Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Kicking out the Toronto Sports Media: Toronto Mike'd #397

Episode Date: November 12, 2018

Milon Talsania from Fast Time Watch and Jewellery Repair drops by to discuss growing up with Toronto sports teams and the sports media professionals who covered them.

Welcome to episode 397 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Paytm Canada, Census Design and Build, and our newest sponsors, Palma Pasta and Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me is Milan Talsania from Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. Milan, did I butcher your first name and last name? No, perfect. Is that really true? Absolutely. Oh, it's so great for you to do this.

Thanks for having me. I was worried about, is it Telsaint? It's like Tavares. Is it Tavares or Tavares? I go back and forth. Yeah, I'll take his paycheck. Oh, please.

I'll take 1% of his paycheck. What, how do you say it? Tavares or Tavares? John Tavares, I think. I can go back and forth, to be honest. True, true. I don't know. But welcome, welcome, welcome.

Thank you for having me. Right off the bat. I love the theme, Mike. Shout out to Ill Vibe. You know your stuff. This is like, it's like we speak a coded language on Toronto Mic. Ill Vibe, absolutely.

No, shout out to Ill Vibe. Totally. That's been the theme song since day one. And I'm going to ask you in a minute, I'm going to put you on the spot and ask you when you started listening. But first, I want to say, first and foremost, thank you, Milan, for sponsoring the real talk here on Toronto Mic'd. Absolutely. What took you so long?

Absolutely, he says, as if it was a slam-dunk no-brainer. So when did you start listening to Toronto Mike? When did you discover this podcast? Oh, geez, goes back years. I've always been a fan of sports media. Folks at, I think, Toronto Sports Media started from there. Jonah. Jonah, yeah.

Jonah and Mike, I think. Mike in Boston. That's it. Although he wasn't always there. He just showed up, right? Is that right? I remember it was just Jonah. That's it. And then, yeah. Although he wasn't always there. He just showed up, right? Is that right? Yeah. I remember it was just Jonah. He came on this show. And then all of a sudden, Mike

in Boston started contributing. Right. Yeah. And then, you know, I think I found a link through their site, through your page. Oh, because they don't like to do that over there. Is that right? Okay. Sometimes, I like the guys. I'm friends. I've met mike in boston a few times for coffee okay uh like i said joan has been here i read their stuff whatever they

write and they just did an interview with david schultz and i saw they linked back to the deep dive here with david schultz right so they yes but what i noticed back in the day was they would be like speculating there about something about i wonder what elliot friedman thinks of this and if elliot friedman ever that and they sort of throw that out there meanwhile like the week before like i had just had a 90 minute conversation about with elliot in which i asked him those exact questions right and he had just given these long eloquent answers to the questions so i always found it interesting because like if you were only covering toronto sports media and some local person had a deep dive with elliot friedman isn't it your job to listen and then if you did listen like wouldn't

you want to share that with the people at your site to learn more about toronto sports absolutely absolutely they're sort of the you know the primer and then you're the main event kind of thing oh okay listen if you uh withdraw your sponsorship of Toronto Mike and throw all that money at Mike in Boston, I'm going to be standing here shaking my fist like this. I'll be so angry. Oh my goodness, that would hurt so much. But okay, so I want to say thank you, of course,

for sponsoring the Real Talk. And I said that, I'm going to say it again. Maybe I'll say it again later. No problem. Go for the trifecta. If anyone, listen, I'm going to reset. So you and I are going to, we're not Maybe I'll say it again later. No problem. Go for the trifecta. If anyone listened, I'm going to reset. So you and I are going to, we're not going to kick out the jams. You and I are going to kick out the Toronto sports media period.

I guess, how do you say it? We're going to kick out the Toronto sports media later, and that'll make more sense when we get to it. But first I want to tell people listening that if they enjoy the show and they appreciate the real talk, there are some things that you, the listener, can do to show support. So I'm just going to run down a little list here.

Like some housekeeping here. I didn't want to do this with acid test and I can't do it with lowest to the low and I got Tom Wilson's coming in. I can't do it with him. I'm going to do it with you, Milan. The first and foremost, you can go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike

and you can become a Toronto Mike patron. Every dollar is appreciated. I don't talk this up nearly enough. In fact, I rarely mention it, but I'm hoping to grow this and I think this would be great. By the way, on that note, before I forget,

I'm putting together a episode 400, which features listeners of the show. So if anybody wants to be a part of that show, just record yourself, like on your smartphone, or whatever, on your laptop, whatever, record yourself, and maybe talking about why you love the show, or how you discovered the show, or a favorite moment, or episode, or interesting,

something about the show, just something, I i don't know 30 to 60 seconds and send me that file and i will play it on episode 400 so even if you're not a patron you should be doing that so become a patron uh the second thing you could do is you could you could give this podcast five stars in apple podcasts and your other podcatchers. And you could write a positive glowing review. That's something you could do. Milan, have you ever done that? No, I never have. You could do that when you get home today.

You could do that. Done. And your home, is home Richmond Hill? Our company, our head office is in Richmond Hill and home would be in Newmarket. Newmarket, that's a long drive for you. I feel like maybe you need to spend the night. And then maybe early in the morning,

you can head out Newmarket. Holy smokes. So you can support the sponsors. This is why I'm glad you're here, Milan, to hear this. They said that these are sponsors you could support. If you're buying and or selling your home in the next six months, you don't have to,

no obligation with Brian Gerstein, but you could have a conversation with the man, even if it's a phone call. Give Brian a call at 416-873-0292 or visit propertyinthesix.com. Before you commit to a real estate agent and do anything, have a chat with Brian. Yes, he's a sponsor, sweetest, kindest, most trustworthy, honest real estate agent that I've ever met. So just have a conversation with the man. He'll give you the straight goods.

You can download the Paytm app and use it to pay all your bills. And even if you don't want to use it to pay all your bills, pay one bill with the promo code Toronto Mike, and you get $10 in cash right away. And they track this. So then Paytm sees, oh, Toronto Mike converted another person into a Paytm customer, even though it costs nothing to use the app. I'll call you a customer. And that's good for the show. So you can do that.

You could visit Census Design and Build at censusdesignbuild.ca to schedule your zoning and cost project feasibility study. If you're looking to renovate your home, they do architectural design, interior design, and turnkey construction services across the GTA. So get them to tell you what it would cost to do some work with them. Buy Great Lakes beer. This is a fun one. Do some work with them. Buy Great Lakes beer. This is a fun one. Drink Great Lakes beer.

And when you do, take a photo and tweet it at them and me just to let them know that you appreciate that they support Toronto Mike. They're the first sponsor. MeLone's the most recent sponsor, although you're tied with somebody I'm going to mention in a minute. But yeah, buy Great Lakes beer. Drink Great Lakes beer and let the world know on social media. Same with Palma Pasta. Palma Pasta

is where you go if you want amazing Italian food. I don't know about you, Milan, but I love Italian food. Absolutely. I'm vegetarian, so yeah. But they have some nice veggie lasagnas going on over there. Yeah, for sure. So Palma Pasta, go to palmapasta.com to find out where they are in Mississauga and Oakville.

They also cater your events. The daycare my kid is at has a general meeting next Wednesday. And they said, even if you don't want to vote or anything, come for the food because it's all catered by Palma Pasta. Wow. Complete coincidence. There you go. Amazing.

And finally, you're going to need to elaborate on this for me, but you can go to Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair if you need a battery changed, if you need a new band.

Tell us everything you can do at Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. Well, thank you, Mike. I mean, we do it all. You know, sort of slogan is quality watch and jewelry repairs for over 30 years we're going to be close to 40 years next year

company started back in 1979 and we really do it uh we do it all we fix everything from a timex to a rolex and everything in between uh we do not only watch battery replacement uh but we do full scale repairs whether you need a new crystal on a watch, a new movement, get that old antique watch back in working condition. We have a huge selection of leather and metal watch bands, probably the largest selection in Canada, I believe. And so anything to do with a watch or jewelry repair, we like to think we're your one-stop shop.

And if somebody listening now needs these services with a watch or jewelry repair, you know, we like to think we're your one-stop shop. And if somebody listening now needs these services and wants to support you because, well, yeah, almost 40 years experience, and then we're going to get into the story, the story I love,

the Sears story in a moment. But like if somebody wants to patronize you because you're sponsoring Toronto Mic'd, which is good enough reason, where can they go to find out all these GTA locations? So we have 12 locations right throughout Ontario.

We're actually from Thunder Bay to Ottawa to Sarnia and in between. And we also have a location in Richmond Hill that we've opened up now to the public. And yeah, we're here for you. What's the website? FastTimeWatchRepair.com FastTimeWatchRepair.com FastTimeWatchRepair. And now I can let the world know

the first time I mentioned your name on the show, which was the first episode of November. Do you remember who was the guest? Do you remember? Was it David Schultz? David Schultz. I misread the name of the company, right? In the intro.

That's all right. You're a close one. No, I'm not. But to me, that's funny because I wrote it down wrong in my notes and that's why i read it wrong it's pretty long it's can i just call you fast time no watch and jewelry repair oh no fantastic by the way when i i think it was 1990 i was in this pickup game of basketball and it got heated because i think me and this other guy simon

like the same girl and it got really heated and physical this game of basketball i was like like an idiot i was wearing my swatch watch and physical, this game of basketball. I was like an idiot. I was wearing my swatch watch and I love this swatch watch. Right, right. Do people still wear swatch watches? They do. Okay, because this is 1990 and I was so heartbroken

by this moment, I never bought another swatch watch. But I had this swatch watch and I smashed it on Simon's like cheekbone or like his chin or something and it broke. Had I known,

I mean now, I don't know why I didn't think of this at the time. I could have gone to a Sears, right? Yeah, that's where we were before. Okay, so tell me, tell that story, which I think is fantastic. What you were and what you are, and give me the whole... Yeah, so just a long story short, I guess.

Our business started years and years ago, back in 1979, like I said, began by my parents, Sam and Nina. And yeah, you're too young to remember, Mike, but we used to do repairs back for consumers distributing. First of all, I'm probably older than you, first of all. Second of all, you clearly don't listen to Toronto Mikes because I mentioned consumers distributing. I know you did. That's why I threw it out there. You're just trying to rattle my cage.

Well, do you remember Towers? Of course. And Wilco Woolworth. Of course. And Zellers and Simpsons. Well, first of all, Zellers was like five minutes ago. I feel like Zellers, not to mention the fake phone. Yeah.

Not Sears, Bay. The Bay runs it. Yeah. But okay, so. So we did repairs for them back in the day. And, you know, that evolved, that grew to sort of opening up a shop within a shop. So we had opened up,

they call it a licensed department within, you know, Simpsons and Eaton's. And then when Sears came over and took over a bunch of those locations, we moved into there and operated as under Sears Watch and Jewelry Repair. And a lot of people, like, that's what I find. Like, Fast Time might not be a name people recognize right away,

although they will with all this exposure on Toronto Mike. That's right. But when you say, like, oh, you know, when you go to the Sears and get your watch, maybe not Andy Kim because he doesn't have a battery in his watch and he didn't seem to understand. But, yeah, everybody remembers the watch repair place in the Sears. Yes, they do.

It's amazing. So you couldn't go, but you had to be called Sears because that was like the licensing again? Exactly. And then what happened? How long ago has it been since Sears disappeared? So Sears closed. Their last store was January of this year.

You know, and unfortunately, we had to close with them, obviously, in Sears. But we, I think what you said it best, rose from the ashes, I guess. Like a phoenix. Like a phoenix, yeah. We were never dead. But we knew. We had a successful business model within Sears. We knew there was a demand for our business and services.

Believe it or not, Mike, even in a few locations, they started petitions, believe it or not. And in one location, we had over 300 petitions for us to open up something. So that was really the impetus. You know, the customer feedback has just been phenomenal. And you build this trust and rapport with customers because, you know, we're not just selling boxes of chocolates or running shoes. I'm not knocking those companies, but there's a real... I love chocolate, okay? Be careful here.

There's a real sentimental, you real sentimental sentiment to what we do. Oh yeah, the Pulp Fiction scene. This watch. There you go, exactly. We fixed watches that had been sent down from generations to generations. Jewelry, I mentioned in the Toronto Star article I think earlier in the year.

We even fixed an item that the customer indicated was blessed by the Pope. There's a real bond between our staff our team and with the customers it's a real trust business because you know

we fix everything you're right like if it's grandma's old what did I watch yesterday I watched Crazy Rich Asians oh okay my wife wants to see that yeah

it was cute it was fine it was fine I mean it was fine I thought it was nice enough real talk Mike real talk how was that really it was fine. It was fine. I mean, it was fine. I thought it was nice enough. Real talk, Mike. Real talk.

How was it really? It was, I would say, would I recommend it? It's not bad. Like, I mean, it held my interest. Okay, okay. It was interesting to watch and it was kind of a predictable kind of tale, if you will, but it was nice enough. A little pretty woman-esque predictability kind of thing going on, but I liked it fine.

It's my wife's birthday this week, so maybe something will do. Crazy Rich Asians. But there's a couple of scenes in there where it's kind of a key part of them. No spoilers, of course. Yeah, of course. You know what? I'm going to say, what's the movie with a star is born? Okay, okay.

The Bradley Cooper movie. Right, which is I think the third time they made this movie. Okay. Now, I have never seen any version of this movie. No, neither have I. And not only that, I really know nothing about it. I know that one is Chris Christopherson and Barbra Streisand. I don't know how I know that.

It's like an osmosis thing. I just know that. But I've never seen a minute of the series. I don't know anything about it. You know Humble and Fred? Yes, absolutely. On their podcast, Fred was raving about this film.

He had a great time at the new, the new one with Bradley Cooper. Yeah, and Lady Gaga. He's like, and listening

and he's talking about how great it is and I'm like, oh, that sounds really good. Maybe I'll check that out and then he does a spoiler on this movie

that would make it like, don't bother seeing it. Okay? One of those. And I was like, I can't believe he just did that really it's too soon wait it's it's still in theaters right and a lot of us don't see those kind of movies till even maybe oscar buzz like i don't know i get them at christmas time or something i don't know but uh all this he spoils the movie and then someone calls him out on it like thanks for spoiling the movie and he him and howard say if you don't know this spoiler by now then you're just stupid like as if this is

some kind of like common knowledge sort of like uh i they didn't make this comparison but maybe if you didn't know like um uh what's the Rosebud? Rosebud. What's that movie? Citizen Kane. Okay, okay, okay. Like there's a twist in Citizen Kane. Right.

