Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Joe Tilley: Toronto Mike'd #388

Episode Date: October 19, 2018

Mike chats with sports broadcaster Joe Tilley about his decades reporting sports for CFTO / CTV Toronto, why he's no longer there, and much, much more.

Welcome to episode 388 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know, Joe, that 99% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? I did not know that. GLB. Brewed for you in Ontario. I did not know that. GLB, rude for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com, Toronto Real Estate Done Right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca. census design and build providing architectural design interior design and turnkey construction services across the gta i'm mike from torontomike.com and joining me

is joe tilly that's me welcome jo, Mike. Glad to be here, man. Finally, finally. I know. We've been trying to hook up for a while, but yeah, it's been taking... So where do you live these days? Well, we moved to Newcastle about two years ago. And, well, almost two years ago. A year and nine months, something like that.

Yeah. And this is the... So Newcastle's a long way from here. Where's Newcastle? Oh, yeah, okay. I'll give you a geography lesson here, okay? Yeah. And this is the... So Newcastle's a long way from here. Where's Newcastle? I should know this. I'll give you a geography lesson here, okay? So as you're heading out of town east from Toronto. Yeah.

Pickering. Yes. Ajax. Yes. Whitby. Yep. Oshawa. Yep.

Curtis. I wasn't even sure about Curtis. Bowmanville. Bowmanville, they have a zoo there. Yeah, not anymore, but they do. And then Newcastle. Okay, okay, okay. Not anymore, but they do. And then Newcastle. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Now I've got my bearings. So you didn't just come to Toronto to see me, right? Maybe you had something else you had to do. Well, you know what? It's funny. I had a voiceover audition for a commercial, and then I thought I'd pop in while I was here because I'd been telling you that I'm going to come in, and so here I am finally.

And I'm honored to come in, and so here I am, finally. And I'm honoured to finally meet you. We have talked on the phone, and I've done my due diligence, and it turns out everybody likes Joe Tilly. Everybody says Joe is a great guy, so this is an honour. I'm flattered. Thank you. And when I heard you were dropping by today, this song was stuck in my head. Jimmy.

Joe, I love this song. It's a good song. I think it's my favorite Hendrix song. Yeah, you know, there's so many. I love Jimi Hendrix. Voodoo Child, Purple Haze, Foxy Lady, and of course

He does the Dylan song. Hey Joe is great, but he does All Along the Watchtower by Dylan too, but lots of good stuff. Good job with that. Have you ever been experienced? Yeah. On that note, did you experience anything at midnight last night? No.

It's funny how for most of us, today is just Thursday, but there is a contingent out there where it's like Legal Weed Day. It's a big deal, but it's just everything's normal for Joe. Yeah, everything's normal for Joe, Yeah, everything's normal for Joe. But nothing changes in my world today or yesterday. Hey, Joe. There's another song. But this is a neat day.

It's 10-18-2018. Oh, I never thought. Yeah, okay. Are you into numbers? Like, are you... A little bit. A little bit? Because your episode, 388.

Yeah. And I've been told that in some cultures... Eight's a lucky bit. A little bit? A little bit. Because your episode, 388. Yeah. And I've been told that in some cultures, eights are very lucky. Yeah. Eight and Chinese cultures. As a matter of fact, I'm going to China

in a week. Is that right? Yeah, a week today. What brings you to China? I'm going on a vacation with Nexus Holidays and I'm kind of hosting the tour.

And so yeah, so we're going to go to cruise the Yangtze River. We're going to visit Shanghai and go to Beijing. See the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the pandas and everything else. Yeah. That's incredible.

So wait, so you're somebody's pain for this trip? Yeah. That's amazing. So wait, so you're somebody's pain for this trip? Yeah. That's amazing. It's how it works out, yeah. It's just the way it

goes sometimes. I mean, the good folks at Nexus Holidays have asked me if I wanted to host a tour. I'm actually going to be doing some videos

for them. I'm going to be doing some videos and putting them all together and they're going to put them all together. So you're going to put them all together. So you're like a brand ambassador.

I guess so. Sometimes. Spokesperson. Yeah. On occasion. Like when George Clooney does those coffee commercials. Yeah. Nespresso.

That's right. Nespresso. Okay. Good for you, man. That's a great trip. I've never been anywhere close to there. That sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I don't know.

That sounds amazing to me. Oh, yeah. Last January, we were in Thailand, and we traveled with the same company, Nexus Tours. I put some videos together when I was there. My son lives in Bangkok. I knew that because your son is a boxer. He was a boxer. But he's no longer a boxer.

Well, he's no longer a boxer. He was a boxer. But he's no longer a boxer. Well, he's no longer a boxer. He was a boxer. Now he's a full-time artist. And he lives in Bangkok. And he paints and he makes sculptures and he, you know, sells them. You were a boxer. I was. So that's amazing, too.

Like, I got to say, you're not the first Toronto Mike to guest this week to come from Edmonton. Oh. Moe Berg from the Pursuit of Happiness. Do you remember the Pursuit of Happiness? Of course. Yeah, yeah. Great man.

He's from Edmonton. No, I did not know that. Yeah, he was here. Is Moe Berg the front man? Yeah, he's the guy. Wow. There is no Pursuit of Happiness. I always liked Pursuit of Happiness.

I had no idea he was from Edmonton. Good for him. I like him being better now. Yeah, born and raised. He only came to Toronto because he says there wasn't enough places for a young musician to play in Edmonton. Like I said, he had to come here

because there were so many shows going on here. So he came here for, you know, bigger music market or whatever. Good place to come for a sportscaster too, I might say. Yeah, there's... On that note, okay. Oh, by the way, also, I'd be... I have to...

I'm obligated to tell all Edmontonians that my wife is from Edmonton. Wow. So, yeah, there you go. So it feels... So is my wife, yeah. Is that right? Yeah, yeah. You met her there.

We actually... We went to the same high school, but at the same time, same grade and everything else, but I didn't really know her. I was kind of at a different circle of friends. And, you know, and I didn't go to school a lot, as it turned out. Because you were a boxer. I had other things going on. But anyway, I, so I met her on the beach in Penticton.

And after a couple of years after we were out of school, like probably three or four years after, maybe couple years after we were out of school, like probably three or four years after, maybe five years after that. And yeah, so we got together and yeah, here we are. 37, eight years later. Oh, good for you, man. That's amazing. And you're going to take her to China? Oh, yeah. Yeah. She's coming. So is my daughter. Amazing, amazing. You mentioned, well, first of all, you're in Edmonton for the dynasty that was the Oilers, right? Yeah. As a matter of fact, I was there the night they won their first Stanley Cup. I was at the old Northlands Coliseum, and I was working in Lethbridge at the time,

and I called up Bill Tuelley, the Oilers media guy, and I said I was in town, I'd like to go to the game, so I got an all-access pass. I was in the dressing room, I drank champagne out of the Stanley Cup, beer and everything. A few of us press guys were drinking beer out of the Stanley Cup, and then Randy Gregg, the defenseman who was also a doctor,

said, get that out of there. He dumped it out and poured champagne in. But I drank too much champagne in my life, so I actually quit that after a while. We'll touch on that a little later there for sure, for sure. But I will say that that's the first Stanley Cup final I remember is the first Edmonton. Oh, really?

That was great. I think it's the first one I stayed up for because I loved Gretzky. Yeah. And, I mean, I loved that Oilers team. And that was, yeah. And I remember my grandmother, my late grandmother, taking a picture of the television when Gretzky first hoists the

cup. And I remember this picture. She framed it and it was in her living room forever up in Guilford, Ontario. There was so much joy. It was just unbelievable. The image that I always recall is when Marc Messier skated to one end of the boards.

