Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Mark Roe: Toronto Mike'd #580

Episode Date: February 6, 2020

Mike chats with Mark Roe about his work with Michael Landsberg on Off the Record, his move to CTV Barrie and the NHL Network before landing back at TSN covering hockey and tennis on both television and 1050 radio.

Welcome to episode 580 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. The Kytner Group.

They love helping buyers find their dream home. And Banjo Dunk from Whiskey Jack. One of the most celebrated roots, country, bluegrass bands in Canadian music history. I like to wait for that yo. If I time it just right I get the yo. Okay, I'm Mike

from TorontoMike.com and joining me this week is TSN's Mark Rowe. You got your radio voice there. I think it's because I have a little bit of a cold. Okay. That's what I think because I never sound cool or good.

And then I think I sounded pretty okay there. The cold is the only thing that gets me a little bit closer to Rod Smith. And even that, I'm not even close. I need to drink a lot more scotch in my life to get to his level. Rod's an FOTM. That means friend of Toronto Mike. He's been on the show. He's got a lot more scotch in my life to get to his level. Rod's an FOTM. That means friend of Toronto Mike. He's been on the show. He's got a lot of friends.

He's a nice guy. He really is. We say that about everyone in the business and anyone listening. We're probably lying half the time. Rod Smith, genuinely an awesome human being. You know, there's a bunch of nice guys at TSN. And maybe the assholes won't do the show. Like maybe the assholes,

because I've got some no's from TSN people. Well, I think you know who, I don't want to say anything. Let's list those TSN assholes. But like Jay and Dan have both been fantastic. But there's a guy, I want to shout him out because he's a loyal listener and one of the nicest people

I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, Vic Router. Oh, make the final. meeting, Vic Router. Oh, make the final. Yeah, Vic Router, who I met in person for the first time when I was in Barrie. So I used to work at CTV Barrie. And he lives in Aurelia, I should say. And he came down and we had this ball hockey charity tournament in the parking lot of a bank.

And they asked him as like the local celebrity, will you call the games? Oh, wow. And they pitched it to me. And I'm like, Vic Rauder's not going to come for this. He not only came, he came with his briefcase. He made like notes. He was so professional.

I was like trying to figure out everyone's names. And he was so smooth and so nice to me. And he treated it like it was the briar i'm not even the like not even a little surprised no story he he treated it like it was so important and he was and he was great to me and gave me some advice and uh i don't run into him very often because i'm not on the curling beat or the mls beat but you're right and and and nobody calls i mean i don't watch a lot of curling but if i'm gonna watch curling it better be vick calling that uh i know is it a match yeah is it sure okay yeah we'll go with you're the sports expert okay i obviously don't know it's a bond spiel right

like a tournament's a bond spiel there's a great uh you know song um the weaker thans have a song called tournament of hearts which is a fantastic song about curling. It might be the Scotty's tournament of hearts, right? It might be the only curling song actually that, and Oh, maybe like men, is there a song from men with brooms?

Maybe I feel like stomping Tom must have had to have done a curling song at some point, dude, you're pro. You know what? Because now I'm going to give you a book called my good. I swear. I swear.

That's not why I said it, but it's right in front of me. My Good Times with Stompin' Tom. So that's from Duncan Fremlin. Duncan Fremlin, you can see right here. I call him Banjo Dunk. He's a proud sponsor of the program. So because you mentioned Stompin' Tom, who I'm going to guess you've never

seen perform live. No, I have not. Because you're like 25 years old. Sure, let's go with that. But Stompin' Tom, you know uh banjo dunk used to work with him but without further ado let me oh let me find it here that would be professional of me but uh yeah here's a little bit of banjo dunk this is banjo dunk and for the few weeks, you've been hearing my ads on Toronto Mic'd about the Big Stompin' Tom show coming up on April 16th, 2020. But there's another Banjo Dunk production that's happening very soon. My music buddy Douglas John Cameron and I, known internationally as Doogie and Dunn,

are going to be performing in Oakville at the Moonshine Cafe on February 27th, not too far from Toronto Mike Head Office. So, if you live in Toronto, Oakville, Mississauga, Burlington, Milton, and surrounding areas, you'll find all the information you need at themoonshinecafe.com. We look forward to seeing you on February 27th. Now, my last guest was actually from Burlington, so that was speaking right to him, but you're the other side of the world, right?

You're East Ender. Right now, living in Toronto, you mean? Yeah. But I'm from Hamilton. Okay, I see. So it's almost Burlington. Burlington wishes they were Hamilton. Actually, no one from Burlington will ever say that,

but I can say that. Another Hamiltonian. We have a little race between Hamilton guys and gals and Montreal guys and gals. I believe Hamilton's leading that right now. Damien Cox is from

there and Stephen Brunt's from there. Ralph Ben-Murgy lives there now. Tom Wilson, of course,'s from there and uh ralph ben murgy lives there now and tom wilson of course is from there but there's uh yeah i think alex pearson's from there but you're so you're originally from hamilton yeah i sold steven brunt skis once get out of here him and his kids at mcmaster sports which no longer exists and i remember steven brunt being there and that voice of his so uh silky smooth wow he's a he's a legend, right? Yeah, he is.

He's a big deal. Yeah, and he was very nice, and I think at one point he's just like, just whatever, give me my kids what they need, and let's get out of here. No, he's very nice, but he's no Vic Router, right? Like, come on. Well, yeah.

All right, speaking of being very nice, I want to say you're very nice because you were originally scheduled for last week, but Erin Davis changed her flight schedule, and you were very nice because uh you were originally scheduled for last week but aaron davis changed her flight schedule and you were very accommodating and you were happy to reschedule so i didn't want you to feel like i was choosing aaron no i would choose aaron davis over me all day every single week but uh no no problem thanks for inviting me no man it's uh great to finally finally meet you but matt do you know this name? Maybe Matt Cade? Yeah. Okay. So Matt says

that Mark, I believe he's talking about you, is a top five human. Is that in the world? I have a follow-up question. In Matt's world, which may not be very big. We don't know. Matt Cade is one of the many talented producers at TSN. Does a lot of features.

But one of... So I producers at TSN. Does a lot of features. But one of, so like I started at TSN when I was like 14. But this is when I, my first paid job at TSN was in my first summer after Ryerson. And I was quote unquote shadowing Matt Cade, who was putting together a Chicago Cubs highlight pack. And he was super nice to me. And he was like, oh, he he was like what do you think our first line should be and i i saw like the the flags waving i'm like hey it's i could say like

you know uh windy day in chicago huh i like that he's like yeah no that's don't that's some good advice he's like i was like okay i'll just shut up for the rest of the day try harder that's what he's telling you matt matt's an awesome guy i I'm wondering who else is on that top five list. I want it fleshed out now, but I guess that's a question for Matt. The Quizmaster, because Matt Cade and the Quizmaster are very tight. And probably James Duthie. I know it sounds like I just like guys who come over and talk in my basement, which is not true.

I'm just going to name the good guys. But Duthie's another sweetheart. What a great person in my experience. It sucks, doesn't it? Because he's so good and you kind of want him to be a jerk so you can at least say like, yeah, but he's not a good person. No, he's been very, very good to me. And he sets the bar incredibly high, which is a great thing about working at TSN is you have all these uber talented people that you kind of look to and and the worst advice you can ever give to a young broadcaster is hey try to like I don't know look at Vic Router like try to be Vic Router you'll never be him you'll never ever do it and you'll look like an

idiot doing it and we all fall into that trap but you can see why all these people are so good and you can kind of take little bits of you know you know why is James Duthie so good on the fly? Or why is he, well, how can he make the trade deadline show actually seem like a real television show and not one that's just like... Like with a monkey. Yeah, exactly. He worked with a monkey for a couple of years. And he also worked with a primate as well,

but that's okay. So yeah, a lot of good guys at TESA. Now there are good guys. I mean, Ron McLean is a sweetheart. There's actually a number of Sportsnet people. Michael Grange was really, a lot of good people at, youA. Now, there are good guys. I mean, Ron McLean is a sweetheart. There's actually a number of Sportsnet people. Michael Grange was really... A lot of good people at... You know, let's run down all the good people.

But okay, so you're a top five human being, according to Matt Cade. Didn't pay him. I don't know if he's expecting to be paid, but you're not getting paid, Matt. There's a Mark Rowe, who I guess is a professional golfer. Oh, yeah.

So he's messing with your SEO. I guess you know that, yeah. He's messing with your SEO. I guess you, you know that though. Right. So, so Mark Rowe, who is a British golfer who's now retired. And I feel like I've never watched him on, on the air, but I feel like he's a very polarizing guy. And first off Mark Rowe, the golfer is, is known for incorrectly filling out his scorecard and getting disqualified at the British Open. Wow. Yeah. So if you Google my name, pictures will come up of a guy

like grabbing his face and just going, oh my God, I screwed up my entire life. Wow. Because he was in contention. He was like a couple shots off. So I get a lot of inappropriate tweets at me saying like, why don't you do this to Roy McIlroy again, buddy?

And I try to have fun with it and say, because he's not on Twitter. So at Mark Rowe TV could be. But is that why you added the TV? Because you're trying to. No, I just that I think whenever I added Twitter years ago, I think it was just like Mark Rowe was taken and I'm on television.

I added TV. Like if a name like Mark Rowe, like if you don't know, I'm on television. I added TV. Like of a name like Mark Rowe, like if you were a Mike, like me, you'd be micro, right? Like there's a lot of fun you could have of a name like that,

but I guess just with the name Rowe, like were there any nicknames that were assigned to you? So many, like everyone at work, I get Rowe show. I get, um, Jennifer Hedrick recently called me Rochambeau.

Rochambeau. She was on the Lofters. She was on the Lofters. I get D-Row a lot. That is a Kevin Weeks original. And really, he just said, Mark Rowe. And I was like, yeah. It was like Rowe as in Death Row.

