Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Gregor Chisholm: Toronto Mike'd #512

Episode Date: September 16, 2019

Mike chats with Toronto Star Blue Jays columnist Gregor Chisholm about his career in sports media, the Blue Jays, donairs and STP.

Welcome to episode 512 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Palma Pasta, StickerU.com, Capadia LLP CPAs, and Pumpkins After Dark. Cappadia LLP CPAs, and Pumpkins After Dark. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and my guest this week is Toronto Star Blue Jays reporter Gregor Chisholm, who I wanted to call Gregor Chisholm.

I get that a lot. So don't do home, do home. So I did it right. You did it right, yeah, yeah. And then I messed it up do home. So I did it right. You did it right, yeah, yeah. And then I messed it up by not being sure I did it right. Welcome. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Why don't you just delete the L from that last name? Like, why are you trying to confuse it? A lot of people drop it. A lot of people drop the second H as well. Oh. Yeah, so. Well, C-H-I-S-A. Well, sorry, the first H.

They leave the first H out a lot of time. Gotcha, gotcha. And does anyone call you Greg? Not really. My roommate in first year university, my dorm at St. of X, he called me Greg. And I said, no one really calls me Greg. Pretty much everybody calls me Gregor. And he said, that's okay.

I got a friend from back home whose name is Greg. So he went with it. Gregor, though. I used to work for a software company out of Frankfurt, Germany. And I worked with people with names like Helmet and Detlef. And there was a Gregor. Ah. So there he goes.

You're not my first Gregor. Yeah. There's not too many. There are a few he goes. You're not my first Gregor. Yeah. There's not too many. There are a few, though. There's one in the Game of Thrones, Gregor Blanco in MLB. Every now and then I get tweets that are directed at him. Instead, send it to me. That was with my old Gregor MLB account.

I used to get that every now and then. My fear is that you'll be my last Gregor because there's not a lot of them, like you said. And how many opportunities will I have to play some Gregorian chants? There you go. Exactly. I have to kind of empty the vault here. I only have the one in my collection. When I was in school, I was in French immersion growing up in New Brunswick and all my teachers called me Gregoire. That's how they did the little French spin on it. Gregoire. Yeah, exactly. Very sophisticated. It's very French in New brunswick yeah yeah right yeah like could you have the acadian uh yeah so i grew up in saint john which is very uh english

um but i mean in the school system a lot of people take immersion all the way through uh and then once you get up a little bit closer to monkton a couple hours away from where i am a little bit more north and then from all the way up there it's very french i rented an airbnb in fredericton uh once so there's i've i've been there lovely nice sure uh all of uh all of the maritimes is great uh i feel very spiritual like yeah very zen it's heavy right but it's yeah it's zenny zen heavy this is how i should walk into the press box every day. I just assumed you did. So, okay. So I'll bring it down because, you know, how can I do real talk when I'm like so like chill, you know?

But who called it? I guess you're going to guess who called it this, but somebody said this was good friends of Keegan Matheson week on Toronto Mike. I wonder who said that. Because yesterday, A.J. Andrews was on Toronto Mike. I wonder who said that. Because yesterday, AJ Andrews was on the show and AJ hails from Nova Scotia and writes about the Blue Jays. And here we are, you hail from New Brunswick. Although I made the mistake of saying that it was close. Like, yeah, I guess it's not the same, but it's close enough. Sure. Yeah. No, all the, all the Maritimes are basically,

I would say that there are, there's like a sense of community there. So Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, I mean, New Brunswick gets the drive through province wrap a little bit. A lot of everybody wants to get to Nova Scotia and I've got some family there too. It's a beautiful place, but New Brunswick is pretty good too. And Matt Stairs is from New Brunswick. Certainly is. Yeah. He, a lot of people list him from being from St. John

because I think he was actually born there. But everybody in New Brunswick really considers himself more from Fredericton. But yeah, he's the hometown boy. And we got Real Cormier. We got a few others that we've had down there. And that's why we get all the baseball writers out of there, right? Because of those guys. I was working on this angle yesterday, but AJ didn't buy in in but i'm wondering if i can get some traction with you like can we make a documentary called

the stairs effect yeah and then say look look at keegan matheson he writes for mlb and look here's gregor chisholm and he's working for the toronto star like the nation's biggest newspaper like top of the food chain right no for sure like, what's interesting about the, about New Brunswick and the Maritimes in general for baseball is it's actually a lot more popular than you, than you'd think. I mean, uh, I mean, New Brunswick doesn't even actually put out too many NHL players. Uh, and like, if you go back, I mean, there's actually a decent amount of MLB players that have come out of there just in terms of the population. So it's kind of cool. It's always, it's always been big. I think a lot of it's, uh, like, you know, historical, there was

a lot of ties, uh, from like my parents' generation and the one before that, that kind of cool it's always it's always been big i think a lot of it's uh like you know historical there's a lot of ties uh from like my parents generation and the one before that that kind of predates the blue jays and there's a lot of red sox fans and yeah there's a lot of red sox fans out there it's uh some maritime connection or something yeah no exactly and it used to be the it used to be that's how i actually kind of got into well i was i was always into baseball but uh i had a basketball exchange when i was in junior high with uh with uh um a city just outside of boston a little town called natick and uh we billeted up with families down there uh and when i was in grade eight uh and ended up meeting this really nice family against this guy i was playing basketball with and then pretty much every summer from that all the way

until i was probably about 25 i went down every summer and he was a season ticket holder with the Red Sox. And I always kind of at least, you know, I usually tried to map it out when the Jays were down there. And then if they didn't have a mid-summer date, then I would usually go down for one of the Yankees, Red Sox heated battles, which were always entertaining. Oh yeah, for sure. Oil can Boyd. I'm going way back to that one. Okay. So, well, she got a weight box, but okay. So I tweeted you were coming and then Wilner warned me, Mike Wilner, that not Norm Wilner. I want to make sure we get the right Wilner credit. You might've thought I was talking about Norm. Of course not.

So Mike Wilner warned me that you need to be warned about the low ceiling. I'm a little tall. Yeah, you're a little tall. So I thought AJ was pretty tall, but what is your listed height on the back of your baseball card? 6'6". Although if I was a professional athlete, they'd probably bump that up to like 6'8".

Yeah, they do that. Because there's guys that I look at in the clubhouse and they'll say they're 6'4", and I'm like, you're not 6'4". And then they're 6'6". I'm like, you're not 6'6". If you use the facilities before you leave, you'll see a picture of me and Ty Domi

when I met him a long time ago. And I met him and I looked down at Ty Domi and remembered that the hockey card i had for tai domi listed him at 510 okay and i'm looking down and i'm like that's not 510 i don't look down at 510 so uh yeah you gotta add a couple everything gets rounded up i think you might be the second tallest uh guest i guess uh leo routins was in i think he's one i think uh you think he's six seven i think i want to say but uh you did not hit your head and i'll repeat leo's anecdote about this which is and we'll use your height when you're six foot six you're always watching your head like that's what you do all the time so you don't hit your head

it's when you're five foot eleven you're never watching your head. It's when you're 5'11", you're never watching your head. That's when you slam into the ceiling here because you're not used to it. I would totally agree with that, except I'm a bit of a klutz. So I still kind of do it anyways, especially on the TTC. That's the one that gets me the most. A lot of times I'll stand up in that bar, which is above the head of most people. I've whacked my head on that bar standing up, not paying attention, just looking at my phone more times than I'd like to admit maritime anthem coming up i want to hear how maritime you are so let's hear a little bit of it oh the year was 1778 how i wish i was in sherbrooke now a letter of mark came from the king to the scummiest vessel I've ever seen. God damn them all. I was told we'd cruise

the seas for American gold. We'd fire no guns, shed no tears. Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier, the last to bear its privateers. Now I notice you're not singing along. Is that because you have to be from Nova Scotia?

No. What's the rules here? You didn't sing along, so Now I notice you're not singing along Is that because you have to be from Nova Scotia? No What's the rules here? You didn't sing along So it's like a test I think I would need a couple of drinks before Alright here's what we're going to do I guarantee you that Keegan Matheson Is stomping his feet somewhere right now

Wishing that he was on a pier Well he kicked out the jams And this was one of his jams So you're absolutely right That doesn't surprise me at all. I was led to believe I'm born and raised in Toronto. We don't have a similar song, but I was told that if you're anywhere

and you play the song out loud and somebody starts singing along, it's because they're from the Maritimes. It's like how you can identify where the Maritimers are. Yeah, absolutely. I've had that a few times in Toronto. And then this is always like a great nightcap when you're in the Maritimes. You can have a bar that just plays normal music, and then they'll throw in a few Maritime specials throughout the night that really kind of gets the crowd going for sure.

Love it, love it. So let me give you some beer right now. Not that you have to drink it now, but you can take it home with you. Sweet. Six-pack of fresh Great Lakes beer, courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery. So there's an assortment for you, including some Gordie Levesque, the Canuck Pale Ale. You're going to love it. Nice. So you take that home with you. And I will be singing the song tonight.

I want you to record it and tweet it at me. So I need to know the after effects. Okay, so enjoy. I want to say, because we're talking about Great Lakes Brewery, fantastic fresh craft beer, fiercely independent, that that's where TMLX4 is happening on Thursday. Do you have... Chase are in New York

Thursday. Yes. You don't go to New York for that game. I'm not in New York for that game, no. Because the cheap bastards won't send you. No, I'm just kidding. How do I get you in trouble? We'll talk about that later. But you are invited.

I know you'll be probably watching it to write about it. But you're invited to Great Lakes Brewery for TMLX4. We're going to have a listener experience on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery. I'm going to be set up there, much like recently I was set up at the Opera House for a party for Marty. There was a party for Martin Streak. And I just set up the mics, and I set up the laptop and the board, and I just recorded live there. And I'm going to do a similar thing on the patio. So I want former guests to pop on.

I want listeners to pop on the mic and just chat it up for a few minutes. And it should be fine if people show up. So I need people to show up. Nice. So you're invited. All right. Beautiful. Spread the word.

Let your contingent know. Sounds great. The Maritimers know. Yeah, we'll bring in all the Maritimers for sure. Palma Pasta want you to enjoy this large meat lasagna. Ooh. That's frozen. You take that home with you.

