Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Rod Black, Vol. 1: Toronto Mike'd #800

Episode Date: February 16, 2021

Mike chats with TSN's Rod Black about his moustache, his sports media start in Winnipeg, working the '91 Canada Cup, Olympics, Blue Jays, his relationship with Charles Barkley, working for Canada AM on 9/11, Raptors and more.

Welcome to episode 800 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. CDN Technologies, your outsourced IT department contact Barb she's Barb at CDNTechnologies.com Palma Pasta enjoy the taste of fresh homemade

Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville StickerU.com create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals for your home and your business. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majeski, or as I call him, Mimico Mike.

He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week, making his highly anticipated Toronto Mike debut, Mr. Black. Rod Black. Hey, hey, hey, hey, Mr. Black. You sound like Reservoir Dogs. By the way, this is show number? 800. 800. And I'd like to have one of your great beers there.

And I love them, by the way. I have drank those. The guy with the lumberjack one I really like. But I'm going to give you, Mike, I wanted to give you something for this. Oh, my goodness. You know, it's probably such an emotional time, 800 shows, and you probably lost your guest, so you got me. So I'm going to send this to you.

This is not a sponsor, but it could be a sponsor of your show. I love all your sponsors, by the way. I know if I get real estate, I know who to go to. I know where to get beer. If I have to buy a coffin, I'm all good. Anyway, here we go. This is for you, Mikeonto mike oh my goodness black wine wow white wine you could have red wine you could have black wine that's my wine out of a terra

estate it's a charity wine we do it for charity so i'm going to send you some try it uh you know i i don't want you to have to feel forced to use it as a sponsor, but it will be donated to you. So probably a nice little mention here and there would be very nice. I'd be honored. I'd be honored to. Happy 800, young man. Happy 800. Who was your first guest?

The first like 50 episodes were guestless, essentially, like me and a friend just shooting the breeze. And then it evolved into what it is now where I have interesting, you know, it took me a long time to score and land the great Rod Black. We've been working on this for a long time. I know. I'm really, really busy, by the way,

as you can tell. That's how it works. I'm glad we could connect. I heard great things about you through my good pal, everybody's friend, Leo Routens. Oh, good.

Thanks about the show. I checked in a couple of times and you're doing great things. So I know you got a lot of followers and listeners and viewers and continued success. May you have another 8,000. 8,000. Holy smokes. That's great.

Yeah. No, honestly, I couldn't imagine a more interesting conversation for number 800 that Rod Black. I'm very excited about this. I keep having Rod Black stories told me to me by like, like the Bob, I want to shout out.

Is there a PG rating for this? Bob Weeks. I want to shout out. He's a FOTM like you are now. And he's given me a few. Dave Perkins. I love Dave Perkins. What a great man.

Yeah. I miss him. Yeah. I miss him. Yeah. I had him on with Bob Elliott, I guess before the pandemic anyway, so I don't know when that was, 2019, I think. But they came on together and just talked about, you know, great old Blue Jays stories. It was fantastic.

Yeah, I know. That's one great thing about the city. I love the name of your podcast, by the way, This City. Yesterday, being Family day, you know, what are you going to do with family day? You're going to stay at home. Oh, wait, I've done that for the last 365 days. So I got two kids who are South right now, but I got two, we have, we have four children and I have two left at home. So we decided to go down to downtown Toronto, just kind of check it out.

I go down for work, but it's just kind of sad right now, just seeing how, you know, you could, it's like a grand Canyon down on young street. And there are a lot of areas and a lot of businesses that are really suffering. Um, but we went down to Dave's hot chicken, which was the new kind of the new big spot. It was awesome. I'm still kind of burning up from today from the chicken, but it, and there were lineups everywhere for that. It does look like life is kind of normal, you know, in so many ways, but it just feels so sad seeing the theaters, seeing Scotiabank arena and Rogers center who would have ever thought we would

have ever had to go through what we have gone through, but, you know, fingers crossed Mike, that we're getting through this. And, you know, hopefully the next time I get a chance to talk to you we'll be in person and that's kind of what we need right now we need real personal inter relationship and I need that kind of hope like that maybe on a nice summer day you can drop by

I'll keep you 10 feet away in the backyard and we could kind of do a sequel to this episode I cannot wait to see people again so they can piss me off and I can go away again. Well, Rod, then I'll give you an eight-pack of fresh craft beer from Great Lakes. I'll get you a lasagna. This is the best lasagna you'll ever have.

It's the Palma Pasta lasagna. I got Toronto Mike stickers from Sticker U. I got a lot of great stuff for you. There's no nation like donation. And I'm a member of the media mantra and Perk lived up to it. Elliot, Bob Weeks, Jack Armstrong,

for sure. We all live up to one mantra. If it's free, it's for me. Jack made, so Jack came on and then he asked me if I could get him more beer. Like he loves the great lakes. And I actually,

he was at a, like a hotel, not far from basically on the waterfront he was on a hotel and um he asked me if he could get me more and i actually got him more great lakes and i dropped it off at the the lobby of the hotel for jack armstrong this is how much he loved his great lakes and how much he loved free stuff i know oh jack i'm telling you like nobody like first of all anything to do uh that anything that you can consume, particularly wine, beer, particularly beer and Kentucky Fried Chicken, clearly. Buckets, buckets and buckets.

He likes that. So, yeah, Jack, we are so lucky and blessed to have such great, great characters in our games. Right. No matter what the sport is. And, you know, Jack is jack's been almost a day one with all of us at the raptors and you know what he has grown the personality he has grown into everybody knows and everybody loves jack armstrong oh no doubt no one and you know what it's always good to remember i tell my kids i got two little ones and they leave some garbage around

i tell them to get that garbage out of here. He has these catchphrases that have become him. I think some of them are a little borrowed, but some are new. Get that garbage out of here is clearly one of them. I like what he does with Chris Boucher. Boucher, Boucher. Hello has become his signature. His signature for sure.

But there's so many. He is a great dude. I've spent a lot of nights a lot of uh late nights late mornings late early mornings late nights early afternoons with jack i've never seen anybody bounce back everybody thinks the raptors are resilient right i've never seen a guy bounce back from a night before like jack armstrong i can get i can't get out of bed that dude is gone for a run already and come back and he's fresh. I hate him. And you can win a lot of, you know, when you can go to bars again,

you can win a lot of, a lot of bar bets by betting people that Leo Roudens is older than Jack Armstrong. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no. Jack is, I do believe the youngest, I think Matt's a little younger, youngest member of our team, but But, you know, hey, the beauty for him is, you know, age before beauty. So I guess he gets in earlier. I don't know how it works.

Rod, I'm going to play like 30 seconds of a song. Then I'll fade it down. I just want to know if you have any idea who's singing this song. Okay. So here, enjoy this. All right. Keep on keeping on. Keep on keeping on. Headlights shining in the dark.

Loneliness never hits so hard. Keep on keeping on. Keep on keeping on. Small towns to city lights lights Broken roads to mountain heights All right, I'll bring it down. You get the idea. Rod Black, have you ever heard that song before? I think I know where you're going.

No, I have not, but I think I know who the name of this person is. If it is, if this is where you're going. Who do you think is the singer of that song? It's not me, by the way, but I think it could be the guy who has the same name. I think I stole his name. That is a good song.

Yeah. I don't know the young man, but I do know we share the same name. So I apologize to him if he has to share my name with me. And I'm glad I'm sharing his name with me because apparently a very talented young artist. It's funny that you have that name for so many years and you you know you have a brand with it and then all of a sudden i

guess it can just happen where a rod black can hit the scenes and i don't know a lot about rod black but i know he's canadian and i know he had a big hit with this song which is called keeping on it's a big country radio hit so like if he goes on and becomes the next garth brooks or something you'll just be the other Rod Black. Yeah, that's I'm fine with that. I'm the only, I'm the other,

I'm the other Rod Black anyway, so it don't matter. But it's like when I was young, well, it could always just be how my wife refers to me or my late mother referred to me when they're angry with me. I am. Although Leo also refers to me as that Rodney.

I'm Rodney. Rodney. Right. You get no respect. I am that Rodney. I'm Rodney. Rodney. As in Rodney D. Right. You get no respect. I am a Rodney. But anyway, I'd like to meet the other Rod Black someday. And I'd like to see him. I'd like to see him play live.

