Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Leo Rautins Returns: Toronto Mike'd #936

Episode Date: October 21, 2021

Mike catches up with Leo Rautins as they discuss why he's no longer seen on Sportsnet Raptors broadcasts, why Rod Black is no longer on TSN Raptors broadcasts, his years at St. Mike'd, hanging with Charles Barkley, the 2019 NBA Championship, the current Raptors team and so much more.

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I'm Mike from torontomike.com and my guest this week is Leo Roudens. Welcome back, Leo. Here's a little song I've been singing all morning, and I'll explain why in a moment. Moving on the floor now, babe You're a bird of paradise Cherry ice cream smile I suppose it's very nice with a step to your left

and a flick to the right you catch that mirror way out west you know you're something special and you look like you're the best okay here it comes.

My apologies. His name is Leo. And this is a Leo jam. I was singing it all morning. I said, Leo Roudens is coming in. His name is Leo. Leo, welcome back to Toronto, my buddy. Great to be here.

We were just, as I walked in, I go, I mean, the last time we were here, I was here, it was playoff time. It was crazy. It was not just playoff time, I go, the last time we were here, or I was here, it was playoff time. It was crazy. It was not just playoff time, my friend, but looking back, because at the time, we don't know what's going to happen, obviously, because our crystal balls are not functioning. But we end up winning the championship, Leo.

We won that championship. Oh, yes, we did. Like, that did happen, right? That's not just a glorious dream. No, and that whole run was just an unbelievable experience. And really, when I was here, that was kind of the start of that whole playoff run, and it was incredible. Well, to be very, very specific,

and I urge people who are just listening to their first Leo Roudin's episode of Toronto Mike that they need to go back. In fact, I'll do that first. They need to go back. You need to go back to episode 467. And this is the description I wrote at the time mike chats with the kid from keel street that's you buddy raptors tv analyst and former nba player leo routins about growing up in toronto being an ncaa star being the first canadian drafted in the first round of the

nba draft and covering the tor Toronto Raptors since day one. We talked for almost two hours. And that, to be very, very specific for Raptor fans, this was the morning after the double overtime win in game three against the Bucs. And as I look back at that entire playoff run, if we lose that game, there's no championship. Done. You're right.

Then you're down you're down three games and good luck right so yeah that was an incredible night and uh you know just just i just keep remembering walking around the city and going to games the vibe that whole run was just it's incredible something you'll never forget and I alluded to it as like a beautiful dream because it was, you know, the pre-COVID times. So when you look back at 2019, that happened, like we win that championship. It's like, I get, I'm getting goosebumps

thinking about it. We all spill onto the streets. We had that, well, at least at my end of the parade, it was fantastic. We didn't talk about that. I was on the Lake Shore side and it was really, really nice there. But like, wow, like for this city to come together i don't know a million people kind of

joined together you know you you couldn't do that well you probably i don't know if it could happen today but what a time to be alive and that morning that you showed up after that double overtime win against the bucks did you get any sleep that night? Do you remember? Like, was there any chance to catch some 40 winks there? Well, the good thing is, I don't know if it's a good thing, but I don't sleep much anyway. So, but it was, I know it was late just getting out. And, you know, by the time we get wrap up all the stuff we have to do, and then, you know, you meet, you meet some friends you you got to celebrate a little bit of course and then by the time i get up it's uh i was dragging a little bit but you were great i remember that conversation because it was such a the hype train the raptors hype

train was in full effect and you were fantastic and i remember thinking oh we got to get leo back so it did take a couple of years here but i'm just glad you're here man i'm glad you're here i'm glad i'm here too uh and i did play some duran duran off the top because i'm i'm also curious like would that have been a leo jam back in the day like would you have been a would you have been listening to like rio and uh you know hungry like the wolf like what would you have listened to back in the day? I was more mellow, right? I was Luther, Lionel Richie. Yeah, I was a little bit more on the mellow side. I'm not a music

aficionado. I like music. I enjoy music. I like other people's music. If you've got something playing, I'm enjoying it, right? Right. So I don't go out of my way. I don't have my own uh your own playlist track my own well i kind of do but it's and if i like the idea that leo's listening to luther vandross like that's kind of cool man i'll even go back to the spinners man

it's like i get all kinds of stuff amazing amazing for some reason i'm like is is leo like a synth guy like is he listening to like new age stuff or the poppiest stuff like duran duran back in the the early 80s when you were kicking ass taking names but uh you're not a musicologist no no shame in that game all right some some some easy questions off the top mark wants to know how the pooches are doing and he puts the hashtag dog dad goals. They're great, actually. They're in Florida, and, you know, they love it in Florida

because they got a big yard. They got the pool. They go to the beach. They got the whole thing going, but they're a fun group because you got the two big ones. They got the two Leon burgers, and one of them is hitting 175 pounds right now. Wow. Yeah.

And the other one is about 105. That's more than I weigh, buddy. I know. I got a picture. I'll show it to you. I got a buddy of mine that came over. And the big one thinks he's a lap dog. I'm not kidding you.

Like if you and I are sitting there six inches between us, he's looking at that going, oh, yeah, I fit. And I got a picture. My buddy is about 6'4", 230. And my wife is sitting next to him, right? And you can't see either one of them. He just decides to sit on their lap. And then they got Rico the cat and Charlotte the Yorkie.

So it's a crazy crew. So let me understand, because I often, I follow you on social media, so I see these poolside pictures, the Leo poolside pictures, just to make us just a little envious there. But that's Florida shots, right? Yeah.

So like, what's the deal? Are you based in Florida and then you got a Toronto place or what's the deal here? Yeah, I'm a Florida resident, Canadian citizen, Florida resident. But that's kind of home and then, you know, got a place here in Toronto for when I'm here. Right. And do you spend, like, what do you do? Are you spending your summers in Florida, essentially? You know, I actually love summer in Florida.

I love hot. Yeah. You know, when most people are complaining, saying it's too hot, this is crazy, I can't breathe, I'm happy. I'm smiling. Me too. Yeah. And so, you know, a lot of it's my body. You know, my body's beaten up.

So, actually, I'll tell you what. Last year, we were kind of stuck here. I'm working. I'm doing a rapper game. We're stuck in studio. You can't travel because if you have to quarantine, you're going to miss seven games. So I couldn't even go back to Florida.

And it hurt, physically hurt, because normally what I do is, even if it's for 24 hours yeah if I got a busy schedule I'll get in a plane I'll fly to Florida I land I go to the beach I have dinner outside my by dinner time my body feels good again and then I come back right right even for 24 hours but I couldn't do that so it was tough okay one more dog question and then I want to ask you about that that body of yours that six foot-foot-seven body of yours. But Brian, Raptor's devotee, shout out to Brian, my puppy is turning one year old November 14. I love how your pack all live together in harmony, well, most of the time.

Should I consider getting a full-time playmate for Maisie? Yes, 100%. Now, you got to know the breed and the sexes. That's important when you add into it. So, do a little homework, but yes, absolutely. Because they have company, they enjoy each other. And then don't force it.

Let it all play out. Let them find because whoever's number one has to stay number one. Oh, the alpha dog. Yeah, and no, it's just the way it works. And the number two comes in. They know their own order, so you can't. But is that order first arrival or age? First arrival.

Whoever's in is in. And you got to just kind of, so when we keep adding on, you kind of let it play out, right? Hey, our younger, our female Leon Berger almost killed Cooper when he came in. Like literally? Well, yeah, because she got, you know, all of a sudden, he's getting all the attention. And there were a couple of times, but it worked itself out.

Now they're good buddies. Would you record briefly here a happy first birthday to Maisie greeting? Maisie, I don't know if you can understand me but happy birthday and you know what you're going to get a special gift real soon a buddy for life happy birthday

beautiful okay so Brian play that for Maisie okay buddy man Mark wants to know oh yeah so what was I going to say I was going to start with the dog oh yeah the body so since your last appearance I mean how many surgeries have you had in your life, Leo? Close to 30.

You know, since the championship, since the Raptors won the championship, I think I'm at seven. So how are you doing? Like, I've never had a surgery. I had oral surgery to take out some wisdom teeth. Not quite the same thing. Like, how the hell are you doing i'm amazing i had uh i had back surgery and i got really lucky so i've had you know my back has been an issue my whole life and you know literally i was terrified my whole career not knowing if it was going to end that day. Right. So, uh, the pandemic started, uh, in March, right?

Yeah. March 13 was the last day of school. Right. So in February, um, uh, I had surgery on my back and so I got in before everything shut down. Everything was crazy. And, uh, it was, it was unbelievable for, so I'll tell you what. So I go under surgery. I tell everybody, hey, I'm in there 24 hours. I'm out. Let's walk out of here. We're done. Let's go.

Have surgery. Wake up next day. I'm going, oh, my God. Right? Second day, I'm going, oh, no, no, no, no. Third day, they're trying to get me up to walk a little bit, and I'm going, like, it's like I can't even stand up. I got this walker, and there's two people holding me up.

I'm going, oh. I tell my doc, I said, doc, you got to give me something. There's something. I'm texting home saying, if I can open this window, I'm going to jump out. This is day four now. Right. Day four at night, midnight. I'm going, I swear to God.

And I got this view of the hospital. This hospital night, midnight, I'm going, I swear to God. And I got this view of the, that's right, this hospital is like incredible in Miami, right? I'm going to jump out. I'm going to jump out. I wake up the fifth morning, fifth day. I stand up. I go, oh my God. And I've been pain-free.

