Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - James Sharman: Toronto Mike'd #1041

Episode Date: April 28, 2022

In this 1041st episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by James Sharman as they discuss his career covering footy and his recent pivot to selling pies. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Patrons like you.

Welcome to episode 1041 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta.

Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921 and Canna Cabana the lowest prices on cannabis guaranteed over 100 stores across the country learn more at cannacabana.com joining me this week

making his Torontoonto miked debut is james sharman welcome james mike thank you so much i'm honored look glad to have you here like you had me at james my first born's name is james and no joke whenever i encounter like a james in the wild i get a warm fuzzy feeling like so I like you already you know I'm actually Andrew James oh get out of here get the hell out of here I know you know my parents confused me from early doors you know I was christened Andrew James they called me Jamie my entire life until I became an adult and then James took over right some people call me Jim Jimmy I've got so many, I have no identity, Mike.

That's the issue, you know. It seems I've got so many... Do you ever get called Jimmy James? I do, actually, yeah. Okay, that's a cut from Check Your Head, the Beastie Boys album. Right, Jimmy James. It's the first cut on the album, as I recall.

And I always call my boy Jimmy James because of that great Beastie Boys. Yep, you know, it's my grandfather, I think, called me Jimmy James a lot, actually. Awesome. Takes me way back. Well, dude, nice to meet you uh you mentioned just before i press record you said great lakes was a nice choice do you drink great lakes beer i drink beer you know generally speaking i i wouldn't say i'm a connoisseur but i'm a beer lover and i certainly do at times uh pick up some great lakes from the liquor store i like to you know mix it up

a little bit and a fine fine brew okay i just want to make sure you know at least one of those came straight from the fridge uh you can you can it's up to you i'm gonna crack one yeah you want to join me okay not so what are you cracking you got 330 it's listen it's drinking time so you got a pale canuck pale ale okay you crack it i going to do mine right on the mic. I got to burst. All right. Allow me to as well here. All right, so I toast you. Yeah, cheers, Mike. Thank you for inviting me in.

Look, I'm looking forward to this. I'm looking forward to this, buddy. So much stuff going on. Okay, so let me enjoy my Great Lakes. Thank you, Great Lakes. You're going to take some home with you as well, James. Thank you. It won't last very long to have that much. And because you need something to eat

with your craft beer from Great Lakes, I have a frozen lasagna in my freezer for you. Oh, beautiful. From Palma Pasta. So you can thank Palma Pasta for your dinner, Great Lakes for the bevies, and we're off to a roaring start. That's brilliant. Thank you so much.

Even though you're an Andrew and I'm legit disappointed. I'm called James generally speaking though, okay? I was told I was getting a James. I feel like there's a bait and switch. I'm a phony, I know. I'm one of those James phonies. And there's so many Andrews. I can't complain about this, man.

I'm a Mike, okay? There are so many Mikes out there, but I feel like there's a lot of Andrews. Everyone's an Andrew or an Andy. They're just all over the place. There's a pl a lot of Andrews. Everyone's an Andrew or an Andy. They're just all over the place. There's a plethora of Andrews. I was an Andy for a while as well back in the day, actually. I think I rebelled against the James and the Jamie when I was probably seven or eight.

I remember I was a big BMX fan. I remember I had the number plate on front. But back in those days, it was cool to put your name on there. And I put Andy on there. Andy, okay. So, yeah, like I said, I'm a confused human being i don't know who i am i think you and i are identical like the same vintage i think uh born in 74 yeah absolutely me too buddy you're back in the good books okay fine year so we before we learn more about you and we talk uh i i'm can i even pull it off calling it footy like it's soccer i was i call it footy footy okay yeah i feel like an imposter but we'll work on this so we're now a

canadian we're a soccer culture a footy culture okay so you can use it so once we qualified for the world cup footy became okay for guys like me who were raised with like soccer yeah okay we're gonna talk footy we're gonna get to know you better there's a whole whack of stuff i want to ask you about but a few like notes off the top uh what year did you arrive in this country i arrived here in 1990 okay so because i know exactly how old you are my brain is now computing so before you got here uh 1050 which is now tsn radio, 10.50 was a top 40 station in this market. Okay, so... Yep, yep.

I was a fan 1430 guy. Right. I guess in the early 90s, right? Was that before... Okay, the early 90s, it becomes a fan. Before that, it was CJCL, the music of your life. I don't know if you arrived in time for that. I'm trying to think now.

I know for sure 92, 93, the when they can add that their breakthrough year the fan was around then i'm pretty sure if not a year later i'm gonna say i would guess it the fan it had they had the telecast before they were the fan i think 14 30 but i feel like 92 or 93 is when the fan sort of debuts yeah i remember listening to Howard Berger and Storm and Norman, of course, every night for years. Hammer, head alert. That's right. Hammer, head alert.

I learned about North American sports through the likes of Storm and Norman, your boy Hebsey. Okay, well, let's talk about my boy Hebsey. All these guys, I got to soak this in. So Norman, Storm and Norman, how many drinks have I had? Storm and Norman Rumak has been on this show a couple of times.

Love him. What a sweetheart. He's had to leave the industry, which we'll get into later. But great guy. And the hammerhead alert is for him. Howard Berger has been over.

I used to listen to Howard Berger do his Leafs updates on the fan forever, much like you did. And how do you know Hebsey? Did you watch Sportsline? Yeah, so 1990, I really got into North American sports around 92.

My friends at that point were big Leaf fans. So that's good timing, of course. The Gilmore trade around the same time the Jays obviously were world champions. It's a good time here. So how do we learn? It's never been that good again. And this was pre-internet,

but yeah, no kidding. Pre-internet, but no kidding. Pre-internet, amazingly, right? So how do you learn about sports in a new country where you watch TV? And I stumbled upon Sportsline, Hebsey and Taddy, and I just loved it. I loved the way they delivered the news, the fun they had with it. The Hebseys, of course, were just still legendary. Absolutely, yeah, Taddy, yes, guy. And I learned, because at that time the Leaf games were on Global, and they'd follow the games with sportsline i think it was if i remember

correctly yeah so that that's how i really got into sportsline yeah like 11 30 i think was maybe 11 or 11 30 oh my god i should know this but uh you and i are cut from the same cloth there though because i loved sportsline like it was appointment viewing for me oh it was amazing i mean it's just entertainment right sports entertainment It didn't take itself too seriously. And I think even today we could learn some lessons from the way those guys did it. Well, James, you should guest on Hebsey on Sports. We now have

a guest every Friday morning. I'd love to. That's via Zoom, though. But you Zoom in. I'll talk to Hebsey at 9.30 in the morning on a Friday. I'm going to talk to him. Please do. He's a big Spurs fan, Tottenham Hotspur fan. Yeah, okay. You know what? Tomorrow morning I will to Hebsey at 9.30 in the morning on a Friday. I'm going to talk to him. Please do, yeah. He's a big Spurs fan, Tottenham Hotspur fan. Yeah, okay.

You know what? Tomorrow morning, I will tell Hebsey that James Sharman would make a great guest for Hebsey on Sports. All right, so why did I bring up 10.50? I brought it up because I recorded a special episode 1050. So episode 1050 of Toronto Mic'd is a tribute to 1050 Chum as a top 40 station in this market. I had some

legendary characters from that show. Who did I have on here? These names will mean nothing to you, although one you might know of, but Chuck McCoy. Who else was there? The Greaser. Scott Carpenter was there uh the greaser uh scott carpenter was there uh jim van horn jim van horn okay you know that name maybe from tsn and uh who else was on that roger ashby and amber pay so i just want to let the listenership know that there's a exciting episode 10 50 that will drop

probably the day after i record episode 1049. You and I right now are 1041, so we got a couple of weeks to go, but wanted to let people know about that. And my friend, you're a big Raptors fan? You know what? I am every playoff season. I won't lie to you. I watch a lot of sports, you know, mainly of the international variety. However, I'm a big Leaf fan. I do certainly follow the Raptors, and I am certainly following this series. Are you watching tonight? Am I a fan, per se?

I will watch tonight, yeah. Okay. I've got to say, this is a strange one because I buried this team in my heart after Game 3. So we coughed up Game 3, and it was just the worst way to lose. So down 3-0, I was just basically like, okay lose so down three nothing i was like i was just basically like okay let's get them next year i was done but then they they did that thing where they they win game four that's incredible and fine that's great at home but then you go to game five

thinking in philly they're gonna you know seal the deal and then they win game five now they're coming home uh we have the momentum and now my now my heart thinks we can win this series. Like, I think we can win tonight. And why not win game seven? Like, my hope is all back. Like, this is going to, if the Raptors go out in the first round to the 76ers, I'll have buried the team twice. It's like dying twice.