Wouldn't we like to see anybody in concert? Another thing when I was going down, I drove by BMO and thought about all the concerts, the outdoor concerts at the amphitheater that we went to a little while ago and we can't go to. So I want to go see Rod Black at the amphitheater. That's my dream. Or better yet, the Scotiabank Arena. You know, when they can get back to live events like that,

I do hope you kind of, like, you announce him. Like, you're the guy who goes on stage and says, coming up next, Rod Black. Because that would be like a mind-bending meta moment, I think we deserve. Well, that's, you know, you that would be like a mind-bending meta moment, I think we deserve. Well, you kind of think for all the guys in sports, too, that all have the similar names. I think there are tons of Steve Smiths, right? There's tons of Steve Smiths.

Johnson's for sure. I'm sure there are tons of those. But you kind of go, who's that guy? Which one is he? We saw it in the World Series, two guys with the same name. We've seen it before. Brian Williams. Yeah. Yeah. Like there's, there's so many, the weird one is when you have kind of like a different name,

like I have and then somebody else has the same name or what, you know, again, I'm trying to think, even if somebody is going into the hall of fame, they have the same names. You would think that we would be a little more creative in our world, but that's okay. It's okay. Now, I'm going to sprinkle questions from your fans and maybe even some of my fans throughout this episode. William, right off the top, has a question I love, so I'm going to hit you with this. This involves my good friend, FOTM, Gino Retta.

my good friend FOTM, Gino Reda. Okay, so William wants to know, was there ever a rivalry between you, Rod Black, and Gino Reda over who has the best mustache in sports? No, no. I'm not sure who got rid of it first, though. I would say that there was a definite rivalry. I think we tried to hire hitmen to take out Jim Van Horn.

Oh, yeah. Jim Van Horn had the Sistine Chapel of the Mona Lisa of the Louvre of mustaches. He had the Stanley Cup of mustaches. I'm not sure. I haven't seen Jim

in a few years. I don't know if a lot of people know, they found Jimmy Hoffa in Jim Van Horn's mustache. It was a true story. It was crazy. But I had it for a while, I guess, you know, back in the 80s, where I used to work in Winnipeg. Mustaches are popular, you know, even though they're not anymore. Now beards and mustaches are mustaches and everybody. It's like a podcast. Now, everybody has a podcast. You were an original.

Everybody had a mustache. So I had a mustache for a long time. And quite frankly, the day I, everybody asked me, why'd you get rid of your mustache? And they, some people still think, you know, I just got rid of it two years ago. I think I haven't had it in about 15. I was one of my youngest boys, Brody was like six or seven. And he looked at me i was shaving he goes hey dad he had this little growly voice i've never kissed you without a mustache and that

kind of brought a tear to my eye so i shaved my mustache off and quite frankly haven't put it back on since uh little known fact i did loan it to jim tatty for a while and jim jim still has it but jim uses it as an eyebrow i don't know if you know that his right eyebrow is actually that's my mustache it's a true story that's absolutely true story now yes I had Jim Van Horn I got to see him uh this recent this past summer I had him on Toronto Mike to see how he's doing he still got the mustache oh does he yeah he's still rocking I know he's teaching and he started a sports media. I think he's still doing that. Great man. A legendary voice for TSN.

He was the voice of TSN for so many of the commercials. This is TSN. I guess you can't see that, I guess. I don't know. It's for your car decal. But this is the 1050 Chum car sign. So I know you're a Winnipeg guy. We'll get into that.

But Jim Van Horn was a rock jock. Oh, yeah. And I think it wasn't his. Jim Van Horn is not rock jock. Oh, yeah. And I think he, it wasn't his, Jim Van Horn, Van Horn is not his name and I'm sure he told you the whole thing.

It's a great story. I think some people want to change their names all the time. I probably maybe could have and should have. I mean,

I don't know, you know, I'm not, my name is something from a porn site. But that's, yeah, well, except it sounds like I think you throw in a tux, you know, I'm not... No, Rod Black, to me... Something from a porn site. But that's, yeah, well, except it sounds like, I think you throw in a tux, you know, you got the, frankly, my dear,

I don't give a damn mustache there. And Rod Black's a good name for that guy, I think. Yeah, I guess, I guess. But I mean, some people have, by the way, a lot of people have in our business. Clearly, they've changed them, especially weather people have changed it to weather, you know, stormy weathers

or whatever that, they change them. I frankly, you know, why would you not just stay with the name and it's the name your parents gave you and in honor of them, why wouldn't you continue on that legacy, right? I do like the name Jim Van Horn.

And speaking, yeah, it was a great, great handle. Now, speaking of legacy, let's take you back to winnipeg for a moment here because larry larry ask him about being the mayor of transcona now that's a winnipeg thing what does that mean so yeah transcona is like the scarborough of winnipeg only without the romance. And so it's just, it's a suburb. It's a suburb of, and it's exactly actually where Scarborough is located. That's kind of where Transcona,

it's kind of the West or sorry, the East end of Winnipeg. Transcona had a, always had a interesting reputation. It was like a people, it was like, there was like a border there. Like the Winnipeggers, they were from Winnipeg, but you didn't, you weren't from Transcona. So I like to say I was from the other side of the tracks but

we didn't even have tracks and it was a car dealership place I'm still very proud of where I come from it's known for pink flamingos everybody put pink flamingos out on their lawns and then as kids we go and like you know rifle through them or steal them or pull a prank and put and there so that was the thing um I grew up there it was um you never forget where you come from I mean I love Toronto I love Ontario I love Canada period but I do miss being from Winnipeg not quite frankly and right now where it's minus 40 but I do uh love the area I came from because it was really sports oriented Mike we were able to go out every day and play sports that's all I did when I was a kid.

Got up at seven and we played. And we had a great neighborhood. We played baseball in the summer, basketball, road hockey in the summer. We'd skate on the back lane to a rink, a dilapidated rink down the street. We'd skate all day in minus 20, minus 30 degree weather. But Transcona, it's a special place. And now it's booming. It's where everybody wants to be.

And I'm very lucky that I actually have a street named after me. I don't want to name drop or tell you that, but it is a very short street. It's a, it's kind of an alley. It's a laneway, but it's, I I'm very proud of that place where I come from. I think everybody should be, but it is, it's, it's, it's, it's a special, special, I want to call it like a municipality of Winnipeg and everybody at Winnipeg kind of knocks this place. But I do believe secretly, everybody wants to be from Transcona.

They call it trash Kona and Kona. If you're from Transcona, you're part of the hood. We have our own, we have our, we basically have our own culture. I love it, it man i'm learning so much today amazing so basically give us the quick version of like how do you end up hosting winnipeg jets nhl broadcasts in winnipeg like how do you get from the guy you know just playing pickup hockey with his buds and transcona to uh you know an actual sports media start in winnipeg i don't know how long your show is but but I can go through. I would say,

you know, I get asked this, uh, especially when I'm, you know, I do help some classes and kids who are trying to get into the business. And I really started when I was really young. Like I had a mic, not like that, like, but a little tape recorder in my bedroom when I was eight and nine and I did voices and impressions. And I used to be on the radio in Winnipeg, a morning show. Um, and I used to be on the radio in Winnipeg morning show and I used to phone in and do impressions all the time when I was like nine and ten I'll

never forget my parents were sleeping and they'd be yelling why are you so loud and I'd be secretly doing that my parents were about four or five years did not know who that they said who's that idiot on the radio and it was me so I was doing that secretly I loved sports but I was also really in love with the theater and arts and music. And then, you know, a trans that probably was thinking maybe someday getting into radio. Then around 14 and 15, I got a job at a local roller rink, of all things, a Saints roller rink. Roller skating was very popular. It was like early 80s.