Which I knew before I ever saw Citizen Kane. I'm not going to say it now. Just in case. That's how courteous I am. But the spoiler that was dropped, it would be like if you had never seen, if you were watching Empire Strikes Back for the first time.

Right. It's still in theaters. A certain spoiler that Homer Simpson ruined. I don't know. Do you remember? Did he ruin it for people in line to see Empire Strikes Back? A certain spoiler that Homer Simpson ruined. I don't know, do you remember? Did he ruin it for people in line to see Empire Strikes Back?

Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We can talk about that one, right? We can. There's a whole Apu controversy over there, too. Right, there was a lot. Oh, yes, we can talk about it.

I heard they might just... That's the rumor. Yeah, no more Apu. Yeah. Instead of just dealing with it. Yeah. I saw Hank Azaria talking about it on some show

in which he made a lot of sense. Like, well, we're all over the place here, so let me do the Star is Born thing to say. That's what this episode would be like.

Sorry to interrupt you, Mike. What's the proper protocol for ruining a spoiler? Like, how much time should someone wait? Okay, if it's a movie, I think six months at least? Yeah, yeah.

That's what I would guess. It's definitely too soon for a Star is Born spoiler. And you can't assume because it's been remade three times. Because I'm a pop culture savvy guy. Yeah. I know lots of shit.

Pardon my, sorry, I don't mean to swear. I'm alone in front of a sponsor and everything. But I know lots of crap. And I actually had no idea what the spoiler was in A Star Is Born. And I was actually warming up to the idea of seeing it. Like maybe, yeah, maybe we'll get babysitted and Monica and I will go see Stars Born. You know, Lady Gaga

is supposed to be very good in it. Bradley Cooper is supposed to be good. Like, yeah, maybe we'll do that during the holidays or something.

But now, what's the point? It's been ruined for me. Like, I'm just so angry about this. So, yeah. Yeah, I agree. Until at least it's on DVD.

Right? Well, yeah, at least it's, yeah, maybe, yeah. Yeah, six months to it, yeah. Six months, as i say i agree and then anyway i had this well because of the netflix world now especially right it's like yeah uh people aren't so not everyone can do things right away though like like i know that

raw is from raws and mocha yeah you ever see this show in 92.5 the day after i'm gonna spoil this one because it's been a long time now. Go ahead. Do you watch Grey's Anatomy? No, my wife does, though, yeah. Okay, well, she caught it. A couple years ago, they killed off the main guy, McDreamy. McDreamy, right. He got in a car crash, and he died, okay?

Spoiler alert. That airs, I don't know what that's, let's pretend the show airs on Thursday night. Okay. Let's say, so it was airing on Thursday night night all right friday morning my wife is driving in the car and she hears the spoiler and my wife did watch gray's anatomy but not many of us especially if you have young kids which we can talk about you have that you can't always see it when it airs live like now we're in an on-demand world people catch up with it on the weekend or maybe even later but i felt like that was i called ross out on that and he said it's like the news he says but it's not like the news right no no it's not like a sports score like to me that's

like the news like you know like i know jerry seinfeld in that first season or whatever answered the phone with like don't tell me the met score because i taped the game well that's done uh but the whole... Anyway, I was very angry at the spoiler for A Star is Born. And you know what? Now I can... I honestly, for the life of me, I can't remember why I'm telling the story

of A Star is Born being spoiled. Do you know what I was talking about before then? I feel like I need to rewind the tape. Zellers. Zellers. Okay. So, okay. So, can't remember anymore. No, that's all right that's amazing that's amazing when i

hear this back later i'll be like oh yeah because i forgot to that's okay so my friend you're a big fan of uh you're a sports fan right huge can you share with me like when you got into sports like your kind of first sporting great question uh my father got me into baseball when i was nine years old i think uh and we're saying it was similar age mike so the drive of 85 the blue jays uh run 1985 yeah i loved the drive of 85 yes you remember that fergie oliver tony kubek back in the how about those blue those Blue Jays? Yeah, yeah. Oh, forget it. That was the CFTO crew. And Don Chevrier. Don Chevrier, that's right.

That's right. And we didn't have, back then, we didn't get every game on TV. No, we didn't. We had the weekend games. I guess that would be like the CFTO game. And the scrambled feet on TSN. That's right. Yeah, that's exactly, exactly right.

And that was my first sport. I really fell in love with baseball. It's credit to my father. And that was my first sport. I really fell in love with baseball. It's credit to my father who really got me into the sport. You know, the whole father-son story. And yeah, the 85 J's. Tony Fernandez was my guy. My guy was George Bell. I remember, yeah.

And I still remember my brother was a big Ernie Witt fan. Oh, yeah. And my other brother, I hope I get this right, I think he swore by Jesse Barfield, I want to say. Okay, okay. Can't go wrong with that. But poor Shaker's stuck in the middle there. Well, the 92-93 teams obviously have a special place

in all Jays fans' heart. But the 85 team, I think, was kind of like my favorite. What do you think? Yeah, I would say that we were teenagers, I guess, when we went the back-to-back, and that's everything. You went back-to-back World Series. But there's something about, if I'm guessing, we're about 10 years old or something,

and the drive of 85. Yeah, everything means... I mean, that box score, and I got the Toronto Star at my house, so that box score, and then, of course, the magic number. I didn't pay attention to magic numbers until 1985. That's true.

But every day, that magic number was everything. And I can't tell you the feeling watching that magic number creep down. And it's like, is this really happening? And I have a question for you about the drive in 1985. We were playing the Yankees and we had a chance to clinch. In this game, I did not see it on TV. I listened to Tom and Jerry. And Tom Henke

blew it in the ninth. He gave up a home run to Butch Weininger. There you go. Wow, we're dating ourselves. Millennials, stay tuned. We lost them at Zellers. So we lost them.

Oh, hold on. That's Keith Hampshire here. I wonder who that is. Is that Alphadal Griffin making contact? Well, he didn't make too much contact later on. He was on deck when Joe Carter touched them all. Don't forget. I remember that rain game.

We would clinch against the Orioles. Yeah. And there was that game where it was official. They were trying to make it official, and it was pouring rain like crazy. And Alfredo was just swinging at balls that were like 10 feet up high or whatever just to get the inning over so that it would be an official game.

Good times. Yeah. So the drive of 85, yes, and then we clinched the next day and I watched that game at my grandparents' house

in Midland, Ontario and that was a TV game and that final out, of course, George Bell on his knees. Our two guys. Right, and Tony Fernandez

with a high five, yeah. And I don't know because we were 10, I was thinking, George, that's not a safe way to catch this ball. I didn't like that he was going on his knees. Right, right. I know, because we were 10, I was thinking, George, that's not a safe way to catch this ball.

I didn't like that he was going on his knees. Right, right. I know. And then at the time, I guess it seemed risky. Now, of course, as you grow up, you realize he was going to catch up, his eyes closed. Well, you're right, because the Yankees were hot on our heels. I mean, it was the day before the final game, right?

And I remember on CTV a few days before, I'm really dating myself, Pat Benatar, The Heat Is On. I remember Fergie Oliver. Well, that's Glenn Frey. Oh, that's Glenn Frey? Okay, sorry. You're thinking of

Hit Me With Your Best Shot. Yeah, so. Fire away. I don't know why I remember that, but yeah, it was just. Yeah, Glenn Frey. I can't remember what I had for breakfast,

but I do remember what we did in, yeah, September of 85. No, amazing. And I want to say Don Cherie ate callback game, but I do remember what we did in, yeah, September of 85. That's amazing. And I want to say Don Cherie ate callback game, but I can't remember

of Tony Quebec. I think you're right. But we clinched and we won. I think we won the division by two games, but that team, that 85 Jays team

ended up winning 99 games. That's correct. Still a Blue Jay franchise, right? They lost, I think, six of their last eight games and they had like 98 wins with a week to go.

So, I mean, it would have been great if they could have. That would be like foretelling the future of what would happen in 87. Oh, yeah. That's the most, if you ask me what hurts the most in my sport-watching life, it's 87. Agreed, totally. The ball through Manny Lee's legs. Still remember that. Oh, my God. The whole It's 87. Agreed. Totally. The ball through Manny Lee's legs. Still remember that. Oh, my God.

It's, the whole thing's haunting. But I, remember, do you remember the Toronto Star would publish those BJ Birdie comic strips? Yes. Yes. And I still remember one. Like, I guess, so Tony goes down with the elbow. Is it the elbow? Yeah.

Bill Madlock. Right. And the wide slide. Yeah. That's right. That's right. And then Ernie Witt went down. That's right.

And the ribs. Yeah. BJ's perched on BJ Birdie. This is a long-lost game. BJ Birdie, they killed him off a long time ago because the Blue Jays didn't own the rights to BJ Birdie. Oh, is that right? That's what it was.

It was a licensing thing. So they introduced Diamond and Ace, two mascots owned by the Toronto Blue Jays, which from a business standpoint makes complete sense. And I don't know if this rumor made it to your high school or whatever, but we all believed B.J. Birdie was related to Brendan Shanahan. Is that right?

That's what we all believed, that he was a brother of Brendan Shanahan, was what we were all told. Wow. I know. And I have never verified that, and I forgot to. But there was a comic strip in the Star. Was it Lou Lamorello in the costume? Oh, no. That's right. that's right it was that's right uh you have no facial hair allowed for bj birdie i think that was the rule that's right that's uh

but it was uh bj birdie perched on top of buck martinez's shoulder okay and he had a bat and he was there to protect buck to make sure buck was protected. And I was thinking, I remember screaming at the strip like, Buck is what we're, Buck is, we need Buck to be healthy to clinch this American League East. Like there aren't a few guys ahead of that. What happened was my man,

George Bell, stopped hitting in his MVP season. He stopped hitting. Look at his numbers for that last seven days or whatever. But that was horrific that we had the four game series. Was it against Detroit or Boston? I can't remember, but we got swept.

We lost our last seven games, right? That's correct, yeah. Had a lot of one-run games, right? Yeah, well, I mean, George was a cleanup hitter, I think, in the lineup. And then when he lost the number three hitter with Fernandez and then Ernie Witt backing him up, I mean, there was just no protection. My goodness, that was haunting. That still stings.

Yeah, and then in 89, we won the pennant and then lost in the ALCS to the Athletics, right? Yeah, Ricky Henderson ran wild, yeah.

And did Canseco hit a ball into the fifth deck? Yes, after that, it was all... But they ended up losing to San Francisco in the final, or did they win? No, they won. That was the. Yeah. But they ended up losing to San Francisco in the final?

No, they won. They won. That was the earthquake series. That's right. That's right. And then, of course, we like to do this in odd number years. We were pretty competitive in odd number years. And we would take the even number years off.

Okay. Except for one famous year. That's right. But, yeah. So, 91, we win it again. Mm-hmm. And just go back. Now, in 91, we win it again. And just go back. Now, in 91, we lose to Minnesota.

That's right. Tom Candiotti. I remember that. That's right, knuckleballer. Yeah, the knuckleballer. Every time we talk about like Blue Jay knuckleballers, I remember bringing in old man Phil Necro. Yes.

A couple of weeks, 0-3, and he got lit up like a Christmas tree. Yeah, I remember that. And he was like 55 years old. He was. I don't know what we expected from him. And that also, then I always think about

the other things because I would believe the hype because I was young and stupid. Yeah. I was with you. And I remember Bill Cottle. That was the big one. And I remember he,

for Oakland, I think it was, he had something like 45 saves. That's right. 36 saves. Yeah, something like that. Okay, 36 maybe. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, and then we traded Dave Collins, I think it was, he had something like 45 saves or something. That's right, 36 saves. Yeah, something like that. Okay, 36 maybe. Yeah, I remember that, yeah.

And then we traded Dave Collins, I think, to get him. Yeah, and he was a million-dollar man. Yeah, that's right. And at the time, that was like ridiculous at the time. Yeah. And then he was garbage. Yeah. And do you remember Gary Lavelle?

Gary Lavelle, I was just about to say. I think his arm literally fell off in a game, I think, pitching for us. And he was big on the Giants, I remember. Yes. I used to get those Panini sticker books and I would collect these baseball stickers. You're going to bring a tear to my eye, Mike.

Well, listen. Dennis Lamp, Jim Acker, Gary Lovell, Bill Cottle. And the guy who passed away, the Oakland Athletic reliever with the submarine delivery. Do you remember this guy? Damn, I can't remember his name right now. I remember Dan Quisenberry. Dan Quisenberry.

He died. The Royal. Oh, did he die? Royals, right. Right, right. Okay, recently? No, he died a long time ago, I think. Oh, okay, okay, okay.

Yeah, it was Dan Quisenberry with the submarine delivery. Mark Eichhorn had it too, right? Oh, yeah, so in these Panini sticker books, and sorry for rambling. I feel like I'm talking to Long Lost Brothers. They always had the Rolaids Relief Man Awards and everything.

So like these guys, like Gary Lavelle and Bill Cotto were known to me as these great stoppers or whatever. Raleigh Fingers? Raleigh Fingers, of course. And his baseball card had the font so tiny because he had so many years of service.

That's right. But yeah, those guys didn't work out and it turned out Tom Henke was kind of hanging around. Tom Henke came up and saved our... He was great. He did. He was huge. Without him, we don't win the division. Amazing. So, yeah. Good times. Where are we now? 91, we win

the pennant. 92 and 93 speak for themselves. We don't even have to talk about that. And then we had the hype train of 2015. Yes. And then 2016 was pretty fun too. We have a few moments. I think the bat flip

and I think of the wild card homer by... Edwin, yeah. Edwin Encarnacion. Yeah, man. But there was nothing for since well from 94 yeah you're right there was we had you know oh there's carlos delgado and there's roy holiday but there was no like depth and support and no no nothing are you concerned we're entering that same phase again i'm always concerned with this yes of course i am with the

division what it is again now and uh well i heard that the Yankees are just going to rearm. Are Delgado? I hope not. That's a good point. Yeah, we learned that you can't, it doesn't work. The math doesn't work. You can't put all your eggs into one basket in this.

Maybe in basketball. In basketball, I think you could, a lot of teams are a LeBron away from the playoffs or whatever. But yeah, this Blue Jay team, which is my first love too. And it's funny, like I wanted to ask you, but I'm going to talk about Toronto sports, but we're going to talk about sports media too.