And I was like, yeah. And he was like, alright. D-R D Rowe that's how it started I don't know like that's how it starts though like I'm a big fan of nicknames so it always kind of has an origin story like roadster I don't know it's a bunch of different different names so NHL network when I was there was a lot of D Rowe's D Rowe that worked there okay so you mentioned you know I don't know how much of this was uh off the record or not but you how much of this was off the record or not, but you're considering moving? Is that off the record? If you can't talk about it, just wait. Real estate agents, it's out there.

Yes, I am. I'm engaged. I proposed to my fiancée Amanda in the distillery on December 6th. I got married in the distillery. What a romantic plane. That's got to be,

and it's going well, right? Yeah. Yeah. So far, so good. I'm happy. Good. So we got engaged. She's a teacher up in the York region

and I love my house in the East End, but it's a hundred years old and it's two bedrooms and we like to have a family and I can't. Oh, you think you're planning ahead because. I don't know if I'm allowed

to put kids into my basement. I don't if uh oh i did that so yeah i have any i uh my firstborn sleeps around the corner okay so i hope you're allowed to do that but but not when they're young because they're scared yeah they need to because i have a five-year-old and a three-year-old and neither could be down in the basement because you know in the middle of the night one of them could have a bad dream and like they have to be able to go like daddy and i have to hear it and then i have to go to them like if they're in the basement what do i like what do i do like you have to phone me responsible here's a phone oh we'll wait till you're two and then we'll put you in the basement in fact i actually because i'm out of space in this hundred year home i've been wondering like when can someone because my

i mean right now i have the two little ones sharing a room at some point that's not going to fly because they're different genders so at some point like i'm thinking long term so the 18 year old i'm thinking has to go off and have his own place like if it be like a kick him out yeah not quite yet but you know in a few years he should be out on his own or whatever and then maybe the five-year-old who will be like, I'm trying to think, what's that age when the five-year-old can take over the basement? I don't know.

I shared a bedroom when I was in high school with my brother. And well, for better or worse, I am the man who I am now. That explains so much. But congrats on the engagement. Thank you. And it sounds like you're thinking of moving to York region to be closer to her school. Her school, TSN is also up on the engagement. Thank you. And it sounds like you're thinking of moving to York region to be closer to her school. Her school, TSN's also up by the 401.

You can get a little, I don't want to say bang for your buck because it's not like anything is cheap in the GTA, but you know. No, no, there's no deals in the GTA. No, no, there's no deals. Like everyone's like, hey, congrats. You just sold your house. That's amazing.

You got all this money. I'm like, yeah, I'm not going to see any of the money. It's just going to be transferred into another property. Right, because you'd have to go to Timbuktu or something. You've got to leave the market. Remember that Simpsons episode where there was the murder house? Remember? I always thought that was the best thing ever.

Why can't we have a murder house? If there was a murder house, nobody wants it because people were murdered there. The price was below market value because of the murders. That's what I'm looking for. Where is a nice you know coat of paint and it's fine right i don't mind like i don't care somebody was murdered that's terrible well they're not coming back to that house right so i feel like that it's good right it's been murdered out right so if anyone knows in fact this is this is another wonderful segue and you have to promise me this, Mark, okay? If you have any questions about Toronto real estate or York Region real estate,

text Toronto Mike, all one word, Toronto Mike to 59559. That's Austin Keitner from the Keitner Group. He's partnered with Toronto Mike to help fuel the real talk. And I sincerely believe Austin Keitner can help you. So now I'm thinking I'm going to text my own name, Toronto Mike, to 59559

to find out if Austin knows of any murder houses. And you might be in the market. Who knows? Well, again, I mean, maybe that's the answer. Maybe you'll get that extra bedroom. You've always wanted. And if the murders were in that room, I'll give it to James.

That's okay. Okay. Now, you've always loved sports, I take it? I did. Did you grow up a sports fan? I did. I grew up playing sports. I quickly found out it wasn't good enough.

I believe it was, I was driving home from, I don't know what I was driving home from. It doesn't really matter. With my dad. But I love those details. I need to know where you were driving from. Okay. I kid. Little league game.

Um, no, but I said to my dad, like, uh, you know, like, what do you,

what do you think I have the best chance of becoming like a professional, you know, um, professional athlete. And he was like, uh, I don't know, probably baseball.

And I think I was playing baseball at the time. I was like, well, what do I need to do? He's like, well, you need to be hitting like, like two home runs a game.

Like, you know, like at that age, right? Yeah. You gotta be dominating or whatever. And then, and I was like, well, what do I need to do? He's like, well, you need to be hitting like two home runs a game. Like at that age, right? You're dominating. Yeah, you got to be dominating. Or whatever. And I was like, but I've never hit a home run. And he just like gave me the silence. And I was like, that's the answer right there.

You got to be batting like 950. Yeah, you got to be like killing it. And I was like, I was a good player, but I wasn't that good. Okay, what about volleyball though? Because of course, I've done my research. You played a, I don a good player, but I wasn't that good. So, okay. What about volleyball though? Because of course I've done my research. You played a, I don't know, is that competitive level? It sounds competitive to me. I play.

Tell us about your volleyball. Okay. Well, I, so I played for Ryerson's men's volleyball team. And so that's like, Oh, you weigh, it's now called you sports nationwide. It's, it's probably the best volleyball league in Canada. Not to say that I'm, you know, I was the backup for four years. Best backup writer since ever seen.

Don't look at my stats. We had a really good team, which was awesome. And my last year I was a captain, but I was like, I was by far the worst player on the team. Like the guys on the team will say like, no, no, but you were like the glue to the team. I'm like, yeah, yeah. Because you're a nice guy.

Those are other ways of saying you're not good, but you're good in the room right um and luckily my coach mirk prosa really valued me and i'm not saying like i'm an awful volleyball player you have to still have to be really good to play in that league but if you looked at skill sets you'd be like well that guy's really just like a good high school player and they just they took him right so because he's a nice guy and ryerson was awful when I went in I think they'd won one game and then it all came together when I was there again not because of me and uh so I was like the token backup setter for four years and uh but it was really cool we went to Cuba every

year to train with our junior national team I almost got arrested in Cuba for what uh for spreading uh democracy no no I I totally was a socialist for a whole week when I was there I I almost got arrested in Cuba. For what? For spreading democracy? No, no. I totally was a socialist for a whole week when I was there, I swear. No, I was dumb. I was 19. I had a high school friend that was like, hey, get me some Romeo and Juliet cigars. I was like, sure.

And we're in the market and everyone's like, cigars, cigars, cigars. And of course I was like, yeah, I want cigars. And then you're like, I don't know, honey to a bunch of bees and everyone jumps on you. And he was like, yeah, but you got to come to my, my house. And I, I brought my one teammate, Anton Hauser, cause he knew a little bit of Spanish. Wow. And, and the house was literally like 20 feet away from where we were, but we walked around like three blocks to get there.

And the price went suddenly from 50 to 50 or 15 to 50. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. They can, they can smell a, uh, what do you call it? A target. What's the word for,

uh, yeah. When they, yeah. Anyway, you were a target. Yeah. Yeah.

We got into this guy's little tiny apartment. It was a ground floor. There was a guy with a machete in the kitchen, hacking away at a pig. And he was like, Hey, hola with the machete. We're like,

Oh my God. And then there was a cigar box underneath the mattress and then as soon as, you know, we finally worked out a deal, this woman runs in, slams the door and goes,

policia, policia. I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to Havana jail. Oh, because this was like a counterfeit or something? Yeah, who knows what it was. Some racket? And luckily,

you know, long story short, they're like, okay, you go now, you go now. And you ran. We ran and got back to the market and I gave it to story short, they're like, okay, you go now. You go now. And you ran. We ran and got back to the market. And I gave it to my friend.

And I was like, I hate you so much. They got all those cars from the 60s, right? Yeah, the 50s. Yeah, before Castro came in. So all the old school. 50s, right. Now, are you familiar with CP24's Caleb Williams? Does this name mean anything to you?

See, I'm putting you on the spot here, but there's a Bell Media sister, if you will. She's in your family, Bell Media family. Kayla's on the air at CP24 all the time. She played pro volleyball in the Philippines. Yeah, and she has something to do with the Ticats. Yeah, well, she's going to marry a guy who plays. Adrian Tracy.

Yes. But no, she was like a cheerleader or no, no. I think she's just engaged to a Thai cat. I think she was like their digital host. And then she went to CP24. Maybe that's where she met the guy. Anyways. So yes, I don't know her personally.

I've seen her on air. I think she's very talented. Yeah. If you're getting married, she's getting married, maybe do a twofer or something. Right. I don't know, save you. She's probably a better volleyball player than me.

Probably. I would think so. So I guess Brian Dunn here is a good guy to ask. He says, another successful Ryerson alumni. Right. Our 07 class was stacked. Killing it. So tell me, give me some names from this 07 class that I would know.

Speaking of CP24, Christina Tanaglia. She has an interesting delivery style. I want to imitate it, but I can't. But there's an affection she puts on it. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, right? Or something like that. Christina, who woke up my roommate in college at 2.30 in the morning to go over a VO of a story

that wasn't due for a few days. Oh, she's a keener. She is the keener of all keeners. People that you would... Well, at least you gave me one. I was worried you'd... No, no. One of my best friends, Mike Farrell,

who now works for ESPN. He's not from MASH. No, he's not from MASH. But he has won multiple Gemini Canada Screen Awards as a producer and Emmys. And he's produced a lot of really important stuff. And he's got, I don't know if he's, he's got a really big, so he works for E60 for ESPN. He's got a really big story involving a former Toronto Blue Jay who is no longer with us that made big news a couple years ago.

