Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Rod Black, Vol. 2: Toronto Mike'd #801

Episode Date: February 18, 2021

Mike chats with TSN's Rod Black about Joe Carter, the Raptors, his chat with Kawhi, the CFL, the 2010 Olympics, his impressions and more.

Welcome to episode 801 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. 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, going back to black, it's Rod. Back to black, black. How's it going? Back to black. How are you? Black. Black to black. How are you? So I'm number 800 and I'm number 801. So I was either a good guest the first time or the guest tonight just didn't show up. So that's okay. Either way,

I really have nothing to do. But do you realize that this is unprecedented? Like in the history of this podcast, I've never had the same guest on two episodes in a row. You sound like a prime minister. Unprecedented. The most overused word in the history of Canadian politics. I'm very proud and I'm happy that we were able to connect again. And I enjoyed our first session. Hey, $15,000 for an interview. I'll do it anytime. That's great. Thank you. Or all the free beer I can drink. I was going to say, does this double up the Rod Black wine that I'm entitled to? Yeah, I'm going to have to

get into the Rod Black wine a little bit later. I love the way that you have those so perfectly placed for consumption. Well, you know, you should join us tomorrow night. Are you into American hardcore punk?

I was wondering where you were going there. You know, well, who's on? It depends. So I remember when I chatted with you in episode number 800, we talked about my days as a roller rink DJ. Yes, I was. And I remember the days when we transitioned from, I guess, roller disco to punk at that time. And I remember the clash and, you know, just you go on and on and on about all the bands that were there and Talking Heads. I was a huge Talking Heads fan.

So who is the American hardcore punk that you're talking about? It's like, okay, it's more like Bad Religion or Social Distortion or Black Flag. I like Black Flag. I'm just partial to it. I honestly would love to hear it. I'm a big guy. I love music, man. I love any kind of music. I have a very eclectic taste probably kind of like my sports taste i like every sport and so i i like a lot of music too well here's a jam this is not punk but here's a jam uh i pulled for uh your return episode here okay okay oh yeah oh yeah Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Do you have a preference which lead singer you prefer? The late, is it Brian Johnson?

Is that his name? Yeah. Bon Scott. Yeah, Bon Scott's the late one. He's the one who died, right? And this is Brian Johnson here. So I'm aging myself. ACDC, truth be known, was one of my favorite bands when i was growing up and all the

rock and rollers you had the vinyl i was a big kiss fan of course uh but i was in acdc and i was a bon scott fan and being from winnipeg we it really truly was the home of rock and roll uh back in the you know late 60s early 70s and into the 80s the rock and roll radio stations were enormous there. Brother Jake was the big guy there. You know, he's been on Toronto Mic, Brother Jake. Brother Jake, wicked. Did he do the champ? I love him, he's a...

Like, was he doing the champ in Winnipeg, or did he start that when he got here? The champ. I did the champ. I don't think he did the champ in Winnipeg when I was there. I think that started a little bit. Oh, maybe in his. No, I think he brought it to Toronto. But I know he's shaking.

I go back a long way. OK, we used to play hockey together. I love the guy. He's like a brother to me. Another guy was Andy Frost was on there. Andy Frost, the voice of the Leafs. Maple Leaf goal scored by number 88, Michael Nylander. Nylander.

And his kid's a good hockey player, too. Yeah, I was going to say, his kid is Morgan Frost of the Philadelphia Flyers. Yes. And so, yeah, I grew up with all of those. And I guess, you know, that's kind of where my love of rock and roll came from is because of that 92 City FM back in the peg. Wow. Okay. I love that story. Now, it's funny you mentioned Brother Jake, because of course he took the character for the champ from a couple of guys you might remember, comedians, McLean and McLean. So again, it goes back, they used to go to Winnipeg all the time.

I don't even know if we can repeat their language. You know what's so funny? McLean and McLean used to play at a lot of bars in Winnipeg, and I'm pretty sure they were either arrested once or twice for using rude and lewd language that now is basically used on every podcast imaginable. The language that they used and the stories they told. But yeah, McLean and McLean were so far ahead of their time, and they were hilarious, absolutely hilarious. And they were iconic and funny, funny.

Some of their sketches were so funny. At the time though, they weren't so funny because they couldn't use certain words, obviously. But it's funny how we all had a connection in Winnipeg from the rock and roll to comedy to sports. That's what I did love about the city when I lived there. I'll do a little note to our listeners that your internet is not quite as stable as it was yesterday for 800.

Oh, it isn't? Well, just periodically I get these like interference sounds, like electrical interference. Are you in the eye of a storm? Do you hear that now? Maybe I just take that off. I can't hear you. Hang on a second.

I'll put that back in. We need you to hear me. Come on. Hang on. Most important thing. Look at this. I'm a technical wizard. Yeah, I got to keep this on here.

It's okay. Yeah, make sure you can hear me. It's okay. It's okay. I got you. So is that okay? Yeah, like if your stories are good, people will forgive the audio. But on that note, did you get any feedback at all from anybody?

Because we're only one day removed from your appearance, and some people, you know, it takes a little while to catch up. I haven't been fired, so that's good news. And lately, that's a good thing. I know. Yeah, I did actually got some people who reached out to me. And yeah, you're a pretty popular guy. You are the Brother Jake of Toronto Podcast. I should finish my Brother Jake story by just

making sure people know, yes, he did borrow the champ from McLean and McLean, but then he licensed the character from McLean and McLean. So when the champ is, when you hear the champ from Brother Jake, he's allowed to use it and make money off it because he's, you know,

licensed it properly. I like that. I need to say that. But the feedback, the feedback, Rod, from your first episode yesterday was really fantastic. And I think like a lot, people just loved your style, your stories. But that Charles Barkley story and that impression. The funny, you know, the craziest thing, Mike mike about all my stories is they're true it's like you know i'm not making them up i mean i guess i hold them back for a little bit because

you know we do our thing on television and we right we can tell some stories but uh that's one thing that we all are and that's one great thing about podcasts and broadcasts and uh storytelling it's it's and and the stories that have been told during the pandemic and will be retold and told and i guess that's the good thing we been told during the pandemic and will be retold and told. And I guess that's the good thing. We get a chance to chat and connect even during COVID. So yeah, the funny thing is they might have a little embellishment every once in a while. Is my nose growing? But most of them, especially around Leo's Gas, that's all true. Leo's gas. I don't know anything about the Barkley stuff.

I'm not sure about any of the other stories. But Leo's gas. Because if you look, I have no nostril hairs left. And I got to work tomorrow night with a guy. Are you nervous? Dan Mitchell chooses to stay in Atlanta. You know, it's not about the border. It's not about COVID and the quarantine.

He stays in Atlanta. Kia Nurse lives in Toronto. She stays in Toronto. She does not want to be about the border. It's not about COVID and the quarantine. He stays in Atlanta. Kia Nurse lives in Toronto. She stays in Toronto. She does not want to be in the studio. They suck me in. So you have no concerns about Leo hearing this because at some point he'll know. And he doesn't either. He keeps saying, oh, by the way, what?

Sorry, one bad stomachache. Just one bad stomachache. You know what, buddy? One bad stomachache for the one bad stomach. Yeah. You know what, buddy? One bad stomachache for the last two decades. I don't know if it's his diet or whatever, but I mean, man, that guy lets it rip. Wow. That's a real talk, like I said. Now, before we get, I'm going to fish for another Barclay story before we get in here. But first, there's a story. So I've been told the story by Dave Perkins, and then I heard it again from Bob Weeks.

It kind of segues nicely into your years doing Blue Jays baseball for Sportsnet when your partner was Joe Carter. Do you know the story about Joe Carter in Augusta, Georgia for the Masters? Let me know if you can, you can share that one. That's it. That is a true story. Is my internet okay, by the way? Can you hear me? Okay. Yeah, it's good. It's good. All right. Well, there's nothing bad about the story. No, I guess like, I, like, I'm, I'm a guy that I love to be around people.

