Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Roger Lajoie: Toronto Mike'd #1136

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

In this 1136th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Roger Lajoie returns to discuss his 42 years in sports media and his 3857 shows on The Fan. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Yes, We Are Open, The Advantaged Investor, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1136 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta. Fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees. The Yes, We Are Open podcast.

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since 1921. And Canna Cabana. The lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed. Joining me today, returning to Toronto Mic'd, is 42-year sports media veteran, Roger Lajoie.

Welcome, Roger. Oh, I like the intro. That's nice. That's great. Thank you, sir, Mike. It's nice to be back with you finally. Listen, my like the intro. That's nice. That's great. Thank you, sir, Mike. It's nice to be back with you finally. Listen, my friend. Firstly, happy Election Day.

Yes, sir. If you're celebrating. You live in Toronto? I live in Curtis, which is in the municipality of Clarington. I voted in the advance polls up there, yes. I voted in my advance polls as well, because you and I like to get these things taken care of, so we don't have to do it on Election day in case we have other things going on.

And you have something else going on. You had to go visit Toronto Mike. I had to visit Toronto Mike, and I'm happy to be here. And I wanted to, Mike, start off by saying, as a fan of yours, 2015, I believe, was the last time I was in here. I think I was show 200 and something. You're now over 1,100, which is terrific. time I was in here. I think I was show 200 and something. You're now over 1100, which is terrific. Congratulations on keeping this going.

You got a nice run of sponsors and you've done a terrific job. So I'm happy to be here again, my friend. Roger, thanks so much, man. Those are kind words and they mean a lot coming from you. You were actually earlier than that. You were episode 134. Wow, where does time go? So let me do some quick math.

You're almost, you're over a thousand episodes. Yeah, a thousand and two episodes ago. Can we make a pack that it'll be quicker for my third appearance on this show? I would like maybe say 482 or 491, something like that.

Yeah, yeah. Well, we're going to get into some numbers. I know you track the number of shifts you pull down at the Fan 590. We have a lot of stuff ground to cover. But I just want to tell people, if they want to go back and listen to that first Roger Lajoie appearance. When I was obviously, like, I was pretty green. Unlike you, I don't have a radio background.

I'm trying to figure this out as I go along. So I'm afraid to listen back and how I sounded. But if you want to hear how Roger sounded back then, here's what I wrote at the time. So it's on this 134th episode, Mike chats with Fan 590 host Roger Lajoie about his lengthy career in radio, his dozens of other gigs.

We'll talk about a few of those again today. The primetime sports throwdown between Bob McCowan and Stephen Brunt. That kind of time sets this. 1050 Schodenfreude. That's a very big German word I'm using there. And Blue Jays Fever, which we don't have right now.

But this episode, that episode is about an hour and five minutes. We're going to go a bit longer this time because I just know it. But that was seven years ago. And then looking back, like everything's different now because you know tsn's no longer the laughing stock it might have been seven years ago and the fans no longer a juggernaut and that primetime sports duo of bob mccowan and steven brunt are both gone but you roger you're still there. You say that with an element of shock. Yes. Are you shocked?

Yes. As of October 1st, 2022, Roger Lajoie has hosted 3,851 shows on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and I'm sure there's more since then because that number was of... 3857. 3857.

Not that I'm counting. No, you are counting but i can't too that's amazing like uh i the reason i sound a bit surprised is because uh that that's that's a remark like roger that's a remarkable achievement uh you've been on that radio station for a very long time and you're still going strong that's i think it's amazing well that's nice of you to say mike and and thank you and believe me i i look at it uh that way uh myself gratitude is the first word that comes to my mind people ask me about my time on the fan it's 29 years 11 months actually for me my 30th anniversary will be november the 30th. That marks 30 years. And 30 years ago, Mike, Alan Davis, who was then the program director,

was reaching out. I had been a guest on the great Norm Rumak show. Hammer head alert. Well done, sir. Hammer head alert. Well done, sir. We cannot talk about the fan and me without talking about Norm Rumak and hammer head alert.

And so at any rate, I was a guest guest and norm was talking to me and said hey alan davis hergen he said he'd like to talk to you about you know maybe hosting because norm was one of the original hosts with jim richards and all those guys yeah richards and rumak yeah so i at that time my career um i mike i always have what i call a portfolio career i've always had one major gig and surrounded by a bunch of other ones. I think you can understand that pretty well as how I do that. And at that time, it was Oshawa This Week as a newspaper reporter. So, okay, I called up Alan Davis and he says, sure, come on down.

And basically, we had a nice conversation. And he said, okay, I'll get back to you. And I said, well, maybe he's going to use me. It's great. And he just called me out of the blue a few days prior, a few days later, and said, look, we need a fill-in guy. You can do some shows whenever you're available. Look, he's got the Fan 1430 logo.

You know who gave this to me? Way to go. Who? Scott Metcalf. Oh, great man. He came by. So this is where, okay, and I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I have to show you this because no one will appreciate it more than you.

But, like, literally, I'm looking at this. There's a news release in there from August 1992 talking about how CJCL 1430 is going to become the first all-sports radio station in Canada. And that the launch date for the Fan 1430 was going to be September 4th, 1992. And it sounds like you show up like a three months after September, October, November, end of November. Yep.

Okay. So not a day one or, but pretty close, pretty, pretty darn close. And I mean, who's the second longest serving on air talent at the fan five 90. Who's who's in second place.

Well, here's the thing. And this is a little philosophy for you. Mike, I count my shows. I count my career. I don? Well, here's the thing, and this is a little philosophy for you, Mike. I count my shows. I count my career. I don't count anybody else's. And I look at that just because

I don't compare myself to anybody else. And remind me, I have a story to share with you I want to share on that theme before we leave here. Well, do you want to share it now? Because 95% of the time people say that sentence and then forget to share it. All right, so quickly I'm going to come up and say, like we said, he started as if he hired me

as a fill-in guy as of weekends, nights, days when we need you. Can you do this? 29 years, 11 months later, 3,857 shows. It's the same thing. So what's really amazing first is the longevity. But the second thing is it's not even been my full-time gig. I am so grateful to the Fan 590. However, we brought up and we talked,

Scott Metcalf, the second longest. People ask, because they don't count their shows like I do, but certainly my great buddy Norm, Gord Stelic, and Bob McCowan did more shows than I did. I think that's fair enough to say. That's just a ballpark. Well, they were working five days a week. Correct, correct, exactly.

So they did more shows, and in Norm's or seven so they they uh they they've done more shows but i don't compare and here's why all right i'm going to share this with you so one of my many gigs i was a teacher of the college of sports media and i said i have a story to tell you guys and the story's title is 652 to 701 and i want you to listen to this because this is something for you to remember and now i'm talking to my students and i want you to listen to this because this is something for you to remember and now i'm talking to my students and i said the only time i'm sad in a day sometimes is between 652 and 701 and they go why are you sad it's 652 701 right bob mccowan went off the air at 652 roger legeois came on the air at 701 okay nine minutes yeah the difference in that nine minutes

mike is hundreds of thousands of dollars and everything else in all the trappings that came along so i said here's why i felt sad some days bob would come down the hallway roger's going out and you can't you have to you've been in the fan anyone's been in the fan studios no you you can't avoid each other even if you wanted to he's leaving i'm coming right bob how you doing hey off he goes right and i come and he gets into his lamborghini kundash right i've got i've got my little at that time hyundai pony and uh where you know life so you start getting a little worked up then of course i come on and bob we have shared computers back in those days. Okay, instead of logging off, he shut down. So I got to reboot the computer. I'm underneath.

I've got the producer comes in. Ah, did he do that again? And I'm feeling, geez, and the emotions are going. I'm going, what the heck? It's like, geez, this just stinks. And then, but then by 7.01, my chintzy music, intro music starts. Dun, dun, dun, and I'm happy again. And I told the people, the students in the class,

don't make the same mistake I did. Don't compare yourself to other people. It's like Bob McCowan was the greatest, and he made a fortune on radio. That's Bob McCowan. Roger Lajoie's had a great career. He's done a lot of other things. I'm me.

He's him. Comparison is the theft of joy. other things. I'm me. He's, he's him. Comparison is the theft of joy. Don't do that. So at any rate, they appreciated that. Right. And most of the students said, you know, Roger, you're right. You can't look at it as being so close. I used to equate it, Mike, that, so let's say it was a lot of max and you had six numbers plus encore. Right. And you won $312,000. I'm just spitballing here, whatever it is. Right. And you're happy until you find out your neighbor won 50 million. Right. That's what I was guilty of. And so one of the students stops me and says, okay, you know, Roger, I appreciate that's a great story and everything else, but you know what? I mean, you still come on, man, we know your career.

You've been all over the place. You've done all this other stuff. And so I called him up and I said to the front of the room and I said, I'm not going to mention his name. And I said, young man, we know your career. You've been all over the place. You've done all this other stuff. And so I called him up and I said to the front of the room and I said, I'm not going to mention his name. And I said, young man, I said, I'm going to give you some piece of advice here. Now you just made the same mistake I did. You got in a bad mood because you compared yourself to me. Right. I got myself in a bad mood because I compared myself to Bob McCallum. When I stop and I realized what a great career and I'm grateful for it, I'm happy. I said, same thing for you. You're in the best broadcast school in the country. You're a great young broadcaster.

You're going to have a good long career. You're just getting started. Be happy about that. And that young man now works in a very high market in Canada and I'm very proud and happy for him. So I don't count anybody else's, Mike. I just count me. Roger, I think your attitude is excellent.

And I'd say this. I've never met Bob McCowan. I got to put that out there. I've never met the man. Listened to him for many hours on Primetime Sports. Never met the man. I've met you now twice. He might have more zeros in his bank account.

I don't know. That's a guess on my part. But I feel you're a happier guy. Attitude is everything. Well, thank you for that. But I don't want to compare myself to Bob McCown. Bob could be a very happy man or he could be a very miserable man. That does not affect my happiness. My happiness comes from me. You're happy when you decide you're going to be grateful for what you have. Happiness, Mike, and here's my philosophy spinning off again is not getting what you want it's wanting what you have and i'm very happy with my career and i'm delighted by it and believe me

i'm never sad 652 to 701 anymore or any time of the day because i don't compare myself to anybody good for you buddy now you you know 3857 shows uh but who's counting but 30 almost 30 years on the same station that is absolutely in this day and age that's absolutely remarkable i know you're not tracking anyone else but if i had to guess i'd say jeff blair is in second place and i'd say he's uh like got about a third or maybe a bit he's not close to 30 years not even close so you've got that that's one of those things where where Gretzky has more assists than anyone else has points. It's one of those fun things.