I can't remember. He was in the, you know, and he got and he dropped to his knees and he threw his arms up and he looked into the crowd where his family was seating. And that was just incredible. You know, just the raw emotion of that image. And Mark's from Edmonton too. Yeah, he played for the Spruce Grove Mets. He played Junior A,

Tier 2. I think he was a later draft pick, but he turned out okay. I remember him in those days when Gretzky was still on the Oilers. Mark Massey, I remember him being kind of a skinny guy. He was a skinny guy. That's what I remember. And then I remember the Mark Massey

that was on the Rangers, and I guess Vancouver too, but the later career Mark Massey just seemed like a much bigger guy. Well, he was pretty young. They were all pretty young, and I think he filled out. You're talking about a kid who was 18 years old when they first came to prominence. I think he filled out more than anything, but he was always wiry and solid and tough.

And when he hit you, you knew it, even though he was, as you say, skinny. Yeah. Now that you mention it now, I think of like a Joe Thornton, right? When he was a scrangly, like 18-year-old kind of gawky kid, really skinny, and then he kind of filled out. That's pretty normal. But there's another song. So I played for you, Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix.

And there's another jam here. I wonder if you even know this song. I think you will. But this is a nice segue into talking about some sports in this city. Well, it ain't so funny when you lose your money And the Blue Jays bite the dust Like last year's racing when Blue Jays bite the dust. Like last year's racing when the Jays were chasing and the whole damn thing went bust.

Then Giller got tired of standing back and his face made an evil grin. He said, if you don't give me a pennant this year, I'm going to trade your butts and win. And then he lost it. And there. He put Tony on a bus to San Diego. And there. He rang George's bell. And there. He called down to Cleveland.

Oh, no, not Cleveland. And then... And then... And then... Along came Joe. With Robbie and Devo. Moving to T.O. I hope it doesn't snow.

Along came Big Ben. That's a retro classic. Joe Carter. Joe Carter. Yeah. Were you at the game when Joe hit the T.O. number? No, that wasn't at the game. I was actually at home that particular night, but watching the game. And after it happened, it was just, oh, wow. That was crazy.

I think you're the first. You're an honest guy, I can tell, because almost everybody, whether they were at that game or not, tells me they were at that game. I counted it. I wasn't there. I wish I had been there, but I wasn't there, no. Well, I wasn't there either. I was watching on TV,, so that's too bad. Now, in 2018, here we are.

It's kind of a magical time in Toronto sports. I was watching that Raptors game last night, and the Raptors, I mean, there's no LeBron in Cleveland, so it was a pretty easy win, but, I mean, we got Kawhi Leonard for the season. I mean, the Leafs are, I mean, tonight there's a Leaf game. We got Penguins tonight, but the Leafs are fantastic.

It's a crazy time. What do you think of this moment in Toronto sports? Does it match up at all to the early 90s, I guess? Well, I mean, they had a great team in the early 90s, but you know what? They never had a team like this. I mean, you look at... I know it's early, but you look at the

standings in the stats, right? And you see the leading point-getters, you know, top four are Leafs. And that's never happened, ever, ever. Didn't happen in 1967. They've never had that happen. So, I mean, that's extraordinary. You know, and Addy, you take that They've never had that happen. So that's extraordinary. Addy, you take that team last year. They were a very good team. And then you add a guy like John Tavares to the mix,

and you get a little bit more mature, a little bit more filled out Austin Matthews, and you get Mitch Marner, who's just that much more confident. This is a great team. Kasperi Kapanen. Who's essentially just in this more confident. And just, this is a great team. Kasperi Kapanen, you know. Who's essentially just, he's in this position because Nylander's in, I guess he's in Switzerland right now. Who is this Nylander of which you speak? He's trade bait.

It's like, I understand, you know, you want to get as much as you can out of, you know, your contracts as a player. But you've got an opportunity here to be part of something special. And I mean, if I'm William Nylander, I'm directing my agent to take whatever it takes to get me on this team. That's my... Yeah, I can, I flow back and forth on this one. I totally get what you're saying.

Like, be a part of something. We have a pretty good window here, an opportunity to do something special. But if you price yourself out of it, you ruin yourself for yourself and others. They've got to sign Mitch Marner. They've got to sign Austin Matthews. And they can't afford to give Nylander

more than what he's worth. And really, what is he worth? It's tough to figure that out because you take Kasperi Kapanen and put him in his place and his numbers are probably similar in that short window of time. I think you could play on Austin Matthews' wing. I'd do okay. You might put up some numbers.

Listen, Dej Semenko played with Gretzky and got a few goals, right? It happens. That's true. It is true. And a very interesting time there. I always think of somebody like a Sidney Crosby, right? So Crosby signed a deal for 8.7, I think, yeah, 8.7 because he's born in 87. He likes that number. He likes numbers.

Yeah, yeah. So he signs for 8.7. And let's face it, that's a bargoon that Pittsburgh's got there. No question. He's making rice idol money. That's right. It's funny to think like, you know, it's just funny how it all, the economics works.

But he's happy. He can only spend so much money, like, and he's going to ensure that he doesn't handcuff the team. He can have, you know, can have good players around him like Malkin and Kessel and guys like that. You know what? Sometimes you want to do that. And if you're interested in winning, if winning is the number one goal for you as a player, then that's what you do. And if you have to take a little bit of a haircut now,

and you gel and be part of this, who knows what's going to happen with the salary cap as we go down the road. If this team does well and you're part of that, then you're going to be going with the flow. Listen, you're never going to be poor. You're never going to have financial difficulties. So a half a million bucks here, a million bucks there.

I mean, really, what difference does it make? He can make it up with those insurance commercials I see him doing. For sure. I mean, there's a lot of commercials he could be doing. Every one of these guys. They win a Stanley Cup, they're going to own this town. That's true. That's true.

Now, I mentioned the Raptors really briefly. Are you a Raptors fan? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was just so, it was so cool watching that deal unfold, and, you know, when it was suspected it might happen, I thought, wow, this is really cool. I mean,

Kawhi Leonard is, you know, a premier player, like top five player in the NBA and does it all. He's not just a scoring threat. He's a defender. He might be the best defender in the NBA. And he does a lot on offense. He's just the full package. You mentioned earlier one year. No, I don't think it'll be one year. I really don't think it'll be one year. I really don't think it'll be one year.

I just get the feeling that, you know, once he's situated here for a while, there's a lot of pluses. Like when you're with the Raptors or the Blue Jays, you're a member of Canada's team, right? It's not just Toronto's team, it's Canada's team. You've got support from coast to coast, and you've got, you know, like you're really carrying a nation's flag, you know, on your back when you're playing for the Raptors or the Blue Jays.

now that the team's been had that solid foundation and run by Messiah jury, uh, it's been a team that players want to play for, play, play with, you know, it's a team, it's a destination now for people to come and they don't know that until they get here.

But DeMar DeRozan did not want to leave. Right. You know, Kyle Lowry chose to sign. I mean, there were, there's other circumstances with regard to Kyle, but you know,

I got a feeling you give, uh, you know, uh, the Raptors, the city of Toronto, the country of Canada, a year to work with Kawhi, and I got a feeling that when the end of the year comes along, he's going to be really happy to stick around.

I hope so. I hope so. Regardless, this is going to be a heck of a year. So, you know. And I mean, the worst case scenario, yeah. Okay. Say he doesn't resign. That's the worst case scenario. You still had a hell of a year. So we're talking about the Raptors.

There's a guy on Twitter who has the handle Raptors Devotee. And his name, and he's got a jingle. He's got a jingle that's very quiet. I'm going to get behind him. Turn up the volume on that jingle. So that's Brian Gerstein. Brian Gerstein is Rapper's Devotee on Twitter, and he's a sales representative with PSR Brokerage.

So you can call anybody out there, I would say, if you're looking to buy and or sell in the next six months, you call Brian 416-873-0292. Pause this podcast, call Brian, tell him you were listening to Toronto Mike and then you want to have a chat with him. You can also go to propertyinthesix.com, propertyinthesix.com if you want to contact him that way. But talk to Brian. He's an honest real estate sales representative. I don't know how many are out there, but he's one, and he's a fantastic guy.