It was everybody went to roller rinks. And so I got a job. And the first it was a skate garden. First night I saw that DJ guy. I want to do that. So I got a chance in the first, it was a skate garden. First night I saw that DJ guy, I went, I want to do that. So I got a chance to do that. Did that for a couple of years. Got to a bar, was working underage in a bar as a DJ,

was a pretty popular place. So I'm learning all of these things with my, probably my second love, because my first love is sports. I'm still playing all of these sports. You know, I'm playing junior hockey and junior baseball and junior football and junior football um and dreaming secretly of being a basketball player i'm truth be known i wanted to be the first white globetrotter i really did i practiced i practiced all the tricks hence the i can you know i practiced all

the tricks uh but i again i guess maybe i like so many that I didn't really put all my my talents into one sport and work hard enough at that one sport. Anyway, I was got a scholarship, a couple of scholarship offers to go to the States to play sports, basketball and hockey. And I was on my way down for a recruiting visit to a place called Bemidji. And as I went there halfway, I kind of realized I think I was a little bit different than I was graduating when I was 17. So I was about 16 and a half and I was down with a buddy and I said, you know what? I don't want to do this. Turn it around. We got over the border. We went and did our American shopping because it was really cheap.

Came back. I ended up in a course called creative communications at red river, which kind of helped change my life a lot because it was very unique TV radio and that I still wanted to kind of be a radio guy. I didn't really know advertising. I like creating, producing. And then a year into my second year, early in my second year, there was a job opening at a local station and a fellow named Peter Young was a TV star in the 70s and early 80s was the guy. And everybody said in my classroom said, hey, you got to try this. They were a little older. You got to try to be perfect. I'm like,

seriously, like not even 18 yet. And I said, I don't know if I, I said, I had a big Afro. I had a little caterpillar cheesy mustache. I have really bad eyes that kind of, you know, I was, I didn't have contact lenses. I said don't think so now my dad had a conversation with me driving back he says you should go for that it might be good for you anyway long story short that day comes where they're interviewing and i decided to get out there first be the first guy in line it was raining i'll never forget peter young shows up i see them this is like the local tv god and i i grabbed the umbrella i bring him in under umbrella so yeah it's pay kids, suck up, kiss butt.

So here I am walking in. I do, I get the first interview, pins and needles. Anyway, I get the job starting in Winnipeg, a local station. I think about, I was doing highlights for a while, a couple of reports. My first report was on film of all things. We had manual typewriters.

It was a grind, but for me, you know, I still was playing sports too. I was actually playing, still playing. I still kept playing baseball and basketball. But for me, it was like, now this is my profession. And so all my buddies who were out every night, like, you know, at the bars, I would meet up with them obviously later. Cause I'd work every night to midnight or two or some nights I would just stay up all night and edit and do stuff just like what you're doing right now and, and hone a craft and make mistakes and make tons of mistakes. And to this day, you still make them and, and you just learn from them and you don't make as many. And that's what happened. And I just decided, you know, that this is what I want to do. And so I get on the air, like I probably about four months later, I'm sure I'm

one of the youngest broadcasters. Again, I didn't think I could be that young and get in because most of them were experienced broadcasters. So I'm on the late night news. And I was actually thinking about the other day, my whole block in Transcona, they had like a bonfire, a TV set up outside for me, I guess. And that was my first night. And, you know, that was almost 40 years ago now. And, you know, again, you grind, you work, you work, you get, you keep knocking and knocking.

You patiently wait. You kind of don't want to go too quick. And then I become the host of the Jets broadcast. We only had about maybe 16 to 20 games a year, but it was great because now I'm in a world like that where I'm seeing from even more, I'm working, another young broadcaster was out in Red Deer. I did the Jets and so we would share we would share all of our resources so if somebody came Calgary came to Winnipeg that broadcaster would be there Toronto Toronto had I believe Dave Hodge was hosting some of theirs but Ron McLean was their their host in in Calgary right

and so you know I got to know Ron through that. And we were also working for what was called Molstar Communications, or Ohlmeyer. And that's how it begins. And then, you know, all those years later, unfortunately, you know, you can blame Peter Young for unleashing me. So it's a long story, but I guess someday I can probably document it. But it's about perseverance and luck and luck meeting opportunity. And I was very lucky and I'm very blessed. And I'm, I'm to this day, I do think I haven't worked a day in my life, even though I've worked hard. Let's shout out that CTV affiliate, that's CKY TV. Yes. Yes. CKY TV. And again, it was great. I was there for till 1990. That's when I moved to Toronto and I learned so much and I had so many great partners

news anchors and I had so many great of those you know Ron Burgundy moments like you know as a young broadcaster where there's like stuff goes wrong uh you know the Steve Carell moments where stuff goes wrong and you see it or you know I used to be renowned because I we had a broadcast every night and I had 16 to almost 18 minutes. That's like, that's unheard of. And I wanted to feel it as much as I could. And I, I will tell you right now, I'm sure I stole footage. I took it, but I, and because I was working just basically on myself and an editor, we, every night try to get every single highlight. Those days you didn't have highlights. I wanted all the highlights on, we created, I do believe we were the first to create plays of the

week. And we did it as a format with movie clips, but we created a show that people started to really like and watch. And it was loaded with highlights and I stole. And so because I'm taking highlights off the cuff like that, I had no time to write a script. So I was renowned for taking these yellow posted stickers or no stickers and going on air without a script like I can't tell you how many nights and I just it wasn't that I was trying to I just couldn't write the script in time because there were manual typewriters I'm going like I can't do this so I just went on the air for 18 minutes and just spewed sports and had highlights and I you know knew enough enough of the players and watch the games and that's kind of how it all began and

again you know to all of those students out there any um aspiring broadcasters or podcasters you know dance tap dance you know we have we live in a world where everybody's taught to read read but also tap dance it really helps you now i do co-host a uh sports podcast with hebsey mark heb Hebsey. So I just got to clarify. Exactly. Hebsey, I know that exactly the same way. And that's actually when I came to Toronto, you know, again, those guys,

I actually probably stole highlights from them because they were actually very popular in the eighties when I was in Winnipeg. I stole highlights from everybody, actually. I don't think, I think under a statute of limitations, right? Like I can't get sued for stealing highlights back then, like 25 years. I stole from TSN. CNN had a great Nick Charles and Brad Hickman. I stole them every night. Yeah. Now when I say steal, I stole their footage. So, so now here it is.

I obviously had a bit of a kleptomania problem stealing highlights. But I wanted to make the show better. I wanted to get highlights on. And you can't do that nowadays because you would get sued. Right. Now, okay, so how do we get you? The first time I think a lot of us see you on TV is probably the 1991 Canada Cup. Is that fair to say?

What do you think? I was, yeah, 91. I started, so how, how about this? My first assignment, my first assignment, I not only got hired at CTV, but because, well, I'll go back a little bit. I get hired at CTV with another co-host, Tracy Wilson, famous figure skater,

who is now my great friend and colleague on skating events on TSN and CTV. I get hired with her. my great friend and colleague on skating events on TSN and CTV. I get hired with her. We're co-hosts because CTV has been granted Olympic rights for 1992 in Barcelona in 94. So it was a no-brainer. I honestly, before that, was thinking about joining LA Kings broadcast down in the States. And I was really thinking about going stateside and again, developing and honing my craft. And so that decision was like, there was no decision,

the Olympics, Canada, getting a chance to go to all these games, yada, yada. So our first assignment, Tracy and I, we get sent out to actually our first assignment was in, uh, December, 1990. Uh, we did a skating event and I had never, honestly, never done skating event. I watched it. My cousin was a great figure skater, but I never really watched it. But I was, you know, I, again, was a roller skater. So I kind of had some, I love the entertainment aspect. So that was an indoctrination. I had to learn quick about skating. Yada, yada. January 1st, December, January 1st, 1991 is our true first assignment together how about this one what a plum assignment I'm thinking I'm loving my job we get asked to host and commentate the roses parade and then

be a sideline reporter at the rose bowl game between Washington and Michigan I am like over the moon now we get sent out Tracy was pregnant at the time we get sent out we had to be at the the in Pasadena at three o'clock in the morning I'd never been like I've been around parades before but we had a very small one up very one float parade high neighbor festival so we get out we get sent out I will never tell you still to this day the most spectacular thing I've ever seen or smelt the flowers were were incredible. So we did that was we hosted. We actually hosted. We did that. Then that later that day, the Rose Bowl game, we had to do some sort of inserts that we did a lot of those. So that was that I did that. Then I did the ninety one Canadian skating championships.