Are you going home after this? I am, yeah. Okay, just making sure you're not off to, okay. So, yeah, courtesy of Palma Pasta. If you go to palmapasta.com, you can find out where they are. They're in Mississauga and Oakville. They're also on Skip the Dishes, great partners of the show. And if you want authentic Italian food that tastes awesome

you got to sample some Palma Pasta. Fantastic. You're going to love that. I have no doubts. I've heard good things from Keegan and some of the previous guests as well so I look forward to it. Actually because AJ Andrews is staying on Keegan's couch and then she flies back today but he might

be scoring that lasagna. Yeah I bet he is. He probably scored most of it. He probably dug into it. He does dig it. Yeah, he's a good boy. So, stickers. I have, well, there's also a temporary tattoo, but what do I have here? I have the Toronto Mike sticker, courtesy of StickerU.com.

So, go to StickerU.com if you're looking for decals or buttons or stickers or temporary tattoos. Thank you, Stan Rogers. He's just wrapped up. Are you familiar with Lowest of the Low, the band? Yes, yes. I've heard. Not that familiar, but yeah. That's the latest album from them,

and the sticker was made for TMLX3 because StickerU.com knew that they were playing live at TMLX3. So enjoy all your stickers courtesy of StickerU.com knew that they were playing live at TMLX3. So you got to stay there. So enjoy all your stickers courtesy of StickerU.com. Very cool. There's a pop socket that goes on. Look, I'm giving you so many gifts. A pop socket goes on the back of your phone

if you want to use it like a television. And that's courtesy of Capadia LLP CPAs. If you want an accountancy firm that sees beyond the numbers, you want to talk to Rupesh Kapadia and his associates. Rupesh is the rock star accountant. He's fantastic to talk to. I can set up a free

consultation for you. Thank you, Kapadia, for being a great partner of the program. So I think that's enough free stuff. I think we should talk about rock and roll death real quick. Start us off on a somber note here. But you're a bit younger than me.

But here's a song. When I was growing up and I was watching much music every day, I loved much music. This video was like, I tweeted it was bananas, but this video was so massive. I can't tell you like in the mid 80s, but this video was so massive. I can't tell you, like in the mid-80s, how big this video was.

It was like Rick Okasik was like, I'm trying to remember, he was like a fly, okay? And his very attractive supermodel wife was in this video, Paulina. And sort of like before Peter Gabriel had Sledgehammer, which was another big one or whatever. This was before that, but it was a big deal for us video watchers and the midiots. We had A-Ha's Take on Me was a big one. You had your Michael Jackson stuff, like Thriller and whatever. And yeah, this one.

Anyway, the cars, it turns out, were actually much more than just this song. In fact, you might know... Here, let me bring that guy down. Oh, hey. Not very elegant of me. Never would make a good DJ there. Slippery fingers.

So this is Shake It Up. away. Dance all night. Keep the beat. Don't worry about too much beat. Shake it up. This is all to say Rick Ocasek passed away yesterday at 75 years old. He's also known

for producing stuff like the amazing Weezer Blue Album and a whole bunch of stuff he brought to us. Talented guy, dead at 75 and the Cars were pretty influential and pretty damn awesome so you and I are going to actually Gregor we're going to talk about a different

band a 90s band that I think we both dig later in the program but the Cars so by the way their biggest hit was actually a song called Drive which you would know if I played it but it wasn't it was sung by the Ben Ben the other guy.

So Rick wrote it, but Rick did not sing. Yeah, he played on it, but he didn't sing it. All right. So sorry to lose Rick. So Gregor, you always loved baseball? Yeah, definitely. so gregor you always loved baseball yeah definitely um i was the kid in school who i mean when i was playing i played a lot of sports in high school obviously and uh you know you get to the point where you realize that you're probably not going to make it professionally and so you start to try to figure out uh you know how you can do something else with it and you know it was it

was one of those things where i always went to school pretty much just for sports. I got pretty good grades, but the reason I went to school, uh, in my own mind was, was because, you know, there was basketball practice after, after class, or there was baseball, or that was what was always, I was always there for. Uh, and then, uh, kind of just when I was in, I actually kind of knew what I wanted to do at pretty early age, which I guess is kind of rare, but I guess in, I actually kind of knew what I wanted to do at a pretty early age, which I guess is kind of rare. But I guess around grade 10 or so, I kind of started emailing some of the reporters that I had read. Like Bob Elliott was one of the guys that I reached out to at a young age. Gregor.

Is that how you pronounce it? Gregor. Yeah, exactly. And so that was pretty cool. He was really nice to get back to me. And he offered some advice on like where to go to school and what to do and some tips along the way. And so I knew pretty early on. And I guess I kind of justified that all the way through school, like when I was in university.

And if I was supposed to be studying for an exam or something, a lot of times I'd be sitting there watching baseball. And I'd be like, this is my real exam. This is what's going to pay off for me down the road more than my whatever I was working on, algebra, chemistry, whatever the case was. And it kind of ended up working that way. So that's what I used to always tell my parents anyways when i was trying to skip out on homework so it's nice when you know what you want to do at a younger age because you can it's most people don't have i mean my son is a 17 and a half and it's his last year of high school and just this weekend i was like okay so what's next like where are you gonna apply like what's the plan he's like

i don't know dad i don't know yet like he just he just doesn't know. He's like, it's like, I just wish he had a similar crystallization where he could focus on what, you know, what he wants to do. Yeah. And my parents get a kick out of it. Cause, uh, when I was back in those school days, like I wasn't much of a writer at all. Uh, like they, they talk about how it would, it was just like pulling teeth to try and get me to come up with, I don't know if it was a creative writing assignment or anything to do with writing. I was so, I'd write like two sentences and they'd be like, no, you got to expand on that. And I'd be like, no, it's all, it's all in there. And so they get a kick out of it. Cause I used to be the

worst with putting papers and stuff like that. And it was one of those things where it wasn't necessarily the writing that, that really generated my initial interest. I kind of taught myself some of that along the way, along with the schooling part, but it was really the love of the sport. And I was like, you know, if I know my sports as well as I think I do, then, you know, I'll rely on that and I'll learn some of the technical stuff along the way. So I don't think I'm as gifted of a writer as a lot of the ones that are out there, but I kind of try to make up for it, I guess, a little bit with some of the other side. And you're of an age too, where you could actually be influenced by the writing of somebody like a Bob Elliott. Because when I was a kid, my family got the Toronto Star,

and you had your star writers, and that's what you took in every day was what arrived at your doorstep. You weren't going to dial on any internet and see what's being written, you know, outside your market and stuff like that. grade 10 rolled around a lot of the stuff was popping up online and that's really when i started to dive in deep but like being from the maritime especially before that internet age really kind of kicked off i mean you really couldn't get your coverage from many places because you wouldn't the i i remember my neighbor was a subscriber to the globe and mail and like when they would go away on vacation or something i'd run across the street to to grab the sports section um but other than that i mean you deal with the local local media there and you wouldn't be able to get the Toronto star. You wouldn't be able to get the Toronto sun. And so, I mean, that's, that's kind of back in those days when I kind

of immediately figured out what I wanted to do. It was probably in that first year where I was really exposed to, to what, you know, what, what Elliot and Mike Rutsey and, uh, you know, what Dave Perkins and stuff was doing at the, at the Toronto star. And that really kind of fueled the love of it for me. It's interesting that you would be reading Perkins and then uh yeah yeah you'd eventually be working at the same paper one day like I think so I'm trying when you're back then and you're in grade 10 and you know what you want to do like is it in your mind are you working for like the local like I don't know the New Brunswick paper what are the Fredericton big is it like how big did you dream back then yeah I mean I I always viewed Toronto as kind of the end goal. Uh, cause I knew that's where,

yeah, yeah. Uh, the center of the universe, right. Um, that was always kind of the, like the long term goal to, to get here. And, and, you know, the, the advice that Elliot had for me back in the day, which, which I really took to heart was he's basically like, look for every opportunity that you could possibly can to get published. And so I didn't do much in high school it was a little bit early but when I went to St. of X in Nova Scotia one of the first days there I got involved in the student newspaper there and became the sports editor for a couple years and then on top of that I really just tried to freelance to anywhere and everywhere so I did a lot of university stuff from my newspaper back in St. John, like when University of New Brunswick come through, I pitch some New Brunswick stories for them. No pun intended. I remember covering Sidney Crosby

when he was like 15 years old before, or maybe he was in 14 before he went into the queue. There was some stuff around Nova Scotia. There was like a hockey kind of newspaper weekly thing that went out that I did stuff for. And, um, kind of the bigger one that, that actually made me realize that this is exactly what I wanted to do is when I was at the sports editor at this very weekly at St. of X, they St. of X that year hosted the training camp for the world junior hockey championships, I believe is in 2003. They were in Halifax and, um, on a whim, I decided to apply for immediate accreditation for the world juniors and I never thought that it would actually get approved because I put it in just under my student

newspaper accreditation okay and they approved it and I think part of it was probably because they held training camp at the St. of X facilities and they probably decided to do a bit of a favor for the school but I got to go there for for the two-week tournament and it was it was incredible just like you know I not that I socialized with them very much at the time just being a little kid but uh you know like seeing bob mckinsey but their kids oh i thought you're gonna talk about the players no no i was about the same age pretty close no the other media guys yeah bob mckinsey and all the guys who were coming through and it was really kind of just cool to see how the scrums work how the press conferences work and um that kind that kind of fueled the fire a little bit

to know that I thought that I was making the right decision. And then that's kind of what ended up me deciding to go to journalism school after St. of X at Ryerson in Toronto. So, yeah, so that brought you to the big smoke, I guess, to go to school. Now, you get that two weeks covering the world juniors was there ever a moment where you thought well maybe it won't be baseball like uh were you were

you uh ever tempted to cover you know hockey there's a lot because you know there's a lot more hockey jobs in this country no for sure um when i came here it was mostly for baseball or basketball i'm a big basketball guy too. Because you're 6'6". Yeah, yeah. So I played it pretty competitively growing up, and I've got a huge passion for that still. And so it was kind of, to me, baseball was always the first one because I always, even as a kid, the thing I loved about baseball is,

I mean, I enjoyed the offseason just as much as I enjoyed the season because there's so much that goes into it, and there's so many different layers, and it really is a 12 month you know 365 day a year sport even though the season only goes six months uh it was the you know the off season hot stove and everything that goes into kind of the inner workings of a front office really kind of uh interested me from day one so that was always the top priority but I definitely would have done basketball too there's even less jobs in basketball.