Well, Mike, let's be honest. It's more like the games played record, though. It's more like Patrick Marlowe. Which, by the way, we haven't heard so long. Okay. Phil Kessel, I think, is tying the record tonight. I believe that. For a consecutive game.

That's correct. It's not games played, though. But yes, in terms of total games played in a current. Yeah. No, that's... For a consecutive game. That's correct. It's not games played. But yes, in terms of total games played in a current... Yeah, no, nobody's been there longer. There's no doubt about that. What's the secret to your longevity? Why are you still there after 30 years?

Nobody, everyone, you know what it's like in the radio industry. I have a theory myself, but I want to hear what you think. Well, I want to hear your theory before I give you my answer. My theory is there's, you know, you know the bean counters. I don't know if that's a bad term for them, but the accountants, etc.

Like, they're always measuring payroll, and I think your secret to success is your cost, the expense to have Roger Lajoie host a show on the Fan 590, isn't going into the bucket we call payroll. I feel like because you are a, may I call you a pay-as-you-go resource?

No, whatever you like, contractor, freelancer. Absolutely. By the way, that's how I know how many shows I've done. Right. I invoice them. Right, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So that makes it nice and easy for you.

And that's me too. I name my files by the number, so it makes it very, very easy for me to measure. But I feel like if you were actually a full-time permanent employee, you'd go the way of the Norm Rumach. You'd go the way of the Howard Berger because you would be a victim to cost-cutting at some point. It's a fair comment. I cannot speak for management of the station and how they view me or anybody else. But yes, the keys to longevity, well, number one, I think I still do a pretty good radio show.

Oh, sure. And if I didn't, I wouldn't be there. So that's one. And I got some nice notes coming up soon from FOTMs who wrote in about you. Well, thank you. And the second thing is, though, yes, you still have to be relevant. You still have to do a good show. But the financial element, I don't think there's any question.

I'm more economically easier to digest for them than a lot of veteran people. And I guess the third reason lasting 30 years, too, Mike, is like, you know, in radio, you're in a time slot. It's your job. You're there five days a week. And eventually, if a couple of bad books come, you're booted out. five days a week and eventually if a couple of bad books come you're booted out well as the fill-in guy i have hosted on every show on that station right from you know 6 a.m in the morning till overnights i did overnights during the olympics and we used to do overnight shows on the fan i've been on every time slot all the time i this i'll use this calendar year as an example in august i

was on i had 22 shows in august in february i did two right but i can live with that i'm a i'm a contract you've got you've got other things right so every radio station i guess needs a guy like roger lejoie a guy who can fill in be there and a lot of people maybe they drift away utility player exactly and i'm proud of that i have no difficulty with that whatsoever uh yes i am a utility player who plays in the biggest league in the world. I'm like a guy who's a major league guy who's had a long career, who's not a superstar, but has been a part of the biggest dance for three decades.

And so, yes, I won't dispute that. You're probably bang on. Now, 29 years ago, so you're about to celebrate 30 years at the fan. Well, now it's 590, but it was 1430 when you got there. Again, thank you, Scott Metcalf. If you haven't heard yet, Roger, he came in to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fan

because Scott had been there. He's retired now, enjoying life, but he had been there. And I know he's listening now, so hello to Scott. And he gave me this binder because he knew I'd be interested. You know, I couldn't find a good, high-quality logo for the fan 1430 on the internet. You know what I should have done? I should have brought, I have a, well, it's not a hockey,

well, yeah, I guess it is a hockey jersey, but we use it for ball hockey. I have a ball hockey jersey with that logo on the front. With the fan sports radio 1430. Yeah, and Lejoie on the back. Oh, cool. So yes, great memories. But now that I have this binder

from Scott, I can take, I took the photo because I'm working on a Mike Umentary for the 30th anniversary of the fan, which will be interesting. But Scott was fantastic coming in, kind of telling the origin story

and just walking us through everything. And he did a great job. He had things like Dan Schulman's audition tape. Wow. And some other interesting and fun artifacts. He is a legendary broadcaster in his own right. His smoothness when he was doing updates was second to none.

And he's one of the kindest men you're ever going to meet. He had a long and distinguished great career in radio. So that's really great to hear. But 29 years ago, Joe Carter touched them all. I believe that was 29 years ago at the Dome. And you, my friend, were there. Yes. So were you there because you worked for the fan 1430? How did you get into the press gallery?

Among my many hats I've worn over the years is I worked as a wire service writer for United Press International and Thomson Reuters. And back in 93, it was United Press International. I had not started on the fan, but I was a regular guest of Norm's, as I mentioned. So I was on the fan actually after the game and uh even in 1992 as well but in 93 i was working for united press international let me backtrack i'm sorry it's a carter home run yeah i had started on the fan i had started you started already i've been there yeah 11 months you're right you're correct i've been there 11 months but no i was there upi so i was a. I covered the games. We sent out the stories and I did that gig for seven or eight years from 19, I'm going to say 1989 to I think 1996.

So yes, that's why I was there. I was in the football press box. The bottom of the ninth, as we all know, it was six to five. My boss is in the, at that point, print press box, which is right behind the plate. So I'm in the outfield. Okay. I'm in the cheap seat, so to speak. And he is in the uh at that point print press box which is right behind the plate so i'm in the outfield okay i'm in the cheap seat so to speak and he's in the out and he calls me on the phone because there was no internet there was no like he just called me on the phone internet that's and says roger um we're thinking you go down and cover the losing team's locker room start and then of course the inning starts you know the base hit and the crowd's going crazy in the noise.

So he says, give me a second, give me a second. We're trying to communicate where we're going. There's another guy sitting with me, and there's four guys in the press box. So who's covering where? Bang, bang, bang, and we all know what happens. Carter, gone. Right. All right?

Right. Mike, we could not. I was underneath the desk with the phone trying to hear him. Finally, I just looked at the guy I was with. I hung up the phone. I said, let's just go downstairs. Hopefully we'll find them. We're never going to be, this is absolutely crazy.

And I actually was in the Jays locker room when Joe Carter, and I'll never forget this. Yeah. So I didn't ask the question, but somebody asked him, Hey Joe, you know, was it like, you know, when you're, what's it like? Was it like when you were a kid? And he said, it was exactly like I was a kid, except the bases were loaded and it was game seven. Right. That's exactly the scenario when you're a kid.

The bases are loaded and you're down by three. Right. Well, he's down. He had the down part by one. Game six and a walk-off World Series homer. Well, not a case of walk-off World Series. Super rare. But yesterday there was a go-ahead homer

in the bottom of the eighth for Philadelphia that put him up. And apparently, even a home run to put you up in a clinching game, forget World Series, because that was an NLCS blast there, but Bryce Harper hit it. But that's super rare in itself.

There's only a handful of go-ahead home runs in clinching playoff games. Like just to give you a little perspective of how rare the Joe Carter go-ahead home run to, we call it a walk-off now, but you weren't calling it a walk-off in 93. No, that term wasn't around. Yeah, it was a game-winning homer.

And actually in World Series history, Mike, it's happened twice. Bill Mazeroski in 1961 and Joe Carter in 1993, where the baseball season ended with a home run. Right. Twice in the history of the sport. And Dave Perkins dropped by. Actually, I'm going to share a little Howard Berger anecdote in a minute.

But Dave Perkins dropped by to share a story once here about Dick Schofield Sr. being at home plate when Bill Mazeroski crosses the plate and Dick Schofield Jr. being at home plate when Joe Carter crosses the plate. Wow, that's cool. Isn't that cool? You talk about the generational thing. It really is. A family could have both of those experiences. And by the way, Dave Perkins is one of my favorites. A funny, terrific reporter for so many years. Just another legend. Man, you got all these legends. What'd you bring me in here for, for having said that? You got Chuck Swirsky coming up this

week? Tomorrow. Matt Devlin's coming on the show? Yes, I'm supposed to reach out to Matt to book it tomorrow. Well, everybody listening, it's going to get a lot better in the next couple of days. Don't beat yourself up, Roger. How many of those guys have been at the same station for 30 years? None. No, of course not. You yourself up, Roger. How many of those guys have been at the same station for 30 years? None. No, of course not. You're right, sir. Don't beat yourself up. I don't even remember what triggered this. I think it was the anniversary of your visit, and I'm like,

Roger, get back here. That's too long. What year was that when you were here? Was it 2015? It was 2015. That's seven years ago. That is too long. I enjoyed coming You know how I know it was a long time ago? There was no photo of us together, okay? At some point, you were episode 134, I think I said,

but at some point around 140, 150, I made a rule where every guest who visits poses in the same place for a photo with me. Like this rule, actually, this is going to be a fun little story that involves Howard Berger and Dave Perkins in a moment regarding photos. But first, a quick fun fact about that

home run by Joe Carter in 93. I just got, Sharon Taylor was the program director for CFTR at that time. No, at that time, CFTR had switched to All News. I'm trying to get my dates right. CFTR, when they switched to All News, Sharon Taylor became a program director switched to all news i'm trying to get my dates right cftr when they switched to all news sharon taylor became a program director at kiss 92.5 which was an all-country station in this market

you might remember kiss ciss not the current kiss but she tells me that when you see the photo of like the blue jays putting joe carter on their shoulders after he crossed home plate in that big pile on you you see clearly, what's it called? Flash? What is it called? Yeah, mic flash. The mic flash for KISS 92.5 is right there in front of Joe in that classic photo.

And she pointed it out to me and now I can't unsee it. It's always been there. I just never noticed it. So talk about great product placement. Holy smokes. Yeah. And that was the only mic flash you see at that moment actually is the kiss 92.5 which was a country station uh one more fun fact

that time you mentioned you were under the table trying to on the phone trying to figure out where to go after joe hit it all where do you think dan shulman was when joe carter hit that home run wow that's a great question i don't know that's 30 years ago where was dan shulman dan was a young man just a kid then. Well, when you listen to, yeah, he was a kid, but he was actually there covering it in some regard. And if you go back to the Mike Umentary about Joe Carter's home run,

you'll learn Dan Schulman was stuck in an elevator. He was stuck in an elevator at the dome. Trying to go downstairs. Because he was going down to the dugouts, I guess, to cover that. And he was stuck in the elevator when Joe Carter hit the home run. Yeah, never take the elevator at Rogers Center,

Sky Dome, whatever you want to call it. In fact, never take the elevator in any big arena if you can avoid it. Quite often, they lock the stairs so you can't, you're almost stuck, but the elevators are absolutely terrible. What a great story that is. And Dan Schulman is the greatest.

