Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Mike Zeisberger: Toronto Mike'd #383

Episode Date: October 11, 2018

Mike chats with Mike Zeisberger about his many years at the Toronto Sun, those he worked with, stories he covered, his move to NHL.com and realistic expectations for the 2018/19 Toronto Maple Leafs.

Welcome to episode 383 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know, Mike, that 99.9% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? I did not know that. Lake's beer remains here in Ontario? I did not know that. GLB, brewed for you, Ontario.

And propertyinthesix.com, Toronto real estate done right. 30 seconds in, I already learned something. A new record. And PayTM, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca.

And Census Design and Build, providing architectural design, interior design, and turnkey construction services across the GTA. I'm Mike from torontomike.com. And joining me is NHL.com reporter Mike Zeisberger. Dude, it's such a pleasure to meet you. But you know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking it's a damn good thing that we're not recording in my usual spot downstairs in the studio. Right now, we're in my dining room.

Is this a dining room or a living room? I guess this is a dining room. Dining room. Thank you. We're in my dining room. Is this a dining room or a living room? I guess this is a dining room. Dining room. Thank you. We're on my dining room table. This is like a makeshift studio because I didn't want to lose Iceburger. I said, I know Chris Brown is painting the basement, but nice to meet you. Very nice to meet you.

And it's awfully nice because I like to look at it as a glass glass half full scenario that you said you know what let's redo the basement because I'm gonna have Zeisberger in and therefore you know the headroom he can clear it okay being uh six four when I had hair I was six five and a half but that you're right I forgot to mention why I was so happy that I didn't have to get you in the basement like uh yeah you're you're a big man. Like, you're a tall gentleman. I had Jay Onright was in recently, and I think he might be the tallest guy, but you're right up there. And it's just, at least here in the dining room, we don't have to worry about you banging your head against the ceiling. No, you know what? It's awesome. I just want to start out by saying thank you very much for having me. I'm a, what do they call it? A first-time caller, long-time listener.

But I think it's great the way that you've, like I said, I've followed you for years and I think it's great that, you know, you've been able to forge this niche, you know, in social media, in the world of podcasts. And it's great because I'm a guy that was born in Scarborough. I've lived in Toronto pretty much all my life. I was in Ottawa for four years going to school, but otherwise this is where I'm from. And as mainstream media kind of goes more nationally, you know, it's great to have something where a lot of the iconic people, whether they're stars or whether they're everyday people in your community, kind of get overlooked. I think it's great that you've kind of developed this forum for a lot of us

to come about and talk about where we live and how we grew up and what we love about this place. Well, thanks so much. I'm going to like extract that audio. It'll be like a big Toronto Mike testimonial. No, that was fantastic. And I'm so like honored that you listen. Oh, yeah.

And I'll get notes. He's been on the show since, but I remember years ago getting a note from Ken Daniels. And Ken was talking about, you know, he's on the road a lot. And I was like his companion on these road trips. You know what I mean? You start to think

that's amazing that somebody needs to listen to something for two and a half hours and they choose to hear your voice. It's amazing. I think the awesome part about it is

Toronto has grown, as we know, by leaps and bounds. Just try to drive from Scarborough to Etobicoke here and you'll find out just how much it's grown. Oh, by the way, I apologize for that right now. No, no. That is a tough drive. That's, hey, that's cool. I mean, a lot of times to get from A to B, you have to go through X and Y. Okay. But, uh, in this town, but you know what, I mean, it is mushroomed into this cosmopolitan city.

And yet those of us that are born and bred here, there still is a grassroots part of it. And I think that, you know, with all the glitz and glamor and the construction of these new towers downtown and, and, and, you know, the constructionclass city that we live in, there is an underbelly that it is a sense of community. And I think that's what I mentioned that before, the niche that you kind of address. You know why?

It's because Toronto is a collection of neighbourhoods. Yes. And you mentioned you're from Scarborough. That's how you identify. Scarborough Mike, that's available. I think you should look into it. But that's how you identify. And now Mike, that's available. I think you should look into it. But that's how you identify. And, you know,

now you're in New Toronto, even though people like to say we're in Mimico. We're not in Mimico. I need to make that clear. I'm very territorial. Oh, yeah. You know?

But, like, yeah, this guy here, I'm in the junction, you know, Chris Brown, he's at, like, college in Clinton there, and that's his hood.

Chris Brown, before I forget, this guy, he, if you go to to www, do people say that anymore? No one says that anymore, right? No, it's just chrisbrownpainting.com. Who says www? When was the last time you heard someone say www? If you go to chrisbrownpainting.com, you can contact Chris and see what he's about. But he's a painter, and this is my second day.

I feel like he's moved in. Like I used to joke, Hebsey moved in, right? Hebsey will be back tomorrow morning. I think I'm going to have to record with him on this dining room table. I hope he doesn't get pissed. But Chris Brown has been painting the studio downstairs and he's doing a kick-ass job

and he's so easy to work with. And I want to thank Chris Brown. Unfortunate name, because whenever I tell someone Chris Brown is here, they're like, oh, the guy who beat up Rihanna? I'm like, no, this is Chris. So I've decided his name is really Chris Brown Painting. Well, and for people that are listening, the thousands and millions of you who are listening right now,

he comes by it honestly because I just met him, and he's got a lot of paint on him. That's right. He comes by it, honestly, because I just met him, and he's got a lot of paint on him. That's right. He's the real deal. That's it. He's the real deal. So go to chrisbrownpainting.com if you need that.

And I don't think he's painting any Van Goghs down there, is he? I haven't been down in a while. That's right. Maybe it's a giant mural of all your guests. Or he leaves a Banksy. Like there's a little surprise,

a Banksy in the studio. That would be fantastic. In fact, the door's open here. I love it when I point to things like the people listening know what I'm pointing to. But this door is open so Chris can hear us. So he's hearing this. He's a fan of the podcast, but he's going to hear this in real time until I play some musical clips and stuff, in which case he'll be lost because he doesn't have headphones on. But he'll catch up later.

So thank you for coming, Mike. This is a true pleasure. I want to tell you that there's a song that's been banging around in my head since I booked you, and I've been singing it all day. Chris Brown can attest to this, but this is the jam I can't get out of my head. As Cold as ice? Correct. Yes. You're as cold as ice You're willing to sacrifice our love Did you dig this jam?

This came out when I was going to high school at Winston Churchill, and shockingly, people associated my name with it. So I would get serenaded outside of the famous Knob Hill Hotel, you know, after a few beers, and guys would start serenading me with your As Cold As Ice. And really, I think foreigners sings it better than they did. I don't know, man. I could give them a run for their money

because I've been singing it all day. Like, who's coming over? He's as cold as ice. And it speeds to hell. I'll bring this guy down. This Foreigner jam is great. But here's the other one. It could be much worse

because that's the song I think of when I think Zyzebreak is coming over. But it could be worse. Zyce Baby? Is that the one? We're waiting. Yeah, you don't know yet if you're going to get David Bowie and Freddie Mercury. Here we go. Good guess, eh?

Yeah. And if you want to rap along, feel free. I want you to be comfortable nobody wants that we'll give it a little i don't want to be known as the last guest before the whole thing just comes tumbling down the nice thing about uh being like a sole proprietor of this uh enterprise is who's gonna who's gonna cancel me that That's right. Unplug my Wi-Fi, I guess. All right. We'll bring that down. We have a lot to get here. You battled

cross-Toronto traffic to get here. I have a hard stop, as they say in the corporate world, because at some point I have to pick up the kindergarten kid and the toddler from daycare. Listen, man. What we're doing right now.

This is a work of pleasure. That's real work. A labor of love, my friend. But that is real work. That is real work. I mean, because my wife is going to pick up the teenagers. So we're all going to collect here at like 530 or something like that. But I was thinking, like, these teenagers, they're like so independent.

And they're so easy. Because they really look out for themselves. Like, you give them a bit of advice. I take my boy driving because I'm teaching him how to drive or whatever. thinking like these teenagers uh they're like so independent and they're so easy because they really look out for themselves like you give them a bit of advice i take my boy driving because i'm teaching him how to drive or whatever you do you know take him to hockey or whatever it's so easy and then you got the four-year-old and the two-year-old and it's like it's like you're going to war you know and the two-year-old is just just really quick story is that she's decided i think to uh to show a streak of independence lately so she's fighting me on everything right now she used to be so compliant and oh yeah and we have to get up

we get up i get them up at seven i wake up at seven then i gotta walk them over to get them ready and walk them over to daycare and now she's like i'll i'll pick out a shirt for her and she'll be like i want this shirt with the rabbit on it like now she's got all these like specific wants and it's like oh that one that one's dirty. I want it, Daddy! It's just a pain in the butt right now. It's funny as they develop their vocabulary, when

the two primary words become mine and no. It's like their first two words. You're right. You already have enough pressure on you because you know everyone is listening to this episode and they want to hear your story. As we pointed out, the millions and millions.

Right, exactly. John Matisse also tweeted that this will be a must listen. He says, ZEISS has seen some things and knows how to tell a good story. So if you needed some additional pressure, that's out there in the Twitter sphere right now. Did we play under pressure? No, you won't.

No, that's okay. That's right. That's right. No, he didn't even give credit at first. I'm pretty sure Vanilla Ice used the sample without paying for it. That's right. Did he think he was going to get away with it?

I don't know about that. But no, I think it's great the way that you interact the tunes here. Because, you know, I mean, I'm very privileged. Every day that I get up, I'm very privileged that I'm able to do what I do. I get paid to watch guys play hockey for a living. And there's a lot more to it. And it is work, but it is a labour of love. But I'll tell you, when I was growing up

and I was at Churchill in Scarborough, rock and roll was a far bigger thing in my life than sports was. And, you know, that's why it's cool when I start. You've had so many DJs past and present. I don't know, do they call them djs anymore like but good question they're hosts i guess yeah yeah they can't be disc jobs you know like morning people like i remember being a kid riding the subway and they would have banners up on the

subway like where the ads are and they would say wait for it in two months q107 but it wouldn't say what q107 was oh i know you're talking about donabee right this is yes yeah and before and this was before q107 had come on to the air so they were saying well get ready this is coming but nobody knew like is it a radio station right what are they going to play right And then they had this big thing. Big launch. And that was really cool back in the day because there was Q107, there was Chum FM, and then Chum AM, which is 1050 now, which is obviously TSN radio. But that was a big, big kind of AM music thing.

It was massive. The Chum Bugs and massive. It was my mom's station too. What do they call it? They would give out the buttons, Sagittarius, Scorpio, whatever sign you were. Jim Van Horn was there. Yes. Yeah, I know. I mean, I only knew Jim Van Horn as a TSN guy and then went on to do other sports media. The stash was always there.

When I learned he was like a top 40 rock jock on 1050 Chum, my mind was exploding. By the way, you mentioned the whole rock and roll. You love rock and roll. You love sports. You love music. I love that combination to a point where this is why so many sports media personalities are coming back

to kick out the jams. I love to hear, be it Steve Simmons, for example. We'll talk about him later. I want to hear what songs, good or bad or indifferent, I want to hear what like, be it Steve Simmons, for example. We'll talk about him later. I want to hear what songs, like, good or bad or indifferent, I want to hear what he loves to listen to when he's listening to music. You know what I mean? Like, I just love that. Well, my rock and roll roots were embedded going back to public school,

which was a place called General Career, our public school, in the Birch Mountain Lawrence area. And for grade eight, they said, you know what? You can decorate for graduation. You can decorate the stage no matter what way you want it. You can decorate it that way. And so we decorated it as the inside sleeve of Led Zeppelin II with the stairs and the pillars and stuff like that.