I don't know how much I'm allowed to say. Roy Halladay. I didn't say it. Depends what you mean by no longer with us. Boom. Anyways. Mike Farrell's there. Another good friend of mine, Dan Salem, is the producer of 7-Eleven That's Hockey with Gino Retta.

I know he's a good friend of the show. He's an FOTM. I miss the mustache. I don't know if you're old. We all do. Okay. We all do. Tell him.

Toronto Mike says grow that thing back. All right. Thank you. He's a nice guy. He's an Etobicoke guy too. He is an Etobicoke guy. So yeah, we had a really good class. Brian Dunn being one of them.

So Brian, I got to give a shout out to Brian. I met him. He came out to TMLX5 at Palma's Kitchen. This was in December 2019. The first time he came out to a TMLX, I think he brought his daughter.

I think he had a good time. He enjoyed some free Palma pasta. And Mark, guess what you're going home with today? What? I'm giving you a lasagna. A frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta. I'm dead serious.

It's in my freezer upstairs. I came here without even knowing I was getting a lasagna. Have you ever heard an episode of Toronto Mic'd? I have. But you didn't. I don't know if it's just like the A-list guests get it. Just Erin Davies. Actually, Erin didn't get a lasagna

because she was going from my place to a hotel and then back home to Palm Springs. Not home, but she was going to Palm Springs. That's soggy lasagna. You can't give someone a frozen lasagna if they're going to a hotel. What are you going to do? Give it to the cooks and say, make this up?

And I will share it with my fiancee who's Italian who loves to cook. Okay, here's what you got to do for me. Tweet at me. Straight up. I don't want you to just tell me that, oh, she loved it. Straight up. She's Italian descent. So have her give you

a review of this lasagna and then tweet it at me. I'm serious. Do that for me. If it's anything close to her no-no's, you know it's good. Because she says her no-no's Well, no-no's going to be the best. Obviously, that's a different category. Palma Petrucci, this is the matriarch

of the family. It's named after her. She's a no-no. She's a no-na. Yeah, you got it right. I'm not Italian, but there's a no-na and there's a no-no. No-no is the grandfather. In the Filipino, because I have a couple of children who have a Lola and a Lolo.

Lolo is grandfather? Right. So it's the same. So it's similar. It's similar. Okay. Meanwhile, we don't do that in my Cracker Jack family. I like that.

The Lolo, Lola, Nona. So yes, Palma Pasta, they're on Skip the Dishes. They're in Mississauga in Oakville and they're going to host another event in December 2020 so of course it's way too early

to tell you all the details on that but it's going to be it's going to kick ass and they make fantastic Italian food here's a six pack of fresh craft beer

for you while I'm giving you gifts seven barrel series and that's way better than six barrel series see I stole your joke that you told me before I pressed record i got the pompous ass and i'm just saying oh the octopus that's my favorite the ipa yeah and i think you even got the you got the that's uh

gordy levec and the canuck pale ale oh it's on the wall here but you'll enjoy that that's fresh craft beer thank you they're fantastic people at Great Lakes. I would have come for nothing, but I will take it. Well, then I'm taking them back. I will enjoy the lasagna and I'll enjoy the beer myself. There's a sticker, a Toronto Mike sticker that is courtesy of StickerU. So anywhere in the world, you can go to StickerU.com and upload an image and then get your stickers produced.

Fantastic quality stickers, very low price. But you can also go to their storefront location on Queen near Bathurst. That is the location of the next TMLX. And very soon, some key person is on vacation, but very soon I'll be able to confirm because it might be April 2nd from 6 to 9 p.m. But I will officially confirm that shortly. TMLX 6 will happen at Sticker U's storefront.

So yeah, Queen and Bathurst. So enjoy, Mark, all these gifts. Can't wait. You said you showed up at TSN as a teenager? 14. So how does that work? You have an aunt in the business. She was one of the first employees of TSN in 1984.

And she was there for 18 years. And I had always wanted a job in sports. And so I was bugging her. And one summer, she's like, fine, I'll bring you to work. And I'll drop you off at Off the Record with Michael Landsberg. Because her and Michael went back years ago. Yeah, because he's a day one-er as well, right? He's an originating member.

So she was the head of post-production, so like the editors. And that's her background is being an editor. So she's like, you're not going to want to hang out with me, but hang out on this show. And the first show that I was ever a part of, Jackie Chan was on it. Wow, good, yeah. And it was all downhill from there. Then it turned into just wrestler after wrestler.

The next day was like an offensive lineman from the Blue Bombers. I think like an MLB umpire, but yeah, I got to meet Jackie Chan, and Jackie Chan thought he was being really cool, and I was trying to be, I was 14, right? So I was wearing like a tie and stuff. I'm sure to this day, Michael is like, yeah, you looked ridiculous.

Like, what are you doing, kid? But anyways, I went out to shake Jackie Chan's hand, and he did the whole like, whoa! And he like, yeah, you looked ridiculous. Like, what are you doing, kid? But anyways, I went out to shake Jackie Chan's hand and he did the whole like, whoa, like, and he like, he pulled it behind his head. Did he go behind his head? He didn't say psych, but he kind of, he did that in his own way. And then he did like the fists of fury right by my stomach.

And I thought I was going to like urinate myself. Like, I was like, oh my God, because his hands were so fast. But, and then he was like, ah, you're so funny. And then he like kind of hugged me, kind of of did and he had like 15 members of his entourage and I just remember so much food in the green room and there was all this back then like fruitopia back when they had the big budget uh at TSN come on how come was it do they still have good food in the or they don't have off the record anymore but do they have in other green rooms is it comparable this was by far the best day i've

ever seen in the group probably since jackie chan was coming yeah next day there was like hardly anything and i and i i remember asking stupidly i was like guys where's the because fruitopia was really big back then right and i was a kid so i will just you know you're like yeah fruitopia this is really good for you and it's filled with sugar oh pure sugar the next day i was like where's the fruitopia like yeah yeah we don't do that every day that's a mark that's one of those marketing gimmicks that makes me angry it's sort of like bottled water but basically they they they make you they advertise it like it's made by hippies or something like some independent place hippies are out making this thing fruitopia meanwhile it's coca-cola beverages yeah it's there's nothing good about it so anyways don't

be cool first day in the business. Don't be fooled. My generation, I got a few years on you, we were educated by Street Sense. Okay, we would watch Street Sense. Yeah, I remember Street Sense. You do? Okay, good. I don't know how long it lasted, but that's good.

There's some overlap because it would basically teach you to be cynical about certain things, like check your sources, read the labels, and don't fall for some marketing bullshit. Yeah, I remember like they had like an air miles episode where it's like really you're paying way more money to kind of gain all these air miles than you ever would to pay for like a flight.

Right. And I remember thinking like, mom, you got to cancel the air miles. So it only works if you're going to be spending that money regardless and you're going to be spending into that place. Then, okay,

it's something extra. But if you're going to that place for air miles and it's at all cheaper somewhere else, you're getting screwed. Well, it's the old like, our special of the day is

get 2,000 air miles if you buy this bottle of shampoo. It's like, well, I don't need shampoo, but I got to buy it now, right? Right. That's where they get you. Right. So that's an interesting little origin story because it this goes back to the old adage it's not what you know it's who you know right you have you know you had

a contact who got you whatever interning it off the record so what kind of guy was and is uh michael landsberg uh well he loves the perception that he's an arrogant jerk, so I'll just keep that going. Is that why I'm having such difficulty getting him over here? He's afraid it might dispel that rumor. Maybe. He, honest to God, and I'm just an example of many others who he's helped

out. He's been so good to me, and there's no way I would have gotten the pay job that I did after my first year of university, if not for him, because I went into an interview totally underqualified and they're like, well, Michael and Bob Mack would say that you're, you're awesome. So I guess we've got to hire you. And so is that Macko jr. Yep. Bob Mack, another FOTM. Maybe it's, it's weird calling anyone the smartest person you know. And I met him when I was 14.

And he's just like such a different intelligence that I was like, I don't know what to think of this guy. Like he's like a mad genius, especially with the hair. He has charisma. So basically he has that way of he'll look in the eyes and connecting with you and you start, yeah. And it's a good trait's a good uh trait to be honest yeah he was really good to me as well and and those two together because they're so different

and yet they've become best friends over the years oh uh macko and cause no mackowitz and uh landsberg landsberg oh i don't know how close they are yeah they're good tight they're good because macko's busy with all his strombo uh Yeah, he's got a lot of impressive friends. Strombo, Jeff Merrick. Oh, yeah, that's from the game, though. Matt Coz. Well, you know why? Because Macko's dad was program director.

Yeah, Macko Sr. was program director at 590. And in the middle of the night, when no one's listening, they got to show the game. In fact, this came up recently. I can't remember why it came up, but it came up recently. Oh, I think with Al. Al, hello, shout out to you. We were talking about this came up recently. I can't remember why it came up, but it came up recently. Oh, I think with Al, we did it. This is Al, hello, shout out to you. We were talking about this the other day.