That's why COVID has killed me. and I got a lot of great friends and Bob Weeks I'm sure would have told you that when when I used to go down to the Masters I don't do that anymore I think they banned me ever since that trip but I believe it might have been the year that I think it was the year after Mike Weir won so 2004 and we have a rent a house at augusta myself bob weeks uh we have a producer jamie riddle uh cameraman uh dean woolers and uh puff daddy uh one of our great assistant producers associate producers so there's about five of us in this great house we had a great house man it was like and every day you're right beside auga it really is a plum assignment now having said that it's a long assignment it's kind of and there's not much to Augusta by the way there's Augusta National and like Hooters right IHOP

a couple steak houses that's it and so you know you get a little bored after a while but we have a we had a huge house probably I don't think I'm exaggerating probably eight bedrooms and there's only five of us four actually four at one point so Joe was telling me hey he phones me up Rodney Rodney joke out of here I said Joe and I love Joe Rodney listen can you get me a pass to get to Augusta I know you're broadcasting there can you give me a pass to get into the grounds and I thought and I know I you know I had a lot of connections that we could probably get a ticket it's very hard to get to Augusta. I know you're broadcasting. Can you give me a pass to get into the grounds? And I thought, and I know, you know, I had a lot of connections that we could probably get a ticket.

It's very hard to get a ticket, by the way. I said, you know, Joe, and I did. I got him, I was able to get him a ticket at the very last minute. He goes, great, great. I bring him my friend. And he's a president of Toys R Us. And I said, really?

I said, yeah, yeah. So I go, well, I got you two tickets, two passes coming on for Thursday, Friday. So we will do our work on Wednesday. And Joe keeps calling me. They had actually driven from Kansas City all the way to Atlanta, Augusta, Georgia. So he phones me, Rodney, are you there? Are you right? He said, yeah. Listen, we don't have a place to stay. We couldn't get a hotel. I said, Joe, no problem. No problem, man. Stay at our house. We got so many rooms. You're good.

You're good to go. And I didn't tell the other guys, I didn't tell the other guys. I just kind of thought it was my domain. Hey, what the heck? More the merrier. So, you know, I'm staying up a little bit watching a late masters highlights. I think I was watching some baseball or basketball at the time. It's like one o'clock, still no Joe Carter, two o'clock. It's like three o'clock in the morning. Rodney saw we got lost. I said, he'll be there. I said, give him the address. This is kind of before the GPS is finally pulls up in our driveway. He goes, oh man, this is a great place to sit.

And yeah, great, man. Let's go get, find you guys a room. So we get in and of the eight rooms, So we get in and of the eight rooms, the ones that we had had beds. The rest, there were no beds. I didn't know that. So there are no beds in the rooms. I'm feeling terrible, but I'm not giving up my bed. I don't care who it's for, but I was going to give it to Joe. I might have even slept with Joe. That would have made it very interesting.

I did sleep with Joe once. I could tell you that story later too. So I didn't know what to do. And then I thought the couch, you know, the couch is a pullout. Well, and it's beautiful. But it didn't pull out. So now here's the president of Toys R Us and Joe Carter, World Series hero, 1993, one of the greatest Blue Jays of all time, great friend of mine. He goes, don't worry about it.

This is typical Joe. We're good. We're good. We're covered. He goes out to his car and he pulls in an air mattress and they go in the dining room. The dining room. They put the air mattress down and they sleep in there. And they sleep. They put the covers up and they go sleep in the dining room.

Right. I thought, man, that says a lot about Joe. I mean, okay, no prima donna here. Anyway, I go to bed. It's like four o'clock. And then I wake up in the morning and I'm not sure if it was Weeksy or my producer. They're waking me.

Rod, Rod, there's this black man and a white man sleeping together in the dining room. And one of them suspiciously looks like Joe Carter. And I said, well, it is Joe Carter. What? And they couldn't believe it. So they go down there. Those two guys are snoring. They've been sleeping all night. Anyway, a long story short, Joe Carter stays with us. I think I did give up my bed after a while. We come back. He made pecan pies, peach pies for everybody. It says a lot about Joe Carter, the kind of guy he is that, you know,

he would come in. Here's, again, a World Series hero comes in, stays with a bunch of knuckleheads like us, and still sleeps on the dining room floor with his buddy. But it was a classic. And that's Joe. That's just Joe's that kind of guy. Now, Rod, the version I got, though, from Bob Weeks has a different punchline.

I'll give you the punchline and then maybe touch them all, Joe. Oh, yeah. You cleaned up the story. That's okay. Yeah, we cleaned up that part. Yeah. That's all right. That's okay.

Joe did not touch. I can tell you right now that Joe did not touch them all. So what was it like working with Joe on Sportsnet? Like how was he? Yeah, he only did it for a couple of years. It was just after he retired. And I'm not sure he was fully, I don't think he really wanted to do it full time. He really, Joe loves to golf.

Joe is who he is. He's a baseball guy, had a great career. He's a real family guy. Lo loves his family back in Kansas City. I think here he comes right out of baseball and he comes right in the broadcast booth with us. I really enjoyed hanging out with him. One thing about working with Joe Carter is that because he hit that home run and he's a superstar, we could play any golf course in North America. And as I told you yesterday, the best price, free 99.

So we went out and I just tagged along on his coattails. And he would bring – the beauty of Joe, and I think if you talk to any of us on the crew there, and I think a few guys were skeptical because they don't think baseball player, baseball star, how was he going to adapt to the booth. Well, Joe Carter wasn't like that. We go out for dinner. Joe Carter made sure everybody was out for dinner. He Joe Carter made sure he conversed with everybody.

Joe Carter picked up the tab, you know, or made you pick up the tab, you know, depending on the situation. If we had a rotation, he was great, great guy to work with. And I guess I'll get to my other Joe Carter story. Yeah. Yeah. Please. to work with and uh i guess i'll get to my other joe carter story yeah yeah please july 26th uh 2000 and my wife and i were having our first child and on july 25th uh yeah july 25th the night before the 26th obviously um my wife is induced and i realize i have a ball game the next day at the sky dome which it was called then for any of you who didn't know that was what it was called and uh the game is a noon game it's like a 12 30 game against the cleveland indians so i figure

okay well i'll just try to get a replacement for tomorrow. It's obvious we're going to have this baby overnight, and I think I should probably be with my wife. Right. And we tried to get a replacement. There was just nobody there. Nobody could do it. And I said, well, you know what? Whatever. I'll do it.

I mean, I'll be sky high. I kind of anticipated we'd have the child around 8 o'clock on the 25th. But as every hour kept going, I'm looking at my watch going holy smoke here I am in the maternity ward now at women's college and I'm doing my prep for the next day going through all the numbers while my wife is you know kind of awaiting our firstborn it's our first child right so anyway this gets down to around uh uh three o'clock in the morning and I'm still at no replacement. I definitely doing this game. I'm just hoping like, it's not like she doesn't have like a noon,

I'm going to race out of there. Anyways, at three, two, one, three 21. Our son was born. Our first son was born. And Joe Carter had told me, you know, Rodney, you're downtown, whatever happens, don't worry about it. Just come over, come over. I got an extra bed in my room. I'm at the Skydome hotel, get sleep you know i'm a joe was dad he knew he knew that you know you needed a rest so right i stayed with my wife nancy till about 6 30 and yeah 6 30 and i was i needed i gotta get shut either didn't really have anything at the hospital so i go over to the dome and i knock on the door and i wake joe and said, Joe, thanks, man. I appreciate it. No problem. And I look, there's no other bed. It's just one bed.

Right. And I'm thinking, whoa, okay. And so it was like the scene from Plane Trains and Automobiles with John Candy and Steve Martin. I would say that I was probably more Steve Martin than John Candy. And I did have a pillow between us. That's the night I tell people I slept with Joe Carter. And so I went back to the hospital. We came up with a name for my son, Tyler Alexander Black. And then I went to the and I was just like operating on Red Bull and adrenaline. And I was really kind of intoxicated just because you're having your child

and it's such a life-changing experience. So I go and do the game and they brought up his name and a picture of him in between innings on the big scoreboard. And I'll never forget that day. And the crazy thing, Mike is uh 20 years well 18 years to the day that he was born Tyler for some reason has become a baseball player and he played in an east coast pro all-star game on that very field which was Rogers Center uh he now plays down in the states uh he he was just become a know, maybe he was born to

play baseball. Maybe it was the Joe Carter effect. But I kept the score sheet that day. And all of the players in the game that day, they're all, for instance, Paul Spalgeric was in the game that day. He has been a great mentor to Tyler through the years. Robbie Alomar was playing for the Cleveland Indians, has been a mentor to Tyler as well through the years. There was some Andy Stewart has been a hitting coach for him. Andy's wife at the time was singing the national anthem. I want to say Rob Butler might have been on that sheet too. But it was crazy how many connections through the years.