I'm thinking, well, there's like an account on one hand, I think. Not a lot. Yeah. By the way, Doug Smith was booked for this show and some personal matters got in the way

where he had to postpone. And then so, but he still wants to come on. So if Doug is watching or listening, we got to get that date and time picked out and make that happen because we got to get him. Be a great guest. Yeah, I think he'd be amazing.

So we're going to make that happen. Next time you see him at the office party or whatever, make sure you know he's going to have a good time here. Maybe I'll wait till we get you at the star before I bug you with If my, my latest, uh, star rant, uh, don't worry. It won't be too painful. Don't worry. Now I'm trying to think if I should. Okay. So you mentioned you're doing freelance. So why don't you tell me, uh, cause I know you did a stint at the sun, right? So, okay. So you're at Ryerson.

Yep. And how did that go you moved here and yep so i moved here in 2005 uh and my first year um i didn't do a whole lot in sports was kind of waiting for the opportunity my first year actually uh volunteered at a it was actually a tour star uh magazine it was a failed venture way back in the day uh which one weekly scoop it was called it was like a celebrity magazine and i wrote in the tv section and one? Weekly Scoop, it was called. It was like a celebrity magazine and I wrote in the TV section. And the only reason I did it

was just because there was a posting in the Ryerson job thing and I ended up writing like a TV article for them for a while. I used to do like reviews on like the show Lost back in the day. And so it had nothing to do with sports. Someone had to explain that to people. Yeah, yeah. All my theories were all wrong.

Because you know what? They just abandoned a whole bunch of important things. That was the most infuriating show I ever watched. Yeah, yeah. I still have a soft spot for it because I was obsessed with it for a while. But you're right. Yeah, no, they didn't tie up the loose ends very well at all.

I still have questions. I need to get the writers of that show on the program. But this Scoop thing, because I thought I was following it all pretty closely. Was it printed for subway riders or what was it? Was it an internet thing? No, I guess it was going up against the ones that were like OK Magazine. It was like a tabloidy kind of celebrity gossip kind of type style.

I think it only lasted about a year. And it was mostly celebrity culture is which is not me at all which is really random that i worked there uh for for a brief yeah that only works in this country i think if you cover the royal family yeah like hello and all that yeah yeah yeah uh so that was interesting and then uh my second year is when i really got into more of the sports side so i started off with an internship at tsn and ended up getting a job there for a while. What did you do at TSN? I worked in the pit behind, like, you know, where you would see kind of behind Jay and Dan

and all those guys on there. I was essentially a script writer and highlight producer. So I would cut packages and kind of do the loose scripts that the hosts follow kind of more as like, you know, just kind of talking points more than anything as they go through the highlight package. Any TSNers you want to shout out for being supportive, like offering a helping hand to this, this young buck trying to make his way in the world?

Oh, you know what? Or were they all assholes too? Cebulski was really nice enough. He took me to, he didn't have to do this at all, but he, he knew that I was, he probably doesn't even remember this. Um, but he, he knew that I wanted to do more than just kind of be in the pit. He knew I wanted to be out in the field doing a little bit more. And at that time I actually thought I was going to go into TV. And so, um, he took me to a lease practice one morning and just kind of let me job shadow him for a little

bit. Um, and, and help me film like a bit of standup stuff just for, just for practice. And yeah, very nice. Very nice. Cause he, he definitely didn't have to do that. And, uh, he went out of his way. And, uh, the other, the other part that I just found that was very cool is, is the guys who are just the ultimate professionals. I mean, Darren Detition, uh, was a guy who, when you're a script writer back there,

uh, there's a lot of moving parts. If a game finishes like five minutes or two minutes before it's going to air, there's a lot of stress going on there. And he was a guy who, no matter what was going on behind the scenes, he'd be able to cover for it. So like if there was something that went wrong with the teleprompter or if he got handed the wrong script, he'd be able to kind of freelance his way out of that situation flawlessly. And so that nobody who would be watching would have any idea that anything was going on. He was quick on his feet. Yeah. And he wasn't the only one. There's certainly a skill

that goes into that. I mean, sometimes people think of the TV people just like reading the teleprompter, you get the Ron Burgundy. And there's a lot of people who aren't like that. They're really, really skilled and professional. And Dutchie is definitely one of those guys who, who doesn't matter what's going on. He'd be able to get it done. That's good. No, I like, I've never met Dutchie. Uh, and he's, I know he's from Edmonton cause my wife tells me,

you know, he's from Edmonton, I guess he's, uh, you know, she's, it's her job to tell me every time. She's like you Maritimers are keeping track of where you all are at. She's like, oh, that guy's from Edmonton. You know Moe Berg from the Pursuit of Happiness? Yeah. From Edmonton. Yeah. So I'll give you the list later on your way out.

But it's good to hear that about Dutchie. Yeah. Anyone else? Just while we have you at TSN briefly. Because how long are you there at TSN? Oh, not that long. So I did an internship for six months. And then I took a part-time job while I was still going in school.

And then what I ended up leaving for was, ironically enough, an internship at MLB.com in that 2007 summer. And that's what made me really decide that I was going to not go into TV and was going to go into the more print side. That was kind of my first exposure to really doing the dream job that I kind of thought that I really wanted to do as a kid, you know, being in the clubhouse every day, being on the field. I mean, the ballpark was basically my office. And I realized that I wanted to be kind of out in the field a lot more than kind of in the office or doing things from afar. And then there was a different kind of nuance with the print side that I'd been exposed to at that time where I really kind of felt like those guys went in deep as opposed to, I mean, TV, you only have

a certain amount of time. So you're a little bit more surface level. You're looking for that sound bite. And so back in those days, it's done differently now, but back in those days, there used to be a TV scrum and then there used to be a print scrum for all the interviews post game. And I always found that the print scrums were so much more in depth and they are longer and they're a lot more interesting. And you dive into kind of some of the real issues a lot more. And then that's when I realized, okay, you know, I might want to do some TV at some point. But my real passion here is the print side and just kind of being able to do that on a daily basis was like, this is what I want to do.

That's amazing. Now, of course, nowadays, a lot of print guys end up either on the radio or TV anyways. Like it's all kind of, yeah, no, exactly. I mean, Blair, Jeff Blair, he's a, you know, he's a radio star now. Who saw that coming? Right. And Brunt, of course, one of our finest radio professionals. I wish he wrote more. You know, he should be, You know, he should be writing more for his new overlords

there at Sportsnet, but I digress. So, yeah, you're doing some free, you're doing some TSN work there

and you mentioned you did some MLB work. Yep. And when do you get to do some work at the Toronto Sun? Yeah, so at the end

of that 2007 season, my internship, it was just seasonal, so I was going to be done at the end of that 2007 season, my internship, it was just seasonal. Um, so I was going to be done at the end of that season. And then I'd say probably in early September of that year, when I was kind of figuring out what I was going to do, I didn't a hundred percent know if I was, uh, you know, how realistic the goal was. There was some thought, well, do I move back to the Maritimes? Do I do something else? And in that kind of period where I was trying to figure things out, there was a job that opened up at the Toronto Sun, which was a desk job, a copy editing job. And just from knowing Mike Rutzi and

Ken Finlan at the Sun, I think I was able to get my foot in the door there a little bit. And that ended up starting my Sun career. And I was there for about three years before I went back to MLB in the end. That's a hell of a sports department at the Toronto Sun. Yeah, no, it really is. And it was interesting being there when I was there. I think I was the first person they had hired in a long time. They had gone through that series of layoffs

over the years before I had joined them. And things were, at that time, a little bit on the upswing. So they hired a series of layoffs over the years before before i joined them and things were were on at that time a little bit on the upswing so they hired a couple people and uh yeah i mean it was just super cool i mean like it wasn't that long before that you know just like i was telling you about you know bob elliott um you know providing me a lot of advice when i was a kid um you know there i was you know he's he's sending in his copy and i'm editing it and it's kind of a surreal kind of experience. And it'd be the same with a lot of those other guys that I grew up reading,

like Zeisberger and guys, Steve Simmons, I was a big fan of, still a big fan of. And so it was a cool exposure. And I've said this to some people that I work with since then. I actually think it helped me become a better writer to help me understand deadlines a little bit more. And it helped me appreciate the need for clean copy and all that. I think that technical side, that technical training, which a lot of writers don't get,

being able to spend a couple of years on the desk actually gave me a new appreciation for it as well. No, I can imagine. So that's a great experience there. So you're at Ryerson to get your, so that's great experience there. You're, you're, so you're at Ryerson, you get to get your, whatever they teach you media people at Ryerson, you know, and then you're, you're getting some exposure here, some TSN, like this is a pretty good, uh, pretty good start you're getting here. Yeah. Yeah. It really, I mean, the, the, the thing that

Ryerson did for me the most was, was open the doors. You know, I think that opening the door for the internship at TSN really, really helped a lot of things follow. And it really is what Elliot said. Especially early on in your career in this business, you got to expect to bounce around a little bit and you got to look for every opportunity. So if it's a six-month contract, you take the six-month contract and just be happy that it pays something. That was a thing back in those days too. I came here from the Maritimes. I didn't have the same luxuries that some people I went to school with, if they might be able to stay at home or something because their families in the area. I'm telling you those, the people who can afford to work for free, such an advantage in your industry. Absolutely. It's so classist. Yeah,

no, it really is. And so that's why the internship at MLB back in the day, it was a paid internship. So that actually opened the door for me being able to do it because if it wasn't paid, then I never would have been able to afford living here in the summertime. That was just the reality. And there's far too much of that, the free labor stuff in journalism in general. But at the same time, there was a time and a place where when I was in school in those first couple of years, when it was kind of just like stuff on the side where I did do this stuff for free because I just wanted to get published. And there is a time and a place for that. You just, the longer term placements, you want them to be paid so that people can actually have access to them. You ever wonder how many fantastic journalists we lost because they simply could not afford to work extended periods of time for zero money?

And at some point they realized they actually needed to eat and have shelter over their head. Yeah. I mean, I look at that Ryerson program I went to, and actually a lot of my close immediate friends, surprisingly, are pretty much all in the industry still, which is very shocking. But you look at the overall group, and I mean, the vast majority of them just aren't in journalism anymore. And I understand why. A lot of them have left for other PR jobs. Some of them aren't even remotely close to doing the line of work that they took in school for.