But you got, so you got Strombo and you have Mako Jr. and you have Jeff Merrick putting together this show in the middle of the night because Mako Sr. said, here's the keys, go nuts. And it really, like, that doesn't happen anymore. I know. I was just thinking the same thing. Like, it's too bad, you know,

because those are the opportunities you need where, like, you need to be on the air. You're hoping that someone's listening, but not too many because you're still kind of away from things. And even like if you tuned in in Toronto, you're kind of expecting it to be a little raw, which I obviously was. So, but like if someone asks me now for advice, I'm like, I don't like, I don't put it, put a podcast together. I don't, you know. See, that's what I think is the new game, if you will. Like it used to be, you might get an overnight thing to cut your, put in your reps and cut your. Or you go to Red Deer or you go to like some other town. Yes. And now I guess, again, this is a broken record because it comes up a lot, but now in places

like Red Deer or whatever, they're just like voice tracking the show from Calgary or whatever. Like there is no more. There's no local sports guy anymore. And like radio, same thing. And like when I, when I graduated from Ryerson in 07, uh, I had to go to Vancouver cause my brother was getting married and I drove across the country going to different stations, giving them my DVD and it was like, Hey, please hire me. And, and you were willing to, you were willing to, uh, you know, if you had to start your

career in, I don't know, Regina or whatever, you would have done that. Well, I took a phone interview in Lloyd Minster. I don't know if it's Alberta or Saskatchewan cause it's in both provinces. I don't know exactly where the TV station is. And I'm doing this phone interview and they asked me, what do you know about chuckwagon racing? And I'm a pretty good bullshitter.

And I kind of went, like nothing came out. And I'm like, eh. And then like a week later, like, yeah, we're going to go with somebody else. And I was like, I can't even get a job in Lloyd Minster. Like, maybe this is not the right idea.

Oh, yeah, you got to fake it till you make it. I know, but I was- I love Chuck Wagon. Why can't I fake this? I was like, yeah, the horses are really nice, and I love the wagon. No, I'd be like, that is my favorite kind of wagon. You know, if you said you can have any wagon in the world,

I want a Chuck Wagon. That's what's going on here. I needed you to help me out for that. So Michael Landsberg, who, you know, off the record gone, but he's the morning show host on 1050.

And we're going to get to 1050 later. Am I right that you came here straight from Leafs Lunch? I did. I filled in for Andy Petrillo, who doesn't live that far from here. You know what?

Damn it, I want Andy Petrillo on this program. Get her on. You give her a couple of these beers and she'll be going. I'm serious now.

This is, your job is to tell her that there's amazing lasagna and beer in it and she'll love it and if she lives near here, that's a slam dunk. Give her a vegetarian lasagna.

I can do a veggie. She's a vegetarian and maybe, like she loves her dog Pepper so if you just have like puppies running around or something no deal okay or like uh you have like a pita like logo somewhere she'll definitely do it she like yourself she should do it for the real talk like right come on she'd do

it for this right here right exactly so andy patrillo that's your responsibility yeah so i filled in for her today oh cool okay we're gonna i'm gonna get to 10 50 later uh because you know the gap is closed i don't know if you check out these numbers or whatever so you leave tsn's internship i guess you didn't get paid for that no that was so i did that up until first year university and then you got a paying gig as ctv news barry no no first well yes first i was a which is it man i was a story editor for sports center so those are the ones in the background if you watch sports center putting together all the highlights or top 10 so i did that for four years then i got a job in 2008 in barry to be their weekend sports anchor which quickly became their full-time sports anchor

that's pretty cool yeah and uh like it's like like did you ever have a moment where you're like i could be mr barry like i could just get comfortable here it's funny because i always get to like hey do you get recognized a lot and really like you don't like at tsn there's it's so national so yeah sometimes i'm gonna be like oh yeah i just watched you on tennis or whatever, but that's really it. And unless you're like Darren DePition and Jennifer Hedger or James Duffy, who've been there for years

and they're on the biggest things, you kind of get lumped in with a bunch of the other, like, you know, essentially white dudes who are on TSN. In Bear, it's a different story because you're in their living room all the time. And so you get like a lot of different comments and you get certain weird ones where it's like hey my my wife's a big fan i'm like i don't know where

you're going with this man so i'm gonna just and then one like one time i'm in a walmart and i'm just like in one of the aisles looking at products and all of a sudden i all i hear is uh hey kevin and i'm just kind of ignoring like ke Kevin and I look over and it's this old man he's like hey Kevin Rowe oh my god I'm a big fan I'm like oh my god he's talking about me and he has my name wrong I thought he was looking for Kevin Frankers no yeah yeah well that's maybe

or that's no that's the other station am I getting my stations Kevin Frankers came from CKVR and they went to City my apologies that's a Rogers station right yeah so there's two Barry stations no no CKVR back in the day. Okay, you know what? And then went to City. My apologies. That's a Roger station, right? Yeah. So there's two Barry stations? No, no, no.

CKVR turned into the new VR that turned into CTV. And it was owned by... It was owned by like Sean. They had to sell it, I guess, too. And then they sold it to CTV. I should know this, right? Yeah. Anyways.

I got to say, though, I watched... I mean, there used to be Raptor games on the new VR back in the day. With the late John Saunders and Leo Routens. Have you ever met... Hello hello jack oh yeah okay i'm supposed to because this is going on next week and it's really against a lot of my rules but it's jack armstrong so i feel like i want to do it but he's really busy and he doesn't live here no he lives in lewiston new york right and super busy guy because i've been trying to book his visit here forever. Or for a long time.

And then he's like, okay. He goes, Mike, he goes, at this time, at this, in the lobby, not the lobby of this hotel, I can talk to you for 45 minutes. So I literally yesterday did a scouting mission to the lobby of this hotel. Because I'm like, Jack, you know, I'm not just going to hold like my Android phone in your mouth or whatever. Like I want it to sound, I want it to sound like you're a professional podcaster.

Right. And I have my good mics and I mean, I can have, have gear will travel, but I'm like, I need to plug in. Like this guy requires electricity and I can set up very quickly. But I, so I, I found like a table, a couple of tables and there's electricity there and i'm gonna try to like i'm hoping they don't kick me out but i'm gonna try to set up a mini studio so jack and i can do a 45 minute chat on wednesday that's the plan here okay so you're in

barry there's my uh jack armstrong update for everybody here hello yeah so yes yesterday that game again i can't remember if we talked about this before maybe we talked about this before the podcast but after i went live i think it was before because we were talking about how much i can swear on this podcast okay yeah so admitted yes of course and i do i do drop the odd f-bomb even in front of the kids if it packs a punch and it's like got proper context to it i uh wanted to win 12 in a row. For some reason, this was important to me. Screw the championship. I wanted 12 in a row.

I wanted 12 in a row. I basically was doing my little math and time and how much points and everything. I had come to the realization, oh, we're not going to win a 12th in a row. We're going to lose this game. I was actually accepting of this fact, but there was a chance so i'm not turning the channel or anything right there's a chance

and then i think pascal might have missed a free throw or something then it might have been like five points and he got the second free throw i think is that five or four that was just before the steal right and then he makes the steal and he gets the two. And you watched it. The chef trains a three in Bedlam and we held on and we won a game we never should have won. Fantastic. And there's Jack. And I love Leo Roudens. He's been on the show.

He's great. But there's something Jack brings to a game that I just think is fantastic. I think that's the big TSN differentiator there. Right. And we all love both of them. Like they were so lucky that, you know, these, you know, the Raptors crew that's each team has their own crew, but this is like a national caliber group.

And, and it's funny to think of like Jack Armstrong as, you know, and, and he said this, so I'm not necessarily criticizing him, but like mediocre college basketball coach from Niagara university who becomes a huge star as the Raptors broadcaster, right? Like who, who can, it's like life,

like how can you plan that out? Right. And good for him. And you know, it's just Matt Devlin is great. Oh, Matty D is great. And you got that consistency.

So it doesn't matter which network you're watching. You got Matty D, but you know, when you hear Jack's voice, you know, you're watching TSN and you don't get. So it doesn't matter which network you're watching. You got Matty D, but when you hear Jack's voice, you know you're watching TSN and you don't get that on Sportsnet. So the big thing now amongst my group of friends, and I'll give a shout out to a friend,

because Dan Gladman used to be the producer, right? And so he would say, rock it up, Danny G, right? So now Dan Gladman has moved on and his replacement is my good friend dave leader so what you know what's he going to say now and if he started with big d i don't know if that's i don't know i think he's moved away from that and now it's david elites but we're all like wondering what the evolution of that's going to be because he always gives a shot when he wants

a replay and that's the thing is leo doesn't really have the catchphrases he's a he's consistently good and i think he's fair even knowledgeable right and i think he's fantastic but and i could go both ways because you can i can be oh that's kind of cheesy to have the catchphrase but i'm sorry i i dig it like i love the get that garbage out of here and i love the uh the hello and i love it if boucher puts one down i'm gonna hear bonjour yeah like. Like I just dig it. Yeah, it's great. And his Brooklyn accent, the bonjour. Right. Yeah, fantastic. Who do you think is older?

Leo Roudens or, and because I'm asking, you're going to know, but Leo Roudens or Jack Armstrong? So yes, Jack looks older, but he is the younger one because Leo sits in the sun and tans and moisturizes all day long. And he's got that Lithuanian handsomeness. Oh yeah. Well, you're a handsome guy too though. I'm telling you now. I'm not Leo Routens, but I appreciate it.

You're not Leo Routens, but what's your height? Six. Oh, six. Okay. Maybe because I actually thought you were a little taller than that. Another reason why I was the worst volleyball player on Ryerson men's team from 2003 to 2007. So you're at CTV Newsberry. And how do you end up?

What's next? NHL Network? Yeah. NHL Network was next. so you're at ctv newsberry and how do you end up wait what's next nhl network yeah nhl network was next um yeah it was one of those things where they needed um they were just short-staffed and they needed someone to fill in for a couple of shows and i believe i think mark millier who's head of tsn at the time um you know i auditioned a few times at tsn and he kept getting passed up for other people for you know various reasons and then you know he had let the nhl network go let them know hey we got this guy up and barry's pretty good you know give him a show or two and the first show i ever did was with jamie mcclennan noodles wow another great guy who thank god he was there because he

can talk and talk and talk and you're you know you're you're going a mile a minute that's one of the things that you kind of slow things down a bit as a broadcaster but i'll never forget that night on top of the fact that it was my first show whitney houston died during our broadcast and jamie was like i was like hey jamie like we're gonna talk about the canes power play and blah blah and he's like oh my god whitney houston just died and i said i don't care what about carolina he's like, oh my God, Whitney Houston just died. And I said, I don't care. What about Carolina? He's like, yeah, we'll be fine. We'll be fine.