I've walked out of the hospital. I've been pain-free ever since for the first time in my life. Wow. Completely pain-free. Well, that's good news, buddy. Like, I'm happy to hear that. Because 70 surgeries, like, it's amazing. 30, 30. 30, sorry.

Okay, I'm predicting the future. Well, it feels like 70. 30, 70, what's the difference? At that point, who's counting? Exactly. Is what I would say. But glad you're feeling good. And you're looking great.

Again, last time I was remarking, I can't believe you're older than Jack Armstrong, but you're still older than Jack. I'm still older. I keep looking at him. I go, I'm not sure about this, but the ID says yes. It's funny. You mentioned you got your surgery and just before the,

like the lockdowns and everything with COVID, uh, just similarly, uh, in that month of February, just before all the lockdowns, I actually, uh,

went to Jack's hotel, like near, like, uh, whatever that would be Bay and, uh, uh, Queens key or whatever.

And, uh, sat down. I literally set up this studio in the lobby of this hotel. Oh, nice. And Jack came down and we, we, we chatted. of this hotel. Oh, nice. And Jack came down and we chatted. And that was, yeah.

And I remember he said he was very happy to do it, loved it. He said, but could I drop off more Great Lakes beer for him? Yeah, I guess I'm going to have to pass along mine to him. I'm not a big beer drinker, but I know Jack would certainly be crushed if he knew these weren't used properly. Well, you know what? Yeah, please uh get this six pack to jack armstrong i don't know how however you got to do it make sure make it happen i guess you saw jack yesterday yeah yeah i did wearing his red jacket matt wore the obnoxious raptor jacket and and and jacko had the red the bright red one

and uh i'm looking at your hair now. Very personal question, but this is the home of Real Talk. We tell you this. Are you dyeing the top of that hair? No. You know what's funny? Where I get my haircut, they always say, people pay for us to make their hair look like this.

So I go out in the sun, and my hair just turns blonde right away. I mean, I'm similarly, but not as effective as you do, Mr. Roudens, but you've got the white on the sides. Yeah, it's there. So you've got the white on the sides, but then the top, yeah, it almost looks like you dyed the top. Yeah, and it's funny because as long as I've ever done,

like people don't, I go, hey, this is it. I go outside. I'm on a beach all the time, right, in Florida. I'm in the sun, so I don't do anything. What you see is what you get. Not bad. You know, I've come to, like, dig my hair, like, because, A, I have hair, which I feel that was half the battle right there.

Yeah, hey, if you still got it, you're rolling, right? And then I've decided that the white hairs that started flying in in my 20s. I call them really blonde ones. They're really, really blonde. But it's like nature's highlights. It's kind of a natural highlight. Yeah. Some people get worked up over it. I go, what do I care? If it's gray, white,

blonde, it's what it is. Right? Right. The only thing that's funny is for TV, they always darken your eyebrows. I didn't know that. Yeah. It just doesn't look good. Because they don't want white eyebrows. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. It just doesn't look good on you.

Because they don't want white eyebrows. Well, they disappear, right? And I'm very expressive with my face. So they put a little bit, you know, that's normal, normal TV stuff when they do your makeup, right? Gotcha. But it's funny because I can go outside and my, like literally if it's a beautiful sunny day,

I can go outside and my eyebrows are gone in two minutes. They just blonde out. It's always been there. That's the Lithuanian roots. There you go. Yeah, but for a blonde-haired, blue-eyed guy, I mean, I don't burn. I get dark, so it's weird. Actually, my parents were like that.

My mom was blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and she always was a tan goddess. No, you're lucky, man. I got Irish roots, and, you know, this nose goes straight from white to red. There's like no, there's no browning. That's why you got to wear your sunscreen, kids. Wear your sunscreen. Mark, I like this question from Mark. Please ask Leo at what age he could beat his brother George in a game of one-on-one. Okay, so, you know, my brother would never let me beat him. My brother, first of all, there's a psychological advantage when it came to shooting. He just like, you know, he was in my head. But the other thing, my brother was a little crazy. And if it came down to where I could beat him, I mean, he'll physically fight me. So we had a few altercations over the time.

We did not play well together. And a few times, like on the old Lithuanian teams and things like that, we did not play well together. And I think part of that was he was just asserting his big brother's status on me, and I wasn't taking it too well. Even though at that point in time, I was better. So yeah, he was always the guy to push me,

but we weren't buddies on the court. Now, I'm trying to remember, what is the name of that Lithuanian team that you're referring to? Ausra. Okay, because my son, I think we talked about this last time you were on, but my son did play a season with them,

Alvin Kasonas. Yeah, yeah. In that team. And I remember... Well, yeah, and you know, here it's a big thing because you had Vitus, you had Ausra,

that was the two Lithuanian, and Kovas. Those were kind of the three Lithuanian contingents. Right. But I don't know if we talked about it last time, but you know,

for a kid growing up in Toronto, that was the coolest thing ever because, okay, basketball is a national sport in Lithuania. Yes. So all the Lithuanian kids, we all hooped. And you always had a gym to go to, the old Church of the Resurrection right in the West End. Yep. And you always had a hoop. You can go.

And you always were playing with older guys. So I could be 10 years old. I'm playing with 18, 19-year-old guys. You're getting better. They're slapping you side of the you know and you had a lot of guys uh came from the states so they had basketball experience right right and they kind of bestowed that on us and we had these these tournaments called shelf us where you know you played against new york cleveland la so every year you went to a different city and sometimes it was in Toronto. Right. And I got to see like, I'm in Chicago and I'm watching Eddie Polobinskas play for Chicago,

who was a star at LSU. He had, you know, him and Pete Maravich were the greatest scores in LSU history. He was the leading scorer in the Olympics. Right. And I'm watching this guy drop 60 in these Lithuanian games. Right. So the, exposure to high-level basketball for a kid from Toronto actually started with these Lithuanian things. I believe it. I mean, you're not the only first-rounder to come out of this, right? Because Nick Stokes? Yeah, and his parents.

I knew his parents had played with his dad. The Lithuanian community really was a big part of my development. And it's interesting, they now play in the basement of the church that now sits where

Michael Power High School used to sit. So I'm last graduating class from that location. So the year after I graduate and head to U of T, they moved to like near Centennial Park

or something like that. Will you ever tell him about Michael Power stories? Well, let's, because this is a question that came in from Paul. Ask him about his high school team. Probably one of the best high school basketball teams ever

at St. Mike's. But then there was a secondary follow-up. I just want to grab it here. Joe Louis says, since Leo is a St. Mike's guy and you're a Michael Power guy, I say dispense with the interview and go straight to the cage death match, which we won't do because I would

lose very quickly and very badly. But yeah, talk about this high school team. I hate to tell you, so Michael Power in my day, they were pretty bad. I'm not shocked by that. Yeah, we dismantled. But here's the thing. See, I used to know how to get into every gym in the city. Because everything's locked up.

So one, St. Mike's was a huge part of my career one you know dan pernagas was a coach he was a tremendous coach right uh had great teammates great people and same thing you know i got there and you had older guys that just kick your butt like they're not you know letting you just walk in and you know hey i'm this guy no no no you're gonna earn your earn your stripes. But the priests lived there. The Brazilian fathers lived there. So back in the day, you could go into the priest residence, walk around, come back out through the cafeteria, go to the balcony, hang off the balcony. It's about a three-foot drop once you're fully outstretched hanging.

Drop in, go under the stage behind, lower the baskets, baskets turn the lights on and it was a side door on a stage you could you could in and out from that point on and and no one ever know you were there wow and so we we used to play and then you know i got a couple of buddies greg hook uh richie minkowski i mean their legs aren't too good because they were the drop-off guys right once they got to a point i'm not doing a drop you we're dropping you right you open up from the inside you open up yeah and uh so we were in there balling all the time and what was cool is that the priest knew i was there right they knew and they they let it happen they let me do my thing and and it got to the point where if you if you want there were two places if you wanted to run. You meet me at Keele Street or you meet me at St. Mike's.

I love it. I love it. Hey, this is a good chance to say hello to an FOTM who I know is listening, Bill King. Bill, yeah, my guy. You know what he told me? Tell me. He told me, like at the Keele Street Court,

and I didn't remember this, but we used to have, you know, they were draft Dodgers, they were Americans, they were living in Toronto, you know, they were, they were draft Dodgers. There were Americans that were living in Toronto and they came like Bill and Bill. And they, other guys used to come in from Buffalo. Cause you know, they knew there were pickup games in, in us, Kiel street court. And Rick James used to ball with us. The minor birds.

Yeah. Right. This is a, with the stone city band, James and the stone city bands, but Rick James used to draft dodger. Yeah, and he came, and Bill King reminded me of that, that he used to ball with us on Keele Street. I love those stories,

because, yeah, so Rick James, I think he's a Buffalo guy, I think, was a draft dodger, and then he was in the Yorkville scene, like with the Minerbirds, I believe, and I think Neil Young had a role there, and there's a whole thing there. Yeah, it was incredible.

It was incredible. So he used to come and ball on the K the keel court i love those little tidbits i'm just collecting all the stories leo so i didn't finish my michael power keep going the power one yeah so what we we we could play in other parts of the city so we had friends i had a buddy at michael power you remember the locker room was kind of lower and the windows were at the top like like you got a window like well've got a window up. So they leave it open when you leave school and we come in later, go through, and you're in.

But then it was the day we were playing. Okay, this is a good one. A lot of people don't know this one. Will Chamberlain. Wow. I'm leaving church on a Sunday morning and there's a Toronto Sun with a picture of Will Chamberlain lifting weights at the Royal York Hotel.