Well, you say why not, but I mean, it'll be the first time it's ever happened right from three nothing down but i mean listen like i said i'm not i won't pretend to be an expert on the raptors aside from a bit of a fan i guess from the periphery but all year long they've done this right they found strange ways to win and they've surprised everyone so why not it could happen and certainly uh you know as like i said i'm a fair weather fan i'm a bandwagon jumper with rapt Raptors. I fully admit it. I haven't got enough time. That's me in TFC, by the way, but we'll get into that.

I get it, though. If I tell the missus, oh, by the way, I'm watching the Raptors as well as the Leafs, as well as the Jays, as well as 17 other soccer teams around the world, she would leave me. So I've got to pick and choose my battles here. Right, right, right. No, absolutely. So I'm going to watch the Raptors tonight.

And last thing I want to touch on before we talk about you is, are you a hockey fan? Are you a Leafs fan? I'm a huge Leafs fan. Yeah, I'm a diehard Leafs fan, I'll go as far as saying. It's been a tough few years, of course. But that's the first sport I really embraced when I moved to Canada. And it was because of Doug Gilmore and Wendell Clark, and that's why.

Yeah, I know. That was a good team, man. That was the Pat Burns coached Leeds teams. And yeah, that was Final Four appearance. So back-to-back Final Fours

in that legendary Game 7 against the Kings in 93. But yeah, I still have my Doug Gilmore jersey hanging upstairs. I still throw it on now. I've got a Wendell one

somewhere in a box somewhere. All heart, man. You ever seen that YouTube video All Heart set to Metallica's Hero of the Day? I have not. Okay, you gotta do,

dude, do yourself a favor. Find this on the YouTube. This thing just, like, just blows my mind every time I watch it. It's just a highlight reel of Wendell Clark checks and fights and big goals.

And it's set to Hero of the Day and it just kills, man. And it's funny, you hear him interviewed now and he's the softest spoken, loveliest guy in the world. Then he just, he has that switch, right? Which some athletes have, I guess. And I know, man, I came from a sporting culture

where fighting was frowned upon. I moved here and like suddenly, oh my God, this is the best sport ever, right? I loved it, you know? And it's too bad that it's kind of fallen away from the sport these days. But hey, call me an andethyl. I enjoyed it. Remember, Wendell wasn't a goon, right? He wasn't

here to fight. He was here to score goals and yeah, he could throw the haymakers and take on the Bob Proberts and stuff. McSorley from that series you just mentioned, right? One of the greatest covers of the Toronto Sun ever the next day, wasn't it? The black eyes on the McSorley. Now I'm missing the Pat Burns era.

But Austin's got 60. And I mean, I just want to point out how extraordinary this is that in this era of the game to score 60 goals is, I think only two guys have done it this century. I think it's Stamkos and now Austin Matthews. That's incredible.

It really is. Yeah, I mean, listen, like I said, it's 92, 93, I watched the Leafs and I've seen Mats and I've saw Dougie you know different kinds of players

but there's no one close to Auston Matthews there just isn't I remember back in the day watching the Red Wings they had Eisenman and Federoff and I'd go

man I wish we had a Federoff that kind of guy who was the best player in the game we never had like a top top 10 guy no never I don't know

Gilmore you could say yeah he was a top 15 guy or whatever. Yeah, right. Yeah. But he's like an Adam Oates type or whatever. But we never had the guy. We never had a Hart Trophy candidate. A transformative player, right?

Yeah, the guy that's going to change the way you mean. This is a Vince Carter in many ways, you know, even better perhaps. But as far as I think the Leafs have lost a generation of fans. And this guy might bring them back if he stays around long enough, if he can get them through the damn first round. Well, here's what will bring them back. Yeah, a first round, because as you know, we haven't been out of the first round since 2004.

So if I do the math on that, that's 18 years. Can that be true? That's 17, I guess, depending on how it goes this year. But that's incredible, right? Like, I got an 18-year-old daughter who's never been alive for a first round win. I mean, but how grateful are the Raptors of that pathetic record of the Leafs? It's allowed them to grow a fan base.

And now, I guess the Leafs, they won't admit it. They're owned by the same people, of course. But I think that they'd love to see the Raptors bow out in this first round and just take all the press themselves. Well, that's why it's nice to have the staggered starts for once because normally they start at the same time, but the NHL is a bit delayed here. Okay, my friend, so you're 16 years old when you moved to Canada just turned 16 yeah so what's it like I'm I've always I was born in Parkdale okay I live I literally live like like

I don't know 10k from where I was born here what's it like to be a I can't imagine what's it like to be 16 years old and to suddenly not just like move out of town or whatever but you you left the continent yeah i mean listen i'm not gonna sit here and say oh it was traumatic and terrible i'm moving from england to canada right pretty nice country um you know my parents middle class nice suburban house you know so putting that aside you know there's an emotional level you're just finding who you are you got your friends close friends back home you leave them you gotta find so you know had it's taught my times i guess but overall i was excited about it i couldn't wait to get here my parents met here in the 60s and then moved back to england having myself and my sister and then uh they always talked about canada so i

remember the year before going on vacation to tor Toronto for the first time and then it was slipped by by a cousin or something saying oh by the way you're moving here what heads up oh we're talking about so that's how I found out but yeah you know it was fine I mean I had to find new friends and new sports but hey listen you know I I remember sitting in a standing in a school line in in England at my high school uh thinking to myself man this is fine moving to Canada exciting but I never moving to Canada, exciting, but I never want to be at a point where I look back and it's just a distant memory. And now here we are in 2022,

and it's just a distant memory. I'm Canadian now. Well, welcome, welcome. I'm surprised you called it a line. Wouldn't that be a cue? Yeah, you're right. You see, I'm Canadian now, Mike. What can I say?

Somebody was, I can't remember now. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I was speaking on a Zoom with somebody from like London, England, and they were talking about, I think they were talking about the apartment they were looking at. And I remember thinking, wait a minute, like I know this person is like using the word apartment because they're talking to a North American,

but like it's a flat, right? It's a flat, yeah. Or like don't tell me about your elevator. I know it's a lift. Okay, so when did an apartment become a condo? Well, condos you own, at least in this neck of the woods, you don't own an apartment. You rent an apartment.

You own a condo. Gotcha. So I think that's the big difference. It's funny, the terminology, because now, you know, I'm still, when I think of England now, I'm thinking of England in 1990. So apparently it's changed. And when I do go back there and assume it's the same, it's like, oh, wait, actually it has changed a lot.

So it's funny how that changes over the time. Do you think it was Americanized in some respect? Probably, yeah. That's from the fast food outlets. You probably only had a couple when you left, and now it's everywhere. Oh, it's everywhere, yeah. Exactly. One big city in the world is much like another big city in the world right one last thing i've i always uh find interesting when i hear a british

person speak about uh a truck so is a truck is it a lorry a lorry that's it a lorry l-o-r-r-y so that one so that one lift and uh flat yeah but pretty soon you realize it's just easier to speak like the Canadians. Otherwise, you get these – I know well there's a look on a face, a Canadian's face, when they have no clue what I'm talking about. It's like, you know what? I'm just going to slip the accent a little bit here and start using truck and elevator. Don't dumb it down for me.

I want to learn. I want to learn here. Okay, so when you moved here, it's Mississauga. That's where you ended up, right? Originally, yeah. You know how I know that? Okay, what you're thinking, it's Mississauga. That's where you ended up, right? Originally, yeah, yeah. You know how I know that? Okay, what you're thinking, Mike, you stalking me? No, Bob Willett's Bob's Basement podcast.

You were on that, and I just want to shout out my dear friend Bob and tell him I listened to the James Sherman episode of Bob's Basement, and it was very good. It's a great show. Bob's fantastic, yeah. Is it as good as this one, or it's better than this one? Well, I'm 10 minutes into this one. Did he give you beer?

No, it was done via Zoom. I think it was deep in COVID actually. So, so far you're winning. You know what? Shout out to Bob. I believe, Bob, it could be like COVID could be a distant memory and it could be long eradicated. He's still probably going to Zoom you in. I'm not sure he's equipped. But you do miss that.