He's the greatest. He's the greatest playboy in my mind. We all have our- Okay, so let me ask you this, Roger, because you were there when a young former actuary was trying to break into radio at the fan. Did you hear his voice

and see a young Dan Schulman and think, this guy's going to greatness. He's going to be something special. Oh, a thousand percent. Okay. And not so much as a play-by-play guy. We didn't really see that one coming because he was the host of Primetime Sports.

He was the only other host. Correct. The voice, just the way he conducted himself, you could see it was another level. It was absolutely no surprise whatsoever that Dan Schululman became the dan shulman we know now to anybody okay have you kept in touch with any of your former colleagues like have you kept in touch with a norman room i see norm rumac all the time we have dinners all the time we have a terrific time uh together uh other guys no you know what i mean so many of them have been there for so long already the current ones and the other ones have moved on.

A lot of the people have left the market and moved on. But Norm and I are still great friends. I saw Howard Berger at the... Okay, so Howard Berger. Yep. You have kept in touch with him? Yes. I talk to Howard occasionally, yes.

Okay. So fun story. And I just want to put this out there because Howard Berger wrote a blog entry about a... He's got a blog and he wrote something about his conversation with Dave Perkins so I'm guessing Howard Berger to write this he went maybe to google images and search for Dave Perkins uh regardless he ended up finding a photo I took it's a selfie actually I saw that okay so Dave Perkins and Bob Bob Elliott they came over together once for like this epic episode

of Toronto Mike. Two hours of baseball stories from Dave Perkins and Bob Elliot. I did nothing except press record, but I'm very, very, very proud of this episode because they were amazing. And it's like the boys of summer. It was amazing. So I take a selfie.

They're kind of together. Perkins has this cool hat on, this cowboy hat thing. I take the selfie and I'm going to check out what Howard, because I like Dave Perkins has this cool hat on this cowboy hat thing I take the selfie and I'm going to check out what Howard because I like Dave Perkins very much I want to see what Howard Berger is writing about Dave Perkins and I see the photo that accompanies this entry is the photo I took okay but I'm cropped out of it they how do you crop somebody out of their own selfie like I was complete and I understand why I was cropped out of it, but there was no attribution or anything,

nothing that said, hey, this photo was- Do you think the Santa hat might've had something to do with it? I kind of sighed on that. Do you think so? I think that's speculation that's online. Okay, but you still need to, but here, let me ask you this again.

If Howard's listening, I have no ill will. There's no, don't worry. I'm not, it's all good. I love Howard Berger. He's one of the great episodes of Toronto Mike himself, and he's a good FOTM. No ill will, but don't you need to,

some little line, he writes a line, like some attribution to say, this is a modified image taken by Toronto Mike for the episode or something, like something to acknowledge

where you got the photo. What do you say? Especially in Howard's blog. A lot of people read that blog. That could really help your career, Mike. I'd really be insistent on that if I were you. I'd say there's got to be some restitution there. Listen, I don't want anything other than

a little attribution. You know what? I don't even need attribution. I do have an email I have to read because you showed up just when I saw it fly in there. I have an email from Howard Berger and I'm going to assume Howard's apologizing for cropping me out of my own selfie. But shout out to Howard Berger. He's left the industry like Norm Womack has as well.

Sensational reporter. Howard Berger was, and you really notice in this day and age, people talk about the difference in radio is a reporter. And I mean, a reporter like Howard Berger burger old school guy following the team doing all the things yeah absolutely um outstanding and never replaced in my mind really well they tried because i just had over the guy who tried to replace him but that he didn't last very long and now there's nobody there doing it but i think the last guy to be a beat reporter for the fan was david alter yes another good good broadcaster.

Still doing good things. Yeah. Shout out to David Alter, who madly in love with U2, a great Irish band. But the discotheque is not the jam I would use as the greatest U2 song. But art is subjective. I won't rag him for that. But I will shout out Howard Berger again, because he is now working in funeral services. shout out Howard Berger again because he is now working in funeral services and I would like the opportunity to shout out Ridley Funeral Home proud sponsors of this program and Brad Jones has his

own great podcast called Life's Undertaking so shout out to Ridley Funeral Home how'd I do there Rod excellent perfect that's what it's all about man man. This is how, Mike, people ask me, what's the difference, major difference between, you know, trying to break into the business like I did 42 and a half years ago and somebody now trying to break into the business. And the biggest difference is so easy. 42 and a half years ago was who, how am I going to get my stuff out there? Who's going to print my articles? Who's going to give me a shot on a radio or a small TV station?

Now, the easiest thing in the world, it's not easy, but the much easier just to get out there, put yourself out there is easy. The challenge now is who's going to pay me for this? How am I going to attract financial revenue out of this? How are sponsors going to get a bang for their buck? So I didn't say anything because that's a natural thing for the sponsor and good for you for doing it. That's what keeps us all going,

man. Well, you could do me a favor. You just do the sponsor mentions from now, Roger. Whenever there's a good natural segue, you do it and that'll just save me the efforts. Okay. So before we get into some more of your jobs and talk more about those 3,857 shows you've done for the Fan 590.

I will tell people, I already know when we can hear more Roger Lajoie on 590 in the next upcoming week. I know, for example, that tomorrow, Roger, you're on the air at 7 p.m. hosting Major League Baseball

playoff coverage. Is that still happening even though we... No, that is not happening. That's gone because of... Because we wrapped up the series too quickly. We wrapped up the series, but it will be on Thursday night, 8 to 10. Thank you for the plug. That's Sportsnet

tonight. Sportsnet tonight. Friday night, yes, before the World Series, because that's World Series game one, I will be on for half an hour and then during the game at certain points as well, and then two times the next week. But that's just the way the schedule works, right? October is not as busy as other months

because we have so much baseball and live play-by-play coverage. Later in November and around Christmastime, I get busy again. So it's all good. But thank you for that. So here, I'm going to group together. You're getting really good at all these drop-ins and name-dropping and sponsor recognitions. You know what?

The synapses are firing, Roger. That's the biggest difference between now and 2015. Holy smokes, this thing is like an infomercial. That's just confidence

now. Come on, not quite an infomercial, but you're going to be glad it is because you're going to leave with some free gifts and you didn't leave with

anything when you were here in 2015. That perked up the years. That's great. A lot of free stuff coming your way. By the way, you're

going to be out of luck with a photo too because I don't do photos. So anyway, that streak's over. Is that true? No, I'm kidding you. I'm just going to kick you out of here. Roger.

I'm kidding you. Get out of my basement. It's one of my regrets. I didn't take the photo with Mike and they say, and this day in 2015, there's no photo. There were a lot of people.

Yeah, there were a lot of people in those early days who left without a photo and a big regret for me too. I mean, I'm like, I wish I could go back in time and collect all the photos I missed from those early days who left without a photo. And a big regret for me too. I mean, I'm like, I wish I could go back in time and collect all the photos I missed from those early days. Like Jonathan Torrance came over. There's no photo of me of Jonathan Torrance.

Why didn't I start that earlier? But I started it around episode 150, but a little late for you. Oh, you got a lot of great photos then, so that's good. Well, just ask Howard Berger. He'll tell you how great those photos are. The go-to photo for Dave Perkins was a photo I took. Now, yes, you are a host, we hear, on the Fan 590.

That's how most people listening know Roger Lajoie. But you're also an author. I want to shout out your books, man. You've got five. And if the number's gone up, tell me. I counted five books under your belt. Right. Yes, thank you for that.

Very much so. I did Paul Henderson's autobiography. I did Jimmy DeVolano's autobiography. The Road to Hockey Town. What a thrill to do those. Yes, thank you. The Road to Hockey Town was a great one. I did a book with a fantastic Paralympian named Paul Rosen.

I know him. Yeah. I actually booked him. I produce Humble and Fred's podcast, and I booked him on that. Terrific man. In fact, I think I wanted to tie it to make it wait for winter or something. But I told Paul, I think via email, I'm going to have Paul on Toronto Mic'd. I want to talk to Paul Rosen on Toronto Mic'd.

I'm just waiting until it's more seasonal. Yeah, you definitely should. He is a tremendous guy. So those were great opportunities. And when I say jack of all trades and the kind of stuff I've done, yeah. And look, people ask me, Mike, and I even made a note of it so i wouldn't forget because i went on a podcast of a former student of mine who was doing a junior hockey broadcast right a podcast and i said sure i'll come on with you and he said what i said so what do you what do we want to focus on we'll talk

about your career doing play-by-play of junior hockey games throughout the year i said okay well i've done 1500 junior hockey broadcasting goes, that's great to be perfect. Mike, he was on, I was on with him for an hour, and we never got around to talking about the junior hockey broadcasts because he wanted to talk about the fan, he wanted to talk about this and that. But anyway, so I've got the 30 years at the fan. I did 1,500 broadcasts as a play-by-play guy. I'm one of the official scorers of the Blue Jays. Well, you know, you're stealing

my thunder here, Roger. I had a whole list. Well, you keep going. You go ahead. One is, again, let's recap everybody. One is that 3857 shows you've done and counting on the fan. Number two was, you're an author. I mentioned the five books. Five books, thank you. The Power of Teammates. Let's not forget The Power of Teammates.

You've got five books. I haven't even read five books. Okay, Roger, you've written five books.'ve read uh 2203 by the way my life that's a true number say the number again 2203 see i count i track things too you track things at a next next level but i'm like i can tell you how many kilometers i bike this year and things like that and i measure every day how many kilometers i do i do i do least 15,000 steps a day of walking on one of those Google... Because you're gamifying it, right? Yes, I'm wired the same way. Mike, what gets measured gets done.

Okay. Mr. Measure. Okay. I used to have, from Ridley Funeral Home, I used to have a measuring tape I'd give out, but I ran out. So Brad, get them back because you never know when somebody's going to drop a line like that. What gets measured gets done. Okay, here are the teams

you've worked for. Are you sitting down? Yes. Of course I'm sitting down. And then I do want you to elaborate. I know, silly question here. If you were standing up, you'd hit your head. Okay, so the Ottawa Senators, that's a National Hockey League team, I believe, still, right? They're getting better. No cheap Senators jokes that's a National Hockey League team, I believe, still, right? They're getting better.