And even if you just want to talk Raptors, he'd love it. But you know what else? Or tennis. Are you a tennis fan? Well, I follow tennis. I follow everything. That's right.

I like sports. I was going to say, I was thinking that. We're chatting sports, and I was thinking, it's almost as if Joe's done this before. He seems pretty good at talking about sports. You know, Mr. Kavanaugh likes beer.

I like sports. That's right. I like beer. Oh, man. I'm trying to block that whole thing out of my mind. Thanks, Joe. By the way, Kavanaugh likes beer. You like sports.

But I have beer for you. I got you mixed up with kavanaugh my mistake so there's a six-pack in front of you they're right there so i can find somebody to get this too i'm not a drinker right no i actually i know that so i uh i know that so i was gonna say everyone has a someone in the family or a neighbor who would be ecstatic to receive a six-pack of craft beer. So not for you, Joe, but for somebody you know. I can stop off at my daughter's place on the way home and her husband would love to have that.

Thank you. Good, good, good, good. So that's courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery, who are proud sponsors of this program. And while we're talking about proud sponsors of this program, I hope people who have some architectural design or interior design or construction requirements in their home, their GTA home, I hope they consider Census Design and Build. Even just

give them a call at 416-931-1422 or go to censusdesignbuild.ca. Go there today and schedule your zoning and cost project feasibility study. And again, when you're talking to Census Design and Build, let them know you heard about them from Toronto Mic'd. And here's one more thing, one more favor I'm going to do for everybody. I'm going to make sure you get $10. You can get $10 right now from Paytm. If you go to paytm.ca and download their app for your smartphone, that's an awesome app I use for paying all of my bills. You can pay all your bills in one place and you can get rewards just for paying your bills, which you have to do anyways. And they charge you nothing for paying your bills. It's just like wicked convenient service that pays you money.

And this is the kicker. When you make your first bill payment, use the promo code Toronto Mike. That's all one word, Toronto Mike, and they'll give you 10 bucks and pay TM cash right away. And that's awesome. I did it. Like I took the 10 bucks. Who can't use 10 bucks? Come on.

I want to talk to the person who can't use 10 bucks. Everybody the $10. Who can't use $10? Come on. I want to talk to the person who can't use $10. Everybody needs $10. So paytm.ca use the promo code Toronto Mike. All right, Joe, you're in Edmonton. That's the city of champions, right? That's a good

place to be, actually, although this place is better. Oh, the Eskimos were amazing back then, too, by the way. That's right. They only had the two and they were both championship caliber teams. So very good. So the big question, the million dollar question is how do you end up in Toronto? How do you end up on CFTO, your first stop in Toronto? Yeah, in Toronto.

Right. End up on CFTO, your first stop in Toronto? Yeah, in Toronto, right. So, okay, so I went to University of Alberta and I actually took drama. I was going to be an actor. And, you know, then I met my wife and we sort of, you know, we started to get kind of serious about this.

My scholastic career was coming to a close. I was getting my degree, and I kind of was thinking what I wanted to do. And I thought, you know, if I venture into this acting realm, I don't know how that's going to work out. There's not a lot of security in that. But at the same time, I was working for the campus radio station at the University of Alberta. So I was doing these morning sportscasts.

I got a chance to do some color commentary on the University of Alberta Golden Bears games and hockey games. And it was fun. So I really enjoyed what I was doing. And I started putting some tapes together. And I graduated with my BA in December, midterm, and I started sending tapes out and I ended up getting a job in Red Deer shortly after I graduated and up to that point I was working construction. I used to work construction every summer and during Christmas break.

And I continued to make my union dues so I could be a member of the union. Make good, good money. We had big muscles from the box. Yeah, big muscles from the box. And anyway, I was, I was working construction. I was sending tapes out. I got a, I got a job offer in Red Deer. I started in Red Deer April 1st, 1992.

I got married May 1st, 1992. And our first son was born April 14th, 1993. So things were happening pretty quick. But that first job in Red Deer, what I did, I got a job as doing radio news from 5 to 10 at night, and every hour I would do a news broadcast. And what I would do is I'd just rip and read and go and do the news, and then the whole time I'd be writing my sportscast,

because I also did a sportscast at 11.30 on television. Now, the afternoon drive guy on the radio back then was a guy named Ron McClain. Never heard of him. So Ron and I worked together in Red Deer. Back then, when I first started there, when I was doing the sports at 1130, Ron was doing the weather. So he was doing...

The moment you said Red Deer, my brain was thinking, did he work with Ron McLean? He's been here, by the way. Almost as well-liked as you are. He's a close second. So yeah, it was funny because it's a pretty small world. And then I got a job in Lethbridge after being in Red Deer for 15 months. And I was a sports director in Lethbridge, which basically I was a sports department. I did

the six o'clock sports. And then I would go out and cover the Lethbridge Broncos back then and Lethbridge Dodgers baseball team and I'd go cover the sports and put together reports for the 11 o'clock news at CFCN Lethbridge. And yeah, so I worked there for about nine months and I loved it. I loved Lethbridge.

Great place to work. I had a weekly sports show that I did. I got so much good experience there, and worked with amazing people. But after nine months, I decided I was going to send a tape out to Pat Marsden in Toronto. Marsden, yes. He was the sports director at the time at CFTO,

which is now CTV Toronto. And my goal was to send a tape to Pat with a variety of different things that I'd done and the weekly sports show, which was called Sports Beat, named after the show that he used to do. We also, I did a documentary on the Lethbridge judo team. I mean, for some reason,

Lethbridge had like six guys who went to the Olympics. Oh, wow. And they were in judo. So I did a documentary on that and then my regular stuff and reports. I sent a package to Pat. And the very next day, Fergie Oliver, who had been there for 22 years, quit. Because Fergie was doing the Jays games now and he no longer had time. How about those Blue Jays? How about those Blue Jays? Yes, quit. Because Fergie was doing the Jays games now, and he no longer had time. How about those Blue Jays?

How about those Blue Jays? Yes, sir. That's a hybrid between Jerry Howard. Hello again, friends. Hey, friends. Jerry Howard here for Obisform. Swing and a miss, he struck him out. I remember the Obisform ads.

Ernie Witt was doing them, too. I remember those, man. On CJCL 1430, the music of your life. Yeah, the music of your life, yes. I remember all the, you know what, for a while, quick aside and we'll come back

because that's what we do here. But like the old ads, like CIBC, get us working for you, CIBC. These old ads that would air during Blue Jay games because I would fall asleep to Tom and Jerry. Yeah.

I don't want to listen to them. And TV because, you know, back then we didn't get every TV game on TV. But yeah, right. There was like a CFTO game or whatever they called it back then, CTV, whatever. I think CFTO. Well, it was a CFTO game.

It was a CTV game. That's right. That aired on CFTO as well because CTV was always the network. Don Chevrier, was he? Don Chevrier was a play-by-play guy. He did some

CBC stuff, too. I think Chevy might have gone to CBC, and when he did that, I think Fergie started doing the CTV games with Tony Kubrick. Right. This is off the top of my head. I'm just remembering back then. Chevrier was great. Right. This is off the top of my head. I'm just remembering back then. Yeah.

Chevy was great. Right. Chevy was really good. And such a smooth set of pipes, Chevy. Yeah. A very deep voice, soothing. Yeah. So anyway, Fergie got that gig and he just really didn't need to do the regular thing.

All that Just Like Mom cash was lying around. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fergie did okay with just like mom and a few other things, right? So anyway, so he left. And the day after Pat received my tape, Fergie left. And he liked what I did and called me in for, you know, an interview. And he was amazing. Pat took me, you know. I got in at night.