But you know what? As a guy, I'm not sure he's equipped. It's really convenient though, isn't it? But you do miss that. But you know what? As a guy, I'm on episode 1041, I think I said. And it's night and day to me personally, like the enjoyment factor when I have someone in person versus Zoom. There's no comparison, is there? There's something, some energy is picked up in the room. Feeding that energy.

I'm like, he's right there. He's got that square jaw. I can reach out and touch him. I know. I mean, I do a podcast a podcast too right and it's just a little delay causes complete chaos right so it's so nice being actually you know in the same studio at the same time like real human beings should be right no we don't although you know i guess we could have a power outage which would really fuck us up but uh we don't have to worry about the wi-fi now at least uh at least not for the recording um okay so what's the name of your podcast it's called a footy prime the podcast okay and is that

like an independent endeavor or is that aligned with some no it's independent we got some some news coming hopefully pretty soon about you don't want to break it here because this is where people i'd love to but i just can't right now but uh yeah ink hasn't dried on the contract essentially when when when when we lost when we left uh sports, myself, Craig Forrest, and Danny Dickey at the time, we formed this podcast. They just now moved to the States. We've brought in Jimmy Brennan, a former Canadian player, and Brendan Dunlop, formerly of Sportsnet. I know the guy.

Okay, you know Brendan. And Dan Wong is our producer. Our good friend Jeff Cole is involved. So there's about five or six of us now. We just love doing it. It was an excuse to get together, you know, just before COVID and, and just for our mental health,

it really helped through COVID I think. And yeah, it's kind of blossomed down to four shows a week and it's, it's a ton of fun. Hey, so I get to a TFC match whenever my buddy Elvis takes me, he's got seasons in the, the supporter section.

And I guess 20, 21 minutes into the game, there's the Danny Diccio 24. What is that Danny? I mean, every time I'm there, I hear it and I engage in it and I love it. But what is it? Basically, Danny Diccio, Danny Diccio. You're not going to sing it in tune?

Oh, God, no. Far from it. No, he's my mate anyway. It's always weird singing that. I would like to hear a podcast where you basically hear all the repeated songs and chants and explain them all for guys like me

who are intimidated by this whole culture because you drop a guy like me in the supporter section and suddenly there's this song you're singing at the 24th minute and there's this French call and response with the otherth minute and there's this uh uh french call and response with the other section yeah yeah it's amazing it's amazing like there's nothing else like it in the city and i didn't grow up with footy so like i'm learning and i would love to know like okay this is what we're doing now here's the origin what it means like that's what i want

to hear yeah let's do that i won't lie to you that's a great idea but i won't lie to you i'm when it comes to lyrics, I love music, but I'm awful with lyrics. Oh, that's like my wife. My ears just don't really work that well. It sounds good, but I have no idea

what they're saying all the time. So I need a song sheet. My wife doesn't hear lyrics. She swears. She says she loves music and she's always playing music. She just says her brain doesn't process the lyrics.

I find this difficult to understand because to me, it's two things equal. There's a melody and a beat and a tune, and you hear that, but then there's lyrics, and you hear that, and they have to kind of come together. To me it's all merged together.

It's like a little mummy blob, some wonderful blob of superbeness. I love music. There must be a name for that, like a medical condition. My wife always laughs at me all the time. I'm singing onto a song and she goes, what did you say? I say, that's wrong.

That's completely wrong. Okay, well, you're not going to be my co-host for this. What are they? Maybe Elvis. I'm going to reach out to Elvis and see if he'll do the, but he'll have to sing the Dickio song that you sing at the 24th minute. Most of them probably aren't even repeatable. That's okay.

But they are very creative. They're very creative around football grounds around the world. Right. Okay, so we digress. We'll get back to that. But you're growing up GTA. At what moment do you realize, like, I, James Sharman, or Andrew Sharman, or whatever the hell you were going by, I want to be a sportscaster. When do you realize that?

It came late, very late. You know what? I had no aspirations of being a sportscaster. You know, I wanted to be the athlete, the guy lifting the trophies, but I realized at a pretty young age that, you know what? I love playing all sports, but I'm never going to be good enough.

So I went to Ryerson, and I'm a sports junkie. We just rebranded that school. Yeah, sorry, the Metropolitan University, whatever it's called. TMU. It's Toronto Mike University. Sounds so generic, doesn't it? Toronto Metropolitan University. Okay, right, I'll call it University, whatever it's called. TMU, Toronto Metropole University. University.

Okay, right. I'll call it right now. You know, I know, listen, I, and I,

I took media arts, not RTA. That was a good one. Mine was crap. My course, it was just terrible, but it's four years of fun. Socially,

I managed to scrape through with a degree while at the same time, you know, watching every sport under the sun, loving sports, but not knowing that's the angle I want to get into. But then the last few months of my degree, Headline Sports was about to be launched. And my good friend, Aaron Murphy,

he got me an internship there. So I began interning just before it launched in 1997. And because I had an accent, they figured he must know soccer and cricket and rugby. I'm like, yeah, sure, why not? Throw me in there. So I began producing this little segment called Sports World, two minutes a day. I'd have to get likes of Elliot Friedman and Brian Duff and these guys, Greg Sansoni, to voice these packs.

And it kind of grew from there, and I began producing. I had no intention of being on air. The thought terrified me. It wasn't my thing. I didn't like being the center of attention but people began hinting, you should be voicing this yourself. Why don't you? Well, you do have good pipes and to speak to your point

or your observation, if we hear a British accent like you have, even if you don't know what you're talking about, we think you do. Like it's a real great, great gift to have. Let me tell you, cause I'm often speaking absolute crap.

Right. But you know, it's intelligence. Like, yeah, great. But you know, it's true.

The accent helped obviously, you know, and, and whoa, let's have it. This guy voicing our stuff for us. So it kind of grew from there, but I always found the producing side of,

of television and media more enjoyable and more rewarding than the actual on-air side of things but once someone offers you an on-air gig or an opportunity it's tough to say no to it so if you get again we'll get back to the score here i find that fascinating 97 you're there for the like on the ground floor but if you're born in my year i'm curious in the early 90s, did you buy into the grunge scene? What was your kind of music? Yeah, I'm a rock and roll guy. I love Nirvana. Yeah, me too.

100%. You know what? In fact, one of the biggest regrets of my life, I don't have many regrets, was 1994, Nirvana were playing at the Gardens in Toronto. And I had an exam. Now, I was the worst student, right? I would, on most occasions, say, well, to hell with the exam. I was the worst student right I wouldn't most occasions say well to hell with the exam I'm going to see Nirvana right now living around the corner from the gardens often we go to see a concert five minutes after it started and get scalpers for like 10 bucks

right so my mate comes back hey Shams we I've got Nirvana tickets ten dollars and I'm like you know what they come into Lollapalooza this summer we'll go and see them there so no I just can't do it I'm like you know what they're coming to Lollapalooza this summer we'll go and see them there so no I just can't do it I'm dying right now my grade point average is way down I have to do one and then Kurt did what he did

right yes April 94 I never got to see them live and it broke my heart and April the 5th I think actually my birthday is when they think

he killed himself yeah yeah April 4th April 4th was it and yeah so I missed the opportunity but yeah in the 90s,

I remember seeing Pearl Jam with Soundgarden opening up for Neil Young at the Exhibition Place. Wow. I loved it. Just what a great era of music. And we needed it because prior to that, it was just drivel and crap. Let's be honest.

Well, I was all in, right? So you're preaching to the choir here, man. Like, yeah, Pearl Jam, Nirvana. I loved Alice in Chains, Soundgarden. Even when STP comes along, I was a big Stone Temple Pilots fan. Hey, there's a great, I'm sure you've seen The Defiant Ones.

You've seen the series on Netflix? Maybe, say it again. The Defiant Ones. Maybe not. You have to watch it. It's about Dre and this guy called Jimmy Iovine. Yeah, I know his name.

It's a backstory, but there's a great scene earlier in that and it's Dre, who's not known for rock and roll right listening to nirvana and just saying this is the best fucking rock and roll band wow in the world i love these guys and he's singing along to it he's so into it and i thought man what i love that scene this cross yeah cross yeah exactly right and kurt did some wonderful things. He really did. No, man.