And it's simply because they looked at the climate and I mean, the jobs weren't there. That's just the unfortunate reality. You need, you need to have skill in this industry, but you also need to have good timing and you need to catch, catch some lucky breaks. And I'll be the first one to say that,

that I was definitely fortunate when it came to that kind of stuff. For sure. Now, did you ever cover, like officially cover the Raptors? I covered a few games for the Canadian press back in the day when I was in my freelance stage. Now, back in the day usually means,

you know, in the 60s. Yeah, I guess, yeah. The 50s. No, it was probably a little over a decade ago, so I guess it wasn't that far back in the day. Yeah, 2009. Yeah, I did a bit during the Chris Bosh years back in those days.

Before. Yeah. Remember them well. during the Chris Bosh years back in those days. Before. Yeah. Remember them well. Are you kidding me? I tell stories. My son's a big Raptor fan and I'll sit down and tell him stories. Let me teach you about,

there was this guy named Mighty Mouse and I'll give him stories about that. He knows a lot about Vince Carter, surprisingly, but then I'm like, you had to be Chris Bosh. Yeah. Yeah, you gotta... Jorge Garbojosa.

Oh, yes. That's right. There's great stories. I was like, there's a guy named Doug Yeah. Jorge Garbajosa. Oh, yes. That's right. There's great stories. I was like, there's a guy named Doug Christie. Let me tell you about his wife. I kid. Okay. I just wondered if you had covered raptors officially,

but it sounds like just briefly there. Yeah, just briefly. Yeah. All right. Let me pause you there because I have more gifts for you. I know, you know, you're so lucky. You've been given food, drink. This is more than a lot of internships. I'm going to have to come for you. I know, you know, you're so lucky. You've been given food, drink. This is more than a lot of internships.

I'm going to have to come back tomorrow. Yeah. All you Maritimers just keep showing up because you hear there's stickers here and everything. But here, I want to get a song. Usually I play ministry every day is Halloween, but I'm going to mix it up today. an eerie sight for my monster from his slab began to rise and suddenly

to my surprise he did the monster mash alright Gregor I'm glad you're sitting down because you'll be doing the monster mash at Pumpkins After Dark what the heck is Pumpkins After Dark you're wondering

it's 5,000 hand carved pumpkins that illuminate the skies at Country Heritage Park in Milton, Ontario you're wondering it's 5 000 hand-carved pumpkins that illuminate the skies at country heritage park in milton ontario from september 26th to november 3rd 2019 so these 5 000 pumpkins uh are going to be you know also include there's a hundred sculptures there's sound this all goes down uh you pick the night after dark you want go? I'm going to give you two tickets to Pumpkins After Dark. Yes. You could bring a friend or a significant other or, heck, anybody you like.

You could even bring Keegan if you wanted. I don't know if I'll do that. I think you'd dig it. Pumpkins After Dark. Now, you've got two tickets just because you came on Toronto Mike. But listeners might want to, you know, get a little something here.

So if you go to pumpkinsafterdark.com and buy your tickets there, use the promo code pumpkin Mike, pumpkin Mike will save you 10% when you order at pumpkinsafterdark.com. Now we're going to talk later about your musical taste, but would you rather I had used the Ministries Every Day is Halloween or are you okay with the Monster Mash?

I'm okay with the Monster Mash. I thought so. I made a call. I loved the Monster Mash as a kid. I remember doing this a lot. It's really, you got so many holiday songs and Christmas songs,

like so many, right? But I feel like this is really it, really. Like if you're going to, I don't, you know, you might hear this show up, I don't know, holiday songs and Christmas songs, like so many, right? But I feel like this is really it, really. Like if you're going to, I don't, you know, you might hear this show up, I don't know, on CHFI or something in October, but I don't think there's a lot of other options. No. This is it.

Yeah, I think you're right. Because they're not playing ministry on CHFI. Goodbye. Boris Pickett, I think. I got a, I can't remember. I think that's who recorded Monster Mash. So tell me, basically, I want to get you to the Toronto Star. So why don't you help us get you to the Toronto Star,

and then I'll hit you up with my star question. Sure. Just in terms of how I got there? Well, you were, like, before, you got Richard Griffin's job? Is that how this went down? Yeah. So I know because Perkins was on the show recently and Dave Perkins basically told us

told the Toronto Mike listeners that he had told Richard Griffin to go for this job, this PR job at the Blue Jays and encouraged him to do so and then of course Richard Griffin

did because he had that background at the Expos. Yep. And he decided to do it again. So he now works for the Toronto Blue Jays. So that's a vacancy at the Toronto Star. So what were you doing like just prior to getting hired by the Toronto Star? So I spent the last decade working for,

well, almost a decade, nine years working for MLB.com, which is where I interned back in 2007. So when I was at the Sun in 2010, the guy who had been covering the Blue Jays at that time for MLB.com, Jordan Bastion, he was an American who had been up here for about four or five years. His wife was also American and they had been looking to get back

to the States for a little while. And so he transferred to Cleveland at that time. He's actually in Chicago now, but he transferred to Cleveland and that opened the door for the MLB.com job in Toronto. And up until that point, they actually had never hired a Canadian, which was a bit disappointing.

So I was the first Canadian that they hired. And that's a tradition that they've continued since I've gone. Uh, and then I'm happy to see, but so I spent, um, nine years for bluejays.com. MLB.com is the Blue Jays beat reporter. And, uh, that's how I got to know Keegan. Keegan was one of my associate reporters. Uh, the internship program at MLB.com was really good, the one that I went through. There was all kinds of guys who came through that when I was the beat writer. Arden Zwelling was one. Chris Tolman, who ran Vice Sports for a while.

Jamie Ross, who's the assistant sports editor at the Globe and Mail. There's a really nice pipeline of people who are pretty prominent in the market now who have come through that. So I was there for nine years. And, yeah, I went in and Griff decided to take that job. It kind of made a lot of sense.

I think it caught some people by surprise. But, I mean, as you touched on, it kind of lets his career come full circle. I mean, he started off in PR with the Expos and then obviously had a really long, successful run with the Star. And as he enters, you know, the final few chapters of his career, it kind of made sense, I think, in a lot of ways for him to kind of go back to his roots. And it was from that point, it was it was pretty much a simple, you know, I saw the posting and decided to go for it. It was kind of a it's that type of job that I had

always I'd always wanted to get back to newspapers for a while, even though I was doing the online media thing for the last nine years. I viewed my start in newspapers. And that's kind of why I came to this city in the first place. And I realize it's not a move that a ton of people make these days. It seems to be going the opposite way where some people go newspapers digital. But I was more than happy to kind of go back to that independent media side and newspapers are also digital now absolutely right yeah absolutely and that's that's what some people seem to get lost in a little bit they think of it still only as and it's not that at all i

mean it's all it's all about the the metrics and stuff that we're doing online and and so there's there's definitely that component there just happens to be a physical copy of it as well i mean because i mean to be, you're behind a paywall. Yep. Do you know, a lot of times I have newspaper authors like yourself on, and they don't know the rules of their own paywall. So I'm going to put you on the spot. Do you know the Toronto Star paywall rule?

I do know the rule. Okay, let's hear it. In terms of like the free article? Yes, exactly. Like do you get X number of free and then like how? I believe you get 10 for free. And that's a month? I believe so believe so and you have to be logged in like to do you know this like here so back in the day uh you could clear your cookies uh and get a new 10 yeah i don't know

don't get upset at me for asking the tough questions no no no uh and i actually don't know the answer to that because now now like I've had a subscription for a while. So I do remember doing that back in the day. I used to admittedly do that with the Sun as well where I would, you know, that used to be the thing for all the newspapers. I can't believe I'm admitting this. Because it was just going to cookie in the browser where it would track how many times you did in the month.

And of course you can clear your, you can clear your cookie. Yeah, I don't think you can do that anymore, but I could be wrong because I'm always logged in now. So I don't really know. See, if you have to be logged in, then the cookies that wouldn't, they would be tracked by your login. Right. You'd have to create multiple logins,

and that sounds like way more trouble than it's worth to save. What is the cost of the monthly Toronto Star? I'm putting it on the spot here. There's the, well, you'd have the two different, because there's the trial version, and then there's the full version. I believe it's $14.99 for the month, if I'm correct. I should look into that. All you can eat for $14.99 for the month, if I'm correct. I should look into that.

All you can eat for $14.99 at Toronto Star's website. Okay. Now, friend, I'm trying to coin a term. I want people to start using it. FOTM, which is Friends of Toronto Mike. So FOTM, Laura Armstrong. Can you help us understand your responsibilities and how they synergize

together sure sure so she's i mean she's the she's the blue jays reporter uh for the star and she is reporting on a few other things too but she's she's primarily the blue jays reporter and then there's just the the difference a little bit between reporter and columnist so uh she's the one who does a lot of the uh kind of bigger features she's the one who does a lot of the, uh, kind of bigger features. She's the one who does a lot of the news and notes, kind of the nitty gritty detail of what's going on in the beat. And, um, I take a little bit more of a big picture, look at a lot of things in terms of, uh, you know, obviously, uh, it's very opinionated now, uh, coming into a calmness role. That's kind of the whole point, uh, which is, which is very different. I mean, what I was doing before at MLB.com is, is a lot more kind of closer to, to, to what Laura would do. Um, and it's kind of the balance between the two, which I think you kind of need that in order to have like a really good, uh,

section you need to have, uh, you know, obviously someone who's going to be able to kind of do the actual nitty gritty, uh, you know, bare bones reporting. And I think Laura does a really good job of that. She does a really good job with her feature. She added an incredible piece on Scott MacArthur. If people haven't seen that, they should check that out.

And she's just an overall really, really good reporter. And mine's more, a little bit more, I guess maybe sometimes a little bit more controversial just because it has to be strong. Well, because it's opinionated.

Anytime you do, and I'm going to get to another columnist after paper in a minute who's boiled my potatoes. But because you're a columnist, it is subjective. It is Gregor's opinion on things.