I can't believe, and he was so into Whitney Houston. You know, it was a huge story. No, that's a big one though. And I was so, I had like little to no sympathy for Whitney Houston dying

because all I cared about was not screwing up on the air. Right. Later on. And you're doing a hockey show. It's not like you're doing some entertainment or variety show or something.

Later on in life, I was like, oh, that sucks. Whitney Houston died. But at the time, I was like, I'm sorry, I don't care about her dying. Real talk, Mark Rowe doesn't give a damn about Whitney Houston. Your Grammy Award winning singer who died prematurely. Her sports tie-in is, of course, she did a fantastic Star Spangled Banner before a Super Bowl. At the Super Bowl. So there's your sports tie-in is, of course, she did a fantastic Star Spangled Banner before a Super Bowl. At the Super Bowl.

So there's your sports tie-in. Yeah. And that might be it for Whitney Houston, unless I'm missing something. But okay, so is that based in Toronto, the NHL Network? It was. Okay.

So they signed me to a contract the year of the lockout, which was weird because for a couple months I did next to nothing, which was a weird adjustment from Barry because I did everything in Barry. And then, so I was there for three seasons. It got bought by MLB Network. I was with Andy Petrillo.

They ended up going completely with Americans and they're now in Secaucus and they gave Andy and I the middle finger. This is Jackie Redmond's there? Okay. So yeah, New York. So yeah. This is Jackie Redmond Center. Okay.

So yeah, New York. So yeah. So and then I just, I jumped over to TSN and it's, I've been there kind of to try to be jack of all trades, survive in this business, do as many things and you know, whether it's tennis or sports center or radio. Well, talk to me about the tennis thing. So we're coming off the Aussie Open. So I feel like this would be the time when people recognize you in like Walmarts and stuff, right? Like I feel like-

Always Walmarts, you know? Well, you got to stop spending so much time in Walmarts. Yeah. Maybe give back to the Canadian economy, Mark, okay? The big box stores, come on. Yeah, where's the mom and pop shops? Come on. Yeah, like, and even more so the US Open

with Bianca winning and- Yeah, it's actually, yeah. Now that, yeah, this is, well, actually, hold it. I have some tennis questions and I want to get into the tennis, but maybe so. So you come, you leave the NHL Network, kicks you out and you end up back at TSN. Are you still dropping your aunt's name

or are you now able to say, you know, hey, I was Landsberg's lackey. I'll always be Aunt Helen's nephew. She actually went to Chorus and became this incredibly successful executive there, VP. She's won Emmys, all these things, developed programs,

and she retired this past year. Oh, she's retired now. Yeah, and she's not even, she is, is she even 60? She's consulting a bit, but she was in Europe skiing this winter. She's like consulting a bit, but she was like in Europe skiing this winter. Like she's living the life. It's too bad there was no chorus sports.

Oh my God. Yeah. Although, Hey, can we get you on bubble guppies though? Right. That's right. Yeah.

Yeah. Treehouse. That's right. You never know though, what they end up doing with AM 640. They can be like, well, let's try it.

Like maybe let's get it. Let's bring in the Bob McCowan and let's do some kind of a sports network. But now that she's retired, I don't know how much help she needs to do. I have no weight being pulled for me over there. So at TSN, tell me some of the things you got to do. In timelines though,

post is this when TSN, does TSN just have regional games at this time? Like, yeah. Yeah. So this was, I did one year at the NHL network post Rogers getting the rights. and then in 2000 and late 2015,

16 is when I went back to TSN. Okay. And so, yeah, they had like Sens, Jets, Leafs, Habs, kind of regional right stuff. And then obviously all the Hockey Canada, you know, like World Juniors, World Hockey Championship. Now run down the list of things you currently do for TSN here and then finish though, finish with the tennis.

Okay. So SportsCenter, I fill in for the Gino Retta on 7-11. you currently do for tsn here and then finish though finish with the tennis okay so sports center uh i fill in for the gino retta on 7-eleven that's hockey when you know he has things to do with his life how often are you on the sports center honestly it's it can be from it could be like twice a week to 15 times like do you have like a regular partner or they make you have any favorites? You know what? Outside of like Dutch and Jen

and now the one o'clock is Lindsay and Kara, but even that has changed a lot over the years. Like no one has like their own partner. Like it would just, we get moved around so much. There's so many sports centers. So, you know, like even someone like Natasha,

who's like a staple on that show, one night we'll do a nine o'clock and then she'll do 11 o'clock and kate brunette kind of goes in and out from raptors to sports center are they still doing that thing where they have like a jay and dan on one doing this and then kate on the other is that still going not kate but uh so the loop is lindsey and kara on tsn one and three and then tsn 4 and 5 is Jay and Dan all morning. Right. Jay and Dan once,

this is a tip for the, good job, you can let the PR department at TSN know, they sent me a candle like for Christmas. It was like a Jay and Dan because I think it says

on the candle, it says, you blew it or something. But it's a nice, which is the smartest thing that they ever did because the thing with the loop is, and so the smartest thing that they ever did because the thing with the loop is,

and so I've done that and we tape it at one o'clock in the morning and it's different in the sense that like, this is going to air all morning. So any kind of small mistake, even like,

and sometimes we're like too picky about it, we'll redo at two o'clock and just make sure it's a perfect show. Well, Jay and Dan were geniuses and we're like,

who cares? Let's just at the end of the show point Dan were geniuses. And we're like, who cares? Let's just at the end of the show, point out all of our mistakes and we'll have fun about it. And then we can all go home and the crew can go home. So they can do it. But the other show, they're still like, no,

no, no, that's their thing. We have to fix, you know, if you, if you said the Canucks won five, four,

and it's really six, four, you can't just be at the end. By the way, the Canucks actually had a six goal. All right, bye. It only works for Jay and Dan.

Yeah. Those guys. Those guys are like Teflon, works for Jay and Dan. Yeah, those guys. Those guys are like Teflon, right? Nothing sticks out. But again, repeating myself, but both very nice guys. Yeah, really good. Both, I was on what we call the row. So Mark Rowe on the row when I was a story editor.

So they were both hosting SportsCenter back then. And they were both really good to me and were helping me, you know, try to crack the on-air kind of world. And yeah, they took a shine to you, this young man. I don't know. I think they were just good human beings because that's what they are. And I think Dan still, he lives in Orono. Yeah, way out.

Near Peterborough, maybe. Yeah. I feel if I had to pick a big city near there. Yeah. Well, he's from Peterborough. I know that. Yeah. But like Clarington, big city near there Yeah Well he's from Peterborough I know that Yeah But like Clarington

Orono So yeah he's way out there So he did the The very popular LA to Clarington Orono Right That everyone does

At some point in their life That's right And Onright's always been Like a downtown guy Yeah yeah He's probably like West and Toronto But yeah he's a

Toronto guy And yeah good guys Another Ryerson guy Jay Onright Yeah and Except I know he's Older than but yeah he's a toronto guy and uh yeah good guys another ryerson guy jay on right yeah and except i know he's older than you because he's my age yeah we did not go to school together and he's an alberta guy and i had trouble and now i can say it so i just want to everybody take a moment listen closely athabasca nice i struggled with it for a long time but i've been proud if it wasn't for on right no one would know what this town is or care. That's probably.

But they're proud of you, Jay, if you're listening. So your TSN hockey, you mentioned, right? Yeah, a little bit like World Hockey Championships, fill in for Gino. I've done like a Sens game, a couple Sens games. Do they send you though? Will they send you to exotic remote locations? No. Well, like World Hockey Championship, they do send a lot of sends. Do they send you though? Will they send you to exotic remote locations? No. Well, like World Hockey Championship, they do send a lot of people,

but our studio component is done out of here. So as much as I'd love to be going to Switzerland this spring, I will most likely be in Scarborough. You know, that's one of the two great gigs

is that if you can get that ticket paid for by your company. The other one, of course, is that World Junior Hockey Championship. Yeah, that'd be good. Which is a BFD. And I don't know how many people they send beyond, uh,

the guys calling the games or what, I don't know how many TSN people get to go, but it's always like, like just amazing little, uh, European, uh, right.

It's like the Spangler cup being in like Davos and like the Swiss Alps, but they were, they were outsourcing that to Roman up for a long time because he was living out in, yeah, but there's a bunch of, there's some TSN people that go. But yeah, that's been an institution. But yeah, when I was at the NHL Network, I traveled a lot.

I did all the outdoor games and Stanley Cup finals. And then TSN, more in-house. Tennis, I've gone to the US Open the last two years. Okay, so they'll send you to new york for the u.s open but let me ask you a question about tennis since we're now talking to us in tennis and to be honest i associate you mostly with tennis these days like i think if you like that's not a bad uh no thing like if you just become the tsn's face of tennis or and and like most things in our business i got really lucky um our executive producer for tennis is sam cicerello also produces all the sens games and i

kind of known i'd known sam a little bit but he just reached out and was like hey what are your thoughts on you know doing tennis and it's like sure yeah i'll do it and so you didn't grow up playing it or you just casually? A little bit, but just casually. Like I liked it, but I never thought like, yeah, I really hope I can be the tennis host on TSN. And my first year, like Milos made the Wimbledon final. And then, you know, obviously the, I don't want to say resurgence,

but like what the young Canadians have done. Well, it's unbelievable, right? Like, in fact, after we talk about you working in this stuff, I got to drill into that a little bit because I finally have a tennis guy on and I can talk about all these like upcoming Canadian hopefuls.