So you come from the long haired headbanging, uh, headbanging culture, honestly. And, uh, it was interesting because the next year, my first year at Churchill, um, the teachers went on strike for like 12 weeks. And so we would, I lived on a, on a, on a dead end street.

So we would play road hockey every day. Sure. So it was ironic when years later, Mike Myers is on David Letterman and Letterman goes, well, what's this, what is this Wayne's World? What is this all about? And Mike Myers said, well, you know,

when I grew up in a suburb of Toronto called Scarborough and when I was in grade nine, the teachers went on strike. And this is what he, this is what we did. And I'm thinking like, okay, you know what, dude, I live that. You went to Leacock, which is just up Birch Mound a little bit from Churchill, where I went.

So it's like, I'm watching Wayne's work going, oh my God, millions of people are watching my life unfold, okay? What we didn't do is go to the airport and lie in the hood of the cars as the 747s were flying over us. Right, so that means you're the second most famous guy to come out of Scarborough. Oh, wow, we can...

What are you telling me? 2,000, 2 million, but... All right, so we got to dive in. So what I want to do now, before I forget, not that I could ever forget this, but you have a six-pack in front of you. Bam. I made sure I got that six-pack out of the basement

before it kind of got shut down for the painting. So this is courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery. That bottle there, that should be the pumpkin. Yeah, that's the Saison de Pump, they call it. But that's the... Incroyable. that's the Saison de Pump, they call it. But that's the pumpkin. Incroyable. That's the big thing right now is everybody wants their pumpkin ale. So I think that's a limited time deal.

So you got to get that at the Great Lakes. And I heard you had a really, thank you. First of all, thank you very much. Steve Simmons gave me the heads up that I would love it. Is that why you're here? Be honest with me. No, no. There was a time.

I'm not going to lie to you, but that ship has sailed. But no, and I heard that, you know, obviously a couple of weeks ago you had the listener appreciation. TMLX2. There you go. That's coming up.

You know, my buddy Dave Schultz, Schultz-y spinning off a few comedic riffs for you. Schultz, and we're going to get to him later. He's got a question for you. But Schultz was great, and Gear Joyce was the head. So it was Schultz open for Gear Joyce, and Gear Joyce was great. And there is an episode of this podcast. If anyone listening wants to hear what does David Schultz and Gear Joyce sound like when they do stand-up.

I can't remember the number off the top of my head, but a recent episode, I just stitched together my speech and these stand-up performances from TMLX2, which, yes, was at Great Lakes Brewery. And by the way, when we do eventually have a TMLX3 or TMLX4, it rolls off the tongue, you are invited, my friend, of course. That's awesome. And it just shows you the momentum and the traction that you're building up. And that's great. I think we'll just spend the whole episode.

Were you saying how great you are? Are you kidding me? Well, you gave me beer. That's right. Dude. I feel so good. Right? Grassroots Toronto.

You don't have to ask for much. If I asked you what your favorite episode of Toronto Mic'd was, do you have a favorite? And I know you're friends with some of the guests, but if you had an unbiased opinion on what was your favorite episode, if you had to pick one. No, and I'm not trying to sit on the fence, but no. I mean, it's great to listen to some, you know, a lot of my friends.

You just mentioned Gary Joyce and Dave Schultz and Steve Simmons. And these are people that I've known for decades, but the ones I'm intrigued with are some of the old time, what did we call them? Host, disc jockeys, whatever, because some of these guys were people that I grew up listening to. Some of these guys were people that I grew up listening to. And, you know, it's funny. I remember meeting for the first time a guy named Lee the Beef Eckley

who was on Q107. He's on The Rock now in Oshawa. Yes. Yeah, he's coming on. I've talked to him. He'll come on too. See, and I remember the first time I met him and he goes, oh, man, that's cool.

I read all your stuff. And I said, forget that, man. Like, I mean, you played, uh, fairies wear boots by Sabbath at like 4 35 AM. That was perfect song. And you know, it's just, I love the, I love the interaction like that. So I think that, you know, as much as the people that I've, I, I know from, and my friends, uh, that have been on here and have been very, very interesting. Um, it's kind of, I always find it fascinating to listen to the people that you know of and that you've listened to, uh, in their respective jobs, but you've never met them. And you, and this forum gives you a different, a different chance for them to really, you know really be in a relaxed place,

albeit not with the headroom that we have today. That's right. That's right. This is a special day. So you've got the beer. Just before, I'm going to play a question that Brian Gerstein has. He's with PropertyInTheSix.com. So he recorded a special question just for you.

But just before that, I want to let people know. So Chris Brown is your guy for painting. But if you need architectural design or interior design or turnkey construction services across the GTA, you want census design and build. For no other reasons, get a quote from these guys. They have a fancier name than that. What do they call it?

They call it a zoning and a fancier name than that. What do they call it? They call it a Zoning and Cost Project Feasibility Study. So to get that going, give them a call at 416-931-1422 or go to censusdesignbuild.ca for no other reason than because these are guys who actually step up and sponsor independent podcasts like this. Like that to me is, that's so amazing that they stepped up and did that. So Census Design and Build, sorry, the website's called censusdesignbuild.ca, but they're called Census Design and Build.

Give them a call, contact them, and get your zoning and cost project feasibility study. Get that going. Mike, let's hear from Brian, and then we can address his excellent question. Here's Brian. I have VIP access to the hottest condo project going on in 2018, King, Toronto. Call me at 416-873-0292 so I can fill you in. The official launch of the project is next Wednesday, October the 17th.

But I would like to invite you to meet with me before to take a sneak peek at floor plans and pricing before the project actually launches. Mike, the Leafs are getting a ton of attention for obvious reasons. Their high-octane offenses running at full tilt are beyond entertaining to watch and clearly are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. From a media coverage perspective, how much will the Leafs dominate the coverage and will the Raptors, even with Kawhi, be left behind? In my opinion, both teams deserve the same coverage, but I am a realist. I should point

out, Brian is Raptors devotee on Twitter, so he's a massive Raptor fan. And we are, and just so people listening know, and you know, Mike, later in the program, I am going to do some current Leafs talk with you, just a little bit, because I'm super jazzed about it too. But this is a good point Brian raises is that how are the Raptors going to get the coverage they deserve when they're going against this juggernaut Leafs team?

Like what do you think? I know you're at NHL.com, not NBA.com, but what's your opinion on that? No, I mean, I was at the Toronto Sun for 29 years up until last year, so I understand the dynamics here. Now, I don't know, Mike, what the analytics are behind the makeup of the two different fan bases. What I would say, and this is an uneducated guesstimate, but I think that Raptor fans are like hardcore, okay? I think that they're gaining more from the periphery now, but I think they've always been hardcore.

They've been such a loyal, solid group. Whereas I think, and I think it's certainly changing as it is with the makeup and diversity of the city. But I just think that because hockey is in our culture, there's an assumption by a lot of the media gatekeepers that, well, it's hockey. So we have to cover that. I mean, it's going to be interesting. I'm sure we're going to get to this topic too. But the mainstream media has changed so much in the last few years.

I mean, even though I worked at the Sun, I grew up reading the Toronto Star. Okay. And they have so many people that I respect and still read. But Mike, I never thought I'd see the day that in town here we have John Tavares and we have Kawh, and we have Austin Matthews, and the Toronto Star does not travel for sports. So when you're talking about the media coverage, and I'm getting to the point here, it seems to be the Athletic has popped up, so you'll know you'll get the coverage there.

If TSN has shown a Raptors game and the Leafs are playing on the same night, they're going to play the Raptors up because it was their game. And the same with Sportsnet. I don't know. I mean, I just think that a lot of the gatekeepers in our business who decide what gets covered and what doesn't, there's still a semblance of old school in them that they think, oh, well, the hockey will supersede

the basketball. And I can see that a little bit, but at the same time, I think that has to change. But I do think with the younger generations with blogs and and sites like that they know where to go and i i don't think the mainstream media has the grip that it once did yeah very interesting times here because uh you mentioned like here we are we the leafs of well we got well we're gonna talk about this later but john devaris and we already had matthews and marner and we'll see what's going on with Nylander. We'll talk about that. But it's like, this is it. Like, I think that this is that moment that where the appetite for Maple Leafs stuff. I mean, I always feel sorry for the non-Leaf fans out there because

this is going to be so nauseating. Like, can you imagine you didn't like the Leafs and you happen to live in this market? You're going to be just buried in Leafs stuff. Yeah. But I mean, I don't feel sorry for those people because they've been mocking their friends with jokes for how long? That's right. I mean, you know, it's come up. But hey, I mean, there is a reason when you go outside of Toronto, like if you go to a road trip to Calgary or Vancouver,

they call it the Toronto Sports Network. That's right, That's right. That's right. But this Raptor team, this is the, you could, on paper anyways, this is the best Raptor team of all time.

Like this could be, even though the window is a little smaller because Kawhi could be gone after the season, this is a very, a super exciting time to follow the Raptors. And if the Leafs weren't in this situation, I think it would be, it would be,

it's a bigger deal. Imagine that. Us weren't in this situation, I think it would be a bigger deal. Imagine that. Us sitting here in this city, having gone what we've gone through with these teams, talking about how one potential championship team is stripping publicity from another potential championship team. That's right. I think people listening to that are like, what, has he drank all the beers already? But no, that's where we are right now. That's amazing.

Now, I want to get you to the Toronto Sun because I got a bunch of questions there. But first, I want to give everybody listening $10. So here's how we're going to do that. Nice. I have an asterisk beside the claim there because you do get $10. This is what you have to do, though.

You have to download the Paytm Canada app. And I actually legit have been using this for a year to pay all of my bills. So you go to paytm.ca and you download this app. It's so easy to set it up. I literally paid a bill this morning on my app using Paytm. So once you're set up, you can make a bill payment. Maybe you got to pay your hydro bill. Every bill you can imagine is there. You can pay the bill with a promo code. This is the most important part. Take a note. Toronto Mike, all one word. So that's your promo code when you

make your first bill payment. And then Paytm puts $10 in Paytm cash in your account right away. And you can use that $10 to go buy, I don't know, they have a million gift cards for sale in there. You could buy yourself a Tim Hortons gift card, or you can apply that $10 to another bill. So it really is $10 just for using the promo code Toronto Mike. And that also tells paid TM that you heard about it on Toronto Mike, and that helps Toronto Mike. And that's me. And I'm now referring to myself in the third person because my head is so big right now because Mike Zeisberger has said such wonderful things about me. So now you've ruined me.

Well, I'll ruin you even more. You realize, of course, that you have pain on your hand. Oh, yeah. Do I? Oh, yes, I do. I do. You know what? That just proves I was involved.

That's it. You know what? I mean, Chris know the truth is. Chris leads the way, but he's got his helper. I ticked him off by leaning against the wet paint. Paint fight. He's like, Mike, don't lean on my work. So, yeah, I have this.

So then the kids see me. Oh, yeah, I was painting the basement. I won't mention Chris. And then they'll go, Daddy, can we play with the paint? That's right. Oh, yeah. Remind me to lock that door before the toddlers get here. All right, Mike.

Tell me, growing up in Scarborough, how do you get into the Toronto Sun, that Sun Media? You spent so many decades there. Tell me how you got there. I just, you know, I went to Carleton and then to Ryerson. I went to Carleton. I was still a year or a month shy of, of turning 18, but you know what? I love sports and I love to write. And I knew that since I was eight or nine years old.

