Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Scott MacArthur: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1728

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

In this 1728th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Scott MacArthur about his reawakening and life as a Toronto sports fan in a Rogers world. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, the Waterfront BIA, Nick Ainis and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Oh yeah, Toronto Mike, yeah down in the basement in Toronto, but I'm not gonna tell you exactly where he lives because I don't want you coming to his front porch knocking on the door, scaring his kids, scaring his family. Yeah, he's got a nice family. Yeah, they're very pleasant. Toronto Mike is brought to you by Poma Pasta. Yeah, it's delicious, but I'll tell you this right now. If you eat too many carbs, yeah carbs yet might put you in the ground at which point Ridley funeral homes will be there for you Yeah in between the over consumption of carbs and your death go to a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball game Yeah, and when you do that go to Christie pits. Yeah, it's a bit of a strange name

But it is actually a pit it is down in the ground and the cops won't you see you drinking a Great Lakes beer? Yeah, cause sometimes in some places it's still illegal to drink publicly although I hear that city council is doing a 17th pilot project to see if it'll fly at Trinity Bellwoods Park. Yeah, we just need Toronto Mike Mayor. Yeah, why not? Yeah, John Tory, Olivia Chow, Toronto Mike, make it three on one. Yeah, put them together. City Council, City Council, it's pretty good. It's nice being here in the basement. The one thing I will tell you though, this is not a home that was built yesterday

or within the last five years or within the last 50 years for that matter. I am six foot one. The ceiling down here is not. It might be five foot five. Yeah, but that's okay because as long as the fire alarm doesn't go off or the boundless and endless construction that is occurring on the street does not create a loud thud or bang that scares the crap out of us Yeah, I won't jump up out of my chair and concuss myself But it is wonderful to be here yet to roll a mic runs the show the macho man Randy Savage is honored even though Word is at this particular juncture on July the 10th

2025 I have been deceased for more than 14 years The word is at this particular juncture on July the tenth, twenty, twenty five. I have been deceased for more than fourteen years. Yeah, Elizabeth and I are partying up in heaven. Yeah, that was amazing. I would have given you sixty minutes for that, Scotty Mac. You would have, eh? Absolutely, in a heartbeat. Welcome to episode 1728 of Toronto Miked, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery,

a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities good times and brewing amazing beer order online for free local home delivery in the GTA Palma pasta enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Toronto's Waterfront BIA. Check out what's happening on Toronto's Waterfront this summer. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. Get your butts to Christie Pitts this summer for the best baseball in the city outside the dome. RecycleMyElectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past.

Building Toronto's Skyline, a podcast and book from Nick Aynes, sponsored by Fusion Corp. Construction Management Inc. and Redley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, returning to Toronto Mike, this time in person, it's Scott McArthur. Welcome back, Scott. Kind of sucks for you now, Mike, because I have to give my voice a rest for the next five or six hours after the Macho Man. And by the way, apologies to any of your sponsors who Randy Savage did not mention there, but I tried to get them all in. You know what? I love it when Randy Savage makes an appearance on Toronto. Mike, a former aspiring professional baseball player. Yes, St. Louis Cardinals organization if I'm not mistaken. Quite a story. It actually in a weird way, I just did a deep dive into the the history of Dave Steebe and why he belongs in Cooperstown.

I was gonna ask you about that later in this chat, but I'm thinking okay so they draft Dave Steeb as an outfielder. They guess they realized pretty quick he can't hit in the majors and they convert him to a pitcher and like he just learns a slider and like relatively quickly like six months later he's like the ace of the Blue Jays. I mean it wasn't a high bar to be the ace of that Blue Jays staff, but still like so quickly he converted from outfield prospect to like Cooperstown caliber starting pitcher. I don't know why, when I hear that story, I always think of Randy Poffo, right? He was like a, you know, he was an outfielder, right? And then aspiring and then instead of becoming

like a Cooperstown worthy starting pitcher, he became a WWF Hall of Famer. Yeah, but in between, right, his dad, Angelo Poffo, ran what was considered an outlaw wrestling promotion in the, I believe the Memphis area, and they went up against the Jarritz and Jerry Lawler. And I think, I don't want to get this wrong because I think you're-

Because Stu Stone will let you know. Yeah, and I think you're flooded with wrestling historians other than Stu Stone who listen in here. But I believe that they were starting to pull audience enough that both factions decided it would be best to work together. And then Savage ended up of course inF, and the rest is history. The rest is history, yeah.