For sure. Can you share with me, like you mentioned Tony Kubik, but even through your youth and through the years, like media personalities that brought you your Blue Jays news and games? You know, because i guess when like you know when you're young and naive and stupid you don't really think about the uh the business side of sports and i think as i've grown older you're more cognizant of that but growing up you know yeah it was it was tom and jerry on the radio and we didn't have a lot of options mike i think it was bob mccowan on talking to sports at night dick bedd I think, had a call-in show that I used to call into

and I used to get in like three times an hour. But was that on CHCH? Where was the Dick Beddows show? No, that was CFRB. I think that was late 80s, early 90s. Somebody just asked me last week

how they could get access to his, I guess he had some kind of a, his writings or something, some library or archive that somebody's trying to access. Yeah, he was a true Canadian sports legend. I mean, we didn't have

too many options. There was no sports radio. So, I mean, after the Jays, it was, you know, waking up the next morning. Yeah, he would do the out-of-town scoreboard. That's right.

And you're right. Scott Ferguson was great. Yeah, and the next morning you'd wake up and it'd be the music of your life on 1430 after leaving it on the whole night.

So we didn't have to. It's funny. That's my memories too. Like, it's amazing. Fergie Aldridge, just like mom, and hey, that's the guy who hosts the Jays games, that's my memories too. Like, it's amazing. Fergie Aldridge, just like mom, and hey, that's the guy

who hosted Jay's games, you know, or, you know, was the host. So, it wasn't really until later on.

But do you remember a show, though, I think it was CFTO called Blue Jay's Banter? Do you remember this? Maybe on Saturdays for like a half an hour. Was that just before Definition?

I'm trying to get the Dream Warriors on this show too, speaking of my definition of a boomastic jazz style I remember a show called Blue Jays Banter and it was like I think it was like a half an hour on a Saturday afternoon and they would talk to like

Rance Mullenix and these things Blue Jays Banter but that was it, you're right that was it and I don't know when did your household get TSN, do you remember? Oh wow, yeah it must have been the late 80s I think it was the. And I don't know, when did your household get TSN? Do you remember? Oh, wow. Yeah, it must have been the late 80s. I think it was the same day I got much music.

Okay. I feel like it was the same day and I feel like it was, yeah, the late 80s. Yeah, yeah, about that. And which was kind of a big deal because... We have too much in common, Mike. I mean, maybe it's guys our age

who grew up loving Toronto sports that have this in common. And I don't want to just talk baseball, but that was my first love. I was a Blue's guys our age who grew up loving Toronto sports that had his comment and I don't want to just talk baseball but that was my that was my first love. I was a Blue Jays fan before I was

like. Well because sports radio didn't really hit until what 91, 92 I think. Well I believe it was 92 I want to say.

Officially but I think they were experimenting with sort of that afternoon slot only and then it came full time I think with Macau and

yeah 92 so this wasn't a lot of options back then. No, you're right. Now, as I'm trying to think, you're right. You're absolutely right. Bob McCowan. Yeah. Do you listen to primetime sports?

Absolutely. I grew up on that show. Yeah, dating back to when he hosted it. It's, you know, if you don't mind, I'm going to throw in my two cents here. It's, I think it's still the show to, to listen to when there's a big sports, you know, story breaking, but there's no doubt in my opinion anyways.

And I think I come from a unique perspective because I'm coming from a fan's perspective. You've had the insiders here, but I'm also, although I haven't had Bob McCallum. Yeah. And I'm coming from a business side too. Cause, you know,

we, we, we run ads on a lot of the Rogers and different stations where we have locations. But it's been interesting. Do you find that McCowan's really kind of, he's not really interested as much or doesn't seem to be as engaged

as he did back in the heyday? So here's the thing. When my commute dried up, I started hearing a lot less Bob McCowan. But I did listen. I listened commute dried up, I started hearing a lot less Bob McCallum. But I did listen. I listened all the time when I had a commute. Because in my car, I would listen to primetime sports.

And I don't listen as much as I used to. But it seems like you'd be correct. I mean, remember David Schultz put out that article in The Globe in which he said that Bob was kind of bored. Yeah. And you can kind of sense it. But I don't know if you've, have you sampled the alternative on 1050? O'Dog and Noodles and Brian Hayes. I think today, yeah,

it's going to be very Roger Sportsnet heavy because TSN has not really given me any reason to really listen to them. Real talk, Jeff McDonald. So yeah, it sounds like what you're saying is that because you always listen to the Fan 590s, unless there is something on the other station that would entice you to jump to that.

Exactly. That's why I asked Mike Richards when he was in here last week, is about what can TSN do? I think they have a real opportunity because yes, the fan is the Heritage Station and they've been around the longest and they've got the big names,

but I think TSN has an opportunity here if they just get their act in order. What did you think of what Mike Richards said about it? Mike Richards is suggesting that they're not trying to... I was going to ask you the same thing, sort of a full-show analysis of your... Here you go, please, because you love the sports. You're like Brian, actually.

Brian Gerstein's favorite episodes of Toronto Mic'd are the sports media episodes. And apologies to Brian if I'm doing any gimmick infringement here with... No, I didn't play it.

You didn't steal his jingle. Imitation, flattery, you know, the whole thing. So hopefully Brian's not too upset. No, no, no, no. He'd be upset, though, if you started

with something like this. Fast time watching Jewelry Repair.com. know uh he'd be upset though if you started with something like this hi it's bill on here like that would be that would be uh this is by the way this is an ill vibe competition composition as well we need to get ill vibe to do a fast time theme honestly he'd love it he's a local rapper producer You know, he does smoke a lot of marijuana, though. But that's completely legal now. That's right. But as long as his artistry is good. Maybe your seventh sponsor. What, cannabis?

Yes. Cannabis, there's a lot of green money flying around. Yeah, true. But then I don't know how to do the testimonials for that one. But Mike Richards, sorry, getting back to Mike here. Of course. I was going to tell you about my marijuana experience. Mike Richards.

I don't know what you think, Mike, but here's a talented broadcaster with a past history of success, right? I think Calgary is one of the top

rated broadcasters there, if I'm not correct. Yeah, 960, the fan, I believe. Yeah, exactly. And listen, all the credit to fan, I believe. Yeah, exactly.

And listen, all the credit to him, what he's been through in the last few years, personally and professionally, all the credit. But a proven broadcaster like that, and with all due respect, I'm just being honest here, the best that he can get is the Saga 960 or whatever the station's called. News talk, which I,

isn't that, can I ask, not that you'd know, but does that infringe on any Bell Media copyrights? News talk? I put it on the other day and I was getting decent reception in Aurora Newmarket

in the 905. Oh, wow. I haven't tried to tune it in yet. Yeah. But it's just amazing to me like what, there's a lot of talented, you know this like what, there's a lot of talented, you know this Mike,

there are a lot of talented, can I say old school broadcasters, you know, whether it's Mike or Howard Berger or, you know, there are a lot of these guys, you know,

and it's just. Hammerhead alert. Am I going to hear a hammerhead alert? Well, yeah. Storm and Norman Rumack. Yeah, there's another one. So, you know,

there's a bunch of them and you're telling me, you know, that they can't... Where are they? Are they on Robot Island somewhere or something? That's a good reference. You know, and it's just... Well, there's only the two sports media. To me, just from a sports media fan, yeah, it's sad.

Like, what's happened to some of these guys who don't listen to the air, who don't hear on the airwaves anymore? Okay, so to finish the Bob McAllen thing, I just want to hear, who's your favorite Bob McAllen co-host? Oh, wow. I mean, Stephen Brunt has to be at the top of the list.

He's probably one of my favorites. Him and Shulman are probably my favorite. I know Shulman's not a co-host, but just in terms of sports broadcasting, those two guys are my guys. Hard to argue with that. I know I'm in the minority here, but I was a big Damien Cox guy.

I like him too. Yeah, you know, just from a real talk perspective, you know, we've talked about this. It's i find it's lacking you know from a from a fan's perspective from a sports fan's perspective you know so i like damien as well um and i think richard dyche has added a little you know a new element to it as well so i i think the show is on the upswing it's the co-host though i think we're doing most of the heavy lifting though but that's okay because uh although i'm still warming up to richard whose last name i always butcher actually daish i think it's daish yeah richard daish i'm warming up to him um i'm not i haven't gone all in yet into the you know the fan club or

whatever i haven't sent in my membership fees yet i'm still still trying to warm up. But I'm all over the Stephen Brunt. I think he's the cream of the crop there. Yeah, without question. But yeah, he's fantastic. Okay, and then Mike, I need almost notes here for myself here. So what were we talking about? The fan were we talking about?

Yeah, yeah. So okay, so... Well, primetime still being the destination, I guess, with Bob McCallum. And you're not a 1050 guy because they've given you no reason for you to switch over. No, no. I mean, 1050. I mean, I guess Landsberg, I followed him when he was on Off the Record, and I know he's doing the morning thing now,

but I think Mike Richards said it best. It's like they're not even trying. It's just... Right, that's where we were. Okay. I don't know what their ratings are, but I... But is this a tax write-off? I never understood.

Because, you know, the producers, right? That's what the producers was. I never fully understood. I understand what Richards is claiming. I never understood what's in it for Bell. And then he would say, you know, cost-cutting, he'd often refer to that. But then I honestly can only imagine what Landsberg pulls down to.

Well, I think you guys made a good point on the podcast is that, you know, HR runs a lot of things now and I know how it is in business and I'm sure it's going to cost a pretty penny to let him go. So they might as well get him to work. And there's another, no one wants to talk about this, there's a there's a pr forget hr there's also pr right and i think there's a devastating pr angle to letting somebody like landsberg go you think so i think he's the face of uh their massive social media campaign every oh right right right right and i think there's a i think that there's a lot i think that the's a lot, I think that PR-wise,

they're going to keep him around. That's a good point. I mean, he's a talented broadcaster, but they didn't seem to care about PR when it came to Sunil Joshi and Joe Tilly and Lance Brown and a lot of those other long-time guys. But I think that's different.

I feel like, I feel like the Let's Talk Right. What do you call that? Campaign. Right, right. Is so big for the brand right now. That's a good point.

That's a good point. I never even thought about it. And I really think he is such an enormous face of the campaign that I think that that does come into conversations when they talk about cost coming at Bell Media.

Right, right, right. And I didn't come into, and Sunil Joshi, I wish I knew where he was. I'd like to have him on the program. Robot Island. Is that where he is?

But I found Joe Tilly, although Lance Brown is now a city councillor. Oh, that's right. Oxbridge or something? Okay, okay. I don't know. Somewhere outside of Toronto.

But did you listen to the Joe Tilly episode? I did, I did. What did you think of that? Really emotional. I mean, you're, like I said, I think I told you

on the phone the other day. Well, no, say it now for the masses. Yeah, you've become quite the Barbara Walters of the podcast universe. I'm Barbara Walters. Ken Daniels and Joe Tilley. Yeah, there have been a few emotional episodes. But riveting podcasting, though. Joe mentioned it, he mentioned it in his farewell address on uh cft city what did they

call that now ctv toronto okay and then so i it's the way i work is once you once he put it in that it was like fair game for me to ask uh for more to for elaboration but uh and ken daniels put it in his book uh so then i felt ken daniels right like i could and he wanted to, he's actually really big on the campaign. Yeah, good for them. You know, that fentanyl, I mean, they're both fentanyl, accidental fentanyl overdoses. And it's a huge epidemic. Like, I've been listening to a lot of long-form discussions about it on the CBC radio. See, I don't just do sports media, Milan.

Sometimes I go to CBC Radio 1 and learn about this opiate epidemic and the fentanyl crisis. It's really serious and it's taken a lot of our young people. And yeah, it's just terrible, which is why I get angry when I hear things like from our provincial government about not believing in things like safe injection sites and things. It just seems really regressive and concerns me. But all right, back to sports media.

Do you remember, do you want to go back with me in the time machine to the early days of the fan? So you had the fan 1430. Yeah. And then it moved to 590, which was a better signal. Yes.

And I think, I don't know anymore, 93 or 94 or something like that. Yeah, it was in the strike, I think. Right. So you can hear the Fabulous Sports Babe

a lot clearer then, right? That's exactly, Fabulous Sports Babe, that's right. So let's talk, do you remember some of that? Do you want to talk about

some of the people we would listen to on the station back then? Yeah, let's do it. All right, so here, drop a name and we'll talk about them

and then I'll drop one and we'll go back and forth. So drop one. We actually already dropped a couple, but you can do them again. You know the morning show when McCowan took over?

I thought that was interesting after the ill-fated Mike Inglis morning show. Mike Inglis, who's now in Miami, right? Yes. He calls heat games. He did well for himself.

Yeah, he did very well for himself. A lot of these guys did well for themselves. So McCowan did mornings and correct me, is it Dan Schulman who did primetime sports? That's right. That's right.

Right. And who was it? Was it Barb DiGiulio? Barb DiGiulio. I think Joe Bowen did the sportscast, I think. Wow. At the top of the hour. Look at this.

Yeah. And then, and I don't remember the order at all. But I remember a bunch of the bodies. So who else do you remember from those? And I think after that was Simmons and Ormsby. Was that? Yeah. Mary Ormsby.

I always felt she should be on more often. Like, I don't know. I agree. Yeah. She's still a great writer. But yeah. Yeah. Simmons and Ormsby.

It's almost funny to think that I remember Steve Simmons from the fan days. There was a lot of talent. What do you think of Steve Simmons? I'm a big fan of Steve Simmons. Again, real talk. Maybe not the most accurate all the time. Here's the thing. I'm conflicted with Steve.

I find him entertaining. Yes. And I enjoy that Sunday Notes column. I do too. But he's his own worst enemy in that he's a bit... Sometimes he'll go with something without proper, like I would call it journalism. Right. Which would be like corroboration.

Is that the Castle Hot Dog thing? Things like that. And also sometimes when he's wrong, sometimes he owns up to it. Like he did come out and say he was wrong about the Scott Moore memo. And I was a big man. He put it in print. You know, I was wrong. But I said at the time

wouldn't you as a journalist uh because you're a journalist uh sure right wouldn't you want to see the memo before you went to press with that like so you get a couple of people telling you about a memo but this is an email right how hard would it be to get something to have to get a copy because at the time i wrote to steve and i wrote an email and I said, Steve, have you seen this memo? I never got a reply. So that was bad news to me. And then I wrote Scott Moore. This is actually the origin story of me and Scott. I never, ever, ever talked to Scott Moore before this. And I wrote Scott Moore an email and I said, hey, it's Mike from Toronto Mike. Steve Simmons just wrote this. Can I see the email? Like that, right?