And unfortunately, um, you know, or fortunately I was smart enough to know that I sucked at sports and especially if you love hockey, there's a difference in some sports. Like they talk about golf sometimes and, you know, it might be logical to like, you know, just find another dream. So I always thought it was fascinating that, you know what, there's guys that get to like write about hockey and they get to watch the games. And so I mentioned before four mentioned, uh, Frank Gore, who ended up becoming a mentor to me, but those were the guys that I read. And I remember

like being a kid, um, when the Leafs would play on the West coast and, and, and back then, you know, the West coast games would start at 11 o'clock our time. So if they're playing the Kings and I would have to go to bed, I'd set my clock radio for 1.10 a.m. and then it would come up and so I could listen to the last 15 minutes. So, and I just, you know, when I went to Carleton, when I went to Ryerson, I wasn't going to let anything stop me. Like this is what my dream was. I couldn't foresee myself doing anything else.

Probably because I'm crappy at everything else. I'm barely, I'm barely, uh, acceptable at what I do for a living now. But, uh, so yeah. And, uh, you know, I remember, uh, when I was at Ryerson, one of my co-workers, or a guy that was in my class said, Zyze, I got a, and he was more of a news guy, and he had applied to all these papers for part-time jobs. He said, look, the Toronto Sun contacted me for sports.

They need a proofreader. And he said, they need two. And he said, I know other people in the class better than you but I think that you will take this and do more with it than anybody here and his name was Rodney Palmer I'll always be grateful for him he went on to be a foreign correspondent with CTV

that's such a mature statement for a young guy, that foresight. And he gave me a chance, and just a real quick story. So the first day I'm in there as a proofreader, and I've got like a dress jacket on, okay? Which

obviously I got mocked for, and rightly so, but the assistant sports editor, who shall remain nameless on my first day, comes up and he goes, hey, kid, what's the nickname of the Seattle baseball team? And I'm thinking to myself, okay, this is a quiz. And so I go, okay, I got this. Mariners. Oh, yeah, that's right.

Thanks, kid. About ten minutes later, the other assistant sports editor comes in and I said, uh, his name was Bruce Huff. I said, excuse me, Mr. Huff, but your colleague just asked me what the nickname of the Seattle baseball team was. He's obviously testing me. He goes, no, no, he's just a goddamn idiot. And that's where I found out, you know, like you always think that the best people make it

in jobs. Cream always rises. Yeah. That's when I found out that, you know what? I will, I will, I will, I will get these people coffees. I will do whatever I need to do, but I got to stay in here because obviously, uh, I don't

consider myself the cream of the crop. Sometimes I, I consider myself instead of the creme de la creme, the creme de la creme. But you know what? I got a shot here. And, you know, I just, for two and a half years, I did part-time. I answered phones.

I did whatever I could. And, you know, finally Wayne Parrish hired me full-time and I'll never, I can never repay him because it's been a great life and still is. And you were at the Sun forever. 29 years. I don't want to get you out of the Sun yet. Obviously, I have some obvious questions about your departure there, but I want to...

No, I was never a sunshine boy and there's a reason for that. And you're looking at it right now. I know, because Humble and Fred, oh, they were a sunshine boy once. Yeah. And I've seen this photo. Yeah, that's right. They enlarged it and I was at their studio, and they had the picture up.

And I'm like, if they could have been sunshine boys, come on, you could have been a sunshine boy. That's for sure. That's for sure. So the Sun, you covered a lot of cool teams that are really relevant to me personally, okay? So tell me, well, you know, let's go do the Leafs first, and then we'll do the Blue Jays.

Because I want to, first I want to play a clip I told you about before I started recording. I mentioned that Mark Hebbshire bumped into George Bell at a golf tournament this summer. I record Hebbsy's podcast here, Hebbsy on Sports. He'll be here on my dining room table tomorrow morning. Nice.

He doesn't know it yet though, so don't tell him. He got George Bell to say these words, which I shall play right now. Hi, I'm George Bell. You listen to Toronto Mike. So that should be my ringtone. I don't know. That would be annoying.

So I have that. But what I want to talk about is the World Series team. So you covered the 90... Did you cover the 92 Jays? No, I was on Argos that year. That was the second year of Rocket Ismael, and the Rocket kind of fizzled that year. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the first year of Rocket... Remind me was the second year of Rocket Ismael, and the Rocket kind of fizzled that year. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So the first year of Rocket, remind me, the first year of Rocket Ismael, is that the year where he scores the touchdown in the Grey Cup? And the bottle is, yeah, yeah. That was ridiculous. And I remember somebody asked him about that, and he said, no, you know, it was only one when I used to play against Michigan for Notre Dame.

There were a lot more than that coming out of the stands. I'll bet, I'll bet. Oh, here's a song. Yeah, and who's singing this song, do you know? No. Keith Hampshire. And Keith Hampshire was recently on Toronto Mike, so you got some catching up to do. Wow.

Because we went deep into this. I had to know everything so uh check out it's a really good episode because he was a cool dj on pirate radio stations in uh off england off the coast of england uh before he came back here to be on our toronto radio stations but uh keith hampshire is singing this jam so tell me about covering whatever you can because 93 jays is the last time one of the big three teams in the city won a championship. So we still talk about it like it was a couple of years ago. We're still reading Sportsnet articles about Joe Carter touching them all. We're totally still there.

So what can you share with us about covering the 1993 World Series champion Blue Jays? about covering the 1993 World Series champion Blue Jays. Well, number one, I remember going to spring training and I was nervous as hell because, you know, they had won in 92 and the Leafs had been crappy for so long. It was probably the only time in my lifetime where I would say the popularity, and when I talk about that, I mean in terms of the amount of people, of the Blue Jays was equitable, or maybe a little more than the Leafs. And, you know, probably rightly so, because it was a magic carpet ride.

But a couple things I remember is, back then then we would travel on the charter. There'd be one seat for the star and one seat for the sun. And you got to know some of these guys really well. And two of the guys, actually three of them that to this day were some of the best guys that I met, David Cohn, Dave Stewart, but Paul Molitor. Paul Molitor treated the clubhouse guy that picked up the jockstraps and the dirty underwear the same way that he would treat

the $10 million a year pitcher. And, you know, that resonates a lot with you when you cover that. And just Cito Gaston would never get flustered. And sometimes I look, Mike, and I see, I remember at the time, Tony La Russa, I think, had won one World Series, and everybody was talking about how great Tony La Russa was. Right. And they would say about Cito Gaston,

well, all he does is write up the lineup card because he's got such a great, because he's got such a great because he's got such a great cache of talent. And I would say like, wait a minute, time out. What is the difference here? Because that was a stacked athletics team. That was like an all-star team. Eckersley, Welsh, McGuire.

I remember that because I remember that year it was, I remember it was just stacked. It was sort of like WAMCO. Yes. It was a lot like that, actually. And the year before, the Jays had never been able to get past that Oakland kind of wall. And then Robbie Alomar hit the home run off Dennis Eckersley and pointed right at him.

Thanksgiving Day, right? Yeah. And that kind of pushed the Jays over the edge. So one of the cool moments I do remember is the Jays on trade deadline day. We were covering a game with Bob Elliott, another one of my mentors. I was going to bring him up soon because he's coming back to kick out the Jams. And hopefully you will one day too. That's awesome.

You know, Bob is the poster child of professionalism. He told me early in my career, why would you ever have a bigger ego than any of the guys who we're covering in terms of the athletes? Because he said, without them, we would have nothing to do. And I always remember that. There are some personalities in sports journalism that

like themselves a lot. And listen, I'm not saying... I need names. This is important. No, no. But I just always remember what Bob told me then, and he's obviously the only Canadian writer that is in that wing in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Did he call you Michael? He likes to do proper names, right? This is a Bob Elliott thing. Can you hear me? He would call me Michael, but Zyze. He would call me Zyze, but we were covering an afternoon game, so it had ended at what

was called then the Sky Dome, and the trade deadline was at midnight, and Pat Gillick came in and said, we've got a deal in place. But if it doesn't come through, then we got another one. And we waited there until about two minutes before midnight. And it was the Ricky Henderson deal. And the fascinating thing about that, Mike,

was that Gillick had gone to Seattle, first of all, and said, we want Randy Johnson. Wow. And they said, no, we don't want to do that. So that Jays team was stacked hitting-wise, but needed pitching. So Pat, who was one of the most brilliant rain man type people I've ever met, like very eccentric, but just brilliant. He turned around and said, well,

you know what, then we'll just make our offense better. So he went to Oakland for a deal with Ricky Henderson, um, involving, uh, the same player that he had, or one of the same players he had offered to Seattle. And so Ricky had to okay it. In the meantime, Seattle came back to Gillick and said, you know what, we'll do that Randy Johnson trade. And he said, well, I can't because I'm waiting on this, on Ricky Henderson, and there's some of the same ingredients in that deal. So he said, he told Oakland, listen, Ricky has until five minutes till midnight to okay this deal. If he does not okay it by then, we have another deal that we're going to make. So had Ricky Henderson not agreed to come to the Blue Jays, Randy Johnson may have been a Blue Jay. Oh, which is the better deal, because we fell in love with this moniker,

this memorable moniker, Whamco, and you bring in Henderson to lead off and you have to lead him off because he's the greatest lead off hitter in the history of the game. Now you got Hamcow, right? I'm sorry. Exactly.

It's got to all be about shtick, right? I mean, that's what we do. Imagine Randy Johnson as a Blue Jay. And that Randy Johnson, oh my God, that's lights out. That's amazing. Yeah, so that was one of the cool things. He's almost as tall as you are. Yes, almost.

But the other one, and that was so cool. And I always remember the ninth inning of game six when they won the World Series. Because Henderson took the walk. He took the walk. Yes, and he scrunched so low. His strike zone was about the – I'm holding up my iPhone now, and his strike zone was about as big as the screen on my iPhone.

That's like that Eddie Goodell or what's the name of the four-foot guy? Yeah, yeah. I think the guy for the White Sox that Bill Veck brought in, the midget. Yes, Eddie Goodell or something like that. Yes, I mean, he took the walk. I'm trying to remember that inning. Can we do this together? But did Devo fly? He took the walk and then somebody got out, right? I think so.

And was Alomar not in there as well? Oh, I wish. I don't know how I can't do this because I probably watched the ninth inning a hundred times. But working backwards, it's a three-run homer for Joe Carter who bats a cleanup. Yeah. So we know Henderson takes the walk to lead off and then doing Hamcow.

That means Alomar's up next. Yes. And Alomar gets out? I think so. And I think that Molitor. And the Molitor singles. Devo may have been dropped down in the order. Yeah, maybe that's what's messing me up here

because I don't remember. I remember Devon White flying out maybe. Now, you know why I don't know this exactly? Because here's what I do know and the embarrassment of the moment. Tell me because Dan Schulman recently shared his embarrassment of the moment story, but let me hear yours now. of the Detroit, I believe it was Free Press, if it's the news. Sorry, Joe, I screwed up again.

But he was one of the old school, like a Frank Orr type, but he was one of the voices of Detroit and took young guys like me under their wing and stuff like that. And he looked over at me and goes, kid, what do you think of this Carter guy? And I said, well, he gets a lot. He puts up big numbers, Joe. But if you look at when he gets his big hits, he says, he's never really had, like, a game-changing hit when it mattered in his life.