You've done your homework, right? I would hope so at this point. I know. You're going to be exposed. I know nothing about tennis. Yeah, yeah. I just read a piece of paper, okay? There's the teleprompter.

He will literally read everything off the prompter. But it is interesting that you don't have the tennis background. I feel like, I think that's just, yeah, that they chose you. You're kind of, because, here, let me speak English. TSN has the rights to the Grand Slams. Yes. And I'll speak as a guy who likes

tennis but is not a tennis head like I do a show with another Mark Mark Hebbshire twice a week it's a podcast called Hebbsy on Sports

Hebbsy is into all tennis like unknown tournaments regular tournaments he's watching he's following he's watching the Montpellier

open right now right I'm sure I think so I'll find out tomorrow. Vasek Pospisil beat Shapovalov yesterday. He's all over it. He's all over that stuff.

Right. And these new things that show up, I don't know, the Fed Cup or whatever this, whatever the new one was that just happened with... The ATP Cup. Right.

And then there's the Davis Cup. He's all into all of it. Meanwhile, me... Like most people. ...excluding the competition's Rogers Cup, which I was very into because a Canadian was going to win it.

I actually, I'm a Grand Slam guy. I think that represents and the ratings show it. We have all the ATP rights. We get... Men's rights. We have the men's rights. You don't have the women's. We may be getting the women's

rights. Well, because DAZN has it now, right? right right but there might be a partnership coming up is this an official announcement no there's just some rumors i i don't know anything but yeah we have the men's rights so is that because of bianca like uh you probably decided to walk away from this after looking at some numbers and then there was the rise of bca and you're like, oh, snap. That big Auckland win or whatever was streamed live, I think, because of DAZN, I think. I'm guessing

the Bianca factor has you guys looking to get these on TSN. It's totally changed the game. We broke... Our ratings for Bianca's US Open win was the same as the stanley cup final that's crazy yeah and and and to give you some perspective you know miloš ranic reached the wimbledon final back in 2016 and got like one quarter of the ratings that bianca did now part

of that is the u.s open always gets the biggest ratings it's just time of the year this time zone all those things but there's something about a 19-year-old woman, the way she wins it, the way she broke out. I think it was because the rematch of Serena. Because Serena bowed out early in the Dodgers Cup due to injury. But now we're going to see. And Serena was going for history, and you knew the whole crowd was going to be not against Bianca

because she had a really big following in all her matches. It just happened that she was up against the, the only other player that was more popular than her. Right. And, uh, I think there was a sincere belief that Bianca would beat Serena. And I did watch, of course I woke up, it was like a Saturday morning. I think no Sunday morning, I guess Sunday morning. It was early. I remember it's pretty early to be watching tennis, uh, Milos' final at Wimbledon. was early. I remember it was pretty early to be watching tennis, Milos' final at Wimbledon, right? And I was watching because I wanted to see a Canadian in a Grand Slam final. But I don't think I believed he could win that.

Like, I never had a moment where I thought Milos... Not in the match. Like, Andy Murray kind of had control of things, even though they went to a bunch of tiebreakers. But, yeah, like, hey, Milos beat Roger Federer in the semis. That's true huge um but you know i have all like i i we're all unbiased and we're supposed to be professional milos is such a great guy who you know would be great on a podcast because he can talk about like

a million different things and would want to know as much about you as you want to know about him so he's asked me like how do you guys get the ratings and how does that happen? And a lot of questions. I'm like, I don't know the answers, Milos. I'm not in the meetings. There's a gentleman named Brian Gerstein who is friends with Milos' father. I guess this is Thornhill, I think. And there was discussions, obviously it never came to fruition, but there were discussions with Brian and Milos' dad about Milos doing Toronto Mike.

So these conversations happened. I can't point you to the episode because it never got recorded, but you never know. Maybe someday it will happen. You know, hey, you're going to work on Wall Street one day? There's a lot of people that think

that he's just going to be, like one day he's going to say, I'm done with tennis and oh by the way I'm halfway through my executive MBA and I have a job with like Ernst & Young or something. Okay. He's like what is he like 28 now or is he something like that? He's 29.

Okay and he had the unfortunate reality of coming up in the during a time when they were the big three winning all the Grand Slams. Like you mentioned, it's funny, you mentioned, is it Andy Murray? I almost said Andy Roddick.

Andy Murray. And I know Andy Murray won a couple of Wimbledons, but finding players outside the big three who won a Wimbledon in the last, whatever, 15 years is very difficult. Like it's really just the big three that win all these Grand Slams. Well, no one really just the big three that went all these grand slams. Well, no one outside of the big threes won one since 2016.

Crazy. The last time we had a first time grand slam winner was 2014. If he's in that little gap in between like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi and the big three, he's probably winning at least one Wimbledon because his serve is so good on a grass surface. But there's probably a bunch of players that are saying the same thing.

If not for those three jerks, I probably would have a couple of grand slams. He's just bad luck for Milos that he might never win a grand slam. But there are others who are coming up and will miss the big three, which we'll get into. But let me ask you a question from brian the aforementioned brian who almost got me me lotion trying to like how did you prepare covering the australian open from a studio here

with the 16 hour time difference did you change your sleep patterns here to get ready for it he never saw you uh yawn or act tired. That's probably Red Bull, right? Brian says he was a wreck with the 3.30 a.m. evening session start time here. Talk to us. I know when Milos was in the quarterfinals,

Hebsey said it was at 3 in the morning or something. I'm like, there's not a chance I'm watching Milos in the quarterfinals. You might wake up and they're finishing. like a seven in the morning right maybe um yeah i was telling you know and the whole crew is going through the same thing so it's not just me but it um you like the first the first couple of nights before the tournament i try to stay up as late as possible and it's it's it's. It's the opposite of what we do for the French Open in Wimbledon.

But then by the end of the tournament, I'm getting home at 9 o'clock. I'm in traffic of people going to work and I'm trying to get home to go to sleep. It's like shift work, basically. Yeah. I can't say it was fun, but it's our business. Is it just a couple

of weeks? How long is this again it was two weeks so Evergrande slams two weeks so I didn't find the first week too bad and

we had enough like you know we had some good matches at 7pm our time in Toronto right but then by the end they put everything

into prime time their time which is 3.30am our time don't they know we're the capital? Like FU Aussies. Yeah.

And we always, like we have a partner with ESPN and ESPN controls all these tournaments. Whatever ESPN wants, they get. So we always try to tell them like, put a Canadian first, please. And they usually help us out. Of course, ESPN owns 20% of TSN.

They do. So they have a deeper incentive to get Canadian eyeballs on TSN. Tell me this Grand Slam deal that TSN has. How long is it running for? Do you know when that's up? So each tournament is on its own. So you have a deal with the US Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and Aussie Open.

Off the top of my head, I don't know exactly when it ends. I just know we have like another three or four years for each one of them. Like they're into like 2024. So it's- You must be the happiest little duck because we're going to talk about them in a minute, but these up and coming Bianca and all these guys

who are rising, you know, I'm not talking Milos, I'm talking to young guys who are hopefully going to benefit from the, I don't know when Djokovic will retire, but like at some point Federer can't play until he's 45 or anything. He almost needed a walker for that set against Djokovic and Rafa, you know,

we keep, cause Rafa is so hard on his body. Like he's, he, like, he's kind of like, I'm going to get radioed here by comparing Bianca to Rafa, but it's kind of that same aggressive style that leads to injuries,

and Rafa has had injuries, but he's been able to kind of minimize them and, you know, recover quickly. But, yeah, eventually at some point they have to stop playing. For sure, for sure, for sure, for sure. So you've got these big tournaments that Canadians are interested in, particularly, I think, when a Canadian is competitive, so we've got to make sure we get Bianca healthy. This is priority one at TSN.

You're sending her daily flowers. We're sending our best doctors. I know she's not playing. I mean, this is a no-brainer, but she's not playing this Fed Cup thing. Well, she's listed as playing doubles. Oh, that's a bad idea. But, like, I don't even know if I buy the fact she'd play doubles. Like, maybe if it was, because doubles would be the final match

if they needed to play it, and if it was tied 2-2, maybe. But I think they've learned from last year where she tried to play through the shoulder injury, and then it cost her a couple grand slams. i also think you know the funny thing is i i watched bianca at the 2018 us open in qualifying and she lost in the first round of qualifying there was literally eight people in the crowd if you include myself and she was you know she was she was hurt in that match and she's had a bunch of different injuries but she it was her and her coach and that's it and now she's got a full time physio and she's got a full-time hitting partner she's got a full-time coach and she's got

nike and gator and all these people in her ears so there's probably a lot of people saying bianca you're gonna make millions and millions and millions of dollars and you're gonna win a lot of tournaments you don't like who cares about this one Aussie Open? As much as I selfishly wanted her to play, it's going to be people playing a lot of Aussie Opens, and they're able to look at the big picture because an athlete doesn't do that. An athlete thinks, I want to play next week.

I want another crack at Serena. So we'll get Bianca healthy and get her back out there, and that'll make your list. So what's the next Grand Slam? French Open, which would be late May. Okay. It's the one on clay. Right.

And is that the one that Nadal dominates? Yeah. Yeah. That's his bag, right? Yeah. So. Okay. So we're hoping that we get Bianca back for that one.

Okay. Question from Mike G. Will tennis ever allow coaches to speak with players during a match so the wta has relaxed on it and they for i want to say the better part of a season have allowed coaching on the court outside of grand slam so if you go back to indian wells you kind of remember that moment with bca and her coach, Sylvan Bruno. And there's this great exchange, and it was one of the great moments of the match.

You weren't allowed to do that in Grand Slams. They have now allowed coaching from the crowd, which is the dumbest thing ever. Because what is coaching? If I'm scratching my nose, that could mean like go to her forehand. Right. Well, the Astros are probably stealing. Right.