He picked me up at the airport, took me to my hotel. We had a great chat that night. Then the next day, he grabbed me, and we went to Exhibition Stadium where the Jays and the Argos played at that time, Maple Leaf Gardens, Kensington Market. Then we met the big bosses, Douglas Bassett. It was great, and I got the job. It was funett. And, you know, it was great. And, you know, I got the job. It was fun.

Wow. I mean, I only know Marsden. I know he was big with the CFL and everything. Like, I know the legend of Marsden, but I only know Marsden from his Fan 590 morning show. He was at Derringer. Well, he was with Bobcat and Derringer. Derringer.

No, but not the Bobcat. Bobcat maybe for a brief period of time did the mornings, but I think that was after Pat had left. I've got a feeling. Possibly they worked together. For some reason I remember them working together. I definitely remember, of course, Derringer. Him and Derringer had a great show.

He would say Pally, right? Pally! Hey, Pally! How you doing, Pally? Man. Yeah, it was good. Yeah, so it was fun. Pat, he worked with Derringer. That was an amazing show.

I think Landry came on board for a while. It was Marsden and Landry. Yep, that's right. And then eventually, yeah, they decided to trim the budget, I think, and that's what happened to Pat. Oh, that's too bad. And he's no longer with us, but he hired you,

so that was wise of him. Yeah, that was... I appreciate that. Thank you. You did that, right? He was a great guy. He really loved Pat. Man.

So he's responsible for the Joe Tilly era at CFTO there. So, okay, so we're going back. What are we talking again? Early 90s? What are we? 84. 84. I started early.

I don't know why. Yeah, 84. Okay. So, right, because, of course, you're in Lethbridge when the Oilers win the Cup. So that math works. Okay, now it makes more sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gotcha.

See, I thought you were younger than you are. They won their first one. Right, right. Well, I was 17 when I started. Sounds about right. That's all right. Now, there's so many things I want to talk to you about your early days here, but one thing I want to talk about is the way you'd cover the Toronto Maple Leafs, because I've

had Gord Stelic on this show, and we just talked, I just wanted to hear him tell me Harold Ballard stories. I was happy to just wind him up and tell me about this Ballard, because I remember the Ballard era. And if it didn't happen, I'd think it was like fiction. So do you mind? I'm going to play a very, the audio is really poor. So people, please forgive me.

But here's a clip of you talking about Floyd Smith here. Now, I don't think Floyd Smith is a bad person, but as a National Hockey League general manager, I think he's underqualified and hopelessly incompetent. The Leafs weren't that bad last year, but Smith has subsequently turned them back into the laughingstock of the NHL, and it's time he was shown the door.

If Donald Giffen and his cohorts don't want to do anything about it, maybe it's time Leaf fans showed their displeasure by not showing up. The Leafs extended their winless skid to nine games. Okay, so that's what I got. Wow. That's bold. I listen to a lot of sports commentary, and it's rarely as on-the-nose as that.

That's pointed, incompetent. Well, you know what? It was a bad time, and I feel a little bit bad that I was so hard on Floyd at the time. I probably wouldn't do that today, but at the time I felt it was warranted. But yeah, you know, things were really bad at that time. And, you know, he made that ridiculous deal, Tom Curvers, for that draft pick that could have been Eric Lindros. But it ended up being Niedermeyer.

Well, it ended up being Niedermeyer, but it could have been Lindros. But it ended up being Niedermeyer. Well, it ended up being Niedermeyer, but it could have been Lindros because if they don't have curvers, they're even weaker, they could easily finish behind the Nordiques and they would have drafted Lindros. It was just the whole thing was moronic and idiotic and I just

grasping, trying to save his job, the know, the detriment of the team. It was just brutal. I just hated the whole scenario. But it is what it is. No, I mean, it's kind of refreshing that you called them out like that. Like today, you know what would happen today? It'd be like, oh, no, we have a 47% stake in the ownership of this enterprise.

We can't say that. You know what I mean? That would happen today. I had a lot of support, right? So Marsden loved it. He'd just say what, he'd tell me, you say what you want. And he said, he'd tell me, he said, it doesn't matter if they like you.

It matters if they listen to you, they watch you, right? So who cares? I mean, you tell them what you think. So he was definitely a supporter of that. And you're right. We weren't a part owner of the team back then. But I mean, honestly, to me, that's a huge difference in the sports media today is about, I would say, true independence. Like Blue Jays, really briefly with Blue Jays.

Most of the big time Blue Jay analysts and reporters are employed by Rogers Communications. Rogers owns the Blue Jays. They have all the games. So everybody who talks about the Jays on Rogers is obviously going to be a bit of a homer. I mean, I don't know. What can you say? It's funny. I just had, like two days ago, Scott Moore was here.

Oh, yeah. He's gone. He's gone. On his way out the door he wanted to drop by my basement he's like i've never done a basement podcast before i think he said this exact words like this is my first basement interview i'm like oh really an executive at rogers communications doesn't do plenty of these basement interviews i was surprised but he was pretty forthcoming considering his position but uh he was adamant. He's adamant that the people covering the Blue Jays for Rodgers

can have the freedom and the license to criticize the team, bite the hand that feeds. And I believe he believes what he's saying. I just believe this is an unwritten sense. I feel like when Wilner got that suspension for criticizing Cito Gaston, do you remember this? Wow, that was a long time ago. Yeah, it was a pretty long time ago, I guess.

But to me, that was the shot across the bow. And then I think some reporters at Rogers are thinking twice before they heavily criticize the people who signed their paychecks. There's only so many jobs out there, as you know. Yeah, I mean, first and foremost, you always got to, you know, first and foremost, you got to protect your backside. And, you know, it'd be nice if everybody gave all their analysts free reign and license to say whatever they wanted. But, you know, there's, they got to protect their product in their eyes, I believe. You know, the owners of these franchises want to protect their product.

Well, like Harold Ballard did. Well, Harold Ballard overprotected his... Everybody at our station, me, Pat, Fergie, Dan Matheson, had all been barred from Maple Leaf Gardens at one time or another. So you couldn't get in the building? Well, yeah.

He actually phoned Douglas Bassett to have me fired. This is the story I'm looking for here. Okay. Like, it wasn't that... No, I called Harold Ballard on the air, Cro-Magnon Man. And I'm sure he had no idea what I was saying.

And because I called him Cro-Magnon Man, he got upset and he probably said, What's up? And whoever flunky was in the room with him probably said, I don't know. Sounds bad, man. He got upset and he probably said, what's that? And whoever flunky was in the room with him probably said, I don't know. Sounds bad, though. So then he called Douglas Bassett up and said, I don't want that guy doing sports in Toronto.

I want him out of here. You fire him. And Bassett said, what are you talking about? He's my guy. Shut up. So at least somebody had your back. Oh, yeah. Douglas was good. See, but if there was, if that was now and there was some kind of a partnership with CTV, Bell Media or something,

that kind of a call from somebody like that could have, I'm just saying if there was some kind of a business. Okay, there was another call, and I can't remember the specifics of it a while ago, and it was after, it might have been the Steve Stavro era, and I got a call from the big boss at this time, Ivan Fitzsand, and I can't remember what he said, but it was something along the lines of,

okay, I'm taking some heat over this, but don't worry about it. I've got your back, and it's okay. And that was just, you know, it was, uh, yeah,

man, but there was a kind of like, uh, maybe there was an inference maybe that, you know, ease up a little bit, uh, you know, but it was,

you know, not a life and death type of thing, not a career threatening thing. Well, good. I was going to say, I mean, you did go over three decades at that station.

So Ballard was unsuccessful. Yeah. Spoiler alert. Uh, so Ballard was unsuccessful. Yeah. Spoiler alert. Ballard did not get you fired. But man, it's crazy. And any other, do you have any other, Ballard, I mean, Ballard banned you from the building? Yeah, for a while. It was a very short period of time because I think what happened is after, it was for less than a week. Okay. Yeah, there you go.