Except for that one. except for that one. And it was like, okay, place foot A into mouth B and see what happens. That is great. And he just, I remember he slapped me on the back and he goes,

kid, welcome to our profession. This will not be the first time you screw up like that. So then Joe touches them all and pandemonium breaks loose. Now at that moment when joe uh hits the three run blast which today we would call that a walk-off but we weren't using that term back then because i yeah back then nobody used the word walk-off but today that

they'd be talking about the walk-off that ended the world series but uh stan shulman was on recently and he told the story that he was in the big elevator like the skydome elevator when joe carter hits the homers. Oh, yeah, well. That's worse than I think what happened here. Yeah, well, at least I got to see it. That is, like, and I always talk about the big three, because, yeah, the Argos win plenty of great cups,

and, you know, TFC just won an MLS cup, and the Marlies just won a Calder cup, and, I don't know, the Wolfpack did not win the million-pound match, but a lot of guys are still learning what a Wolfpack is but my point is we win lots of these titles but nothing in the big three since 93 like in the big three there's a clear big three in this city

and nothing since 93 so I'm just glad I was alive for a couple of titles oh yeah and you know like I mean we were allowed on the field and I just remember the pandemonium and the chaos and the, you know, I mean, they had done it the previous year and that's always going to be special because it kind of broke new ground.

But the second one, because it was in Toronto, because it was one swing of the bat, you're going from losing to winning. I think it was special because the city could celebrate with these guys, you know, and that was a unique. I mean, there's certain cheers in my career from the fans around you that you never forget and you kind of get shivers and that definitely would be one of them. On that note, you don't cheer in the press box. This is what I hear. You're not supposed to cheer in the press box. This is what I hear. You're not supposed to cheer in the press box. No, no, no.

But you never slipped. Like when Joe Carter hit that homer, you never had a subtle fist pump or anything. No, no. I just told somebody that he never had a big hit. I may have made a gesture, but it wasn't for cheering, okay? But no, it was really cool. And you get to that point, you're not really a fan

of one team or another, but given... But I mean, you're a Scarborough guy. Yeah, but that's what I mean. There must have been something tied there. It goes to the roots of your show. As a Torontonian who has lived through heartache after heartache after knee to the jockstrap after heartache, it was just so cool for the city.

It was so cool. And the way that the city embraced that team and that, it was just so cool. And I mean, I think I was the only person in Toronto who hasn't told anybody that they were at the first game in 1977. Okay. Like, I mean, you know, I mean, people, the

stadium held what, 37,000 people? 370. Well, whatever it was. Okay. So if it holds 47,000, 470, well, whatever it was. Okay, so if it holds 47,000, 470,000 of you people has claimed that you were there. Okay, I want proof,

ticket stubs, photos. You're so right. The two games I hear every second Torontonians say they were at was that game and then the Joe Carter home run. Yes. Every second guy I meet was at,

I want to point out, I was at neither. Okay, I don't pretend I was. But that first game, I would have been in diapers, I think. But yeah, every second, Trondonian was at those two games. Oh, yeah, and slightly less where they were at the Gilmore wraparound game on Cujo. Oh, my God.

Okay, you know what? I actually realize now my plan was to lead with the Leafs and then come into the 93 Jays, but I screwed that up. But here, here's a jam from that era, and then I want to talk about them. Oh, here we go. Do you remember this song? Oh, yeah. Let me let it brew a little.

Because the Leafs are the best. That's right. Better than all the rest. According. Here we go. Dougie on his Harley. That's right. Because that was the Pat Burns leaf.

And that was like the image. Isn't those vocals? It's kind of premature in hindsight that we had decided Leafs are the best when we were conference finalists. Who's not the best? In my lifetime, Mike, the Leafs have never played in a Stanley Cup final. No. I digress.

So tell me, you mentioned Frank Orr earlier for the Toronto Star. You have a kind of a neat little story about you and Frank Orr getting a scoop on something rather significant with Leafs. Yeah. Just as a quick aside, Mark Osborne is a friend of mine. He was a member of that team. He's now a scout with the LA Kings. And he likes to read me.

Zyze, who are you working for now and stuff? So we were at the Buffalo home opener, the Sabres, last week. Right. And he's sitting there, and I always like to bug him about, because if you ever watch the video of this. Which I have. Okay. There's a lot of hair in that video, okay?

And it's like, so I call it up, and I put the volume on loud enough so some of the people in the press box can hear it. And they go like, what's that? And I said, look, it's long-haired Ozzy. And he's going like, Zyze, what are you doing? Turn that off. There was so much hair in that era, okay, that even Damien Cox had full-headed hair back then.

Yes. He and I both. But to the story that you were talking about, so, you know, I'd been hired full-time in 88, and, you know, you really didn't get to touch the Leafs. They were kind of... We had Dave Fuller at the time and Scott Morrison and those guys had...

And Lance Hornby, obviously, who's still doing it, a very esteemed colleague. But they had their claws into that beef. The Leafs have been so crappy that, you know, it was right after New Year's. I think it was January 2nd. And a lot of the guys took a few days holidays in that. So Scott Morrison was my boss at the time.

And he says. Are we talking 1990 or 91? Because my brain can't remember which one right now. I want to say 91. Okay. One of those two. Okay. Yeah.

Because he came, because he came late in that season, and then 92-93 was the first one, I believe. And then 93-94 was the year. That's when they had the 10 games in a row to start the season, right? Again, when we were playing the World Series. Yeah. So anyways, he goes, Zyze, I want you to go down and do leaf practice. And it's like, I get to go to do the leaves.

I'm going to the gardens and stuff. So I'm really wide-eyed. And then when you've got the guy that you've read for so many years of your life, Frank Orr, mentor, they're with you. And because they were crappy, because it was right after New Year's, there were no TV cameras. There were no TV cameras. There were no, you know, radio people. There was Frank and I.

And so we go into the dressing room, and I think Gary Lehman had been in a goal-scoring slump or something, so we were kind of waiting for him. And Tom Watt comes walking out of the coach's room, and he says, pull out your notepads. We just made a trade. Yes. So I'm going like, wow, this is pretty cool.

So he starts naming off names. And it was a Doug Gilmore name, okay? It got into a trade. It got into double digits. And I'm just like. Yeah, 10 guys, right? Oh, yeah. OMG.

Like, look at this. But I'm also looking at like, I'm writing these names down and I'm going like, you know, I'm the young kid so I can't say anything. I don't want to be disrespectful but you know, I do know a little bit of hockey

and this looks like a pretty screwed up trade for Calgary. I'm not saying anything. And I look over at Frank and he looks at his notepad, looks up at Tom Watt, looks back at his notepad, looks at Tom and goes, surely Thomas, you must be missing a couple of names that are going to Calgary. So, and this is before cell phones or any of that. So I'm running around the gardens trying to find a pay phone so I can phone my boss and tell him what's happened. I mean, you know, consider that 25 years later, players learn before the teams tell them where they've been traded.

So Frank and I are the only guys that really know this has gone on. So I get on the pay phone and I phone up Scotty and I said, Scotty, Scotty, Scotty, the Leafs have made a trade. And he's going like, Zyze, you know, you got to calm down. If we're going to send you into situations like this, you know, you got to stay even keel and stuff like that.

So just slow down and tell me the trade. So I go over it and at the other end of the line, he goes, holy bleep. Oh my God, what a trade this is. And I'm going like and at the other end of the line, he goes, holy bleep. Oh my God, what a trade this is. And I'm going like, well, it must be big because he's getting excited too. So that, that, you know, I've got to cover a lot of cool things. World Series, Grey Cup, Super Bowls. I was in South Africa for, for the World Cup of Soccer, Indianapolis 500s, Daytona 500s. I mean, it's the Disneyland of life that I've been able to take part in.

But if you ask me, you know, four or five moments that I remember, pull out your notepads will always be one of them. And when I see Tom Watt at every, almost at every Leaf game now, he comes and he'll shake his head and he goes, yeah, I know, pull out your notepads. That's a great story because to this day, that's the biggest, that's still the biggest Leaf game in the history of the, because we just made

our biggest free agent signing ever. This just happened. I don't know if you're paying attention. So when's Dougie going to be on here? Dougie, I see him in that ad and it makes me a little bit sad because it's the Kneelanders in this ad too. There's an ad for an insurance company.

Oh, yes. Where they're eating. Right. Yes, that's right. That's exactly right. I think Mike Vernon might be in that ad. Yes. Who's the other guy?

And you know what the common thread is? None of them are playing for the Leafs right now. That's exactly right. I always get a little sad because my boy, my 16-year-old, is a massive Leaf fan, and we see Kneelander in a uniform ready to play. And we're like, oh, he can't come and play with us right now. I know. But I digress.

But I'm going to step on the gas pedal to get Dougie on here. Do it. He's a friend of mine now. First of all, I own two Maple Leaf jerseys. One is a number five Bill Barilko, which was made after the fact. So it was like, obviously it's not one of the ones. Did you get that jersey before or after the hip song?

It was probably after. That's fair. It was probably after, but it wasn't much after. And I would wear that jersey to hip concerts. I would wear my number five Bill Barilko. But the second Leaf jersey I own,

and I'm not a jersey guy, as you can tell. I don't have that many jerseys, actually. But I own a Doug Gilmore when he was assistant, when we still had Wendell Clark. And he had the A, alternate, right? You know, my whole life, I thought it was assistant captain. And then somebody said, you know, it's alternate captain, right?

I swear to you, Mike, I thought it was assistant captain. Was it always alternate? I think so, but you know what? For the first 10 years of my life, or as a hockey fan, I thought it was assistant too. Oh, I feel better, man. Oh, yeah. Because when I had the A on my,

because I would play ball hockey in my Gilmore jersey, 93 Doug Gilmore. And that was back when they wore the whites at home. Yes. And the colors on the road. So I got the white jersey because I wanted the home jersey. It turns out now it's the opposite. So let's make a pact, okay?

Yeah, okay. Because seeing as everybody, you know, and sarcastically so, but that's their problem, calls Toronto the so-called center of the hockey universe. Right. If we want to call it assistant, because we're in the so-called center of the hockey universe, then we'll call it assistant, okay?

You other people outside the GTA, you can go play with your alternate jerseys, okay? But that's the jersey I have is number 93, Doug Gilmore. So I was a massive Gilmore fan. He came at the right. I was a teenager. The Leafs were the best, better than all the rest. And Gilmore.

That's what they tell us, right? That run, those two years in a row were the conference finals. I mean, you know, to lose in that game seven, in a game that Wayne Gretzky says was his best game ever. I mean, doesn't that figure when you're to all the Leaf fans out there? That's right. You know, arguably the greatest player ever says, yeah, I had my best game ever in a game in which your team

could have made the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 1967. Oh, and by the way, it would have been against the Montreal Canadiens. What history is there there? Right. I know. I know. I can't believe it because I still watch every minute of all. Was it we played four games now?

I've watched every minute. But back then, it was like that was everything. You didn't have kids. You didn then, it was like that was everything. Like you didn't have kids, you didn't have a mortgage, you know, that was everything. Hey, what about, you know, 12.30, quarter to one in the morning in game six,

Wendell Clark coming off the bench as Felix Potvin is pulled to score in the last minute his hat trick goal to send it to overtime. That's right, that's right. Yeah, everyone forgets that. So Kerry Fraser could miss his call,

but we won't get into that. We won't get into that. I think we covered that. I had down goes early days of the podcast. I had down goes brown. Oh, I'm sure you brought that up. We brought that up. Yeah, for sure.