And, and the whole blow up with Serena and her coach, Patrick Marotta glue a couple of years ago. And she got the code violation for that. And like, it's just, I get that that's part of like the integrity and the history of the sport. It's just not realistic anymore. So, and, and, you know, like we all want sports to get better and it doesn't do it doesn't it's not a detriment to the sport for a coach to be like okay try this maybe you know it's only going to make the match better so why not and mike g adds that it seems this would get rid of the way some players and coaches try to communicate now. Right. Okay. Now I want to ask you about TSN radio,

then Twitter, and then we're going to close up by just getting me excited about these young Canadian tennis stars. Okay. That's your job. Hype me up here. So again, you fill in on Leafs lunch.

Is that your TSN radio 10 50 contribution? Leafs lunch first up. Sometimes I fill in for Carlo and or Landsberg, uh, tomorrow I'll be on the breakfast club. Um, so that's like, who is normally on the breakfast club?

I can be, I think it's, it's Bruce Arthur with me tomorrow, but it's FOTM. Bruce Arthur. He's, he's, uh,

he's tough to be on with because he's just, he's so goddamn smart and then they're like so mark what are your thoughts i'm like yeah yeah i love what bruce said there um yeah sometimes lindsey hamilton from sports center is on with me i'm at cause dave fez chuck steve simmons they kind of have like a you know they they try to always add new people and different you know the beauty of it is you want someone that has a totally different opinion than michael and carlo and and all those guys are great journalists and and you know lindsey is awesome on sports center and she brings a

different perspective than i do and we'll see things differently than i will and that's that's what makes you know a segment like that that much better. Now, I'm going to guess, and you'll tell me if I'm right here, that your primary focus is being a TV star. Because you put it in your Twitter handle. Well, I never did radio until late 2015. And the program director, Jeff McDonald, who was with me for one year at the NHL Network, said, like, oh, we'd love to have you on radio.

And I was like, yeah, I guess. I don't know. Like, you're like, you want to waste this face? Yeah. Is it on TV too? Come on. I got a lot of good suits in the closet. Uh, but honestly it was one of the best things that ever happened to me because it makes you so much better on television. And you, you're like, you're in front of a mic for two, three, four hours. And it's like, holy crap, I need to develop my own thoughts and actually get those thoughts out on the air and make them sound. Can you teach me how to do that? No, I got to learn from you, man. So it's been a great tool.

They both make you a little bit better. And even today on Leafs Lounge, we had all this live sound from the leafs practice just down the road at oh because there's new people yeah so i kind of turned i'll clifford and uh jack campbell yeah there you go and and i felt a little bit more like a television host because you know i was welcoming in the audience let's go now live to this and react to this and it's a little fast faster so your radio work makes you better on TV. It makes sense. And vice versa, I think it helps. So if anyone ever

has the opportunity to do radio or do a podcast, I would say, you know, any reps are good reps, but especially in this form. Well, especially when it's live,

right? Like that's the key is you're live and you're, I think it would probably make you a more economical, efficient storyteller. Now, cool, but like, so now that you're make you a more economical, efficient storyteller. Now, cool.

So now that you're doing a bit more radio, how aware or interested are you in the Toronto sports radio ratings war? And the same kind of applies to TV. To television too. I never know how modern the rating system is it's a you know it's like five guys with a ppm device right so i don't like for the longest time anyone that has been in my sort of bubble for lack of better terms and so i'm and let's i'm saying most of my friends who follow sports who are mostly guys who are in their 30s

like love overdrive and they listen to overdrive all the time and also and and maybe they'll listen to first up in the morning on their way to work as well and and never really talked about bob mccowan on primetime sports and you know but my my dad listened to primetime sports all the time right so it's a different audience but for the longest time it was like i don't know like for every person that was in the overdrive 10 people are in a prime time i'm like i don't know how like is that because young people are less likely to want to carry around a ppm i guess so and and but like if you're an advertiser how much are you buying into that like i think there's you're talking about two successful shows that serve two different audiences and you know it's in a perfect

world you're both successful. Yeah, but you hear what you're saying. Bobcat was so freaking successful, they walked him out the door. Like, that's how successful he was. He's not there anymore, have you heard? I know. Like, you would think of anyone, like, he's invincible. I know, by the way, he no longer works there.

And I don't know if he needs to work. But it's, yeah, like like I think that there's things that the fan brings to the table that are different. Like look at Leafs lunch compared to Hockey Central. Like Leafs lunch is the Leafs. And if you're a diehard Leaf fan, and there's a lot of diehard Leaf fans and that's all they care about,

they're going to tune into that show because, you know, Andy is serving a certain audience that- It's Leaf-centric. Very Leaf-centric. Where Jeff Merrick has a show where they're league-wide. They'll obviously talk about the Leafs. So there you go. And if you're sick and tired of like, oh my god, they're talking about the backup goaltender again on Leafs

Lounge, go over to Hockey Central. And as much as my boss doesn't want to hear that, that's the beauty of this market. And I think if everything is developed properly and the business side of things is run well, both should survive. Well, let's put aside the whole like how accurate is this measuring system because that's a whole separate episode.

And it's the only system in play. So it's the best game in town. It's all we have. And for a long time, frequent guest on the show is Mike Richards. And for a long time, you know, frequent guest on the show is Mike Richards. Okay. So a common, you know, theme will be for a long time, you know, 1050 was getting their butts kicked by 590, like for a long time. But we don't say that anymore.

Like now the gap is so tight that you could argue in some key demos and some shows, you know, 1050 beats 590. Like, I think if we went back 10 years and said, hey, this is in 2020, you know 10 50 beats 590 like i think if we went back 10 years and said hey this in 2020 where you know you know overdrive is going to beat the show on 590 that you'd be like i like how did that happen but it's happening right like well and i and i think you can speak to this way better than i can but i feel like it takes a lot longer to develop something on radio than it does on television and i'll use again my dad as an example. And my dad is a lifelong sports fan about everything, right? And he introduced me essentially to sports talk radio

back in like the 1430 days. Of course, yes. And I remember this, you know, a couple of years, like TSN was up and running for a couple of years, say two years. And I remember being in his car and I was like, how come you don't listen to TSN radio? Like if anything, i'm associated more with them than the fan it was like tsn has a radio station like like dad how do you not know that and he's like i don't because he gets into

his car and it's on five your habit you're absolutely right it's hard to preserve a heritage station that's all he knows obviously they're serving him well enough so he's not like i hate this station and he tried to move on to something else but even i was like dad's been billboards all around like he lives in burlington like there's billboards all around burlington and he's like i didn't even know what that meant you go i remembered if you went to the uh the men's room at the air canada center it was like it was like jay mcclennan looking at up yeah it was it was Mike Richards, as I recall, but it was just wallpapered. Mike Richards has a show on TSN 1050. So anyway, congrats for being on a station

that seems to have closed the gap that looked like it was pretty big for a while. It's way less to do with me and more to do with... No, seriously, I'm on like once in a while, but it's the success of... It's all the O-Dog is what we're seeing here. Well, like O-Dog has become a star and I think Brian Hayes is as good of a host as anybody.

And Noodles, the three of them have this unique chemistry that is so tough to, you can't fake that. And it's very organic. And I feel like I laugh at what the producer does to set up that show. And then they start and they're talking about like women's underwear or men's like, or like,

like, you know, walking around their living room and their boxers just like that. And he's like, I spent all day like with this, with trade deadline stuff. And you're talking about being in your boxers. Right.

It'll be interesting to, to see how people react to a, like a, the Tim and Tim and sid would be like that's a tv show that is simulcast on the radio and kind of like when the opposite way like overdrive was radio that then yeah like just like bobcat right like yeah the radio shows that you can it's like this actually like this is a podcast an audio broadcast and if you want to go to my periscope feed you can see i got a couple of cameras

by the way the one on me is brand spanking new this is only the second episode I used it for and it cost a couple hundred bucks the one on you Mark Rowe is only 40 bucks so I hope that doesn't upset you I better look good looking at you now my plan is to buy a second $200 webcam. So my guest and I all look great with this HD,

but I thought you could handle a little lesser than webcam. Well, maybe when you get Landsberg on the show, a little bump up. You know who I'm talking to? Corey. Corey Landsberg? Corey's supposed to, and this conversation's been going on for a long time now.

And Corey, if you're listening, let's get her done. Corey and Michael together are supposed to be coming on Toronto Mic'd. That'd be great. Yeah. So after you get me Andy Petrillo.

And they can talk about Sick Not Weak. There's a lot. Remember, Landsberg is a day one at TSN. Yeah. You know,

I do a lot of the nostalgia thing too, right? Okay. So I said we were going to talk about 1050. And I have a, finally I have a TSN. You're a full-time TSN employee?

No, I'm technically a freelancer. Although I work like full-time. No, I know. Okay, because Bruce Arthur is not a TSN employee, even though he's- I am and I'm not. It depends. According to my accountant, I'm a full-time TSN

because I like- No, but your accountant is not the definitive. Really, it's okay. Here, let me tell accountant, I'm a full-time TSN because I like... No, but that's not... Your accountant is not the definitive. No, okay. Like really, it's okay. Here, let me tell you where I'm going here, which is that my understanding is that if you're a permanent full-time employee at TSN,

there's a Twitter policy. Okay, hear me out and tell me if you know about this. Where you pretty much... The crux of this whole thing is like no political tweets so a full-time tsn person who tweets doesn't tweet about donald trump for example right uh but on sportsnet they have no such policy so you can have somebody who works at sportsnet who can be very political you know and i'm there's a lot of names jumping in my head but uh who are very political tweeters but i i can't name a single tsn like you know bruce there's a lot of names jumping in my head, but who are very political tweeters. But I can't name a single TSN.