And we're going, oh, man, Will's here, right? So we're going, let's call him. Wow. Let's see if he wants to play, right? Wow. And so my buddy gets on the phone, because he's crazy. My buddy would call anybody. He pretended it was me. So he gets on the phone, because he's crazy. My buddy would call anybody. He pretended it was me.

So he gets on the phone, and first of all, we call the Royal York, right? Like, what are the chances? Could I get Mr. Chamberlain's room, please? Just a minute. So we're just sitting there. I go, hello? No way! Wow.

No way! Will Chamberlain is on the phone. So he says, well, you know, my name is Leo Routens. I play for the Canadian national team. Jack Donahue was my coach, throwing out everything we can to make it sound legit. And said, listen, we're playing pickup ball. We know nobody's going to do anything crazy. Nobody's going to try to undercut you, but we'd love you to join us and have fun.

You know, play a little ball. And whether he was taking his notes or not, he goes, okay, well, let me know where it is. And, you know, hey, write that down. And I appreciate you calling. So we're going, Will's coming. Will's going to show up. And we were at Michael Power.

We were sneaking in that day. Right. And it was a Sunday. So you're like, so figure we're all on the court, right? Just picture this. You're on a court playing. Anytime the door opened, everybody's, is that Wilt? And then like, say you just walked in and you were not Wilt.

It's like, oh, yeah. It's like, you go, what'd I do? What did I do? Everybody's looking at the guy that walks in. If you're not Wilt. Sure, of course. So he never showed. But that was one of those days where going like, I'll never forget.

But he never showed. He never showed. But hey, the fact that he was polite, he took the call and acted like he even wrote the address down was pretty cool. Those were the good old days, man.

You could never, you know, he would have a different name at least with the hotel now. I was just hearing Alan Cross was talking about how he was supposed to do something with

William Shatner. This is, I don't know, 15 years ago or something. And William was in the hotel but he said, you have to call for Bill Anderson because you don't call for William Shatner.

You call for Bill Anderson. I don't have anything that competes with like Wilt Chamberlain, but I will tell you, I once played a slow pitch game in Etobicoke here in Toronto West End. I was playing slow pitch with Nick Carter of the Bagstreet Boys.

So that's the best I got. There you go. That's good. That works. That'll have to do. I don't have anything more than that. But here, another great question from Brad Brown. He's curious to know what you eat for breakfast.

Can you just give us an idea, like what is a typical breakfast for Leo Roudens? Well, I try to be a healthy guy, right? I'm trying to stay ahead of the curve. I'm actually at my junior year of college playing weight. What's the age here, Mr. Roden? How old are we now? 61. Wow.

Yeah. You know, this is just back to back. So yesterday sitting in that seat was Ann Roszkowski from the City Pulse News Days. Do you remember Ann Roszkowski? Yeah. And she's 68. I look older than Ann.

I swear, I look older than Ann Roszkowski. Makeup and a girdle, I'm telling you. That's what I do. Is that what Ann's doing? I'm going to ask her. But you're 61. Wow. I mean, that's amazing.

But sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt the breakfast story that we're all working on. No, so I'm not a big breakfast guy. To be honest, this morning I have a cup of coffee in a kind bar, dark chocolate peanut butter kind bar. And then I work out uh obviously i'll work out after we're done here but i'll get kind of workout you got any like what would be a typical workout um i i walk i try to get in a 45 minute walk uh at a good pace i lift weights every day uh so i just break down days you know shoulder days shoulder day, chest day, things like that.

I work my legs every day. So I just try to stay, like I said, I'm trying to keep my body as best I can. My weight is good. And so I have a protein shake with my workout. I may have like a spinach salad with a little chicken or something like that if I do eat lunch. And then I have a healthy dinner. Anthony Petrucci, whose family I should let you know before you respond,

they own Palma Pasta, Palma's Kitchen. He remembers your first appearance and he remembers the detail and he wants me to ask you about it right now. How is it that you don't like lasagna? He wants to understand. I do like lasagna. You do? Yeah. Okay, he remembered you saying you don't... No, how can you not like lasagna. You do? Yeah. Okay, he remembered you saying you don't.

No, how can you not like lasagna? Anthony. I love pasta. I lived in Italy. Hey, come on. I love my pasta. All right, he says, does he like lasagna? So maybe I've got that completely inverted.

Okay, so this is good news for you, Leo. I have a lasagna for you in the freezer upstairs. I think it may be because I didn't take anything last time. Oh, maybe that's. He has a memory of you. Yeah, maybe i just didn't take anything last time because i don't know i was just tired but uh no i hey okay so anthony good news you live in italy for a couple of years trust me you love pasta i had it i had my uh my marriage my second marriage and my last marriage is to monica and our honeymoon was in italy and i was actually chatting with humble howard today because he's going to uh where's he going to he's going to venice oh my one of my favorite cities in the whole world it's it's uh i've been to venice and

i went on this trip i remember i did like i did florence i did cinque tara and i did rome and i did uh milan and i did venice and there's nowhere else in this planet like Venice. No, that's what, it's unique. It's special, right? It's like, I love place. Okay, you go to New Orleans in the States. There's no place like New Orleans. It's just unique.

It's special. There's no place like Venice. Right. Amsterdam has a bit of the V feel, but nothing like that. To me, it's not even close. I mean, I like Amsterdam. I've been there a bunch of times,

but Venice is just, there's not even close. I mean, I like Amsterdam. I've been there a bunch of times, but Venice is just something special about it. And I could, honestly, I love there. Every time I go, I just hang out and just enjoy every aspect of it. I also speak Italian, so it's easy. Can you do a little?

I speak Italian. A long time ago, I played in Rome, in Verona. And this came to you when you lived there? Yeah, well, it started in Rome. So I started playing in Rome, which is actually the best way to learn Italian. It's veramente italiano. So Roman is kind of the true Italian, I'm told.

Less dialects and all the different things. And so I learned it. Now remember, at St. Mike's I took four years of Latin. Right. So it all root words, right? So you start thinking like I wanted to, you're, I'm hanging out with the guys. Cause when you're in Italy, right? It's like high school in the sense that every day, most important aspect of every day, when you go to practice, we're waiting tonight. I'm not kidding you every day. We're waiting tonight i'm not kidding you every day we're waiting tonight as soon as you get to practice and everybody goes out together it's like i said high school you guys girlfriends every everybody's out together bring your kids doesn't matter uh so you want to

hang out you want to talk you want to you know so i just got right into it and took my latin and tried to figure the whole thing out and uh and loved it but you know we had this crazy coach his name was mario de sisti called himself the bobby knight of italy that tells you how nuts this guy is and when i say nuts i used to drive to practice yeah having these arguments in my head in italian how i'm going to respond to him right he used to throw me out of practice. The guy was just psycho. And so he'd have these parties. He'd say, okay, we're just going an hour, right? All of a sudden, we're on a court. It's an hour and a half.

It's two hours, right? And so these Italian guys watch all the American movies. Remember Animal House, right? Of course. So guys would be talking and go, bullshit, bullshit. So instead of Italians, he'd be doing a drill, and I'd go know, bullshit, you know, bullshit, you know. So instead of in Italian, it's like, you know, he'd be doing a drill and I'd go like, bullshit, and all the guys would start doing it. And this guy had no idea what was going on or like, you know,

everybody wants to go home, so everybody's going, casa, casa. Like he has no idea. Like we're all just coughing away and, you know, it was pretty funny. These guys used to pick up on all that and we'd have a blast. Amazing. Okay, so Leo, yes, you're getting the lasagna. So that's the closest you're going to get to the authentic Italian food here in the GTA. So Palma Pasta, thank you so much.

But even more so because at least not when you're in Florida, but when you're in Toronto, this will work well for you. I'm giving you a $75 digital gift card to use at chefdrop.ca. So this is pre-prepared meal kits. There's some amazing restaurants.

Like when you see the list of restaurants, it's going to blow your mind. Fantastic chefs are all contributing to this. And that's 75 bucks is yours to spend. All right. Thank you. Chefdrop.ca. Wonderful sponsors of the program. But I have a great deal for the listenership.

So listeners can buy one, get one 50% off your first order. If you go to chefdrop.ca and use the promo code F-O-T-M-B-O-G-O. So thank you, Chef Drop, for your support. This is the big question. And I think some people, let me see how far we're into this. Hold on okay good we're half an hour deep and the big question that everybody wants me to ask you is coming up now but you are the second guest leo to receive a wireless speaker and uh let me present it to you here there all right so that's box and that's from man. That's from Moneris. Nice. And why did I give you a wireless speaker? Because you're going to listen to the Yes, We Are Open podcast hosted by FOTM Al Grego on those wireless speakers.

Al travels the country interviewing small Canadian businesses, and then he tells the story of their origin, their struggles, their future outlook. And if you're a small business owner or an entrepreneur like myself. I like that concept. Yeah, you'll find his podcast helpful and motivational. Yes, We Are Open is available

wherever you get your podcasts. Please subscribe at yesweareopenpodcast.com and enjoy that Moneris branded Bluetooth speaker. All right, thank you. Listen, that's amazing. I think it's, if I could be a guest on my own show,

like when I think about the lasagna, the beer, the speaker, and the Toronto Mike sticker from stickeru.com. So Leo, you're not leaving empty-handed, buddy. You're in a good position. We should actually be eating and drinking while we do this. So like, you know, see where it goes.

Well, we should do it next time you visit. Next time, and there will be a third time. We'll do it like in the evening and we can eat. Yeah, I'll bring the wine, you know. I need a wine sponsor, Twine and Wine. Could have been. I know, those Twine and Wines are fantastic. See, you want to know my Twine.

