hebsey's that, that was all there, there was. And literally when I started there, we went from an audience and I don't remember what it was, but I bet you are our audience. The audience that was watching what I was doing, went down by to one-tenth of what it was at Sportsline to a sports desk at the United States. So why did you make the move? They offered me an opportunity to do the Olympics.

They offered me an opportunity to do the Olympics at that point. TSN, they made all kinds of promises, and they fulfilled those. They said, look, we're expanding. We're expanding huge. We're going to increase our coverage dramatically. We need more people. We need young people to sit in here who know sports who can do this.

We're going to be doing the Olympic Games. And they had just done the Calgary Winter Games, and then I got involved for the Calgary, sorry, the Seoul 88, the Ben Johnson 88. We'll never forget the 88 Seoul Olympics. That was my first gig. And you covered the Dublin Inquiry after. I did.

What ended up happening was I'm literally, again, something falls into me. You know, a lot like the Beniquez thing, I'm doing the overnights because of the time zone difference. I think it was a 13-hour time zone difference. The word started leaking out. There's been a positive drug test in Seoul. And you got to remember, this is 88.

This is way before we knew what's the noxolol and Dianabol and EPOs. And we didn't have any idea what this was. All we heard was a positive drug test. We had no idea what it was. Then we started hearing, oh, it's not just a positive test. Apparently, it's a positive Canadian test. So then we thought, oh, man, like, who could it be? We started to think of who it could be.

Like, you never thought of, you started, me, I started thinking weightlifters. Like, okay, weightlifters, we get it. But no one in a million years would have thought a sprinter. And, I mean, some listeners are actually so young that they actually don't remember this, which I, you know, they don't remember this. So you have to almost say, like, at the time, I'm sure you had the thought, please don't be Ben, right? This is it,

because by far the biggest Canadian achievement in Olympics history was Ben's Olympic, forget Olympic, world record with 9.79, right? 9.79. And that's the premier event,

as we know, from the premier event at the Olympics. It's the biggest event by far in the Olympics. And it's a Canadian who takes the gold in it. And it's, you know, we've finally done it. I remember watching the race where Ben's big thing was he would get off to the early lead and they'd get caught.

Yeah. And I remember audibly actually saying this, like, they're not going to catch him. They're not going to catch him. Oh, my God, they're not going to catch him. He's going to win. He won! It was that fast. And he seemed to coast at the end, right? Yeah, totally coast. He threw up his arm and

celebrated before he even got to the finish line. I was a big Ben Johnson fan, and I remember distinctly I think they changed the rules or something because Ben's starts were so fast, it was almost like illegal. Good for you. I'm impressed that you know this. I have the, like, Hebsey and his stories, you remember? I have this real-time memory for this.

I watched his career from his... He had the bronze in 84, right? And of course, Rome, which was, I think, a year in 87, I think. He set the world record 983 in Rome, and then the 979 in Seoul. The break in the 98 was like, that'll never happen. People thought that your body would explode if he ever did that. Yeah. It's like the four-minute mile or something.

And to your point, they changed the starting blocks. They changed the starting blocks. Yeah, that's how. So Ben, when he raced, it was that start. He had by far the greatest start. It was almost thought he must be cheating,

like he must be anticipating the gun. But he wasn't. He just had this ridiculously good start. And you're right. Then he'd get off to the big start, and then he could be cut. But part of that glory, I think, was that the brash American,

like, we finally beat that brash, cocky American. It was such an incredible sense of pride. That moment was just, it was, it wasn't 72, the Canada-Russia, but it was a bonding moment for Canadian sports fans to say, we've done it.

One of ours finally did it. And then to hear the fact that there was a positive test and then that whole fiasco at the airport, which was a horrendous mob scene. And then he came back and then we started. So now it's my job to find out what actually happened. What was he on? What was it all about?

And then I became the expert on it. And literally every single day from then for probably five and a half months, I was filing a story for then Sports Desk. What's the news today? What's happening now? What's, what's the word? Where do we go from here? And that became my job at TSN for six months.

You were the Ben Johnson expert. Yeah, that was sick. That was crazy. And you know, the high of gold, 979, and then the low of, you know, the humiliation stripping the gold for banned substance. I always try to describe this. I talk to my teenage son and try to explain.

It's the mountain and the peak in the valley right back to back that really hits you. Because you're as high as you can get there, and then you're as low as you can get back to back like that. It's so jolting. And I think that's a good point. Jolting, jarring. It was so incredibly sudden. The crash was so low after the high. And then it was a sense of, oh man, we're humiliated. We're embarrassed. Uh, all that celebrating we did

was for naught. What is this all about? And then we started to open up like, so who else is cheating? How many people are cheating? And then when the Dubbin inquiry started, we started, it just started to flow. It was awful. It was like, it was like making an incision over a cyst and all the crap was kind of oozing out. It was just, it was awful. And to hear the athletes like, yes, that's, that's what we all do, but that's what we have to do. And I remember a really poignant moment

with Justice Dubbin, Charles Dubin, who was in charge. And over and over again, they kept asking the question, what's the difference of an athlete on steroids versus an athlete not on steroids? And Charlie Francis, who was the guru of all this in those days, said, let me explain it to you this way. He says over 100 meters, which is a very short distance, it makes a difference of a meter at the finish line.

A meter may not sound like a lot. A meter ordinarily sounds like, okay, it's just one meter. But in 100 meters, a meter could separate first from fifth. Right. They could be that tight. And Dubbin stops him and he says, wait a minute, Mr. Francis, did Ben not win this race by well over a meter? He goes, well, yes. And he goes, so you're telling me this was all a complete waste,

that Ben could have won the gold without doing any of these drugs. And the whole room went silent. Francis knew he was busted because he was insisting Ben didn't have a shot of winning the race unless he was on the juice. And he had just said it would have given him a one meter advantage. So in essence, do the math, he would have won anyway. Have you seen the 30 for 30 documentary on

this race? Yeah. So I, I, I've seen it actually a couple of times now. So it's, you know, we could allegedly, I guess it's safe to say possibly everyone in that race could have been,

was probably on something. Probably. It's hard to prove it. The big issue, and people were like, well, how did he get caught? Well, A, his doctor, Dr. Astafan,

who was in charge of the program, was one step up of a veterinarian. It was scary that this man was in charge. Like Dr. Nick Riviera on The Simpsons. Yeah, exactly. That it was scary he was in. And basically, Ben had suffered an injury, and the clearance period was supposed to be six to eight weeks,

and they thought maybe they had just cut it too tight, and he insisted, no, he'll clear. The fact that the technology that some of the other wealthier nations can use are much more difficult to detect. Ben was on the lowest form of steroid you can imagine. He was on stenozolol, which is Dianabol, which is what they use in cows to make cows grow more quickly. And that was the drug he was on. The theory is that the nations with more money, the nations who were being, as we've just seen more recently, what's happened where nations are involved in the cheating,

can spend the money and the technology and knew how to use better drugs that are much more difficult to detect. And that's a different race. The race where the athlete is trying to stay ahead of those who can test them. And the testers are trying to catch up to the athlete. I just hope Andre de Grasse is clean. Oh, yeah.