And now it's so crazy that the kid's playing baseball. But that was the night. Maybe that might be my book someday. The night I slept with Joe Carter, who did not touch them all. I thought your punchline at the end of the story was going to be, Mike, those weren't pillows. They weren't pillows. But I guess it goes back to everything I said earlier.

Wow. Just about how genuine a guy Joe Carter is and how generous a guy he has been. And by the way, he has a golf tournament every year in Toronto for the last 12 years. He has raised so much money through the years for Children's Aid Foundation and so many others. He brings celebrities up, superstars. It's the tournament of the year, tournament of the century. He had Charlie Sheen up a few years ago.

Snoop Dogg has been around. Dan Marino, Jim McMahon, Charles Barkley, Wayne Gretzky, you name it. And Joe does it because he wants to give back. And I think that says a lot about him. Oh, I love hearing these stories because Joe's a hero. And I guess if you hit the homer to win the World Series, you never have to buy your own drink again in this town. Or a golf game.

Or a golf game. Yeah, your favorite price. And I guess the same would be true. I'm sure the same would be true if Kawhi ever came back and spent some time. And I'm going to ask you later in this program, I'll ask you more about Kawhi. I pulled a clip of you and Kawhi chatting. So that's a little teaser for later. Talk to me about Pat Tabler.

Because you're at Sportsnet. That's Joe Carter. And then you go to TSN. You're at TSN for several years. And Pat Tabler is your guy at TSN. How was that? Well, it was kind of different too because like I don't know if you know this I so CTV gave birth to Sportsnet uh so CTV started Sportsnet and a few of us there was about a handful of us kind of came up with a

with the idea Doug B for the executive producer at the time. I know John Shannon, John Cassidy, a bunch of us at CTV. Again, we weren't as busy as we probably would be now, but we came up with this regional sports network that was going to go coast to coast to coast. And it took a while to get it going. And it did, when it did, CTV owned it. And then a little bit later,

you know, with the mergers with Bell and then also with Globe and Mail, a few other mergers, CTV also went and bought TSN. So they had to. So you had to make a choice between Sportsnet. You know, most of us had to make a choice. You go, you're staying at TSN or going to TSN. That would have been going over for me because I was at Sportsnet or stay at Sportsnet. But for me, it wasn't Sportsnet or TSN. It was CTV. I was very loyal to that brand because I wanted to stay

because we had Olympic rights. So that's why we got to TSN. And then I went over there. I was like this little orphan going over to TSN, and I've loved it ever since. I really, truly have. I mean, it's the place that everybody wants to work for, and guess what?

Everybody has worked for it. It is, it's a toy department. Yes, but it's a serious toy department. We've got some great people there. So Pat Tabler included Pat Tabby was, was working on the desk and then he went into the booth and frankly, we didn't do a lot of games. I think we only did about 20 games a year. One year we did about 40. I wish we did more because I really, truly love baseball. It's such a great sport.

But the bond that I have with Pat Tabler to this day is indescribable. I mean, I don't see him for years. And we're buds. He's a marvelous person, just a wonderful guy. You know, got a unique little drawl. You know, that was tremendous. You know, Rod, let's go play golf tomorrow. You know, he's got that drawl. He's a guy who has got a family man. I know he and his wife at one time, you know, the extended family went overseas to adopt two

twin boys who became, you know, incredible, incredible people in North America. And they hailed from what was Russia at the time. But Tabby is in a great baseball mind. And by the way, one of the great baseball players. And it goes back to my 92 and 93 time when I was a host and a reporter. I mean, Tabby was playing for the 92 Blue Jays. He was one of those bench guys. And Pat Tabler, if you look it up, still has one of the, if it's not the major league mark it's very close i think it still is the best record

at the plate batting average with bases loaded in two outs he's just a clutch guy and he was so much fun and we had so much fun working together there's so many stories about visiting stadiums and getting there on time or late or under the most crazy conditions. But he's another one of the guys. I love him like a brother. Yeah, that was his claim to fame was the batting average with the bases loaded. This was the Pat Tabler. And I remember it was something like 500 or something like that.

Oh, it's insane. So here's another good Tabby story. These keep coming up. I guess we don't really have time. No, let's get it. So Tabby and I are doing a game at Yankee Stadium, and I remember having a great friend of mine. I brought him along, Bruce Good of the Good Brothers.

And I hate to name drop. I keep name dropping. No, you know what? If you don't mind, more name dropping, please. I told Justin Timberlake that earlier today. Man. Oh, my wife knows him. So Bruce Good of the Good Brothers comes down.

He's one of my best friends. And he's with Tabby and I. We normally would take the subway, but it's the hottest, seriously, the hottest day on record in New York City history. Right. And we're going to old Yankee Stadium. And we normally would take the train, because the best way is to take the train up.

We're always in suits, but it was so hot hot so we had a limo pick us up so myself bruce uh pat i believe our stats guy scott carson was with us and also jerry howarth jerry always snuck in hello friends can i get a ride and so and i love jerry as everybody does yes so we get in the car, we get a block away and the air, the guy turns around and goes, Hey guys, I just want to tell you my air conditioning, not working. You got suits on this guy.

It has to be 150 and 170 in the car. So anyway, we get, and we're soaking wet, Pat. I've never seen Tabby so mad. He was like furious. We had sweat.

You know, we had sweat everywhere you know as they call it the uh the sauce the the crock sauce we had everywhere we had it uh behind your knees you know when you get sweat on a suit behind your knees and your running suit so anyway we do the game my buddy bruce good is there and uh he And he keeps giving us water the entire game. That was so hot, they were giving out free water in New York. So Bob Shepard, I'm sure you know who Bob Shepard is, the late Bob Shepard, the famous, famous announcer,

PA announcer at Yankee Stadium. So in the middle of the game, I'm so mad, kind of at our producers, kind of at our network for this stupid situation, why we're wearing suits on the hottest day of the year and why we're not in like golf shirts which would make it a lot more comfortable we're the only dorks in suits in like even the the security guards the fbi aren't wearing suits on this day you know they would have a funeral people wouldn't be wearing suits right so we're the only two dorks in in New York, in New York City, wearing suits.

We get there. I'm third inning. I say, that's it. I'm dropping drawer. That's it. I'm dropping drawer. And so I just let my, I did the broadcast in my underwear because it was so hot, man. So I'm in my underwear.

I don't think I've ever told this story. I'm in my underwear. Tabby's laughing. Scott Carson's laughing. And my buddy, Bruce Good, keeps bringing underwear tabby's laughing scott carson's laughing and i and my buddy bruce good keeps bringing water he's laughing and then he brings in bob shepherd the announcer who comes in excuse me mr black how do you pronounce the name and it was one of the blue jay names and i can't it might have been incarnacion how do you pronounce he's walking down the stairs and he's he's got to be like he's over 80 years old 90 years old he's looking and i turn around in my chair and i got my underwear

and i thought i was gonna give the man a heart attack i thought he was gonna fall here i am in my underwear in yankee yankee stadium in the press box doing the yankees and the blue jays but that was one of the most i I still, I think I have pictures. I remember Scott Carson. I, again, the stats guy, he's still been doing it for years. I follow him on Twitter. Yeah. I, I, I know I have a picture of him somewhere. We took a shot. We were so soaking wet. We, we, we would have been drier in a shower and Scott took his shirt off. He had a shirt off and he's like posing. He's like posing, giving the muscle picture because we were so freaking hot. And it was, so that one,

that one would be the day that I did that chapter would be the day I broadcast in my, in my, uh, shorts and, and the, and I almost killed Bob Shepard. Oh, that's, that's fantastic. You know, I know you mentioned in the first Rod Black episode, episode 800, that there's a street named after you. I can't wait to be back tomorrow, by the way. I'll do that.

Are you kidding? This is like an every, this is a series. This is like a Netflix series. Maybe we'll just become, you know, best buds. You just, you know, shoot the breeze.

A blacklist. That's right. We'll just start it like a subgenre. But you have a street named after you in Winnipeg. And they just reconfigured six points here in Etobicoke. And Jerry Howarth has like a – it's not very long, I'll be honest. I don't think yours is either. I'm talking about streets, by the way.