We did we had Blue Jay baseball in the spring as well. We were so we hosted that. So, yeah, I was doing stuff before Canada Cup but that was kind of the big international we also had tennis and before that I had actually done some golf events for CTV I did the Canadian Open prior to actually becoming their host so golf is a real love of mine but yeah Canada Cup 91 was like that you know I'm a hockey head and a man getting a chance to be around all those guys i formed some unbelievable friendships one of my best friends to this day uh bruce good of the good brothers i got to meet musicians and i'm going mike i honestly went are they paying for me they're not paying me for this because this is the best gig and it was awesome and you know and the best news is canada won absolutely

now okay so did you have any thoughts at that time because you're kicking ass anchoring the uh you know the 91 canada cup did you consider that maybe you that time? Cause you're kicking ass anchoring the, uh, you know, the 91 Canada cup. Did you consider that maybe you, you should be the host of hockey night in Canada? Uh, no, I liked what I was doing. No, that's, that's a really good question. I would, I have dreamed of, of, of possibly going over there and doing that. Yeah, for sure. But here's another thing that happened.

I mean, yeah. Why, why, you know, of course you would think about something like that. Uh, but I really am loyal guy. That's why I've been at one network for 40 years. But here's another thing that happened. I mean, yeah, of course you would think about something like that. But I really am a loyal guy. That's why I've been at one network for 40 years. I mean, I was part of our team, and I just thought we were building our own brand too. We were only doing Saturday shows. It was called CTV Sports Presents.

It was kind of wide world of sports, kind of the wacky stuff. It was good. I really liked what I did but also that happened but kind of 92 ish is that I was offered and accepted because I really missed hockey a lot I accepted the Tampa Bay Lightning play-by-play job in their first year Phil Esposito and I Phil we going back a lot of years he really liked what I did and he said I'm lucky I want to hire you. So he hired Ron Greshner and I for the first year of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Meanwhile, I took the job thinking I could still stay at CTV and just travel back and forth. Right.

Right. I mean, everybody else does that. I mean, that's what everybody else. I thought, OK, I'll just travel back and forth. I'll do both because I honestly, Mike, anybody knows me like that. There's not enough hours in the day. I'd rather do five sports events than one. Anyway, I couldn't do both.

It was just impossible. And I did not want to lessen my workload in Canada at all. And I wanted to make sure I gave it 100% to those big events in Canada. So I had, we didn't have as many events in the winter. And I could have done it. So it was a kind of an opportunity. But I had to we didn't have as many events in the winter and I could have done it. So it was a kind of an opportunity, but I had to tell Espo. He didn't talk to me for about five, six years.

We still joke about it. He was so mad at me. Don't piss off, Espo. I try not to. Yeah, and he's a good man. I love him. We're still great friends. I used to have a radio show at Gretzky's.

He used to come on all the time. And yeah, it was there. Yeah, you always have thoughts about going elsewhere. I'm sure you talked to, I don't know if Ron's been on your show. Oh, yeah, he has, yes. I'm sure he's had thoughts about going other places or had opportunities. And I will tell you, there have been dialogue with other networks, but it never got past the starting point. I always liked what I did.

And frankly, CTV and Bell Media, they've been home to me. And zero regrets. And I only ask that, and I'm not motivated by this, but some people are motivated by the almighty dollar. And the dollars that they throw around south of the border are so much bigger. Yeah. No, I wouldn't say zero regrets. No, I think anybody who says zero regrets, that's a lie. Right. That's old face. No, sure. You know, you look down there and you see, you see the amount of money. I still get a chance, an opportunity to work some freelance, um, in the United States. And I, you know, I see what they pay the people there. Um, and I'm sure if you have, you had Dan Schulman on Dan's become ainent broadcaster in the U.S. And he's done very well at it. I'm sure he will tell you.

I'm thinking of the late great John Saunders, for example. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. And oh, man, it brings a tear to my eye. I love that man so much. Different zeros. John went down at a time, though, remember, too, that first of all, different time, certainly

in Canadian broadcasting. He was working at City and then he goes down ESPN starts and he's one of the i think he was one of the day oneers uh john became you know a legend i do think you have to put in time i don't think you can just go from one spot to another and just try to pick it up i mean ask some of the guys who've tried to do that right you know olbermann uh and patrick i i don't think i'm even hypothesizing. They had to be the greatest duo in sports history in a sports center hookup. The two of them together were incredible. And then they split and they went apart. I would say that they have regrets about not staying together

and being with those guys forever, perhaps, but they wanted to do their own thing. But, yeah, I would say, back to your question, I think I would be foolish not to say it, but I really have loved what I've been able to be involved in up here in Canada. And I wish we had a few more events. I'm kind of saddened by the sum of the stuff that gets taken away through rights fees, or we don't get to do these events that I love. But I was fortunate that I was versatile enough to move into another area.

We're going to cover a lot of this. I want to ask you, what was that like in Barcelona for 92 Olympics? Oh, man. It's funny you said that because I saw a picture the other day and somebody said, where is that? And I said, that's Barcelona, the diving competition in Sagrada Familia, the famous church designed by Antonio Gaudi. And really, honestly, I don't think I had been, Mike, I'm a guy from Winnipeg, the prairie boy, didn't travel a lot, only with hockey. I only went to travel places on the map, either maybe for a holiday occasionally, or that had a sports team. But to go to Europe, really kind of one of my first trips, I believe, to Europe and spending a lot of time in Barcelona, it was spectacular.

It was so spectacular. Just the vibe, the feeling. I had a chance. That was one of the first times I got a chance to meet my good friend, Charles Barkley, seeing that dream team in the setting that they were around. Did you guys hit it off right away? I got to ask you because I want to ask you about the Berkeley. I didn't.

Well, I met him. It was a, this is crazy. Like I was doing a lot of stuff for Nike and still I'm a very proud Nike guy. They had one of the most amazing press conferences I went to. It was Charles, Michael and Ahmad Rashad. And I was a big fan of Ahmad Rashad

being from Winnipeg because he was a Minnesota Viking and everybody from Winnipeg cheers for the Vikings if they're not cheering for the Blue Bombers right so um yeah I I I go to this this conference and they're on the stage and it was magic because they had been coming off a boat everybody talked about the dream team uh I was with Jack Donahue the late Jack Donahue sitting with him as a matter of fact he was our commentator at the time for the basketball. And I,

it was just so heartbreaking not to have a Canadian team there because I know my buddy Leo would have been on that team and all of that. So anyway, I'm walking out and I just bump into Charles Barkley. And he goes, he goes, I love Canada. I love it. So that's our first kind of our first meeting. That's good. That's a good Barkley. And then we get, uh, 95, uh, a little bit later Raptors get on board then, you know, through Leo's connection and you know, how Leo, Leo kind of got Barkley with the Sixers. Right. Uh, and then we just

became friends after that. And we became, we've become really dear friends for a lot of reasons through the years, but 92 to me, uh, still one of the biggest highlights of uh my young career anyway well okay we're gonna jump around a little in the time the time space because i'm gonna play a little bit of charles barkley talking about you okay so about 20 seconds here let's listen all right good listen first of all toronto is my favorite city you know it's my favorite city i'm going up there in about a month to do a charity event for nelson mandela i gotta get i gotta give a shout I'm going up there in about a month to do a charity event for Nelson Mandela. I gotta give a shout out to two people. I gotta give a shout out to my boy Rod Black and Paul

Jones up there. I can't wait to come to Toronto. I might say hello to Wayne Gretzky. Carlos, what up? I just saw him pulling hockey players out. Sid Crosby. I know Sid Crosby too. There you go. Actually, on that note, so Paul Jones,