I'm so glad Donovan Bailey was clean. Yes. So he kind of helped... I believe 100%. Get the taste out of our mouth anyways in 96 in Atlanta. For sure. Hey, I'm going to play a clip of some classic Gino Retta on TSN Sports Desk. So this is from 1989.

So you started at TSN in the summer of 88, and you do the Summer Olympics and the Dubbin Inquiry. And here's some Sports Desk. Tonight on Sports Desk, the Jays come through in the clutch and are the American League East champions. Lots of college football highlights from both Canada and the United States. Lots of college football highlights from both Canada and the United States. And a big race for thoroughbreds this afternoon in Vancouver. Wow.

I don't know if I could say thoroughbred. You nailed it. I just like the sound effects. Where did you find this stuff? Oh, and there's Jim Van Horn, I believe. I think that was Rod. I think that was Rod. I think that was Rod, yeah. Rod Smith back in those days. I want to hear the news in 89.

It's exciting to hear we won the pennant that year over the Baltimore Orioles. I remember that well. But here I think the A's kicked our butts in ALCS. Okay. So, awesome. So that's just to give people a taste of what you sounded like. So just give me a little feel for what it was like working at TSN in the late 80s and throughout. You're still there. I should point out, the man is still there. who founded us, went to CBC and suggested 24-Hour Sports to them,

and they said, you're nuts. It'll never work. And he went out and raised $6 million on his own through a couple of beer companies and other companies and did it and put us on the air for 24 hours. So now we had 30-minute shows that I think at those days it was 6.30, 11, and I don't remember the exact times, 2 a. a.m and stuff but all we could do all we had to do was talk sports and and i had the opportunity all of us now were basically slotted in you get the 11 o'clock show you get the one o'clock show you get the 2 a.m overnight or you have that's hockey then you could be doing anything like Then I did Little League World Series baseball play-by-play. I did some hockey. I did CIAU

hockey. Then it was CIS hockey. I did it all. You had an opportunity to experience it. You started talking about where the Jays were in those years. I had the opportunity to follow the Jays during their playoff runs in the late 80s and then the early 90s. You remember how well we did then.

It was a good time to be a Jays reporter. I still talk like 93 was like five years ago or something. I'm like, well, we just won back-to-back. They're like, check your calendar, man. Before we leave the Jays, I got so many questions. When you were even at Sportsline, who are the

cantankerous Jays that were tough to deal with? I just always hear stories about Dave Steeb, for example. Oh my gosh. You want a Dave Steeb story? I'll give. Like I just always hear stories about Dave Steeb, for example. Oh my gosh. You want a Dave Steeb story? I'll give you a Dave Steeb story. Dave Steeb had a fantastic pitcher, fantastic pitcher, great hair. And the reason I say great hair is this.

Our job at the end of every, every Blue Jay game was to go and gather some sound and reaction. Well, you got to hear from the manager. You have to hear from the starting pitcher and you have to hear from one other player on the team, the guy who drove in the winning run or somebody who can speak to why you lost on that given night.

That was what happened. You always got the manager first. Then you're trying to get the starting pitcher. So now Steve would come out there and he is like, will not talk to us until he showered. Dude, all we need is like a 45 second soundbite. Don't do this to us. So he would take his time.

He would go shower. He'd blow dry his hair. We'd literally have a crowd of 12, 15 reporters around his locker waiting for him. And he would give us this death glare like, what are you guys doing here? Well, what do you think we're doing here? We need a 45 second soundbite. And he would take his time and give us a dirty stare over his shoulder.

Then finally he'd turn around and hold court, do a soundbite, and we'd leave. I spoke to Dave Steve every start he had for probably four years with the Toronto Blue Jays. Never once had a conversation with him. Wow. I've heard, yeah. Years later, he's trying to come out of retirement. Do you remember when he was trying to make his comeback?

Of course, there was a relief pitcher. As a reliever with the White Sox. So now I'm down in Dunedin doing the Jays' spring training camp. I don't remember what year this was, but I'm down there doing spring training. They said, listen, we want you to jump in the car with the camera, go down to the White Sox, and get some sound from Steve. So now I'm standing somewhere. I don't remember how it was. And all of a sudden, I hear somebody. And I'm in the White Sox camp. And I don't know any White Sox. And I hear, Gino.

And I'm like, someone's calling me. And I look around. And it's Steve. And I start laughing. And he goes, what's so funny? I said, Dave, I spoke to you probably 100 times, major exaggeration. I spoke to you dozens of times. I had no idea you knew my name or who I was. And he goes, oh, that's not true. And I said, that's 100% true. 100% true. It's like he decided to not be a dick anymore.

It says he came back. Well, maybe now it's like now he needs me to try to give him some good coverage. I don't know. Because he can't rely on that slider anymore. It says he came back. Well, maybe now it's like, now he needs me to try to give him some good coverage. I don't know. Because he can't rely on that slider anymore. Wow. But in fairness, though, and let me just say, in fairness, he was one of the only guys like

that. Through, like, believe me, from 86 to 93 when I was covering the Jays, oh my gosh, I had great relationships with Roberto Alomar, gold. David Wells, Kelly Gruber, even George Bell, as cantankerous as he was, great guy. Tony Fernandez didn't talk very much, but a great guy, just really good guys. Jesse Barfield and Mosby and Dwayne Ward and great guys. I'll tell you, man, these guys are making huge coin, but really, really good guys. Jack Morris,

we'd go out sometimes for dinner with that huge cowboy hat on the cow boots that he loved to wear. Good people. Really good people. Did you ever have any interactions with Damaso Garcia? Yes, I did. I remember the burning of the jersey and everything. This was legendary stuff when I was growing up. And I always liked the guy

because I thought he was a good hitting And I always liked the guy because I thought he was a good hitting second baseman for the Blue Jays, my Blue Jays. But what was he like? Good guy. But look, everybody's going to have their bad moments. Everybody's going to have their moments where, like listen, if there were cameras following you

and I at that age, my gosh, there'd be some real bad crap out there. Yeah. I mean, I remember Alomar after the spitting incident. And I went, Robbie, what are you doing? He goes, I didn't mean to. I said, yeah, you did. Yeah, you did.

You meant to do it. You did it on purpose. You got to apologize. Just come clean. It just, you don't want to label a guy with one bad incident because all of us can think of something really dumb we've done or we went a little bit too far. Sure. You know, they had those moments.