But Jerry's got a street named after him now here in Etobicoke. Yeah, mine isn't very long and it isn't very busy oh you're talking about street yeah um jerry does have again he should jerry jerry should have a lot of things jerry should have a i also think that like there are a lot of tom cheek you know tom and jerry were perfectly named first of all uh you you kind of they were the soundtrack to our lives growing up again living in Winnipeg I heard them you know most of the nights when I was following Blue Jay baseball before I came out and covered the Blue Jays and Dave Van Horn similarly Duke Snyder that was my love of baseball it was the announcers uh Dave Van Horn and Duke Snyder

doing the Montreal Expos I you know truth be told I grew up an Expos fan and still to this day. And I still believe the Expos will return to Montreal. But I grew up an Expo fan. Gary Carter, God rest his soul. It was the anniversary of his death. No, it was his birthday, wasn't it? Is that correct? Or no, that was the anniversary of his death yesterday.

And I had a chance to work with Kerry Carter and Tony Fernandez. There's so many great ones that were just from that era. But the Expos, to me, were everything. And we would not have Blue Jay Baseball today, Mike, if it wasn't for the Expos. So I'm with you on the soundtrack of my summers was Tom and Jerry, of course. In fact, I'm of an age where I don't remember anyone. I know Tom's a day-wonner, but I don't remember.

Is it early win? Early win. Yeah, I have no memories of early win. So I tune into my first game, and I think it was 82 or something like that, and it was Jerry Howarth. But here's a question for you, Rod. So there's some talk,

and this is all speculation at this point, but Mike Willner is now at the Toronto Star. He's not in the radio booth with Rodgers. What would you say if they took the television, Sportsnet, of course, you're at TSN, but Sportsnet took the television feed and just simulcast that on the radio? What would you say about, now this is not something that's necessarily happening, but people sometimes talk about this possibility as like a cost-cutting move like what i i i don't

think they'll ever i mean i i know um our industry uh is going through a really tough time and i feel for everybody uh who has been affected and it will continue uh this world that we're living in is stream streamed and streamlined and we're you know they're they're cutting a lot of fat in a lot of places i don't think it's fat personally i think that you know they're these are great people that and unfortunately it's just part of business and um you know i i do think tv has changed a lot but i i and and by the way they used to do that a lot tv and radio used to combine. I know I did CFL games too, where we would be simulcast on the radio.

And it's just not right. TV and radio are completely different calls. Now, for legends like Vin Scully, you know, for the Dodgers, it's different, you know, clearly. But for the beauty of television baseball is the breath is the breath is the silence is is not having to over talk it uh it's great to have stories but you don't have to call every pitch so if it was simulcast i think it would be too much i think dan and buck and buck and dan and tab do a great job television i mean they're pros it's just a the difference between television and radio

is um astronomical right radio is more theater of the mind right and that's what i love i don't think i and dan's a great radio uh play-by-play guy too but radio you have to be more descriptive uh there are times when you have to tell a few more stories perhaps because you you know i don't think you have as many commercials to fill in the and you don't have to be as obvious the pictures are right for tv the pictures are there uh but radio you have to be more descriptive and the great ones like tom and jerry and and vince scully and you know go down the list uh ernie harwell ernie harwell you know for tigers uh they live those those voices live forever those radio voices live, and you have to be much more descriptive. So, yeah, I guess the long answer, Mike, is that I don't think it would work.

And if they ever did it, I think it would be really foolish. Either way, if they took the TV feed and went to radio because you'd be in your car going, well, I don't really – you know, there's a long fly ball, but, you know, you're not describing where the you gotta paint a picture right on radio you're painting the picture and and yeah you're i'm with you you know in this day and age you never know like they could take dan and and buck and and tabby who who are great at the the tv and they could just like would fans complain that they had you know people like i honestly don't think yeah i don't think that's ever going to happen i mean that's just it would be uh let's put it this way. Let's go to, let's go to basketball for instance. Yeah. Let's go to basketball.

You know, Matt and Jack do the games. Matt is, you know, it works for the, for the team. Jack has a contract with us, does the games with us. Leo does the games with the other guys and us too. So it's a familiar, I obviously don't do the games on the other side and nor do they on our side, but radio is kind of different too. So Matt and Jack and Leo could probably translate to the radio. But again, it's different because you wouldn't use as many,

if you did a radio call on television of basketball, I don't think it works. I think it's just too much. It's just too much. You don't let it breathe. And Matt's a master at that. You know, people who work in television, we get paid to do that on TV. And I think, just think the radio is just so different. I understand where you're going with, you know, cost cutting and all of that. And some teams some teams by the way have done that but i think everybody's moved away from that now okay good to hear good to hear so you're on basketball good i want to talk about raps and etc and then maybe sneak another berkeley story out of you but uh so tell us remind us like like when when like are you there tell us your involvement

with the raptors telecast like like when that started and well again day one i i guess before day one uh ctv signed the deal i was the host for ctv sports at the time right so we got knowledge of the grizzlies in vancouver and the raptors in toronto coming in the nba now before that we had done the world basketball championships which were really a precursor we already had learned the nba was coming to toronto so the world basketball championships were this really nice appetizer and we saw all the stars. So that was kind of cool. We were involved in that. I was also involved in day one, the announcement of the team, the team name, the Raptors, in which everybody couldn't believe that they would name them after Jurassic Park. And now years later, nobody's ever complaining

because I remember at the time there was a real backlash. And I did know that there were a bunch of different names in a contest. I think Tarantulas was on there, Towers, Huskies, which was the original Toronto Huskies. I want to say Bobcats definitely was on there. I think Grizzlies might have even been on because they named before Vancouver. But there were 10 names and T-Rex. I thought T-Rex actually at the time, because Jurassic Park had just come out.

And it was a fanaticism with that movie. I kind of thought T-Rex, you know, the Tyrannosaurus or whatever. When Raptors happened happen and i had announced that i remember i said i think the raptors are the raptors are born uh i i wasn't skeptical i knew there was going to be a bit of a backlash and the great story i don't know if you've ever had the bittoff family on john no no john jr should actually have them on it um because we wouldn't be sitting here talking without them and Larry Tannenbaum, obviously his dream later too. But the Bitovs, if it wasn't for that family, we would not have NBA basketball.

And they honestly helped broker the deal with Vancouver as well. But John Bitov Jr. went to Indiana, great friend of Isaiah Thomas had all these connections, obviously huge in the business world. It was his son, Brett, who actually loved that name, Raptors. And to this day, I do think that, you know, they kind of credit him for the, he was the boy who named the Raptors because I think he originally put it on the list and then it became, I don't, I don't know if it was ever fixed or anything like that, but I just know that Brett, who's now 30, was the guy

who actually came up with that. And even Isaiah Thomas has talked about that. So that's a great story. So that, then opening night, I called the games in the first couple of years with Leo on CTV. I did the games for Sportsnet. Again, that interesting little dynamic.

In Vancouver with James Worthy, who is like Charles Barkley. Everywhere you go with James Worthy, everybody knows who he is. So I did those games out there. And then again, gradually came over to TSN. That's when soon thereafter, after the national broadcast, teams would hire their own broadcast units. So we would still work and supplement the coverage with our hosting or sideline reporting. But yeah, I've been there since day one. The only day oners, Leo, obviously, myself, Doug Smith of the Toronto Star.

Right. Herbie Kuhn, the PA announcer. Dr. Paul Marks was one of the original doctors. I think a couple of the stats people, and I'm afraid I should know. I probably, I only know their first names, but I think they've been there. That's it.

That's that. Those are the originals. Oh, and key one. I forgot the key one, the Raptor mascot. Well, I've known actually a long time before that.

And I don't want to give his name away. I was going to say like such a miss. Cause I remember he broke his leg. Right. And they had, Oh, this, he, he is a former gymnast champion who always, And I don't want to give his name away. I was going to say, because I remember he broke his leg, right? And they had... Oh, this... He is a former gymnast, champion, who always has had a love.

And he actually joined a contest to become the Raptor mascot. And he has become the greatest mascot maybe in sports and through the years. And he's nuts. And he's older now. Sure. And he may be a little slower but he is as agile and he comes up with those and i miss i don't know about you i miss that right now going down to scotiabank i one of the beauties of opening night remember when he came out of the egg and all of the things

that he did at skydome it was i i think there probably were 25 000 30 000 people at every game in the skydome i swear to you 20 000 for the mascot. Because the team sucked at the time. They were just a bunch of cast-offs. They did beat Michael Jordan and the Bulls, although I think the Bulls were out a little late the night before. But they were very good. And a big win against the Magic, as I recall. We had to pick our spots back then.