Yeah, all in on that. So many of those guys are gone now. I know I was just... Okay, I'll give you a little... If anyone's listening to this and also listens to Toast, this is a spoiler alert, but the next episode of Toast

when Stu Stone and Cam Gordon visit, we're kicking out... Okay, let me try to explain this. I got to do it really succinctly here. We're kicking out jams by bands that we like the song, but that song is not sung by the original lead singer that made them famous. So you follow me. So for example, if I kicked out a Phil Collins Genesis song, okay, that would qualify because Genesis became famous when Peter Gabriel was the lead singer. Okay. So i actually am kicking out and

don't tell stewart cam i want them to be surprised i'm a big fan of alice in chains and i love lane staley and i'm like you can't have alice in chains without lane staley like he's such a key part of that fucking band and then lane of course heroin overdose dies way too too young but they replace him and i i actually saw i had had tickets to see Velvet Revolver. Slash, right? Yeah, Slash is in that and Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots. But the opening band was Alice in Chains

with the new lead singer. So I come out, I was there, I'm like, I got a ticket, I'm gonna check them out, but it can't be the same. They sounded so fucking great. And then I got the new album, the new Alice in Chains with the new singer and i dug that too so what do i know man hey listen i i get it man i am so i am um one of the world's biggest fans of queen okay all right

that's the soundtrack to my life you know if i am stuck on a desert island and given a turntable in a record collection they They're all Queen. All right. Now, I resisted seeing Queen with Adam Lambert. I thought, even before him, Paul Rogers. Because there's only one Freddie Mercury. It's Fred, right? I can't see.

It's just not the same. Then finally I said, well, I'm being an idiot here. You know, Fred's not coming back, I'm pretty sure. Right. I'm going to check him out. Right. And it blew me away. Yeah.

How good he was. He was incredible. Now he's not Fred. He's not trying to be Fred. They really it blew me away how good he was. He was incredible. Now he's not Fred. He's not trying to be Fred. They really honor Fred's name during the entire show. But it's still Brian May and Roger Taylor. It's still Brian May on those incredible riffs on the Red Special up there. And I'm getting goosebumps.

And I'm seeing Adam Lambert blasting it out. And if Freddie was born 25 years ago ago now he's adam lambert now right so yeah i totally understand that and the best uh what i think might be the best example of this is acdc brian johnson yeah like gone too soon and then the the first album with the new lead singer is back in black they new heights yeah some bands won't do it right i mean even even led zepp without when john bonham died that was it that was drummer right crying out loud right yeah you think you know like the hoon doesn't skip a beat when they you know as long as right you know it's like okay we can who do we need to keep this thing going i guess great music great music i suppose but uh it's not quite the same but just to acknowledge that it's not the same you can still enjoy it i

think at some point uh james you're gonna have to return to this program to kick out the jams with me that means we're gonna play your 10 favorite songs of all time and talk about this because i realize i could do 90 minutes on music with you so i find that very stressful it is stressful and i get to enjoy you sweating as you try to come up but eventually you'll prune it down to 10 because you know hundreds have done this already including the aforementioned Hebsey and others. You get me your list of 10. I load them up. You're going to hear them in the cans

and they're going to sound fucking great, even though you've heard them a million times before. And then I fade it down and we hear your British accent explaining why you love. I love that idea. I'd be happy to. All apologies or whatever you're going to kick. I would give it a lot of time a lot of time ahead of time.

I would give that show a lot of respect because, uh, that would be tough, but I'd come up with 10. Okay. 10. The only thing, the only caveat is 10 unique artists.

Yeah. Okay. It's not 10 queen songs, right? Not 10 queen songs. Great. Okay. We'll be doing that.

So this is a teaser that eventually James comes back and we're going to totally do that, but the score. Okay. So this is, um, pretty, pretty do that. But the score, okay. So this is pretty interesting that you find yourself on the air. And is it the footy show?

No, originally it was Sports World. So I mean, I was there for like three years before I got my voice on air. At the time, if you remember, the wheel it was called. So this 50-minute rotation of highlights and news stories. And three minutes of that was and it wasn't even called the score right it was headline sports until i think 99 maybe

2000 i forget when it changed over now then it switched to the score um so yeah this like three minute segment each day and like i said it'll be elliot freeman or greg sansoni voicing these packs and then uh i went away for six months um uh i should say on vacation, not away to jail. I went on Southeast Asia for six months. And then when I came back, my boss goes, hey, listen, you know, you should be voicing this now. So I thought, okay, let's give it a whirl. So I began voicing it. And then that grew into an actual show, which I pitched and pitched and pitched.

And my boss at the time, Anthony Ciccione, was just the biggest, from a boss standpoint, a fantastic boss, but also the main reason why I'm on A&L, giving me a chance. And that's how it kind of started. Doing soccer, cricket, rugby, Formula One,

anything outside North America, basically. Right. Okay. And this is the footy show. This is Sports World. So I'm still... Yeah, yeah. So it's Sports World.

Then 2007, the score gets the Premier League rights and then the footy show is born. Okay, okay, okay. So, and TFC shows up in 06, right? 07 is when... 07. Yeah, I think they won the bid for the franchise in 06

and then their first game is 07. So this is a little bit of a... I won't, you know, we use the term perfect storm way too often. Not every perfect storm is a perfect storm, but this is a little bit of a, I won't, you know, we use the term perfect storm way too often. Not every perfect storm is a perfect storm, but this is ideal for you, that you're kind of in the right place at the right time, and suddenly we've got a Major League Soccer franchise.

Yeah, it's great timing, really. I mean, getting the Premier League the same year as TFC being born, the same year that David Beckham arrives in MLS too, with the Galaxy. So suddenly MLS is getting mainstream coverage. So it was great timing for that. So I created this show, the footy show, with a great team behind me.

But it was essentially multi-platform, 360 approach, a blog, a podcast, TV shows, all in support of our one Premier League gamer weekend. Amazing. Okay. And pardon my ignorance here, but what is the difference between uh the footy show and the hardcore footy show is one just more hardcore than the other what's going on there you swear on that one yeah hardcore footy show was on hardcore sports radio satellite radio

sirius xm so basically it was more hardcore because we could drop f-bombs and no one cared right um but yeah it was separate from the footy show. It was a weird time that was because you had the hardcore sports radio operating in the same building as the score. They weren't really connected to too much, but they'd simulcast some of the radio shows on the score. And you did that with Christian Jack.

With KJ, yep, and Brendan. And Brendan Dunlop. Okay, cool. Would you ever drop, and I'm just curious because I I you know I'll listen to Ricky Gervais and I find me very funny but Ricky Gervais will drop the c-word like it's nothing right and it's a cultural thing like I can't even call it by its real name I'm saying the c-word that's the difference you know so he's littering his stuff with the c-word and I'm calling it the c-word what's your take on the c-word big fan I'm a fan of it yeah like yeah yeah you know i i don't know it's the one word well probably there's

two words probably right in the english language that people grimace a little bit when they hear it well there's a few like the r word has now emerged like i don't like to hear the r word you're probably gonna ask me afterwards yeah it's probably really obvious now, isn't it? But I can't think what it is. The R word. It kind of rhymes with leotard, but not really. Oh, yeah, exactly. Exactly. It doesn't quite actually. I was thinking, what does it rhyme with? No, no.

I'm like, I'm not too sure. Yeah. I get what you're saying, though. Yeah, no, it's a good word. It is a good word. It's an effective word. The C word. Yeah.

Okay, not the R word. No, not the R word word that's not very effective um you go to australia and and people drop it just in regular conversation right it's very different but i mean i'm like i mean you know i i erased the c word for my my dialogue because of how offended uh some you know canadian you know most of my listeners are in the gta for sakes. The C word doesn't fly, but I know in England it's a morning, morning zoo radio programs might use the C word. It's,

it's, I'd say in England, it's somewhere between Australia and Canada. Okay. Um, again, Australia, it's like littered.

They say it in daycare. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, precisely. You don't even hear your C word. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, precisely. You don't want me to hear your C word. Arr. Yeah.

There's a great YouTube video about a goat. Kevin the C word. It's really quite funny, actually. Scotland too, they use it a lot. Parts of Scotland too. I don't know. I think maybe we assign more of a gender to it. Perhaps.

Maybe because we assign a gender, it becomes extremely misogynist like yeah here here we use the term i'm pissed off no problem on mainstream tv whereas in england at least in 1990 england right okay referring back to then uh it was very much frowned upon wow would never make the airwaves see this is interesting to me the the curse words that are more acceptable on the other side of the pond than they are here. Okay. And okay, so pissed, I shouldn't say pissed off if I'm planning to go viral in England.