And you can agree or disagree. This is his take, whereas opposed to reporting, which is supposed to be like fact-based and unbiased. So now you're doing column doing comments but when you work for mlb.com and i had mike zeisberger okay worked at the sun forever now he works at nhl.com so you know i you know we talked and it's it's obvious but it's worth pointing out that when you work for the league uh you're going to be when you talk about non on the field stuff that's not on

the field you're you're going to be uh what's the term i'm looking for you're not going to be, when you talk about non-on-the-field, stuff that's not on the field, you're going to be, what's the term I'm looking for? You're not going to necessarily tell it like it is and bite the hand that feeds because you're not a propaganda machine, but you work for the league, so it's going to be favorable to the league. Do you know what I mean by that? No, I do.

Like, Zeisberger's not going to go off on some concussion thing at NHL.com, but he might have done that on, at the Toronto sign. Yeah, absolutely. And to be honest with you, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to get back into the kind of

independent media side of it to kind of open up that freedom a little bit more. But at the same time, you know, I guess my counter to that also would be, you know, as a reporter, I mean,

there's, there are certain things probably at MLB.com every now and then we wouldn't necessarily touch. But for the most part i viewed my job basically the exact same way as as laura's job at the star as rob longley's job at the between the lines right like so yeah but i'm thinking of like when roberto usuna there's a story there that mlb.com is probably not going to touch but probably should be be covered by a paper like the star. Sure. So we did, we did cover it. I did write a story the next day and it was based off the

press release or the statements from the police and stuff. And so there was an article on there, but you're right. It's very, I mean, it's very just factually based. So this is what happened. This is the accusation. You're certainly, we didn't, it wasn't my job to kind of opinionate on, you know, okay, so what, what should, what should the Blue Jays do from here? For example, they didn't get into kind of that nitty gritty detail of it. It was basically like, this is what happened. Here's the situation. Whereas if I was at the star now, obviously my, my focus more would have been kind of on the fallout in terms of like how, how the Blue Jays are kind of conducting themselves as an organization in terms of dealing with this Blue Jays are kind of conducting themselves as an organization

in terms of dealing with this, you know, this crisis and, you know, whether or not they made the right moves. Whereas before, it would have been a little bit more bare bones. Why are we honoring CeCe Sabathia? Why are we doing that? Is it because he's, because Shapiro played a role in his drafting him with Cleveland? Yeah, it seems pretty clear cut to me.

I don't really get it. To be honest with you, I don't like the whole, uh i don't know the big circus act that kind of started it started i think it kind of started with derrick jeter um but the whole league did that the whole league and i'm with you i didn't like it but at least everyone was doing it 100 and it kind of i didn't like it but it sort of made sense for the jays to a certain extent because these guys have been coming through here for so long. And I mean, Rivera and Jeter. And that's a slam dunk. These are slam dunk near unanimous or unanimous Hall of Fame candidates.

We can agree, even though he might end up in the Hall of Fame, CeCe Sabathie is not that. Yeah. And the other thing is, I mean, so much of his career was, was spent in the central. And so like, he just wasn't, he wasn't through the city. There's not that same connection that those other guys have. I mean, he spent a big chunk of his career in Cleveland. Then he went to Milwaukee after that. I mean, it was only the second half of his career that he had in New York. And so I don't know people, I just don't think people in the city resonate with him the same way

they would even resonate with a guy like David Ortiz or some of the other guys. To me, it seems weird to honor them at all. Um, but if you're going to do it it should be those iconic uh alice type guys then i don't think sabathia really falls into that he doesn't so what it does is it makes people look at the fact everybody will even if it's not true although likely is true but even if it's not true the optics are that it's because of his cleveland connection and here this this management team already had there's already bad pr optics with regards to uh shapiro and atkins and their their history of cleveland and there's just a bad sense of like maybe they don't honor the

toronto greats as much as they're honoring cc sabathia like it just it's bad optics is what i'm trying to say out here. Yeah, and I've seen that reaction a lot in social. I think that that seems to be the main takeaway, is that there seem to be a lot of fans that don't think that they're appreciating the last generation of Jays players and honoring them as much as they should be, and then it seems kind of weird.

I mean, the whole thing with Sabathia seemed kind of weird. It seemed weird to me a couple years ago when they, I mean, Shapiro and Atkins had that sit-down with him when he was never going to come to Toronto. He was only using them as a bit of a leverage to get a better years ago when they, I mean, Shapiro and Atkins had that sit down with him when he was never going to come to Toronto. He was only using them as a bit of a leverage to get a better deal in New York. And it was a strange fit in Toronto to begin with. And it didn't really make a whole lot of sense.

And then they kind of, they talked up that meeting. It was like, oh, we got a meeting with CeCe Sabathia. It's like, oh, okay, congratulations. What does that mean? It means that he probably got a couple million dollars more for the Yankees. Good for you. Now, when you were writing at MLB.com this whole CeCe Sabathia thing would be, to me it feels like, and you tell me I'm wrong

but that's exactly the type of story you probably would not cover at MLB.com but you can cover at the Toronto Star now. Yeah that's fair. Is there anything out of bounds like do you have anything out of bounds at the Toronto Star like within reason? No, not within reason. I mean, all within journalistic standards. I mean, I have nothing but good things to say about the freedom and opportunity that they've provided me with so far. It's been really kind of refreshing.

It's been an interesting transition because I have kind of gone from that guy who people knew on social and knew from content as being really down the middle and balanced. And it's maybe a little bit jarring when they see my opinions that I haven't articulated maybe publicly. I think everyone who's known me, like everybody on the beat, I've always talked about a lot of my opinions kind of behind the scenes and they knew that I had them, but I kind of didn't always put them out there as much as I'm doing now. And to me, that was the most exciting thing about this opportunity and joining the star is that, I mean, that's what I got into this business for. I mean, that's what you want to get into the kind of bigger issues, controversial issues, the ones that really mean a whole lot as opposed to just writing about, you know, that 5-2 ball game at the end of August that has no impact on the standings and nobody really cares about. No, props to you because really,

there's only so many jobs in this country kind of covering the Jays, for example. I think you've got one of the very best here. This is very well. If you were looking back like 15 years ago, if you were going to map out your career and where you hope to be in 2019, I'll bet you this might be it.

Am I right? You're pretty close, right? This is exceptional yeah no absolutely I mean I was I was very fortunate to get in with MLB when I did and I certainly didn't anticipate this opportunity presenting itself

and when I saw that it was open I mean I mean this is I view this as kind of a legacy job that that I mean I was a huge fan of Richard Griffin for a very long period of time we've already touched on the that, I mean, I was a huge fan of Richard Griffin for a very long period of time. We've, we've already touched on the Elliott thing. I mean, those are the guys I looked up to and I'm not comparing myself to those guys, uh, but it's a, it's a position to grow into and, uh, you know, one day, you know, I guess I, I still strive to, to be like those guys. So,

so long-term, I mean, to me it was just, it was just a no brainer. It's pretty rewarding to be honest with you. And did Keegan Matheson replace you at MLB.com? Yeah, yeah, he did him. And, uh, there's two of them there now, uh, him and Alexis Brudnicki. Um, they've kind of split the job into, into two parts. And so it's, it's kind of interesting what they're doing there as well. And yeah, but so it was, it was, it's, it's nice how that kind of some of those ripple effects work too. I mean, it was, it's a great opportunity for Keegan. I couldn't have been happier that, uh, you know, he got that job and I worked with him side by side in 2017 and he freelanced for us a lot last year in 2018. And, uh, you know, he's, he's another one of those, those former

interns that, you know, they're not just former colleagues now they're there. He's a close friend of mine. And I could say that about a few of the interns who went through that program. And you're, you seem to be a nice people so uh i root for the good guys so good for you now i'm gonna take like a detour here on something that has nothing to do with you other than the fact it's another columnist at the toronto star and then we'll come back to the jays and then i got a bunch of questions for you from uh from people who wrote in but uh okay so you're going with this one i think so i never I never even, you know what? 512 episodes.

I actually never, you'd be surprised. I don't think I ever go at anybody like to use that jargon, but I don't, I never, I'm pretty fair. Like I'm pretty, I'm pretty decent to all everyone in the media. But this article, column, I'm sorry. I gotta use right terminology here before she swears at me or whatever.

But Rosie Damano, who has been writing at that, I mentioned it came to my house as a kid. Okay. I don't remember pre-Rosie. Like I'm trying to remember. I know that I was reading it before Rosie got there. I can't remember, but I can't remember pre-Cox, pre-Damien Cox either. But okay. So you have Rosie DeManno writes a column and and I read it a few times. Now, I do cycle a lot. In fact, there's a couple of bikes in the room with us, and I cycle everywhere. Like, I got a gig downtown. I bike to it. If I'm going to the opera house to do the recording, I bike to it.

I try to bike everywhere I can. I biked to the Terry Fox Run yesterday to brunch afterwards. I bike everywhere. And I like to get my kids. I have four kids, and three of them are able to bike bicycles, and I teach them safety, and I have the five-year-old on the road, like not on the sidewalk,

even though he can be on the sidewalk, but I try to teach him safety rules and everything, and best practices and stuff. And this column from Rosie Damano, which it sounds, the way I read it many times, it's almost like she had a bike accident where she broke her ankle and now she hates all cyclists and everything to do with cycling. You don't have to express an opinion on this. I know she's a fellow columnist at your paper,

except it was, in my opinion, I know it is her opinion, so it can't be wrong. Opinions can't be wrong, but it's a pretty dangerous, short-sighted, anti-cyclist column from Rosie DeManna when they try to start. And I never, ever come at people with, like, I never do that on this show. Sure. It was really, it was awful. And every time I read it, it kind of angered me more. And this whole notion that cyclists want more and more. Honestly, we're just looking for a safe way to get to work and back in this big city that we've created.

That's what, that's all we cyclists are looking for is a safe transportation path on our bikes. That's it. Yeah. Did you read it? I did. I did. And it upset some of my friends as well. So I've had this conversation before.

I mean, the one thing I will say about rosie is that uh i mean she's she's fearless uh in her opinions and her uh and i i have a lot of respect for that uh you know she's not afraid of pissing people like you off mike well no she but she's not i mean but you could say that about the sports the sports thing too right i mean that's she she is the sports doesn't matter here's the difference to me I do say what you want about sports. Say what you want about Mitch Marner, whatever. Say,

you know, whatever. Tell me, say what you want. Sports really doesn't matter. Like I love sports. I watch a lot of sports, but it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. This actually matters because these people are dying. Like I pass several ghost bikes every day, you know, um, they put up a ghost bike every time somebody dies on a bike. And, and there's,

I mean, I've not, you know, I was on a bike and and there's i mean i've not you know i was on a bike path when this happened but i've had some bad crashes on my bike and i really uh my biggest fear it's not even about me my biggest fear is that i don't want my you know my teenager or my or my kid to be uh hit by a car while riding their bike because the idea the city had for a bike lane was to paint like a line of white paint on a roadway, okay? We're just looking for separated bike lanes. And see, to me, this matters.