Sure. Understood. I'm trying to think of who else I'd be curious about. So Lloyd Mosby, obviously. I have a rap song by Lloyd, The Shaker's Rap, which I share on torontomic.com. Lloyd used to have,

remember the old sweat bands, those wristbands? Of course, yeah. He used to have wristbands with his own face on them. Oh, really? Which I thought was classic. That is classic. That is classic. That is classic.

Let me think. Jimmy Key, what was he like? Good, quiet, very quiet guy. There is a, I almost want to say, even though he's underrated, I want to say. Oh, man, he was great. I mean, if people underrated him, that was misguided.

I remember John Oldwood. Nobody was quieter. Did you ever hear the John Oldwood, Ricky Henderson story? No, tell me. Oh,rood. Nobody was quieter. Did you ever hear the John Oldrood, Ricky Henderson story? No, tell me. Oh my gosh, this was hilarious. So, after they played together in Toronto,

they both ended up, I want to say with the Mets, they both ended up with the Mets. And Ricky Henderson walks up to John Oldrood, who was, you know, feeling balls at first base wearing his helmet. John Oldrood had had the issue with his skull, and so always wore a helmet even when he fielded. So Ricky Henderson walked up to him and said,

hey, you wear the helmet all the time when you're on first base? And he goes, yeah, I've always done this. And he goes, yeah, I used to play in Toronto with a guy who did the same thing. That's great. And Oldrood said, yeah, Ricky, that was me. That's hilarious.

We went to World Series together and everything. That is a great story. Yeah, Ricky, that was me. Ricky, you know, self-confessed greatest of all time. Yes. Self-professed, not just confessed. What about Jim Clancy? Because do you know Jim Clancy had the most losses of the 80s?

Yes. Which means you have to be pretty good, right? Yes. You had to be pretty good, and you also had to be on some rough teams at times, which he did. Early 80s Jays were pretty bad. Yeah, to be pretty good, and you also had to be on some rough teams at times, which he did. Early 80s Jays were pretty bad. Yeah, they were pretty awful. But listen, they battled through, and to their credit, management to be able to do what they did with the Blue Jays in those builds through those years in a time where nobody wanted to play in Toronto. It's a different story now.

Now it's a little bit easier to get guys convinced free agents to come and play in Toronto. Then it was not. What always makes me laugh, we called him Stan Pat, right? Pat Gillick. Stan Pat, Pat Gillick. Good for you. Thank you. And then, of course, possibly the biggest trade in Blue Jays history of the Padres,

where, you know, the Fred McGriff. Remember Freddy? Oh, yeah. The crime dog. I love you bringing up these old names, you guys. I mean, in my head, I'm thinking, I want to ask about Luis Leal. What about Roy Lee Jackson? Are these too early? He's probably gone by 86, maybe, around then he left, I guess. But, yeah I mean, in my head, I'm thinking, I want to ask about Luis Leal. What about Roy Lee Jackson? Are these too early?

He's probably gone by 86, maybe around then he left, I guess. But yeah, no, it was my team. So I, just real quick, I started following that team in 83.

So from 83 through 93, which is a good solid 10 years, I would say I either watched or listened to Tom and Jerry call every single ball game, every single one. Yeah, Tom Cheek, legend, died way too soon. Tom Cheek, legend. Died way too soon.

Tom Cheek, legend. Died way too soon, absolutely. And we mentioned Damaso Garcia. Do you know that, of course you probably know this, but in the early 90s, they told him, he had a brain tumor. I guess he has a brain tumor. But in the early 90s, they told him

it was just a matter of time. He actually threw out the first pitch at one of our World Series games. And it was sort of a farewell. We were going to lose him. He's alive today. Domicile, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. But we were like saying goodbye to him in the early 80s. Sorry, early 90s. Early 90s, yeah. We've seen, and how do you explain it, where a number of people so, you know, thankfully go into remission like that.

It didn't work out so well for others, sadly, but for him it has worked out great. Well, that's the thing. You think, like, Tom Cheek, we lost way too young. And fast. With him, it was so quick. Yeah, you're right. It was so quick.

And a classy move by Jerry in the first World Series win where he stepped aside and allowed Tom to call it, which was amazing. Yeah, everything I've heard about that guy is pretty darn classy, actually. Yeah, Jerry Howard. Jerry Howard, yeah. pretty darn classy, actually. Yeah, Jerry Howard. Jerry Howard, yeah. He's awesome.

He's just an awesome guy. I've got to get him in my basement. Oh, I'm telling you, he'd be a guy who would be absolutely full of stories and a really, really good man, too. Hooking, hooking, pow. There she goes. I had a guest on recently. I asked.

Her name is Kate Wheeler, and she worked on... Oh, I know. Kate Wheeler. I used to work with her. Okay. She worked on Just Like Mom. So I said to her, there's terrible reputation... What do you call it?

I know where you're going with this. Yeah, you know where I'm going with this. So somebody edits together stuff on YouTube and puts out a clip, and now kids today think Fergie Oliver is a bad guy because of this. So I said. And now kids today think Fergie Oliver is like a bad guy, okay? Because of this, right? So I said, look, you worked with Fergie. You know, when I think of Fergie, I think of how about those Blue Jays?

How about those Jays? You're right. And then she, thankfully, she stepped up and talked about what a classy, decent guy Fergie Oliver always was. Yeah, character assassination. That's the term I'm looking for. So did you know Fergie Oliver?

I did. I did. I did. He worked with us because when we were at the road, what would happen is in those days was TSN would get three of the games in a four-game set. So I would be on the road for a four-game set in Baltimore or wherever for that weekend. And Fergie would be working the main game.

They would pick the main game for then CFTO. Whether it was the Saturday, they wanted the Saturday, or the Sunday game, and it was the main game. They would pick the main game for then CFTO. Whether it was the Saturday, they wanted the Saturday, or the Sunday game, and it was the big game. So when Fergie, you know, we would all go to the batting cage, but when Fergie went to the batting cage, he was holding court. You know, if he wanted an interview with a guy, sometimes we had to struggle to get the interview we wanted, but he would walk back there and get the interview we wanted.

Now, he didn't force himself into it. He just went in, and he was very well regarded and very well respected and conducted the interview. One time I do laugh, though. We were at Fenway Park, because Fergie wore his heart on his sleeve. We all tried to say we're objective broadcasters, all cheering for the Jays internally, but certainly not externally. Well, we're in the press box at Fenway, and I don't remember who it was,

but somebody pulled the ball down the left field line, and we're watching it go, and Fergie yells, Get out of here, ball! Go on! Get out of here! And all the Red Sox writers turned and went, Who is this guy? And why is he yelling? And now that's normal, right?