No cheap Senators jokes. Team is really improving now. So I'll run down the list and then you're going to kind of dive into it. Ottawa Senators, the Belleville Senators, that's an AHL team. The OHL team in Mississauga, what's that team called? Mississauga St. Michael's Majors

was what they were called. They're the Steelheads now, but when I was with them, they were the Mississauga St.ael's majors was what they were called they're the steelheads now but when i was with them they were the mississauga st michael's majors correct the university we now refer to as tmu toronto metropolitan university yep and the toronto blue jays which you'll you'll we'll talk about that of course and the chl uh like this is these are all places you've you've hung your hat why don't you now take a moment to tell us, like, what were you doing for all these? Well, the biggest correlation of the senators in Ottawa and in Belleville and Mississauga was the owner, Eugene Melnick, who I got an opportunity to meet in 2001 when he bought the Toronto St. Michael's Majors.

And I was a, I think, a very close friend of Eugene Melnick's until he passed, obviously, in March of this year rest his soul for 20 years and I was I was doing a play-by-play on Rogers television for the Toronto St. Michael's majors and Eugene is the billionaire new owner of this team and he bought them because the school could no longer afford to do them he came in he was the savior the whole bit and anyway we got to know each other and he said oh you do the play-by-play he says well i'd like to hear that in the barbados and i said uh eugene it's rogers cable uh it's not happening in the barbados uh mike it happened in the barbados wow i don't know how and this is 20 years ago now this probably be a lot easier to do today live streaming whatever you can figure out

a way to do it 20 years ago so long story short he invites my wife and i and a bunch of other people to a big party in barbados uh for um the gold cup racing thing just you know friends business associates whatever and i'm doing this play-by-play and i walk into the bar in barbados and i'm sitting there and people are coming up to me and they're going hey how's it going good and guy comes right up to me and goes yeah great to see you i'm a big fan i'm going like excuse me like that's nice so who are you he said you're the majors play-by-play guy we watch the games here in barbados so i was famous in at toronto st michael's school yeah and barbados that would be about it wow but i was i was a vp in uh belleville for two and a half years. I was the first employee hired and spent a year

and then we got the team going. I worked in Ottawa in the marketing department for a year and in Mississauga. I was also the VP and I helped broker the sale of the team and they became the Mississauga Steelers. So I worked as a sports administrator

along with my media stuff. But it was Mr. Melnick who got me those opportunities, period. Case closed. I often bike Park Lawn Cemetery. This is a location not far from here, and there's often deer there. You're a big cemetery guy from the sounds of it. You mentioned Howard Cemetery, your sponsor, this one you're biking through.

Everybody dies, Roger. Everybody dies. It's a growth industry. Yes, it's a growth industry. It's the one thing we all have in common. Even Bob McCowan, even you,

even Dan Schulman, we're all going to eventually die. But the reason I mentioned Park Lawn Cemetery is because I do this bike ride and I do this loop and I see the marker, the gravestone of,

it's very large actually, for Eugene Melnick. So I see it on the regular. He's buried in Park Lawn Cemetery. He's very much missed by his family and friends. No question. He was a polarizing figure in a lot of ways. But when you knew him well, as I did,

he was a wonderful guy. And bless him, he gave me those opportunities. I'm not, listen, I'm quite transparent about it, Mike. I'm not working. I don't get the opportunity to work at that level of management in the OHL the ahl and the nhl without mr melnick's ability to get me there obviously because he was the owner and i'm forever grateful for those and that was a total i guess of about 21 years i figured out when he

passed away yeah yeah well my condolences thank you sir yeah terrible okay now uh also you mentioned college of sports media you were there 10 years teaching? 10 years. Name drop some of the kids. Yeah, please. Faisal Kameezah. Who's an FOTM? You drop the names.

I'll tell you if they're an FOTM. Faisal Kameezah. Danielle Michaud. Not yet. What's going on, Danielle? She's terrific. Sean McKenzie. FOTM Sean McKenzie.

Okay, Sean McKenzie. Kayla Gray. FOTM Kayla Gray. There you go. There's others, because if I start raffling off too, because they're known to your audience. Over a 10-year period, there are a ton of students that have really, really done well.

But there are four examples of people who really hit, pardon the bad pun, the home run coming out of school. It was a delight to teach at that school. It really was. It was a tremendous place. And I also taught at Ryerson University in sports media for four years and taught some absolutely fantastic students there as well, including Elish Forfar, who is the morning show host on the fan radio.

I actually just sent her a note. I've never met her, but I did send her a note through her website inviting her on Toronto Mike that I've not heard back yet, but I would love to have her on the program and talk to her. Very, very bright and terrific young lady who's got nothing but great days ahead for her, I'm telling you. There's one team we didn't mention yet that you were

the public address announcer for that I think some Torontonians listening might have forgotten about, but you will never forget, I will never forget, but the Toronto Roadrunners. Yep. The one year they played at Ricoh Coliseum, and it was one season, one season, I was the PA announcer of the Toronto Roadrunners

of the American Hockey League, and they lasted one year, lost so much money, the owner eventually relocated the team back to Edmonton, and then, of course, several years later, the Toronto Maple Leafs decided to move their AHL team from St. John's into the Rico and they became the Toronto Marlies. But yes, I was.

And if we're talking PA, sometimes it gets put out because I returned to help the team this year. I just want to give a tip of the hat and a thank you to Jack and Lynn Domenico and the Toronto Maple Leaf baseball club at Blur and Christie street. I spent 35 years there as the PA announcer. Jack passed away in January or February, I believe, rest his soul as well. And I came back last year to help Ty Crawford and Damon Topley make sure the tradition continues.

That's still a work in progress. We will continue to make that. But Mikey, you never can forget where you came from. It was one of my first gigs coming out of Ryerson and eternally grateful for that too. Well, I'm glad you shouted out the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Club. And just so you know, I intentionally omitted it

because I had a question coming up in the questions from the FOTMs segment, which we're going to get to shortly. But I'll ask it now since you just brought it up. Midtown Gord. Oh, I know Midtown Gord. Leaf fan and fan 590 legend. He was named, he tells me, Gord Stelic gave him his name, Midtown Gord.

I believe it. And he wrote in, I don't know what to ask him, just to comment on my appreciation for all his hard work in the past and currently with the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Club. So he just wanted to thank you. Oh, that's very nice of him. I appreciate that, Gord. Thank you.

Midtown Gord comes out to the TMLX events. We're going to have our 11th event on December 3rd at noon at Palma's Kitchen in Mississauga. And Palma Pasta is going to feed everybody who comes out. So mark the date, December 3rd, 2022, noon, Palma's Kitchen. You're going to eat, and you, Roger Lajoie, are taking home with you a large lasagna. This box will be full when you leave. Palma Pasta is going to feed you too, Roger. Fantastic. That's so great. Thank you. And we're going to drink at TMLX 11, and we're going to be drinking fresh craft beer,

at TMLX11, and we're going to be drinking fresh craft beer, and that will be courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery, also great sponsors of this program, and you are going to leave with some fresh beer as well, Roger. Man, has this show ever picked up over the years. I am telling you, that's great. Thank you so much, and thank you to the sponsors. And I don't, Mike, this is, you know, because I have such a business background with, you know,

the time I spent in junior hockey and in particular the HL and the NHL. You're trying to work with sponsors and make sure that they get their opportunity. I say thank you to sponsors, but I think the sponsors would also thank you because end of the day is people sponsor things because it's good for their business. And you taking the time to properly acknowledge the sponsors in the broadcast is good for their business. Yes, it's good for their business. And you taking the time to properly acknowledge the sponsors in the broadcast is good for their business. Yes, it's good for you. It's good for me because I'm getting some pasta and beers, but I didn't think I was getting it. Man, I wouldn't wait seven years if I knew there was pasta and beer involved. You should be more transparent about these kind of things. I would have been back much sooner.

But thank them. And they should thank you as well, because that's what it's all about. This is how it works. Listen, we want the media world. My biggest wish for people who are coming down the pipe, Mike, is they can have a career out of this instead of a hobby. It's too important not to have... Media is too important for it to just be a hobby instead of a career. And unfortunately, because of the economics, that's what it's becoming. So shout out to all the sponsors who are doing this.

And I hope your business is thriving, all of you. Love it, Roger. Love it. And I want to shout out, since we're going to wrap that up, I want to shout out stickeru.com. If anybody out there has a graphic for maybe for branding purposes or even for like your kids to play with or for a party idea, you just upload the image to StickerYou.com, StickerYOU.com, and you can get quality stickers or decals or temporary tattoos, you name it. A whole bunch of great stuff you can have delivered safely to your door. We love StickerYou.com on this program. And I got one more big gift for you there.

So you got your lasagna. Thank you, Palma Pasta. You have your fresh craft beer. Thank you, Great Lakes Brewery. Hey, I don't want a tattoo. You know what? It's just temporary. It's the numbers of your appearances on Toronto Mic.

So you can never forget. But actually, there is a wireless speaker there for you, right there. Oh, man. Moneris sent that over. And with that wireless speaker, you can listen to Season 3 of the award-nominated Yes, We Are Open podcast,

hosted by FOTM Al Grego. They just launched Season 3. Al's been traveling the country interviewing small Canadian businesses and he's been telling the story of their origin, struggles and future outlook. And if you're a small business owner

or entrepreneur like, well, you are Roger and like myself, you'll find this podcast both helpful and motivational. And even if you just like human interest stories, you'll dig it.

Al does a fantastic job. And speaking of FOTMs who do a great job, you should also listen to the Advantaged Investor Podcast from Raymond James Canada. Chris Cooksey hosts this fine program. You can learn how to plan, invest, and live smarter. It features insights from leading professionals and provides valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain invest and live smarter. It features insights from leading professionals and provides valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success.

Pretty important. Yeah, especially in this climate. Any climate. Every climate. Anytime. That's one thing, Mike, when I've been around, people have been around as long as I have people talk about this and stages, everything is cyclical, everything, every, everything comes up, down, up, down, up, down. And especially with the, um, benefit of, of a lot of experience.

That's why I never get too worked up. Everyone says, well, in this economy or in that economy, or in this economy or in that economy or in this economy or in that economy is like everything is up and down success. And how you're feeling is something, though, on a continuous basis, you got to pay attention to. It doesn't matter what the climate is like out there. You got a great attitude, Roger. Even when I follow you on Twitter, always inspirational and positive. You know, you always go high. You know, others might go low. You're going high. Shout out to Michelle Obama. Now I'm going to start to get to the Q&A segment.