That's going to work. Well, I think a podcast you're probably fine with. I wouldn't do it on the BBC, you know, 6 o'clock news, for example. BBC One, BBC Two. Shout out to Mike Myers. Okay. So let me just run through this bio a little further here. So you did, this is mind-blowing to me,

and I need the specifics. You did some play-by-play for TFC. Yeah, just the first year. We picked up a couple of games. Really? Like you're the lead, you're calling a major league soccer game for television. Yeah, and that's why the score gave opportunities to people right and i mean i

was no way ready to be on tv to begin with i was so green i see tapes now you know my dad's got the old tapes stuck away so i said oh my god how did they allow me on i was dreadful and then my first ever play-by-play was a tfc game and actually i thought i did okay on it actually i quite enjoyed it but it was a one-off and then so only got the one chance. I got the one chance. I did some Copa America games in 2011 and that's really been it

play by play which I was just a bit disappointed but I did enjoy doing it actually but I'm not sure it was ever going to be my thing. You still have the recording of this game

you call? Probably somewhere. I know Andy Welsh scored the goal and he didn't score many goals. Yeah, it was a 1-0 win for TFC in an era where they didn't win very often against Houston.

Do you remember how you called the goal? Did you just give it a big old... There it is, Andy Welsh! I think of something ridiculous. That's all I had. I didn't have that trademark line at that point being it's my first time ever. But I remember just the stress,

making sure I got the right guy. That's the difference. Yes, right. Get the right guy. Okay. That's the difference between you and I. If somebody said, Mike, you're calling your first TFC match tonight,

I would spend all my time thinking about what will I say when the first TFC goal is scored? And that would be everything. What will I say? And I'd script something in my mind. What that would be everything. What will I say? And I'd script something in my mind. What would it be? It would be something where I'd probably

reference some obscurity in the Canadian pop culture. Like, I don't know if it... And that ball just bailed like Buffy! Which you have no idea what I'm talking about. Buffy the Vampire Slayer? No. Michelle Gill is Canadian?

I don't know. She's not Canadian. Oh, she's not? No. Buffy St. Marie, and this is how obscure this is. So Buffy St. Marie is a great singer-songwriter, a great Canadian singer-songwriter who now lives in Hawaii. But I grew up with her because she was on Sesame Street when I was being raised by Sesame Street in the late 70s.

Sorry, it's not my age. Okay, so she was supposed to sing on this charity single for famine relief that we can thank Bob Geldof for this whole thing. But it's called Tears Are Not Enough. There's a 2.5 hour deep dive into Tears Are Not Enough in the Toronto Mike feed. That's your homework, James.

You're gonna listen to that. So me and Cam Gordon, who's my toast cohost, we openly wondered why wasn't Buffy on this track? Like she should have been there. Where was Buffy? Then finally I get Terry David Mulligan on Toronto Mike and I get to ask Terry David Mulligan.

I know he was heavily involved in the, this world. And he tells me, you know, he witnessed the call, the call from Buffy to Bruce Allen to say something to the effect of, I can't make the recording in Toronto and I can't be there. And then Bruce turns to Terry David Mulligan and says, Buffy bailed. Oh, hence the call. Hence the call. And that call would mean something to a whopping 100 people.

Yeah, I guarantee you the 22,000 at BMO Field on that day, in those days, not one of them would have got that reference. But you know what? I would think so in my mind. I'd be like, I love the fact nobody gets his reference. This is so deep. If you get it, you deserve all the accolades. But if you don't get it, you know, fuck you.

It's a hipster call. But I'll never get the gig again. No, no. And I would be okay with that. Yeah, that was your moment, right? And I went out with Buffy Bale. All right. Well, you're one and done.

And you didn't, you know, disappoint with some obscure reference like that. So you never know if you're going to be one and done. Okay. So what is interesting to learn, though, is that you did do the color... You were a color analyst for the radio broadcast. Yeah, I did a few of those at Sportsnet, yeah. And to be honest with you, listen, I'm watching football, getting paid for it.

How bad is that? I mean, it's great, right? But I'm not a color guy. But you're not allowed to drink during the broadcast, are you? That's the problem. Well, then fuck that. It's ruining the game for you. If I'm at a stadium, I better be in the bag, right?

At least half in the bag, right? Can I ask you, can the print guys drink? I always wonder. Maybe in the old days, you get the old flask. Not nowadays. It's a pretty sterile environment in that TFC press box, unfortunately. Yeah, I've been there. Somebody, yeah, I've been by there.

It does look kind of sterile. They should have, like, draft beer available, I think, to the writers and the media. Let's get some Great Lakes in there. Come on. Absolutely, yeah. Oh, before I forget, I have a couple more things I want to give you. So you've got your beer and you've got your lasagna.

There's a Toronto Mike sticker on the table for you there. That is courtesy of StickerU.com. Fantastic, thank you. People, when you're getting your footy podcast stickers and decals, you go to stickeru.com. Good people in Liberty Village, and it's a great product. So love those guys, StickerU.

The green, that's a tape measure, man. You never know when you've got to measure something. You know what? So many times each day, I'm like, I wish I had a tape measure. All right, and that's courtesy of... It must be bigger. That joke hits me every time, and I'm like, I wish I had a tape measure. All right. And that's courtesy of... It must be bigger. That joke hits me every time and I'm like, Mike, too easy. It's too easy,

but I'll leave that for James. Okay. Ridley Funeral Home. Thank you, Ridley. Brad Jones at Ridley Funeral Home. He's a great FOTM, but he also has his own podcast, which I thoroughly enjoy.

It's called Life's Undertaking. So everybody pause this conversation with James Sherman and subscribe to Life's Undertaking with Brad Jones from Ridley Funeral Home. And last but not least, James, before we continue with the ongoing history of James Sherman,

there's a toque. What do you call that in England? That's not a toque in England, right? A hat? You know, it's funny you mention that because there's a broadcast this past weekend and you call that in England? That's not a toque in England, right? A hat? You know, it's funny you mention that because there's a broadcast this past weekend and a well-known player's on the bench. It's quite cold.

He's wearing a toque. And they called it a woolly hat. A woolly hat? Okay, well, that's disappointing. Yeah, it is a little bit. But that's a toque. And that's courtesy of Canna Cabana. They won't be undersold on cannabis

or cannabis accessories.'s a hundred plus locations across the country go to canacabana.com to find out where a canacabana location is near you and i i mean do you partake yeah i do i mean i wouldn't say i'm a that regular but certainly to unwind and once the missus goes to bed at night and I put on some, you know, a bit of cool sole, it's nice. Well, there's an ashtray for you courtesy of Canna Cabana. Enjoy, again, won't be undersold. Become a Cabana Club member at cannacabana.com.

All right, my friend. So the score, we kind of alluded to this, but the score gets purchased by Sportsnet. This is 2012. And they rebrand that thing sports net 360 what happens to you at this point yeah at that point um it was actually it was great for a while because around the same time there was a new show being launched in partnership between sports net and fox and it was the fox soccer report um and it would be simulcast on Fox in the States and on Sportsnet, Sportsnet World.

And so I kind of double dipped there for a while, which is amazing, which if you're not sure what that means to the listeners, it means basically you're getting paid by both companies to do the same job. So there was about two months there I was doing this whole process because I was getting to the point with the score

where I love the score. You know, they're my best days of my career at the score. But it getting to the point with the score where I love the score. You know, they're my best days of my career at the score. But it comes to the point where you're looking for something else, a new challenge. So I applied, not applied, but sent my tape to Sportsnet, and I'd heard nothing, nothing at all. Something, oh, Christ, these guys don't want me at all. TSN had the department already.

It's not happening. But it was because there was this this acquisition in process right and they couldn't reach out to anyone currently working at the score so then this happens and then these fox show launches i'm pulled over there so i'm doing both these shows the sad past the footy show kind of died at that point which broke my heart it was my baby you know i was so proud of that show but yeah so so basically um that happened and then i jumped aboard and uh filled in for jerry dobson on the premier league broadcasts and the champs league broadcasts uh sitting beside craig forest and danny diccio and it was a few years of absolute

joy i loved it there and old honky dory and uh you lived happily ever after yeah it was still there wait a minute that's about it no it was still there. Wait a minute. That's about it. No, it was great, you know. How long were you at Sportsnet? 2013 till 2019. What happens in 2019? Oh, well, see, we saw the writing on the wall for a while there. So, you know, Sportsnet get the hockey deal,

which at the time, I guess, made sense. But it meant that they had to let go of some sports, simple as that. And they lost out on the bidding for the Premier League and the Champions League. DAZN comes around, we'll snatch up both of those eventually. So we kind of saw the writing on the wall. We knew it was coming. So it was no surprise when they said, listen, guys, we just haven't got properties for you. We don't need a soccer department.