And he sent me the email. Yeah. So then I published the email and then, yeah. You broke the news. I kind of think Simmons probably saw the email on my site. Like I think I might have been

the first guy to cough up the email. Yeah. But I just felt like Simmons should have seen the email first. So there's a lot of that going on. And then the hot dog thing, like even in hindsight, like when you're confronted,

like if your only source on the hot dog story is your son's friend, is that now sufficient to go to like a maybe? And then it turns out the son was misremembering a bunch of key details. And then you lose your integrity, right? Yeah, for sure. The hot dog story is why people won't believe. You might have a story. Blell put out this thing you remember dean blundell we'll get to that in a minute yeah he put out a thing this is about two weeks ago he put out a thing my sources i have great sources on this my sources tell me in the next 40 kneelander signing in the next 48 hours okay this

is a couple weeks ago now i ignore i ignored it right because of the source i don't trust that source right and how many times so once you kind of you only get the kind of the source. I don't trust that source. Right. And how many times, so once you kind of, you only get the kind of the one shot to kind of blow the integrity on that. Like, so for anyone who did believe that source and then they noticed, okay, it didn't happen.

Now we're two weeks out and it seems to be a stalemate. Right. Like, you're not going to believe him the next time. I know a blind squirrel catches and finds a nut now and then. Or a broken, here. I was nut now and then. Or a broken... I was just about to say.

I was about to say. I should have been smarter. Broken clock. A broken clock is correct twice a day. There you go. That's what they say. Fast time. Brought to you by fast time.

Watch and do your repair. But I like Simmons as a guy, and I think he's interesting. I just think in terms of integrity, he's shot himself in the foot too many times. Really? That's how I'm feeling.

I'm starting to see what people are saying and it's sort of aggravating because that paper is so disappointing. Like the paper he writes for, it's so disappointing and the heel turn it's taken.

Yes. You know what I mean? I'm so disappointed in the paper and now he's part of that and there seems to be... Why are you disappointed in the paper? From a sports section or from their no there's an editorial uh oh yeah that's brutal it's it's so over the top trying to be uh like some kind of a pr arm for the

progressive right right yeah i agree with you on that and there's enough documentation now canada land disclosed a whole bunch of internal documentation so it used to be we used to look and say, well, of course, they're conservative. Of course, the Toronto Star is liberal. And we used to do this whole thing like a vetitorial slants and stuff. But we've never had such blatant at all costs. Right. You know, and a lot of the stuff they did during that election with tying like Nazis and different kind of. Right.

To Fox News-ish. To the N NDP it's just to me they've got that papers right fallen oh and if you talk to people like I get people on here like Jim Slotek or Bill Brio and guys like that and they'll tell you the same thing like even Zeisberger like the paper's not what they were they were there you know they're still the best new sports section in the city what do you think? I guess that's like being the world's tallest midget, I guess. Yeah, that's true. You know?

Yeah. But again, I still read Simmons, but you got to take some things with it. But you know what, Mike? I think as we advance into our older age, we're going to miss these guys, I think. The Simmons? The Simmons and the McCowens

because I don't see the next generation. I could be totally wrong, but who's going to take over there? When Simmons goes, you know, Sunday morning, probably one of the first things you do is check out that Simmons Says column. I hear what you're saying, man. It's like you need, I don't know if The Athletic is going to fill the void. By the way, are you a subscriber? I'm not yet, but I've heard amazing things about it.

I was a big fan of, or I am a big fan of Andrew Stoughton's, you know, so John Lott. So I may have to. But it's interesting that you and I are such big sports media fans and Toronto sports fans, and neither of us have coughed up the whatever they want per month for that. Like, I've never coughed up for the athletics. I just got injected another $40 million in cash, I heard, a few days ago.

Crazy. But there's models like that. And even the Blue Jays side, maybe it comes from somebody like, I don't want to say a Toronto Mike, because this is a whole different animal, but like a Keegan Matheson or something like that. He's fantastic. Because he's really good. And maybe he becomes some kind of, I don't know. But then it's so tricky now, because if you're harsh, we've seen evidence of this with the senators recently, for example, where they'll kick you off the charter, they'll take away your media pass. You pretty much have to play a little nice unless you're from a big company like if you're not from

the Star or TSN or Sportsnet or whatever. And even then, it's whatever. That guy was from a big publication. You're absolutely right, Mike. But don't you think we as the consumer suffer for it? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Do you remember the whole Mike Willner, Cito Gaston thing from 2010? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

I wake up every morning and I remember it. Of course. He criticized Cito's use of the bullpen or something. The bullpen and I think Lyle Overbay weeks before that. And he was suspended. And to me, that's when sports media turned heel. That's when Hogan joined the NWO. That's when, to me, sports...

I'm going to throw a wrestling reference in there. That's when sports media turned heel in my eyes. And I know it's probably happened before that. And I was just naive, I guess. But that's when I... But we were all naive. Yeah. I'm with you in that.

That was brutal. I've had Wilner on the show a few times. He's coming back again. Oh, you saw Wilner at the Toronto Mike Lister experience. That's right. He's fantastic. I've been Wilner on the show a few times. He's coming back again. Oh, you saw Wilner at the Toronto Mike listener experience. That's right. He's fantastic. I've been to his home actually. Yeah,

great guy. I don't, you know, after that. You've been to his home. I've been to his home, yeah. Don't bury the lead here.

Yeah, yeah. Wow. And now that I think of it, you were at the Toronto Mike listener experience. Yes. Here in South Etobicoke, but you came from Newmarket.

Yes, that night. Honestly, that's amazing, man. You're here to support Toronto Mike. Oh, no. And like I said, I'm so glad to have you here right around what?

You came on board, what, for episode 392 or something like that? Yeah. So that only took you 392 episodes to cut a channel. Well, we wanted to wait until all our stores got open. That's right.

That's right. You needed your Richmond Hill location to be rocking. Fan 590, guys. Gord Stelic, was he there? Yeah, he was there. Gord, by the way, did you listen to that episode of Toronto Mike? I did. Fun chat, man. I could talk about

Harold Ballard forever. That was fantastic to chat with him. Richards and Rumac. Richards and Rumac. That was a nighttime show, right? Yes. That's right. Richards and Rumak. Richards and Rumak. That was a nighttime show, right? Yes, yes. That's right. Richards and Rumak. Richards is now, of course,

he's at 1010 CFRB. Okay. He used to talk to him. Yeah, he's there in the afternoons. And Rumak, again, Rumak I think has changed industries. So I believe last I talked to Rumak, he's been on the show, he was changing industries

just like Berger. Berger and Rumak are both similar in that they, long time, 35, many people. I haven't heard from Rumak

in years. Rumak, you have to go back and listen to the Tronel Mike episode of Rumak. I made him say hammerhead alert

just so I could recreate the siren there. But he changed, I think he changed industries to get a job and same with Berger, which I give them like mad props for that. Did you like Berger? I was fine with Berger.

He was fine. I don't think he was worthy of any Pulitzer Awards or anything. Hashtag real talk. I thought he was fine. I mean, I sure heard him enough. I really enjoyed him. I think he said it as it is, you know? I know he got in trouble with Ron Wilson and Burke

and those guys there, but again... Oh, he sure did. You know, you don't hear that anymore. So the future is just partnerships, like corporate partnerships with bland kind of factoids? Well, that's what worries me. You talked about us growing up. It wasn't this consolidated

when we were growing up in the early 90s. You had the Toronto Star, who was separate and Post Media was separate and Leafs and the Raptors. The media was separate. Well, the teams had different owners. Now all the teams are owned by the same company. Exactly. And then you have Schultz and doing your podcast with him. When the commissioner has so much control that he can control Ron McLean.

And I mean, there's a problem, I think, with that, you know. I think we as the consumer suffer for it. I really believe that. And, you know, we talked about the fan. Do you remember that show? It was late night. I was in university back then, so I probably listened to it. The Game. Merrick and Strombo. And Macko. Yeah,, so I probably listened to it. The game.

Merrick and Strombo. Yeah, and Macko. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Mackowitz, yeah, Bob Jr. Yeah, exactly. And just the next wave of talent. And I know you've talked a lot about that with Nelson Millman and previous.

And I think that's what I fear. It's sort of a hypocrisy a little bit in one sense that you've got such tremendous writers like Keegan Matheson, and I think Arden Zwelling and Ben Nicholson-Smith, and a lot of these guys do great work. But then on the airwaves, it doesn't translate, you know, in the airwaves in terms of real talk.

And I think this is where I was going back to where TSN, I think, has a tremendous opportunity if they, I know they're in a catch-22 situation because in the summertime, when they talk about the Jays, it's almost providing an infomercial for the competition. But you can't live on CFL talk in the city anymore.

Yeah, they overplay the CFL hand in the city as much as they underplay the Jays hand. Yeah, and I think that's where I was just coming back to. I think TSN's got a, there's a tremendous opportunity here right now for a TSN, I'm going to say, or Mississauga Radio, 900, 960. Steelheads, right? Steelheads, yeah.

You know, for real talk, for what you do, similar to what you do with the sports media personalities and musicians and all that. Where is that on the terrestrial radio? You don't hear it. It's interesting you say that. I think you're absolutely right i think that's exactly the problem right now is it now all the teams owned by the same couple of you know cable companies that are also controlling the sports media more or less like the the independent voice is uh you know yeah the athletic is trying to do their thing and uh you know the i like it's why i root so hard for these keegan math exactly the world It's like, I feel like a kinship there.

And I think maybe that's where I can get a, I can do a, I can do a, I can host, I can moderate, I'm picking my terms here,

I can moderate a panel on diversity in Canadian sports media. I'm really looking forward to that, yeah. And I can have a Scott Moore on there. And I'm pretty sure I'm only able to do that because I'm not Rogers, I'm not Bell, I'm not CBC.

Like that kind of gives me license to kind of play it straight up the middle and do something like that. Absolutely. I think after diversity, you should have like a homerism panel kind of a thing. Because look what's happened. Who do you want on that panel?

Bob Elliott, Dirk Hayhurst, Butch Carter.ael you know oh yeah butch carter what happened to these guys well i know we're bob elliott probably had a couple of diet cokes right now and he's probably covering baseball for uh canadian baseball uh yeah you know and burger like we we talked about these guys you know and it's, there just seems to, it just seems to be very controlled. So Scott Moore can say, and I can say it,

I don't work for Scott, but you know, that yes, he can say that, I'm just giving the Wilner example that, you know, with the Jays broadcast, which I think is just a mess right now from a radio perspective, not in terms of the quality of people,

it's just the, why did, what do we remember? Tom and Jerry, Scott Ferguson, the consistency. How many voices did we hear this year? Whether from the Jays talk, from the post-game show, from the pre-game, it was out of control. This is where, what I'm a little disappointed

in myself during the Scott Moore episode is that I brought up Steve Simmons and I just said, Steve Simmons recently wrote, I think that's how much I got out because I was going to say an article about how there's no voice of the Blue Jays right now and I wanted to have that exact conversation with Scott Moore,

but once I said the word Steve Simmons, he went off on that. Well, you could hear the smoke coming out of his head through my laptop, so I think you were in a tough spot there. But then because he was so like, I don't want to talk about that. Well, you could hear the smoke coming out of his head through my laptop. So I think you were in a tough spot. But then I, then at some, because he was so like,

I don't want to deal with that, talk about that guy anymore. Like I left all my Steve Simmons and I accidentally, I guess I threw the baby away with the bath water

is what I said. Well, you asked about Wilner and of course he's going to say he treated him in a fair. Do you think Wilner has been treated fairly? No. I feel Wilner

was the heir apparent for that position and then there were games where i didn't even hear him right and then i never understood where i would hear him because uh there were jay's talks that he didn't do that's right so what what exactly is willner's job right now it's a good question i was going to ask him during the listener experience when uh they indicated he was on assignment so Yes, that was also interesting. He was there with us, and there was a Blue Jay game going on. And poor Mike. And I think Mike's fantastic, by the way.

I think he's a great broadcaster. He's very polarizing, but that's what I think makes Jay's talk so great. So you're interested in these people that are saying something. Like, you're saying something. That's why half the world hates you. That's like Glenn Healy. And half of twitter wanted him gone because they hated him because he was interesting because he said things that's

right like you know i mean that's what we want we you don't want to listen to athletes no all day i mean you know uh like who's our charles barkley equivalent in canadian sports good uh brian burke i have no yeah yeah yeah you're probably right yeah not a former i guess he's a former athlete but you know uh exactly i think i think that's we're sort of missing that i think i think in this goal to be you know neutral and vanilla and not to create any controversy and it's right we as the consumer I think suffer for and I think we agree. I think with Glenn Healy we like and Damien.

And yeah, Damien Cox, that's always polarizing. You don't have to agree with him. That's fine. But you know, I call it destination radio.

You know, when I hear that, hey, Mike Willner is going to be on the air at 3.15 or quarter after three, I will stay listening to it. But having said all this,

I like people to make a statement and stand by it and be interesting, but I don't like it when people are contrarian just for contrarian purposes. True. The guy I'm thinking of is Marty York. Oh, right. Did you happen to listen to Marty York? Yes, I did.

So Marty York, I mean, the reason I can't even follow the man on Twitter is because he is so far... He'll go at Rogers incessantly is because he is so far, he's so, he'll go at Rogers incessantly, even when it's not deserved, over every little morsel.

And he'll be equally forgiving for anything CFL or Bell Media, maybe because they're not Rogers. So he's a guy who, I would say he's polarizing, but I don't think there's a lot of people that like Marnie. You want some intellect with the real talk. And I think Marnie's actually probably a bright guy. a guy who he's i would say he's polarizing but i don't think there's a lot of people that you want some intellect with the uh with the real talk and i think i think marty is actually probably a bright

guy oh i'm sure he is yeah i don't mean to insinuate that he's got an agenda yes there and it's pretty clear and i don't have time to bang my head against the wall right i mean right or al strachan yes strachan who uh who I wanted, I wish I had asked Scott Moore about Al Strachan, actually, but it was left to him. But you had a real fun episode a while back

with John Gallagher. Yeah. Are we ever going to see a Gallagher type on our Canadian Airways? No, I think he's too risky. No, exactly. Yeah.