Now it's commonplace, but that's a whole different topic we'll get into. It was funny. Yeah. And I think of Don Chevrier and Tony Kubik, I guess. Yeah, Tony Kubik. Yeah, they were legendary. Big hair.

Chevy had the big hair. You had the big mustache. They had the big hair. All right. So here I go on my tangents chatting about these guys. Okay. So back at TSN. So the show, of course, is That's Hockey.

That's since 2001. And by the way, on Sports Desk, do you remember when they rebranded Sports Desk, Sports Center? What year it was? No. Do you have any recollection there? I do remember calling it Sports Desk about a hundred times afterwards. I bet. Gino, Sports

Center. Sports Center. I'm like, sorry, man. I do remember wearing, in the old days the with the yellow bouncy balls on our logo and on our on our black blazers all we had back then were black blazers with the yellow logo and four ties and we were just kind of interchange those four ties there you go and that was a uni and then we went to sports center then it became like why don't we just wear suits and that was the best gig ever. I still just,

not that I don't, I know it's Sports Centre, but I call it Sports Desk anyways, just to be that guy. You know, the same reason I call it the dome, the sky dome,

just to be difficult. Yeah. I do it by accident still. I still do. Oh, that's funny. So when you were, you covered the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Oh my gosh, that was awesome. That was awesome. That was great, yeah. That was just awesome being there, being a part of that. And I was so thankful because my gig was to cover the hockey, both the men and the women. Couldn't be a better gig. Oh, my gosh.

It was unbelievable. Gene, like they said, as they're doling out the assignments for 2010, I'm like, okay, so what's my assignment going to be? Yeah, Gene, you're going to just be, you're going to be our guy doing hockey. That's great. Like I'm just thinking, which, like, yeah, both, both the men and the women.

So then I became working every day because they alternated days that they were doing, but it became every day. But listen, you're going to work every day. That's the way to do it. And the appetite was ferocious because, well, we went in 2002 in Salt Lake, but we had, you know, flamed out since then,

I guess, in 06. It didn't go well. But to do it in Vancouver, to do it in that scenario, a golden goal, Sidney Crosby, like, come on. Really, I remember, what I remember about the 2010 Vancouver games

is it's almost like if you could script it, all of it, even the women's side, all of it, like, if you could just script it, you have to win these goals, this is how you win it. Perfect. Yeah, it was. And quite frankly, I've been at many, many Olympic games, but to be in Vancouver, to see the way that city and that entire region welcomed the Olympic games, which is not always the case. People will say, hey, it's the Olympics. Well, you know what? We saw what happened in Rio. It wasn't real welcome outside of the venues. But the city of Vancouver just wrapped its arms around the event, and they were spectacular with

all the activities that were down at Robson. And I got to bring my wife and my kids to the event, so they got to see parts of it, which was unbelievable. Beautiful. So do you mind if I ask you about some TSN personalities? No, go ahead. I'll lie to you. So I'm going to start with TSN personalities who have been in my basement. The first guy,

Vic Router. Make the final! Well done. Make the final. Oh, Vic's a legend. One time, Vic and I were, do you want a story? A Vic story? I could never say no to a Vic's a legend. One time, Vic and I were, did you want a story on Vic's story? I could never say no to a Vic Router story. I'm incapable.

We were doing Sports Desk. It was still Sports Desk back then. And we were, Vic's on the air on one set and the other set's empty. And I'm just getting ready in the studio, writing the late show. And all of a sudden, while he's on the air, we hear this huge crash and a lighting fixture that, you know, the lights, the big, huge lights that are spotlights?

Sure, yeah. Now they're chained. Then it wasn't. It crashed and landed right on the desk from the other set. And Vic just kept going on like the professional that he is. And all we could think of was, oh, my God, he could have been on that set. And if he had been on that set,

that light would have hit him right in the head. He told that story. Did he tell it? Yeah, on my podcast. That's crazy. Yeah. It's that scary to think of what could have happened. It's like, holy mackerel, that's awful.

I called him the Bob Cole of curling. Is that a fair, do you think that's a fair handle for Vic? He is. When you think of hockey, you think of Bob Cole. If you've been around for any length of time, when you think of curling, you can't think of anybody. Like, who else would you think of? Well, as a guy who avoids curling coverage,

unless it's the end of a gold medal Olympic match and Canada's in it, and other than that, yeah. I just, yeah, when I think of curling, I think of Vic. That's for sure. Oh, man, I hope you rolled in some of his curling calls, because some of the calls he's had are vintage. Yes, yes, yeah, when I think of curling, I think of Vic. That's for sure. Oh, man. I hope you rolled in some of his curling calls, because some of the calls he's had are vintage. Yes, yes, yes, yes! I played, TSN put together a top 10 Vic Router curling calls,

and I played the whole damn thing. He's like, he gets you. Even if you don't like the sport, you can't not like the way he does it. It was amazing. That's amazing. What about Michael Landsberg? Good guy. Mitch and I, I can't stop he does it. It was amazing. That's amazing. What about Michael Landsberg? Good guy.

Mitch and I, I can't stop calling him Mitch. I've done OTR. I had done OTR a number of times and on the air, I called him Mitch and he had to stop and explain to the audience why I called him Mitch. When he and I did Sports Desk together, that's all I ever called him was Mitch, was his nickname was, you know,

he hated being called Mike. You can't call him Mike. Okay. You can call him Michael or Mitch. Doesn't like Mike. And that's all I ever called him was Mitch. His nickname was, you know, he hated being called Mike. You can't call him Mike. Okay. You can call him Michael or Mitch. Doesn't like Mike. And that's all I ever called him. No. Does not like.

Is that why he's. Do not call him Mike. Okay. See, I prefer Mike. That's interesting. I prefer Mike. So Mitch Landsberg. Okay.

So he was, is he a day one guy? He is a day one. Michael. And Vic Router is a day one guy? Or Jim Van Horn is a day one guy? I think Jim Van Horn was a day one guy? He is a day one. And Vic Router's a day one guy? Or Jim Van Horn's a day one guy? I think Jim Van Horn was a day one, John Wells, and Michael. Okay, tell me then,

Jim Van Horn's been here, you've already shared a couple stories, you got any more Jim Van Horn stories? JVH is a good man. He was a great man because he became my mentor at TSN, an unspoken mentor. Like, I was able to just watch the kind of respect he, and I'm going to get serious here for a second,

the kind of respect that he commanded in that newsroom and how he got involved. It's a very, very fine balance as an on-air commentator in your relationship with your producer. Because what you want to do is you want to support the producer, encourage the producer, but at the same time, challenge the producer. And it's always a very, very difficult fine line so that you don't come on too strong and make a producer make decisions just because he's afraid to go against you. And Van Horn did a phenomenal job with that. He did a phenomenal job with that. And I don't think he deliberately did it to show me or the other young commentators because the rest of us

were young. Paul Romanak and myself and Landsberg and Paul Jones a bunch of us. So we had a lot to learn and watching the way he handled that situation was great for us. It's very interesting, his career trajectory if you will, that he's like this popular like chum

DJ and then kind of parlays that into being like one of the primo faces of the TSN. Like it's a very interesting, unique. He was the face of all of our tennis and a big part of the hockey for a while. And in terms of a host, yeah, he was a legend in broadcasting.