So there was no animosity. I know people want to find some dirt there, but there was no animosity. It's just a business decision. They had no games to cover. Yeah, exactly, right? And they had, you know, the Premier League is the crown jewel of world soccer

as far as, you know, a rights situation. The Champions League is probably number two. And without both those, they had Bundesliga still FA Cup, but not enough to justify a department. And those leagues are still in a, still kind of like in Canada at least, there's a,

what do you call it, like a cult following. I don't know. For the FA Cup and Bundesliga? Yeah. Oh, for sure. Well, I mean, Alphonso Davies plays in Germany

in the Bundesliga, right? So, but they're not, it's not even close to the Premier League. That's the one you want. Right. And that's, that's the one Hebsey's watching every even close to the Premier League. That's the one you want. Right. And that's... That's the one Hebsey's watching every... Yeah, yeah, exactly.

It's the Saturday mornings. Exactly, Saturdays and Sundays. So that happened. We saw the writing on the wall there. It still comes as a bit of a shock, obviously, and it's not a great day when you finally find out. How do they tell you, though? Do they put you in a room and they just say...

I just had a meeting with my boss, and he goes, Hey, Shams, you're up for renewal in your contract. You know what's going on here. Sorry, nothing personal. Do you get any severance to go away or they just say we're not... No, I got severance.

I got a good deal actually in the end. They were very fair to me so I can't complain about that. And now I freelance with them now as well. So, you know, not burning bridges is probably the best advice I can give anyone really.

Well, it's a small world. You can't afford it. You can't burn down the Rogers Bridge. Well, there's only a couple of freaking bridges. How are you going to get home? Losing your job, no matter how it is, it sucks, right? So it's easy to have an emotional response, but you have to suck it up, I think.

Because you're a young man. It's one thing when you're out of fucks to give because you're like 65 years old. There's still a few fucks there. Yeah. Well, you're only just at the mouth. You're almost 50. Watch out, buddy.

Oh, my God. Stop it. I know. I try not to think about it. Okay. So there's a great question came in from Graham. Graham says, this is his question for you, James. What's the better company to work for?

The low budget, the score, or the full Rogers experience? Sportsnet covering the EPL. That is a really great question. Is that your burner account, Grahamham it's a great question they're very different experiences right so the score literally the owner's office door was open john levy um you could literally walk in there and chat with john anytime uh there weren't layers to get to the top guy uh sportsnet it's far more bureaucracy it's a big corporate machine um i got so much freedom at the score to try what i wanted i could do pretty much what i wanted at sportsnet they got their ways and this is how you do it so um i'm glad i saw both sides to it um the grass isn't

always greener i had more fun at the score um it was really rewarding just trying what i want to try pitching shows getting my own shows, creating content. But there's something to be said also for, you know, hosting the biggest games in the world. Do you have kids? I have a daughter, yeah. How old is she? She's 11.

So maybe that's also part of it. Yeah, well, there's no doubt about that, right? Listen, the score was fair to me too, but I mean, yeah. Well, the score would, you know, those years before children, like oh but that environment i mean those i mean we we're a family right i'm in touch with all those guys still from tim and sid you know cabby you you name it right elliot they're all great guys but back in the in the late 90s early 2000s i mean that was a fun place for young young you know people downtown tor Toronto with a studio there. It was just an absolute party. It was fantastic.

Great question, Graham. Now, where do I want to... Oh, yeah, Brendan Dunlop. Was he caught up in this 2019 soccer purge? No, no, be lost. He was another purge. Was it a later purge? I think it was a couple...

I'm not sure when it was, a couple of years ago now, maybe more than that. Yeah, but even 2019 is only three years ago. Yeah. It feels like longer because it's before the pandemic.

I think it was just, it wasn't the same purge. It was a different purge. Multiple purges going on in mainstream media. So I hear, so I hear. Okay. So let me ask you about OneSoccer.

Yeah, OneSoccer has got a lot of potential as well. You know, they're finding their feet. They're financed by MediaPro, this global production company, a lot of live sports. They were created in unison with the Canadian Premier League, which is launching three years ago, just as a pandemic hit. They launched, basically, and it's just such sad timing for them,

but they'll be fine. So, yeah, so OneSoccer, and I freelance for them here and there. I like those guys a lot as well. It's just showing how the game's growing in this country. It's a soccer-specific network. Bob McCowan, you're often on his podcast as the

footy expert. What's Bob like? How well do you know Bob? I know him pretty well now. He's a fantastic dude. He loves a fantastic dude. He loves, all the misconceptions about Bob are just that, right? He's a good guy, but he's also a smart guy.

He knows what, how to push the right buttons. And his whole thing with me was, for years, the soccer community hated him, despised him. Well, no, I listened to primetime, when I had a commute,

it's been a long time, but I used to listen to primetime sports in my car when I'm driving home on the highway. Bob shit all over soccer forever. Like this was his thing. Soccer's like watching paint dry. Nobody wants to watch a nil-nil game. Basically, it's shocking he's watching any soccer now

because he literally shit over it for decades. Yeah, well, you know, no one's got a thicker skin than Bob McCown, right? So he knew what he was doing. He was upsetting the soccer faithful who would then react and then would make sure they're listening

he's smart that way so you know Bob might not be a huge fan of soccer I think he'll acknowledge that but he doesn't despise it he brings me on his show every now and again yes because now

now he has no choice to be honest we're going to get to that next but it's one of two things either Bob hates soccer and doesn't appreciate the world, the beautiful game, right? Either that or Bob's a liar.

Like it's one or the other. Yeah, I think though, if you hear Bob talk about a lot of sports, he's like that grumpy old man, you know, niche with sports, right? Which I like because he asks questions that you wouldn't ordinarily be asked about it, right? He finds the business side fascinating. He doesn't really care about who's playing left back for TFC, obviously, you know? But I find it always a really entertaining interview, because he'll ask me things that I'm not always asked. Does Bob McCowan give you lasagna?

No, no lasagna. No lasagna, no. So, Bob, if you're listening, I want some lasagna next time I'm on your show. At least some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes. Okay, my friend so the reason bob can't ignore soccer anymore is because of team canada okay i will tell you i'm a guy i never played soccer growing up i don't know why even looking back like all my kids four kids all in soccer soccer was the easiest thing to put them in i tried to put them in other things too

but soccer was like the slam dunk easiest thing to put your kid in i don't know why i never played soccer growing up i'm getting angry i was deprived of playing this beautiful game so i didn't grow up with the game as you know canada never had a sniff at the world cup since 86 i have zero memory of the 86 world cup because i think i didn't care about soccer when i was 12 and i didn't i just ignored it although I do remember the 1990 World Cup because my buddy was from uh West Germany and we were waving the flag with him and it was a big deal to him so basically shout out to Chris but uh I didn't care about soccer never cared about soccer TFC shows up I go to a few games in the supporters section and I love it and then I find

myself loving the international competitions like if it's the World Cup, I was tuning in, loving every game. The Euro Cup, I was loving every game. This Canada qualifying tournament to get into the World Cup, I watched every minute I could and absolutely I adore this Team Canada soccer team. Yeah, I mean, they're doing amazing things. They are.

I mean, listen, number one, they're very, very good. Secondly, they're very likable. They've got some brands there. They've got a global superstar and he is that. Alphonso Davies is a global superstar with respect to,

I like hockey, respect to Conor McDavid. Okay. No one knows who he is outside of Canada or the States, right? Alphonso,

and I love saying that, upsets hockey fans. Well, I believe that would be true but maybe there may be a Norman like hockey playing nations but there's only like 10 of them.

But even then, Sweden and the Czech Republic, they know who Fonzie is. Probably more so, I think. Is he Canada's most famous athlete right now? I think he probably is. And if he's not, he's going to be very, very soon. I mean, Michael Warner. Yeah, you know, I think he probably is.

There's the guy in the Nuggets. But I think Alphonso Davies would likely be number one right now. Yeah, he probably is. There's the guy in the nuggets. But I think Alphonso Davies would likely be number one right now. Yeah, he probably is. But yeah, they're just a great team with a charismatic coach. And it is obviously a thirst for success in this country and success being qualification for a World Cup. So I think the timing's great, given that there's a World Cup in Canada in 2026.

So it's not like they're going to qualify for this World Cup and not again. They're going to be in it for a while. Okay, I'll do a quick question on that, since you introduced that. And then I'm going to come back to this Team Canada I've fallen in love with. I've fallen in love with this Team Canada the way I've fallen in love with Matea Roach. Do you know that name, Matea Roach? Does that mean anything to you? I don't think so, no.