But that's what I'm talking about, the young, the young generation, I think, coming up. You know, Mike Richards hit it, said it well, I think, during your podcast. He said, what's out there for the 35 and younger?

But aren't those people, like the next Gallagher, won't he be a YouTube star? Like, you know what I mean? Like, I feel like we're just thinking too much in terms of the old channels, like terrestrial radio, cable television stuff. And I think what's going to happen is your next Gallagher is going to be a podcaster and maybe he'll have a YouTube show or something. Or you'll find him on, what is it, Twitch? Is that the street?

You know what I mean? He'll be on Twitch TV or whatever. Like, I think that's, people got, you got to roll the roll. There are bright people out there who are well-spoken with passion and opinions. And, you know, once they figure out how to, and this is where, I can help if you're out there. There you go. You know, I've helped Hebsey.

That'll be my new pitch, sales pitch. I helped Hebsey and I can help if you're out there. There you go. I've helped Hebsey. That'll be my new pitch, sales pitch. I helped Hebsey and I can help you. You've helped a lot of, you remind me of that, you know the free agency camp earlier this year

that they had for the unsigned Major League Baseball players? Yeah, kind of. You sort of provide that venue for the unsigned broadcasters.

Right, give you a voice and then if you're good, cream will rise. There you go. Yeah, for sure. By the way, have you ever voice and then if you're good, cream will rise. There you go. Yeah, for sure. By the way, have you ever listened and I'm putting you

on the spot now and I'm guessing the answer is going to be no but I want to hear it from you. Have you ever listened to Hepzion Sports? I have. I have.

Oh, you have? I heard about the Scott Moore, the way he was, quote unquote, let go with my Scott. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right, right. Okay, okay.

Because I feel it's made for guys like us. Yes. I feel like when right. Okay, okay. Because I feel it's made for guys like us. Yes. I feel like when I'm in, I mean, I'm very biased here, but when I'm sitting in on the episodes, we did one this morning, I feel like guys like us would love this show. And I'm like, I kind of wish I wasn't on the show

because I'd like to listen to it on my bike ride. Right. And I'm always disappointed. I have to hear it live, which means I don't get to listen to it on my bike ride because I think he's a talented guy. And he's a guy who's never going to get another sniff from the mainstream media.

I don't think so. I don't think so. I think there's a lot of guys, talented guys, usually they're over the age of 50. Hebsey, I'm sure he's in his 60s. And I think there is no opportunity for most of those people. I always think of a guy like Dave Hodge.

Right. Where's Dave Hodge going to surface? That was part of my Sunday morning viewing, the reporters. Yeah, Dave Hodge should be a YouTube star is what we're saying. I can't believe that show would have been too expensive to produce,

but apparently it was. Well, Mike Richards will tell you they don't care about quality. I don't know what happened with them, but I guess it cost enough. I don't know. Yeah. Heck, I would make that a podcast. I'm getting a fourth microphone,

and we'll bring back the reporters as a podcast. I think that's a great idea. Start the social media campaign to make that happen. microphone and we'll bring back the reporters as a I think it's a great idea so a round table start the social media campaign to to make to make that happen although my social media campaigns have not been working because I've been trying to make uh Vic Router a pip but then somebody pointed out that Gladys Knight retired the pips like there are no more Gladys Knight in the pips anymore like so I've been trying very hard to get, because Vic Rauter's dream is to be a pip for Gladys Knight, but there's no more

pips. By the way, there's a nice guy, Vic Rauter. Wow, what a nice guy. Okay, so Fan 590 people, Gord

Stelic, we talked about Barb DiGiulio. I'm trying to think, we talked, so when the Macallan goes back, he goes back to the afternoon, I guess.

Yes. Because Shulman takes, does he take the TV gig with TSN? Well, I think the initial going, Shulman actually had the afternoon slot back when it wasn't the graveyard shift, I think. And then, you know, there was that great hour between when Shulman, Shulman, Barb DiGiulio, and Bob McCowan. I think it was between two and three or three and four before McCowan came on the air and Shulman left. And I thought that was really, that Bob McCown. I think it was between two and three or three and four before McCown came on the air

and Shulman left. And I thought that was really, that was great radio. I don't know if you remember that. It was like, you know, they hardly talk sports. It was more like

pop culture kind of stuff. And I think this kind of goes into where I think that sort of talk is sort of missing. You know, I know that was years and years ago, but I think in the morning time where I don't hear

that sort of talk. But wasn't that sort of the experiment with somebody like a Dean Blundell, for example, was that he wasn't going to be like super knowledgeable in sports, but he would talk about other things. But there was no female voice. Didn't they have a female voice? No, I think it was Dean Blundell and yeah, you're right.

Kayla or something? Yeah, you're right. I think that was for like a week or so. And I think it was him and Rusick. Poor Rusick. Right. Boy, Andrew Walker, that was the greatest. Oh, yeah.

Walker was going to be there and he didn't want to go. Greatest decision he ever made, I think. And now he owns Vancouver. That's right. He's doing really well there. And Rusick, I think, is

someone who's really improved too on the airwaves. I agree. And I heard him with Ashley Dawkins. That's correct. And Ashley Dawkins on this panel, by the way, that we

talked about December 7th. What do you think of Ashley Dawkins? I'm a big fan of hers. I think I suggested Ashley to you, maybe. Maybe. It's all a blur because it was like, I wanted Kayla Gray. I think I was public about that. But I asked Kayla Gray and it took a long time for her to because she tried to get child care and she wanted

to get Bell Media permission, which is her business. I won't interfere with that. But she never got any response from Bell Media, so I'm not going to blame them, but she could not get child care, and then she politely dropped out. I'm looking forward to this panel, though. This is huge for you. I hope I don't screw it up.

I think you're going to do fantastic. Are you going to bring up some of the touchy topics, though? Yeah, of course I am. The Kelly Gruber pitch talks. I wasn't going to do that. Oh, yeah, maybe. yeah maybe maybe actually when you're talking diversity i guess you gotta talk about the treatment of women and it's not no no i will bring up the kelly gruber thing uh and also uh late breaking uh late breaking story on the cbc okay sofia yurstikovic is gonna come in and she wants to challenge scott moore on some things uh and on the phone call, a couple of things that she just wants to

like, you know, civilly and politely and fair game stuff. Because she was with Rogers Sportsnet and then she was let go. And she has a couple of things she wants to bring up in terms of her gender and the way she was used. Do we know why she was let go? They didn't need her anymore on this show she was doing before

Hockey Night in Canada. It was like a 6.30 to 7 thing before Hockey Night in Canada at 7. And then they didn't need her anymore and I guess they had nothing else for her to do. So we'll let her tell her story on that. But yeah, so she's on that with Ashley Dawking too. So yeah, it should be very, very, very interesting.

Fan 5 Night, okay, so we talked Storm and Norman Rumak, Late Night Vampire. Always enjoyed that. Good times. Yeah, and I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of people. There's a bunch of guys. But I remember Don Collins took over.

As program director for Nelson Millman? Yeah, do you remember that? Oh, Andrew Christophe? Andrew, I was going to say. Oh, my goodness. And that was before that was... Jeff Lumby or Gumby? So Lumby was always...

I like Lumby as a guy. Really? Okay, as a guy. As a guy. As a guy, no. It's a politically correct way of saying that. But he, day one, I like Lumby as a guy. Really? Okay, as a guy. As a guy. No. It's a politically correct way of saying that. But he, day one, I remember he came on day one and he was clear, like, I'm not the new morning guy.

Yeah, true. I'm going to do the summer and then the new morning guy. He was in a tough spot. So he was never going to be anything more than a summer fill-in. Right. And you're right. He was not, it wasn't his thing. And he did okay, but he wasn't, he was only a temporary guy. temporary guy I heard him on your show as well yeah

like he I find him a likable chap if you will and he's a talented guy but he was in way overs but that wasn't for him and Andrew it wasn't for

Andrew Crystal was really that was one of the bigger miscasts I think like the Crystal that was always going to be terrible like it never ever I agree

they made a whole bunch of boneheaded moves you remember when they moved prime time up from three to six and then played the final hour as a repeat from six to seven during peak traffic time? What are they thinking? Yeah, there's been a few.

And then they played Buffalo Bills games on there. Like, I don't, geez, I don't. What were your thoughts when the Tim and Sid, so Tim and Sid for a long time, they came over from the score before Rogers owned the score. So back when it was a different company. And, or was it, what were they called back then? 360 or the score? That's right back when it was a different company. And, or was it, what were they called back then? 360 or the score?

That's right, yeah. Or Headline Sports. Yeah, Headline Sports, something like that. It's all blur to me now. A lot of guys came out of that. Like, Hebsey was there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Friedman was there. Greg Sangsoni. Right. Yeah. Tim and Sid, of course. Yeah. So Tim and Sid are doing,

like, I think one to four or something. I don't know. They're on, they're after, and they get moved to TV. Right. And that's when Brady and Walker go to one o'clock, right? Right.

Yes, for a short time. And Brady gets let go, and then he ends up, he's like a phoenix. He's a bit of a fast time of the fan, and he ends up, he comes back in the morning. He's good. He's, you know. Yeah, but his wife is the brains in the family. I learned that, actually. But, uh, Greg is great. I think that that morning show was fine. Yeah. Brady and Walker,

I thought, were pretty good. Oh, well, Brady and Walker, yeah, I was talking about. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Brady and Walker were fine.

Very good. What did you think of Brady and Lang? Like, did you have any thoughts on that? Fellow Newmarket guy, got to support Langy. But yeah, I thought that was a good program as well. You know,

I liked Stelic and Landry even before that, so. Stelic and Landry were fun? I think Christina Rutherford was on your show with Rachel Brady, right? Yes. Yeah.

She had that interview with Bob McCown a while ago and I think there's a lot to be said for the rating success for the fan is a lot of it is the legacy. It's the heritage thing, right?

Yep. I think I'm one of those guys that's probably why I don't give TSN much of a chance and I haven't listened to them much. But yeah, no, I think the morning show,

I think they've done a pretty good job with the morning show for the most part, except with the Crystal and Crystals of the World. Okay, I would say the two that stick out to me as mistakes were Crystal and Blundell. Yes. But I also bring to the table like preconceived thoughts.

I never liked Blundell's show in 102. I don't like his persona. I know way too much of the man himself behind the scenes. So I know too much. And he did record a podcast

in which he shied all over me with lies and nonsense because I think he was upset that I had people who had worked

with him on my show and then we would talk about that experience. So he thought I was out to get him or something and he made some claims about how like

every episode is me going at Blundell meanwhile had like hadn't mentioned it in like 50 episodes but he also in that same it's because I'm doing this rant now but in that same podcast where he went at me and he went at humble he went at Fred he went at Todd he went at Jason Barr he went at all these guys in that same episode he said that every other episode of Toronto Mike is me having Todd Shapiro on to trash him. This is what he says, okay? I've done 400 episodes. Let's round it up.

Ask me how many times Todd Shapiro has been on Toronto Mic'd. How many times has Todd Shapiro been on? Once. Yeah. So what the heck? I don't know. And these are easy. You can easily Google this stuff and realize you're full of it.

So anyway, enough of that. I thought he was a bad fit. I think it's safe to say he's been blackballed. I don't think he's going to get a job, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint. I don't believe that. We'll see. Everybody thinks that he had some pretty big books with 102.1,

and if you can even get one program director to believe for a moment that that program director could get half of that, they would likely take a shot. But that was the rationale for the fan, right? Yeah. I think they thought that they were going to bring the 10 share

and then add on to the 4 or 5 that they were doing and here you go. Yeah, that's right and it never materialized. Right. Okay, so Fan 590 also, let's see,

where else can we go with that? So Tim and Sid go to TV. Do you ever watch their television show? A little bit. You know, I think they do a great job. I think they're, I like Sid.

I know he's a little bit zany and off the wall, but again, we talk real talk and I think they balance each other out. I just, I thought they were really good on the radio. I just don't think with the economics of radio, what I think they are, but again, I don't know the business side of it, but I'm not sure if,

they've been the hair of parents, I think, for McCowan, right? I think that was the initial, but I'm not sure if... They've been the hair of parents, I think, for McCowan, right? I think that was the initial... I thought that. I heard that somewhere. I don't know if that's still true. Maybe it is, but... Do you think the economics of radio support,

like when McCowan leaves, is it going to be Jeff Blair takes over? Can they afford Elliot Friedman in that slot? It was such a prominent program that I hope they don't do damage. They're obviously spending a lot of money on Dyche and Steven Brunt. Sliding Blair into there makes a lot of sense.

He's already on the roster. And as you know in radio, the two revenue generating spots are the morning show and the drive show. And if you're not one of those two spots, you can't really command, as far as I know, you can't command a big salary

because you're not a revenue generating spot. So I don't know. It seems it would make a lot of sense to slide a Blair. You know who I really like, Mike? Eric Smith. I thought that was a real promising young talent. He's still young, but you know. I don't know how young he is.

I think we might be younger than him. Really? Okay. I think so. He looks young. He's been there for 20 years. Yeah, he's been there for 20 years. Yeah, he's been there forever and I remember listening

to him in the beginning and I thought, this is a future morning guy. Like, I really enjoyed his on-air and I think once you go on the play-by-play side, again, it's what we talked about.

He's sort of, I guess there's only so much you can say, right, I guess, and if you want to keep your job, so. Well, he's Roger's guy. So the way, so he does, and Roger's has the Rapt guy. So the way... So he does... And Roger's has the Raptors.

So the Raptors are a funny little... Let's move away from the Blue Jays for a moment and talk some Raptors. So the Raptors, when they're on TSN television, you will not see Eric Smith on there because he belongs to Roger's. So you only see Eric Smith

when Roger's Sportsnet is broadcasting a Raptors game. And then when Roger's has the radio, yeah, he calls the game. He does play-by-play. And is it Paul Jones who's doing the color? I believe so, yeah. I think Matt Devlin's the only common thread there. Yeah, yeah.