For sure. Okay. So, you covered lots of things. So, we just talked about the Leafs you were covering. So, can you just tell me, before we get back to the Leafs, because that's what we got to do, get back to the Leafs you were so what can you just tell me before we get back to the Leafs because that's what we got to do get back to the Leafs uh other than Blue Jays and Maple Leafs what are the personal highlights of events you covered I mean you covered everything like you said from

like golf majors to World Cups like if you had to pick a couple that you have personal highlights uh you covered auto racing right at the beginning yeah uh? Yeah. The first time I was at Indianapolis 500, just to see, like back then, Indy was so big. Like there would be F1 guys coming over. Like it was far beyond NASCAR. That was Andretti's and Unser's and Voight's. When they were all unified,

like at some point they had that divorce or whatever, where Carte and Indy had that thing. Like that's when it went south for me. But prior to that, yeah, it was a big deal to watch these races. And the Indy 500, Mike, I mean, it was at the time the largest one-day sporting event in the world. There was half

a million people that would be there. And just to wander through the infield, there was a part called the Snake Pit where, you know, I think people were more engaged in X-rated activities than watching cars. But like there were people in the infield that had brought their like parents' living room set and they had set it up.

And it was just the conglomeration of people was incredible and that that was very uh eye-opening um and that that that was in uh i'm trying to think now 1989 and that the prelude to that was uh my second day there i heard air raid sirens going off when i was in my hotel writing and i phoned down and in downtown india and, what's going on? They said, oh, that tornado struck a half a mile from here. You'd best be getting down to the lobby. So that was kind of like, wow, is this what my travel is going to be like? But I'll tell you, Mike, there's a lot of things. I mean, Super Bowls, I'm a big NFL guy and there's a lot of things. But one of the most moving things was the 2010 World Cup in South Africa

because there were five of us that rented a house there. Cahal Kelly of the Globe and Mail, George Johnson, longtime writer in Calgary. Chris Young, former of the Star. All great friends. And then Morris de la Costa from London. And the five of us had a house and rented a house in Johannesburg for five weeks. And the poverty that we saw there, it kind of opens your eyes. It gives you a new perspective to how lucky we are to live where we are.

But also, before the final, between Spain and the Netherlands, and he wasn't in good health at all, but Nelson Mandela, they brought him out onto the field in like a golf cart with him and his wife, and he went around and he was waving. I can't tell you how, and we talked about cheers before, how those cheers went through you. This was a different type of roar. It was a different type of roar. It was a different type of applause. It

was a different type of love that I've ever experienced anymore because this guy was God to these people and they had never hosted anything on a world stage like this before. And, you know, even though we've, we've grown up, up let's face it we've grown up privileged but to experience a moment like that um it just transcended sports and you know i could have i could have i could have told you uh you know i was at the wide right game uh scott norwood with the that i was at the greatest comeback uh with Bills against the Houston Oilers. Oh, Frank Wright. Yeah.

Oakville Steve Christie. That's right. Kicked the winning field goal. There's a lot of them. The World Series where the Marlins beat Cleveland in extra innings. We can go down the list. There's been a lot of hockey ones. But that moment transcended sports.

And that would be the one where you kind of got shivers because you understood this is a world thing. This goes beyond sports. This is bigger than sports. I got shivers hearing you talk about it. It was amazing. Amazing. Okay, let's bring it back to the Leafs here. Actually, let me bang off some questions and talk about some Sun guys you

worked with. So firstly, let me see here because we were talking about the Leafs, but there's a guy on Twitter named Leafert1984 and he writes, which of the 92,

93, 98, and 02 runs were your favorite and which was the worst Leafs team that you covered? And he means

not just on the ice but off the ice too. So start with that first one. So we've been, basically, we've been to four conference finals. Yeah.

I think in my lifetime. But which of those four teams that you covered was your favorite? Well, I didn't get to cover them much. I just covered them from the periphery. But, you know, I mean, in terms of how it captured the city, I got to say that first, that 93 Leafs team with, you know, three, three, three, seven game series. And people forget the Leafs were in the Western Conference. Okay. Like as screwed up as that was.

But it just, it just captured the imaginations of the city. And Doug Gilmore is getting ridiculous 120, 130 points. Yeah, 127, I think. I mentioned it earlier, but the famous wraparound on Curtis Joseph. You're right. I mean, now I'm thinking about this team. This is the team, of course, that had Borchewski scored the overtime winner in Game 6 against Detroit, right? had Borchewski scored the overtime winner in Game 7. Oh, yeah.

I think it's Detroit, right? Which I think legend, I think as time goes on, we start to talk about that upset. It was bigger than it was. Yes. Well, when you consider the makeup of that Leaf team, I mean, you know, Gilmore and Anderchuk and, you know, Wendell. I mean.

Dave Ellis. Yeah, we're not. Jamie McCowan. Yeah, yeah. We're not, you know, I mean Dave Ellis, Jamie McCowen Yeah, yeah, we're not, you know No offense to Vegas, but I think that was, to me, it's still more of an upset that they made the final than that

Leaf team knocking off Detroit, but no, and I just remember what this city was like then, and it's funny because they did a story last week for NHL.com talking to Curtis Joseph, who had been in the last two that you mentioned, 98 and 02.

Right. And then Wendell, who had been in those first two. And I said, and Wendell had said that he hasn't, both of them actually, said that they had never experienced the type of buzz and anticipation in this city for a Leaf team since that 93-94 teams like there is this year. So that was fascinating. But no, I would say those teams by far would be the ones that exceed it. I think you're right.

And I think the difference between the 93 and the 94 team is that the 93 team, you're right, Game 7, overtime, three Game 7s, yeah, like insane, right? And then that was a real letdown. I remember that letdown in the conference finals the next year against Vancouver. Vancouver, yeah. Similar to that letdown against Carolina, right? I think they got beat by Greg Adams, and I think at the time there were like 15 Greg Adams at the time,

so I'm not sure if it was Greg A. Adams or the regular Greg Adams, right? It's funny. I knew a guy. I played hockey with a guy named Andy McDonald. And I remember there was a time where I think there were two or three Andy McDonalds in the NHL. I also played with an Andy McDonald. Every other hockey guy was named Andy McDonald. That's right.

We were talking about that yesterday. How many Jacksons are there in the NFL right now? The worst team, I don't know. That's a tough one, right? There's been some bad teams that you've covered. I got to say, a few

years ago, Dion Phaneuf and Phil Kessel were not bad guys. I think there's a misnomer there that they're bad guys. But there wasn't, in that dressing room, a joie de vivre. And, you know, it was just, I don't think a lot of those guys embraced the spotlight of playing in Toronto.

And that was tough. Mike, I really think that if you're the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs or the GM of the Montreal Canadiens, you have a different job than anybody else. Because as great as we like to think it is to play for either of those two teams, some guys, they just want to play. They don't want the extra stuff. And we saw that in baseball.

We mentioned Randy Johnson. Remember when he went to New York? I think he punched a photographer like the first day or second day that he was there. Like some people can't embrace it. Now you, I guess I say that team because now it's the polar opposite where guys embrace playing for this team.

GTA guys, okay? Look at the GTA line, and it's, you know, Tavares and Marner and Hyman. You know, Connor Brown just goes on and on. It's funny because Zach Hyman and I talk about this a lot, and I say, you know, you never, you know, we come up to you, and you're never standoffish with us. You know we you never, you know, we come up to you and you're never, you're never standoffish with us. You know, we're coming. He goes, look at, he says, eight, 10 years ago, I was the kid on the couch going, I want more Leafs, more Leafs.

So he says, I understand that that's my place. Connor Brown is the exact same thing. Not this summer, but last summer when he didn't have a contract. And now because there's so many media outlets, everybody's figuring out the Leafs budget, you know, not knowing the way that they've split it up. But people are going like, there's no money in the salary cap for Connor Brown. Every golf tournament in the summer. He went to Smashfest, the Dominic Moore charity ping pong tournament. How do you feel about not having a contract?

And, you know, he was so easy with it. He knew sooner or later he was going to get his contract. And I always joke with him. I said, like, how did you deal with that? He goes, man, I'm a Toronto Maple Leaf. I couldn't dream more. And so, you know, to what this show is all about, those are Toronto area kids.

They know what it's like. They've been in the spotlight. And I think that Brendan Shanahan, another Toronto area kid. Mimico boy. Yes, I was going to say. Okay. I went to his high school.

He was a little older than me, so he actually was gone by the time I got to grade nine. But I went to his high school. You're both two of the mover, so he actually was gone by the time I got to grade nine. But look at you. But I went to his high school. You're both two of the mover and shakers in the city. You know, I couldn't, you know what,

quick aside, because Hebsey was telling me the other day that he got rejected for media credentials to cover the leaves. And he's like, and this guy,

I don't know who's in charge, but apparently somebody that he knew from the 80s covering the leaves or whatever. Anyway, he couldn't get in because they were only doing MSM outlets. So Toronto Mike didn't even try. If he's not getting it,

I'm not getting it. But I did try through proper channels to get Brendan Shanahan on this show, but not to talk hockey, but not to talk Nylander. I wanted to talk about growing up in Mimico, going to power, and all this kind of stuff. It was going to be like a non-hockey chat

with Brendan Shanahan because he seems like a decent down-to-earth guy. I went through two different layers and was eventually told that something to the effect of he was only talking to Rogers and Bell outlets or something. I got told basically he's not doing Toronto Mike.

He's not going to hit his head in your basement. But that's too bad. Hey, well, let me ask you this. I mean, you being this close. And I went to this. Did you go to Dave Boland, as we know, another Mimico boy. Yes, of course. Scores the Stanley Cup winning goal.

He's on a mural. But yeah, sorry. He's on a mural down there. If you go to like, I don't know, 3rd Street in Lake City. Yeah, yeah. There's a mural. His face is on the side of the wall. Yeah, yeah.

And he actually, and then subsequently, before he got the cup, he signed with the Leafs. Right, right. And I know where you're going with this. But they had the Stanley Cup parade in Mimico, and I was at that.

And that was so cool. It was so Mimico. And now I'm going to, he's going to kill me, okay? Yeah. Then the cup went to the goose. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think his brother works there.

Oh, yeah. And that is so Toronto, you know, like the railway goes right by it and stuff. Cheap beer. Please, they're going to kill me. What's the full name of the bar? I know it's the goose. I know, the Blue Goose?

I think that might be it. I think it's the Blue Goose, which I think it's shutting down for some time because they're doing a whole restoration on this. I guess that's an old railway station or something. Yeah, I think it is. So apparently, I think it's closing down, I believe, at least for some time

while they rebuild that building. See, but there was a Stanley Cup parade in Toronto. You know, you're absolutely right. In our lifetime. I didn't even attend that thing, which is stupid. It was cool. I should have been there. I think I even attend that thing, which is stupid. It was cool. I should have been there. I think I had some work thing

I had to do. Darn it. But yeah, Dave Bolin's, I was always surprised to see Dave Bolin on this big, they call it the, like the waterfront mural.