Like, you know, Bruce Arthur is not a full-time TSN employee. Therefore, this policy does not apply to him because Bruce is a very political tweeter. I think they could offer him a lot of money and he would not accept it just for that. No, when he was on, I ended the episode by telling him to delete his Twitter account because I think his writing and his broadcasting is exceptional.

He's your Stephen Brunt. Yeah. Okay. And Stephen Brunt is a guy who won't have, he has a burner account, but we don't know what it is. So he's not posting a Stephen Brunt on Twitter. Really? I didn't realize that. He told me he does. Okay.

Now, that doesn't count because he's not tweeting as himself on Twitter. But, you know, Bruce does quite a bit. And I think a lot of people hate Bruce Arthur, the tweeter, and don't realize that it's different from Bruce Arthur, the writer and broadcaster. And I mean, to each his own. If he wants to go nuts, it's, you know, free country, whatever. But if he were a full-time TSN employee, like if he got the Stephen Brunt deal for TSN, I'm pretty sure there's a policy

where he would have to stop there is and while i'm not technically you know having these conversations with tsn about it i'm pretty sure if i tweet if i went like heavily political on my twitter account that i would get into trouble would they would you have a meeting with somebody there oh yeah hey can we talk about i'm representing tsn so i'm still tsn's mark rowe regardless of my but you're not i'm not saying i'm saying you can't tweet uh like say oh you know donald trump's policies are hateful because of this and the other like uh obviously there's famous stories where somebody uh this guy damien goddard you might know that name but he about, he was against same-sex marriage, and he said a marriage is between a man and a woman.

And he lost his job very quickly, because that's not about, you know, freedom of speech, that's about what, you're right, it reflects poorly on the station you represent. I would predict that if I tweeted something like that, I would get into some serious trouble.

Yes, everyone should get in trouble for tweeting that a marriage is between a man and a woman, but if you tweeted oh, so many lies from Trump in the State of the Union, would you get a meeting, you think? Probably. I thought so. I just was trying to find a full-time TSN to confirm it. It's fine.

That's my speculation, but yes. I would think that they would be all over me for that. That's real talk right there. Okay, we're going to close with these Canadian tennis stars. Okay. Bianca, I think you don't have to say much more about Bianca because we all know she won the U.S. Open and we're hoping she's competitive in all U.S. Opens

for the next, whatever, 10, 15 years. I think she will. And the thing about Bianca, and I really got to learn this over the span of the two weeks at the US Open, she's got a bit of the FU attitude that she's not, and I think you need that in individual sports. And the story I always go back to is before the final against Serena,

our broadcast location was right by all the practice courts. And Serena started practicing right behind us. Then 20 minutes later, Bianca comes out and is practicing right next door. And I thought, well, that's kind of interesting because there's a million courts they could practice on. Right. And I brought that up to her coach Sylvan. And he was like, yeah, when I saw, you know, the schedule and, and, you know, kind of allocating us to that court, I said to her, don't worry, we'll, we'll, we'll change that. And she was like, why the hell are we changing for her and he at that point knew who knows what the result's going to be but she's not phased by this moment she's not phased by serena by the legend or whatever serena two matches before that to

give you an idea her opponent hyperventilated before the match and lost six six one six love i believe i know she won one game wow so she need a bit of that swag yeah so she i love that and and she's not like i don't know maybe maybe you call it cocky or confident whatever she's also um you know away from that sort of intensity she's also this like this 19 year old it's like this high on life as she should be i loved it yeah and then this whole country is in love with Bianca, so let's hope she gets healthy. Now the guys, and we're going to put Milos aside now

because he's an old man, okay? We all know what Milos is. He's still fantastic, but he's an old man. Let's talk about the young guys. And who's got the bigger upside, Chapo or Felix? I think Felix. And that's the answer you'll probably get from, from most

tennis experts. I think that his ceiling is higher. He's got this unbelievable physical talent and he's, he's younger than Shapovalov only by a year. And I think, you know, it's, it's funny. They're both friends. They both kind of get lumped in the same category, but they're so different in, in not just how they play, but Shapovalov after he loses, we'll often say like, yeah, you know,

I thought it was a great match. And I thought, uh, you know, like I thought I played really well. And Felix is really hard on himself. And I'll be like, I don't,

I don't know what happened there, you know? And I think you have to find somewhere in the middle, but definitely like the ATP, which is like the, the governing body of men's tennis um treats felix like he is going to be the next rafa jokovic federer at least in a marketing standpoint like they as soon as those guys are done like felix among a couple others is going

to be that guy like he gets the number one PR guy from the ATP. He was in Vogue last year. What's his age again? He's 19. He'll be 20. That's a Blink-182 song, right? What's my age again? What is he again? Sorry, I jumbled over your answer.

I was too excited about it. He'll be 20 in August. His birthday usually is right during the Rogers Cup. Wow. Okay, so Felix is our best chance at having another Canadian beyond Bianca win multiple Grand Slams. I've changed it to multiple, even though we've never had a male. Hey, that's what John McEnroe said about both of them. Wow.

And Chapo too, eh? Okay, so what a time we live in. I grew up in an era where Andrew Schneider was, you know, Daniel Nessar was the doubles guy, and he did win that big match against... Stephan Edberg. Oh, against... Stephen Edberg. Yes, Stephen Edberg. At the Davis Cup in Vancouver. Early 90s.

Yeah, like 91 maybe. Right. And that was exciting and all. But doubles guy, which as you know... One of the greatest of all time in doubles, but never... But it doesn't draw you in. We like the singles champions. So, Chapo, fantastic.

Felix, fantastic. Scott Stinson was on this show, I don't know, about a month ago. And he, for the National Post, or for Post Media, I guess,

he named Vlasic Pospisil as the Canadian male athlete of the year. That was an interesting pick, isn't it? Yeah. That's bizarre, right? Because he's not even,

I don't think he'd be a consensus pick for Canadian male tennis player of the year. No. No, not a, is he not, I don't think he'd be a consensus pick for Canadian male tennis player of the year. No, uh, no, not a consensus. Yeah.

Like Vasta got a weird year where he had this major back surgery and he didn't come back until Wimbledon. So that's half the whole thing, half the year where he's, he's out of action. Right. And then, um,

you know, he upset someone at the U S open Korean had Sean off. It was a top 10 player. It was at least at the time. Right. He had the great Davis cup, Karan Khachanov, who's a top 10 player, or was at least at the time. He had the great Davis Cup, all these things. And so it's, yeah, it was kind of weird. But how old is he?

He is- He's forgotten, right? Because you got the kids coming up and you got Milos, the old man. Yeah, and like even like, you know, there's Milos and then he was kind of a step down for that. He made the quarterfinals. How old did he say he was? If I had to guess,

I would say 28. That's old. Yeah. Well, like, look at what Fed and Rafa and Joe Fitzgerald, they're all in their 30s. They're,

they're, they're. Vasik's a guy that like, again, you try to be professional, but like deep down, you're like, I just want good things

to happen to him. Cause he's a guy that like, everyone else you go through, like their agents and their managers, like Vasik, I can just like text and be like, do you mind, do you mind like do an interview after practice he's like yeah no problem and he'll he's he just thanks you all the time and you're like vasik it's my job like i have

to be here and he's like no but you took the time out like no no i didn't take the time like i'm i'm reporting for work but he's he's a really good guy and no it's awesome to hear i i would love to see him just get back and be consistent. We brought up the Montpellier Open, of course, which is on your radar. He's still alive in that tournament. Well, it's on Hepsi's radar. I just listened to what he said.

Now, okay, so who am I missing? I feel like I'm missing some other potential young guy. But Felix and Chapo are the two. And Bianca. Those are the three blue chip prospects, we can are the two and Bianca those are the three blue chip prospects we can say yeah even though Bianca's already one yeah Milos and

Vaspasol I can't I'm trouble saying these difficult names are older so there's not a lot of they've kind of a few years left for sure but is there another youngster I feel like there's

another youngster well there's Leila Annie Fernandez who won the junior French Open title last year and played at the Aussie Open this year. It was her first Grand Slam, and she's only 17. And so, you never, like, it's so tough to forecast. Like, oh, you were great in juniors.

You should be great. Like, Braden Schnur won two Wimbledon juniors. Oh, yeah, he's a guy I'm thinking of. But, like, I think it would take a lot for him, because he's now like 24, 25, and he's never really been able to break through. So it's tough to forecast that. And GD Bouchard's done.

Is that what you're declaring? I said that as a question. It sounds like maybe her best years are behind her. Well, she made a Wimbledon final and, what, four semi-finals? In a row, right? She probably is not reaching that again. That's too bad. Oh, man.

Okay, so, Mark, keep up the good work, man. Thanks. As these guys like Schiaff and felix start making finals and maybe winning some and bianca continues her excellence you're just going to become a bigger presence in the canadian living rooms across the across this point and when i'm like interviewing i'll say like you know i was talking to toronto mike and bianca would you do that would you tell bianca exists yeah bianca you got to go on tor Toronto Mike next time that you're back at home in Mississauga. Is that her home?

I thought we had a controversy. Is that we've officially decided she's a Mississauga? Well, that's where she kind of grew up, but I think more so it's like Vaughan. I think the family moved. I remember some controversy. She was claimed by a couple of spots there. And they were claiming her in Romania, weren't they? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Hey, the more the merrier. She's ours. Get your mitts off her. Cha-ching for her. You can make money anywhere. I'm going to buy Felix stocks. That's what I've come away from this episode.

Bam. Do it. Buying Felix stocks. And that brings us to the end of our 580th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Mark is at Mark Rowe TV. That's R-O-E

TV as in television. Isn't that clever? Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group are at The Keitner Group. K-E-I-T-N-E-R. And Banjo Dunk is at Banjo

Dunk with a C. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone. Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RomePhone.ca to get started.