Okay, you mentioned this podcast of traveling and the businesses, right? Yeah, yes, we are open. You want to know my fantasy Twine and Wine? Let me hear it. I want to go around the world. You know, you got the Tucci does it with CNN right now. You had Bourdain did it before, right? I want to go around the world and go to some of the top athletes I know

and I met and I'd like to meet, have them do a twine with me, right? We're going to make some kind of shot, some competition with me, and then we're going to find out, because athletes know where to eat. Athletes know where to hang out. So I want you to take me in your town, your restaurant, and we're going to have that experience. Well, you could sell this. This is a great idea.

Yeah, I'd love to do that. So it'll be the global twine and wine. And your favorite wine. I want to know about the wines in your region, where you're from. Oh, my God. We can get sponsors for this. We could get this.

And you'll end up with a paid worldwide tour. Well, fortunately, I got some great sponsors right now. Corby Wines is working with me. Okay, yeah, share them out. So it's tremendous. But I'd definitely like to go global. That would be a lot of fun. Well, look, TMDS here, we're here to help you, Leo.

We're going to see if we can make this happen. All right, here's the big question. You're sitting down. You're comfy. Here we go. Jamal is the one who's asked. I'll give him credit for this question, even though it was asked by 4,000 people. 4,000, wow.

His question is quite simply. I'll just read it, and then we'll get the story from Leo Rodens. Was he forced off of Sportsnet? That is the question via Twitter. Can you please tell us in as much detail as you're willing to share why you're not a part of Sportsnet Raptors broadcasts in 2021?

Well, it's just a decision Sportsnet made and simple as that. They made a decision to go in another direction and fortunately have a tremendous relationship with TSN. And everything with TSN is status quo and really enjoying that. And so, yeah, that was pretty much it.

Nothing more or less. Now, okay. And again, that says it all. But is this simply a contract they chose not to renew because they wanted to do something different? Is it that simple? Well, I mean, it just comes down to they wanted to do something different. That's really what it comes down to.

So, you know, and hey, I've had a lot of fun. I've really enjoyed, you know, calling the games, and I'd I've really enjoyed calling the games. I'd like to still be calling the games, but like I said, I love doing my studio work, so either way. So on behalf of Raptor fans listening throughout the country here, I'll just make sure you realize

we loved you on the broadcast, and we miss you. We're going to miss you. I know last night was a TSN game, and you were there, and we'll get. We're going to miss you. I know last night was a TSN game and you, you know, I said you were there and we'll get to the TSN part in a moment here.

But, uh, you know, these sports net broadcasts without Leo Roudens, uh, are going to be without Leo Roudens and that a lot of us are sad and disappointed.

I appreciate that. I've had a lot of people reach out and a lot of people said some, some very kind things. And, you know, I greatly appreciate that. It's, uh, it's nice to know that people, you know, enjoyed, you know, enjoyed watching

this thing. And, uh, you know, at the same time, you know, uh, Alvin Williams, I've always enjoyed Alvin. Alvin's a friend. I consider a friend, somebody that, uh, has been a popular Raptor. Um, so, you know, I wish Alvin well, and I, and I hope he has, uh, has a lot of success doing it, but, uh, um, yeah, I loved, you know, working with Matt, you know, Matt and I hope he has a lot of success doing it but yeah I loved you know working with Matt you know Matt and I had a blast you know Matt and I had a you know I'm very fortunate like I like to have fun you know when I'm doing

games you know it's not brain surgery we're talking hoops so I like to have fun enjoy it and I'm just thankful that a lot of people have been very very thoughtful and saying a lot of kind things. Is it 2027? How many?

This would have been year 27. Okay. And this is year 27. This is because you were there last night. So that's your 27th Raptor opener. Yeah. Yeah. Rod Black and I did the very first one.

We're going to get to Rod. You know, Rod, Hall of Fame FOTM-er, man. This guy, we're going to get to Rod. Are you kidding me? We're going gonna get to rod you know rod hall of fame fotm man this guy we're gonna get to rod you kidding me uh we're gonna get to rod but um sportsnet okay sportsnet made a decision so we only see you on the tsn broadcast now and uh you as you just mentioned maybe we'll just talk about him right now uh rod black is no longer a part of the TSN broadcast. He announced on Twitter that he was no longer with the organization, as they say. So similar to you with Sportsnet, he's no longer with the CTV slash TSN Bell Media consortium there. And I did phone, so I've talked to Rod. We recorded a phone call that night.

And similar to you, it was like, well, this had been in the works for months. I guess that's quite, so does Sportsnet give you a good heads up on this, or were you surprised? No, I had a heads up of what's happening. I had an idea that they were going to go in a different direction. So can we pay tribute?

Now, he's alive and well, and he's not retired. He's been very clear about that. Rod wants to do some other things. Are you kidding? That guy can't be retired. Rod Black is the busiest man in show business. And I'll tell you what. Do you know that Rod and I, 1983, I'm a rookie with the Sixers.

My first game ever is a preseason game in Winnipeg. And Rod is a reporter for a local station right and that's where we first met wow and uh you got to ask him about the dr j story there was a it was a dr j uh he got dr j to to to actually because you know rod rod is rod special rod is uh disarming rod is uh genuine rod is real he's you know, his Winnipeg roots just scream when he walks in a room. And he actually goes up to Dr. J, tells him about a young man

that's in a hospital that's really in bad shape. He got Dr. J to go over there and it was the last thing the kid, the young man passed away. But in his dying wish, you know, he got to meet one of his idols and it was because of Rod. But, you know, but in his dying wish, he got to meet one of his idols, and it was because of Rod.

But people don't realize, I'm always shocked. When I hear people criticize sometimes, I'm always shocked because Rod is nothing short of brilliant. I can't tell you how many times, okay, we have fun. I said on the broadcast, I said, we have more fun than any two people working together should have right and we'd be laughing i mean hysterically tears coming down arrives 30 seconds before we go on the air on a national broadcast and it could be about who knows what we're just cracking up right all of a sudden it's 10 9 8 boom we're on he says something and the producer's standing there we're looking at each

other our chins are falling to the floor like where did he come up with this it's poetic it's deep it's connective it's like where did he come up with this we were just dying laughing 30 seconds ago right and rod would do that all the time that was rod and he knew what he knew the business he understood the business um i'll tell you when we were in a playoffs three years back duane wade was sitting on a sideline at a prac at a shoot around okay and eric reed who's been doing the miami tv for 100 years he happened to be within earshot rod just sits down by duane wade says hey, hey, can I ask you a couple questions? There's a camera guy who's right there.

And Dwayne says, yeah. And Rod just starts being Rod. And Eric Reid comes up to me and goes, Leo, in all my years, I've never heard Dwayne Wade open up and speak that freely and loosely with anybody. That was incredible. And this is the guy that covers Dwayne Wade every single day right and that's rod like he's just brilliant and and and you know he's he's a funny like we used to get back in the day we know um travel is always business or first class right you know things that you know everything cuts back now but if you got on the plane and you sat anywhere near

rod it was like what was the the peanuts character linus with just a mess is that yeah pig pen pig pen so you'd sit down and it'd be newspapers and magazines and you're going dude you've been on this plane for five minutes but he he reads everything. The research is incredible. But it's also the same thing in his hotel room. You walk in his hotel room. We literally check in, say, the Pan Pacific in Vancouver. Check in. I said, okay, I'll come up and get you in five.

I go and knock on his door. He opened up. I go, dude, how long have you been here? There's clothes on the lamps. There's this. We just got here. Did your bag explode or something, right? But he's the best. There's just like, we just got here. We had your bag explode or something, right? But he's the best.

I love Rod. One of my boys calls him dad. You know, you're not going to get any argument here because this is your second appearance

on Toronto Mic, but Rod has been on five times in 2021. Oh, I guess you like him a lot more than me. Okay, all right. Okay. All right.

Careful what you wish for, Leo, because your phone will start ringing up. My feelings are a little hurt now, Rod. You've never given me your private cell number. Sure I have. Have you? Okay. Well, maybe we're going to get you back on. But Rod, I mean, he said farewell

to the Pandemic Friday crew at TMLX8 on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery. Like this guy has just become such a beloved member of the FOTM community, which you are as well, of course, Leo. But Rod, I mean, you mentioned going to work and laughing your ass off. Like I can totally imagine because

Rod is so damn funny. Like I actually want to book Rod to do stand-up at the next Colonel Mike Lissler experience. Did he ever tell you about Charles Berkeley? I need, because I'm going to tell you about Charles Barkley? I need, because I'm going to ask you about Charles Barkley because Rod Black, every time I talk to him,

even in that phone call after we finished. He spent his honeymoon with Charles Barkley. Tell me everything. No, please, enough of me. Let's hear some more. Leo, talk more about Rod

and Charles Barkley. No, he spent his honeymoon with Charles, right? And how about this one? So, with Vancouver Grizzlies, there's a, you know, they used to have these noon games in Vancouver, right? And how about this one? So with Vancouver Grizzlies, there's a, you know, they used to have these noon games in Vancouver, right? So Charles is coming to town. He's playing with the Houston Rockets. He says, hey, I'm going to, we're going to hook up, get into town. We're going out. We're going out. And Rod does the best Charles Barkley impersonation, by the way. I'm not

going to, you know, maybe I'll try, but not not even close but so we're out and it's getting late you know no charles i left a message at hotel where we were right and all of a sudden somebody at this bar we're at comes up are you leo i go yeah you got a phone call i go huh and also and i go hello he goes bitch you still there i go yeah he goes i'm coming down all of a sudden charles is on his way so he knows where we're at he gets there and again noon game next day right it was spring forward the next day when i put my head on a pillow it was actually probably close to 7 a.m and we were we were we were hurting i'm.m. And we were hurting. I'm telling you right now. We were hurting.