No doubt about that. He actually teaches at a school in Toronto. And I believe John Wells, I believe, teaches there as well. I didn't know that. That's good. I know JVH is involved right from the start. I didn't know John was involved, which is good because John's a pro. Yeah, I believe John

Wells. I hope I'm right about this. I think I am. But what was John Wells like? Good man. Very... John was like a news guy who did sports. When John was speaking, incredible credibility. And he had covered Olympic Games for CBC. So when John walked into that building,

JVH was making the shift from radio to TV. Landsberg was making the shift from radio, from CFRB to television. John Wells was our guy. I wasn't there for the first four years, but even when I got there in 88, he was still our guy who basically showed us,

journalistically, this is what you need to do. Yes, it's sports. Yes, it's fun. But there's huge aspects of sports that are journalism, and you need to treat them as such. And John brought that to the table.

He brought that sort of integrity there, that weight there. Cool. What about Paul Romanoff, who we now hear Rogers Hockey has him calling hockey games? Romy and I had a funny story one night. Have you ever seen the collection of really bad national anthems?

Yes, I believe so, because the Vegas guy doing the CFL game. Okay. This is before the Vegas guy, but there were really a series of, what we had done was we always ran our Plays of the Week at the end of the show. But we deliberately didn't watch the Plays of the week so we could react to it

out of the back end. So Romanuk and I are hosting Sports Desk and it was Sports Desk still back then. And we basically went to the national anthems and I think it was, and it wasn't a top 10 list back then. It was just the plays of the week. Right. But it was really bad national anthem. Well, we start to lose it during the thing. Right. Our producer who's seen it before, so he can handle it better, is now in our ears

because we've got earpieces saying, guys, you've got to straighten up, you've got to say goodbye. So they come back to us now on the wide shot, and we're crying. We are physically crying. There are tears coming down our face, and I think if you go on YouTube, you can find the video somewhere. We're out of control, and the producer's like,

guys, get it together, You've got to say goodbye. And finally, they just gave up and just went to the wide shot and brought in the sports desk clothing provided by, and in the wide shot, you see the two of us just doubled over and are just laughing. That's funny. Romanuka,

of course, famously left TSN for a radio gig called the 1050 was called The Team. Well, you can ask Jim Van Horn about that, but not happy memories from The Team. It did not end well. It was a great idea, but I think it was just

probably an idea that maybe was a little too soon. I ask him straight out what went wrong, and it sounds like they wanted to be a national sport, so they'd be in Toronto talking about flame stuff. As anyone knows, in my opinion, the best thing about radio is it's local.

But I think what they did was they looked at some of the national radio broadcasts in the States, and they said, if they can do it there, why can't we do it in Canada on a smaller level? But it just didn't translate. There's a lot of things that just do not translate from the States up here.

Dan Patrick's radio show in the States is awesome. And it's a national show and people love it. I don't think there's a person that could carry a national sports radio show. I think you can do it in news, because a news story is a news story. Right. But in sports, as Canadians, we just want to hear,

tell me about in Toronto. Tell me about the Leafs. I don't really care what's going on with Lion-A and Trouba right now. Why is Trouba not signed into Winnipeg? There's only so long. The Toronto fan wants to hear that. You're right. When the 10-50 team was being, no pun intended, was being assembled,

did Gino Retta get a call? Was there anything he could disclose there? I got a brief call, but it was just to see what, you know, I would call it more fishing than any offers or anything like that. To see if you'd be open to further discussions on the matter. But that was a very risky thing, because you take the chance,

and yeah, the money was fantastic, but exactly, the fear is, what if it doesn't last? So Mike Richards was, I believe he was part of this program too, and I remember him telling about like, he tells a story of how they were all told. And it's just like a nightmare story about like how they were all told that you don't have jobs anymore. And I'm trying to hope it's Mike Richards who said this, but basically at the end of this, like they're having these drinks in this restaurant.

I've never heard this story. And they're told like, we're going to shut it, change it, go back to whatever classics from the old 1050 radio format or whatever, golden oldies or whatever

and you don't have jobs and at some point Mike Richards asks like do we have, at least do we have to pay for the drinks or something and he swears

he had to pay for his own drink at this restaurant they made them all go to to tell them all that had been fired or something. And then it's like a case study on how you should not do it, if you will. There are some rough sides

of it. I mean, what we're seeing right now in the industry in general, just kids unplugging, and it's making it real difficult. It's real hard to lose journalists in this industry, because these guys are really good men and women who are very, very talented.

And sadly, it's just shrinking again. Well, yeah, I'm going to come back to the names. But on that note, you've brought up here the business. So the business of sports, how has it changed since you kind of jumped into it in the mid-'80s to now? Much more journalistic. you kind of jumped into it in the mid-80s to now? Much more journalistic.

People, because of all the other abilities that you have to get your information, we need to be able to analyze better. We need to have our best, like we've got the best analysts in the business, you know, Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger and these guys are unbelievable. They're just, They're phenomenal. Rick Westhead, you and I joked about how much you look like Rick Westhead.

Okay, should we tell a story real quick? When you first met me at the door, it's funny. You said to me, wow, you look a lot like Rick Westhead or something like that. I'm meeting Gino Retto for the first time, and in my ears here, you look like Requesthead. So I'm thinking, should I know who Request Head is? Why do I not know this term? I already look like an idiot in front of the legendary Gino Retta, because I don't know Request

Head. And then my brain starts to realize you said Rick Westhead from TSN, who of course... For the record, you think he's a good-looking guy. You told me that, right? You're not lying about it. Rick Westhead is a very handsome man. And then it got awkward. You're the one drinking beer in my think that. You're not lying about it. Ricky Westhead is a very handsome man. And then it got awkward. Well, you're the one drinking beer in my dark

basement, so you're making it awkward. So in answer to your question, I think we've gotten to the point where we have to become, and I believe we have become, the place to go when something big happens. And I think it shows what happens even today still when a big story breaks. People, well, what's Bob saying about this?

You know, what's Greg saying about this? What's Pierre Lebrun saying about this? That's where people are going to find out. Whenever there's a rumor of a trade, people are quickly checking on Twitter. Is Bob McKenzie confirming this? Because if he's not, then it didn't happen. You know, that kind of thing. So James Duthie has been on the show and we talk and I asked him straight out.