These are questions submitted by FOTMs. Are you ready, Roger? I'm ready. Okay. Jimbo Knows. That's the handle on Twitter. Jimbo Knows writes, I'd love to know if he has,

and you kind of touched on this earlier, but I'm going to ask it anyway. I'd love to know if he has any idea what has helped him weather the storm of so many staffing changes over the years, apart from being good, of course. He's probably the only voice I recognized from when I first started listening to the fan 12 years ago, and it's always a pleasure. Well, that's very nice. Thank you for that comment, Mike. That is a nice, and that wasn't deliberate on your part. It was accidental. It's a nice segue of what I was just talking about, about being up, down, what the current climate is. He says, weathering the storm. When you are the kind of utility fill-in kind of person I am, actually there is no bad time. In good times,

maybe they don't use you as much, but you never have to worry about them not having enough money or wanting to get rid of you. And in bad times. And when there are, you know, they've cleared out and unfortunately, very unfortunately, they've had to make substantial changes. All right. Roger's going to host a, in the midweek for, for two weeks here until we bring in the new guy or whatever. So that's part and parcel of how I'm, I'm still there is my flexibility, but there are no good, Mike, again, you know, we get into philosophy a little, I just look back and I really emphasize this in, in everything I do. There's, um, there's no such thing as a good or bad event. Events are just events, whether they're good or bad or not as an opinion. And it's what you make, what you make of the circumstances so yes the the storm

of the fan well in actuality it's the storm is your word that's not a bad thing at least for me because it's a case of all right we're going to use them and then i'm not going to get upset when i go back to two shifts in a month that's the same philosophy i use with weather okay because i'm a 12 month a yearyear cyclist and sometimes you'll see a weather report. It's going to be, I don't know, it'll be rainy or it's going to be cold or it's going to be snowy. I have the attitude that

there's no bad weather, just bad clothing. Like, it's all about what you wear. You can enjoy every single natural weather system that they can throw. Mother Nature can throw it. Bad weather is an opinion. Right, that's right. It's an opinion.

Right. And same thing. My uncle actually phrased it. He always, my late uncle was always saying, there's no such thing as bad weather, Raj. There's inappropriate clothing. That's exactly right. And then sometimes we'll have the, you know, live events

and they'll be saying, I'll get these early report, seven day forecast and I'll get a note or two like, oh, there's a 30% chance of rain. I'm like, relax. Firstly, we can't control that. But secondly, 70% chance it won't rain. Right. And that, no one can predict the weather seven days out. Relax.

Let's see what it looks like. I heard somebody say that the seven day forecast is actually about 20% accurate. Yeah. Cause it's, you know, the closer to the event, the more accurate it is. And you know what it is? It's if present conditions continue, but weather patterns very rarely continue the way you think they're going to.

It's just a best guess based on if this model and this happens. Okay, so now that we've covered the weather, Paul, I like this question. Why didn't Roger Lajoie ever host primetime sports? Good question. Thank you for it. That's a question better probably asked of management in terms of why did they not approach me to host primetime sports.

But let me tell you, I've never applied to host any show. I've been at the fan for 29 years and 11 months, and I can honestly say I have never asked for airtime. I have never asked. You never say, hey, can I have more shifts? Well, I'm always bugging him for shifts. Now that's different. I got to get the career number up, for heaven's sakes.

I'm trying to get to 4,000. You got to give me a few shifts. By the way, if Ryan Fabro is listening, Fabro, I need a few more shifts. Come on, I got to get closer up. Is Fabro the listening, Fabro, I need a few more shifts. Come on, I got to get closer up. Is Fabro the guy now? Yes.

Dan Tolman is basically, they don't call them program directors now. I forget what his actual title is, but he's the guy. And Ryan, longtime senior producer, is the assistant program director. And he's my contact conduit at the station. Yes, that's how it works now. But to the point, so I never asked for it. And in retrospect, the way the career has worked has worked out listen if you're the host of primetime sports well you're not working for the ottawa senators organization for 21 years you're not going to cover as i did 17

world series and 14 stanley cup finals and 13 superbowls you're not taking time off if you want to do other things you're right that's you you can't do that i i can get away with what i did not get away that's a bad term i i can work for an organization the ottawa centers if you're the fill-in guy but if you're if i'm hosting prime time sports right i can't work for the ottawa centers right that's a full-time job that's it that's a commitment and that's why they compensate you accordingly thank you right that's you have it bang on sir i thought so now the uh question i have now is when you do your 4 000th shift at the fan will you at the will you conclude that 4 000th shift with a an eloquent speech and maybe drop the mic and that's it you call it a career no next question how about 5 000 no Find out that magic number.

Okay, Long May You Run, which was all about, by the way, you know, we talked a lot about cemeteries and funeral services and shout out to Redleaf Funeral Home. And Neil Young's excellent Long May You Run, that is about his hearse. He had a used hearse that died in, is it, where did it, Blind River, I guess, but the motor gave and he had to leave it. Anyways, it's all about his hearse.

I should backtrack that answer a little bit since you asked it. No, I am going to walk that back just for a second. You're walking it back. Okay, go. You're the guy obsessed with funeral homes, not me. No, if in the next, because at current, if current trends continue with the number of shows I'm getting, number 4,000 for me, because when you count like you do mike obviously that's that's a great question because you can tell your

counter too you think well you know you want to go out at 4 000 or 5 000 i don't ever want to go out but if the writing was on the wall if it was a case if there was a different circumstance and change and well that's the time to go out that's the time for or five or six or seven or eight let's make that clear I'm not looking to go out I'm with you but you know what's punk you know what's really punk to go out at like 3999 no

no no it's not ask Albert Pujols if he would have liked a punk 699 homers Albert you know it'd be real punk if you went out at 699. No, it wouldn't. Right. Okay.

It all depends on your perspective there. Okay. I have more questions for you. Please get to them. The cleaning guy. I don't know if he's really a cleaning guy, but that's his handle on Twitter. Just a comment. Toronto media super utility player, exclamation mark.

Just want to thank Roger for all his years of serving us in so many capacity. There's nobody like him. Oh, that's nice. Thank you. I appreciate that. Did you write that from your burner account? Here's the thing though. I say this on the time we get, you know, cause we don't take phone calls like we used to at the fan, but we still take texts. We get feedback and we take calls from time emails whatever right and whenever you get a really really positive one a lot of guys will like you know start i never read them you know why because if i read them people just say i wrote it himself or it's israel yeah but you know that you didn't write it i didn't so i let them think so so i acknowledge the person i acknowledge i say thanks for your comment and then i get to whatever point he makes okay about the lease i you will never hear me say hey roger you got a great show you

and i do appreciate that very much i have worn a lot of hats and mike one of the great things and you know it firsthand when you're because you are in this business just as much as i am especially now you i found a back door when you're out there well good for you doesn't matter how you go in front door about Nobody asked that. Nobody asked me how I got to 3857 in shows. They just count them. Trust me. But one thing you have to remember for a lot of people is they, and again, they concentrate.

You're going to get critics. You're going to get haters. You're going to get people who are just, you know, bugging you i honestly say 98 maybe 99 of the interactions i have had with listeners have been nothing but cordial and positive and for someone to take the time to send a nice note like that i very much appreciate so thank you well you're welcome roger oh you wrote it okay i wrote them all i just make up these names and like this name i made up is called matcha so matcha tweets i have always wondered about his opening theme song to his shows it sounds like an old dragnet t dragnets in brackets but an old tv theme where did it come from roger tell us about your opening thing i'm gapping on the name of the song, but it is a NFL Films song.

And it was also Spider-Man the Cartoon Show. If you ever listened to that, it was a part of that intro as well. Wasn't Paul Soles, I think a local actor, he just passed away. I think he was the voice of Spider-Man on those cartoons. Could be. They're local productions.

At any rate, I picked up on that. I liked the tune. It was a little bouncy thing. And yeah, so we had some fun with it. Okay, last fun fact on that. The theme song, Spider-Man, Spider-Man. You could probably sing it better than I can.

But that's the Billy Van singers. And Billy Van, of course, went on to do all those great roles on the hilarious House of Freidenstein. Yeah, he was terrific. Yeah, Billy. Yeah, great. And went on to do all those great roles on the House of, Hilarious House of Freidenstein. Yeah, he was terrific. Yeah, Billy, yeah, great. And I had John Biner on recently, and there was, you know, a lot of Billy Vann on Bizarre,

which filmed up in an aging court there at the CTV studios. Okay, so thank you, Matcha. You're doing great, Roger. Okay, Phil. Oh, I like this question, too. A lot of times they do all the heavy lifting for me. Why did he never take more than a fill-in gig at 590? That's the question from Phil. And I would just tag that to say, did you ever, like when there's an opening, did you ever consider

applying for like a permanent full-time gig at the fan or were you just content with where you were? Tell us Roger. Never applied. Never applied for a full-time gig at the fan. I have been, we all have different philosophies, Mike, on how you want to build and structure your career. To me, you never get bored if you've got a lot of variety. In my career, I've been 30 years at the fan. I've been an official scorer for the Jays for 11 years. I have worked in newspapers and magazines, and I've covered 263 major sporting

events. I worked for the Senators organization for 21 years. I've written five books. I've been a teacher and I did 1500 junior hockey broadcast. If I was a full-time employee of the fan, none of those other six things happen. It's that simple. I'm not trying to defend it. I'm not saying, you know, and listen, it, again, it again i go back to you know how you perceive things if they saw me as the next bob mccowan and said here's like hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars we want you to be the guy well of course you got to look at that you'll take the meeting correct however that didn't come and i didn't go looking for it so that's the answer really is like why did i never take a more permanent role? They never offered one and I never asked for one. And you're a happy guy.

I'm a very happy guy. It all worked out. Here you are. And I was going to say in your, what's the term you use? I'm going to quote you. Oh, I actually don't have it here. You have a term you use about being in the home stretch. I think that's your words here.

This is the time of career and life for me that I am in the home stretch. And the home stretch means you're coming down. I use the horse racing analogy because I think it's a great one. You're coming down the stretch. And that signifies a lot of things. That means the race is almost over. You don't like to think about that, but I'm 64 years old, and end of the day, in a 42-year career,

and I want to work for a 50-, 60-year career, but end of the day, it's, relatively speaking, it's a homestretch. That's just a fact. However, it's also the best time of the race. It's the most exciting time of the race. It's where everything you learned in the first three quarters of the race now comes to fruition. I want to finish strong, Mike. I want to finish strong.