You go with Charles Barkley, even in Vancouver, we end up going to this place. They shut the doors, right? They lock everything up, but we stay, right? And, of course, you know, attractive company could stay too. You're hanging out. It's a whole different game, right? Right.

stay too. You're hanging out. It's all the whole different game. Right. And, uh, so we sit there and, and, uh, you know, we, we usually have these production meetings at like eight 30 in the morning. Well, I still like we're, I'm still blind. Right. And Rod and I had this ridiculous routine and we did this in every city we ever were. We're going to McDonald's for breakfast. were we're going to mcdonald's for breakfast right so at 7 7 38 we're we're at the pan below the pan pacific there was a little food court it was a mcdonald's and we're just throwing down like egg mcmuffins and sponges left and right we go to the arena and charles barkley was supposed to be the halftime interview right and he's he's, I'm not doing it. And he goes, okay, I'll do it if Leo does it. Because I got traded because of Charles Barkley in Philadelphia, right?

He owes his whole career or percentage of his earnings to me because they had to make room for him by trading me. So I always remind him of that. Anyway, so we do this interview, and hey, you're talking about two guys that look like shit i mean we were and it was the worst worst thing you've ever seen right but we we cracked up we had a laugh and so during the game yeah now the grizzlies are killing the rockets they're killing them wow except for charles barkley he's he's like working but he's sweating buckets i mean he is sweating buckets. And during the game, he stands.

We're sitting. We had the courtside table. He's going, you see those guys over there? You see those two guys over there? They kept me up all night. He's pointing at me and Rod. And so anyway, the Rockets win. Barkley has like 30 points, 15 boards.

And they wouldn't have won without his performance. And postgame, we had a girl that was doing the sideline, and he just kind of pushed her out of the way, comes walking around, sits between us at the table, puts his arms around us, haven't seen you boys in a while. You know, your Barkley's not bad at all. No, Rod is the best Barkley.

You know, your Barkley's not bad at all. It's not quite Rod Black. Rod is the best Barkley. But we were like, I nearly died just doing the broadcast, and this guy drops 30 and 15. And I remember going up to Roy Rogers, who was a rookie with the Vancouver Grizzlies, and he just happened to be talking to Charles after the game. And I said, do you know the difference between you and him?

And he's trying to come up with something. I said, he went out and drank more than a human being should drink and kicked your ass. That's the difference in a rookie and a vet. It's Berkeley's world. We just live in it. Oh, no kidding. No kidding.

All right, I'm looking into your beautiful blue eyes right now. I'm going to ask you something, and this is big time. If I could arrange this, and and i know i can would you and rod come on together at some point oh i'd love to okay i'm gonna make this happen so this is a promise to the uh listenership the fotms rod black leo routins on toronto mic i envision like a dueling barkley segment but you've got to be careful you know like the guy you know that you know some people have misconstrued the situation, but there was a thing that happened during one of our broadcasts on TSN,

and, you know, Rod tried to pass the buck and blame a lot of other people, but you know the old thing, if you smelt it, you dealt it. That was, you know, Rod, you know, don't look past the host. Don't look past the host. Oh, man, that's going to be one for the ages. So I'll work on that behind the scenes but you heard it which today to this day like it's funny like this i don't know if you're like everybody talks about that that goes the funniest thing they've ever seen like we

literally went on air if it's commercial right we came out of commercial and we laughed for the entire minute and a half. We had tears in our eyes. Tears in our eyes. Sam Mitchell was dying. Rod was dying. And Rod's the guy that's got to hold it together. I looked at him, and I just lost it.

I just lost it. So last night, it was Sam Mitchell, you, and Kate Burness. Kate Burness, yeah. That's the crew. Now, Kate's great. Yeah, she's fantastic. Fantastic. But is it safe to say these broadcasts,

you're going to miss Rod, right? Of course. Hey, we've been doing this for, we did 26 years of games together. So yeah, I mean, we did the very first Raptor game. We did, you know, like I said, we did the Grizzlies. We did, we used to do, he used to call games too. You know, we used to,

so Rod and I have a tremendous history, but hey, I don't want to take anything away from Kate. I mean, Kate. No, no, this is. And Kate's tremendous. And I'll tell you what, you know, I don't know if anybody watched the broadcast last night. Kate, we did a, you know,

we said a few words in regards to Rod at the end of one of our first segments in the pregame show. And, you know, Kate really was adamant about doing it she really wanted to make a point of you know uh because kate understood it's a difficult position for kate true and and i you could not handle it any better than she did um hey does anybody want to work in that position? Sure. But you also understand the whole picture. And, you know, it's almost like nobody ever wants something that's taken away from somebody else, right? But Kate, she's a professional. She does a great job. And she had

some very heartwarming words for Rod, as did Sam and I um and uh you know and kate kate and i have worked a lot together so she's she's a she's a pro and she's a wonderful human being and uh so you know and and i do feel for her in the regard that some some ignorant people and lots of people are ignorant as you know are going to like they're going to think somehow like she pushed rod out or something without realizing what a, what a, this, we don't have that kind of power.

Right. Right. This is a much bigger business. And it's, let's not make no mistake about this either. This was a business decision. It's the same thing I said about Alvin, right?

Like I, I like Alvin and I, and I, I really appreciate people that reach out to me, but I want you, I don't want you not enjoying or giving Alvin that same opportunity I had. So Kate feels the same.

Right, right, right. And Rod's great fault in all this, and the reason his contract was not renewed, is that Rod made good money. And sometimes in this media world we live in, that puts a target on your back. Yeah, but all I know is this, that his versatility and his ability to do anything,

anything, just blew me away. So tell me this. Now, we're both biased at this point because we both like the man. We both like Rod Black as a human being, so we're extremely biased. But where does the dislike for Rod Black come from? I have no idea.

Whenever I used to see anything, I just don't get it. And there's lots of it. Particularly, I know the CFL fans. See, I don't get it because like I said, he's like anybody in the, you can't find anybody in the business that doesn't love him.

And here's the thing, the people in the business know just how good he is, right? So if some guy is sitting on a couch that can't understand how talented he is, how talented he know just how good he is right so if if some guy is sitting on a couch that can't understand how talented is how talented he is how good he is and how genuine he is uh then you know i i have no no words for you i mean he's uh i've never understood that uh i you know because like i said i i just know from i i've been blessed right i i work with john saunders one of the greatest ever. I've worked with Dan Schulman.

I'm talking about Canadians I've had the privilege of working with, right? And Rod is right there. I mean, you sit down with guys like that, there's a comfort level. There's a confidence level. It's like if you're playing on the floor with Michael Jordan or LeBron, your chest puffs out a little bit better because you know hey this i got my dude here right right when you're working with a rod black a john saunders a dan shulman right uh matt devlin you you have this confidence right it gives you it gives you a more and uh rod is one of those guys

and and he makes everybody around him better and and what's great is in his role, it can't be about him. And there's a lot of guys that have that role that make it about them. Rod makes it about the show, about the game, about you. And those people are special. And you and Rod have something else in common in that athletic children. Yeah, yeah. Like I said, my youngest son calls him dad. He goes, you know i'm

a lucky guy not many people have two dads and uh you know tyler and and all the rest of the the boys you know rod's family i mean they're all hey here's what people this is the thing that people don't see about i don't know if you want to call it a celebrity you know rod is uh his life is his kids right him and nancy they're unbelievable and rod literally like we're on the air get that commercial okay i gotta get it oh i gotta get tyler's gotta go here okay i gotta get brody over here and i gotta get you know sienna over here and he's and he's juggling all the come back on the air and the raptors are doing this get off the air okay gotta get on here oh no doubt like when i doubt. Like when I, if I call, I'm calling Ubers for his kids.

Right. Right. And I'll call, I'll call Rod and it'd be like, oh, I'm, I'm picking up my daughter at whatever. Yeah.

He's a, she's a, at doing her thing. And the boys are at this thing. And the ones at the batting cage, the ones at the rink and you're going, dude, but here's the greatest thing about Rod.

Tell me. He can show up. Like we're five minutes ready to go in the air. He walks in and looks like shit. I mean, his hair's over here. He's got his hockey sweater on. He's like, dude, we're on in five, right? And there's nobody, and I mean nobody in the business,

that cleans up better than that dude. He disappears. He comes back. He sits down, and it looks like he's been there for three hours waiting to start. And I'm going, like, just the stress of that, you'd see it in my face. Like, if I walked in and had to do everything in five minutes and be ready to go, the stress in my face would be clear. He just walks in and looks like I said he's been sitting there. Except the one time, you've got to ask him about this one.

Yeah. He did some event in the afternoon. And I guess he had makeup. So when he walked in, he walks in late and he sits down. And I'm looking at his face. I'm going, dude, you need some makeup, man. He goes, no, I'm good. I had some earlier. And I'm looking at him going uh dude uh

so i i i pressed the talk back button i tell the producer take a screenshot take a screenshot of his face and uh what you know the the grinch that stole christmas of course somehow he had these circles and it it looked like his face looked like and it was like a greenish tone. I'm going, who did your face? And I actually got my phone. I took the screenshot, and I found a picture of the Grinch of Stole Christmas. I put the two together. But we're like five minutes before the air,

and the producer, everybody's looking at the screenshot, going, Rod, go to makeup. Go to makeup. He would have gone on the air for an NBA broadcast looking like the Grinch. Looks a bit like Clark Gable. Yeah, he's got that swagger. But he needs to bring back the stash.