Like, so you got New Toronto, you got Long Branch, and you got Mimico. Like, they kind of get together. These are our greats. There's Oscar Peterson's there. They have all these greats. No, no Brendan Shanahan, but they got

a Dave Bowling. Go figure. They forget about the Mr. He's won a few Cubs himself. But very, very cool. So you mentioned Bob Elliott. Anything more? He might be listening. Anything you want to say to Bob? Because he's coming back to kick out the Jams. No, I'd just say

thank you for everything that you taught me. You know, there were times he had to veer me in the right direction, but you couldn't have a better mentor than that. And you know what? Bob was big on the Diet Cokes, and God forbid if there be Diet Pepsi in a press box, he

would just be going like, so Zyze, what's up with their not being in the Diet Coke? Want to hear a funny story? So Bob's coming over, Bob Elliott. So knock on the door, I go to the door. He's at the door. He's got two Diet Cokes, two bottles, one in each hand, okay? What do you think I think?

In my head, what do you think I think's going on here? Here's what I think's going on here. Of course, just like Chris Brown, I answered the door, and he had two Tim Hortons cups in his hands. Mike, I got you a coffee. This happened this morning, okay? I answered, Bob's got two Diet Cokes. I'm thinking, that's very nice.

Bob got me a Diet Coke. You ain't getting any of them, buddy. They were two Diet Cokes for Bob Elliott. I got no Diet Cokes, which is fine. I'd probably end up belching into the microphone or whatever, but I thought that was pretty good. Hey, but it's okay. You know what?

As you said, you're an independent proprietor, so if you belch on your show, hey, who's going to cut that out? And I've heard Howard Stern belch on his show, so if he can belch, I can belch. That's what I say. But the one quick Bob Elliott story, and this says all to him. We talked about the 93 World Series. So it's workout day before game one,

day before game one. And the Jays had just done something that hadn't been done in 100 years in the American League, and that is have the top three hitters. And I believe it went, Olerud was the top, but then I believe Alomar was second and Molitor was third. I remember it the other way. Well, you may be. But I've been wrong before. You may be right, but the batting coach at the time was a guy named Larry Heisel.

And back then, believe it or not, there were a lot more media because newspapers were in their primes then. And plus, you know, now for Toronto Sun is a chain of suns. So, you know, we have one guy. Like a post media guy. Yeah. So we have one guy go to the, or two guys go to the Stanley Cup final. Like if Steve Simmons writes something off that, all the

different suns get it. Back then, the Edmonton Sun would send somebody. The Calgary Sun would send somebody. And it was that way in the US too. Like, I mean, it wasn't this whole chain thing. So you've got this national and international media at workout day, and Bob comes out with the story that the Jays are planning to fire Larry Heisel after the season. Okay.

Now, his team, they're about to go to the World Series. Okay. Now, his team, they're about to go to the World Series. They just did something in hitting that had not been done in 100 years, and they want to fire their hitting coach. And the Jays went for the next year on a Salem witch hunt to every single person, like the secretary in rookie ball that like brings the GM coffee. Like they went through everybody. Where did this come out?

Okay. They denied it, of course. I think Larry lasted another season and then they let him go. But Bob was right. And Bob was pretty much always right. And I just remember the buzz that that created in that with all these media there and going like,

you know what? And he didn't want kudos. He's not a big guy that, you know, congratulations, way to go. That was what the Bob thought the job was. And nobody did it better than him. And I couldn't have learned from anybody better than Bob Elliott. We mentioned there's that Nylandander ad for that insurance company, but there was an ad during Blue Jay Games

where there was a guy in the dugout talking to somebody, and the guy in the dugout really looked like a Bob Elliott type. I always think, did they model this character on Bob Elliott? Oh, I don't know. They had the stash and everything. Did he have a Diet Coke with him? Yeah, that would be the giveaway for sure, for sure. Okay, very cool.

Now, you mentioned Steve Simmons. Again, he's been on a couple of times. I would call Steve a friend of the show is how I refer to Steve Simmons. He's a polarizing guy. Zeisberger's not a polarizing guy. You don't have a whole bunch of people hating on Mike Zeisberger.

No, well, off the field, yes, but not on the field. In your personal life, maybe. I don't know. That's right. But Steve Simmons, I mean, if I dare tweet a positive thing, right. But Steve Simmons, I mean, if I dare tweet a positive thing, I

like his Sunday notes and I read it and I'll poke at something he wrote there or whatever and this is interesting. Steve says this is going to happen, whatever, whatever. And the people come out in the Twittersphere and they will tell you like, oh, is it about eating hot dogs or whatever? They'll just start naming all these things.

Tell me about what it was like working so many years with Steve Simmons. Steve is one of my closest friends. The last few years, I was kind of caregiver for my father who passed away earlier this year at 91 and he had a good run, so there's nothing to be...

Still, I'm sorry. No, hey, listen, we all go through our things. Steve was such a supportive friend. He's always been very supportive of my career. Here's what I would say about Steve. I know people think that he makes stuff up. That's just so much crap. Number two, what Steve writes is what Steve thinks, Okay. And if you're going to have a forum,

uh, you know, for, for an opinion column, well, that's his opinion. Um, he's researched it. I know people think that he does in that too. And I think that's something that's, that's lost Mike is the respect that people in the sports sports world have for him. Um, and here's, Mike, is the respect that people in the sports world have for him. And here's where I go with this. So there's a couple of examples. The first one, when Leo Cahill, the longtime Argo coach, was doing very, very poorly health-wise, Steve had heard that there was issues with his medical bills So Steve set up like a fund where people could donate Well, Steve who doesn't mince his words At these people that run teams

Puts this thing out there The Blue Jays donated, Brendan Shanahan on behalf of the Leafs donated, I believe, and I'm not sure, but Masai may have donated. All these top people in Toronto that he's taken runs at donated. Okay. Because there is a respect. They may say, you know what, you're full of this and this and this. But anybody that thinks that Steve Simmons just sits there and throws stuff at the

wall and sees what sticks, that is nowhere near the case, okay? And you can go from if he needs to talk to Conor McDavid, to any of these people that run these teams, no matter how critical he is of them, there is a respect there. And there is more respect there than maybe for some of the readers. But, you know, that's going old school. Columnist opinions. Okay. Listen, I mean, on Twitter, everybody thinks that their opinion rules.

That is true. And again, I enjoy reading what Steve Simmons writes because it's interesting. He does, he writes what he thinks. And that Sunday notes, that's appointment must read for me. And by the way, whatever happened to Mike Zeisberger? That's right. That's right. And a few slips are all along the way. We mentioned it on his appearance, but sometimes whatever

happened to this dead guy, that happens, right? Okay. But the one, with Steve, I think he's his own worst enemy sometimes where he

recently did this story on Scott Moore, a memo from Scott Moore. It was in his Sunday notes. It basically sounded like he was

suggesting that Scott Moore was ordering or suggesting strongly that Sportsnet employees have favorable coverage of the Leafs or something like that, right? And it was based on this memo, but it turns out Steve never actually saw the memo. So to me, and I'm not a journalist by trade, but I'd want to see the memo before I published it. Well, all I can say to that, Mike, is that he had the contents of the memo right.

I think there was a perception that was wrong. And the next week, because I know he showed it to me and said, Zyze, what do you think of that? And you know what? I'm very flattered because a lot of times he runs things by me because he has mutual respect and I very much appreciate that. But he put in a correction,

and I just want to say to people. Oh, no, he apologized. I saw that, yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I'll tell you what, and I agree to your point, but there's a lot of people in our industry that would not come back and say,

you know what, this was maybe taken in the wrong light. And no, I have all the time in the world for Steve. And hey, listen people, I don't agree with the guy all the time anyways, okay. But he still picks my brain a lot, even though we don't work together.

We probably see each other more now at games because it's not A versus B. Oh, that's right. Yeah, because you can both. But no. Guys like him, and I mentioned another friend of the show, Dave Schultz, and that it was great growing up in that era of working at newspapers. Those guys were wonderful colleagues, and they made you laugh a lot. So we talked there about Scott Moore really quickly,

and David Schultz just wrote a new book on hockey fight in Canada. Did you score yourself an advance copy? No, I got it. Or did you have to line up at Indigo like everybody else? I got one. Or did you have to line up at Indigo like everybody else? I got one. Okay. Yep. By the way, listeners, David Schultz is coming on soon.

He's not just a stand-up comedian at TMLX events. He's also going to come in and talk about hockey fighting Canada. Should be good. But he had a question for you. He wants to know, who's really running your fantasy teams? This is from David Schultz. Why? Because his is so crappy all the time?

No, here's the gist, people. So we are in something called the media hack. We're in a football pool, too. But we're in something called the media hacks hockey pool. And this is the creme de la creme, other than me, of the hockey journalism world. There's Friedman's in there. LeBron is the commissioner.

Scott Burnside of The Athletic, former of ESPN. We could go down the list. Al Strack in the long time. Al Strack has lost his mind, right? Or he's just a tiny bit bitter maybe about what happened. If you know Al,

this is just, it's a straight line. I follow him on Twitter. He's kind of fascinating. I really enjoy the follow because he seems to have a big chip on his shoulder. You just don't understand, okay? Al was like that before Twitter. Twitter is just a way that you got to learn the world of Al Strachan.

But no, in this hockey pool. So you're in there like if guys talk to GMs, all of a sudden you'll see somebody picked up in the pool that day that was supposed to be out for a freaking month. And it's like, you were talking to, and the great example real quick is that we had a, we had a playoff pool one year and I think it was in 2015 where the Hawks won their third cup. And it's on the eve of the playoffs and Patrick Kane wasn't supposed to come back till late in the second round. And LeBron's got the sixth overall pick and it's Patrick Kane.

And everybody knows, okay, he was talking to Stan Bowman and we do it over the computer, but guys are going like, you know, that's not fair, and Pierre's going like, well, you phone the GMs. So to Schultz's point, I think in the

14-year history of this hockey pool, LeBron and I have both won it five times each. That's amazing. And you know what? Schultz, you spend too much money of the salary cap on big name players. And you know what?

You spend all your money on three guys. Look at the Edmonton Oilers right now. That's true. And one quick aside to that. One of the early years of that pool, Dave Schultz and I had about 1.30 in the morning at Tom Reed's bar in St. Paul, Minnesota after a Leafs wild game. I think the wild, it was a wild, Crosby's second or third year.

We made, we talked about the Gilmore deal. We made an 11 player deal on a cocktail napkin, which involved Henrik Zetterberg, Sidney Crosby. So sorry, Dougie. Yours wasn't the biggest deal. Schultz and I made a bigger one. But yeah, Schultz, stop spending your money on all the high-priced guys.

You know, funny that we talk about Schultz and Simmons because as I've learned from having these deep dives with these guys on Toronto Mic, is they were all in Calgary of Howard Berger and Simmons accidentally got Howard Berger fired from this gig. I think it was the Calgary Sun or something like that.

Yeah, you know, did you know, and you probably did, that Schultz and Steve and Eric Duhacek, who's in the Hall of Fame, obviously, and the writer, they all lived together at one time. Well, I knew they were all in Calgary at the same time. I didn't know they all lived together.

That's a good story. That's funny. If only there was YouTube back then. Matthew Cause, he writes, who's taller, you or Steve Buffery? Well, you know, bees are, are we including ego? Because bees are towers over me.

But no, it's funny. Steve is one of the most, I don't, has he been on the show? You know what? He has not been on the show. I'm going to kick his ass. Okay. He is in the Etobicoke Hall of Fame for his scribbling. He can walk here, right?

Yes, with his short legs. But no, Buffery comes up to my belt buckle, yeah. And so does another former colleague, Frank Ziccarelli. There's no shame in that. No. Some of my favorite guests are those who don't have the duck when they come downstairs to the Toronto Mike's studio. But listen, I would love to have Beezer's son on this show. So if you want to put in a word.