He goes, yeah, he's on both sides. You're right. I don't know about you, but I prefer, and I like Eric Smith a lot as a person, and I think he's good at what he does. But I really get more excited, me and my boy, when we see it's a TSN raptor game really we know we can we can get that goby johnny yeah jack's great too like to me he's uh and i know i'm not one of jack's adopted children okay i didn't even know i thought for sure you were but he's in buffalo right yes yeah that's where he's based out of yeah from what i understand yeah yeah i heard that too. And that was a fun show too.

Do you remember Jack Armstrong and Doug McClain on The Fan in the afternoons? Not really. I thought it was the... The game plan. Who was the guy who used to do the salami? The guy who went to Chicago. Yeah, yeah. Chuck Swirsky. Yeah, Chuck Swirsky had a show.

That was Chuck Swirsky on The Fan, wasn't it? In the afternoon? You're right. I thought it was Armstrong too. I remember it as Chuck Swirsky had a show. That was Chuck Swirsky on The Fan, wasn't it? In the afternoon? You're right. I thought it was Armstrong, too. I remember it as Chuck Swirsky. But it sounds like you might be listening more than I did. But Chuck, for sure, had an afternoon show on The Fan. I never thought he was very good.

I never thought he was very good at the radio. And then he got that dream job in Chicago for family reasons, and he left. But yeah, Chuck Swirsky and the salami and cheese that you would break out. See, Jack Armstrong, I only know Jack really from these TSN Rapture games. Right. I just find him, I just like his personality.

He's fun. Did you know he's younger than Leo Roudens? Is that right? Wow. Put their face, think of the picture of them. Okay, isn't that amazing? That is, that is. Leo keeps good care of that, good care of himself.

He's aging wonderfully. And Jack looks like he's 100 years old. But what a great voice. So Raptors, do you remember when the games were on 10-10? Do you remember that? Yes, I do. Back when John Vito was the owner. What? Yeah. I remember I asked John Vito was the owner. Right.

Yeah. I remember I asked John Vito a question back in my days at York University. And I asked him a challenging question. I was politely escorted out of the room. Is that right? Yeah. Wow. This is back in the Isaiah Thomas era, right?

Yeah, this was back in the Real Talk days. I was Real Talk before Real Talk was cool. You were the first one to introduce Real Talk. And that's amazing. Yeah. They escorted you out. The question was too tough. Yeah. I don't even remember what it Talk and that's amazing. They escorted you out. The question was too tough. Yeah.

I don't even remember what it was. I think it was at the time when I think him and Alan Slate were going at it. Oh, man. That's right. Do you remember that? I remember.

Yeah, totally. Totally. But yeah, 10-10. Yeah, I remember that. And I'm trying to remember something. Talk about an odd fit, huh? Well, who was on television when you watched a Raptor game back then?

Back then? I think Routens has been there from the start, I think. I think so, a Raptor game back then? Back then? I think Rounds has been there from the start, I think. I think so, too. Was Mike Inglis doing something? I don't remember. I think he was doing a little bit of both. Was it Romanuk there? Romanuk might have been.

Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to think. I remember Romanuk. Rod Black. I think Black was the host. Okay. Or was he a play-by-play? Because I know he was involved in that crazy game when they won in season one against the

Bulls. Oh, right. Do you remember that one. At the Dome. Yeah, of course. Of course I remember that. I think it was 12 points for Jordan or something like that. Can you name their opening lineup? Yeah, let me try. I don't think so, but I'll try. The guy, of course,

Jean Tabac was the center. I don't have this in front of me. Of course, the rookie of the year was Damon Stoudemire. He was in that lineup, right rookie of the year. He should have been rookie. It was Damon Stoudemire. He was in that lineup, right? Yeah. Okay.

Alvin Williams. Not Alvin. It was Alvin. No. What's his name? Who's the guy who scored 36 points? Alvin Robertson. Robertson.

Yeah. Right. He went off for like 30-something points in that first game, which was the first game against the Nets. The New Jersey Nets. Let me think. Who else was on that team? No.

He didn't start, but was Oliver Miller on? No. He came later. I think Jersey Nets. Let me think. Who else was on that team? No, he didn't start, but was Oliver Miller on? No, he came later. I think he came later. He came later. The Willie Anderson and Ed Pinckney? Okay.

Yeah. I was just remembering those guys. Pinckney, wasn't he a grizzly? Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah. Why do I think he was a grizzly,

I feel like, with Big Country? Right, right. Big Country Raves. I remember being there for the draft. Oh, my God. You remember when... You're Big Country. Right, right. Big Country Raves. I remember being there for the draft. Oh, my God. And do you remember when...

You're much music. Monica Diol, you remember her? She was supposed to come on the show because she was coming to town to launch a... And she was booed

out of the building when she came on. Is that right? Yeah, yeah. Well, I love these little morsels here. I love Monica Diol because she's

Electric Circus. Are you kidding me? That was a big Monica Diol. We talk a lot about Electric Circus on this show. In fact, the creator of Electric Circus is coming on soon with Ziggy? That was a big Monica deal. We talk a lot about Electric Circus on this show. In fact, the creator of Electric Circus is coming on soon with Ziggy.

You remember Ziggy? Yeah, I do. So his name is Joel Goldberg. Okay. Jay Gold was his moniker. Are you going to have Erica M and Moses too? I tried Erica M,

but when I did talk to her, Moses is going, he's laying low right now. I think he's controlling his media right now. I haven't heard from him in years. He's still at Zoomer doing shit, but I don't think he'd do Toronto Mic'd right now. I don't think he can handle the his media right now. I haven't heard from him in years. He's still at Zoomer doing shit, but I don't think he'd do Toronto Mic'd right now.

I don't think he can handle the real talk right now. But Erica M didn't want to talk about much music, so I politely took a pass, but maybe she's changed her mind. But what was I going to say? Jay Goldberg directed the Let Your Backbone Slide video. I'm pointing to Maestro Fresh West over my left shoulder. And he also directed the Drop the Needle video. Right, right. Big Maestro fan. Yeah, I love Maestro Fresh West over my left shoulder. So he's, and he also directed the Drop the Needle.

Right, right. Big Maestro fan. Yeah, I love Maestro Fresh West. I love Maestro too, yeah. Can I ask you if you remember the name, I'm going to ask anyways,

MC Rumble? Ooh, no. Does that mean anything to you? No, it doesn't. So, I always put these guys, you know, DJ Ron Nelson,

that's an episode you should listen to. Okay. Because he helped, he had a show on CKLN, called Fantastic Voyage, and he was a really big booster of people like Maestro Fresh West,

Mishy Mee, the Dream Warriors, they recorded that album in his home studio in the Legacy Begins. But another guy from that era, I always lump in the mix, is a guy named MC Rumble.

Okay. And he had, I think the rap duo was like rumble and strong but he had a big hit on much music called safe and i had this i had a i had a cd of like reggae it was like a reggae collection right i think it was called on the reggae tip or something like that okay and i got it because it had rumumble's safe on it. And I loved forever, still do, to be honest, because I got two versions of this song. The song's safe.

They have this, like, the one version that was on Munchin all the time, and he had this other song. He called it Booyaka Booyaka, which was an... Anyway, I've decided. I wrote DJ Ron Nelson. I tweeted at Mishimi. I tweeted at Maestro. I'm trying to locate MC Rumble

because I now have decided I need to talk to Rumble. I can't find him. No one seems to know where he is. I'm still hunting. I think that's target audience of one. That is a podcast for myself. Episode 400 maybe? No, because that's the clip show

of the listener. Episode 500 maybe. Yeah, if I can find this guy. So anyway, we mentioned Maestro, and I was thinking of MC Rumble. But okay, that's not sports media. But I always think of somebody my age, growing up in the GTA, and we like the same sports,

and we have the same sports media. But sometimes that parlay is into these videos much music would play, that you think they're big because there aren't much music. And then you find out later that it was for, if you weren't watching much music would play that you think they're big because there aren't much music. And then you find out later that it was for, if you weren't watching much music

at that era, it was like an obscure song. It was fulfilling Canadian content, right? Yeah, like how is Rumble not, how is Rumble not a bigger deal that nobody's even asking where he is, let alone knowing where he is? Wow.

Where's Rumble? If anyone knows where Rumble is, you're the Ragamuffin Rumble MC, chat. Tweet Toronto Mike. Tweet Toronto Mike. Yes, sir. All right.

So Raptors, I'm trying, again, I'm trying. I want to talk about the diversity panel. Okay, go talk,

please. Go. What are you going to, what are you going to, Scott Moore, he's going to be on the hot seat, I think,

isn't he? Yeah. That was that infamous picture, was it last year or the year before? Well, Andrew Walker was in it. Yeah, Andrew Walker's in it, so I always date it that way. So he hadn't escaped to Vancouver. Oh, that promo picture with all the...

I call it the white man of the fan 590. Yeah, yeah. I can't say that. Like, you can't say that? No. I think anyone can say that. As a sponsor or as a company. Oh, I see. Even Republicans buy shoes, right? Okay, but... say that oh i think anyone can say that as a sponsor or the company oh i see even republicans buy shoes right okay but uh oh my goodness that's not real talk at all the way i look at it is uh

okay that's yeah i can't say real talk i have to be careful when i discuss uh oppressed groups yeah okay uh go ahead it's fine but uh white, heterosexual white men, anyone can go at them because they're not an oppressed group. To me, that's fair game. Everyone and anyone can challenge heterosexual white men

because you're not an oppressed, there's no oppression for heterosexual white men. This is my thoughts on this. We live in very tricky times, Mimon. So I'm going to have this... My lips are sealed.

So this, yes, Scott Moore might be on the hot seat, but I don't know because it's a pretty... We're going to have a very... But wasn't he in charge of controlling that? He said the words to me on the show. He said, the buck stops here. Okay. So

I'm going to find out exactly what control he had over the on-air talent on 590 between the morning show and the drive. So between the Greg Brady, Elliot Price, Hugh Burrell show and primetime. Yeah. That and everything in between. That's what I think of because. I agree. Evenings and weekends don't count to me.

That's true. There's no. I totally agree with you. They're all white guys. Well, yeah, the evenings and the weekends is where you find the Ashley Dockings and the Rob Wongs and, you know, I guess some of the other, you know.

Yeah. The diversity. I'm not counting any of that. So like the weekday lineup on the Fan 590 is all white guys. And there's like, I don't know if it's, how many, nine or 10 or 11 or twelve or something i don't know but um bob mccowan's got bob mccowan's a white guy he's got two white co-hosts right uh then you got um ben ennis before that and jay

ennis and bunkus who they do a good job don't you think i like them all yeah very knowledgeable what's that show called the good show the good show or good show i don't think they like the word the so two white guys yeah uh is it blair before that oh hockey central hockey central that's that's a bunch of white guys uh because tsn's got i know you don't listen but they have a woman fellow uh okay but five nine and then it's blair is that right yeah blair and blair's a that right? Yeah, Blair. And Blair's a white guy. Blair and Barker. Barker's a white guy. Yeah, he's been here.

Yeah. And then you get the three white guys in the morning, and I think that covers it, right? So yeah, there's no diversity at all. And the question is not only- That's pretty sad in Toronto in 2018, though, I think. That's my question for you. You know a book that stood out for me, Mike?

Tell me. Sorry to, I don't mean to, but kind of related to the topic. Do you remember a writer named Alison Gordon?ordon yeah she's recently passed away that's right the early 80s one of the first books i ever read when i become a baseball fan called foul ball or foul balls i think it was i remember reading that and i was young because i was 10 11 years old i remember reading that book and it really stayed with me everything she had to go through it was shameful you know of the way women were treated in the locker rooms and that kind of a thing. And when you hear about the Kelly Gruber,

you know, and I think Ashley Docking showed a lot of class and everything. I was reading about it. Again, from a fan's perspective, there's obviously no insider knowledge here. And then all the Greg Zahn stuff. Right. It's like, in a way,

like we haven't really come that far. Some ways we have and Some ways we haven't, some ways we haven't, I guess. And that's why I'm looking forward to hearing your panel because I think these ladies are going to be able to bring a real interesting perspective. I did try to get into some of this with a, with Rachel Brady and Christina Rutherford in that episode because they're both covering sports and they're both women. But,

uh, yeah. And it was one question I asked, like, you know, there's a big thing about the locker rooms, like the guys covering up in the locker room

and making women journalists go into the locker room. And then I asked, like I flipped it and I said, like, what happens when like the Canadian women's soccer team

has a big, or the hockey team, like are the men allowed in the dressing room? Or women's tennis. Yeah, all these things. And they said, they don't do any interviews

in the locker room. They do them all, they get their ass and they come out and they do it. That makes sense. Right. So why do we even do

these interviews in the locker room? I agree. Give them the privacy in the locker room. Yeah. Would you give any human being, give them the privacy,

they can shower up, get ready, get dressed, come out, and then face the scrum the locker room. Yeah. Like, would you give any human being, give them the privacy, they can shower up, get ready, get dressed, come out, and then face the scrum or whatever, the journalists and all that stuff. Yeah,

so I just, reading all this, it reminded me of the Alison Gordon book I read. She was great. Yeah, She was at the Toronto Star, right?

Yes. And she was great. And yeah, she sadly passed away recently. Yeah, yeah. So I'm, no pressure,

Mike, but I'm looking forward to it. I know, now I can't screw it up for you. I hope I don't screw it up. By the'm, no pressure, Mike, but I'm looking forward to it. I know. Now I can't screw it up for you. I hope I don't screw it up. By the way, I had to think, like,

Palm of Pasta gives out lasagnas to guests, okay, and the Great Lakes gives out beer. Will you have any watches for the guests? We're working on it.

I think it's a great idea, yeah. Swatch watches for the host? We got to do something. We got to do something and look after all these guests, yeah. That's funny. I was just thinking if that's a big cast.

What do you get for Scott Moore? Wow. You know, now I don't even have room in my freezer for all the lasagnas. Like a Seattle theme or something?

Oh, yeah. Breaking news. We've talked about that. I think it's a done deal. Maybe he'll reveal it on my show because he'll be back from his Australian adventure

or whatever. So we kind of, we touched on the Raptors here. Yes. We did a lot of Jay's media talk, but we never talked about the big fish,

like the Toronto Maple Leafs. Like, when did you start following, when did you start loving the Leafs? Yeah, the Leafs were one,

yeah, at the same time, probably as the Jays, again, you know, through my dad. And yeah, I was a big

Rick Vi fan, I remember, you know, and Miroslav Reacher, you remember those guys? Of course. And Tom Fergus. Are you kidding me? Yeah, I grew up with that team and, you know, and Marislav Reacher, you remember those guys? Of course. And Tom Fergus. Are you kidding me?