I think maybe I was gonna say Robert Lawson can fact check that. I just wanna say one more thing, Mike Boone. The way that we're sitting here, yeah, right in my eye line, yeah, just on the other side of your face was my WrestleMania 2 opponent, George, the Animal Steel, yeah yeah who had a little bit of a thing for my dear Elizabeth yeah you right she's her around with that throw rug on his back we didn't like that very much did we yeah and he was also in the corner of Ricky the Dragon steamboat for the epic

WrestleMania 3 match yeah if you dig what I'm saying you need to rest your voice after that one. So that was a gift actually from the aforementioned Stu Stone But I was gonna say the fact checking for all that you gave me about Angelo Poffo will come from I think John Pollock Who's a listener of the program? Yes, and he's a as you know, he's a covering a lot of the wrestling action. Yep Okay, shadow to why ting? Waiting wait, of course waiting again Ting. I get it. Wei Ting and John Pollock, FOTM's. But okay, you're here in the flesh. So how long do we have you in the GTA, Scott McArthur? Got here on Tuesday, so I drove all the way from Nova

Scotia. Thank you, by the way, to you and Steve Simmons for keeping me company for a couple of hours as I crossed from Nova Scotia into New Brunswick. Would you think of the Steve Simmons return? Oh it's an awesome conversation I was totally riveted and and can I just can I break a secret here that that I think might disappoint a lot of people? Steve Simmons as a person if I can stay with wrestling terminology, is a babyface. He is a good guy. I know he's polarizing and he has thrived in that sphere as a longtime columnist, but I will always remember, and he's not the only one, but certainly one of the most significant.

When I started kicking around Leafs practices not long after moving to Toronto in 2011 and meeting people, Steve was one of the most welcoming. And it means a lot when somebody from the area but who had worked only in Ottawa and wasn't really a known commodity by any stretch of the imagination is welcomed by people of Steve's stature. So Steve Simmons is a baby face and I

will go to my grave telling anybody that. Well, I've been telling people that for years. This was his fourth visit and the reason, and we did have a, you know, there was a pandemic and a lot going on, but so we had a gap, but the fourth visit because I, I like the man. I think he's a sweetheart and I get a lot of notes when I have Steve Simmons on and the notes in a nutshell are I love you man, but I ain't listening to this bozo Like I'm not listening to this clown but and that's their loss because I think it was a great two hours But I also get notes from people shout out to cook see I get notes from people are like I So badly want to dislike this guy, but that two hours was amazing and

I can't help but like him. I think he is like a polarizing figure because you can talk about Phil Kessel and the hot dog story and everything, but he is a sweetheart and he's compelling. That was a great two hours. Well, and I think one of the gifts that you have here, Mike, is that people are willing to be vulnerable with you. And so I've known for a long time, I don't know how much Steve talked about it publicly,

I'm sure that he has, but he certainly would talk about it personally, about his insomnia and stuff like that, and just what a challenge it has been for him throughout his life. And so I was aware of that and intrigued to hear him go deeper in on that and about that with you in conversation. But yeah, it was a great two hours and I was listening as I crossed the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border,

which other than looking at windmills and farmland is boring without something in my ears. Well, thank you for listening, Scotty Mack. Praise from Caesar. Your t-shirt says East Coast lifestyle. Can you adapt for your, I guess you're here visiting parents or what you're doing here, but maybe you're just visiting me, that would be great to believe. But like, can you come back to the GTA lifestyle after you've adapted for so long now to the East Coast lifestyle? You mean can I sit in traffic and immediately become enraged? Do you want to borrow my bicycle? Absolutely I can. Well I don't know if I even answered your initial question. I got here Tuesday and I am flying to

Edinburgh early next week and I'm doing a week in Scotland and a week in France and then I will fly back to Pearson, spend a couple of days here to let the jet-leg chill, and I'll head back in my car to Nova Scotia start of August, get back sometime during the August long weekend and spend a month enjoying the beaches and just summer in Nova Scotia before school starts again the day after Labor Day. That sounds amazing this trip to Scotland and yeah very cool. So what are, this trip to Scotland and yeah, very cool. So what are you going to do in Scotland? You got an itinerary? Scotland is going to be very busy.