Yeah, but it was great. Remember Magic Johnson came up when he returned from the Lakers, with the Lakers, from retirement. And returning from HIV and the announcement. And we got to see magic Johnson. We got to see a lot of great players. The opposition, the opposition was actually more fascinating. People bought tickets based on the opposition, but you know, Damon Stoudemire, I,

they're going to have a statue role of the Raptors someday, just like they have the Leafs. Yes. And Damon Stoudemire will be on one of those statues. There's no doubt. I agree. Damon Stoudemire is the original. Okay, can we do that game real quick here?

Then I'm putting you on the spot, but it'll be kind of fun. Let's say, how many statues do you get? Like, let's say, I don't know, eight? Can we just say eight? Well, I think you make it kind of like, and I was actually there. I told you yesterday. I was there the other day.

And it's so spooky. I I was actually there. I told you yesterday I was there the other day. And it's so spooky. I know people up there in Jurassic Park, that area. But the leaf, what they did with the leaf tribute is amazing. And they'll continue to add, you know, the bench. I don't know how they would do it with the Raptors. I think they'll put it on the other side. I'm sure that's what they're thinking. Same kind of okay uh same same

kind of idea so probably all together and would add so the the easy ones damon stoudemire okay well let's go in order because i feel like if if if number seven's not the first statue there's going to be riots in the streets like i feel like kyle lowry's got to be the first statue yeah i would say yeah i would say i again, it's going to be interesting to see how Kyle, where he ends his career, if it's here or elsewhere. But Kyle Lowry will always be

the greatest rafter. But he delivered. Unlike Matt Sundin, who never did bring a cup to the city, and then he ends up as a Canuck to finish up his career. Kyle, I feel, because he's delivered,

we have the championship. So I feel like it's a little different. Like what happens now is sort of, you know, great. Yeah, I think Kyle, I think definitely, well, definitely Kyle Lowry, I do believe should be the first number they ever retire. I know that there probably will be some closure down the road with Vince Carter and the situation that exists. And I know there's a lot of young people up there who probably saw him on

YouTube and all that, there was and Vince is and I I really have a a fond a fondness for Vince Carter I really like him as a person I loved him when he was a Raptor uh as a person but you know the way he left was not the way that legends leave and so you know there there was that uh there was that acrimony that existed. He basically quit on this team. I remember he stopped dunking. I'm going to go back to that. If you look at the clip, I think he was joking. One thing that Vince was not very good at at the time was telling jokes.

It's a deadpan. I do think it was a deadpan joke, and it was treated the wrong way in the context of it. I think there are people who were sitting in that scrum that day and still think there's not a chance chance i think he dunked the next game vince carter not dunking that's like steph curry not shooting right which is but but it's like me not drinking you know right that's like leo not farting okay but without a doubt i'll leave that one with you but i without a doubt vince carter uh he's he's not giving a hundred percent no so

yeah so so that was that that was, it did not go well. And I know there are people, and yeah, he put us on the map in many ways. And the Carter effect was huge for young players. The residue of Vince Carter and those young players who were watching him, you know, from the Sprite Zone, like Tristan Thompson. I was there all the time in the Sprite Zone. Yeah. Well, there it goes.

It was affordable, too. That was a new year. $10.75, I think I was there all the time in the Sprite Zone. Yeah. Well, there it goes. It was affordable too. $10.75, I think I'd pay for a ticket. $10.75. Yeah. It was crazy. And it was great. And all those young players, those young Canadian players, Nick Stauskas, I think of as well. All these guys who became NBA players and some became stars. Andrew Wiggins was born in 1995. So, you know, like four years, I don't know how much of Vince Carter, I don't know if he remembers, but yeah. So Vince, Vince is definitely going to be one of the statues.

There's no doubt. And I would think the, the, the, if you had, I'll ask you, I'll turn it on you. What, like, let's talk statues for Kyle Lowry. What is his statue of like, what is the pose? Cause Kyle Lowry. Okay. I thought you were're gonna ask me who's my second statue because no no well let's go through each one i think i think they'll probably put i i would say they would it could be kawaii's shot that would be the second one just because of the shot and how it lives on well demar de rosa is going to be one of the statues absolutely on well it's demar de rosa is going to be one of the statues absolutely damon stoudemire will be a statue is chris bosh a statue yes right chris i would think i would think there's a chance i would

say morris peterson as well you know like what morris peterson did for this franchise for a long time just a life the people who gave their heart and soul to the franchise to me more pete was like a wendell clark kind of guy yeah. He always just gave it for the city. But I will tell you that the list is not as long as it is for the Toronto Maple Leafs. You mentioned Stoudemire. No, no, no. So you're right. Even just, forget order, but if Lowry's got one, Vince Carter's

got one, DeRozan... DeMar DeRozan will have his jersey retired by the Toronto Raptors. I'm with you. There is no doubt in that one. And I will tell you another thing. I could see him... Well, maybe not. I could see him ending his career, coming back and maybe

ending his career here. Right, right. We'll see. Now, Kawhi Leonard, sure, one season, but look what he did for sure. He's in that conversation. And the shot, the statue's easy. It's him crouching, looking up. That's the easy one. Right, right. So what's the Lowry pose? Taking,

falling on his, he took more charges than anybody. I'm only joking. And what kind of thickness are we putting in that caboose? Sorry, it'd have to be something

that, like he's done so much. Maybe him holding the trophy. One thing I loved about Kyle is obviously his hard work. And maybe it's just his fierceness, his ferocity. Right. But, you know, I love that shot of him just holding the statue and looking at it.

I love that one. When he's cradling it. Like, yeah, absolutely. And in another one, know remember the that the parade it's hard to believe we all had so many people i was there buddy yeah what did you remember most about the parade one thing that kyle did that i just it still resonates with me uh i i mean you know i went to that parade with hebsey so we went went on the... Oh, did you? Yeah, the lakeshore. This is a tale of two parades, by the way.

I guess you know this. But the lakeshore guys, like us, I am a lakeshore guy because I'm a south guy anyways, and I biked along the lakeshore. So just when they come out of the CNE or whatever, amazing, like just the best vibe, the best everything. But my wife was closer to Nathan Phillips Square there. Oh, yeah. Shitstorm.

So that's where we were. Yeah, we were there. It was poorly planned. I guess they used people who had planned, I'm pretty sure, Santa Claus Parade. That doesn't quite work with whatever. I think we had a couple million people down there. And honestly, it was dangerous. But at the beginning, it was like nothing I had ever seen in my life.

Nothing I'd ever seen. I was with Sam, Mitchell, and Leo, and Jack. beginning it was it was like nothing i had ever seen in my life no nothing i'd ever seen i was with sam mitchell and leo and jack and we were doing panel hits from the side right beside the stage and we were there all quiet since like six in the morning and we just watched the people gather and gather and again it was getting dangerous it was dangerous i mean there were people jumping on portalettes right portalettes to get on top the police actually the police were very good. They were letting people.

And I remember one guy fell right through a portalette, and there was actually a guy inside. Oh, no. Yeah. And it was, but, you know, we were very lucky that it wasn't as, we still had, you know, a bad incident there. But it could have been a lot worse. Anyway.

Nobody died. No, so you didn't see it. But one of the things that nobody else did, and I thought when he brought that trophy onto the stage and just brought it up over his shoulders he had his boys with him and i just thought you know that's kyle lowry nice to have his sons with him soaking it in was so so cool and also remember how how pasted marcus hall was hey i got a clip here i want to play uh this is you and uh a fun guy for about 30 seconds here kawaii the fun guy are you having fun or is this all business um no basketball is fun you know You know, you grasp it as a little kid, and you end up taking an entrance in it,

and, you know, just been, you know, having fun with friends and family the whole time, and now I'm going to be there. Lowry to Leathernecks! And it's low! Over at Danitubo! And the building can feel it! So what was it like?