So she can go off while she wants something, but it's, oh, there's Rosie being controversial. Like, what is sports? Sports doesn't matter. But this matters. Sure. No, and the one thing I will say is that she's not the type of person to,

if she, if she writes a column, I firmly believe that she believes it. Uh, she's not the type of person to do something, a hot take just for the sake of doing a hot take. and so, I mean,

you might, people might not always agree with what she has and what she has to say. Uh, but she's not, there are certain people in this industry who write something just purposely to get a rise out of people. And I know this one in particular really got a rise out of people. And, but she's not there are certain people in this industry who write something just purposely to get a rise out of people and i know this one in particular really got a rise out of people and uh you know to be honest with you probably a lot of people clicked on it for that reason but that's

not why she does what she does she's she's someone who has very strong beliefs and so you know my views might not always line up with that either but i still have a lot of respect for that yeah there's something there i guess but uh and i i don't doubt that she believes this to be true i don't know if that makes it better or worse but that's that's a debate for another time but i needed to get the rosy demando thing off my chest because it just seemed like it's really irresponsible and a lot of people do read her work which which is also means she has some power and i did get so i did did some tweet about how something negative about it and i did have at least least one or maybe two, but one person come back and say, I agree a hundred percent with her.

I'm thinking, okay, I'm just trying to understand the angle here. Like, what is it you're agreeing with that, uh, cyclists suck and they don't belong on the roads and they don't need to be safer. I don't understand the whole angle, but I need to get off. I'll say someone from coming from the Maritimes, I've always been fascinated by this whole, uh, pedestrian or like cyclists versus cars, uh, situation in the city. Cause we simply just don't have it in the Maritimes, I've always been fascinated by this whole pedestrian, or like cyclist versus cars situation in the city because we simply just don't have it in the Maritimes. We don't have the same kind of traffic.

And I mean, it's been, it was surreal kind of coming to this city and seeing a lot of the, it's obviously a lot of us. Have you ever biked our streets? I, not much. Because I don't feel, I wouldn't feel safe enough,

to be honest. Right, right. Like, I'll be honest. Like, I just, if there were, if there was venues for it to make it a little bit better than I certainly would

because I think it is a good mode of transportation but as it is right now, I would just see myself getting doored by another car. What you said is exactly what I hear from so many people. Like, Mike,

how do you bike downtown? I'd be scared in the streets. If it was, if you felt safe biking to work downtown, you would probably do it because it's amazing. And it's cheaper. It keeps you healthy. It's better for the environment. It keeps, you know, one less person on public transit or in a car on the Gardner. Of course you would do it if you felt safe doing it, which is why cyclist advocates are

trying to get better cycling infrastructure in this city. So don't shit all over us for trying to do that. Okay. All right. Feel better, Gregor. Thank you. Now, back to baseball. Let's let Brian Gerstein ask you the next question. Baseball question, I promise. Nothing to do with cycling.

Right, Brian? Propertyinthe6.com Hi, Greg. Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Night. TheSalesRepresented.com for lease at Eglinton near Mount Pleasant. And one of my investor clients picked up a free bedroom Galleria condo with a south-facing clear view of the park and community center. Contact me at 416-873-0292 so I can help you out as well. Greg, being an Expos fan, huge Vlad Jr. fan as well, I can fully embrace him with his Montreal background. How would you evaluate his year to date? And with the splash that Bo Bichette has made,

will that take some pressure off of him? Or do you think that does not matter, as Vlad is a pretty loose player who does not seem to be phased by pressure at all? He's so close to you, he calls you Greg. Like it. Yeah, so, Vladdy, I mean, to be honest with you, I think the season's been a little bit of a disappointment, and maybe that's a little bit unfair,

but just the expectations were so high. We're now seeing him in the midst of his second prolonged slump of the season, and so there is that stretch he had for about a month where the numbers were kind of what you were expecting. To me, there's been a bit made of this already but um you know he wasn't getting the ball in the air enough early on uh this is kind of the launch angle you know kind of modern era baseball right now where that's kind of the main thing and i think he tried to make some adjustments with that uh and then we've seen we've seen more balls in the air over the last couple weeks but the hard

contact hasn't been there. And so, I mean, overall, I'm not worried about the guy. I think he's going to be just fine. I think it's just one of those situations where those expectations were so unbelievably high. I don't think Bo Bichette has much of an impact on him one way or the other. I know that someone was made of that when he came up in late July and had such a hot start and maybe took a bit of eyes off Vlade. I mean, the fact is when you follow this team

and you see when the Yankees come through, the media requests for Vlade, it doesn't matter if Bo's here. There's going to be a spotlight on this guy. No matter where he goes in every single stadium that he plays, I don't think he can avoid that radar. I mean, Bo might take up a little bit of it, but Vlade's going to have to be his own guy, and he's going to have to be a superstar player in this league

if the Blue Jays' rebuild is going to be successful, and it's something that he's going to have to get used to. I think if he had finished second overall in MVP voting this season, it might have been a bit of a letdown for Vlad. I don't know. That hype was something else. I mean, I think everybody expected him to come up here and hit 350 with like 45 homers in his first year it's just so we're seeing the downside of it a little bit um but that that's fine too i mean to me i i still think the the situation at

third base isn't isn't sustainable long term um that defense i just don't see how that's going to ever work out i mean they've been adamant about trying to make that work now for a few years. I expect them to run him back at third base next year and try again. But I've been asked this question a lot, like in a couple of years from now, I just don't see a situation where he can actually stay at third base. I mean, to me, the arm is fine, but the range is probably only going to get worse over time. I just don't have faith that he's going to be able to figure out that footwork over there. To me, I think at some point in time, he's going to have to figure out the footwork at first base or become a designated hitter.

Yeah, I agree. Now, the other questions aren't so much about what happens on the field. Maybe, pitching-wise, set us up for next season? Is Nate Pearson going to be a part of this team next season?

He will. I don't think it'll be at the very start of the season. They've got an issue with him in terms of innings. So he pitched about 100 this year. They can probably get him up to the 140, 150 range next year. That's still not enough to be a full-time starter. You got to be closer to the 170,

180 range. So that means they have a couple of options. Either they delay a start to the season, kind of ease them into spring training, and look at more of like a late April debut, or maybe you start them at Buffalo and you pitch them only four innings for the first couple of times and really kind of ease them in and save some of those innings for later in the year. Or you start them on time and you shut them down early. I think that they're going to ease him in. I wouldn't be surprised if I would expect him to start next year at AAA Buffalo.

And then I would expect him to come up, you know, probably maybe towards the end of May at some point next year. And then in theory, you know, if everything goes well, then he should become a permanent piece of that rotation. Good. Is there anyone else? Outside of that, I mean, it's still pretty kind of dark, I mean, to be honest with you. I mean's there's been some positive signs lately i guess from from guys like uh from k i think anthony k is an interesting piece um you know i think he's someone who's going

to come back in that role and knock down one of the spots next year too i mean tj zoic a lot of people have been talking about to me i'm still a little bit uh i'm a little bit more reserved on that for now i mean he's this has been talked about a bit as well but he's kind of a throwback in a lot of ways he's not the type of pitcher that a lot of people target these days the strikeouts are very low he's a sinker baller pitches the contact keeps the ball on the ground to be successful you just don't see as many of those guys around anymore and so he could potentially become a back-end piece but but that's the problem with this rotation and it's the problem long term as well you've got a lot of guys who are candidates for maybe the third spot and then the fourth and fifth and outside of Pearson

you don't have a guy who you view as being more of a long-term big piece and so to me this organization still very much needs to go out and get at least one big reliable arm and probably need a couple of those guys. And it's all about matching up the timing at this point. And I think teams kind of sometimes get into trouble when they try to do everything in one off season. I mean, if I'm the Jays, even if I'm looking at next year as a year where, okay, maybe they don't realistically contend, but you want to start taking the steps to do that. And so you got to be targeting some of these more high ceiling type guys who, okay, maybe you pay him, maybe, maybe overpay him a little bit. And maybe you pay him next year, knowing that he's probably not going to help you with a postseason team. But what about the second and third year of the deal? And I think you need to start kind of compiling some of those pieces now instead of waiting too long. What's your thoughts on the opener?

So the opener, it's an interesting one. So I've talked about this a bit online, and I seem to get people who think that I'm like the old man on his porch yelling at the kid to get off his lawn. It's not that I'm anti-opener because I'm like the old man on his porch yelling at the kid to get off his lawn. It's not that I'm anti-opener, because I'm not. I understand the strategy. I think if you look at a team like the Yankees right now, that's a team that can really use that to their benefit,

depending on which starter they have on a given night. I think Wilmer Font with the Blue Jays in certain situations makes sense. It makes sense to have a guy who's going to come out in the first inning, throw 95, 96 against the top of the order. However, I don't get it in Toronto right now at all. I don't understand it. Because you've got these guys who are coming in, and to me, it sets a bad precedent.

You're basically telling them already you're limiting their ceiling basically by telling them we don't think you can get through the top of the order three times. And instead, they're being babied a little bit. And you know what? Maybe two years from now or maybe even next year after you've seen these guys for 15, 20 starts, you realize that, okay, this is what you need to do.

This is the way baseball works right now. This team will have a better chance of getting through nine innings if we go with an opener. However, to do that to guys when they're just coming up and making their big league debut, I think sends the wrong message to them.

And then the other part of this is, what is the real advantage that you're doing here? I mean, the win-loss doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. I know you're playing some contending teams, but I mean, the Yankees are safely in the postseason as well. So you could easily have gone with TJ Zoic without an opener and just seen what he did.

And you know what? The other counter that some people said is, well, he only has so many innings. That's what the argument was for Trent Thornton. They're easing down on his innings. Okay, well, you know what? If he only has four innings, start him in the first inning and pitch him until the fourth.