Wow. Our pal Hal. Yeah. Yeah. But Pat and Fergie, I think they were banned for like, I don't know, probably a whole year at one point. I don't know. But that ended as well. It was just so stupid. But I mean, you know, he reminds me of a certain politician that's out there today.

Ballard. Oh, well, yeah. But it reminds me of two politicians. One that's in this province and one down south. Two politicians. But man, that's the Ballard. I can never get tired of the Ballard story. So, okay.

So at CFTO, maybe, okay, this is a bit of a personal question, but I think I'm going to ask it, and you can tell me to mind my own effing business if you want. It's okay. But you alluded to this when I presented you with a six-pack of beer. Oh, yeah, right. Right. So do you mind telling me about maybe those struggles and how you overcame addiction?

Well, okay, so years ago when I was a teenager, I struggled with alcoholism specifically, and I had a trauma. Basically, when I started boxing, that was to change my life, right, because I didn't know of any other way to do it when I was, you know, 18 years old and in a lot of trouble. And, you know, it did. and in a lot of trouble. And, you know, it did.

It helped me to turn my life around. And for a while, things went really good. And, you know, when I was boxing, things were good. And then I'd, you know, always sort of look forward to those times at the end of the year when there's no fights going on, when I'd hook up with my old buddies and we'd tie one on. And that sort of was always at the back of my mind and and um you know time went on and you know i ended up getting the job in in toronto and and it was great and i wanted to do

well and i applied myself very hard but over a period of time i started to you know get back into the booze pretty heavily and uh i was drinking all the time, every day. And it became a problem at home, you know, and I'm having to leave the home, and all these other things were happening. And, yeah, it was not good. It was a bad scene, and I decided with the help of some other people, I decided to do something about it and went away to treatment, and Douglas Bass had supported that. And yeah, so things changed.

That was May of 1992, and so it's been a little while. 26 years? Yeah. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but for 26 years you've been clean and sober? That's right. Good for you.

No, congrats. That's amazing. I mean, it's like, you know, I heard it somewhere, but I like to use it. It's the people, when somebody congratulates you for staying sober, congratulating an alcoholic for staying sober

is like congratulating a cowboy with hemorrhoids for not riding his horse. Oh. Well, while you're saying that, I'm grappling with this whole, like, what kind of an asshole am I to give you a six-pack of beer? You know what I mean? Well, like I said, I will have a place where I can drop it off, so it's fine.

It's fine. Listen, I got no issues with, I mean, I don't have a fight with alcohol or anything else like that. For me, it just doesn't work. I just can't. I'm not a person who can drink. I've abused my privilege. You can't drink in moderation, essentially.

No, God, I can drink. I've abused my privilege. You can't drink in moderation, essentially. No, God, I can't. No, if I were to have, you know, one drink, it would be leading to another drink. My issue is I have no control over the amount I take, and when I do take it, I have no control over the amount I take, and I cannot quit because I have this compulsion

that makes me want to have more. Well, I mean, alcoholism is a disease, right? It is. This is a disease, right? It is. This is a disease, not a weakness. But good on you for seeking the help in getting the rehabilitation. And 26 years, congrats. Yeah.

That's fantastic. That's fantastic. Just make sure that beer gets to your daughter, okay? Can you, by the way, good on Bassett for, that was pretty progressive, I'd say, for the early 90s. I mean, I think. It's good on him for... He wrote me a nice letter saying, I appreciate you coming clean

and willing to do something about your problem. And if I find out you've been drinking, you're fired. Tough love, we'll call that. Yeah, for sure. It was tough love. But I mean, it was a motivating factor, but it was certainly not enough. You need more than that in order to...

Motivating factor's not enough because a lot of alcoholics have a lot of motivating factors, but they're just unable to stop. Right. Now, I've had enough broadcasters on this show, veteran broadcasters, we'll say, so I've had enough, uh, enough broadcasters on this show, uh, veteran broadcasters will say who, so I've heard enough stories about like Marsden and Oliver and it sounds like they enjoyed a

couple of pots. Oh yeah. Yeah. That's one of the reasons Pat and I got along so well. I mean, let's face it, that's,

that's part of the deal. When we got together, we, we, you know, we drank a lot and, uh, and he liked to drink and,

and, and so did I. So it was... Yeah. I'm glad you're clean and sober. Now, you mentioned Dan Matheson. Do you mind talking a little bit about the sports department

through your three decades at CFTO slash CTV Toronto? I mean, I want to talk specifically very soon about Lance Brown. But can you maybe, do you mind talking a little bit about... Are you talking about Councillor Lance Brown?

Is he? I don't even know. Is he running? Yeah, he's running for council. I believe it's in Uxbridge, Port Perry. See, I haven't read my Uxbridge, Port Perry news in a while. No, no, yeah, yeah. Okay.

Oh, how's he polling? Do you know? Is he going to win? I don't know, but I'm-Port Perry news in a while. No, no, yeah, yeah. Okay. Oh, how's he polling? Do you know? Is he going to win? I don't know, but I'm going to assume that Lance will do okay. He's a well-known, popular guy up there. He should be doing fine. He should do fine. Oh, good for him.

Good for him. But yeah, so yeah, run down. Let's start with Lance then, okay? And soon we'll talk about what happens to you, because it happened to Lance at the same time. Oh, right, right. You two are kind of joined at the hip when it comes to departing our airwaves. Before your time, if you ask me, I'm just a fan though.

What do I know? But we'll talk about that very, very shortly. But what was it like working with Lance Brown? Because you spent decades with that guy. Yeah. You know what? Lance and I never hung around. We were never pals.

And I think probably I was pretty crazy for his liking in the beginning, I'm sure. And then he became too boring for him. Something like that, probably. But yeah, we did our own things. And we're always got along fine, cordial and everything else, but we were never hanging around palsy. And, but it was, you know, it was, you know, we had a good run together. The whole gang, really. I mean, Sunil was with us for a long time. Oh yeah, so Sunil Joshi, let's talk about, what's Sunil up to these days?

I have no idea. I haven't heard from Sunil in a while. I talked to him, you know, geez, it's probably been, I think about the time I left is the last time I think I talked to him, you know, geez, it's probably been I think about the time I left is the last time I think I talked to him. I'm just naturally curious because he was...

Again, it's like one of those things. We worked together, we got along fine, but we all went our separate ways when the lights went off, right? Were you ever buddies with any of these guys, like Jerry Gorge, Gorge, Gorgeous you ever buddies with any of these guys? Like Jerry Gorgeous George. Dan, any of these guys? Were you buddies?

I golfed with some of the guys. My wife and I and Pat and his wife, T.A., used to hang around quite a bit when I first started. Let's see. No, I would say probably never really socialized with any of the guys in the sport I mean Ken Shaw and I and our wives

Ken Shaw does he talk like that off the camera yeah hey Joey how you doing I throughout the years of this podcast six plus years every once in a while I'll do a Ken Shaw and there's no way Ken Shaw speaks like that outside a Kenshaw. And there's no way Kenshaw speaks like that outside.

I mean, he's not on camera. There's no way. Oh, he's very gregarious. He's out there. He's very, you know, you can hear him coming from a mile away because he does. He's Kenshaw wherever he goes. Would Kenshaw, would he come in this basement? Sure he would.