What did you glean off of that fun guy? I find him to be like an enigma wrapped in a riddle, like a mysterious figure. Like, what can you tell us about Kawhi Leonard? Well, I kind of coined the phrase that Charles used after. I told him we were Charles and I were out one night. We were down in, well, I can't even remember. It might have been Milwaukee or one of the,

one of the playoff series. And I said to him, dude, this guy's a cyborg. You know, he's a cyborg. I mean, you know, if you just kind of cut them open, there's like machinery underneath. But there was a, you never got much out of them quite, you know, quite honestly, I think a lot of people were a little frightened to go and approach him. I never was. He was one of those guys who didn't say a lot, but what he said meant a lot. You know what I mean?

He didn't waste words. He didn't waste words. That kind of lived with him. But I do know, you see some of the social media, that stuff kind of lived with him. But I do know, you know, you see some of the social media, that stuff that went on with him and Serge Ibaka and other Raptors, how much of a fun guy he really is. And it's so funny. Leo and I did a preseason game last year, Dallas and the Clippers.

It was his first game with the Clippers in Vancouver. And, you know, we're getting ready to do the on-camera. And then behind us, this guy walks up and starts patting us on the back. And, you know, we never would have seen that. Now it was preseason. We never would have seen that from Kawhi. And we had the longest, greatest conversation with him after he had left the Raptors. He's such a focused guy.

I've never seen a more determined, steely-eyed guy, but a tremendous basketball player. One of the best who's ever played. And a guy, by the way, we talk about Kyle Lowry. He made Kyle Lowry a better player. And I do also think Kyle Lowry helped make him a better team player too. But no, everybody, the classic was Norm Powell giving the fist pump in Golden State if you just kind of ignored it. He doesn't suffer fools, that's for sure. His background is such that, you know, he's lived a life of triumph, but also of tragedy. And I think inside he holds a lot in, I really do think.

But when you get him on a certain day, he truly was. He lived up to fun guy. I know we miss him i know the raptor fans miss him a lot and he probably has a good chance to win a championship with the clippers which will put him in that exclusive uh three franchise championship club i don't i need a better name robert ory would be one of them i know that yeah well uh lebron just entered that club last year too and there's another uh let me think for a second who it is. You know who it is?

I think it's Spider. Former Piston, former Raptor. Oh, John Sally. Right. I think it's John Sally. Well, he went with the Pistons. Yeah, it is. Yeah, he did. John Sally.

Oh, there's a great, that reminds me of the, back to 95, he did. John Sally. Oh, there's a great... That reminds me of the... Back to 95, John Sally. Again, he was probably one of the biggest names to play for the Raptors on that expansion team. You know, we had Alvin Robertson, John Tabak, B.J. Armstrong would have been,

but he never decided not to play. Jimmy King was on that team, right? Jimmy King, yeah. Oliver Miller, who was a tremendous player, kind of ate himself out of the league a little bit. But he was quite a great player. Tony Massenburg. You know, you go through, obviously, Damon.

But John Sally was there because he was a champion, right? He came and he had already won. And I'll never forget, we're getting ready to do a game. Leo and I are courtside. And we always said that it was cool because courtside seats, they'd always give this once to the left to certain VIPs, usually movie stars who were filming movies in Toronto. And often it would be like Gene Hackman, Samuel Jackson.

It was cool. I remember one time I had some licorice and I asked Gene Hackman, Mr. Hackman, would you like some licorice? He's going, no, no, no. I look over, he's eating my, he's got his licorice. He got my whole licorice. He's eating my licorice. Anyway, we're getting ready to do a game. Getting ready for just before tip, you know, buzzer, buzzer sounds, guys doing their little huggy, huggy high five thing. John Stanley comes over and walks up and he goes to shake our hand. And And he grabs my hand, and he goes, hey, hey, hey. And there's a paper inside my hand.

What? See that girl in the front row and the seventh row over there? You make sure you give her my number. No word of a lie. No word of a lie. That's great. You know, Sam Jackson was a favorite, of course, because in Jackie Brown, he had the Raptors bag.

Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. So here's what we're going to do, Rod. I'm going to, I promised a bunch of people we'd talk CFL. Sure. And that's coming up. We're going to talk some CFL. I just want to let people know,

if you want a free copy of Barb Paluska, which is book IT Scams, Barb's with CDN Technologies, and they're your outsourced IT department, all you need to do to get a free copy of IT Scams is write Barb at cdntechnologies.com and ask for the book and say

Toronto Mike sent ya, Barb will take care of you, I want to give a special shout out to Mimico Mike he's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene, so Rod if you want to make your way south here, Mike will take care of you.

It's Mike Majewski in the know. Magic Mike. Magic Mike in the know in Mimico. And you can go to realestatelove.ca to find out more. Much love to stickeru.com. That's where you get your back in black stickers and decals and such. Nice.

The beer, honestly, Rod, at some point, you're going to score yourself some Great Lakes beer like Jack Armstrong did. And if you love Italian food, Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville, that's authentic Italian food. I'm excited. They'll take care of you, buddy. All right, see you, pal.

I'll give you some gifts to give away. I got nothing. I can give you the underwear that I wore in Yankee Stadium. No, thank you. I will take a hard pass. I could send you down some game-worn ties. Well, now we're talking. I'll take that possibly.

Although I don't wear ties. I don't know if you know this, Rod, but you were telling about being sweaty in the suit. I was thinking I did wear a suit when I got married almost eight years ago to my wife, Monica. I have not worn a suit since, I do not believe. Well, I have not worn pants with a zipper in the last year. You're catching up.

Oh, no, I shouldn't say that because we're in the studio. It's every once in a while it feels weird trying to put pants on that you're used to wearing sweatpants for the whole last year. It's been a very different time. Yes, it sure has been. Okay, where will I start? Lots of things here in the CFL realm. Let's start with Wes.

Wes, actually, should we start with Wes? Yeah. Curious on his thoughts about CFL being able to survive this pandemic. I had a few different comments like this. So let's start with that, and then we'll go backwards. I know you were a big Blue Bombers fan growing up. Yeah, yeah. That's a great question.

And I had a lot of thoughts about it today. First of all, I'm very optimistic. More optimistic than I have been. I was really optimistic last year, though, I should tell you that, that there would be some sort of season. Like a bubble somewhere, right? Like Winnipeg or something.

Yeah. I just think the CFL kind of maybe exposed itself to what kind of a business model it has when it had to go ask for all that money. And let's face it, you know, it's kind of more of a co-op than sometimes it probably should be. We have some rich owners. The league does very well in certain cities at gates. It's a gate driven league some you know the salary i guess the salary cap i remember at one time was about three to five million might be a little more now uh but you think about the players that have to get paid uh you think about the ownership which is not nba style ownership when i say you know billionaires

you have to be a billionaire to own uh a team in major league baseball or hockey you know the big four and the cfl we haven't really had any real true you know billion billionaires like any of those like uh mark cubans now having said that mlse also owns and they probably have more money than anybody the argos uh but it is what it is it's a league it's a canadiana league. It's a Canadiana league. And it's so important, I do think, to the fabric of our nation. We have a ton of fans. The league has a great following on television,

a great following on television. Some nights it certainly rivaled the Blue Jay ratings and it sometimes beat the Blue Jay ratings, particularly in Saskatchewan. The heartbeat of this league is in the prairies. And I would be so disappointed if they were unable to go again this year. What galvanizes me, Mike, a little bit and Wes, for your question, is the fact that they are signing a lot of players in free agency. Players have moved. There are bonuses being paid out.

So to me, it sounds like they're trying to get something to go. The problem is how are you going to do it without any fans in the stands? So are they going to – and how are you going to get the players over the border, quarantine? They're doing it in hockey. So I think that that's a possibility. But where's that money? That means that you're really going to have to work on sponsorship. You're going to probably have to take a loss. You're going to probably have to take a loss.