Hey, I'm your new booking agent. Okay, here we go. I love this. I love this. Okay, where am I going here now? I want to see if I mop up all the sun stuff before I get you out of there. But okay, so here's a couple of former Toronto My Guest guys I quite like talking to that worked at the sun, but not in sports. But like Jim Slotek, for example. Great guy. So you guys would hang out even though you weren't covering the Sun. Oh, no. The thing about working at the Toronto Sun, I can't say I've never worked at a place with such camaraderie because it's pretty much the only place I ever worked.

But it was really cool, especially in the early days. I mean, you'd have this, obviously, more of the standard newsrooms that we knew back then than are now with all the computers and stuff like that. But I remember when I first started at The Sun, when you worked there 10 years for full time, you automatically got, and there was no union, okay, but you automatically got a 10 week sabbatical with pay after every 10 years. So if you think about that, Mike, by the time you worked there for 10 years, I think you got five weeks off of holidays or six weeks off of holidays. So coupled with your sabbatical, you got four months off with pay. Every Christmas, you'd go to the top floor, which is where all the executives were. I mentioned Doug Creighton, the publisher, and just a wonderful, generous human being from another era. But they would actually give you an envelope,

and I think it was your Christmas bonus would be like 80% of your paycheck, but in cash. Wait, what percent? 80% of a paycheck or something. Oh, a paycheck. Yeah, so I don't remember. It's a while ago. Yeah.

So they'd have security guards, and then they'd have all these sunshine girls, who were the Argo cheerleaders at the time. And then they would be handing out envelopes to every person with all this money. And I remember talking to one of the guys who was actually in charge of bringing that money in, like raw cash. And he said, you know, I've never been so scared crapless in my life, like walking from the bank to the, exactly. But for the Sons, I want to say 20th, yeah,

would be 20th anniversary. So I think, yeah, it would have been around 91, 92. They rented, Doug Creighton rented out the entire Skydome and flew in every person that worked day one at the Sun. Even if they were living in England and France, he paid for their airfare for them and their families. They stayed over. We had this huge part, I mean, there were

carousels in the middle of, on the skydome floor, like merry-go-rounds. Right. And a Ferris wheel. On the Jumbotron, they had a history of the Toronto Sun on there. And it was just such a cool place. I mean, if you can imagine renting out the entire

dome so it was so fun and there was just this attitude because the globe and mail they used all them fancy words okay the you know syllable i i can't even spell syllable what the hell is a syllable and uh you know the star and rightly so. I mean, they had this image too. That's who I grew up reading. So, you know, when they talked about the little paper that grew, which was that you had this, there was a sense of cohesion that, you know what, we have to, you know what, we'll show

them. We're the little guys and we're going to show them. And I think that was the great thing about working at the Toronto Sun. And I certainly miss it. But at the same time, the decision I made to leave, I had a wonderful offer. And like we said, Mike, I mean, the media is not, the Toronto Sun today, and I don't mean about the people that are there, but there's simply, the herd has been thinned and will continue to do so. And it's not, it's just, there's not that, we were like a huge family at the time.

And, you know, the corporate world's just chiseled away at that. Well, I was going to ask, when did it start to change? And I just had this very similar discussion with Jim Slotek. We did the same thing. But were there any markers along the way where you could sense the change in the air, where it just wasn't the same kind of family? Well, you know, like, I mean, it was owned by Quebec Orr, and then it was owned by Post Media.

And when Post Media bought us, I think within, I don't know, like, like, within like six weeks, all of a sudden there was something like we have to cut 20% of the workforce from, from coast to coast. I think out in Vancouver, was it the Vancouver Sun newsroom? They laid off like 50 people in one hack. And yeah, I've just noticed it's accrued more and more. It's kind of snowballed in the last four or five years. You know, it's a sad thing. I think that newspapers were behind the times a lot when it comes to the internet and how do you make money from it? And, you know, things like we're doing here, things like podcasts and, you know, trying to be creative. And I think that too much mainstream media, when, you know,

I remember the first thing that came out was blogs. That was the first. And everybody thought, well, you know what, this is, you used to sit there was the first. And everybody thought, well, you know what? You used to sit there and look at a blog and go, well, you know what? There's some kid sitting in his parents' basement in a bathrobe stripping my quotes and putting them in there. And I know it because I was the only one that got that quote. But you know what? But you know what?

A lot of smart entrepreneurial people found their own niche. We talked about the niche that you found. Another guy that, you know, I followed you for a long time. I followed another guy that I followed was Steve Dangleglen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, in his early days when he first came out with one of his ranting videos. The jump cut YouTube videos. And I just laughed. Yeah, yeah, said, whether it's blogs, whether it's podcasts, have found ways to do intelligent, entertaining stuff. And I just think that sometimes the mainstream media just kind of like poo-pooed those people away

or the things that they were doing. And I think, you know what, Mike, I really do think that now in the age that we're in, it's very much cost them. I think that they were behind the times to keep up. And, you know, kids read stuff on their phones now. That's just the way that it is. There's a lot of different ways that they do that. And I just think that, yeah, I think that the mainstream media kind of got caught too much old school and didn't keep up with the times.

And that happens. I mean, I've seen it happen with the music industry, for example, where they fight the technology, which is sort of like it's a lot like trying to put Pandora back in the box. Like it's a losing battle instead of somehow learning to work with it and evolve. You're so right. And it's sad, but that's the way that it is. So it sounds like, and I remember reading about these because you and a number of other long-term journalists, I think like Jim, et cetera, but you were offered a package essentially, like X dollars for every year of service or something,

I'm just guessing here. And you decided, hey, I'll exit now with this package. I actually wasn't part of the package. I loved what I did and I stayed there. And the league came to me with an offer in Los Angeles at the All-Star game where the 100th anniversary, the 100 greatest players thing there. Right. And I told them I love what I do. And it was very lucrative. And I took five months and I did my research.

And one of the people that I talked to was Wayne Parrish, who had hired me way back when as a sports editor of The Sun. Right. He ended up being the CEO of Post Media for a while. And his words to me were, Zyze, you're on the deck of the Titanic. You can see the iceberg and somebody just threw you a lifeline. Don't be an idiot. And it's very hard and I miss a lot of the things there. But I have a new endeavor. I'm 55 years old and people say, when are you going to retire? I don't want to retire. I love what I, what am I going to do? I don't want to retire. I love what I do. What am I going to do?

I feel so fortunate to be able to do what I do and that people would consider me, whether it's NHL.com, whether it's Bob McCowan, you know. Okay, well, hey, you mentioned Bob McCowan. So now, because normally I would literally, I'll just say I could do this for three hours because I actually have this hard stop,

the expression I hate to use. But so you are going to have to come back. Yes, because I know you got to get your kids. But there's so many things I still want to get to. So I think I could do another 15 minutes. Okay. But let me, so let me go a little rapid fire here. But so you now work for NHL.com.

And you're covering hockey. So you're covering, maybe in a sentence, what your mandate is at NHL.com. Well, I cover the Leafs a lot because they're a big story, but also because I'm in tight with a lot of the general managers in the league. I do a lot of phone calls like that. I do a lot of phone calls like that I do a lot of features I did uh Tommy Wilson and uh Devante Smith Pelley bringing the bringing the coveted mug mug home to the GTA and did that those type of things so uh a lot of fun stuff a lot of league stuff I went to Sweden

for the players uh European tour and uh saw Patrick L. He walked in and he was shaved. And I said like, dude, what's going on? You look like, you went from looking like the troll that lived under the bridge to like somebody that's like 12 years old. And he just laughed and he said that was enough. And I put a photo out of him and it just went viral.

I mean, that's not Laine. But so a lot of fun him and it just went viral. I mean, that's not lying. But so a lot of fun stuff and I enjoy it. And, you know, like I said, Mike, I'm so privileged. We all have our bad days at work, but I always remind myself I could be working in the real world. Right. Now I got to ask you the obvious question here is if you're employed by NHL.com,

can you write something negative about the league or is essentially that's not your mandate well can i crap on batman no if i if i if i see something that is is like what about concussions or something like could you write some would you would you go there or is that uh because you you're not you know i would have an independent no i would have to float that float that by them they. They know my opinion on it. I've been quite strong on that. But yeah, there are certain things that you have to run. It's not the same as working for the Sun.

No. Because you are being paid by the league. Yes. So this is even closer. It's a shill. That's what you want to say. I'm trying to be gentle here, but we always go at the Rogers guys. Like, oh, that's a partner.

That's a $5 billion partnership. But this is even closer than that. You actually work for the league. So stuff like that, you'd have to... Right, right. So do they. As I try to point out to them every time. But at least they have designated bulldogs.

Like, they'll have a... Who would they have? Like, I don't know, maybe a Don Cherry or somebody, or Brian Burke, or somebody that would be allowed to kind of go at the league. Brian Burke worked for the league. That's true. Brian Burke's a bad example.

So, okay, you're happy at NHL.com. That makes me happy. You mentioned Bob McCowan. I can't get him to do this show. If you could do anything there. He doesn't like people. You laugh. Well, you're right.

He did do two things. Then upon closer analysis, they were both Rogers' properties. He's yet to do something outside of Rogers'. And believe me, if he does things for Rogers' property, A, he does them begrudgingly, and B, he's reciprocated financially for them. Okay. So I'll feel very sad the day I see him doing something outside of Rogers',

and I'll be like, aw. Okay, but that hasn't happened. Well, hey, man, you show Bob the like, oh, okay. But that hasn't happened. Well, hey man, you show Bob the dough, he'll come. And he doesn't drink beer, right? I understand he's not a drinker. Okay.

So you are on primetime sports periodically, like round tables, et cetera. And people like, you know, Brunt kicked out the Jams. That was a hell of a fun episode. Oh yeah. The Jams.

Holy smokes. So Bob McCow and Brunt and maybe a John Shannon or something. Yes. That was one recent of a fun episode. Oh, yeah. Holy smokes. So Bob McCow and Brunton, maybe a John Shannon or something. Yes. That was one recent one. Yep. How long have you been appearing on Primetime Sports? Wow. Maybe for 10 years, but it's increased the last few years.

And like I said, Bob's really been good to me. And there's a key to Bob, okay? When you go on with Bob you have to understand and it should be basic but but some people like we talked about have egos in our business okay nobody's there to listen to you they're there to listen to Bob so my job when I go on there Bob is having one of his more abundant days I have to find the button to push him so at some point he calls me an idiot because that's what people want.

They want to hear Bob call people idiots. Right, he's the curmudgeon guy. That's right. That's his shtick. So you know what? You just have to... And I will say this. He's one of the most fascinating interviewers

I've ever heard. He can get people to say things in an interview that I've seen very few, a skill that I've seen very few people have in my career. I quite like primetime sports, and that's why I want him on the show. But I wondered, you've never found yourself, I take it, on the Bob shit list. Like he seems to have, like David Schultz,z for example used to be on primetime yeah a bit you won't hear david schultz on primetime and i asked him about it because he's been on a few times but uh he wrote an article for the globe about i can't think it was about him bob being bored or something yeah and david will tell you that uh he got on bob shit list, which means he can't get on the show anymore, but you've never

been on the shit list. No, no and I'm not saying that Dave was wrong I'm not saying he was right but Dave's a pretty accurate reporter but no, not yet, but the week's still young. And then I have to ask you one more since you have some

affiliation with Primetime and you're on what the hell happened with Damien Cox? And I'm going to have him on. He's an Etobicoke guy, too, by the way. Yep. I'm going to have him on and ask him. But do you have any idea of why? No.