Right. I want to finish strong. I want to finish with a rush and a blast, and I'm going to. Well, it's a great analogy, except one little problem, Roger, okay? So people who, you know, compete in races can compete in another race after that race. We only get one race. Right. One race.

We don't get the race again. Nope. So when this race is over. That one race. Right. One race. We don't get the race again. Nope. So when this race is over, That's it. the lights are out. Yep. When you're done, you're done.

So the guys are, you know, the best part of the race and then the horse is back in the saddle the next week. Well, and when you,

you know, when you look at it that way too, Mike, that can either, that can either scare you or motivate you. Right. Really, one or the other. You can think, well, geez, oh my goodness.

I'm, you know, running out of time as I go back again. Yeah. But it's the best time of the race. Now's the time to go outside. Now's the time to finish it off and to take advantage of the experience you have. You gotta just make hay when the sun shines. And that's, that's how I've always looked at life. In 64, I wasn't going to ask because I was, you know,

I was wondering if you would volunteer the info, but I will say that you look fit and you sound much younger than 64. The biggest, thank you for that. The biggest compliment I ever had from a listener is a guy I met at a fan function and it was kind of a backward compliment, but I got what he was saying.

He met me there and he goes, you sound familiar. And I go, yeah, you listen to this? Yeah. He goes, you're Roger Lajoie? And I went, yeah, that's me. And he goes, holy smokes, you're old. Like, I thought you were like a kid. What a compliment that is for an on-air guy.

Because, man, I'll tell you one thing. I will not be at the fan if i sound like i'm 80 years old i might be able to hang in there until i'm 80 years old but not if i sound hunt was okay he sounded like he was 100 years well yeah that's that's hard by the way you talk about another legend yeah jim jim hunt pat marsden oh my goodness they were like talk about hall of fame broadcasters and in a variety of fields and they they were kind of doing, I don't do it nearly as well, or it is a higher profile, but they were the same thing. They were newspaper guys.

They were radio guys. They were TV guys. They just, they did everything, man. You want to do everything. Well, lest we forget, your career starts right here in the borough of Etobicoke as a newspaper guy of the Gazette. Etobicoke Gazette, February the 1st, 1980 was my first full-time job. I was a third year Ryerson

and I didn't, yeah, it was two months before I was supposed to finish and graduate. I was one course shy because I was working so much at the Etobicoke Gazette, but I was a newspaper reporter. I covered the Henry Carr Crusaders. I covered Etobicoke high school sports

loved it it was my entry into the business and i have warm thoughts for it it's no longer around like a lot of newspapers are but uh yes october yeah that's going we have a guardian yes the guardian was our competitor there used to be two the gazette and the guardian went toe-to-toe yes and you know who worked for The Guardian? Howard Berger. All comes full circle. It always comes back to Howard Berger. Or The Funeral Home. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home.

This I want to explain off the top. I introduced you 42 years in sports media. And if people wonder where I start the clock, it's February 1st, 1980, when you mentioned you started as a sports writer for the Etobicoke Gazette. Where was the headquarters of the Gazette? Ava Road. Off the 427.

Yeah, okay. EVA, right? EVA Park. Yeah. Because it sounds like AVA. Yeah, I know that area. Well, I know it well because you're not far from Cloverdale Mall when you're in that. Really around the corner, basically. Yeah.

You know. It was an industrial mall like a lot of weekly newspapers back in the day. And by the way, you know, I talk about shout out in career. A lot of people like I worked in newspapers at Oshawa this week, the Oshawa Times, Tobacco Gazette, a lot of weekly and daily experience through the career. And I'm so thankful for my time in Oshawa. That's where I hone. If I don't get the jobs covering working for wire service and all those great sporting events I've covered, if I don't start in community newspapers and I don't work in the

Tobiko and then at Oshawa this week, and then the Oshawa times, which is also no longer around, uh, those, those opportunities don't come unless I have that early training. So grateful for all that too. 42 years. Amazing. 42 and a half, if you're going to count it properly. I love it. November 1st, it'd be 42 years, nine months, but anyway. I'm the last guy who's going to call you out on those details. So you won't hear any hypocrisy like that from me. Now, these three questions, I'm grouping together because they're all related, but I'll read them all. So Mike, not me, by the way, a different Mike goes,

how did he get the occasional gig scoring Blue Jay games? Has anyone, player, manager, GM, ever confronted him later about a scoring decision he made during a game? So remember that one. Then Mark, because I got a Mike, now I need a Mark, ask him what the world record is for scoring baseball games and is he anywhere close?

And then the third one is by a guy who calls himself the Jays Sean, S-E-A-N, the Jays Sean. And he writes, was that really an error? You know what game I'm talking about, Roger. Okay, so let's address your role of the Toronto Blue Jays. Sean, first of all, I don't know what game you're talking about. No, I'm being respectful there. I really don't know.

I think he's being facetious. There are some tough calls that come from time to time. So at any rate, and if you're being facetious, fine. But Sean, I appreciate it. So yes, I mentioned the Inner County Baseball League. And I mentioned again, boy, the natural segues on this show were brilliant. See, we talked about I had to work at newspapers weekly newspapers so i could be good enough to work for wire services so i could do that i had to learn how to score baseball games everyone says well how do you become a major league baseball score well i was

the inner county maple leaf score for 35 summers 35 years at the amateur level wow i learned the game i wasn't just a pa announcer i was the official scorer and the pa announcer now in 2000 and oh let me get it right 2012 this is my 11th i just finished my 11th season so yeah but 2012 that's right okay um i got a call from mal romanian terrific guy the toronto blue jays dave perkins see how everything comes around wow i just quit his official score and he was the middle of the season and he said look we really need someone to come in you've done it for a lot of time so generally speaking official scores are usually uh my long-time uh baseball team employees or long-time people who have covered the game or have done it at the amateur level. I never worked for a baseball

team, but I covered 17 World Series in my career, covered a lot of baseball. I told you the story of Joe Carter from 30 years back. And I had scored in the inner county at that time, almost 700 games at the amateur level. So who can do that? Everyone says, well, I could be an official scorer. It's, well, it's not as easy as it seems. It's a real tough job. I was so honored. And I talk about all the gigs. An official scorer of Major League Baseball. You know what the best thing about him, Mike, is?

Tell me. Nobody. It's one guy. How many things now in this world are all about one guy? Grounder to first. Bobble. Quick play to first. 50,000 people in the stands stands 500 people in the press box everybody turns around and says what's the call right to you right right you you

now again again i go back again to uh you know the stretch run and everything else either that scares you or you love it i happen to love it here yes to love it. So at any rate, so that's how I got it. Now, should I say about, should I mention the player's name who gave me a hard time? Can I guess who it is? I don't know. When did you start?

What year did you start? 2012 to present. Okay, and I'm not, I don't have a guess actually. Yeah, just, I think it's okay to tell this story. You know what? I will.

And at the end of the day, I'll share this with you. It was not personal because we sit in the press box. And by the way, so people know, there's an appeal process. If the original call of the scorer can be appealed by the player, the team, or the official scorer's department, if you want to call it that itself. And it can be changed within 24 hours. So even though we're the final say, there's always an opportunity to change it.

I want to make that clear as well. And by the way, if your calls get changed a little too often, you don't keep that gig every year you are re-auditioned. It is very difficult to be an official score. So, but that said, um,

so I'm not going to say the year, but, uh uh the player was jose batista and i did not i do not see again i don't go down the clubhouse i do my official scoring and i go off and do my own stuff but there was a play it was a line drive to third base third baseman got the glove on hit his glove went bouncing went bouncing off, tried to make it. Bautista's running to first and, you know, place is going crazy because it tied the game. Big run, bottom of the eighth inning, right?

1-1 game now. I'm looking at it and, you know, the MLB data operations people around me, they're waiting for the call. And I think most people are kind of thinking it's a hit because, you know, Bautista smokes the bat off his, I'm looking at that play. It's in his glove. I'm saying he's got to make that play. That's an error.

Right. So I call E5. Right. A Blue Jays employee came up to me while that inning was still on and just said, just so you know, you're going to have an appeal on that one. And I said, okay, that's fine. Like, it was a bang-bang play, but it was an error. He said, Batista is calling from the clubhouse, and he is pissed.

Right, because he doesn't get the RBI, right? He doesn't get the RBI. He doesn't get the hit. And the hit, right. Right. So, and here's the difficult thing. And by the way, the call was upheld by MLB. They did appeal. Okay, good for you.

And it was called, and i don't blame hey listen there's a lot at stake for people do you want one fast reel it doesn't involve me yeah here's how important official scoring can be wasn't me but it was in toronto one of our other official scorers okay grounder to felix hernandez who was then with the seattle mariners okay he bobbles the ball, tosses it to first. Fast runner going to first. Bang, bang, play it first base. He's safe.

The scorer looks at it and goes, well, the guy's a fast runner. It was a tough play. So he calls it a base hit. The inning goes on. Play continues, whatever. Three runs score in the inning. Like as a result of the play. Yeah, I know. Okay? oh like as a result yeah yeah okay all

right all right felix hernandez asked for an appeal to be given an air on himself right because he doesn't want the air and runs he says no it's in there at any rate that was overturned and it was called an air all right so the three earned runs come off the books. Here's the punchline. Here's the punchline. I'm ready. That gave him the ERA title and a $750,000 bonus in his contract. Wow.

One call. Wow. So when you're an official scorer, you call a hit. You're robbed. Well, that's a terminology they use you're robbing the pitcher that should have been an error it shouldn't be an earned run to him you call an error the hitter says you're robbing me right somebody loses right on every call you make right so you you can just imagine the contentiousness and the and if i had 750 000 dollars riding on one now they didn't know that at the time but i'm sure hernandez is going like hey that's an air that's three or he knows it might cost him some money oh you got her

he's passionate about tag so anyway but what a gig what a what a terrific gig what a responsibility and uh so I love it. So thank you all again. Man, these people are nice. The only nice people listen to you mostly, isn't it? I said it was 98, 99. You got 99, 9, I think. It's pretty good.

Speaking of good people, and I mentioned that we have the 11th TMLX event coming up, and that's at Palmer's Kitchen. But there's a person named Michael Lang who has been to all 10 of them so far. And I'm sure he'll be at this 11th one. So he's 10 for 10. He's batting a thousand.