You're going to probably have to go back to the government and come up with some sort of a financial plan and maybe even borrow money, which is a sad thing. I think they should have even borrowed a little bit last year and played some sort of season just to stay relevant out of sight, out of mind in this pandemic, you have to be upfront. And I really truly believe

that and i also really do believe right now based on what i'm seeing that the cfl will play in some way shape and form this year they're talking about june and in early july i think there's a good chance it could be pushed a little bit later however it is at least we're going to get it to play uh football could be played how we're going to get it to play. Football could be played. How we're going to get fans in until we can get everybody vaccinated, by the way, whenever that is, you know, our American friends who have absolutely blown this whole COVID thing from the beginning. In my mind, they're getting vaccinated before we're getting vaccinated and we've been on

top of this thing from the beginning, you know, we've been on top of it and we've been safe distance and wearing masks. And yeah, a lot of people, a lot of people are suffering. I mean, we're also talking about a sport and a game being played when people are sick. Some people are dying. Businesses have been lost. People have lost a ton of money. The beauty of this game is that it is Canadian and it still gives you some sort of respite

it's almost therapy sometimes just to have that game just to have that game just to have a team to cheer for especially in your hometown your home province right CFL is very provincial we've seen that you know you're in Saskatchewan you're you wear green you're in Winnipeg you're in Manitoba you're blue and gold. Yada, yada, yada. Out east, it's a little different. The big cities, it doesn't gravitate. But to answer Wes's question, I am confident that there will be a season. What it will look like, I don't think anybody knows right now.

I think they're trying whatever they can to try to get it up and running. Wes goes on, actually, and he says, he goes, I'm one of the few hardcore CFL fans living in Toronto, and he puts in brackets, via Hamilton, Oskiwiwi, who love this league and would be crushed if it doesn't survive. And then a bunch of people did reply back on Twitter,

like saying, me too, me too, which I find interesting because we know there's, we know there's Toronto CFL fans. We know this. But I got some free tickets to BMO Field to catch the Argos. It was a great experience. I took the whole family. It was my favorite price for tickets.

It's also free. When was this? Before a couple years ago? It's BMO. How long have they been at BMO now? It was probably the first year at BMO. I think the first year at BMO. So the first year, the issue was they haven't had many fans in the stands. Right.

You know, I think a couple of things about BMO. I don't like the configuration in terms of how it's situated with the sun. I think it's very hard for people. It's a night game. The people on that east side get blasted by the sun. I think it's very hard for people. It's a night game. The people on that east side get blasted by the sunset. And then the lights go down, then it's fine. And then if it's a day game,

you also get pasted by the sun. And so it's very difficult. Now, having said that, when it's full, I've seen it full. When it's full, it's awesome. I've seen it full for the FC. Yeah, well, we all have, but have you seen it full for the Argos? I've seen a couple of times where it's been full or close to full for special occasions.

It's a great sell job, Mike. They've got to sell it. I mean, one thing about Torontonians, they're so bent on the novelty of the rivalries that exist between Canada and the United States and the big league sports like MLB, NHL, and NBA, they've kind of forgotten a little bit in my mind and the big city about the CFL, which to my, in my mind, yeah, it's not, it's not up there, but it's still here and it's a great place to take kids.

They have missed in my mind, an opportunity to bring a lot of kids. Would I paper the house? No, but I would create incentives to make sure that the kids get a chance. Football teams get a chance to go. Like you said, a good price is free, I know, but make it an incentive. Don't make it free for the football teams. They've got to go do some community work.

Then they get to go to an Argo game. I always said any stadium that has empty seats and they haven't been sold, put butts in those seats. Now, I know the paying customer is going to go oh hey i paid for mine how come they get them free i understand that but it's like going to a party do you want to go to a party with 10 people or you're gonna have a much better party with a lot more people so we've got to find ways to kind of bring them back i also think entertainment uh bring big name acts and just don't do it a halftime show. Have them give maybe a song at halftime, then a concert after. Don't play

during the X. They have this thing where your ticket to the X gets you into the Argos. I can tell you right now, the people who are going to watch the Argos aren't going to the X and the people going to the X aren't going to watch the Argos. I think I would get rid of that. I wouldn't do that. Create an atmosphere, create the place to be where you could win something. Maybe even if it's a 50, 50, a huge 50, 50, a car, things like that. You have to market, market, market in this city. And they've got the best marketing tool right now. His name is pinball Clemens. Yes. Right. Yes. Yes. Right. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, Mike.

I tell you. Yes. Yes. He's wonderful. Yes. Yes. Right. Right.

Right. He is, first of all, nobody like him in the world. Right. Spectacular person. Generous. Fierce competitor. Smart, smart, smart. Coach, general manager now.

Assembled a great team in this offseason. I can tell you, I hope the Argos do play. They're going to be very, very competitive. In fact, they may have just become the favorites in the East with all the moves they just recently made. But they've got to make this the place to get down there. And also, I don't know about you, I'm not sure it's the easiest place in the world to get to.

I know they were at Rogers Center and it was too big. I did games in Rogers Center. If it's matted properly and if it's raining outside, it's a good place to be. But I do find it's a little, there's nothing really out there besides Liberty Village and a few other buildings. When you get off the train and you get out to Exhibition Place,

I guess I still call it that. I just don't i don't think it is the destination place you know if it maybe it was still at rogers center i'm not saying they should go there you know there's always places to eat around there go for dinner first and i know they have those around liberty village and other places but there's no there's a big vacuous parking lot there um and a lot of people don't park there they park along and you're right those restaurants and stuff, they're on King Street, so that's a little bit...

Yeah, I just got to make it easier for... I'm a big believer in family. Okay, what if they stuck them in Mississauga? You think that would fly? It feels like the CFL's... I don't want to say... They've talked about it. I know they talked about Downsview a few years ago. Well, there's a big

redevelopment happening there. I don't know how that... I mean, again, do we need to build more stadiumsview a few years ago. There's a big redevelopment happening there. I don't know how that. I mean, again, do we need to build more stadiums? That's the issue. Right. I know they talked about Burlington at one time. And, you know, when the Cats were thinking about building and maybe sharing a facility, I don't think that worked.

Have you ever been to Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton? No. Oh, great, great stadium. Okay, so this is a good segue. Great, great stadium. Different vibe, too. It's not a pro. I don't want to say it. It doesn't have an NHL team there. They don't have

that big... It is the game in the city. Everybody goes and it's cultural. And that stadium, when it rocks, and it was sold out, I think, for 15 or 16. When it's sold out, especially Labor Day, Mike, there's no better place around.

You get goosebumps. Will you take me to a game? I want to see Argos and Ticats. I will invite you next Labor Day. I'm hoping that we have, if we do. All right. Because I recorded this. I am taking you.

You're going to be my guest in the broadcast booth. Shout out to Jake the Snake. He's a huge Ticats fan. He gives these buttons out that say, I know he gave one to Steve Paikin and to Steven Brunt and all these Ticats guys. Argo suck is what it says. I think Argo suck.

And Jake the Snake wants to know, Rod Black, have you ever played the Rod Black drinking game? Oh, no, I heard about it. But everybody has a drinking game. We all have drinking games. So it's for phrases that you use or overuse or a certain phrase uh if i i should play it it's the broadcast might be a little bit better well i'm like so so okay so chris cuthbert's now a sports net hockey guy now like like so so who what is the tsn when cfl returns like who's on that broadcast anybody really no i think we're

gonna it's all by committee it's've got our same kind of teams. And clearly, we have a guy out west, Dustin Nielsen, who's ready for prime time as well. I would think that Gordon Miller is going to do some more games as well. I don't think anybody knows. Nobody knows, Mike, right now what the situation is with a league before television. So I think we've got to get the games going first.

I mean, we're only announcers. We're're the callers we're the storytellers i will tell you i and i there's nothing like game day for me for the cfl i love doing all the sports but there's nothing like game day getting down at the stadium talking to the players talking to a cfl player is is unlike any other athlete you've been around there They're very humble, giving. You get great stories. They all come from all over the world now because they have global players. It's fascinating. And the games, one thing I like about the CFL, people can talk about the NFL

and what they've done with the pass, passing all the time. They got that from the Canadian Football League, trust me. The NFL used to be a running league. The CFL has been a passing league. And generally, I would say our games, I know our rules are a little funky, but our games come right down to the wire.

Those last two minutes are fascinating. I mean, where's my Doug Flutie? Hold on. So here's my Doug Flutie Argos bobblehead. Oh, he's a good dude. Greatest CFL player of all time. He wasn't here very long. He was here long enough because he had the Calgary years,

then he had the two years here. Yeah, but he wasn't like, you know, on the stats, on all the stats. He was here with Anthony. Sorry, go ahead. No, no, sorry. Anthony Calvillo goes as the all-time pro passing quarterback, but, you know, Doug didn't last.