I'm sure he would, yeah. Oh, man. And he's not the guy who sells cars, right? No, no. I'm sure he would, yeah. And he's not the guy who sells cars, right? No, not Ken Shaw Toyota or whatever it was. No, no, that's not him. You think it ticks him off a bit that people think he's the guy selling cars? You know what? He's had

fun with that. He's had fun with that. I always wondered this. Some people will call him from time to time and they'll say, you know, I'm having problems with my car. And he'll say, listen, you come down to time and they'll say, you know, I'm having problems with my car. And he'll say, listen, you come down to the station, the station, you come down to the, you know, the dealership first thing in the morning

and say that you're here to see Ken and I'll come down and see you. We'll talk about it. We'll sort this out. So Ken Shaw from Ken Shaw, Lexus. That's it, Lexus. And I see it on license plates, right? Like when you see Ken Shaw and Ken Shaw Lexus that's it Lexus because I see it

on license plates right like you see Ken Shaw and you're like that's not the same Ken Shaw there's no way

but I'm pretty sure that Ken Shaw the dealership has probably benefited slightly from that which came first do we know

which came first I'm gonna guess that Ken Shaw the broadcaster came first because he's been at CTV since the late 70s. Is that right? He actually was there in the

early to mid-70s behind the scenes pulling cable, went away to Los Angeles, did some comedy writing, wrote a cartoon show, if you can believe that. Did it make the air? Do you know the name of it?

I have no idea. And they came back, worked some radio, came back and worked at our place again. It started in the late 70s and has been there since. Kenshaw. That's great. Okay, now there's somebody else I want to ask you about because she came on this show and she was so candid with me

in terms of her departure from CTV Toronto. Christine Bentley. Oh, yeah, okay. Because you must have spent a long time working with her, too, if I do the math. Oh, yeah, geez. Christine and I worked together for ages, ages.

I mean, we used to do, I mean, when I first started, when I first started, she did the weekends, and so did I. So she was the news anchor and I was the sports anchor and then shortly after that she moved to the 1130

when they started doing a two person show Ken did it solo then they added Christine Gail Smith and Tom

what's Gail Smith up to now that's a I got no idea I haven't thought about her in a long time okay no idea

and then so anyway yeah and then so they went after a year and a little bit, I ended up going to the Monday to Friday Late Show. And that's when Dan left. And so, you know, so Christine and I worked again together

for another 10, 12 years after that, maybe 15 years after that. So it was quite a run we had together. So I'm not from your industry. So Christine's here. She came with Kate Wheeler, actually. They both... Oh, okay. The girls from... What's the... Oh, shite. Something about her or she? Yeah, what she said. What she said.

What she said. Okay. I always think of Michael Scott on The Office. That's what she said. That's what she said. What she said. Okay. So yeah think of Michael Scott on The Office. That's what she said. That's what she said. What she said, okay. So yeah, they both came on together. But Christine Bentley, okay, so to the public, to us viewers at home, Christine Bentley was retiring. There was a big farewell. I think there was cake and, oh, we're going to miss you.

I'm so sorry you have to leave us. That whole thing, okay, really thick too. Fine, oh my God, she's retiring. In reality, this is the stuff you only learn because you listen to Toronto Mike. When Christine came on and she told the story, she said that literally an executive taps her on the shoulder and says, your time is up and we can do this one of two ways. The way Kate eventually got it this way, I guess,

which is where you're going to get walked out with a box. Yeah, yeah. Or we can spin this as a retirement and you can, you know, it'll be easier for you to go maybe? Yeah, that's exactly what happened to us. Same thing, exactly. We went into Human Resources

to see the president of news and vice president of news and basically said, you know, here's the deal. We're dropping sports across the country. See, what had happened is six months before that, approximately, they dropped the sports in Montreal. They had already dropped it in Ottawa and Kitchener and Edmonton and Calgary

and everywhere else. So I went in to see the president of the news, and I said, like, I can see the writing on the wall here maybe a little bit. Is that it for sports? And are we pretty much done? And she said, no, no, we love what you guys are doing. No problem.

It's all good. Just continue to do what you're doing. And then, of course, six months later, you know, Joe, and I told you that we were going to, well, I guess we've had a change of plans. And now we're going to drop sports from across the country. And so, you know, you've got the choice. You can leave now.

We'll give you a six-week salary. Or you get a chance to say goodbye to everybody. We'll have a nice party. And that's the way it was. So, I mean, I said, okay, I'm going to go for dinner with my wife. We're going to talk about it. And we're going to make the call. And so we talked about, first of all, okay, I got to back up a little bit.

You know, two years before that, when Sunil and Bill were walked out the door with the boxes, I started working weekends. I started doing seven shows a week things completely changed instead of monday to friday uh i was now working wednesday thursday friday saturday sunday and lance and i split all the shows between the two of us and so uh it was a lot more work they wanted me to and working weekends was you know crazy it's a lot busier a lot more going on i have to was a lot more work. And working weekends was crazy. It's a lot busier, a lot more going on. I have to fill a lot more time. And they would always say things like, do less.

I can't. I can't do less. I cannot not work hard and do the best. So anyway, it was a lot of work. It was a pain in the butt because I worked Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night. It was a lot of work. It was a pain in the butt because I worked Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night. After two years of that, getting close to two years of that, frankly, my wife and I were kind of fed up with it.

And we were sort of like, we'd actually gone to see a financial guy and talk about retirement and what it looked like and where my pension situation was. And after analyzing everything, he says, it looks great, man. It looks good. You're good to go. And he said, but what if they offer you a package? Wouldn't that be kind of nice? And I said, yeah. And he said, why don't you just hang in it just for another year or so and see what happens.

And that was probably, I'm going to say, maybe two or three months before it happened. So I was in, like, it was everything I could do to keep, to wipe the smirk off my face when they called me in. And I just, actually, I had just done a little bit for a television show, a made-for-TV show that airs in the States, filmed in Toronto called Condor. I played an NFL play-by-play guy. And I thought maybe they got word of that.

And that's why I was being called in because I didn't clear it. Right, right, right. But I'd sort of had, I'd sort of asked for a kind of generic clearance for something like that. So I thought it was going to be okay. And I just did it. And sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. You know what I mean?

I do, I do. So anyway, I thought maybe that was it. But then when they called me and they said, okay, we're meeting at Human Resources, I thought, because I was on my way to the Jays game to do pregame thing for the Jays. Right. Or maybe it was the Raptors. Maybe it was TFC.

It was something. One of our many. It was October, so it might have been October 17, so it might have been, yeah, the Jays weren't playing. So it was probably TFC. So I'm on my way downtown, and she said, don't worry, come here and call me when you get here. So I call her when I got here, and she says,

okay, we'll meet at Human Resources. So I called my wife and I says, okay, I think it's probably the Packers. I don't think they're going to go to Human Resources for the other thing. So anyway, I get called in there, and they sat me down. And, you know, again, it was like I was, they told me that here's the deal, here's the package, and she explained, I think she was a little upset that,

you know, she told me that things were okay, and now she's telling me things are different. And so they, the VP and the president left, and I sat down. I went through with my union rep and the HR person, and it was like they were going through it, and they were explaining it to me, and I was giddy, and I was telling jokes and stuff like that, and they kind of looked at me, and they could tell it was not a bad thing.

It was like it was really kind of what I was looking for. It worked out very well for me. Oh, good. So it was a, it was a good thing. It was a, it was, the timing was right. Good. First of all, great.

Yeah. That's good. That's good. Because a lot of times that's a less happy, a less happier moment for a lot of people. Yeah, and I did get a chance to say goodbye, you know, and there's a lot of good people there and it was so much fun to

hang with them and say goodbye, and I remember when I walked out of the human resources, walked in the newsroom and saw Andrea Case and a few other people started walking over, and they could tell they were all so glum and everything else, and I said, no, it's okay. Believe me, it's really okay.

I, this is a bit long, like maybe four minutes or something, but I'm going to play this in its entirety, because I think it's really okay. This is a bit long, like maybe four minutes or something, but I'm going to play this in its entirety because I think it's very good. But this is from your last sportscast with, I guess, was it Andrea and Colin? Was it Colin DeMille? Okay, so let's listen to this. Sports director and anchor who was willing to hire a green kid from alberta named clarence joseph tillipov i think pat liked the idea that i was a former boxer maybe he thought it would

come in handy in those newsroom battles pat was a loyal guy a lot of fun and we miss him to douglas bassett who signed off on my hiring and agreed to my proposal for sports beat today a show that had a great run douglas was a man who was willing to send me to treatment for an alcohol problem rather than kicking me to the curb. Celebrated 25 years of sobriety this year, Douglas, one day at a time. Thanks again to a sports department that once numbered 13 people, terrific, talented folks including Lance, Dan, Sunil, Jerry, George, Claude, Scoop, Bundy, John, and Brian.