All of a sudden, he was a co-host. All I know is, have you seen the list of Bob's co-hosts over the years? It's a pretty lengthy list. That's true. But he's one of those guys similar to Brunt where he had an extensive time besides Bob. Yeah. I'm not sure.

I think that's a Rogers thing. Like I said, I'm not too sure. No scoop here. You're not going to spill it. If I had it, hey, if I had it, you got it. I mean, I haven't pulled any punches lately, but I know we're getting late in the show. I'm going to get to the questions

because people are nice enough to send in questions. I don't want to miss them. And then we'll do like two minutes. Two minutes instead of what I want to do, two hours on the current Leaf team here. But what do I have here? Bloj Salmin says, if you can't make the money work with Nylander,

isn't Marlowe the one to look to trade? I don't know. Like, can you trade a 40-year-old guy? I don't know if that's a... Well, but why would you want to trade. I don't know. Like, can you trade a 40-year-old guy? Like, I don't know if that's a... Well, but why would you want to trade Marlow? Because you have him under contract for another year at six. To make the money work for Nylander. Which is two less than Nylander is going to get or wants.

I just, I remember when Kyle Dubas said, oh, you know, we have a plan to keep all three. And I know William Nylander. I know his father, Michael Nylander, and I know how much money they want. And the way that Marner, yes, and the way that Marner is playing right now, I mean, his salary is going to escalate.

I just do not see a way where they can keep all of these guys. Like the math doesn't work, right? Yeah. Boston's going to get 13, right? Yeah. So cut bait now and get something for Nylander. That's what I would say. A defenseman.

If you can. But you know what? I mean, from what I've seen, and I know it's a small body of work, but Kapanen looks pretty good on that line, doesn't he? Yeah, he does. He does. He does. Yeah, for sure.

It's fun now. See, we're out of time, but I was going to hear about mid-time here. Oh, that's the only one. I know it's funny. The Maple Leaf Hockey Club have been champions and they will be champions again. The legend will be back. So this is a song by Ron Hawkins

of Lowest of the Low. I'm a big fan of that band. Yeah. Tim Thompson put together Boundless. By the way, this is the anniversary of his first visit. He came in 2015 for the first time. That's amazing. And you know what? The montage that they play, the video montage is incredible.

Yeah, and he updated it to include Johnny T. Yeah. He keeps having to update it, right? The first version didn't even have, there was no Austin Matthews in the first one, for example. But here's the jam. I'll put the background, but fantastic. And I like this version because this is the Tim Thompson version where you just heard Harold Ballard there. By the way, the Gord Stelic episode is pretty damn good too.

I could have talked about that. Well, see, I just want to pimp this really quick. I'm coming up that I will be co-hosting Leafs Nation pre-, post-game, and intermission shows with Gord Stelic coming up. I believe it's a game against the Kings and a game against the Blues. And that's, for me, that's pretty cool, Mike. I mean, to be

a kid from Scarborough sometimes and I'm in the press box and I'm co-hosting like a pre-game, post-game show for the least, the official one. I mean, that's like a dream come true. Oh, for sure. Yeah. That's a great combo too. That'd be great. So, Nylander, we kind

of touched on that, but that seems to be the hot big thing is what to do there. He's not budging, right? This thing's going to go long. We'll see. When it goes to December 1st, then he's got to make a decision and we'll see how much... A lot of times, it's not the money they want. It's the money they lose. That's true.

That's true. that's true. So D-Lander, of course, not playing. Contract holdout there. And you touched on the Mitch Marner and Austin Matthews. We have those guys to lock up soon. It sounds like, I don't know what Mitch will get if he gets nine or whatever. Tavares is 11, right? Yep.

Yeah. We got a discount there. So things are good right now in Leafland. We won't dwell on it. You can get this news anywhere. But this is an entertaining team. I guess we just have to figure out how to keep the puck out of the net. Unless we keep this 1985 Edmonton Oilers 7-6 thing going on. I love the hockey in the 80s.

But you know what? Judging by some of the scores around the league in the first week and a half, Mike, they're not the only ones. I mean, the Carolina Hurricanes are putting up 7 and 8 tonight. True that. True that. Daryl Samuels asks, Has anyone ever said that you look like wrestling great Jesse the Body Ventura? Well, you know, Gorilla.

Gorilla Monsoon. That's my WWF era. Yeah, so Jesse was... I need the colorful bows, Mike. I mean, actually, people, I'm wearing them now. You just can't see them because, you know, this is audio. But we're going to take a picture after. That's a great compliment because I've been told I look like worse. So Jesse Ventura, that's okay.

And he was governor, you know, of Minnesota, I think. And yeah, that was my time. I'm not even the king of my own castle, let alone a governor. That table of commentators, Gorilla Monsoon, Vince McMahon, and Jesse the Body Ventura. And then you had Mean Gene doing the interviews. Yeah. Mean Gene Okerlund.

Yeah, it was awesome. And that wrestling album, which I refer to all the time on this show, and I play stuff from the wrestling album. I just played Cara Mia from the wrestling album because Nikolai Volkov just passed away earlier this year. But, oh, there's Bob Cole. Clark, scoring.

Yeah. Overtime. Kings. Thank you. 93. I can't believe Bob Cole is not going out with all his games this year in the first half of the season.

Yeah. I mean, I'm a big fan of his. I had the chance to go to Newfoundland and do a story on Bob and visit him at home. Great guy. Think about it, Mike. He was calling games in the 70s. Well, he called this the Paul Henderson goal for radio.

Yes, and he played that for me. And we all think about, Henderson has scored for Canada, Foster Hewitt, but Bob called the radio one. And sometimes I'll hear, I think I was at the Hockey Hall of Fame, I was listening to the radio call by Bob Cole, and I'm like, Bob Cole called this game in 1972. Yeah.

Okay, so we're a little bit frenetic here, but I want to say hi to Steve Leggett, because he had a question about primetime sports, and I asked it by accident. I asked it myself. Great question, Steve. Steve McAllister. Hopefully Toronto Mike asks Zeisberger to deliver his best Van Earl Wright impersonator.

There was a guy when CNN Sports was big, and so I would call Steve McAllister deep, and he would call me Van Earl because Van Earl Wright would go, and here's Barry Bonds in the third inning. And he goes, deep, over the wall in the field. And we would just laugh because it was before announcers really had shtick like that. So therefore, yes, yes, this deep, if you're listening, and you better be listening, okay, that was Van Earl telling you hello hello, and my best imitation.

I was watching. I know this 11 o'clock, right? Yeah. Sports Tonight or something. And there was Vince. I think he's passed away, actually. Yes. Corelli?

He was an Italian last name. Yes, exactly. And then there was another gentleman. Bob Lorenz was on there. We can go down the list. But here's the thing, and it's funny. It kind of comes full circle here as Ron Hawkins ends here. It comes full circle. Hold on here.

The feet does not rest lightly on their shoulders, and that's the way my team's always played. Mikey, we're going to win the Stanley Cup this year, man. I'm getting so excited right now. Okay. Okay, Mike, slow your roll. What are the realistic... No. Oh, yeah. So I'm going to finish that thought here. So before I...

What was my point before I turned up that volume? I had such a great... Oh, yeah. So I'm going to finish that thought here. So before I... What was my point before I turned up that volume? I had such a great... Oh, yes. Comes full circle. I was a big sports line. Global sports line. Yes, guy. That's what you...

Guy. Yes, guy. That was Jim Taddy and Mark Hebbshire. And Mark Hebbshire brought this personality that I hadn't seen. I kind of got a taste of it on that Vano Wright Sports Tonight. But it was cut from the same cloth. But I mean, the Hebbsy Awards, it was fun, great music. And to me, you're excited because you're going to be co-hosting a show with Gord Stelic.

And that's amazing. And I get excited because I co-host a show with Mark Hebbs here now. The Mikeys. Are you kidding me? Do you have the Mikeys? I mean, the Hebbsys. I mean, your version of the Hebseys. I got to introduce that to him tomorrow morning for sure.

But yeah, so I enjoyed the Sportsline guys the same way as the Sports Tonight guys. Well, here's a quick thing on that. I was, Taddy, once, I think Hebsey had left already. Taddy started bringing me in as kind of like his hockey expert for a few months. And then we went to the summer and I didn't get a call. And it was like, I reached out to him and I

said, uh, guy, what's going on here? Uh, you know, I haven't heard from you. And Taddy goes, oh guy, haven't you heard? They canceled the show. I said, oh, that's great. I just, I just destroyed a show that's been on for over two decades. Oh, that is, that's funny. So every time he asked me to come on the radio,

I go, you want me to end that show for you too? Right, because he's doing work at TSN there. Last question, and then again, you have to come back. I got more stuff. But last question is, give me the realistic, realistic, unbiased expectations for this Toronto Maple Leafs team. I don't want to hear about nonsense. You know, Vegas says, give me a break.

Vegas just wants to get the most money you can get on the bed. Forget all that. Realistically, because personally, if you said we were going to make a conference final, I would be ecstatic to take a conference final after so many years in the wilderness. Some say, no, it's cup or bust. I don't have that yet. Tell me what's the realistic expectation for this Toronto Maple Leafs team? I think that you have to crawl before you walk.

Mike, they have never won a playoff series in the salary cap era. And that since 2004. And I remember these guys have to learn how to win. And I know listeners think that's a cliche, but one of the questions that I asked Mike Babcock in Boston after that third period meltdown, and it's totally different from the one in 13. Okay. This is a different group of players, but you know, a lot of people were talking about Babcock and how much ice time there was and Jake Gardner, Freddie Anderson. Mike, the bottom line was the Toronto Maple Leafs were 20 minutes away from winning a playoff series.

They were one goal up. They did not get a shot on goal for the first eight minutes of the third period. So forget about Jake Gardner. Forget about the goalie. To me, that signifies that that team en masse, okay, I don't want to say froze in the moment, but they got outplayed at the biggest moment. Like after six months, you had 20 minutes, the carrot was there. And I think Babcock said that too. At some point, the coaching stops, and you have to learn how to get past that obstacle.

Now, we think about John Tavares like that. He's won one playoff series in his career. So, you know what? Having said that, I think a conference final. I still think Tampa's better than him on the back end, but I think a conference final. You've got to learn how to win. Right. Let's get the conference final this year.? You've got to learn how to win. Right.

Let's get the conference final this year. Because you're right, we haven't won a playoff series since Ed Belfort was between the pipes. Wow. So we have less playoff series victories than Johnny T, John Tavares, right, if you think about it that way. Yeah. Yeah, like you said, 0-4 against Ottawa.

Ed Belfort is in the Hall of Fame now. Think about that. He's retired and in the Hall of Fame, and they haven't won a series since. Oh, my God, my friend. I'm so excited. We have a good team. I'm so happy you came and did this.

This has been awesome. This was awesome, and I have recorded evidence that you will come back. We can even kick out the jams. You're a big metalhead, or you like your rock and roll? Definitely. We're going to do that. We're going to talk more sports.

Thanks so much, and thanks for doing this on my dining room table. It was actually pretty good considering it was a makeshift operation here. It was awesome. Thank you very much. And that brings us to the end of our 383rd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Mike is at Zeisberger. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee. And Paytm is at Paytm Canada. See you all next week. Thanks. like wine and it won't go away cause everything is rose and green well you've been under my skin for more than eight years it's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears and i don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you

But I'm a much better man for having known you Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up