I know you're buds of him, too. His brother is a good example of going down. Going south. And Mark has, again, become one of the best, certainly. There's a lot of guys. I honestly thought, too, around in the mid-90s

when I was doing a lot of basketball then, too, Charles was trying to to secretly siphon me uh why don't you come down and work with us uh and come just because we we really um for whatever reason hit it off I think we have the same sense of humor we like to chirp each other and give it back to each other I do think he has a tremendous heart he's one of the most generous people he gives a lot to charity. He is absolutely an incredible person. I know that there are people out there, you know, look at his transgressions in the past, throwing a person through a window. People have said to me, how can you like, well, keep in mind that you probably didn't want to throw him through the window, but the person had

spat on somebody's face just prior to that. Does he get himself in trouble sometimes with his uh with his comments yeah but i'll tell you what he is he's the real deal what you see is what you get he's charles barkley and uh uh we're all blessed jonesy myself leo our entire crew we get a chance to spend time with him when he comes up to toronto toronto uh we get a chance to play golf and by the way yeah i knew him when he was a really good golfer. And by the way, he still is a pretty good golfer, you know, 150 yards in. He's fixing his swing. I was there when that thing started to happen. It was on my honeymoon. It started to happen. I said, what is that man? I said, are you having a fit or something? Why is that going on in your swing? like are you having a fit or something like what why is that going on in your swing shut up shut the f up man i'm just playing and so no i i just love the man i just love him so much okay well

milan milan is hoping for at least one barclays story that's not necessarily you know pg do you have at least one you can share oh gosh i got tons uh oh boy uh oh there's tons of them. You know, I'll give you this one. It's that's kind of PG. It's one of my, I think it's probably one of my favorites is my honeymoon. I actually spent my honeymoon, my wife, Nancy and Charles loves my wife, Nancy. I'm wondering why one of my kids look like Charles Barkley, actually. I don't know why. Anyway. So Charles, we was going to come to our wedding in 98.

And he couldn't. There was something going on. So we went on our honeymoon. We were in Mont-Tremblant. I'll never forget playing golf. We both loved to golf. And I get a phone call in the resort. It's about three days into our honeymoon.

And the operator comes on. Monsieur Black. Speaking French. And connecting me. and the operator comes on, and Mr. Black, speaking French, and connecting me, and said, those are the days, you know, not too many people had cell phones,

and I hear this, gives me an expletive, mother, what the hell kind of language they speaking up there, and he says, I want you and Nancy to come down right now to Las Vegas

and join Michael and Phil and Tiger and I for a couple of days of celebration. And I'm sitting there watching a movie, but the weather just sucks. And I'm thinking, my wife is not going to want to do this. Right. So we're sitting there and I'm going. But I thought, it's raining. So I said, it's Charles. He's asking us if we want to go to Vegas.

He wants us to have us down there. He's got to sweep. She said, one second, yes. Anyway, there's also now, so now we've got to get out of Tromblon. We've got to get to Vegas. There's a Canadian Airlines. We were flying Canadian. Remember them?

Of course. There was a strike at the time. We had to fly on separate flights on our honeymoon to Toronto. Then we went to Vegas. Anyway, had a great time. And again, it was incredible watching Charles, particularly Gamble. The Tiger Woods, young Tiger Woods was there and michael and phil mickelson i'll never forget the the the actor from saved by the bell was there the uh the wayan brothers were there it was incredible it's like a

dream come true so i'm in a blast anyway we're playing golf michael is in front uh michael's group is in front of us at the hilton so So Nancy and I are playing with Charles and Charles, Nancy, I don't play with any women. I love women. I'm not playing with women, but I'll play with you. It's your honeymoon. So we're playing. So there's a little, I don't know what you call like a horseshoe area. There's a par five, par three, par four, 18 goes up a par four. So we're playing the par five. Michael's coming up to par four and we see this this condo and there's this bunch 60 to 70 people that's when you know we could have actually people in parties remember that time right so there's these guys all yelling michael michael jordan michael and michael gives him a little wave he's got a cigar going gives him a little wave and walks past plays his hole

so we're coming up to the 17th we play the par three charles is actually i think he think he was beating me at that point. And he's good. Like I'm telling you, he was legit. Like it was a legit six handicap. And so, uh, now they see Charles, Charles Barkley, Charles. So now my wife tees off on 18. She hits the ball. She hits it a ton. Charles and I tee off and we're in the cart and we keep in mind those are the days we had metal spikes. So now we drive up, Charles drives right up to that backyard we drive right up to the pool party there's had to be 50 guys and it's a stag

so now we get in there they can't believe it it's charles barkley they think i'm his bodyguard or his agent right so now no he's rob black from canada mr canada so we're there we're partying like we're there for 15 20 minutes we're having some beer and these guys are loving it taking pictures, right? We forgot about my wife was playing. She comes back. Now, now my wife comes back through the gate. Now these guys think, well, that, you know, we might've brought some entertainment for the stag. And I'm like, that's my wife. So now she comes in, she's partying with them. We stayed for about an hour with these guys. We finished the whole out. I think we were five sheets. We ended up going to the bar that night and they gave us shirts.

It was like Bob stag or something. And I'll never forget. There was Charles Barkley. We're dancing at a disco at two o'clock in the morning when they had discos and Charles Barkley's got the Bob stag shirt on still that my friends, it's Charles Barkley. That's quite the story. I would break that out at every dinner party, every little gathering. Now, I need to know one little thing, though. Rod, which Saved by the Bell actor was it? Do you remember?

He was the principal. Oh, Mr. Belding! Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's his real name? Dennis Haskins. Is it? I think I have that in my head somewhere because I just pulled it out. I think it's him. He was a nice guy. And I think John O because i just pulled it out i think he was a nice guy and i think uh john o'leary was there too there was a ton of people and we had we were

all in a separate room where they actually when for these big shooters they actually what happens is you know obviously they can't go although charles would go out into the casino anyways and he'd go anywhere like with people like with the public playing blackjack or whatever he was into bit he loved roulette and so like he had one big the week before i'm not going to tell you the amount 850 000 whoa so he'd won the week before right and he tipped the ruler like 85 000 what happens is the next week they bring you into a private room and so this private room there was all of these obviously superstar uh sports celebrities and they made charles a roulette wheel his own roulette table because that's how vegas do is

when you you take from vegas they get it back and they'll make you a tape so it had sir charles on it well i saw him almost give away his entire winnings that in like 30 30 minutes i told him i said buddy he had this he had this theory that you bet 25 of the wheel said but that doesn't work that way he's not called winning shut up shut up man shut up anyway i've seen him win i've seen him lose but i threw it all i've seen him give and and one thing too anybody who comes up to him he has all the time in the world if they're not a bully or a hater he has a all the time in the world if they're not a bully or a hater he has a all the time in the world and he's such a gentleman um like i you can tell i i we all have

such adoration for charles barkley oh i i could just do the rest of this episode all about the barkley stories i think here but i do need to know as a as a diehard jays fan who's been consuming them since uh the summer of 83 i need to know talk to me about uhays fan who's been consuming them since the summer of 83. I need to know. Talk to me about, and again, Rob Fald. I always say Fald. It's Fald. How do you say Rob's last name? Rob Fald. Faldsy or Fred Flintstone? Fred Flintstone. Well, he made his debut. He was in

my backyard this last summer. Faldsy and I go back a long way. He was another one of the guys in Barcelona as a matter of fact. Rob, did he tell you about the time he stole a flag? No. I don't know if I should tell you that. How come all of us, we're all thieves, man.

Rob Falls in Switzerland. He and the great Debbie Wilkes skating. I think he didn't steal a flag. I think Debbie might have taken a flag. It was a skating flag. It wasn't really taken. They borrowed it. I remember seeing him.

We called him Fred Flintstone because not because he has, he looks like him, although he does. But in the morning after the night before, he's like this. Wilma. And, and there I looked on the street and I think we were Lausanne,

Switzerland. And in one of those little. Gendarme police cars. I see Debbie Wilkes and Rob Foles in the back. They never were charged. Nothing happened. It was quite funny. But anyway, sorry, you were saying about Rob Foles. Basically, well, Rob, now he's an FOTM like yourself. It's the, I guess, the 92-93 World Series. Friends of Toronto Mike. I just got it. It took me almost an hour. There we go. Sorry. Thank you. I'm glad to be an FOTM. Yeah, I think

at this point in the episode, you've earned your stripes there. Episode 800. Congrats on that, by the way. By the way, let me give you a look. This is episode 800. There you go. That's just for you. Hold on. I've got to write down the time stamp, so I grab that here. 4635.