Yeah, I grew up with that team. And, you know, they weren't very good around the time when Wendell Clark was drafted first. You know, they weren't good on the ice, but they're always interesting. And always remember, you know, the time that they almost drafted Eric Lindros in that awful trade. Except it was actually Scott Niedermeyer.

Yes, right. It was Tom Kerber. Who went second? Scott Niedermeyer. Yes, right. It was Tom Kerber. Who went second? Scott Niedermeyer went second. Was that what the pick was? No, we got the third pick, I think, wasn't it? Oh, I thought it was second.

I thought it was. Was it Owen? No, not Owen. He came much later. And he was a first rounder too. Quebec had three first rounders in a row. Okay, maybe you're right.

And all three of them ended up playing for the Leafs. Do you know that? So they had three in a row and they all ended up on the Leafs. It's like the Belleville Bull days. I'll do them in order. I'm going to try to do them in order.

But Lindros, Nolan, and Sundin. Maybe Sundin and Nolan are flipped. Okay, okay. I can't remember now. But they all ended up as Leafs, which is kind of funny. And I remember that. Floyd Smith, was it?

Oh, yeah. Oh, my goodness. Who did I just talk? Yeah, Floyd Smith just came up. It's kind of sad, Mike, when you look at Boston sports. You know, I was having this conversation with a friend the other day,

and it's like, my son is four years old. I think he's going to turn four next week. Happy birthday, Jaden. Similar to your son's age. I think your son is four too. And will they ever see a Toronto sports championship in their lifetime? Of course.

Are you kidding me? You think so? I think we're... We got spoiled by 93, and we haven't seen anything since. Okay. But you will admit, and of course you will,

but two of our prime three teams, two of them are on the upswing, I'd say. The Leafs have been building something. True. And I feel like we probably won't win it this year, but it's very short term. We could win a Stanley Cup. I hope so.

We're building that, right? Meanwhile, we're the best team. And I agree, we have a Golden State Warriors team. But we are the best team in the East right now. If Kawhi stuck around, what's happening right now with that Raptors team is, and we've said this recently because we've had similar stuff, but this is really special.

We're not just winning these games. Kawhi rested and didn't come to Milwaukee, and we lost one game. The death's been unbelievable. And it's not close. It's funny because my boy and I, it was a 3 o'clock start on Saturday, and we were like, let's watch our Raptors and the Leafs.

We won't talk about what happened with the Leafs. But that start we had against the Knicks, and the Knicks are lousy. That's a terrible team. But we were awful. The Raptors could not have played worse than we won by 20 points. It's just really easy right now. And it's really fun. That's a team that could win something. We could

make a final this year. And if Kawhi stuck around, that's a team that could do something. That's a special team. I hope you're right. And then, yeah, the Blue Jays are going to rebuild now so we can wipe them off the table. But they came pretty close a couple of times recently. I guess we don't count

the other teams, right? Because that's always the discussion. You can't count the other teams, right? Because that's always the discussion. You can't count the Argos, right? Who? And you can't, even TFC though, but TFC, and I was excited to win the MLS Cup, but I was going to see Barenaked Ladies at the Massey Hall that night. And I remember I decided I was biking there

and I said, I'm going to go bike by Liberty Village and see what's going on. And I was surprised because the last time, I guess I was surprised because I'm used to what happened in 92 and 93. Yonge Street was full of people. A million people. Right. And even if the Maple Leafs. And going to parade the next day.

It was amazing. Skipping school and going to that. It was amazing. Absolutely. Sorry, Mrs. Thompson. Oh, that's funny. Yeah, but. But there was nothing like that for TFC.

So that was telling me This is the level we're at with this MLS Cup I hope you're right I'm just thinking of Our kids are four years old But we see once in our lifetime I hope so I do think so

I would say the Leafs will be the next Of the big three to do it And I think it's going to happen in the next few years. That's what I think. There you go. You heard it here first. What do you think is going to happen of Nylander? Well, I think the latest this morning is that he's on the trade market now officially, I guess. Dubas

is contacting all the teams and I don't know if it's just negotiating a ploy or what but it looks like an impasse. December 1st is the deadline, I think. December 1st? Yeah. I think your guy and our guy,

Elliot Friedman, is reporting. Yeah, I think they're actively shopping him around now. And the best, I think, that we can hope to get would be a second or third type of great defenseman. It is a shame. Everything's lining up

and then this happens, which is a shame. I wish him nothing but playoff failures wherever he ends up. Carolina, wherever the hell he ends up. Your Maple Leafs media. So I have obviously, obviously, forever we've watched

Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights. And I'll speak for you and then you can tell me you agree. But I would say that the voice of our Leafs on Saturday nights has always been Bob Cole. Yes. And no one was better beside Bob Cole than Harry Neal. Yes.

That was like the Tom and Jerry, if you will. Yeah, they were. Harry was great. Unbelievable. Those one-liners were fantastic. Yeah. And Joe Bowen on the radio. Yeah, Bowen's been a key part of, yeah. And another old school guy, Bill Waters. Oh, yeah.

Shaky, right? Well, not shaky. Wilbur. Wilbur. Wilbur. Yeah. He did... Where is he?

He was with Greg Brady on a... Yeah, you know where he is now? I think he's in the vortex of D'Angelo, Frank D'Angelo. Oh, is that right? Okay. I was told by Mark Weisblatt at 1236 that it's not Frank D'Angelo, it's Frank D'Angelo. That's what I was told but I think he's

in that vortex yeah Canada's premier late night talk show yeah paid programming but I digress so

I don't want any enemies from that camp so anyways we'll move on ever since Retro Ontario well

it's been many things but Retro Ontario had a nice D'Angelo apple juice ad featuring Wendell Clark. He was sharing it on his YouTube channel. He got a cease and desist from Frank D'Angelo. The way Ed from Retro Ontario explained this to me

is you only get three strikes and then you're out at YouTube. That was a big deal. It was one strike. He's done a great job with branding. He's spending all that Sherman money he had. He was heavily financed by the

late... What was Sherman's first name? I should know this. Barry and Honey Sherman. Barry and Honey Sherman. Apparently, he's still got some of that cash lying around. I think Frank should be a suspect. Allegedly.

I won't say any more on that. I won't say any more on that. So Maple Leafs. I remember the games on CHCH. Yes. And I remember the... Who was the... Who's still there, isn't it?

That guy on Leafs TV. What's his name, though? He's been there forever. I know who you're talking about. I could see him. I almost compare him to... I always think of Maple Leaf Wrestling. Right.

I'd watch in red. Don't you dare miss it. Billy Red Lions. Billy Red Lions, right? Yeah, yeah. What's this guy's name? Paul? Paul something?

Yeah. Hendrix. Paul Hendrix, yes. It's funny how little name? Paul? Paul Hendricks. Paul Hendricks, yes. It's funny how little name recognition that guy has. You're right. He's been around for so long. That voice and face has been around me. My first was Brian McFarlane and Peter Puck.

Yes, yes. Shelastic book orders at school. That was my intro to hockey. I remember Peter Puck too. It's funny because I don't know when they got rid of peter puck but that was a key part like explaining offsides and i think because i remember i tried to play to my son i mean yeah no clue i mean i'm trying i clicked i can't remember i remember when it clicked in for my son it was like oh thank goodness it clicked in because it's really

embarrassing not embarrassing but you're watching these house league games right he's offside again i don't think he knows what's offside is and you know you try to like you know you know it's kind of not the easiest concept to to grasp but peter puck made it uh clean that up yeah yeah good times yeah that's right peter puck and what so who else i mean i feel like it's a wonder years of podcast episode well it's only i didn't record this we're going way back to the 80s. Yeah. So other than... Now, at some point, I know that there was a Global had Leaf games for a while.

And I think it was Hebsey on those. Hebsey was on some Maple Leaf broadcast for a while. I remember him on Sportsline when it came to Global. Yeah. I feel like he was on that. Something. And I know Dave... Did Dave Hodge do Global Sports... Global Hockey too for a period of time? I only remember him was on that. Something. And I know Dave, did Dave Hodge do global sports,

global hockey too? I only remember on CBC. After he left CBC or something like that. Yeah, you're right. After the pencil flipping episode. Yeah. I'm just trying to, like I'm trying to remember

before Sportsnet and TSN kind of gobbled up. Joe Bowen's been the main. Joe Bowen's been great. Yeah. That holy mackerel. Hockey Hall of Fame tonight. Yeah. That'sen's been the main. Joe Bowen's been great. Yeah. That holy macaroon. Hockey Hall of Fame tonight, yeah. That's right.

Being inducted, yeah. That's amazing. I reached out to him. I'd like to get him on the show. Yeah, he'd be great. But that was, I think, the voice, I think, for us growing up,

our Tom and Jerry. I think Bowen, he was with Gort Stelic, too, and Bill Waters and on the radio. Now Jim Ralph, so. Yeah, Jim Ralph for a long time now.

Yeah, pretty consistent for the most part. I think he had Hebsey there too for a while. I know I keep bringing up Hebsey, but I think Hebsey was there too for a bit. Definitely Stelic for sure. I talked to Stelic about that. And of course, the famous Down Goes Brown clip has Stelic

on it. I remember that. That was great. Yeah, you mentioned Wilbur. Hockey was fantastic back in the 80s, I like. I gotta say. That was great. What other side? Yeah, you mentioned Wilbur. Boy, hockey was fantastic back in the 80s, I'm like. I got to say. High scoring. You remember,

like I remember growing up and those league players and like I remember I was a big Flyers fan for some reason. Pelly Lindbergh before I got into the athlete. Okay, you ready for this?

For some reason, I was a big Flyers fan too. Yeah, I don't know. The Pelly Lindbergh and then I carried it over to that year they went seven games against the Oilers.

Well, you're a nine-year-old and that's your first experience with sort of death. Yeah, that was... I don't know why I remember that. I just started to get all so morose here. No, you're right. Peli Lindbergh's death was... You're right.

It was a significant thing, where it's like this... Because we didn't... Our concept of death was never... It was always old people die. And then all of a sudden, somebody... You had to kind of come to grips with this great athlete, like this great active athlete had

died. With the Jason Voorhees mask? No, yeah, Peli Lindbergh and I know Ron Hextall came up shortly thereafter and was pretty fantastic. But those old great goaltenders? Mario Gosselin and Steve Penny. Pete Peters. Or from the OPG sticker days.

Yeah. We had Timmy Bernhardt and Alan Bester. Well, Ken Reggett and Alan Bester were platooning. And yeah, Tim Bernhardt and Rick St. Croix. Rick St. Croix, wow. Do you remember that one? Red Light St. Croix. I'm trying to remember when Bester...

So Reggett and Bester. And then I'm trying to bridge this to... What gets us to Peter Ng? There's got to be something in the middle. A lot of guys came through. Felix Bachmann was in there? Even Don Edwards came in.

Don Edwards, yeah. Remember Don Edwards? Yeah, with the red little cloth under him. Yeah. I remember. These guys came in for a cup of coffee

to bridge this over. A lot of those guys. God, those teams were brutal. But they have a special place in our heart, I guess, growing up. Well, I liked, I mean, we just recently lost

Greg Tarian. Yes. And I remember like I remember you mentioning that. I remember liking Greg Tarian. I think I just... He was there on the team. Right.

Because the first Leafs team... You remember Rick... I was going to say Rick Hodge. Rick Hodge. Different guy. But Rick Vibe. Yes. That was my guy.

It was blowing my mind that this guy was scoring 50 goals. Yes. Like 50 was a magic number to me. Such a crappy team. Yeah. And he did three times. Yeah. Builder Lego on the line. Yeah. Builder Lego number to me. On such a crappy team. Yeah, and he did three times. Yeah. Builder Lego on the line, yeah.

Builder Lego was freaking great. I loved Builder Lego and Greg Anderson. Yeah, Greg Anderson. Yeah. John Anderson. John Anderson, not Greg Anderson. No, because it was John Anderson. Right.

Yeah. And Greg Terry and John Anderson. Yeah. And guys like Chris Kostopoulos. Yes. On the D. Oh, my goodness. Yeah.

And. We went through those poor defenses. Well, Borsalmi was always there. He's been there forever. And we went through those poor defenses. Well, Boris Salmi was always there. He's been there forever. But we killed careers. This organized. Ally Afraidy. These guys could have been phenomenal players somewhere else. Ally Afraidy was at the, he

could skate. Jim Benning. Jim Benning. Yeah. All these guys who were tremendous talent, but the coaching and the leadership was just. Yeah, we did our best to stomp out a lot of these guys. After Maloney left, I think it was. Yeah, Don Maloney. Yeah, and then they, what's his name? The guy who just died too, the guy from the

East Coast Hockey League and the fighting guy. John Brophy. John Brophy. Yeah. John freaking Brophy. Wow, yeah. The Cordick for Cortnall. And Tom Watts.

Yeah, Tom Watts, yeah, yeah. With the cue cards. Yeah, Cordick for Cortnall. Yeah, poor Gord Stelic, huh? Yeah. That's going to be on his tombstone, Tom Watts. He was... Yeah, with the cue cards. Yeah, Kordick for Cortnall was... Poor Gord Stelic, huh? Yeah. That's going to be on his tombstone, I think. Man, and I liked Kordick because he wore 27, which I always liked. And I liked him in...

Russ Cortnall. That was my guy. Oh, man. He was Cortnall and his brother, Jeff. Jeff, yeah. Yeah, they were... Yeah, and of course, 50-goal scorer. You know, I'm such a dire hockey fan, Jeff. Jeff, yeah. Yeah, they were, yeah. And of course, 50 goals score. You know, I'm such a dire hockey fan, Mike.

And then for a while there, I just lost interest. And just the way the MLSC was just running things during the petty years and all that. Yeah, well, we had, that was awful. Yeah, there was that stretch, I think, after they lost to Philadelphia in the playoffs. And then the 8-10 year stretch. Okay, so there was a lockout.

Yeah. So the Philadelphia was 0-4. And I just lost interest. And then the lockout. And the post-lockout, you're right, we weren't ready for the new NHL.