What do you say on that? Should we bring it back? When he had the stash, I kept saying, dude, you got to get rid of the stash. So I'm not. I remember one time. Your anti-stash. I remember one time he was going on vacation. And all of a sudden i look at him

and there's something weird about this guy somewhere he took the stash off but you know but by the time he got back from vacation he was back right well bring it back rod if you're listening uh if you're looking to buy and or sell leo in this market anyways the gta sell leo wait wait what kind of show is this wait what did i get myself into here in the next six months no this i'm doing you a favor here, man. The man to talk to is, I call him Mimico Mike, but he's actually GTA Mike. His name is Mike Majeski, and he's the real estate agent who's ripping up the GTA real estate scene. And you can reach out to Mike Majeski at realestatelove.ca.

He's also a great follow on Instagram, by the way. Majeski, you got a great follow on Instagram, by the way. Majeski, you got to follow him on Instagram. The CEO Edge podcast is a fantastic podcast from the good people at McKay's CEO Forum. I just posted the newest episode on my website, torontomike.com. I did that yesterday.

How to Avoid Founder-itis. That's Nancy McKay chatting with inspiring CEOs and thought leaders. I have Founder-itis. That's Nancy McKay chatting with inspiring CEOs and thought leaders. I have Founder-itis because I founded TMDS. Small but growing. It's a party of one here. But we're going to do amazing things here. But last but not least, Ridley Funeral Home.

They've been pillars of this community since 1921. You find them at Lakeshore and 14th Street in New Toronto. And Brad Jones has been a tremendous FOTM. You can pay fortune without paying a fort. Sorry, you can pay tribute. And you can pay a fortune, but that's somewhere else. You can pay tribute without paying a fortune. You can learn more at RidleyFuneralHome.com.

Much love to those guys. What do you think about the Kyrie Irving situation with the vaccinations? I don't get, I think we're living in a crazy world. I don't understand a lot of what's happening. When somebody says, I don't want to wear a mask, it's giving up my freedom. I don't understand how your freedom is lost

by wearing a mask. I had somebody come up to me. I mentioned my roots, right? Lithuanian. Sure. And I walk my dogs and this old Lithuanian lady, I always run into her and she's going, yeah, lost your freedom, like with a mask, right? She's going, tell that to all the people, you know, in Lithuania that lost their lives

or lost this, lost that. You don't understand what you're dealing with, right? It's, so you wear a mask. You get vaccinated. I mean, the same people that don't want to get vaccinated, like I said, when they go in the hospital and they're dying, they'll take anything you give them. They won't ask what this is.

They're not going to say, has this been approved? They don't care if it's been approved. Give it to me. I want to live. Right. But you get a vaccine and come on. So I don't agree if it's been approved. Give it to me. I want to live. Right. But you get a vaccine and, and, and come on. So I don't agree with it. I don't understand it.

And again, the vaccine is not about you, right? It's about protecting everybody around you. Right. It's a, to me, the whole, like, you know, I'm not wearing a mask because it compromises my freedom or I'm not getting a vaccination because you can't make me. Very selfish, like rudimentary, very selfish.

I saw this great cartoon. Two naked people standing next to each other, right? And this guy is going to pee on you. Well, if he puts on his underwear, it's not going to be the same. If you put on some clothes, it's not going to be the same, right? So on some clothes, it's not going to be the same. So if you both have a little protection here, I mean, come on.

Yeah, it's not about you. It's care about the person next to you, the people around you. This whole thing with we don't know what we're dealing with. We still don't. People that have gotten it, I'm terrified because COVID can do a lot of things to your body that we don't know about. The long haul. The long haul. And when people were talking about kids, don't worry about the kids. Don't worry about them now.

What's going to happen? And we don't know this, and I'm not going to pretend I'm a doctor and nothing like that. But five years from now, 10 years from from now are there going to be any things that we're going to be seeing in these kids that is a result of this you're like neurological neurological heart blood i mean this is blood it's your lungs it's it's everything and we don't know the full ramifications of this so you know i don't want to do okay i live in florida and florida's a cesspool right right? Seriously. It's like, there's people, people worry about here when you get 200 deaths in Florida is 3000

people a day. It's ridiculous. Right. And you know, you can, you can all have to wear them. You can do whatever you want in Florida, but guess what? I'm fully vaccinated. Even I will not go in anywhere without a mask. if i go out to eat in florida it's going to be outside and i'm going to distance myself uh and to get to my table i'm going to wear a mask i don't care if it's uh you know i i just try to be conscious of that uh for the people around me and you're a good citizen well it's hey this this is a pandemic ask about florida though if you go into i don't know you go into a 7-Eleven or something and you're wearing a mask,

will they shoot you? You know what? At the beginning of the pandemic, you wouldn't see a mask anywhere. Now, enough people are making a decision. So I'd say like a third of the people, but some people are just not. You look at parents like yelling.

You got people lining up in front of schools and yelling at kids, walking them with a mask. I mean, who does that? To me, it's like we've entered a time in our society that's scary. Like, I would not want to have kids today. I'd be terrified to raise kids today. Oh, I'm doing that, man. Yeah, like I told my kids, you know what?

If you said to me, I don't want kids i i don't blame you and and um i i just like i said every day i just shake my head i go like what am i watching what am i looking at but can i ask you leo because this is not a new phenomenon do you think it's just we're hyper aware of it now because of social media social media and also the politics right politics has gone in a direction that it's just terrifying, right? And like everybody's... Yeah, very polarizing. Yeah. And what's your agenda? Like, does anybody actually care about anything that's real, that's not going to put money in your pocket? I don't know. So, yeah. So it's just a terrifying time and it's very uncomfortable. And I really worry. I worry

for people. I worry for... And the amount of, you know, with internet, obviously the amount of disinformation. People get on the internet, right, and just, you know, find out all kinds of things, and they take it as gospel, and it's not. Yeah, I think there's always been dummies out there, and they're a bit exposed right now because suddenly they have a voice. Like it used to be if you were a dummy, you could just talk,

you go to the coffee shop and your buddies would hear you kind of rant and rail. But now, you know, with these social media platforms, et cetera, like every dummy can amplify their voice and speak to other dummies. Look at sports, right? Analytics and numbers, right? Right. Analytics allow anybody to be in a conversation and allow you to paint any picture you want.

I can take numbers and say the opposite of what you're saying and make it sound a hundred percent right. So you have, even in sports, right? There's so many things that are out there right now that like, you know, everybody's an expert. Everybody understands everything better than you do. And I defer to people, hey, hey, if I'm coaching little league baseball and there's a guy that played in a major league sitting over there i'm going to say hey dude help me out here teach me show me people now like nah hey i know better than him because uh as homer i think it was homer who said you can use you know use numbers to prove anything yeah 38 percent of people know that yes like yeah and

you can cherry pick uh on the wire we'd say you know juke the stats like you can cherry pick on the wire. We'd say, you know, juke the stats. Like you can cherry pick your numbers to prove your case. And they do. And that allows media, fans, everybody to be in a conversation and act like an expert. And the reality is you're not. And it allows everybody can, by cherry picking the right stats and spinning it in the right manner, can combat anything you say. Like with your eyeballs, if you see something,

with your decades of experience, anyone can say, no, Leo, you're wrong, and here's why. Because you can play both sides. Yeah, and I'll tell you, like sometimes I'll look at a player and just go, would I want to play with him? Absolutely not. And I have all the reasons from, you know, except being in this game forever.

Right. And, you know, then there's people who give you all the reasons statistically why you know, except being in this game forever. Right. And, you know, then there's people give you all the reasons statistically why you should. Oh, this is my brother and I, many, many, many years ago, my brother and I had a fight over Andrea Bargnani. Yeah. Because my brother, he's massive in the fantasy basketball world, which I personally have no interest in at all, but he was really big. And he would tell me that, you know, he would throw these give me, he would throw these stats out me about top 10,

this, this, and this, and that this puts him in this class. And I would say, well, I watched the games and, um,

cause he would argue like, Oh, top 10 person in his position in the league. And I would like spit out my coffee. Like it was such a disparity between these numbers that my brother was able to cherry pick regarding Bargnani and what I would see on my TV screen. I watch NBA people. Yeah. That'll sit there, say they're scouting. brother was able to cherry pick regarding berniani and what i would see on my tv screen i watch nba people yeah that'll sit there say they're scouting and they're they're writing down they're writing down they're looking down they're reading this they're reading that oh look up and look at

the person look at his eyes look at what he's saying look at how he's interacting look at what he's doing how does it do the look Look, look, numbers should verify what you see. Numbers shouldn't tell you everything. And they don't. Fascinating. Okay, more questions for you, my friend. WMM wants me to ask you, when will our Canadian pros step up their game

and play and represent Canada on the world stage? And he throws in some examples, Wiggins, Murray. He goes, why do they say no? Well, Wiggins played. Wiggins played. That's true. Murray was out with an ACL. Right.

Thompson? What about Thompson? Here's the thing. I think players all want to represent their country. I really do. When I was coaching, I used to hear people say, oh, guys don't want to play. That's not true.

I never had an issue where guys say, no, I don't want to play. They didn't want to play for certain reasons, which I accepted. Steve Nash, for example, never played when I coached. And I never brought it up. I talked to Steve. We had great conversations and he and his reasons for not playing were a hundred percent acceptable and and and and uh valid um Jamal McGlore we had some great conversations uh and again and I'd never

criticize a player for not playing um but the problem and here's the thing and I'd never criticize a player for not playing. And here's the thing, and I said this then, I'm saying it now. The whole key is depth. And right now, okay, think what they said. Canada has more NBA players than any other country outside the United States. So there's 18, 22 if you count the two-way contracts, right? So just that alone. So if you have, let's just say, 22 guys, and that doesn't count the Kyle Wilchers and guys playing over in Europe, right?