I'm going with an aunt and her daughter, my cousin, with whom I'm very close, both of them, and we're going to do some family tracing. My aunt has done this before with her siblings which includes my dad and all the spouses and my grandparents who are sadly now long gone but they did a family trip in 1987 and traced some things. So we're going to go to where we are from which is in Verere and we're going to spin up to Glencoe, because a little more than 200 years ago, after what we understand to be a dispute over sheep, our clan, which was the Campbell clan, may have been a little nasty to the McDonald's, and by that I mean

may have slaughtered a few people, which then resulted in some of us coming over to Canada or what was pre-Canada and settling. And 200 plus years later, here you are stuck with me in your basement. Well, I don't have a sheep for you to take home with you, but as you witnessed, so there was a lot of activity when you arrived, you had to park somewhere else because it's there's construction going on. So there's that whole debacle. But I also have some work being done here to like satisfy some

like insurance requirements. So it's not like the fun work. It's just like, Oh, give us some money so you can keep living here or whatever. And so I had a guy down here looking at something that's messed up down here. But meanwhile, Noah Petrucci had arrived. Now he couldn't park in front because of the aforementioned construction. So who knows where he had to walk with the lasagna. So Noah Petrucci is the son of Anthony Petrucci and Anthony, the Petrucci family owns and operates Palma pasta. And you had a nice exchange of Noah,

which will absolutely get to Anthony, because you, Scott MacArthur, you're a big Palma Pasta fan. I am, and so are my parents. So when I left this morning and said goodbye, they know, of course, I'm coming in here today, I said, when I get home, I will have a Palma Pasta lasagna in my hands. And if you could have seen my mother's eyes go saucer big, home, I will have a poma pasta lasagna in my hands.

And if you could have seen my mother's eyes go saucer big, like, Oh, nice. So w w w and my parents will buy poma pasta products, particularly the lasagna every now and then, and, and we'll eat it. And it always makes me think of you and our visits here. So, uh, nice to have a little complimentary one. So Noah got here just in time because I said, I said I need an emergency delivery

Thursday morning because Scotty Mack is here. Jill Deacon got the last lasagna that was in the freezer yesterday and Noah like ownership the family like came in the truck to deliver the lasagna for you and your parents. What are your parents names? Dad's Jamie, James, we call him Jamie and mom's Terry. Okay, Terry and James. Will Terry and James listen to this episode of Toronto Mike? They certainly will. Call them Jamie though. James is too formal. So Terry and James. I have a son named James. That's why I went to, yeah my oldest is named James. Jamie. Okay, I feel like Jamie to James would be sort of like Mike to Michael or whatever. It's just-

A little more formal, yeah. Okay, I get it. All right, so Jamie and Terry will listen to this episode? They will, yes, absolutely. And I'm sure they will do that before they devour the poma pasta because there may be a slightly expanded family dinner suddenly being organized for Friday

that will revolve around this lasagna. Well, that's perfect because you can stick it in the fridge for 24 hours and then you could cook this up tomorrow night. Beautiful. That's perfect here. But now, you know, even knowing that your parents are listening to us right now, I feel like I need to be nicer to you. You've taken the edge off.

I was going to be a complete jerk to you. Perfect. Excellent. You know, that was the goal all along, Mike, was to soften you up before without you even realizing it. But unfortunately, you have realized it. I don't want Terry to be mad at me is what I'm saying here. Okay, so I'm going to just go through.

We mentioned Steve Simmons just made his fourth appearance to the basement. This is actually your third visit to the basement. We'll explain all the episodes now. And as we go through this, I've been doing this recently, going through descriptions of previous visits allows us to follow up on some things because it's been a while. But your first visit, Scott MacArthur, was August 2019, episode 499. And here's the description. Mike chats with Scott MacArthur about his years at TSN 1050, his decision to join Sportsnet 590, the fan Fan and host Blue Jays Talk, his battles

with depression and his decision to live his life openly as a proud gay man. So that's like a, that was a heavy two hour episode in August 2019. I can't believe it was almost six years ago. No. At that, at 499, I hadn't even recorded episode 500. We talked, right, and we talked last month when I joined you over Zoom about how you were trying to do a big thing for 500 and... Oh, Bob McAllen.