That's right. We signed all these guys like Jason Allison. Or Jason Allison and Blake. Blake, yeah, Blake. He's a nice little guy, yeah. But Jason Allison, Lindros,

and there was another guy we brought on. Was that Jeff O'Neill? Was it Jeff O'Neill? Jeff O'Neill, yeah. Oh, Doug. Oh, Doug. And These guys were so slow. Jason Allison, I just remember watching a play

where he had a partial break. It was like he was skating in the quicksand. It was really awful. The game was changing and we were just caught flat-footed. It was such an unlikable team, especially after it's been enough. I just lost interest, which I never thought i would i just i just stopped watching that's the only way i thought i could show my disdain you know the low point might

have been for me it might have been jeff finger signing like because it was like we just jeff finger was a healthy three years 14 million dollars cliff fletcher there's something there but it didn't i'm sure finger had some pictures of fletcher doing something well at torontomike.com because i can go back in the archives and see, like, what did I write about this at the time? Because I was actually optimistic about the David Clarkson signing at the time. I mean, I own it. I did too. And I liked that. I liked the

fact that he was like a mimical guy and he took the subway to the games. And I just really bought into, like, this is going to be okay because he did seem like he was the best free agent. Worst leave signing, right, ever? The contract?

Except we were able to trade it. That's the only thing. For a guy who can't play. Yeah, right. Nathan Horton. But kind of a genius trade. When my son, he had on his app, he told me, we just traded David Clarkson.

I swear to you, I looked at him and said, yeah, right. That was your Tavares moment. I said, yeah, right. There's no chance the Leafs just traded David Clarkson. And then, yeah, it's true.

Yeah. It's true. Speaking of bad contracts, I'm going to sidetrack a bit here. Troy Tulewitzki. Yeah. That just irritates the heck out of me.

I'm sorry. Now back to our regular schedule program. No, we should do worst contracts in the long list. But the Jeff Finger one is I feel like it was mistaken identity or program. No, we should do worst contracts and there's a long list. But the Jeff Finger one is I feel like

it was mistaken identity or something. Yeah, I agree. Did he, what did he, I don't understand why would we, and why did you offer

that term and that dollar value for a guy that you didn't need to do that for Jeff Finger who was a healthy scratch. Was it the Pat Burns line? If I hit him with my truck I wouldn't recognize him?

Yeah. The Bill Burke, Pat Burns line? Oh, he was great. That was a great team, too. Is that your highlight? Osborne, Berg. He's the third guy.

Give me a second. Olchek? Not Olchek. No. I can see him. Yeah, Bill Berg, Mark Osborne, Peter Zezel. Man, Zezel. He's gone, too.

Wow. Gone too soon. Remember Walt Padumni? Yes. That guy's gone too soon. For Walt Padumni? Yes. That guy's gone too soon. For some reason, I have this morbid, like, because we're kind of young, like, we haven't lost a lot of our players or whatever. I still can't believe, I'm looking now, you can't see it, but I'm looking at Roy Halladay's autograph is on the wall.

A year ago. I still can't believe Halladay's dead. But there's so few, like, it really, If you want to run down the list, it's kind of weird. But you know who's still alive is Damaso Garcia. I was just going to say, when he burned his uniform, I thought he was long gone. He's such a volatile guy. I loved him.

I loved him too. One of my favorite players, him and Fernandez, a double play combo. Tony was sick too for a while. What was Tony sick with? Oh, he was pretty serious. I didn't know that. I forgot, yeah.

He's a born again Christian. I know that much. Yes, yeah. And by the way, speaking of born again Christians, although I don't know he's born again, but Jerry Howarth,

who's a staunch Christian. Right. He is coming on Toronto Mike That's right. In April. That's huge. So will you still be sponsoring the show in April? Yes, yes.

Just so you can ask Jerry a question. I'm here. Because of the time here, because I realize now we really are talking the way we talked at Kelsey. Yes. Except we're recording this for mass consumption. So if you're still with us, good on you.

This is some inside baseball here. But is there any, in the Canadian sports media world, are there any topics you'd like to bring up or share your thoughts on or ask about? I think one of the things,

the newspaper industry, you were talking about, I saw something recently, I think it was on Toronto Sports Media. I hope it's okay to mention them. They're not competition. You can edit this.

You can edit it. No, I root for those guys. I'm just pulling your leg. Sometimes they could link to me when I have something relevant. That's all. But they did link to me in the Daily Show.

Well, you had Kevin McGran on recently and I think that it really hit me. The Toronto, the Star, sorry, not the Toronto. The Star is the fourth largest paper in North America and they don't have their sports writers traveling with the team.

I think Richard Griffin and Laura Armstrong are now staying at home. the team. I think Richard Griffin and Laura Armstrong are now staying at home. You know, I think this, for the baseball anyways, I'm not too sure about the hockey, but I think that's really sad. You know, and you really saw what, I think with the Sun,

I know we're not huge fans, but when Rob Longley went to Florida with the Josh Donaldson and got that scoop, and I think there's still value to traveling and building those relationships. And again, I think it's just another example I know I sound very negative but us as a consumer

again paying the price again but this is a direct result of declining revenues how many stories do you see Mike that are broken by the American media lots on Toronto sports teams I know Ricciardi had that sort of relationship

way back in with the Jays, but now I saw last week where Mark Spears, when the NBA broke that article about Kyle Lowry. You know, and I think a lot, I get it. I get the economics. I run a business. I get it. You know, we still advertise in the paper,

believe it or not. One of the first sections these advertising reps tell us to advertise in is the sports because that's where they have space. So I'm sure it's not a big money revenue generator for it, but I don't know. I think it's just sad because I remember going home. I think you were the same way.

I was, we were a big star. We're still, we still subscribe to the star. Being home, getting home by 4 p.m. and looking forward to getting that paper. You know, reading those columns, you know, when I was back a young kid a hundred years ago, but. Seeing Damien Cox with a mullet.

Yeah, yeah. Or even Perkins and, what was it before him, John Anderson or something? There was another writer who was terrific.

I always liked Milt Donnell. Milt Donnell was great. He was a hundred years old, he was writing in that paper. Yeah. And, and yes,

I guess now with modern internet, online. Frank Orr. Frank Orr was great. Yeah. And. All those media articles.

The Zalkovich's and the William Houston's. All those are gone. Yeah. Zalkovich was always. I think I always liked that side. I always loved it when Zalkovich would have an article and they'd be like. I think you're the continuation, Mike. Yeah, maybe.

You're carrying the legacy. You really are. Well, no one's doing that. I mean, that's why Jonah's got the blog and there's, you know. But he doesn't update it. Sorry, real talk. No, he's doing that. I mean, that's why Jonah's got the blog and there's, you know. But he doesn't update it. Sorry, real talk. No, he's real talk. He's too busy living life to update the blog.

I know you're friends, but I can say it. Well, I mean, friendly in that he's been here. It's a passion project, but it was a passion project for you too. And I think it's a credit to you, Mike. And I'm not just blowing smoke up your ASS, but you do a phenomenal job with this. I think you asked the real questions that the listener is wondering. And there's a huge void. Where do I go to get my sports media news?

Nowhere. I can't think of anywhere. Well, there's two convergence of two things. One is you have to have the curiosity. You have to be real curious with that passionate curiosity that it sounds like you know what I'm talking about. For sure. So you have that. And then you have to have a platform where you can actually do what's happening here.

Those two have to converge. Lots of people are really curious, but what are they going to tweet about or whatever? They don't have the platform. Exactly. And then there are a lot of people who do take the time and blood, sweat, and tears to create the platform but don't have that... That's right. So those two have to kind of collide. Where else can you go? Those are the only two avenues I can think of is Toronto

Sports Media and yourself. And you're continuously updating and I think it's a huge... Getting Scott more on your show after he's leaving, I think you're the first one basically. And now, I think he's reached out to you to do this diversity panel. That's big. That's a credit to how far you've come oh that's what happens when simmons writes about the memo and i reach out that because that's the first that's the first correspondence in my life

i ever had with scott moore yeah was was over that uh memo and he i gotta say something about this show appeals to scott moore and that he wanted to do it uh and it is unique mike they all know about you they may not tell the, they all know about you. They may not tell the truth. They all know about you, Mike. Sometimes I catch them. Sometimes they'll say that, oh, they don't listen or whatever. And then later on, they'll know things

that you couldn't possibly know. They're well aware of what you do here. Who do you think is Canada's best sports media personality that's not working today? Like somebody who, of course, they have to be alive. Just throwing that out there. But who's out there that could be working,

should be working, isn't working? That's a great question. I come with the hard balls. I'm coming with the heat. I close out with the heat. That's a real talk here. Wow. You've got a long drive ahead of you.

Yeah, that's true. That's true. Beating yourself up over that tough hardball question you couldn't answer. Why is it Mark Hebbshire? Yeah, definitely Mark Hebbshire. We love you, Mark. Listen to Hebbshire on sports.

There's just numerous. A lot of the guys I mentioned, I don't know if there's just that one singular voice, but it's, you know, I'm going to talk about Howard Berger or just the real talk. I think it's just more summarizing it's the real one singular voice, but it's, you know, I'm going to talk about Howard Berger or just the real talk. I think it's just more summarizing it's the real talk that I miss,

sort of the, and you're right. You don't want someone who's just outrageous for the sake of being outrageous. I get that. And I think listeners are savvy enough to pick up on that really quickly.

So I agree with you totally. That's not what we want to listen to. But yeah, just the real talk is just something that I miss. Is there someone, I can't really think of someone right now i'm sure i will later and kick myself that's right that's why i

wanted for not saying it who do you think oh see you turned it on me yeah that's not allowed to get back to you yeah okay let's let's think of people who uh like they're restructured out or they you know well bob elliott's a guy for bob elliott is a guy who right they're restructured out or they, you know. Well, Bob Elliott's a guy. Bob Elliott is a guy who, and I guess he is writing because he writes for the Canadian, I can never remember the name, Canadian Baseball. Right, right. But Elliott wasn't real talk. No.

Elliott broke the news. Yeah, and he was best when he, you know, when McCowan would have him on or whatever. And I always remember him on because he would call McCowan Robert. Right. Hello, Robert. Hello, Right. Hello, Robert. Hello, Robert. You know what? Speaking of guys like that that I loved when they were on Prime Time Party is the guy who passed away, but the boxing guy, Burt Sugar Randolph.

Yes, Burt Sugar Randolph, yeah. So give me a Bob Elliott and a Burt Sugar Randolph. And a Jim Shakey Hunt. Oh, Jim Shakey Hunt. And you know, the other co-host I really liked who sadly got cancer and passed away was Jim Kelly. Yes. I thought he was very good too. I remember Jim Kelly, that's right. But okay, that's me evading the question. I think it's a,

I was going to say criminal, clearly not criminal, but it's sad that we don't currently have Dave Hodge. Right. Where's Dave Hodge? That's true. What an ethical, like, what a voice, like, what kind of perspective and what intelligence. Now, I don't even need him to talk sports. He could do a music show, okay?

That seems to be the real passion here. But he's very close friends with Brian Williams, by the way. Right. We haven't talked about him, but Brian Williams is a guy. He is working today. Like, he's employed by TSN. Yeah. But he's a guy that I think we probably take Brian Williams for granted.

Right. Because he's just kind of always been there and he's consistent. But Brian Williams is, to me, a sports media legend in this country that probably doesn't get us props. True. We think of him now like we think of him as an Olympics guy. Yeah, exactly. The Peter Manfreds Bridge of sports.

Yeah. A lot of these guys. And I'm trying to think of somebody who was like fired. But usually when you're really good and you're fired, you do some research.

We'll talk about McCowan in this way, I'm sure, in a few years or whenever he leaves the scene and the Steve Simmons of the world, I think. You know, it'll be one of those things

where you don't know what you've got until it's gone. And I do think Joni Mitchell just turned 75. Yeah, it's a great way to wrap it up. I agree with you totally. You know what we didn't do? Because I thought it would be redundant, but we didn't do a Remember the Time.

I missed that. But I do have an episode of Lowest of the Low tomorrow. Okay. I'll do some research and do a Remember the Time. I enjoy Remember the Time because it's like a trivia kind of. It's a fun fact and you can kind of spin off it. And I've been trying to gear these Remember the Times to the guests. So if I had a sports person on, I might talk about Gretzky being sold to the Oilers from the Indianapolis Racers or whatever.

Or if I have a musician on I might talk about you know this band debuting or whatever but I'm having a good time of Remember the Time. We're happy to sponsor it.

Brought to you by Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. There you go. Milan this was a pleasure honestly this was an hour this is two hours long.

Really? It felt like we were just shooting the S for like 20 minutes. We're proud to be part of the Toronto Mike family and Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair visit us today. And the website again? Wow. The S for like 20 minutes. We're proud to be part of the Toronto Mike family. Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair.

Visit us today. And the website again? FastTimeWatchRepair.com. And guys, they do the battery. Don't get your battery changed anywhere else. There's only one place to go, and they'll do it while you wait, right? Promo code. What's the promo code? Toronto Mike.

Toronto Mike, 15% off any watch battery replacement on any watch. And that's amazing, right? You never do that, right? Have you ever done it before? Exclusive to Toronto Mike. Is that right? Yes. We buried the lead.

We got to redo this episode, except we have to mention that at the very beginning. Thanks for having me, Mike. No, thanks so much for doing this. And that brings us to the end of our 397th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Now, Milan, I know that Fast Time is Fast Time WJR, but are you personally on Twitter?

I'm not. You don't have to be. But I may have to be. Brunt's not on Twitter. Depending on what kind of feedback we get from this. So tweet all your questions. Yes, please. Leave a comment.

Yes. Millennials, please. Fast Time. Millennials are on Snapchat. Yeah, that's right. I think they stopped listening a long time ago. Fast Time WJR is where you find Fast Time on Twitter. But I want to talk about Great Lakes Brewery because they're at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee.

He's probably going to wish we did a little more Raptors talk. Brian, we're ecstatic about this special team. Lights out. Can't believe. Love these Raptors. We didn't get a Brian question. No. Next time. Next time. Maybe he'll ask two next time just to make up. We have a sponsor's round

table. Oh, we could do that. Palma Pasta. We'll get Anthony from Palma Pasta on the roundtable. He's at Palma Pasta. And Paytm is at Paytm Canada. These guys are lowest of the low. They're my guests tomorrow. See you then. I know that's true, yes I do. I know it's true, yeah.

I know it's true. How about you? All that picking up trash and then putting down ropes. And they're brokerage stocks, the class struggle explodes.