He's a weird guy. Isn't he weird? He's funny. He's a weird guy. A weird guy. Isn't he weird? He's funny. He's the Wubber Boots. Have you heard his Wubber Boots story? All right. I made him tell me that one.

Yeah, he's great. But so I say straight out, so if Rogers owns all these properties and they have like a monopoly because they bought the rights to these properties, the only day we could really

kind of compare these guys and see what's going on is trade deadline day, right? And free agent frenzy, yeah. Not trade, it's free agent frenzy. So is there one of those that you could have rights to? They're both wide open.

It doesn't matter about the rights. So let's say trade deadline day, let's go with. That's the one where Duthie has the monkey once in a while. And the llama, etc. So on a trade deadline day, let's go with. That's the one where Duthie has the monkey once in a while. And the llama, etc. So on a trade deadline day, when we look at the ratings, TSN versus, according to James Duthie, and you tell me if he's wrong, TSN handedly beats Sportsnet on that day.

So to me, that's telling you that when you don't have something, when it's something open season, if you will, or fair game on something hockey related, Canadians are choosing TSN over Sportsnet. Yeah. And I think what that is is, and Duthiel won't tell you this because it's Duthie and he's humble, it's an entertaining day.

What makes the day very entertaining and very informative? Duthie makes it entertaining with ridiculous ideas he has. Some of the stuff he thinks of, it's just, I'm like, where does this stuff come from? He's unbelievably funny and entertaining, so it's entertaining, one. And B, it's very informative. Because if you're going to flip back and forth and say,

it's not really happened until I hear McKenzie tell me it happened, then you might as well tune into that. Right. One station has McKenzie. Yeah. And if you ask the players, the players will tell you. The number of times, like my job on free agent frenzy and trade deadline is to contact the players. It's my job

to grab them, like I'll sit up and host some panels and we'll do some fun banter and stuff. But at the end of the day, my responsibility as soon as somebody signs with the team or as soon as somebody's been dealt to a team, I need to get them on the phone right away. I have hundreds of phone numbers in my cell. I call them right away and I say,

we want to get you on the air to talk about this. And they'll take your call because they're like, I know Gino Retta. That's your ace in the hole. I'm not sure. You'd have to ask them why that is. Why are you taking Gino's call? But the number of times where I call a guy and he says,

where have I been traded to? Oh, that's funny. Yeah, where they're not sure because they know their agent called them and said, listen, the GM just called me. They're in serious talks with Team A and Team B. Is there one team that you're going to cause trouble about not going to? No, I'm comfortable with both those teams. All right, let me get back to it.

So now he's wondering, okay, did I go to Team A or Team B? Right. And the number of times he's paranoid, the number of wondering, okay, did I go to team A or team B? Right. And the number of times, he's paranoid. The number of players have been, am I allowed to talk to you? I haven't even, the GM hasn't called me to confirm this yet. Is this okay?

And I'm like, yes, trust me, you're all right. So when, when Rogers got the rights to the national package or whatever it is, I know there's still some regional games on TSM. So regular people get confused because we still see. Tons of Sens and Leafs and Jets and Habs. And yeah there's still some regional games on TSN. So regular people get confused because we still see Duffy. Tons of Sens and Leafs and Jets and Habs

and yeah, we had tons of games. So for the rest, I guess, it's on Rogers, some form on Rogers. And I remember so to retain people like Bob McKenzie and James Duffy, TSN had to kind of pay up, I think, because there was a risk of being poached.

You would have to ask the individuals that. What is the exact salary Duffy negotiated on that? Because we know what happened with the strombo, Ron McLean. We know this thing. And it doesn't take an idiot to say, hey, instead of strombo, we would have liked Duffy. Hypothetically speaking. Hypothetically speaking.

Yeah, of course. Everything's hypothetical. I would suggest that they may have been approached and that as a group, they may have decided, guys, are we staying or are we going? And as a group of the guys decided, no, we're staying

and here's what our expectations are, that they would have been taken care of quite comfortably. That's like when LeBron... Hypothetically. Of course. When Chris Bosh and LeBron went to Dwayne Wade

and they made that decision together. Same deal, right? They all said, okay. All right, good for them. And yeah, long may they run. I think Duffy seems like a really, really great guy. Yeah, a great guy to work with. I hope this laundry list of guys isn't

boring you, but I got to ask about a recent guest on this show, Dave Hodge. Yes. You talk about music for like 15 minutes. Yeah, we started for like a big chunk of music time. He is like unbelievable. He's the rain man of music. I had no idea.

I did stump him though. So one of my favorite new Toronto bands is a band called Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker. And he didn't know? Right, he didn't know. Wow. So I feel bad for USS now because that means they can't possibly be cool enough

that Dave Hodge hasn't picked up on that. Oh, you can bet now after your conversation, he knows everything he needs to know. Dave is a genius in hockey, he's a genius in music, and he's a genius in wine. Is that right? Oh my gosh.

He's a renaissance man. He's amazing. Renaissance man. Yeah, it was great to have him on, but before we began, I guess I can tell the story. Before we started recording, he just said, look, I don't want to talk about the pen flip. This is what he says to me.

He's sitting there. Oh, you must get asked that every time. Okay. Put yourself in my position, though. This is the only time you're ever meeting Dave Hodge. He's going to sit here, and you're going to talk to him in your basement for 90 minutes or whatever. How do I have that conversation?

So I told him, I'm an honest guy. It's my greatest flaw. Very honest guy. I said, I'm going to ask you about the pen flip. Absolutely. Like what you say is up to you,

but I'm asking you about the pen flip. Absolutely. He ended up, like I went to the pen flip, of course, and he was really like open and honest

and he gave me a whole lot. And this is after he told me he didn't want to talk about the pen flip. Because he's a journalist. He knows, and listen, we've said no

to interviews before where we're about to have a player on and the player says, you'll talk about anything but flip. Because he's a journalist. He knows. And listen, we've said no to interviews before where we're about to have a player on and the player says, he'll talk about anything but this. And we said, okay, well, we'll talk to you next time. Then what do you mean? Good for you, yeah. We said, like, the audience is sitting there.

And to your point, your audience says, you cannot have Dave Hodge on the air without asking about the flip. You can't. You're going to look like a moron if you do. You can't. You're going to look like a moron if you do. You can't. It hurts your integrity. My job is to ask the questions

that the guy at home is sitting and saying, I wonder about this. And if you don't ask that question, they're sitting there going, I can't believe this guy's not asking the question. That's exactly how I feel. I have to ask about your mustache. How could I not have you tell? Jim Taddy,

who it sounds like you had a great relationship with when you worked together. So I wanted him on this show because I had Hebsey on a few times and I wanted Taddy. Now, there was no way I was getting them both on

at the same time. I learned very quickly, which is sad to me. As a child of the 80s... Who told you that? I can't believe you know that. I don't want to say which... Okay, then don't.