To Ted Fabro, the brains behind the excellent sports adventure. To a newsroom full of amazing, hardworking people, to all the editors, including Tim, Tom, Richard, Paul, Bobby Oda, who put up with my wild style in last-minute changes, to the great camera, studio, and control room staff, to producers like Richard, Mike, James, Jamie, Joe, Ed, and Cash, co-hosts like Bill, Pauline, Christine, Ken, Michelle, Zorada, Andrea, Colin, some incredibly talented weather stars like Dave, Tom, and Dana Jo.

Absolutely the best in the business. I will miss you all. To the local sports teams who made my job so enjoyable, great guys like Paul Beeston and even Harold Ballard who tried to have me fired. To all the great athletes including the boxers, some of whom I sparred with in the day until I started coming to work with black eyes. To all the local sports teams that will no longer have the coverage they once did, keep sending your stories, ideas to the desk, guys. To all the dedicated people in the barns and racetracks across the province, to all the friends and co-workers who showed up by the hundreds

when we lost our beautiful son Spencer to an accidental fentanyl overdose. So I offer a challenge to all politicians. Please do what you can to help stop this epidemic. It's been a great run, but the media world is changing. One thing I will say is that it's not the profits that make a company great. It's the people who work their butts off and come up with the brilliant ideas that creates that profit. That's why this station has been so incredible. I want to thank Wendy and Joanne and Sophia, who I've been able to watch develop into an amazing news director. Thanks for letting me spout out for the provision that I qualify by saying these are my opinions and don't reflect those of CTV or Bell Media. Folks at home can keep track of me by following

me on Twitter at JoeSwissTV. You might catch me doing some acting and helping out at Retribe. Most of all, I'd like to thank my family, my brothers and sisters, my brother and sisters out west, my daughter, Maddie Jo, who's got a book coming out called Drawn Dreams. I'm sure the folks here will give her a chance to plug it. Her terrific husband, Chase, who's truly like a son to us. Our son, Tyler, the artist and former Ontario boxing champ, who lives in Bangkok now.

We're going to visit him next month. Check his work out at tylertilly.com. And, of course, my gorgeous wife, Penny Claire, who's been with me the entire way, the ups and downs, the joy and the tears. I love you more today than ever. And Spencer, who is always there wherever we go. And last of all, I want to thank the viewers.

You're the reason we're here. Thank you for watching. And good night. Thank you. It's emotional. Take your time there. When I pulled that clip, I was take your time there. I, yeah, I, when I,

when I pulled that clip, I was crying at the end of that clip. And, because you can hear it in your voice, like real, real emotion there, which, yeah.

Yeah. If you're not comfortable with this, we don't have to talk about this but um if if you're open to talking about it i was going to ask about spencer well yeah um yeah i love talking about spencer actually a uh you know um he's uh, we still feel him and experience him all the time in different forms, in different ways. And, yeah, so he was a beautiful, beautiful boy. And, you know, he just was taken from us too soon. from us too soon and we've all come to really get our hands or heads around that and accept that this is exactly the way it's supposed to be and who knows why and who knows how and you know I sure wish things could have been

different and but you know like we don't we don't beat ourselves up over that or or you know we just there's a couple things i like to remember and i truly believe that everything happens for a reason everything happens exactly the way it's supposed to and all of our experiences make us uniquely useful to help other people and um you know all of us have been able to help other people because of our experience with Spencer. And everything else has gone on in our lives. And so, you know, it's good. Like, I mean, it's good. You know, it just is.

And, you know, there's an organization we're involved with, the Bereave Families of Ontario and the Durham chapter. And, you know, I've got a lot of, we've got a lot of good friends who've gone through the same kind of things and, and, you know, new guys who I, you know, get to come in and I've gone through the same thing and I get to experience, you know, share my experience, strength and hope and how we overcame that. And, and, and, you know, it's four years now, right? So it's, it's, it was four years, October 8th. And every, every October we get together and we have a, we call it infinity day because eight is infinity. And, uh, so October 8th, we got together. We went, my wife and I,

and my daughter and her husband, we went to the Breyers and we, you know, spent time and celebrated him. And, you know, our son from Bangkok got on the phone with us, and we Skyped him, and we chatted, and it was, yeah, just another great day. We think it's important to celebrate him all the time, and yeah. And I don't believe that this experience goes without merit. I mean, it teaches, it helps, it's, you know, good things can come of this, and a lot of good things have, and a lot more good things will. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Earlier when you were talking about Harold Ballard, I was thinking of Ken Daniels, because Ken Daniels told a story in this basement. He told a story about young Ken Daniels calling Harold, and then at the end of his episode, he wanted to talk about his son, Jamie, I believe. Ken and I have talked, have chatted, yeah.

We've connected, you know, not long after Jamie died. It was a little bit after Spencer. So, yeah, so he, and yeah, so he, again, Ken is the same way. He's traveling around, he travels around the U.S. and speaks to people and talks about, you know, fentanyl and, and, uh, you know, and, and the dangers of, of the, of drugs, you know, and, and it's, it's, it's a way to help others and maybe a way where, a wage, you know, raise awareness. Right. So. And Ken's got a campaign against what he calls

predatory rehabilitation facilities in the USA, where they take your money from insurance for people addicted to drugs. But drugs are readily available, and this is something he's quite passionate about on behalf of his son, Jamie. But I'm glad you talked to Ken, because I was going to say you should talk to Ken. Yeah, Ken and I have hooked up. He's a great guy. I, Ken and I have hooked up. He's a great guy.

I love Ken. I knew Ken way back in the day. Yeah, so it was really good when we, you know, somebody talked to me and, you know, said, hey, you wanted Ken's number. And, you know, it just happened we connected and I'm so glad we did. It was really, we've had a couple good talks, so. Good, good.

Ken's full of compassion, so he's a good guy to talk to on that front. But I'm so sorry, and I clearly, family is everything to you. I mean, the way you talk about your wife and your daughter and your son, but your son-in-law too, like amazing.

He just got a new job. Well, I was going to ask about all of them. So, okay, so is it Maddie? Is that the name of your daughter? Maddie Jo is my daughter. She wrote a book called Drawn Dreams, which is doing incredibly well. She's coming to China with us.

Unfortunately, Chase can't because he just started a new job. Okay, so what is his job? Okay, so he got a VP position with March. McClellan, I think it is. It's a big insurance company in Toronto. Sounds about right to me. And he gets to walk to work. And so it's a really good gig.

It's a promotion. And yeah, it's beautiful. He's such a good guy. I mean, he's amazing. I mean, when she married Chase, I really did gain a son for sure, yeah. Well, that's amazing. I mean, he must be a great guy, of course,

but that name is great. I mean, because Chase is a cool name. Like, was this always a name? Yeah, no, it was his name. I've only noticed it recently. He was actually a great hockey player, really good hockey player. He played tier two, was drafted by, I think,

the North Bay Centennials, and he played a little bit with them. Had some concussion issues and had to quit, but did well. Ended up getting an MBA, executive MBA, and has done well in his field of the insurance business.

And Maddie Jo, she writes? Yeah, she has a book called Drawn Dreams. I'm sure you're familiar with the secret, the movie, and the idea of what you manifest, what you think about is what you attract, the law of attraction. And she's taken that further to the point

where you draw what you want to attract and what you're looking to attract in your life, you draw it and it becomes reality. And I tell you, I draw all the time and a lot of great things have happened as a result of that. So you're an artist yourself, like your son. Well, my drawing is not something that I can sell. Tyler's work he sells, it's beautiful.