It's okay, it's okay. It means you're not watching Jeopardy. No, you're right. Oh, she's the one that's doing so well, right? She's won 17 in a row. Okay. Me and my 20-year-old, like this is our, and my wife's really into it too, but appointment viewing, like we are following

the Matea Roach game like as if that's a sporting event. So it's like, okay, Raptors are tonight. You know, the Jays are right now, like the Jays are playing right now. You know, whatever. Leafs playoff start whenever, and Matea Roach is at 7.30.

Okay, so we're going to get back to Team Canada, but Diamond Dog sent in a great question about the 2026 World Cup. He says, without the need to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, will that be an advantage because it allows more friendlies against stronger sides or a disadvantage as the competitive edge

will be missing in the lead-up? Another great question, actually. Yeah, you're just a smart listener. That's a great question. I would say it's going to be an edge in that Canada, CONCACAF, the region they play in, in Central North America,

isn't very strong right now. Okay, because that's going to be tied into my question. So I want to finish with Diamond Dog, and then I have a question about that. Okay, sure. So yeah, it's not the strongest right now. It's in a bit of a decline. There are Gold Cups in between.

There are what they call Nation League games now, which are competitive matches, not just friendlies. So there are competitive games. And you can now, because of being in North America, Canada will be a real destination for some big teams to come and play games here or to invite Canada over to Europe. So I think it's going to be a good thing, quite honestly.

It's a 48-team World Cup. So even if there was qualification, Canada would qualify in a breeze. How many in 2022? 32 teams. So 32, that's what we're typically used to. It's going to 48. And it could mean potentially six CONCACAF berths,

maybe more, given that there's automatic berths, right? Which is, frankly, it's a joke, but that's FIFA, they're greedy. But the bottom line is, I think it's going to be a good thing. Moving forward, obviously you want competitive games, but at that point,

this current young group will be in their prime. Okay, so back to that group. I have to confess, the only international games I've seen Team Canada play are against CONCACAF opponents. So I watched this whole tournament to qualify for. And how are you saying the name of the host country? That's my question. I think it's Qatar.

I've always said Qatar. Yeah, I've always said Qatar, but then someone said it's Qatar. Yeah, I think it is Qatar. I've always said Qatar. Yeah, I've always said Qatar, but then someone said it's Qatar. Yeah, I think it is Qatar. I heard that from someone from there. We need a ruling. I want to get this right. There's going to be a lot of confusion

between now and November. This is like when you learn Liev should be leave. I know, exactly. I'm going with leave these days for obvious reasons. Yeah, I think it's Qatar, but we better figure this out.

Okay, that's important. Okay, so back to... I hear the kids have come home Qatar, but we better figure this out. Okay, that's important. Okay, so back to, I hear the kids have come home upstairs, but don't worry, they won't get picked up by these mics. Okay, so I've only seen Canada versus Jamaica, Canada versus Costa Rica, Canada versus Mexico, Canada versus United States. This is all I've ever seen, and we look fantastic.

Like, I mean, Jonathan David, Kyle Lahren, Alfon alfonso davies you mentioned osorio uh buchanan like these guys the goalie uh borian so i'm learning how to pronounce these names as well uh fantastic now i have no sense like i have no idea how this team would compare to the typical... The powerhouses. Yeah, the powerhouses in international football. Tell me now, I need to know, how do you think this Team Canada shapes up when we have to play teams like Belgium?

Yeah, and Croatia. Yeah, my guess is this. They're a good team. They won't be embarrassed by anyone. Will we score a goal? Yes. Because we didn't do that in 86. I'm going to say we're gonna i know you know i feel bad for those guys they qualify for a world cup you know give them a break come on didn't score a goal but you know i i think that is a real valid question i think there's still a gap between canada now and and the top teams are across the world obviously um but i

think they'll they'll they'll be competitive i don't see them beating belgium um the thought of getting points of Croatia, who is an aging team, but it's still a team oozing in class, would be an incredible achievement, but not impossible. And then you have Morocco, a team that I think Canada can get points off.

So you make a valid point. CONCACAF is what we've seen so far. It's hard to compare them. There's going to be big games coming up shortly in June and later this summer as well against bigger European teams and South American teams. Yet to be confirmed, but it's going to happen and then we'll get a better gauge. Okay, because I used to

work for a software company that was headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. And there was some World Cup, and I will tell you this was not best on best. I tried to explain to these German guys our best guys are in the NHL playoffs. But there was some world championship where it was not best on best,

but Canada lost to Germany. They treated it like, it was like a, I don't know, a Canada Cup final. It was World Cup final or something. The ribbing I took that Germany beat Canada in hockey because they always believed Germany's the kingpin. Sorry, Canada's the top of the mountain when it comes to hockey.

Germany beat Canada? Oh, my God. That would be like, and they would say this to me, that would be like Canada beating Germany in soccer. Like, this was the comparison they would throw at me all the time. But it's not true, is it? And at the time, though, I would dare to dream. But I'm curious now, and we can't simulate this.

I don't know if you've got the software to simulate this, but this healthy, I'm going to ask you about Davies in a minute, but it's health, but a healthy Team Canada against Germany right now in an important match where both sides are trying their best. What's the final score? 2-0 Germany. Okay, that's not bad.

There you go. Take that, right? You have to realize that this Canada team has one global superstar, right? You have some good young players playing in second-tier leagues. Is that David? John David in France. France is a good league, but it's not top four league in Europe, for example. He's going to move there probably to England this summer,

and then we'll find out. Glad you're here. I need to be educated here. You've got Nastakio, who's great, playing right now on loan in Porto in Portugal. Again, he's maybe Canada's standout player in this qualifying, but he's not getting many minutes. Richie Leraire, maybe the best fullback,

isn't playing in Nottingham Forest in the league championship, the second tier in English football. Interesting. Second tier. No, that's Serbian football is good football. It's intense, but it's not a top league. So these aren't guys, they're playing in good leagues for good teams,

and most of them are starting in these leagues. So we have one guy who's playing in a top level, and so Alphonso Davies aside, the rest of the team, you're saying, these are not elite. Not yet. They're young enough, most of them, that they might get moves to those leagues,

but right now they're still very much growing. Buchanan, you mentioned there, right? He made some MLS to Club Bruges in Belgium, right? That's not a top league. You ever seen in Bruges, the movie? About the assassin, right? It's fucking amazing. You know, I haven't seen it.

Colin Farrell? Colin Farrell, that's right, yeah. But I must watch it, though. Honestly, it's excellent. I don't think Buchanan's in that movie, though. I had to check the experts. I think David's more like the assassin in the team, not't think Buchanan's in that movie, though. I think David's more like the assassin in the team, not so much Buchanan.

But he's a guy that's made the step to Club Rouge a big step, and he might make a further step by the time the World Cup comes around. So it's an interesting journey to watch. I'm getting an education. I have no idea what to expect, but knowing this, whenever I root for a team,

I just can see us now losing to Morocco or whatever. Listen, Morocco's a good team. People can't be dismissed in these teams. They're all good teams, right? The World Cup's tough, right? Because they qualify, right? Yeah, just go. Quite frankly, it results in gravy.

But we won that CONCACAF group. Like, we finished it. We bust it. Yeah, absolutely. So it's sort of like, being the best in CONCACAF, like, I know the elite, you know, I know Brazil's there, and I know these European nations are strong, but... Well, CONCACAF like I know the elite you know I know Brazil's there and I know these European nations are strong but uh well CONCACAF I mean traditionally speaking you got Mexico and you got

the US yeah Mexico is a global force they always look good at World Cups they crash out in the knockout phase but they're a good team right the states are a team that have made quarterfinals at World Cups before they're a good team right but they're both both those teams are in transition during this campaign and is our goalie as good as he seems to look like uh borianne seems i love the guy you know what he's such a character he's a very good goalkeeper he's not world class um in this qualifying campaign he was i mean if not for him they're not finishing in first place as simple as that right but it's a guy that he's aging a bit now but uh he's gonna be the guy between the posts i would think by the time the world cup comes around and he's just a he's going to be one of those guys can sell this team because

he's so charismatic i got an ask for you this is a favor when the toronto mike asks a favor there's only one answer that's acceptable here now i'm thinking since you're coming back to kick out the jams would you come back to kick out the jams and talk about this team during the world cup and cutter. Absolutely, yeah. 100%. I recorded that. And okay, so then we'll pick it up then. I won't ask for any predictions because do you have an update?