But all I can tell you is it was clear that was never going to happen. I just recently learned to say which, but all I can tell you is it was clear that was never going to happen. I was like, I just recently learned Gord Martineau and Ann Moroskowski did not talk for three years

prior to Ann leaving City TV. That broke my heart. These things I'm learning. See, the problem with this podcast is I'm learning too much, okay? I want the wizard to go back behind the curtain.

So, come on. Don't look behind the curtain. That's right. So, where the heck was I going with all this? Oh, yeah, so Jim Taddy really quickly. I had a chat with Jim Taddy. Come on my show. It's going to be a fun, respectful chat.

I like Jim Taddy's show. He would come on, but only if we did not talk about Sportsline. Wow. Jim Taddy says, and I'm paraphrasing now, but he looks forward. He doesn't see the point of looking backwards. He doesn't want to come in

and talk about the past. So I politely, we agreed to disagree. We decided not to get together because I can't have Jim Taddy on and not talk about sports line. I agree 100%. Yeah.

No, I agree. There's certain, listen, and that's fair. Jim has every right to say he doesn't want to talk about it. But as a journalist, it's your job. Then, okay, sorry, I agree. There's certain, listen, and that's fair. Jim has every right to say he doesn't want to talk about it. But as a journalist, it's your job. Then, okay, sorry, I have to go elsewhere, which is totally valid. And I'm sure Jim understood that.

He did. Yeah, that was it. So one more here on my list of people who have been here that I need to ask about, Mike Toth. Because Mike Toth, who did his TSN thing, did his Rogers thing. Where is he now? He is nowhere right now.

Okay. He was on CFRB for a bit. Yeah, I remember that. There was a wave of Bell Media cuts that thankfully you avoided, but he did not avoid. Yeah, that's harsh. Yeah, I was going to ask you about that soon.

So what was it like? Because he seemed like a bit of a bull in a china shop almost. Yeah, that's one way to describe it. He was very, very, I don't know. I, that's one way to describe it. He was very very I don't even know how to describe it. You may have stumped me with Toth. Good guy. Heart of gold.

But there was no hiding his emotion, whatever it was. If he was happy, he was really, really happy. If he was sad, he was very, very sad. There was no hiding Toth's emotion. And you had no idea what he was going to he was really, really happy. If he was sad, he was very, very sad. There was no hiding Toph's... And you had no idea what he was going to say on the air. But this...

We mentioned Michael Landsberg earlier, and he's been key in this Sick Not Weak initiative. Yes, yes. And, of course, Bell, of course, has spearheaded this day. What's it called, the day? Let's Talk. Yeah, Let's Talk. Right, sorry.

The Bell Let's Talk Day. Bell Let's Talk. Right, sorry. The Bell Let's Talk Day. Bell Let's Talk Day. On my podcast, Toph did speak about this time in his life when he was, as you described, and he was suffering

from some depression and some other issues. And it did leak into his, you know, his work life. Which is hard because you can see he was suffering

and battling with it, but you didn't really know how you could be helpful and i and i'm loving the fact that now we're starting to hear way more about what we can do and how we can be when people are suffering that way and how we can help the first step is to remove the stigma like so people we can speak about it openly absolutely and i think those ads are really good the one where he's like i can't believe she needed time off for this or whatever and then it changes into I should give her a call and see how she's doing this whole notion like if you get cancer take your time deal with that health is most important

but if you're suffering from a mental illness like depression then we want to say suck it up but that's not what it's about get yourself off the mat and get out there it's so good that we finally not just awareness but so good that we finally, not just awareness, but enough information that we know what it's about,

that we could recognize it and say, oh, okay, now I know what's going on. And we become much more empathetic and sympathetic. Agreed, agreed. Jay and Dan. So we mentioned Jay and the Geno Redemug. These guys, TSN legends, is that fair to say? Yeah.

Take a deal for Fox Sports in the US, leave this fine country. Yes. Do you think they'll come back? I don't know. I don't know. Like, those two, and listen, they've earned it because they're so unique in their character.

They're so different than anybody else. Like, there are the guys who do a great job with the comedic involvement in their work, but their whole styles are so different than anybody else. Yeah. They're just, I mean, Jay could easily go into a career of acting.

Absolutely no doubt about it because he's got that ability and, and Dan is the perfect foil for him. They're just, they're just so good together. I'm not, I wasn't least bit surprised they went just so good together. I wasn't the least bit surprised they went together as a package. I wasn't the least bit surprised that Fox, in trying to compete with ESPN,

would try to go that route. They're two gifted, gifted broadcasters. And no sports. And if it didn't work out, like, I mean, they've had a good run. If things didn't work out at Fox Sports, would TSN welcome them back with open arms? I would hope so.

Yeah, I would. I mean, I don't get involved in the hiring process, but I could imagine. Well, you should, Gino. Listen, I believe these two could work anywhere they want to. I really do. What about Rod Smith?

What a great guy, eh? Heart of gold. Is that right? Yeah, heart of gold. I have not extended the invitation to Rod Smith yet. And I think that's an oversight on my part, just like the oversight with Gino Retta that I rectified yesterday. No,

he's got, honestly, he's got a heart of gold. There's a, Rod's the kind of guy that if you needed something from somebody and needed somebody to genuinely go out for a beer and listen to you talk or lend you some money for something, I'm not asking you to go out for some money.

No, I'm glad to hear that. Get him in here. But he's the kind of guy that like, he's got just, he's got a heart of gold. He really does. That's good to hear. Uh, what about, uh, just two more quick names

here. Uh, Darren Dutition. Dutchie. Dutchie. That's right. How about Dutchie and then Jennifer Hedger, just the, some of the people who kind of. It's a good thing you put the two of them

together because they worked together for so long. That's what I did. Dutch is Dutch. Dutch loves lifting. He's your good old boy from Western Canada who just loves life, loves to have a couple of drinks and play some poker and hang out with the boys and stuff. That's Dutch.

Jen can cover the gamut. Jen can go to the opera with you and she can go to a rock concert with you, and she can play basketball with you, and she'll, you know, the full gamut. That's great. Jennifer, she married Sean McCormick. Yes, she did.

So there you go. Yep. There you go. Sean McCormick, my first 5K run back when I used to try to run. This is way back. Sean McCormick cut the ribbon at the hazel 5k at the the mississauga marathon so there's my sean mccormick story that was a boring story

um how have things changed now that you know you know there's bell with bell owns tsn and rogers owns sports net is there any like rogers is the enemy type sentiment? How is that rivalry from inside the walls of TSN? My guess is upstairs there is. I would think there would be. Not so much a rivalry as much as Coke versus Pepsi. We've got to both try to increase ours and decrease theirs. I would get that. But from a commentator standpoint, no, not at all.