Hold on. I'll do my Mike Tyson doing this. This I grabbed that here. Forty six. Thirty five. Hold on. And that's that was here. I'll do my Mike Tyson doing this is episode 800. Are you ready for it? Yes. Hi, this is Mike Tyson, the World Heavyweight Champion. This is episode 800 of Toronto. Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark. That guy named Mike.

It's wonderful. I just want to eat his children. Fantastic. Here's another clip of you, actually, because I took all this effort to pull it. So this is just a little bit after the 93 walk-off by the great Joe Carter, who we'll talk about also in a moment. Here we go. How does this feel?

Butlerville's going crazy. East York's going crazy. All I want to say, I love you all. I love everybody at Butlerville. I love everybody at East York. I love everybody in Canada. I know I talked to you earlier this season about your first Major League RBI.

And I talked to you recently about what it was like to be in the series, to help contribute, to get a chance to play at the plate, to know that you were here and to accomplish a dream. How does that all feel? It was a dream. It's all a dream that has come true. You know, I can't believe what I'm feeling. I can't keep my feet still.

You know, partway through the game, I couldn't even watch. You know, I was so nervous about the outcome. I saw you in the tunnel. You didn't want to watch the game in the seventh. What did you think when Joe Carter put it out? I was sitting on the bench and I was saying, Joe, if there's any time to do it, baby, do it now. And he did, and it was just, oh, pandemonium.

I can't even remember anything after that, just running. Family and friends watching. A kid grows up and dreams about being here. Talk a little bit about the emotion being felt in Butlerville right now and from your family and friends who are watching. And your brother. My brother, anyone who's always supported me. I wouldn't be here without them.

To make it through all those days where you just want to give up. All those long bus rides, you're thinking, man, is it all worth it? They've been there for me my whole career. My brother and I have been out there practicing every day, making all this happen, and it has happened. Rich, I love you, Rich! Rob Butlerler very happy enjoy yourself tonight jerry dobson back to you oh that that that to me uh just uh gives me chills

uh because well first of all winning and you know winning that world series that i was there in 92 as the host that was special first time i'd ever been around a major championship like that discounting although it's still my favorite is still the Bombers winning in 84 that was the first time I'd been around it but to see the Blue Jays win and to be around it uh it was in Atlanta obviously but I was in the I was right in the dugout uh in the tunnel area uh thinking that we're going to game seven I remember Buck Martinez was there as well working for TSN we were broadcasting it Daveart comes out of the game and whips the glove and you know he's got that high-pitched voice a blood-curdling scream comes like primal and whips his glove as he was came out of the game throws it down i see rob on the steps head down

uh almost like he was praying. It was not a good feeling until that ninth inning. And then, of course, the explosion afterwards. And we all know what happened. And the city and the country went crazy. But you know what, to me, it's most significant is that Rob Butler became so close to me through the years afterwards because he became a coach for my kids. I took my kids to Butler Academy and Rob and Rich Butler,

I will tell you right now, I haven't seen Rob or Rich in years, but I have two kids who are playing NCAA baseball in the United States. The only reason I will tell you that they're there is, well, number one is they love the game. Number two is because Rob and Rich were such great developers at young age. They were like 10 and 11 when they went to the Butler Academy. And there's so many other kids who have been able to do that. And I watched them coach kids.

Rob and Rich Butler should be in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame as builders, as players too, but as builders. I mean, Rob Butler, how many Canadians have, you know, the number's grown a little bit, but how many Canadians have won a World Series ring? Rob Butler, how many Canadians have, you know, the number's grown a little bit, but how many Canadians have won a World Series ring? Rob Butler got a chance and contributed, especially in that one game when they were down and they came back. He was significant in that.

Rob Butler and Rich should be in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame as builders because of what they can do with young kids. And I've watched them. I've seen them develop kids. And, again, both of my boys are playing South right now because of what they did. You know, they had to go on to other elite programs after it's kind of a sad way. A lot of players have to leave that program a little bit to, to get to travel programs, but that, that listening to Rob there and the motion and knowing those two brothers,

we're, we're major league ballplayers together. And to play where they play from and to know where they come from, oh, man, it almost brings a tear to my eye. It seems like yesterday, honestly, Mike, to me, broadcasting that event. But it's obviously a long time ago. And let's hope. I do think that we're getting closer. I'm going to tell you right now, I think within within four years we'll be celebrating another world championship in toronto i would i just i

would love it man although we'll get to it 2019 was pretty damn sweet getting to see a raptors championship i mean that oh yeah you know getting to enjoy that my kids was a big thing because you know those 92 93 i was a teenager and it was like the most important thing in my life. But then that 2019 where I got to enjoy it with my oldest, like it just was a whole different dimension there. But yeah, yeah, for sure. And, you know, sorry, the thing about it, too, like everybody asked me, like, well, you got 2019 resonates big time. It's up right on my top list. But honestly, 92, 93. Yeah.

Those were the highlights of anything I've been around. You know, Stanley Cups, World Series. The Masters win by Mike was clear. That was cool to be around. Anything Canadian, but 92 was that first time as Canadians. We're a Canadian team north of the border. You know, did something that Americans are generally perceived to be better at. And even though, but we did have are generally perceived to be better at.

And even though, but we did have a Canadian on the team in 93. So there we go. And Rob Ducey was there in 92, right? Am I, we got my years right? I keep, I may be confused. I'm not sure. Is Rob Ducey there? See, I got to check into it. I seem to remember him in the, the pile on there when Joe makes,

I guess Timlin to. Yeah. I mean, again, like it's just to have just to have just to have canadian representation here's the thing too canadian ballplayers that 92 93 series i always say the eight-year rule there's an eight-year rule that comes with winning a championship and it's the residue that's left over from the kids who are watching who eight years later were inspired when they were eight nine and, and 10. And I think about the Olympics, a young Joannie Rochette, who was watching at, you know, whatever age she was,

inspired by someone. Hayley Wickenheiser, inspired by someone. Look at eight years later, Justin Morneau, Joey, like years later, how many young Canadian boys and girls were inspired by that? Think about that Raptor Championship. Eight years from now, how many more Canadians are going to be out there?

And I think that happened with just the Raptors, the Vince Carter era. Same thing, eight years later. That's when we started to see the bounce back of that great impact. The Carter effect. Absolutely.

No, you're absolutely right. And one more quick aside there about the Butlers there, Rob and Rich Butler, is that that's when I first learned there was an East York. Okay. So yeah, like I'm a West of young guy, you know, I didn't. So I, I, they always build them as being from East York as if it wasn't, I know there was

no mega city yet. This is pre mega city. So I guess they did have their own mayor in East York, just like Etobicoke did. But I noticed the same thing with Joey Votto. Joey Votto, it seems to me, is always billed as an Etobicoke guy, not a Toronto guy. And the butlers were always East York guys,

not Toronto guys. And I guess that's sort of like how you're Transcona guy. Yeah. And I think that's what happens to you too. I remember Paul Tracy. Right. West Hill. West Hill.

I didn't even know there was a West Hill. I 100%. I learned there was a West Hill when Paul Tracy hit the scene. Tracy. Right. West Hill. West Hill. I didn't even know there was a West Hill. 100%. I learned there was a West Hill when Paul Tracy hit the scene. Yes. Yeah. It's wild. Okay. Go ahead.

I was trying to see about Rob Ducey. I think he was, I think he was, I want to make sure. Yeah. We got it. You know what? I know he played in 92, but I want to say he was, yeah, he moved. Yeah. He did.

It was not. He played he, he did was not, he, he played for the angels after that. Cause I remember going down and doing a story on, on Ducey, but I'll tell you, there's another great guy, Rob Ducey, Canadian ballplayers, Rob Ducey inspired Canadian ballplayers, you know, all of those young, young guys. And again, that's, we, that's why sports is so important and TV is so important. What's that? I'm going to show.

Okay, so this is a can of Great Lakes beer. It's called the Electric Circus. And there's a cowboy on the cover. This is a gentleman who danced in the early days of Electric Circus, was there every weekend dancing with a cowboy hat. They called him the cowboy. I remember that, dude. Okay.