I mean, you'll know what I know, I assume. You don't have any inside channel. You're not texting Alphonso Davies, are you? Why did... I thought he was going to come back at some point in March or something and I haven't seen him play in a long time. No, he's back now.

He's back now for Bayern Munich. He's playing? He came back, yeah, about a month ago now. time. No, he's back now. He's back now for Bayern Munich. He's playing? He came back, yeah, about a month ago now. See, I'm out of the loop. He's starting big games once again. He's healthy, thankfully. He's healthy. It was a grave concern, obviously.

It was a heart thing, right? Yeah, yeah, it was. He got myocarditis from, well, from COVID. Was it the vaccine? Was it the COVID? Who the hell knows? But he got, yeah, so he's back now. He's healthy, and he'll be just fine.

Fingers crossed for the World Cup. Okay, and, yeah. So he's back now. He's healthy, and he'll be just fine, fingers crossed, for the World Cup. Okay, and remind me again the name of your podcast. Footy Prime. Footy Prime. See Footy. See you can use Footy.

Footy Prime, the podcast, yeah. And remind me whose voices do I hear on that besides your own? Yeah, so Craig Forrest, who had 50 caps for Canada. I remember Craig Forrest. Yeah, Craig. Jimmy Brennan,

who played for Canada, was TFC's first captain. Played in England for years as well. Brendan Dunlop, who we've spoken about. I've never met the man, but I just know him from... He's a good guy. Would Brendan Dunlop do Toronto Mike? Would you tell him to get your ass over there?

I'll tell him to get his ass over there. Okay, let's do it. In a second, yeah. He'd love to. All those guys would, I'm sure. And Dan Wong's our producer and occasional voice and the soul of the show. And Jeff Cole. So there's a bunch of us yeah

and we have a really really fun time doing it podcasts are fun aren't they they're just great you know why because you can say the c-word on podcasts although I'm not doing that

okay so James I'll be real talk here this is the Homer real talk I tweeted you were coming on and multiple people said is he bringing you a pie okay

so I let me so I I saw you tweeted you were coming on and multiple people said is he bringing you a pie okay so i was let me let me so i uh i saw you exit your automobile and you were coming to the side door and i went out the side door and i said james i'm telling you to use the side door nothing in your hands you know mike i'll be honest with you i'm driving down here on on the uh on the gardener and i went shit i should have brought in pies damn Damn it. But I've got an invite back here, right? 100%. So when we do the music one, I will bring you a box of pies.

Okay. And you mentioned that question from Graham was really strong. I'm starting to think Graham is you because there's another question from Graham. He says he wants to know the five-year goals for Charmin's proper pies. He says Chicken Baltti is top-notch, and footy prime is the best. I think this is you.

I'm going to call a spade. It's you. I'm going to buy you a payment. What's Mike talking about Charmin's Proper Pies? You're a guy who talks about soccer. What the hell am I talking about? Yeah, well, it's funny. When we began seeing the writing on the wall in the whole media world and sports net right uh me and the wife were talking and she's real

entrepreneurial spirit she wanted a product business okay and it's long story short my mother-in-law comes to stay with us for a couple of weeks which turned into almost a year long story there that could be a podcast by itself um but she used to make pies back in alberta and send sell them at a farmer's market, right? Is she from Alberta? She is, yeah. What part? Red Deer. Okay, I only ask what part

because I hear my wife's voice upstairs. She's from Edmonton. Okay, gotcha. So anyway, so me and the wife were talking, thinking, you know what? Pies in Toronto, it's hard to find real good ones. You know, there is a pie commission out here.

It's pretty good. But it's out East End. There isn't that much. Yeah, that's in my neck of the woods, right so uh we i thought well let's give this a whirl i need potentially a new career because suckers go nowhere in this country um so she basically taught me how to make pies we began selling pies at the local farmer's market it took off really well um i got laid off from sports Gave me some time to really focus on this business. We've got a building.

We've got a kitchen. We've got a storefront on the downforth. And it's about two years old now, right in the heart of the pandemic. But the delivery side of things went off the charts because of the pandemic. And now it's gone from strength to strength. It's doing really well.

We're looking to expand. And the five-year plan, Graham, is we want to be around Canada. Simple as that. You know, that's the five-year plan. We're not quite there just yet. We're around Ontario right now, but we're hoping to really expand, you know. So it's all about finding the right investors, you know. You never know what the future holds, right? Like you're a sports broadcaster in the soccer world, sorry, footy world. And then the next thing you know it you're you're running sherman's proper pie i know i never

if you told me uh six years ago five years ago i'd be doing this i would have said you're out of your head there's no chance but i i love cooking i love the food space found it interesting and it seems to have taken off well look i mean the danforth i'm thinking not quite the danforth but at least you get a little east of young and, and there's a new Great Lakes Brewery pub opening up at Lower Jarvis near Queens Quay. Okay. Or Lakeshore, is that? Anyway, right down there at the bottom.

And I'm saying, I'm going to talk to my guys at Great Lakes. There's got to be a collaboration here, man, like a Sherman's Proper Pies Great Lakes Brewery collaboration. Well, pies and pints, right? Yeah, they go together so well. Yeah, I mean, pies are a real staple at English football stadiums, the Chicken Bolte in particular. And you go there, you get your pint of beer or a Bovril,

and you get a pie. And that's just kind of, that's what you eat at football stadiums across the UK. All right, before I play us out, man, I'm completely unplugged from TFC this season. I do bandwag jump. Bandwag jump? I bandwag and jump with that team i was really excited about the mls cup runs and the two finals back to back i guess and then

i was super jazzed like following that team closely but i've lost touch what's going on with tfc yeah well it's going to be an exciting year right they're a young team who are still trying to find themselves under a brand new coach who's a really experienced coach in Bob Bradley, who is Michael Bradley, the captain's dad. He is going to get this thing turned around. They spent a lot of money on an Italian superstar called Lorenzo Insigne, who's arriving in July. He'll be making more money than most North American athletes.

What kind of money are we talking about? The rumors are 15 mil a year. Yeah, that's more than Auston Matthews. Yeah, precisely right. Baseball aside, that's a lot of money. So this guy's coming from the Italian Serie A. He's an Italian European champion with the Azzurri. And he's going to, once he figures

this league out, he will boss it. He's better than Jovinko, as far as his resume is concerned. Will he do what Jovinko does? Who knows? That was pretty special. But he's going to really, I think, put bums in seats, so to speak. And TSC will be fine. This might not be their year this year, but they're building towards something.

Dude, I'm already excited about your next appearance here. Not just because I'm getting the pies, but because Canada will be in the World Cup. I can't wait. It's great. So when do I get to see a friendly or whatever we call these? Early June will be the first one. Who's it against? It hasn't been announced just yet. Oh, you don't know. But I suspect it could be

a pretty big team coming up to Toronto. That's my guess. So yeah, it's going to be a fun summer. Don't switch off. The World Cup's November, but there's going to be so many storylines, a couple of windows. Don't switch off from Canadian football just because it it's the summertime that's what that's like so it was like bang bang bang and you're excited your next game match is this next match is that bang and then it's like okay see you in november and it's like wait a minute here that's why you gotta you gotta you know subscribe to uh for your prime the podcast you

know keep it going sold okay well why is it we got to make that a tmds production come on and you're gonna get brendan dunlop over here we'll talk more about it and i can't wait to get you back here james i love this buddy thanks for doing this my thank you so much absolute pleasure and thank you for the beer it's delicious and that brings us to the end of our 1041st show you You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. James, how can we follow you? At James Sharman on Twitter. Follow at James Sharman on Twitter.

Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Make sure I get you your lasagna before you depart, my friend. It's in my freezer. Sticker U is at Palm of Pasta. Make sure I get you your lasagna before you depart, my friend. It's in my freezer. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home is at Ridley FH.

And Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. Go Raptors go. And see you tomorrow when my special guest is Dr. Brian Goldman. 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 speed the day. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rosy and gray. Cause everything is rosy and green Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who

Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of green Cause I know that's true, yes I do I know it's true, yeah I know it's true how about you? they're picking up trash and they're putting down roads

and they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn because Everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms me today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rosy and gray. Well, I've kissed you in France, and I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain

And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Sacré-Cœur But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow

Warms us today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Because everything is rosy now, everything is rosy, yeah. Everything is rosy and gray, yeah. okay that's fantastic