These guys are my buddies. So you don't slash like Kipriosis tires or anything like that? When he accidentally tweets those effers at TSN, you don't take that personally? No, not at all. These guys, honestly, and I'll be very honest with you, I'll go to an event,

I'll go to the World Cup, you'd just as likely see me sitting talking to Elliot Friedman as you would me talking to Bob McKenzie. It wouldn't be the least bit surprising seeing me talking to Paul Romanek or talking to Chris Cuthbert. You know what I mean? Sure. That's cool. They're all buddies of mine. They're all unbelievably gifted

guys. Really good guys. Wayne, and this is more of a SportsCenter type question, and you probably won't know the answer, but I'm going to ask anyways, which is, is there going to be more coverage of the CFL because Bell has the broadcasting rights and owns the Argos? Like, does that, I mean,

and you can plead the fifth or whatever. Honestly, no, I don't know. I'm not, you know, trying to hide anything. I just don't know. I don't know what they're going to do with that. No, not at all. Because I always wonder, not only that end side of the coin,

but is the coverage being, like, somehow suppressed by Rogers Sportsnet for the same reasons in that Bell has the coverage, Bell has the games, and Bell owns the team. So maybe Rogers might mention the score at the very end or something. You know what I'm talking about?

Yeah, honestly, I don't know how either side would handle it. So I'm not stirring enough mess here. No, I do know that when I go to Western Canada, while the Argos maybe don't get the kind of reception they do in this

city, man, you're on Regina, you're out in Winnipeg. That game is like, they're crazy.

That's a big deal. That's a big deal. It didn't help that with the move to BMO coincided with

a rather weak Argos team, which is a perfect storm for a good Blue Jays team and then when Austin Matthews comes team, like it was just a perfect storm for a good Blue Jays team. And then, you know, Austin Matthews comes to town.

It was just tough to, but yeah, what can you do? Um, all right. One more tough question here, which is, uh,

and maybe I've been tainted by like some recent guests I've had on, but my question is, okay, so you've had a very long run at TSN. You're doing great work. And I hope you go for, until you decide it's time to hang him up. So the question is,

okay, if you were a woman, do you think you would have been allowed this longevity in the world of sports media? Wow, that's a great question. I've never thought of that before. Well, I will tell you this,

if you're a woman trying to get into the business right now, it's awesome. But only if you're good looking, right? I don't even mean to be difficult there except I do know if you're a woman trying to get into the business right now, it's awesome. But only if you're good looking, right? I don't even mean to be difficult there, except I do know who you're talking about, because I've had a number of recent guests, like people like Carolyn Cameron and Jackie Redmond and Sofia Yurkovich

is coming over, and of course, you've got a lot of TSN as well. I guess I wonder, can you look like a Gina Reda? You know what I mean? What does that mean? I'm ugly? I'm just kidding? Can you look like a Gina Reda? You know what I mean? What does that mean? I'm ugly? I'm just kidding.

Can you look like Vic Rauter and still have a chance if you're a woman in broadcast? I guess what that immediately does to me, it puts it in my mind and I think, who are the women in that category that you're talking about who are in the business? And there are many. There are many in the U.S. I'm certainly not going to... You're not going to name the ugly woman? No.

And it's all subjective anyway. I think we're at the point right now, honestly, truly, where the sports fan wants people who know what they're talking about. The sports fan wants analysts who know the inside scoop. They want...

And I think that's where we are. I think where we are right now is you want to hear sports from people that you think you could sit across the bar from and chat sports with. And I think if that's the person who's in that chair, you're going to watch. I really truly believe that.

Your son was a... I said that was the last question, then I realized there's a fun fact here, if you will, but Hebsey wanted me to discuss your son at Western playing linebacker. Boy, Hebsey's connected, eh? Yeah, you know what? Yeah, I'm like, Gino's coming over.

He's like, okay, here are the three things. But he's, according to, and I never saw him play, but according to someone who did, Mark Hebsey, hell of a player. Yeah, I was very proud of him. So this is, for people who don't know, he played, so he was a linebacker at Western.

He played hockey, he played AAA hockey in Toronto all the way through, ended up playing junior, played junior A. And then when they started talking to him about going to play

in school, they were saying, we'd like you to finish up your junior A eligibility. So play through your 20 and then go back to university and play in university.

And he just stopped me one day and I think he kind of felt sheepish about this being the fact that I'm in hockey. He says, dad, I don't think I want to do this. And I said, what do you mean? And he goes, well, like, I don't want to just keep playing hockey and not go to school. I want to go to school. So I think I might stop playing hockey. And I said, okay. He goes, really? You're okay with that? I said, sure. He said, what do you want to do? He goes, I think I want to play football. Because he had played football at St. Mike's. Right.

So I said, okay, it's going to be a tough jump to go to university. It's a big jump to go, you know, from high school football to university, but go for it. And he did. He went and worked out for Greg Marshall at Western and redshirted for the first year because the guy they had ended up being drafted by the Alouettes, who was phenomenal, a middle linebacker.

And gradually Luke started out as a weak side linebacker and gradually made his way to his last couple of years at the school. He was the starting Mike, the starting middle linebacker, which was great. That's awesome. I'm very, very proud of him. No, that's amazing. And this conversation has been amazing because I could easily do, no joke, I could easily go another two hours. I really enjoy this.

I thought, how are you going to fill this with me? I'm boring. You know, we went 90 minutes. Seriously? Yeah. We're at 126 and change right now. And I was going to ask you to heap praise upon the podcasting model. Oh, I think it's a great idea.

Oh no, I'll tell you what, and I'm being asked about this, like I do a junior hockey radio show, would I do it in a podcast, would I do other podcasts? I didn't realize how mega huge these things are. They're huge. I can tell you that

the fact two sponsors have stepped up for just a guy who has never been a mainstream media guy, just a guy in his basement is what I like to refer to myself as. And there's a beer company that makes great beer and a food company. And willing to add a third if anybody's listening and wants to jump on board. It's amazing to me. This is great. This is fun.

So you would consider Gino Retta having a podcast at some point? I've been asked before and I thought if there was a right fit, I would probably do it. But listen, this is fun. So you would consider Gino Retta having a podcast at some point. I've been asked before and I thought if there was a right fit, I would probably do it. But listen, this is fun. It gets you an opportunity

to deal with issues that you would never deal with in a five minute interview. Yeah, it's less rigid, if you will. It's more flexible in terms of format and everything.

So thanks for this. That brings us to the end of our 201st show. We're starting a new 100, and we're starting off right with Gino Retta. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike. Gino is at Gino Retta TSN, and our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer,

and Chef's Plate is at Chef's Plate CA. See you all next week. You've been under my skin for more than eight years is at chefsplateca. See you all next week.