You ready for this? I feel like you don't know where I'm going with this, so I'm excited. Okay? Okay. This is the cowboy. He even had a 12-inch single called Summertime Summer. Is that Jack Morris? His name was, they called him the cowboy,

K. Pompey, I believe they called him. And his sons, one of them is a former Toronto Blue Jay, Dalton Pompey. Oh, is that really? That's Dalton. Since we're talking about local boys. I did not know. Oh, I did remember that story's Dalton. Since we're talking about like local boys. I did not know. Oh, I did.

I did remember that story. I don't know. I didn't know about that, but I remember seeing a story on Dalton and Tristan. Yep. And I remember the dad, there was something about that. Yeah. There's another great story. The Pompeii brothers.

I mean, I know they, Dalton, I'm sure both of them inspired my boys. Here's why basketball too, Mike. People always say the Carter effect. I totally agree. I mean, again, you know, kids started dunking in that, but you're not going to have a nation full of dunkers. And let's face it, a kid who's 6'2", 6'3", you think, or maybe 6'4", Jamal Murray, I mean, yeah, could have been inspired by Vince Carter.

But Steve Nash took it and made people believe that, hey, if I can do that, like I would love to be able to say, hey, I saw Vince Carter dunk. I remember when I was a kid, my hero was Dr. J and I could dunk, but I couldn't dunk like Dr. J. So I had no chance. There's an ability to dream, but you got to dream realistically. And so Steve Nash made people dream realistically and the residue of Steve Nash saying, you know, he did it going to the hall of fame kids going,

you know what, if that guy, and he's not that little, you know, six, two, six, three, six, four, if that guy can do it, I can do it. And I think that's what happens with baseball too. And every other sport, Marie Philippe Poulin in women's hockey, whatever the sport, Bianca Andreescu. You don't think there's tennis players out there now because they saw it on television. They saw it on television and they were inspired. You're so right. Even Milos and his success. Milos Raonic. You don't think that Felix Auger, Ali Asim, and Denis Shapovalov were sitting in their little clubs thinking about when Milos. Milos has been around a little bit now.

Let's say, again, let's say the eight-year rule. I think Milos has been around probably seven, eight years now. Yeah, he's pushing 30. Yeah, so maybe over 10. Guess where Felix and Denis were? They were like 12, 10-year-old boys watching that and said, you know what? If he can do it, I can do it. Honestly, you just reminded me of that Tommy Lasorda ad where he, on the weight loss thing,

remember the Tommy Lasorda ad? And he goes, if I can do it, maybe you can do it. And they stuck in the maybe, right? That's in post. Maybe you can do it. But anyway, I digress. There's a great character. I got a chance to do a lot of speaking engagements. I do a lot of speaking engagements through the years. And God, I love that man. I'd sit up late night with him and I just sit there and I wouldn't say a word for two hours. He would just go on and the stories are incredible. Wow. So Rod, we actually only have 15 minutes left because I had to schedule something else to help pay the mortgage here. That's okay. You don't have to pay anything. Look at all your sponsors, man, for God's sake.

Right. Now, on the record here, Rod, because we are going to cover some more ground quickly here, but on the record now, please, will you do a sequel to another Toronto Mike appearance? Oh, for sure. Okay. I just need to get on the record.

Listen, Leo told me years ago, he said, you got to go with this dude. He's doing a great job. I was in his, I think, were you doing the senior basement? No, Leo was in the basement. And I have really low ceilings here where I hit my head. That's kind of creepy, actually. So you had low ceilings.

Did you have a gas mask? You should have had an N95 before the pandemic and you're around Leo. That was the day after the overtime, the double overtime win against the Bucs. So remember we were down 2-0? Of course you remember. We were down 2-0 in the series. Oh, we did then. If we lose game three against the Bucs,

there's no championship. Like to me, that was the biggest win along the way. For sure. So that was the double overtime, which went really late. Pascal, the shots missed just in regulation, then we had to go. Right.

That next morning at 8am, about 8am or something like that, Leo was at the door with a coffee, and he didn't hit his head, which I was grateful for. That was really an amazing convo, actually, so shout out to my man Leo. Okay, so we're going to do rapid fire. The great

enemy of beans. The great enemy of beans. Leo Routens. I'm trying to get the context there. Oh, well, he is a martial fartist. You know that, right? No, I didn't know that, actually. You did not know about it?

He didn't disclose that. It's most famous. Leo is one of the greatest broadcast analysts in the game. I'm sure most people remember when Leo and Sam and I were on, it was, I think it should have been, we should have got an award for the best third quarter hit heading to the fourth quarter when Leo let some gas go. And as we came back, I came home, folks, we've had a gas leak in the studio and they just started laughing. I started laughing. And for one minute we sat on camera and laughed and our nostrils were burning because uh because uh bad guts uh let one rip in

the studio and so to this day i mean it gets on all the top tens when you know somebody lets one rip leo unfortunately i love him he's like a brother to me yeah um he's one of my best friends but this man has a serious serious flatulence problem serious see that's the real talk i was looking for right there. That's a Toronto Mike exclusive, I think. Wow. Okay. So we're going to do, this will be super rapid fire,

just to touch on these points here, and then we'll do a sequel. I got to hold you for one second. Okay. This is probably a first for Toronto Mike. It's going to be 10 seconds. My dog is, he has to be let out. Okay.

Okay, go. Go, go. Just hang on. I don't have shorts on. Just one sec. Okay. This is, that's okay. So Rod Black is. Okay. Okay, go. Go, go. Just hang on. I don't have shorts on. Just one sec. Okay. That's okay. So Rod Black is...

That's okay. I'm coming. The dog has to go out, but we are going to... We got about... I'm looking at the clock here. I have to record at 1130. I can push this. Yeah, so here's how it works.

Okay. I got these two dogs, and when the dog is panting and kind of rubbing, they normally don't do that. But live during a podcast, I have to let them go because I didn't want them to pull a Leo on me. Okay, so let's hear a couple of this. So I remember, of course, you're calling Jay's Games for CTV Sportsnet. This is like 99 to 2000.

Yeah, Joe Carter. Yeah, so your partners... Joe Carter. Yeah. So you got your partners are Joe Carter and on TSN, your partner is Pat Tabler, right? Yeah. Because 2002 to 2009,

you're doing it. So like this is the stuff. I need to go in depth on a lot of this and I need more time to do it. So like I might, if you're okay, I might try to book this sequel

sooner rather than later here. Because I also want, maybe I'll tease a lot of Part 2. Just book me for 1600. 800 after. It'll be perfect. Yeah, it might be sooner than later here. Because I also want, maybe I'll tease a lot of part two. Just put me for 1600, 800 after. It'd be perfect. Yeah, it might be sooner than you think. I'll give you another bottle of wine.

I'll give you another bottle. Rod Black wine. It's worth it. It's worth it. Okay, so you had Blue Jay Games, which we'll cover, like I said, in depth later. But Canada AM, of course.

And you were on the air that fateful day, September 11th, 2001. Yeah, yeah. It's the craziest thing is it was my second day on the air. Oh my God. As Canada AM host. So I had been doing it for a while, like filling in.

Again, I wasn't really that busy. We did events. So I tried to supplement whatever I I could all the time I really wanted to just get work and do stuff and I love I love the vibe of broadcast particularly news so I was doing sports and and news at the time um Valerie Pringle, Dan Matheson, J.B. Roberts, Keith Morrison, Pamela Wall and I was working with all those great great broadcasters and then uh in the summer uh they were making a change over to a new team. And Lisa Laflamme and I were going to be the brand new hosts.

Lisa was doing it for a while. We had been doing it together for the summer, but that was our official first day. It was the Monday, September the 10th. So we did a show. I'll never forget. It was good. I really like it. I really was interested, Mike, because I say to people all the time,

it was like, I'm interested. I'm curious. I'm sure like you, like it's doing Canada. And it was like doing your show. It's not just sports and I love sports. Trust me. I'm a sports head. Right. But it was like, it was the only show where I could interview Wendell Clark, Terry Clark and Joe Clark in the same half hour. It was like the Clark show. So it was like, well, this is very eclectic and i really was interested so anyway i do the first show the next day um i will never forget doing a uh i i

can't remember exactly who the person was but i was doing a entertainment segment uh you know i watched this so just just before we hear you yeah I watched this. It was somebody talking about what's new, like scrubs. Coming up on TV, yeah. Right. Yeah. And entertainment. And then in my ear, it's about, we're just going to break at five to nine. And unbeknownst to me, I know we had an interview scheduled for the next half hour from New York.