So if you have 22 guys, so on any given summer, there's not a chance in hell everybody can play. They have contracts, injuries, fatigue, family. But you have to have enough guys in your pool that have tasted FIBA, played together, have some experience that when you get together, there's enough talent, enough camaraderie, enough experience to be successful. And I think Canada is getting to that point, right? Um, but, but I, I don't think there's players that, that are sitting on, I'm not playing for Canada. No, they don't think that way.

Cause you know, a lot of people will point to hockey, and they'll say, if it was a best-on-best tournament, and Crosby said, I'll take a pass, there would be outrage. Yeah, but I see that. Hockey's just, I mean... Well, the difference is you don't have to play into anything because Canada's automatically at the there. Like there's no like, okay, you need to qualify.

Yeah, that's a big deal. And you got to remember too, like say the United States, right? Yeah. Do you think the United States travels the same way everybody else does? Do you think they stay in the same hotel as everybody else does? I've been in these tournaments, right? Traveling with Canada is a nightmare. The budget's a nightmare.

Like, I've gone on, I can remember getting on a plane to go play in Brazil and going, oh, okay, we'll be there in 23 hours. No, we're not taking that plane. I go, wait a minute. And then you're staying in you're staying in hotels these tournament hotels where the food's not saying that the it's not nba the usa basketball is staying at a luxury casino they're staying on a yacht they're staying

they're not in your village where you are right and got to remember, whether you like it or not, NBA players have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. And this is your off season. This is your time to heal up, regroup, do whatever you have to do. And now I'm going to put you in some Olympic village, and you're going to – I know for people listening, they go, oh. So it's not a fair comparison. It's not because, like I said, USA basketball, they go on a charter.

They're going to get on a charter, and they're going to be in and out, right? Canada doesn't do that. They don't have the same money. So, you know, if you want to, it's different. And the American basketball program would be more akin to the Canadian hockey program where there's no qualification required. Like, you're in required. Like you're,

you're in it. Yeah. And you have supreme talent, right? I mean, you have the best players in the world and 300 of them. Yeah. That talk about depth.

Yeah, for sure. Okay, great, great points. Karen says, please ask Leo the best basketball moment he has ever experienced on or off the court,

whether as a player or a coach or a broadcaster. Thanks, Mike. Thank you, Karen. Leo. Huh. Well, as a broadcaster, winning the championship, right? Winning the NBA championship was phenomenal.

And I always tell people it wasn't just the Raptors winning. You know, we've talked about it. I'm a kid growing up in Toronto. I'm playing ball where nobody cared about basketball. Then all of a sudden you get this NBA team, and there's a lot of people saying it's not going to work and this is not going to happen. So I've grown up in this, right?

My dream was to be able to play for a team in Canada and then to be able to broadcast and be a part of it. My dream was to be able to play for a team in Canada and then to be able to broadcast and be a part of it. So to eventually, you know, through all the years of ups and downs and good teams and all of a sudden win a championship, that was incredible. That was – Remind me, Leo.

Rod Block and I looked at each other. Rod had tears streaming down his eyes in game six in Golden State. So remind me, was game six – because I can't remember now. Was it Sportsnet or TSN that had the TV? It was TSN because Rod and I were studio. So when they were, when it was right down the end, he literally got up right next to, they were standing there in this like a perch

and he's just got, we give each other a hug, just tears, you know, it was. What a moment. Yeah, it was pretty crazy, you know. And you know, actually I have some questions about the current squad, but as I watched the current squad struggle as they sort of like, I don't know if you call it a rebuild or not.

It's a rebuild. It's a rebuild. I'm okay with it all because I have such fond memories of 2019. Like, it fuels you through these periods. Yeah, it does. Well, because you know what? Now you see what can happen, right? And the same people that got you there are still here in terms of management, right?

So they had a vision, and they were able to get you a championship, and now there's a rebuild to a certain extent. And here's the thing I have a problem with. Tell me. Okay, I'm reading everything and seeing everything prior to yesterday's game and i'm hearing about this length and i'm hearing about this and i'm hearing about that guys people come on yeah but you there the the expectation has been put out for the people to read and talk about is over the top yes there's length yeah length. Yeah, there's quickness. Yeah, Scottie Barnes is a good player. Yeah.

But guess what? They got to figure this out. Right. And there's other teams that have length, and there's other teams that have experience. There's other teams that have this. So you know what? It's a process.

You know, I love a Scottie Barnes. Delano Benton, I'm a big fan of his. You know, the core guys, you know, og pascal fred uh boucher now uh you know there's there's a lot of good but you gotta understand it's gonna take you know there's potential for this season to be really good right and that but look at the variables okay uh fred he's had an all-star level performance over the years, but now he's got to do it for 82 games. OG has had remarkable growth,

but every time he's gotten to the point where you go, wow, he gets hurt. Can he be healthy for 82 games? Pascal Siakam had this meteoric rise and then plateaued, and there was a lot of other factors to that. The bubble. Yeah, the bubble and all kinds of things. Can he come back and exceed or continue that rise, right?

You look at the young guys. Kenneth Scottie Barnes, what's his learning curve? How quickly can he contribute to not just being on the floor, but winning, making a difference, right? And you go through that whole roster. So you go, things can be really good if everything clicks and happens, or things can go south pretty quickly. But that's part of the growth, right?

And you've got to expect that. You've got to say, okay, there's a reasonable chance that it could go south south but that's not a bad thing it's a part of a growth thing and this will maybe sound sacrilegious as i say it to you out loud but uh as a fan of the team uh at this point in the development you know post lowry here i almost feel like if another lottery pick would be a okay right because you're not winning the championship this year you're not winning a championship this year anyway. No, you're not winning a championship.

Like I said, you could end up being a really fun, good year, but you're not winning a championship. Right. And, you know, hey, it'd be a lottery pick. Maybe, you know, you get a trade, things happen. You know, hey, the one thing you know, you know, Masai, Bobby Webster, Dan Toldsman, these guys know what they're doing, and they're exploring every option. They see.

They see. They know. But the one thing they never do, and this is why I have a lot of respect for them, they're not – no knee-jerk reactions ever, ever. Like, you know, things could go – let's just say the Raptors don't win a game the whole month of November. They're not going to all of a sudden trade away the whole team, say, blow it up.

They never do that. Remember when, okay, when the Raptors made a big trade with Sacramento and everything just kind of turned, right? Sure. Well, they let it happen. That's the Patrick Patterson. Yeah, and they let it play out.

They let it see. You could have just blown everything up, but they let it see. They're like, wait a minute. Okay, okay, we got, okay. Let's see, let's see you you could have just blown everything up but they let it see that wait a minute okay okay we got okay let's see let's see where this goes and all of a sudden everything turned right and they've always done that uh norm powell when norm powell started out as the raptor he didn't make a shot for the first three months oh what if he just said okay this guy can't play second rounder look what happened look at his his development. So they do a really good job with

that. And I think so many teams give up on players and groups and coaches that you never really see the true potential. So I don't think that's a situation here. One of the Daves I know wants me to ask you, if he was the head coach last night, would he have done anything different than what Nurse did to try and come back in that game? What do you say to the team after losing badly to the Wizards? I'd say, you know what? In the old days, we used to have eight preseason games.

Now we have four. This was number five. Right, right. Hey, you know what? You don't want to overemphasize anything, okay? They came out. I thought a lot of guys, there was anxiousness. You haven't played here in 600 days.

Yeah, that's right. And you could see it. Guys were like walking in mud early in the game. There was no tempo. There was no, and I think it was, for the guys that have been here, you're back. You're back. It was almost like this is the biggest game you've ever played. You're just, for the guys that have been here, you're back. You're back. It was almost like this is the biggest game you've ever played.

You're back. For other guys, hell, holy man, this place is pretty cool, right? So you've got all this emotion. So, you know, it's one of those games, okay, guys, hey, we didn't do what we're supposed to do. We got to clean up a lot. We're going to go to the gym, and we're going to start working on it. All right?

Simple as that. But one thing, I tell you, the player, and i'm not saying this because he's a canadian kid i'm a delano benton i would have put him i find if i'm the coach my personal opinion is the raptors have had a lot of small guards right and uh this is a kid that's six'8", long, has incredible vision, and he does something that I find I don't understand why I don't see this more often. But, you know, I was talking to a bunch of guys. When we played, as soon as you got the ball, you pushed it. You ran up the court. You go. Now it's like, I got to get guys to push. What's so hard about getting guys to push the ball? But this team is talking about playing fast.

Okay. Delano Batten, when he comes in the game, he pushes the ball every time he gets a rebound. He gets to half court quick. He gets a, he gets a pass. He's going and he's good. Is he going to make some mistakes? Sure. Is he going to have some turnover?

Sure. But guess what? If you want to run and you want to play high octane basketball as a team, you're going to turn the ball over more. You're going to make more mistakes. The key is to start to limit how many of those you make. But here's a kid that gives you something different, something you haven't had. If it's me, I'm going to say, I'm going to ride this.

I'm going to see where this takes me. I'm going to live through mistakes. Him and Scotty Barnes on the floor together. And again, you're talking about two rookies, so it's going to cost where this takes me. I'm going to live through mistakes. Him and Scotty Barnes on the floor together, and again, you're talking about two rookies, so it's going to cost you a little bit, but I'm going to live through that, right? I'm going to live through that for the long-term gain, and I'd have no problem doing that.