What about Warren Moon? Warren Moon was a game changer, a pioneer, trailblazer for so many. It was an age when there weren't many black quarterbacks. I remember growing up watching Conridge Holloway and Chuck Ely and JC Watts, and there were very few, and it Ely and JC Watts. And there were very few and it was very hard for them and more. And this young guy, Warren Moon, who came in and lit the league on fire. He was incredible. He was one of the best ever.

But again, it was a league that there wasn't as much passing. When Warren Moon put it in the air, it was incredible. But there was still a lot of running at the time. You know, they operated a two back set. So no, Warren Moon was right up there. Calvillo was obviously up there. But Doug Flutie, for pure excitement level, he was absolutely incredible.

Yeah, absolutely. No, I love that guy. That's why I got the bobblehead here. Love that guy. So, okay, Rod. And a good dude. Really good dude. Oh, good to hear.

And I like him because I... And a good musician. You ever listen to him? He's with the Good Brothers, right? Does he do stuff at the Good Brothers? No, no, no, no. No, he and his brother had a band. Oh, wow. Aaron Flutie. And they play

at the Great Cups, too. You should look it up. And they're good. I like them. I got some catching up to do, Rod. Absolutely. Here, I just saw the clock, so holy smokes. But I will say, there's a fan of ours named Paul Henderson. He's not the Paul Henderson. He's a different Paul Henderson. Anderson dug a wild stab, already fell. There's a shot.

Another shot. He scores! It's a good Foster Hewitt there. But he says, he said, please get Rod to do some impressions. He says that you have the best impersonations. So he must have heard you do some guest speaking. I do a lot of mimicking.

I don't know. I did a pinball for you. I did it on my Mike Tyson yesterday for you. Right. We've drained the swamp. Is that it? Yeah, no. And Trump is too.

That's so easy, easy, easy. You know, I do a little bit of Bill Clinton every once in a while. You know, I just do that because of American, you know, liberty, justice and freedom. And, you know, I don't really care about, you know, about anything. Hillary told me that the other day. You know, that's all. And I do a, occasionally I do a Janet Nicholson. And, of course, Sean Connery, rest his soul.

So I do a few voices. Wow. And of course, Sean Connery, rest his soul. So I do a few voices. Wow. And of course, the easiest one of all that we all do is, got to tell you something right now, folks. I've got the beauty. I'll tell you that Mike Boondi guy, that Toronto Mike. I'll tell you something.

I was on his show. He's a great guy. I love him a lot. There it goes right there. Love you there, Mike. Whoever the hell you are. Eat your heart out, Don Landry, because that was a pretty damn good uh pretty damn good don cherry there so here we'll close with this then uh 2010 olympics

everything came together it was magic you know we won everything we got the gold the golden goal from sydney it was what a magic time so i would love to hear a little bit about uh what it was like to be the uh i guess you anchored the 2010 olympics uh i call i called um i called skating i call actually everything from uh i did uh short track uh speed skating and figure skating two diametrically opposed sports uh but we won a ton of medals and honestly it was and i've hosted games before and I love hosting, but I would never. Who hosted Duthie? Who am I thinking of then?

A bunch. There were a bunch of hosts. Brian Williams. Brian Williams. Brian Williams doing it. Brian Williams. It's now time. The time. I don't know if you turned it upside down.

Brian Williams. Indeed. Love that guy, by the way. Vancouver in 2010. Wonderful guy. And I get to spend a lot of time with Brian Williams. I'll just say this, guys. I don't know if Brian will ever hear this or not, except, well, for one reason,

I guess Dave Hodge was invited on this program, and he wasn't sure who's this guy's basement. Like, Dwight, what do I do here? And I guess Dave just called up his buddy, Brian, and just said, should I do the show? And Brian said, Dave, I won't do an invitation to Brian Williams. Dave, Mike is a great guy yeah get down there and make sure make sure actually you know what he'll give you free beer free beer because we love free beer i butchered that story so bad

it's the opposite it's the freaking opposite brian called up dave and said this guy toronto mike has invited me on and dave hodge said just do it and thank me later. That's how that story actually goes. But Brian comes on, has a great time. He phoned me like the next day to thank me. He phoned me like a week later to like. I know, he's like, yeah, uncle. Come on, Brian. What a sweetheart.

I love the guy. We used to be competitors because I was hosting CTV. He was hosting CBC. And then he joined our cult and, uh, I've got to spend a lot of time with him and I, I value him as a friend and certainly a mentor. Uh, he's a legend. One of the greatest broadcasters we've had in this country. He's a great storyteller and, uh, everybody has a Brian Williams impression. So that's good. But he's, he is, um, and you know, it's funny thing is he's, he's,

he is the friendliest dude like we'll be on airplanes and you know, I'm just want to go sleep and go up to some lady. I go, man, it looks like you own a dog and you'll start having dog. He has, he loves pets. Wow. He loves pets, but he was, yeah. So Brian is, Brian is a classic that's for sure. But anyway, yeah. Vancouver, Brian was host. James was a host. I think I want to say, I think Dave Randolph did some. Lisa Laflamme was a host.

And a few others. I think Jennifer Hedger hosted some. Remember, that was what they called a consortium or consortium. It was a combination of TSN, CTV, and Sportsnet. It's the first time we all worked for rival cable companies, and every Canadian had to pay more cable for that. No, no, I don't. So no, but Vancouver was magical.

Our identity as a country, I think, changed. I think we started wearing the Canadian flag more after that. I think we started waving the Canadian. I truly do believe that we were, we're not like our friends from down South and nothing against our friends down South. Uh, I'll speak a little slower for them. No, no, no. Uh, but nothing, uh, against them, uh, who are tremendously patriotic for great reason.

I don't think we ever were like that. And now I think 2010 helped and our athletics, because we realized we invested in our athletes. We won more medals than we had ever done before. And people became superstars. And I was lucky enough to cover skating and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moyer, uh, winning a gold medal, which was absolute magic.

Joannie Rochette, uh, winning the bronze medal, uh, you know, days after her mother had passed away, such a tragic story. And I,

to this day, it gives me goosebumps thinking about how this young lady was able to, to conquer that adversity, you know, to, to watch Patrick Chan and, and others, so many others that were there that were competing and then short track speed skating. And we're, we invented that crazy sport. It's like roller Derby on ice. It's beautiful. And it's good. So you're going from that lilting music and nice, you know, like it was over here and then you go into the crash room and bash room of,

of, of short track speed skating, but it was awesome. And it was, ah, it was, it was the winter games, Mike, but it was the summer games. The temperature was incredible outside. It was like every, I remember going in my, my kids came out and we would play basketball in the morning outside. It was, it was absolutely, it's hard to believe. It's hard to believe it was, you know, 10 years ago. Did you get sick of that Nikki Yanofsky song? I believe like I did, like, I just got so tired of hearing it. I believe it was over and over and over. And, you know, it was brilliant because of our production team that came up with that.

We had done it in 1992 with the late Michael Burgess, There Are No Strangers. I think that's the first time we kind of had a theme song. But it was, I believe, I started to really start to detest it after a while. After I, you know, it wasn't after, up until about the 500,000th time I heard it, it wasn't that bad. Right. But certainly thereafter. But it's still, to me, when I hear that song, when I hear that song, it brings me right back to Vancouver.

Like you said, magical time. And man, magical time. This is two in a row. You're two for two. See you tomorrow. Honestly, you're fantastic, buddy. We'll be in touch because at some point, maybe you'll kick out the

jams or something and we could do this again but thanks for making time for the second day in a row that was fantastic yeah my pleasure uh everybody stay safe uh and uh above all try to get outside and get some exercise i know it's a crazy time we're gonna get through it it's nice that we have all of this stuff to do but uh's going to be soon when we can all get together and mike i can't wait to shake your hand or give you a hug oh man i'm gonna love that man and that brings us to the end of our 801st show you can follow me on twitter i'm at toronto mike uh rod is it at RodBlackTSN? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. First person that retweets any of my tweets will get a... No, no.

RodBlackWine? Yes, yes. They'll get some Mike Boone Toronto-miked beer. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. CDN Technologies are at cdn technologies ridley funeral home they're at ridley fh and mimico mike he's on instagram as majeski group homes see you all tomorrow when brother bill and cam gordon join me to kick out some

american hardcore punk. Good night, Toronto light. With the smell of snow, close me today. And your smile is fine and it's just like mine. 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 RomePhone.ca to get started.