And so what they do is they have webcams. And so we've had a camera all morning on New York City. And the camera just happened to be also on the area of the world trade center. And so I get, I'm doing this interview and in my ear, we have this thing called a telex and the producer says, Rod, we're going to have to go to break. A plane has crashed into the world trade center. And I, for some reason, but a few months earlier,

I was reading a story about when the plane crashed into the empire state building. So I knew it had happened before. Cessna. Okay, so it's a plane, you know, not to discount it, but a plane has crashed. You know, I'm thinking small airplane. We go to break. We go to break. We come back, Lisa and I.

Coincidentally, we have somebody from the FAA there on the line. And what we're thinking is a small airplane. We see the hole. We obviously think it's tragic. But again, a smaller airplane. We're thinking about how they're going to put a potential fire out, bringing water bombers in. I think we were talking about that. And all of a sudden, as we're talking, bang, another plane fires through the World Trade Center, live on air. And now we're live and we're right in the middle of this cataclysmic catastrophe

that we've never seen in our lifetime before live on television. And we have to deal with it. And so we were on the air all day, mostly. Huge emotions, especially when the World Trade Center crumbled, the first tower crumbled. I can't even begin to describe. I'm on air. I'll never forget looking beyond the camera. We had all our executives and all the workers and including guests who were coming up the next half

hour who obviously weren't on the show anymore. I believe we had some sort of cooking segment, something out there. But I see everybody. I'll never forget Sandy Rinaldo who came in and helped too. This was the day before internet and there was a wire service and I had the wire next to me. And so it spew out printed a printer with all the headlines. And when it was a major news story, which happened, I don't know, once every two days, it would give a ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. That thing didn't stop ding, stop dinging all day. And the amount of misinformation was huge too, but Sandy, I'll never forget her. Like what a great lady. She's, she's off camera passing me papers. Like I'll never forget that they were thinking planes were flying everywhere. FAA reporting planes flying to Los Angeles, Chicago

could be something in Toronto, Vancouver, yada, yada. So we had to take that information and try to digest all of this. Mike, I do sports. I do scores. I do numbers. The occasional fight, the occasional injury. Yes, we have tragic instances in sport, but nothing like this at all. The beauty of it is, it goes back to what I said before, is that I've always been that guy who worked without a script. So we didn't have a script, clearly, and we had to deal with it.

It was a tragic, tragic day in our lives. I still think it, uh, you know, as bad as, as bad as what we've been through over the last year. And we've been through, this is something of a lifetime that we'll never forget clearly. Um, and so many people lost and way more people clearly than the world trade center. But I knew people that died there. Like I had known people who had worked in the World Trade Center. I knew Ace Bailey, who died in one of the planes. I'm more and more people and I'm starting to, you know, they're filtering in. But I just don't think in our lifetime. Yes, we've been attacked by a virus over the last year, but we've never been attacked. And I think, yeah, we weren't attacked in Canada, but we felt it. We felt it. And we,

and our lives changed because the, the amount of fear that existed during that time, people forget, you know, security talking about security, going through security, everything, our lives were locked down period then, but it was because we were afraid. And then our narrative on the show changed a lot. And so it was really kind of, I'm not going to say depressing, but it was a constant beat down. So I did it for about another year and a half. I was still doing sports at night. It was really a release for me, but instead of the show that I thought would be fun and it did loosen up a little bit, it became very hard to do.

And the news angles for it became really hard. And I said, I give them two years and I, you know, I fulfilled what I'd let. I love the show. I would have done it again. I would have loved to have done it for a lifetime. It's a beautiful, it's, it's a gift. It's, it's a treat. It's a luxury to be able to do that show. It's not many people in our country have been able to do it, been asked to do it, to be asked to do it. Um, I think it was, um, uh,

it was something that I'll never forget, but I'm a sports guy and I love sports. And that was my first love. And I just couldn't, I wanted to devote as much time as I could to sports. Um, and so was a it's hard to believe that second day I I just think about it and you know how our world and our world did change that day it's changed so much security everything think about the way you fly the way you flew then um communications the way and you know the way we treat people you know I don't think that at that time people weren't being treated properly. And we went through a lot of diversity issues and anti-racism problems and protests then, but this year has been, this been year has been, you know, magnified

hundreds of times by deaths and that, but that fear we had that day, Mike, still resonates with me. I still have actually dreams about that day. Wow. So, Rod, I'm going to tease everybody about what's coming in part two here because there's so much ground to cover, I realize. More Raptors will come in part two. CFL, we have so much,

I have so many questions and things I want to discuss with you regarding the CFL. You're the voice of figure skating in this country. And, uh, we got to talk about that. The 2010 Olympics, of course, uh, speaking of much, much better memories, uh, gosh, what else we'll talk about? Uh, I mean, you received the queen Elizabeth, the second diamond Jubilee medal. This is for your volunteer work of plan Canada. I mean, you received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

This is for your volunteer work of Plan Canada. So you're more than just a pretty face, which is good too. Yeah, face made for radio, face made for podcast. But yeah, I tell you, that's probably beyond sports and my family. My family first, obviously, when sports and what i do uh i would say charity has taught me charities have taught me a lot about what i what life is really about and giving back and making a difference uh i've always i guess taken pride in doing that but um it's something i just think we all should do and And there's people always say, oh, thank you. I thank them.

It gives, it's the amount of perspective, that's the word perspective that I have gained through chipping in with causes. Leo does it, Jack does it, Matt does it, Kate, our whole crew, everybody does it in our business. I don't think you have to get paid or I don't think you have to get the publicity for it. But, and I certainly don't do you have to get the publicity for it but uh i and i certainly don't do it because you know it's a publicity thing but there's nothing like giving back nothing like it

no good on you man that's fantastic and hopefully that inspires others to do more to to help out your fellow fellow man woman uh citizens of the world uh you were a worthy, Rod, you were a worthy episode 800. This was fantastic, man. I can't wait for the sequel. And your wine. I've said it in your wine. Hey, listen, it's been a long time coming.

I think, again, I should have been on a long time ago, but I'm glad you got me. Here's the thing. Yeah. I'm really not going anywhere. We're not going anywhere. I think this thing's on us

for a little bit longer i hope everybody out there stays safe um be smart let's get through this thing we're doing the best we can let's get vaccinated uh we can go on and on about all that stuff but one of the great things mike it's done this i has been able to connect and reconnect with people that i think zoom invented the pandemic. That and Amazon and Netflix. Right. They've all, because they're all, but I do think it's been great to be able to connect and we need to connect.

We're humans. Absolutely. By the way, I want to thank Barb Paluskiewicz from CDN Technologies because she sent me this package. It includes, if you're watching the live stream on Facebook, there's a new sign on the back wall for CDN Technologies, because she sent me this package. It includes, if you're watching the live stream on Facebook, there's a new sign on the back wall for CDN Technologies, but also she sent me this

you've got the Yeti mic, but this is the Yeti coffee, and I can tell you, the coffee's still piping hot. It's fantastic. Thank you, Barb, from CDN Technologies. And that brings us to the end of our 800th show

happy 800 Mike you can follow me on Twitter I'm at Toronto Mike Rod how can people follow you on Twitter at Rod Black TSN I think a lot of people still think it's not I don't know why I only started tweeting

like during pandemic again so you can't get verified people go oh this Oh, this isn't you. You're not there, but nobody can get verified right now. So that's me at Rod Black TSN. I think I'm on Instagram, Rod Black TV. I like, I like tweeting stuff out. You know, it's, it's, it's a good way to engage. There's, there's, you know, obviously there's good and bad with social media or anti-social media, but love to, to reach out and chat with anybody and i i look forward to uh joining you for episode uh 1600 1600 uh great lakes brewery by the way they're at great lakes beer palma pasta

is at palma pasta sticker you is at sticker you cdn technologies they're at CDN Technologies. Ridley Funeral Home is Ridley FH. And Mimico Mike, he's on Instagram at Majeski Group Homes. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.