And he sent in a question for you. He wants to know, do you have any good stories from your time at the Oshawa This Week newspaper? I think I know that Michael Lang. It's the same one from Oshawa. There's no doubt. And good that he continues to go for them. I don't have that Michael Lang. It's the same one from Oshawa, there's no doubt. And good that he continues to go for them.

I don't have any great, I'm glad he mentioned that because I brought them up earlier. I don't have any great, funny stories. I have nothing, though, but the warmest respect for everybody I worked with there. And you talk about, you asked me earlier, some fan people I still stay in touch with. We have a permanent hockey pool going, Mike,

where you keep your players forever. Keeper League. We just had our 30th anniversary. 30 years we've been together. Wow. And the majority of them are my connections from Oshawa this week and I left there in 1998. Wow.

20, 24 years ago. So that's my level of respect for them. That's my level of respect for them that's my level of respect for oshawa the metroland chain the weekly newspapers and among all of the the sad stuff that happens in media that there's not enough real media anymore that it is so hard for them to be economically viable is a great loss uh not just and sports has nothing to do with it a great loss to all of us. And that's why I keep saying the sponsorship element and making sure that we can fund this.

Mike, we will either, I hate to be this blunt about it, we will either pay for our media or we're going to pay a big price for not having media. I was thinking about that today with the elections happening in the city and how there used to be so many different, you know, independent outlets covering, you know, City Hall here in Toronto and the races and stuff. And there's so few people now, like there's so little coverage of it that, you know, what happens when the media is not covering these? And it's economically driven. It's a case of,

we talked about, you know, the fan doesn't have a dedicated reporter anymore. Well, that's sports. That's too bad. It's unfortunate. but end of the day is our oh well well well so what i mean not too bad too bad it is too bad but nobody covering politics right nobody covering these stories that are serving nobody holding politicians truly accountable and it's gone so bad unfortunately in in the kind of world we live in right now, is where there's such distrust of the few people who actually have legitimate media jobs. And people think, oh, the media is all on a take anyway. It's like, and I'm an old school guy, and I can tell you, we need an independent, strong, functioning media.

And the only way to do that is these companies can make, because then what's the choice? Well, then the governments have to bail them out. Well, if the governments bail them out, then they're no longer independent. Well, yeah, then there's optics there, of course, like you said there. And optics are just as bad as the, as a bias. So,

Kevin in Alberta, we'll change the channel here. Kevin in Alberta writes, remember that time we talked on the radio about the Leafs not playing Martin Prochazka? Are playing Martin Prochazka? Had he said Prochazka? I actually don't remember him. Okay, so Martin Prochazka more. You don't remember him because he wasn't playing very much.

I think we were both wrong on his upside. So Kevin remembers calling you and talking about the upside for Martin Prochazka. Kevin, I got to be honest, I don't remember the particular call. Martin Prochazka. But that you remember it brings up a thing, Mike, that I subscribe in with a lot of people, whether they are calling in. And I did this in my 21 years with the senators. I said, as an organization, we must never forget how big a deal it is for some people

just to go to one game. We're blessed. We're here all the time. We're in the industry. We're doing this. We're hanging around. Same way people complain about the length of baseball games all the time. You know who doesn industry. We're doing this. We're hanging around. Same way people complain about the length of baseball games all the time.

You know who doesn't complain about the length of baseball games? People who've paid $300 a ticket to bring their family there. You know, if the game's two and a half hours or three and a half hours,

they're cool either way. It's not a big deal. Same thing that somebody remembers a phone call that they make to the station, which is why I always say, see, it's still a memory. Mike, that's radio to me.

That is the interaction. Somebody years later. Oh, yeah, Kevin Alberto will never forget his call to Roger Ochoa. Right, sir. And being on the radio. And I just looked him up. Martin Prochazka played 29 games with the Leafs in 97-98. He scored two goals and had four assists.

I probably thought he was going to be pretty good, but what do I know? Roger said he was the next Gretzky but what do I know? It says here, Roger said he was the next Gretzky, it says here. So no, I don't know. But he went on to have a career in the Czech Republic, actually.

But there you go. Okay. Now we're cooking with gas, a whole bunch more here. Thanks, Mike. Hi, Roger. What sports arena hosts the best, what sports arena hosts the best press room meal?

And that comes from Anthony in Ashton. Well, Anthony, thanks. You know, my only comparison, though, I really can't give you a definitive answer on that because outside of the Toronto venues, I've only covered major sporting events, which is a great thing, World Series, Super Bowls, what have you. I'm not a beat reporter, so I haven't been, you know, I can't tell you, oh, Carolina's

got a great press meal or whatever. Like Howard Berger could probably have told you when he was going, you know what I mean? The World Series, the Super Bowls and everything else, the food there is done by the league and there's such a horde of media people. It's actually just kind of like sandwiches. You know what I mean? They got so many people. They order a pizza.

Yeah, so many people to feed. It's just, it's different. But yeah, that's part and parcel of it. You know, media people have a pretty good life. Mike, the unfortunate thing for a lot of people is, and I'm not mentioning any names, but while they had the gigs, they complained an awful lot.

And when the gig was taken away for whatever reason, they sure weren't too happy about it, eh? Oh, I'm not surprised. And that's part of the reason. Yeah, yeah. Chris writes, eh? Oh, I'm not surprised. And that's part of the reason. Yeah, yeah. Chris writes, does he remember, do you remember, Roger,

three consecutive callers to goal line in the early 90s asking him about the upcoming Oshawa Shamrock softball season and laughing in a good-natured way? So the bottom line here is... Actually, I do remember that one. That was a cable TV show in Oshawa.

And that's a guy? Did he think the boss? Chris and his, I guess, two buddies on this Oshawa Shamrock softball team were 11 years old and they remember calling you in the early 90s. I guess all three of them called you in the early 90s to talk about the softball season. I did a show in Oshawa on Roger's cable for five years called Goal Line, and I did another one for, I think, another five years. And we used to take phone calls from people and we took phone calls with no screening. And what we did was we had people give them their

phone number and our screener would actually call them at home to make sure that they were actually at the number. And sometimes that kind of stuff happened. He's having a smile about it and a chuckle. You know what? So did I, it is what it is, what it is at that level.

Go shamrocks. Good for them. Go shamrocks. I hope they won the title. Corey writes in, Lejoie has been a steady talent that doesn't push annoying narratives. Unfortunately, Corey does not elaborate as to what annoying narratives.

But I'm going to then, I'll throw in my two cents on this, which possibly he's suggesting that maybe because Rogers owns the radio team, maybe Rogers needs to sell Blue Jays tickets for the Dome, and possibly they need to cheer on this team. I'm guessing that. That's my guess uh, well, I can say this. Here's a couple of things about that. First of all, uh, I managed to be a, and thank you for the question. I managed to be on the air on sports net five, nine, the fan,

and still am approaching 30 years. And for 21 of those years, I worked for the Ottawa centers. So I know how to handle a conflict of interest number one uh number two the the same narrative that we hear quite often from people about you're on a roger station therefore they own the team and you're not going to be critical well end of the day that's also true of bell media because they have a 50 share in the toronto maple leafs and in mlse and in the Raptors so that walk of of danger of being there I will say this nobody in 30 years has ever told me to not criticize the Blue Jays at times I think I have been quite critical of the Blue Jays but to his first point about being

not pushing and annoying narratives i think what he's trying to basically say there is i'm more kind of even keeled i don't go for the hot take and i never will it's not my style i like that that's not me i i just don't they say i gotta get some calls today so you know what i'm gonna say that uh the leafs uh suck and i'm gonna go through that but it but if the intent and that's why sometimes in sometimes in a tweet or a question or a text or an email, you don't know the nuances of what he's saying. If he's suggesting about the Blue Jays, I've been critical of the Blue Jays. Well, I don't know because he didn't elaborate.

So I've just guessed that. And if it's the narratives and the style, yeah, I'm more, you know, especially the older listeners say to me, I like about you because you're not, you don't come on yelling. You don't just push off any kind of story. You don't get into dumb narratives is what they they do and by the way i'm not criticizing that because man it's a competitive market you got to distance yourself you got to be a personality if you're going to separate yourself from the pack unless mike you're the guy who fills in on all the shows and he doesn't have to do that right and that's i think part and parcel too of the way i've conducted myself so calling wood jays writes in i would thank him for all his support for

amateur sports oh very nice um you don't have to thank i appreciate it very much that's nice of you to say but um you don't have to thank me for that i am uh i think one of the yeah it's not sad things to say but one of the unfortunate things i guess in especially the toronto marketplace is let's face it we're an am radio station and when it comes to the fan it's all about play the hits it's a raptors the leafs the jays uh the nfl the big big teams period end day, and it's got to be that, and okay. That means you can't do what you'd like to do. I would like to do more amateur sports. I would like to find other things to talk about,

and for a lot of years I did, whether it was inter-county baseball or the OHL or the AHL, but it's tougher and tougher to do that now, to separate it, Mike. And just before I forget, you know, one of the previous questions, these are such great questions your listeners are are giving me is that you know one of the things they talked about jays and rogers like well how how come though then do just maybe they do how come people don't rip tsn because they don't criticize the cfl yeah they do though well

they do they do rip them they do they do certain individuals do certain individuals but it's the same thing it's the same thing it's the same thing it's like you know okay so no you're another division of your company is there therefore you can't say anything about them that's not true i i just don't believe that actually so let me burn this question because it's all in the same vein but uh happy fun hap sorry this handle is very tricky it actually is super fun happy slide says why can't sports net baseball media be critical of the home team well again i can only speak for me i can only speak for me here i'll say this if anyone has watched baseball coverage in any other market besides tor, the complaints and not complaints,

but observations people are making are true in every city. I believe that. And that's not necessarily because the media is partnered to it. For instance, and again, you've got to separate your stuff. So if you are a beat reporter, okay, if you're a beat reporter for sportsnet and you get into a fight or a pissing match if i can say that with blue jays management and players well you're not going to work for them for long that's just common sense you have to have some kind of relationship with these people if you're going to do this same thing in every market and a lot of people aren't aware too mike that you know so you look at, they might, I think some people know this, but they don't know this.

Like someone like, Joe Bowen's an employee of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Right. Yes. Yes. He's an employee of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Right. Yes, he's a play-by-play broadcaster. Well, but that, and most professional teams hire the play-by-play guy. So, of course, and here's what happens then you get a national

broadcast and the national broadcast calls it down the middle and the middle and i've talked to a lot of national guys you know what they all say me say to me every every home team thinks i'm against their team because he's calling it down the middle and they've been listening to their favorite homers all the way through right so this isn't unique to Toronto. No, and it's got less to do, I think, I personally think it has less to do of owning the team and more to do with being the official broadcaster of the team.