Get him into his routine. Get them into what they're trying to do going forward, as opposed to putting a limit on them right now. And that, that's what I don't like about what the Jays are doing. I feel like, uh, we want to,

don't we want to know what we have? Like what are we, yeah. And if you're, if you're going to take advantage of it, this is a lost season in a lot of ways. Uh, and the only way it's not really a lost season in the grand scheme of things

is if it's the ultimate evaluation year. And this is when you need to take stock of what you have. And to be honest with you, it's another reason why even, even to, to, to go away from the opener, it's,

it's a reason why I don't really understand why Anthony Alford isn't getting more of an opportunity with the blue Jays this year. I mean, I, I know why he's not, it seems very clear that he's very far down that depth chart. It seems very obvious to me that they don't view him as a viable option in centerfield because if they did, he'd be out there right now. But to me, I mean, this is a guy who's out of

options on his contract next year. This was the only opportunity you were going to get to have give him a bit of an extended run. to me i've seen enough of guys i just don't think billy mckinney's ever going to be much more than he is now uh i mean at this point i've seen enough of teoscar hernandez in center field i mean there were some positive reviews initially um i don't need to see that much more i mean i understand that the the bat is still uh compelling to the organization a bit and maybe they can do an Edwin Encarnacion thing there where they get him more DH at bats and maybe he eventually figures it out. But to me, Alford, I mean, it's another disappointing year. He brought a lot of this on himself in a lot of ways by not being able to stay

healthy and not really consistently producing the minors. I get that his stock has dropped, but to me, this was the final opportunity to really give him an extended look. And even if he's not in the Jays plans, if you give him an extended look and even if he's not in the jays plans if you give him an extended look maybe he catches fire for three weeks and then you have a you have a trade asset that uh that has a little bit more value to it but they're not doing that so why doesn't the toronto star have a uh a pod get you sound great i'm listening to you in the headphones you sound really strong like yeah where's the podcast strategy for the toronto star like where is the Big Gregor podcast? It might be in the works, actually.

Stay tuned on that one. There might be. There's some stuff that we're going to be working on this offseason that, you know, I was kind of thrown into it in the middle of May, and it was kind of just, you know, the sink or swim mentality, and it was getting the first kind of reporting and columnizing side down, and then I think this offseason we're going to get into a little bit more of that. I think I'm going to start a blog as well

and do a little bit more of the daily stuff. It's kind of news and notes type stuff on that side of things as well, similar to kind of what Doug Smith does for the star right now. Yeah, I remember listening to a Doug Smith podcast with Laura Armstrong. I remember then it was good and it disappeared.

Yeah, I think they're going to get back into it more. I think you're going to start seeing that more in the next next few months all right i'll wait for my my phone to ring uh i'll be waiting now uh this question okay so we talked about how good you sound on the mic so you need a podcast but really you should be on you should be on the radio but um there is a question about sportsnet here from jason and the question is, do you Gregor feel the writers who work for Sportsnet are impartial? The writers that I do, certainly the writers. Uh, I, I certainly don't know enough about the inner workings of, of Sportsnet to know the overall mandate. Um, I know that, uh, I mean, shy to VD, in my opinion is, is, is easily one of the best in the business

at what he does. I think he's a great networker. And I think unfairly, a lot of times people look at his situation and point to it just being a Sportsnet thing and that he gets stuff handed to him. I mean, I work beside Shai on a daily basis. I know the work that he puts in to develop his sources and really kind of get an understanding of how that organization works from top to bottom. And I would have said that about Shai before he even worked at Sportsnet. I remember coming through there as an intern when he was the main baseball writer at the Canadian Press.

And I remember being really impressed at the way he kind of operated scrums and the intel that he was able to provide. So I certainly would go to bat for those guys any day of the week. I understand the questions about it. And I mean, this is a business. I get it. I'm sure there are similar things that they have to deal with that maybe MLB.com had to deal with. I certainly can't speak to it because it's not something that they talk to me about. But I wouldn't be surprised if there are certain things that they have to stay away from from time to time. But the one that does bug me a little bit is when people want to completely discredit the work that those guys are doing because I know I know how hard Ben works Ben Nixon Smith and Arden and Shy and

those guys are really good at what they do I'm sure they have a unique set of circumstances being owned by the team and to me that that's why there needs to be a strong presence on the other side as well I mean there needs to be if there is that perception out there then people need to be able to get their news from other places as well so they can compare it. And I think that's where, you know, there's such an importance for, you know, the newspapers that have been around for a long time. I think when those controversial issues come up, there's certain people you want to be able to read and kind of parse through some of the PR that the team is putting out. And I think that's where the star and the sun and the athletic and some other

places do some really good work. No, absolutely. Absolutely. Now, Mike G wants to know how many staff does the Toronto star send to Rogers center to cover Jay's games? That's the part one.

And then part two is how many staff are sent to cover road games? Sure. So, I mean, at home we can have a wide variety of people who come through. I mean, for the most part, it's myself, Laura Armstrong, and then Rosie. Is Rosie an FOTM? I don't think so.

We're working on it. We're working on it. I did invite her on, for what it's worth. It would lead to a heated debate. Well, I invited her on before the bicycle thing, but she said that she was strictly a print gal. That's what she told me. So she took a pass. Gotcha.

And then Mark Swalinski, who does some Leaf stuff for us as well. He also does some baseball. And then Morgan Campbell does kind of the bigger feature. He did a big one on Charlie Montoyo earlier this year. So we've got those five and then on the road we we do pick and choose our spots a little bit more uh so laura laura did she was down in detroit earlier on uh she goes down to buffalo quite a bit um and then i'll be in san diego for the winter meetings i was in new york uh after the all-star game after the all-star

break and i was with the team through the trade deadline and stuff like that. So we're not doing all 81, uh, road games. We're trying to be a little bit more smart on to pick and choose. And to be honest with you for what I'm doing is kind of the bigger picture colonizing type stuff. Uh, I mean, I think that that's actually, um, pretty doable, uh, with that, with that approach, to be honest with you, but, uh, it's just kind of the, the realities of the business now. I mean, a lot of people think the athletic goes to all these games. And in reality, they don't as well. We probably travel just as much as they do. It's just a reality that pretty much every newspaper is dealing with. Globe and Mail don't really travel much at all anymore. Toronto Sun's

really the only one who's still there on an everyday basis. It's just kind of the reality of the business now. And obviously, if the Jays should ever climb back into the playoffs, you'll be there. Oh, 100%. I mean, you look at what they did. I mean, I think that's a smart approach. You look at what the Star did when the Raptors went on their deep run.

I mean, they had multiple people on the road for every game and every morning practice. Eric Grossman has a question for you. I'm going to see Eric on Sunday, by the way. Oh, yeah, nice. I'm going to the Wolfpack. Ah, very nice. I have yet to make it down, and it's on my list.

He's been begging me to go down there for a while. I heard a lot of great things, but I have yet to check it out. Yeah, I barely know what's going on, and I love it. I've been several times this season, and it's fantastic. I'm always hoping someone will explain to me, because there's no replay screen. That's the hardest part for a person who's new to the game so you you hear a fan reaction something happened but you might have missed it you know you're new to the sport and you want to like turn around or look over to the side and watch the replay there's no replay there's

no screen so uh i'm thinking of going to like costco or best buy or something and buying like the biggest screen they have and plugging it in and say, hey, use this. We need something here. Okay. So Eric, good guy, says, now that you're writing for the Toronto Star, does that mean you will be incorporating vegetables into your diet? Probably not. My diet's not the best. Even though I'm a very tall and skinny dude i i uh i probably eat way too

much takeout and then he'd be referring eric grossman former uh member of the blue jays public relations department he would be referring to uh the the press meals that i would probably often skip the vegetables i guess i'm i've been guilty of that myself actually so i can't throw stones here they douse them in oil at the press box and roger center it's it's basically like it's almost like a like a vegetable soup it's almost every time it's not it's not that great no it doesn't sound great um so i don't blame you but you would of course if there was veggies on the pizza you'd eat that sure no of course different story there okay but i just remembered eric i'm gonna see him thursday night because eric be at TMLX4. So there's more incentive for you to make it.

Absolutely. To show up there. Okay, Keegan. Wow. All your friends are showing up here. Keegan Matheson, who took your gig at MLB when you left it. How would you describe, how would he describe the positive impact that Scotty Mitchell and I have had on his health, finances, work life,

and overall happiness as an individual. They're bringing me down and all of the above. They're the debaucherous ones. You've got the Maritimer and Keegan, and then you've got Wild Mitch at TSN who, I mean, he's called Wild Mitch for a reason. So he's a hard one to keep up with. So yeah, they do damage on my wallet and on my overall health for sure.

Oh, because Keegan put in parentheses that it might get a bit emotional here. I think he wanted me to pause for the emotional, like you might be in tears telling about how they've helped you. Yeah, I think Keegan's overestimating his self-worth there. Okay.

Yeah, I'm sureegan's overestimating his self-worth there. Okay. Yeah, I'm sure he is. Okay. AJ, see all your pals are coming through here. How much is he willing to pay me to FedEx that Donair that I couldn't get through airport security? It's still in Halifax. So tell, I mean, we should all know, but not everybody will. What is a, oh, I said it right.

Donair? Donair, yeah. Donair. Donair is kind of like, I mean, the closest thing maybe would be kind of like a shawarma. It's like the mystery meat, but it's very different at the same time. So it's- They're in the same family. Same family, yeah. So you've got the, it's like this meat that's on this little roaster. Who knows what kind of meat it is? I have no idea what's in it. Maybe beef? I don't know.

And then it would... I personally like it. Some people just like it with just the classic straight up doner and then the doner sauce. I like it with cheese in there as well, which is a little bit less traditional. And some onions. Maybe even some bacon in there if you can soup it up a little bit. Uh, but yeah, it's a very, it's a very East coast style, uh, dish, which I was very surprised. It's everywhere there. Yeah, I know it is. It's everywhere. It's like the late night. It's the go-to late night after, after the bar, you, a lot of times you'll go for a donair, uh, and I,

I love it. Um, but it's, so there's that. And then there's the other one is garlic fingers, which you guys don't have much out here either, which is just kind of like, sort of like breadsticks, but they're different. Uh, like it's, it's, I mean, it's just garlic and cheese, essentially a pizza, just that's garlic and cheese. And that, that's another go-to. We have garlic bread with cheese on it. Yeah. It's, it's different though.