You still did a big thing for 500, but it wasn't at Hepsey and Tati together or something? I couldn't, you know what? I tried, I'm going to just reveal this to you because I know before we press record you were talking about Jim Tati and I was thinking I tried so hard to reunite Mark Hepsher and Jim Tati on Toronto Mike because Mark Hepsher has been on I don't know over ten times and For five years we we did Hepsey on sports Hepsey Just a sweetheart FOTM right in there. He's game for anything. Love that guy. Jim Taddy would not do it. I had a one-on-one communication. He's basically,

I got a big fat no guy. Okay. Well, I thought I heard, maybe it wasn't 500, but I thought I heard an episode where they were both on it. You heard another podcast, my friend, and I'm now jealous. Whatever podcast you heard, I'm pissed off it exists because I should be the one to bring it. Definitely one of those evenings I was on, hallucinogens, I guess. The shrooms, oh my God, you were still here back then. Okay, because the shrooms I hear,

they're better in Nova Scotia, but what do I know? I gotta just say that it still irks me because what a fabulous piece of audio it would be to have Mark Hemsher and Jim Taddy together in the basement talking about Sportsline and getting that story and I would do my thing where I walk through it and ask the questions that all the fans want asked. Wouldn't that be a wonderful present

for all of us who grew up watching Sportsline? Like I'm pissed off, Scotty Mac. Well, that show, and again, if you're younger and you're listening, it's impossible to contextualize what the world was like back then. I mean, if the Blue Jays were out on the West Coast on a Monday night, if I was in a rush to get to school on Tuesday morning and didn't hear a sports update on the radio, chances are I didn't find out how the Blue Jays did against the Angels or A's on Monday night until I saw the box score of Monday's game in Wednesday morning's newspaper. So Jim and Mark and the entire sports line team at the time would give you, as it's happening

more or less, highlights of the late games. Right? And so it's like, wow, I never see Tony Gwyn play. Here's a Tony Gwyn highlight. The Padres lead the Giants five, three and the fifth. There's a two run single from Tony Gwyn. Oh, I know what Tony Gwyn looks like now because I didn't have Instagram to see a thousand photos of a current day player. Like, like, no, like like you know I just got a shout out because before you arrived I had the live stream going at live.torontomike.com and the song maybe I'll play just a little bit of it to ask you and I know I have a good I might have a decade on you do I have a decade on you I just turned 46 I don't have a decade on you I have five years on you okay so but

still five years who knows what that does? Sometimes I find five years as a significant, when you're talking about certain references. Do you know the reference? Wonder Twin powers activate. Does that mean anything to you? Okay, so I had a reaction that suggested it might, but I can't put it anywhere. You know, so I just had- Is this a cartoon from the 80s or something? Yes. So, but early 80s, like late 70s, early 80s, Super Friends. And I just had a chat with Ed Keenan where he dropped the reference and we started talking about it. And I was thinking, okay, I don't think anyone under the age of 45 will get that reference.

But this music- You might be evidence. Okay, this music, you know- This week in baseball. Yes. Okay. So I just played this knowing you were coming over on a loop, actually. It's called Gathering Crowds. It's a little bit of it. How about that, Mel Allen? And I used to watch this every, I guess it was on every Saturday, but I was a big fan of This Week in Baseball. And I just want to shout out that show because at the same time I'm watching sports line

I'm watching this week in baseball and that would be they might do a segment on you know Tony Gwyn flirting with 400 or something like that and that would be how I would kind of get to know these guys Yeah, I just want to shout out this week in baseball Which is another way I was able to kind of see and get to know some of these stars of the early 80s me It is that you know, it funny Mike, when we're young, we always say we're not going to become those old people who reminisce about back in my day and then you become somebody who reminisces about back in my day because we're always chasing the nostalgia of what felt like a simpler time, right? I do this all that I have two older kids and I do this all the time

with the hip-hop all the time we talk about you know my daughter will be into the latest rap song and I'll have to go into this talk tell her what it was like when it takes a nation of millions to hold us back came out and what Public Enemy was doing and stuff and in Cypress is. Cypress Hill? I saw Cypress Hill last summer. No shit. Yeah, it's a beer fest. I saw him last summer. It's funny because just to tie wrestling and Stu Stone together.