So, Leo, there's a pirate stream. This is so I can play Rio by Duran Duran without getting kicked off of Facebook and YouTube and everything. So it's at live.toronomike.com and the FOTMs will collect there for the recordings. And Canada Kev had a good line. He said, the Toronto Raptors were so bad

in the season opener that Drake left early. He actually didn't leave. I saw him. Drake kind of does his thing and he goes different places in the arena and I was actually standing in the tunnel waiting to go on the court post-game and he was

still there. Okay, so Canada Kev. Look, Leo was there. Yeah, Drake and I actually were chatting for a minute, right? With 30 seconds to go in the game. Did you compliment the heart in his hair? He's got that heart in the hair. Hey, Drake's Drake, man. He can do whatever he wants.

I was going to say, it's not just Charles Barkley's world. It's also Drake's world. You just live in it. I think it's pretty cool when you're that kind of a star. And the music industry, you can wear anything and do anything, and it's okay. If I did anything remotely close close i'd be laughed out of the arena right so like drake's cool dude i really like him now scott says how does nick nurse adjust

as a coach with such a young lineup nick's got a great a you got to remember his his background uh helps all this right he coached in europe he coached at a G league and, you know, you're dealing with all kinds of crazy things. So, uh, you know, he's been through it all and he knows, he knows the same thing. Don't panic, give guys, uh, opportunities, live with, you know, you're going to have to live with some things. And, uh, the key is giving guys confidence, right? You want, you want players to, to believe in themselves, uh, believe in each other, uh and realize that they've got to work through this. That's why you don't walk in a locker room after a game like last night and go, you guys suck, you can't play.

You just got to, okay, you know what? Let's throw this one out, but we're going to take what we can learn from this game, and we're going to start to build. Right. It's all about managing expectations with this fan base, I think, at this point. But on that note, though, there's a gentleman, a passionate man, I'm going to call him Edmonton

Matt. And Edmonton Matt sent me an email with like many questions for you, Leo. And I nixed them all, except for one. And I'll just read it verbatim. But it's, Leo, any chance the Raptors could win another NBA championship this year? This year? Not this year. But can they win another championship?

Why not? You know, if you believe and people believe and management believes that they did the first time, hey, what did Messiah say when he came to Toronto? Here to win a championship. Okay, but let's talk about that because we all know this window of one season because of a trade that landed Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi Leonard plays. You know, it should have been two championships.

He should have stayed for another one. He should have come back to run it back. He should have run it back. And let me look at, for a lot of reasons beyond, think about this. Kawhi, you know, when the Raptors got Kawhi, I said the most important person in this whole thing, his name is Alex McKechnie. He was the Raptors director of sports science, right?

Right. And he is a god in this industry. Right. And load management. Yep. Right? Load management. Nobody ever heard of load management. Nobody knows what load management truly is. And nobody truly is and nobody you know it's a term that you know like i said now it's like it's

an nba term now right that was alex mckechnie and dealing with kawaii right and as soon i i even text alex when the raptors got kawaii and from what i knew of his health history i said alex this is on you brother and and he put kawaii in a situation and the raptors to win a championship yes and that's something that kawaii should have kept first and foremost in he could i know he wanted to go home and i don't ever blame my wife i could go home play i would too right but he had the team and he had the guy that let him re-energize and bring his career back

and I would have given that one more year and for the health aspect because look at Kawhi since then he's gone south health wise and Alex is just brilliant and Alex will never put a player in a position to play where it's going to hurt him.

But this all speaks to the fact that a Kawhi Leonard, when given the choice of where he's going to play, chooses LA over Toronto, okay? So we got him via trade. I remember the discussions at the beginning, will Kawhi play for this team? There's a lot of like, will he even show up? There was a bit of that at the very, very, very beginning.

I never heard that. That's fans that question Toronto. I never questioned that. So he, of course, he not even show up? Like, there was a bit of that at the very, very, very beginning. I never heard that. That's fans that question Toronto. I never questioned that. So he, of course, he not only showed up, he delivered a championship, a great team, and we're always going to remember that 2019 Raptors team. But because that was via trade, there was a window of one year, and then we had to kind of capitalize, and we did it.

We won six games against the Warriors there. But that tells you that the path for a Raptor NBA championship, it's very difficult to duplicate that. It's difficult. I'll tell you what, that's where the pandemic killed the Raptors. I'll tell you, you know, like you couldn't, players couldn't experience the city, couldn't come here, you couldn't recruit a free agent, you couldn't do anything.

And that All-Star game was minus 40. And I'm telling you, I think that was the worst luck. But here's the thing. Here's the goofy thing about it. The year before New York, it was just as bad. It was brutal, right? And nobody talks about how horrible New York was. But I'm not kidding you.

Rod and I, we were out grabbing a bite. And we left the restaurant. And we went outside to get a cab. I had tears in my eyes. I was crying. I was standing right. If we don't get a cab in 30 seconds, I'm going to scream. And those tears turned to like ice.

It was. And the thing about the weekend before and the weekend after you can walk out in a sport jacket. I know. But that weekend was just. The worst luck. I don't remember a colder weekend in the last 20 years. But, you know, it's. Meanwhile, meanwhile meanwhile we're

almost in november here what the exact so yesterday was october 20th i was wearing shorts all day yesterday hey i came back from florida a week ago sunday and i'm going because you know what happens when you live in florida like i could never figure out why why it's a it's a it's a reasonable day why is this guy why is this dude wearing a ski jacket in Florida? Because you adapt to this. Yeah. So your blood changes, right? Right. So every time I've come back from Florida,

like I'm freezing. I can't get warm. Because you can feel that chill in the air. Yeah. And then I get here and go, this is good. Well, last night I went to put out some green bin. I was out,

this is late at night and I went out in my shorts and my t-shirt and I was outside and I was thinking to myself, like I'm warm out here in my t-shirt and it's nighttime. Yeah. And it's October 20th. I work out of my deck. I'm at out here in my t-shirt and it's night time and it's October 20th

I work out on my deck I'm working outside on my deck lifting weights out there but meanwhile when the NBA superstar comes to your city it's going to be minus 40 or whatever the hell that was but just shit luck so Leo amazing

I can't wait for the Leo and Rod episode of Toronto Mic which I'm going to work on right away. But Paul did ask earlier about your St. Mike's team, and he says it was one of the best high school basketball teams ever. Do you want to name check? Like, do you remember your teammates on that team? Yeah, Mike Heller, Danny Odorico, Tony Pellucci, John Piccinini. A few Italians in there, right?

Vic Shimkus, a Lithuanian. You've got to have a Lithuanian. We had Greg Hook, Gino Saccone, right? So when I got to Italy, one thing I could do, I could swear in Italian. You know why? No. Because all the St. Mike's boys. I love it.

Tutti italiani. Power, too. I always joked that power was... Che cazzo fa? Now, I was neither of these two cultures, but power was 40% Italian descent and 40% Polish descent. And then there was the 20% was the rest of us. Well, the honor roll at St. Mike's, it was 80% Italian.

It was like I said, Saccone, Puerto Rico, Pellucci, you know, Piccinini. Oh man, you're going to love your, you're going to love your Palma Pasta lasagna. But Leo, again,

we will like definitively, absolutely, we're going to miss you on the Sportsnet telecast. Appreciate that. We're going to miss Rod Black on the TSN telecasts. It's one of those things

where I remember when young Mike realized that baseball, I still remember when I realized baseball is a business. And you have that moment where you realize, oh, it's not fun and games. It's actually a business. And then the people look at the numbers on the ledger and the bean counters make these decisions based on the budget, et cetera.

And it's sort of like in the world of these broadcasters who live in our living room, like Rod's in our living room and Leo Roudens is in our living room, you become like members of our family. These are our family members of sorts. And the whole idea that- The uncle you don't want to come in. Uncle Leo! Rod and I are going to sit on a couch

and pretend we're doing games. I'm going to record that. But the whole idea that like business could interfere with my family, it's something like a bitter pill to swallow, but it's one of those nature of the beast, accept it, move on. But I'm glad you're doing well.

I'm glad Rod's doing well, and I love this episode. Thanks for doing this, bud. I always appreciate it, Mike. I'll tell you what, you make it a lot of fun. I absolutely loved being here last time, and I'm looking forward to coming back. And that, that brings us to the end of our 936th, is it?

I got to verify before I put that on the public record here. Yes, 936th episode. Wow. You can follow me on, maybe episode 1000 should be Rod and Leo. There you go. That's a big number. The 1K.

The 1K episode. Wow. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Leo, are you at Leo Routens? At Leo Routens, yeah. Follow Leo on Twitter. Twine and wine.

He's great. He's great. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer, and that six pack is going to Jack Armstrong. Via Leo Routens. Via Leo Routens, yes. But the chef drop is going to you, Leo. I'll send you an email with the code there, but it's

GetChefDrop on Twitter and everybody should go and use that promo code F-O-T-M-B-O-G-O at ChefDrop.ca Moneris. Moneris is at Moneris. McKay's CEO Forums are at McKay's CEO Forums. Palma Pasta's

at Palma Pasta Anthony I'm glad to hear that you were incorrect about Leo in his lasagna he loves lasagna he loves lasagna

sticker you is at sticker you Ridley Funeral Home there at Ridley FH and Mike Majeski of Remax Specialists Majeski Group is at Majeski Group Homes

on Instagram see you all tomorrow. Andiamo Maggiore. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.