Like, I feel like this is not that... That's a better, that's more than semantics. You're correct about that. That is probably more... And this is nothing new. Like, I mean, you can always tell when, yeah, like you said, like when Hockey Night in Canada

is doing a Leaf game versus the Winnipeg Jets, let's say, you expect a different, you know, call than if you're listening to Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph calling the Leaf game because you realize that, yeah, one is supposed to play it at the middle and one can be more excited when, you know,

the Leafs score, you know, bless you boys and all that stuff. And I think it's part of the, it's fine. The sports, that's where we got to remember. Sports is not like, there's wars happening in the world and there's famine and there's natural disasters.

And we have to remember the purpose of sport. Well, Mike, that's so well said because I can tell you, end of the day, as I used to call it when I worked in the newspaper business, sports is the toy department. Right.

And it's becoming less and less that now. It really is. It's becoming, end of the day, another reason, and I go back to one of the questions. It's becoming, end of the day, another reason, and I go back to one of the questions, the guy saying, you know, narratives, demeanor, and everything else.

I guess another reason I'm not as out there, I guess, as a lot of other people are, is I just find it impossible to get that angry about anything in sports. I'm sorry, it's just, it's sports. It's fun. It's a game. And yes, you know, we're all and yes you know we're all we're all

hyped up about it and everything else but i just can't take it as seriously as uh as a lot of people do it doesn't mean i don't take the work seriously but end of the it's like come on we're watching a sports game like every time i have some perspective every time in a major sports event and whoever i'm working with i go around with my, and we walk around the stadium for 10 minutes. We always just take a walk around. You know why? Because we're at the flipping World Series, guys. Right.

Take a look at this. Right. Now, are we going to get worked up tonight because, oh, geez, the wireless got wonky, and it's going to be tough to file, or the lineup in the press room, or the room. One of the press room meal stinks tonight or whatever. Really? You talk about third world problems for people who work in the business, right? First world.

Yeah. Now, I have a couple more questions from FOTMs, but I just want to promote something that's happening Thursday night. And this reminds me of, I'm kind of curious, Roger, have you ever crossed paths with Mark Hemsher? Oh, very much. Mark Hemsher story. Let's hear it.

Mark Hemsher did play by play on CJMR radio in Mississauga of Toronto Maple Leaf baseball. Okay. From the hill at Christie pits. I was the PA announcer, official scorer. And for for that year color commentator wow oh my goodness i had no idea i knew that he is a big uh supporter mark mark hepsher did it vick router did it make the final they were at the late great joe criesdale who was a legendary broadcast of what they were the uh uh don cameron did it one year it's like jack had the and he had

a five game contract with cjmr radio and i think it lasted for i'm gonna say six or seven years yeah probably six or seven years and mark did it for one season and i was this color guy amazing i'm a big fan of Mark's. or cannabis accessories over 100 locations across the country. So this will be a fun episode, I think. We're going to kick out some Halloween. Fun episode. You've got three guys

in the backyard and you're going to be smoking weed. This is an episode that can't miss. Right. You can't do that on the fan.

That's the biggest difference between podcasting and I'm sure the CRTC doesn't like the idea of that, but they have no, they have no control over what we do on this podcast. So yeah,

this will be a Canna Cabana episode of Toronto Mike Thursday night. Don't you dare miss it as Billy Red Lions would say. Preeder. Preeder? No, he's going by the name Peter. P-E-A-D-E-R. I think it's a he. You know, I just assumed

a gender on this person. I have no idea. Peter wrote, can he start doing hammer a gender on this person. I have no idea. Peter wrote, can he start doing hammerhead alerts on air? Maybe I should bring that back. Hammerhead alert. Well, here. So he's been here. Norman Rumak was here.

And then we reconnected during the pandemic when we did a remote. It was actually on the phone. I saw that show. When he was here, I told him I couldn't find any of his hammerhead alerts on YouTube or online. Like, I wanted to play a hammerhead alert. So I had Norm Rumak say it for me so I could have that.

And then I could find a siren and I could stick it under. So I do have that. You know what I got to find then? Because Norm is still doing it. And I will. We have that. We have it at the Fan 590. Somebody send it to me.

I played it on here. I played it on here. We'll get it. I don't have it. So somebody's got to send it to me. We'll get it to you. I played it on here. I played it on here. We'll get it. I don't have it. So somebody's got to send it to me. We'll get it to you. I want a hammer. Head alert.

What I will say about Norm is that, you know, he was the biggest Wendell Clark guy and he bled blue. And then he did a heel turn where he turns on the Leafs and becomes a Sabres guy. I don't know. He wasn't just a Sabres guy. He was a Wings guy. He was everybody else but the Leafs guy. He was a murder city.

Oh, yeah. I was around there. Okay. Well, Norm, come on, buddy. I think Jimmy DeVilano might have had a little pull on that. He was pretty good friends with Norm. I think, you know,

when he realized maybe the dead things aren't as bad as they thought. Murder, sunny, dead things. Best guy in the world. You know who now does, of course, you know this, does play-by-play

for the murder, sunny, dead things is Ken Daniels. Ken Daniels, of course. Been there many years. Good FOTM. Okay, him and Mickey Redmond do a good job there. Craig, I believe it might be my last question.

Man, you got a lot of questions. Holy smokes. Well, listen, this is it. You made it over 90 minutes. You only made it an hour the first time. Of course, we had a few more sponsor mentions this time. Well, it's not the time. It's just surprising you got these high quality of questions coming from you. Well, yeah. You should see the stuff I'm not asking you. Woo! Too much, too hot for TV. for tv okay well this is from craig the first question you've answered

already but i'll ask any he says why has he been so incredibly loyal to the fan and why does he think he's lasted so long there and he's got multiple questions should i stop well loyalty well loyalty is a two-way street so when, and I did answer that already for that answer. Okay, so what else does he have there? Does he think he has enough juicy details to put into a book or two sometime? Now, I think he wants a book like an autobiography. You've written books, but a book about yourself. I would not write a book about myself. My career has been all fun and by book standards, it's not a great story.

Now, will I write another Power of Teammates, the book you referred to, is a life coaching kind of manual? Am I going to do more stuff like that down the road? Absolutely, yes. But my life in and of itself, Mike, one of my philosophies with the students, I always said, here's how you approach a show. And I say this radio or podcaster. and this ties into what I'm talking about. What people want to hear, I said to listeners, the most boring thing in the world is your fantasy team. The most interesting thing in the world is their fantasy team. Right.

So if you're going to talk about fantasy sports, don't tell me you drafted this running back and he stunk. Tell me, hey, I got a tip for you, this running back. he stunk tell me hey i got a tip for you this running back it's not about you it's about them same thing i had a former student of mine i heard him and he was doing a morning show i'm not going to say what market i don't want to embarrass him because i actually called him on this one and i happen to be driving through the city and listen he's going oh my goodness my drive in this morning the weather was terrible but and he went on and on and you know his co-host is talking and they're commiserating and yak, yak, yak.

So I called him up. I said, hey, I just got to tell you, I happened to hear you this morning. I was driving through town. He goes, how was I? I said, listen, positive. You sound great. You're terrific. But here, please take this for take this for what it's worth.

Nobody cares about your drive in. They care about their drive in. Don't talk about what your drive was in, like at six o'clock. I listened at seven in the morning. Tell them the roads are bad. Be careful. Stay away. It's not about you. It's about them. Therefore, to answer his question, my life story is of interest to me, not them. I want to help people with their lives. I don't want to just recount mine. Well, you know what? Was know, was it Jay Peterman? He took Kramer's story.

He bought Kramer's story. So maybe that you need to buy some salacious stories from somebody and then have a good book there. I don't know. Just think it out loud. Okay. So I love the fact that Craig predicts you won't answer these next two questions

because he says you're a good guy and you're not going to answer these, but here he is. Maybe I won't. Who was your favorite person to work with? Norm Ramek. See, he did answer it, Craig, and then he wants to know this one.

He doesn't think you answered this one either, and I'm going to agree that you won't answer this one. Who was your least favorite person to work with? Roger. I am not going to answer that question. And that's it for you, then. What a way to end the show. Hey, I can't take the picture.

Can I get a bag for all this stuff? The beer and this stuff? Thanks a lot. I got to really run. If you got a bag, that'd be fantastic. Sorry you can't keep the photo street going, buddy. Remember, though, the lasagna is in the freezer, so you got to play nice to get it.

Oh, jeez. Have you got it yet? A pleasure, my friend. And again, congratulations on the niche you've carved out here. And I'm a big fan like a lot of your listeners are. And look at all the questions you get from listeners for a guy like me. I can only imagine what Chuck Swirsky is going to get when he's coming up shortly. But you've done a terrific job with it.

And best of luck to you and your sponsors. And all the best to you, Mike. Love you. Well, listen, you're great, Roger. And I'm sure I'll have a great time with Chuck Swirsky tomorrow. But I'm all about upcoming episode with Sharon and Brom. Oh, rinky-dinky-dinky-dink. I love you.

Skinny rinky-dink. Yeah. Didn't have the right part right, but I remember the tune. But, you know, we've lost Lois. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. But Sharon and Brom making their Toronto Mike debut very soon. But, Roger, you were fantastic. And in the afternoon.

I love you in the evening. Underneath the moon. Let's go, Roger. Skidamarinky dinky dink. Skidamarinky doo. I love you. I love you, baby. I love you.

And that. Let's get out of here. That brings us to the end of our 1136th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Roger, are you at, what is it, 590 Lejoie? At the Rog 590. At the Rog 590.

The Rog 590. Thank you, sir. Follow Roger on Twitter. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Moneris is at Moneris. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Raymond James Canada are at Raymond James CDN.

Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. And Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. See you all tomorrow. And my special guest is... Break out the salami and cheese. We got Chuck Swirsky on Toronto Mike. And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is Rosy and green

Well I've been told That there's a sucker Born every day But I wonder who Yeah I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of green. Because I know that's true. Yes, I do.

I know it's true. Yeah. I know it's true. How about you? Oh, they're picking up trash and they're putting down ropes. And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes. And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can. Maybe I'm not and maybe I am.

But who gives a damn? Because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms me today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine. And it won't go away, because everything is rosy and gray. Cause everything is rosy and green Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour

But I like it much better going down on you, yeah, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms us

today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away Thank you. Yeah