So I've told this story. We went from Cypress Hill to tying wrestling and Stu Stone together. So I'm waiting for Cypress Hill and I'm at it's not seeing any grant bandstand at the exhibition grounds and I'm there and I can see no I who is it Ryan Wollstad do you know Ryan Wollstad from the Toronto Sun he covers the Raptors the was okay so Ryan Wollstad from the Toronto Sun is a big 90s hip hop head and he just comes up to say hi because he's been over here and he listens to the program, Hello to Ryan.

And he's like, Samoa Joe is here. That's what he says to me, okay? So tell the audience, cause I know you're a wrestling guy, who's Samoa Joe? You know Samoa Joe? Samoa Joe is a large individual. And like he's one of, of you know like the Samoans Generally are are built like brick shit houses right there defensive tackles in NFL football

They're they're just big humans. There's a guy in Moana Well, yeah Do you know Moana? Well, that's the Rock. Yeah, well, it's The Rock as the actor, but that character, I feel like he might be Samoa. Please continue. But so, so they're just, they're big humans and Samoa Joe is a big human being and he's a great pro wrestler, did a lot of time in TNA, then WWE and I believe he's in the other one now with the son of the, uh, Cotrillionaire in Jacksonville. Catch up on all this.

But so I get told by Ryan that Samoa Joe is here, but he says it like, oh my God, like it's like he's saying Barack Obama is here or something. Samoa Joe is here. But I go, okay, cool man. And then again, then so I actually am with my daughter and my wife and we're at this Cypress Hill concert drinking a lot of Great Lakes beer.

By the way, I'm sending you home with some fresh craft beer. Can't wait. Let Jamie have a can. You bet. I'm drinking the beer, I'm enjoying the show, but I'm like, I don't know this name and I'm feeling like I should know the name the way that Ryan's talking about Samoa Joe. So I actually on my phone, I Google Samoa Joe and I start learning about Samoa Joe like in real time. I'm like, oh, and I'm telling, you know, Monica and Michelle

and I'm like, oh, Samoa Joe is here. Here's who Samoa Joe is. Okay. Interesting. So fast forward about 15 minutes. I'm in the crowd drinking my Great Lakes. I spot the legend that is the FOTM Hall of Famer who will come up later. I have a question for you, but Stu Stone, third time I've mentioned him. He's on the show, by the way, everybody after my camping trip later this month. I see Stu Stone. We run up, we have a big hug. I go, Stu, good to see you buddy. I can't believe you're here. He goes, he goes, Mike, I want to introduce you to somebody. I said, Oh yeah. Who Samoa Joe. He goes, Toronto, Mike Samoa Joe. And I shake hands with Samoa Joe and I'm

looking Samoa Joe in the eye. And I didn't know who he was 20 minutes ago, but I had done a little Googling and I look them in the eyes and I go Samoa Joe. What an absolute pleasure it is to meet you. Like I was, I just learned he existed 20 minutes ago, but I felt like I was meeting a king or something. I was so like, wow. That moment happened before Cypress Hill last summer.

Awesome. Yeah. Samoa Joe. And he's, I think he's one of those German suplex guys. Like he'll, he'll, he'll throw you around the ring. Like he's, he's elite that way. By the way, as you know, Stu Stone, dark side of the ring, he's he's elite that way by the way guys as you know Stu Stone Dark Side of the Ring right absolutely what do you think and play this clip for him in a week or two when he's in studio with you Dark Side of the Boon why not why not take us take us take us take us into the entire yeah you can talk about how Bob McCowan and I had a fight over episode 500 and yeah, we could do a whole thing. Yeah, you can, you can let all the dirty laundry out from

your 1700 plus episode. The Mike Bullard episode will be stellar, I think. Absolutely. Okay. I'll pitch it to Stu. So then you came back. So I know we're still in the descriptions, but I liked how these threads can be pulled out and we can come back. I kind of dig this. I did it with Simmons, but although Simmons would go like a half an hour based on something in the first description, I'd be like, oh, this is going to be a two hour episode. Okay. June, 2023. So you didn't, you were gone for four years. Now there was a pandemic in there. I got to throw that caveat and I don't. Yeah. So you came back June, 2023, but you weren't alone. But let me read the description. This was episode 1274. So 1274. Mike chats with Scott MacArthur about his departure from the fan 590,