It's different. Yeah. This is, this looks like exactly like a pizza, except it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's kind of, it's almost hard to explain. But that's another go-to. So to answer the question, though, I actually wouldn't pay that much because now there's a place in Toronto. There's places that tried to say that they served East Coast-style donairs before

that never really did. It was always very different. There's actually now a place that's a small chain that came from Halifax that's in toronto now as well that i've uh i've gone to many times more than i'd like to admit over the last two months once i found it is it up to par like you can speak as a true maritime yeah no it's really good uh yeah yeah jesse's pizza it's uh probably like uh i don't know 15 minutes away from where i am right now and the donairs actually are legit and the garlic fingers are legit. Give me a major intersection nearby

this place. It's near Dundas West and Bloor, I believe. Not too far. Like where Bishop Morocco's there and the crossways. Okay. Good to know. This reminds me a little bit of earlier in the summer we had lots of discussions

on this show about where you get the best Montreal-style bagel in the city. Because there were a lot of places who said they could do it. And similar to, it sounds like a similar deal of the Donairs. And then just like there's a lot of people in Toronto from Montreal, including Brian Gerstein, who we heard from earlier. There's a lot of them. But there's also a lot of Maritimers in Toronto. Like a lot of Maritimers in Toronto like a lot like if you could give them like you said if you could produce

what they're used to having at home and it was up to code up to snuff you could do quite well in this city I would think. Yeah exactly I mean it's a frequent topic of conversation with Keegan and I think we're constantly in a battle to see who orders more donairs we're constantly sending pictures into the group chat about it.

I can imagine okay now I wanted to end the program by talking to into the group chat about it. I can imagine. Okay. Now, I wanted to end the program by talking to you a little bit about music. Sure. Now, again, obviously, you're many years younger than me, but I asked you just to name a couple of bands you dig, and you mentioned this band, so I thought maybe we could talk a little bit

about one of my favorite bands of all time, which kind of gets overlooked, I think, and is kind of underappreciated because some other bigger bands that kind of were around at the same time but i'm referring to stone temple pilots like okay so when did you first become a fan of stp um i i'm the guy whose musical tastes haven't really advanced much plus uh beyond what he listened to in junior high and high school. I'm kind of stuck in that area. So there we go. So I was big into the 90s grunge and alternative. And I think Stone Temple Pilots' Purple Album was one of the first cassettes I ever bought.

I actually bought it on that Natick trip that I was telling you about with the basketball billet program. Oh, in Massachusetts. Yeah, yeah and uh i fell in love with stp pretty much right off the start and they were so purple okay so okay only because i'm playing core stuff because uh but i went to i picked up purple first and then immediately went to core right after that yeah i used to do that all the time where you you're introduced to like uh an album that's big at the time you're into the music whatever depending on your age and then you have to go backwards uh and kind of catch up if you will that happened to me of a lot of bands but in those days it was actually perfect because i was a columbia house guy so it

would be like the 12 cds for a penny or whatever of course yeah so that was like when i started off it was a perfect time to start off your record collection because i i did that i did that deal a few times and so i think I built up my collection pretty quickly based on that. That'll get the numbers up and then you just got to be careful because they'll get you when you forget to reject the next month's offering or whatever.

Yeah, I think I got stuck with... There was some piece of crap in your mailbox. I got stuck with a President's United States. Wait, is it the one with peaches on it? No, it was the second one. I don't even know if I ever opened it. That sucks because if it was the one with peaches on it? No, it was the second one. I don't even know if I ever opened it. That sucks because if it was the one with peaches on it, you could keep on to that one. It had lumpas on that one too.

Lumpas on that too, yeah. Now, okay, so I'm trying to remember where. I feel like it was Q107. My brain's messed up. Sometimes I can't remember whether it was a much music video or if it was on 102.1, the station I listened to throughout the 90 Music video or if it was on 102.1 the station I listened to throughout the 90s or if it was on Q I feel like it was Q107 where I heard

this jam. This is before Purple so way before Purple. The album before Purple which was core. And Sex Type Thing. I heard this and I totally was like what is that? Wow. And then Much Music not too long after here let me bring down

Sex Type Thing. So Sex Type Thing, I really liked how it sounded. In fact, actually, here's the other one I really liked also from KOR. I liked a lot of stuff on KOR. Yeah, it's good. It was on there, yeah.

see it still sounds great to me it's great absolutely it is see i'm like you i'm stuck in the 90s Okay, so you got your like sex type thing and your Wicked Garden. All that core was pretty amazing. And then this thing hit much music, this one right here. guitar solo And I feel the time's a waste to go So where you going to tomorrow when I see that these are

lies to come So would you even care My heart rate, like I don't know how you react when you hear a song that you used to love

like a lot. Like my heart rate is going up. Oh, absolutely. I can feel it. Like I just want to I'll be right with you, Gregor. Hold on. Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely. I can feel it. Like I just want to... I'll be right with you, Gregor.

Hold on. Oh, yeah. Scott's got to do a bit more. But I remember this came out. It was on core, but it was everywhere. And I remember my buddy at the time, Chris, telling me,

oh, man, that's a great Pearl Jam song or whatever. But no, come on. Get out of here. At first, I was crazy about Pearl Jam, but please. It was different. It was great. Wait, here's Scott right here. Hold on. Oh, yeah. Hold on. I forgot he does this one. He makes you wait for it. Did you ever have the pleasure of seeing Stone Temple Pilots in concert?

Yeah, so my favorite concert of all time was probably SDP. I mean, growing up in the Maritimes, you know, we didn't get exposed to the type of live shows that come through here. So, I mean, we would basically get Canadian bands, and that was pretty much it. Lots of Sloan? A lot of Sloan. A lot of, like, Our Lady Peace and Moist and Tragically Hip and bands like that. Yeah, Tea Party. But we never really got any big bands from elsewhere at all and so it was when I first moved to Toronto

um one of the first things I wanted to do was start seeing some of the bands that like that were still around that that I grew up listening to it was kind of like a bucket list thing for me like any band who was like one of my favorite bands during that time I wanted to eventually see them but to me the top of the list was always Stone Temple Pilots. And at that time, I moved here in 2005, and so they had been broken up for a while. And so I never actually thought I'd get the opportunity to see them. And then they got back together for a tour. And what actually made it really kind of chaotic and really cool was that they had just started this tour. I mean, Scott Whelan obviously had all kinds of issues, unfortunately.

He was addicted to heroin, I believe. Yeah, yeah. And so they got back, and so it was, I mean, that obviously pulled the band apart multiple times, but they had gotten back together. He supposedly had gotten his act cleaned up, but that had been said many times before. And so they had started this tour,

and they included Detroit on one of the, there wasn't a Toronto date at that point in time, so they had started this tour um and they included detroit on one of there wasn't a toronto date at that point in time but they had included detroit and they were playing i believe the fillmore i think it's called in detroit um and so i think it was like the the second or third show on their tour and so i had been counting down the days for this for like months really really excited to go down and go and the they did this concert i think it may be the second one on their tour just before detroit and it was in new jersey i believe um and there was this huge kind of scandal involved with it because i think opie and anthony had a radio show or something and they were like backstage and they they were like

reporting like how i don't know that band had been been banging on this tour bus trying to get Scott Wheeler to come out of this tour bus. He wouldn't come out, wouldn't come out, wouldn't come out. He eventually came out and he was really messed up. And he went on stage and I think the second song, he started dancing backwards while he was singing and he was just way too messed up. And he actually fell back into the drum kit and knocked all the drums over and the whole show had to be canceled. And so there was some question marks as to whether or not they would even be able

to carry on with the tour. And it seemed like it was going to be canceled, but they decided to keep going. And maybe it was just because it was the first concert after that big incident. But I remember going to that show and not having any idea what to expect being like is is he going to be with it enough to be able to do this show right um and

then i think they were like maybe 30 seconds into the first song um and when i turned to the the girl that i was dating at the time and i was like he's on like this is going to be a great show and it was it was like the film more um or the or yeah, I think it's the Fillmore. Very small, kind of like intimate theater, really cool environment to see them in. And yeah,

I mean, they played all the hits that day. I mean, it was after their prime, for sure, but they sounded to me like they were, at least for one night,

that they were back on their prime. Yeah, I saw them several times. I even saw Velvet Revolver, big Scott Weiland fan. And yeah, he had vices, an addiction. This is no laughing matter.

It ended up killing him. But he was, every time I saw him, he kicked ass. Like this was just a rock and roll front man. And they always sounded fantastic. I saw them open for a lot of bands, like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Linkin Park. I saw them open for once. And I always felt like they were, I often saw them open for once and I always felt like they were,

I often saw them open for bigger bands but to me, there's not many bands bigger than STP. They could have easily been the headliner on all those shows but yeah,

man, Scott's gone. They were fucking amazing and we share that so I wanted to spin a bit of core. What's crazy to me is that a lot of those voices

in my youth are already gone like that's all but eddie think about it eddie somebody make sure he's okay i want him to live to be 100 100 fucking years old but uh yeah chris cornell's gone yeah man well kurt's been gone a long time uh lane staley's exactly i was a huge alice in chains fan uh back in the day as well and i mean like yeah and uh chester lincoln park and there's a lot like there's a lot of those guys that i like grew up listening to uh uh, in junior high and high school, who you would think that, I mean, there's no reason that they shouldn't be around. And

unfortunately, I mean, they all had demons, uh, as a lot of people kind of in that line, unfortunately kind of develop. Um, but yeah, it's, it's too bad. Protect better. That's all I'm going to say. Protect better. Gregor, this was amazing. Like, uh, that was fantastic. I'd love to have you back,. Protect better. Gregor, this was amazing. Yeah, absolutely. That was fantastic. I'd love to have you back one day to kick out the jams. Of course, anytime. Get you some more beer and some more lasagna, buddy,

and some more stickers. And that brings us to the end of our 512th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Gregor, what is your Twitter handle? GregorChisholm. G-R-E-G-O-R-C-H-I-S-H-O-L-M. We haven't got rid of that L.

We've got to get rid of it. Okay, but that's how you find him on Twitter. Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Capadia LLP is at Palma Pasta Sticker U is at Sticker U Capadia LLP is at Capadia LLP

and Pumpkins After Dark are at PumpkinsAfterDark.com See you all next week. I mean literally I want to see you all on Thursday at Great Lakes Brewery. It's been 8 years of laughter and 8 years of tears Brewery. I haven't known you. Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow

won't stay today. And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away because everything is rosy and gray. We'll see you next time.