I mean, his stuff is amazing. If you're ever looking for TylerTilly.com, he's got a lot of stuff on Instagram at Tyler Tillian. He's incredibly talented. Well, how did he end up in Bangkok? Okay, so shortly he was living in Toronto, and he decided to, he was working for the government, and he just wanted to be a full-time artist.

So he quit his job, became a full-time artist, had a gallery with a couple of their friends. But it was hard and it was, you know, he decided after Spencer Dottie wanted to do something different. So he decided he moved to Barcelona. He went to Barcelona, lived there for, you know, a while and decided that it was very expensive. And liked the stuff he was doing there, did some amazing stuff. but basically kind of threw a dart at the dartboard and came up with Bangkok. And, uh, you know, that's what he did. He moved to Bangkok and he's got a couple of studios there and, you know, and he's, uh, he's doing very well. And, and, uh, yeah, we talk all the time.

Cool. Cool. One night in Bangkok. Yeah. Right. Now, um, it sounds in Bangkok. Yeah. Right. Now, it sounds like when you get this, you know, I envision like a couple of HR people

and they slide a folder to you or something like that. I mean, a lot of us have been there. I totally relate and I've heard

these stories. But you're kind of giddy to get this because you're kind of wanting this because you're ready to do the next chapter or whatever.

But now that that's kind of, you've been out, how long have you been out now, two years? No, just one year. It was last December with the last show. December 23rd. Did Lance do the faux retirement as well? Yeah.

He left, I think, the day before I did or something. One thing I will say, the guy who Yeah, the same thing. Yeah, we both, he left, I think, the day before I did or something. When you know that, like one thing I will say as a guy who just watches the news, that when you know that, because I knew that you and Lance were that go. So this is,

I think your union put out a press release, I think. Yeah. Right? Like this was something I knew because it was in public, not because somebody

whispered it in my ear or whatever. And then you watch the farewell stuff like we just saw. And I like Colin. Colin DeMell has been here. Oh, really? Yeah, he's been here. I whispered it in my ear or whatever. And then you watch the farewell stuff like we just saw. And I like Colin. Colin DeMell has been here.

Oh, really? Yeah, he's been here. We had a great chat. He loved the Great Lakes beer. Maybe you should drop it off. He's not too far from here. But when you hear, like you watch it, and they'll say something like, I'm going to paraphrase,

but something like, we're really going to miss you, Joe. We're so sorry that you're leaving us. Okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is tough to stomach when you know that you read the press release from the union that said basically you guys were being terminated. That's a little tough because you don't necessarily... You did want to go, but you didn't want to go.

I think it's legit and honest when he says we're really sad to see you go. That's legit and real. Sorry that you're leaving us. Yeah, that's fair. You are sorry you're leaving. I mean, that's still okay.

Sorry that you're choosing to go would not be the right thing to say. But in my case, honestly... But sometimes you hear them say things like, please stay. And I've noticed with other people that I know where that goes. It's like, please stay.

Don't leave us. And I'm like, you do know that know where to let go and it's like, please stay, don't leave us. And I'm like, you do know that they have no choice. Okay, okay. Call the bluff. You're right. I'm going to stay.

Call the bluff and see what happens. All right, I'll stay. And everyone's like looking at each other in the control room like, oh my God, what do we do now?

Oh no, it's too late. That would be great. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So I was going to ask you though, now that this is in the rear view mirror and obviously you're going to China next, you've got some good stuff going on here,

lucky man. And I was going to ask you about the disappearance of local sports on our newscast. Right. Let's face it, CTV with their local news programs just eliminated local sports.

Yeah, what does the OHL do? What is, you know, university sports? Even high school stuff. High school stuff. All the stuff we covered, like local events of all different kinds, you know, the Wolf Pack. I mean, all that stuff.

I mean, there's no coverage of that stuff now, and that's just the way it is. I mean, from the people at the top looking down, I think their assumption was that, you was that people want to go to sports, they're going to go to TSN, right? We own TSN, why would we have sports? Because that's who's doing the sports now, right? Just TSN does like Raptors, Leafs.

Yeah, they'll come on in a big event. They'll have an analyst like Craig Button on talking about the Leafs if there's something big going on. Otherwise, they just do a little voiceover, from what I understand. I don't want us to watch a lot. It would be painful, I think, to watch. I don't know.

It doesn't inspire me. Honestly, I've got other things to do, I guess. They just do a voiceover at night, a 20-second voiceover. Somebody told me Tom Brown was doing them, like the weatherman. I heard that, too. Yeah, so that's kind of weird i i think it's probably not a good idea from everybody i a lot of people i talk to say they they hate it and they don't

like it but you know they could be just placating me who knows but uh uh you know i don't think it's a good idea i know that like big successful television stations in the States all still have the news, the weather, the sports. They have the whole package, and it's all part of the deal. And the ones that are still successful and doing well still have all that. I don't think it's a good idea, but I'm not the person calling the shots. So obviously somebody doesn't agree.

Yeah, it's just too bad, because there's more to Toronto sports scene than Jays, Raptors, and Leafs and maybe the odd TFC. Well, there's a lot more, really, a lot more. I mean, but, you know, you wouldn't know it. I mean, listen, Toronto's never been really good at supporting minor league stuff, right, or developmental stuff, like stuff like the OHL or the Marlies.

Like, that's another thing, the Marlies. Who's going to cover the Marlies, right? You know, we were down there all the time for playoff games and big games. Every night I had Marlies highlights. So, you know, all that stuff's gone. It's just too bad. This big conglomerate,

you and Lance must have been making some big-time cheese, okay? If your salaries were so significant. No, we weren't. So, there you go. Man, oh man. cheese, okay? If your salaries were so significant. No, we weren't. So there you go. Man, oh man. But okay, so when do you leave for China?

A week today. Wow. So I'm glad you did this. How long are you gone? 17 days in China, then we're in Bangkok, or sorry, Phuket for a week. We're going to see our son.

Thailand. Is it Thailand? Yeah. You got to hook me up with this travel company. Yeah. They're great. No, they are. They're very good. I mean, they've got some sensational deals. They really do.

The people who are coming on my tour, like four grand for two people includes all the airfare, all the accommodations, everything, everything in the entire trip, including the cruise and all the meals and, you know, it's good stuff. Joe, I got to say, I'm so glad you made time for this because this was a true pleasure for me and you're like like as advertised you're a swell dude uh and i'm so glad we could have that chat thanks so much for being so open and all right and you can follow me at joe swiss tilly i was gonna do that don't worry you ready for this you ready for this jo? I got 388 episodes under my belt.

I'm no Joe Tilly, but I know a couple of things about outros. And that brings us to the end of our 388th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at TorontoMike. Joe is at JoeSwissTV. No, JoeSwissTilly. Is it at JoeSwissTV or at JoeSwissTilly? I feel like it's JoeSwissTV.

Hold on. It's okay. We have time. That's a good thing about podcasting. Yeah, you know what? I thought it was at JoeSwissTV. Joe's going to confirm for us. It might be at JoeSwissTV, but it might be...

I'm never wrong, Joe. No? Let's find out. At JoeSwissTilly. There you go. Is that right? At JoeSwissTilly? On Twitter, it's at JoeSwissTilly.

My apologies. I am wrong sometimes. At JoeSwissTilly. At Instagram, it is... What am I? At JoeSwiss... JoeTilly. My apologies. I am wrong sometimes. At JoeSwissTilly. At Instagram it is what am I? At JoeSwissTilly. JoeSwissTilly. Thank you for correcting me. There's a first time for everything. I was wrong.

I was wrong. My apologies. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. PropertyInTheSix.com is at Raptors Devotee. And PayTM is at PayTM Devotee and Paytm is at Paytm Canada. See you all next week. Everything is rose and green. You've been under my skin for more than eight years.

It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of...