working on the rush on News Talk 1010, why he left, what's next for him, and how the hell he's doing. Richard Griffin co-hosted, he was here with us, we talked about some of the expos and there's some controversy Griffin co-hosted, he was here with us, we talked about some of the expos and there's a some controversy with the Blue Jays, and another two-hour episode, you, me, and Richard Griffin, that was June 2023, that was your last visit here, but I'll just roll into the final appearance before now, which is June 2025. That was a whopping one month ago, okay, so we went six years. You just can't live without me at this point, eh, Mike?

You know, we know what it was. I did the zoom with you because I'm like, okay, I got to find out how it's going for Scotty Mac in- And you were dying inside at the quality of the audio, weren't you? It was fine. And it was fine. Yeah, it was fine. And people liked that episode because it was a good catch up with Scotty Mac. But at some point you revealed you're gonna be in Toronto in June oh no you'd be in Toronto in July obviously we're in July and I realized oh like I'll just redo that episode in person so let's lock him in for July 10

here you are so here you are and this is your fourth appearance on Toronto Mike it's great to be on I as I know I'm not setting you up to like be nice to me, but I say this I'm fascinated that you still find me interesting because it's not I'm not in media anymore. It's just the hair. Okay, but hopefully I have something to offer somebody who's listening today. Well, a little bit of a pearl of wisdom or something like that. Well, I'll tell you what, I'll record this and if I don't like it, I'll just delete it. Is that cool? Yeah.

But I know you're keeping the macho man intro. Oh yeah. I'm going to be using it for the rest of the, for the rest of ever. Well, you see, it's, it's a little time sensitive. It's got to be during Maple Leaf season at Christie pit. So I'm going to run it for at least through, through August. Well, I can change Christie pits to Scotiabank arena and then you can run it in the winter. Oh my goodness. But they have to pay me some money. We'll get to that.

That's a good point. Rogers has to cough up coin for me, but that's actually one of the things I want to dive into with you. But I just want to tell you, Scotty Mac, that you have a shitty name for SEO. Can I swear in front of Terry and Jamie? Yeah, of course. Okay. Cause I said shitty. Do you know like it's, it's within the last decade that the f-word has started to get thrown around in the family? Like not like, yeah, not yelling and being rude about it, but just kind of like using it as an adjective or a verb or whatever whenever. So Scott, I have four children and my rule with the f-word has always been context, which is I

don't want to hear you say that guy's a fucking asshole, okay? That's low-h-hanging fruit. Right. I don't like power in baseball. I don't like that term I don't like that use of the F word but what I do I'm a hundred percent fine with which is Like my son's into soccer my my 11 year old he's really in there's gonna be a sublime pass or whatever and he'll go If I hear that was fucking brilliant. I'm fine with it. So fucking in a positive sense. Yeah like used to like say. Encouraged. Yeah like fucking we won like that kind of way I'm fine but I don't want to use like you're a fucking piece of shit. Right cuz then

that's fucking a negative sense. Although I will use it that way. Yeah. But you know. Oh of course. I don't practice that but I just want to tell you have a shitty SEO so what I mean by that is when people want to find out about Scott MacArthur, they're more likely to on Google and other search. Can you tell me what SEO is before search engine optimization? Oh, is this the guy that was in the mic? Yes. Okay good You know, of course, you know, you're Scott MacArthur, but he's an American actor He's a writer and he's best known for playing Jimmy Shepherd, who's a main character on a show I didn't really know about until now, which is like a Fox comedy series called The Mick.

And he is sort of these, according to like Google, Scott MacArthur, the actor on The Mick, is the Scott MacArthur. And you're like Kirkland brand Scott McCarty. So hold up, you're telling me that somebody who shares my name, who's been on a sitcom on Fox, might get better play in the Google search engine than me? I don't buy that. Not for a second. Not at all. The Mick, apparently, is like Friends, Seinfeld, the Mick, those are the big three as far as a big comedy series are concerned.

You ready to start? Oh, we haven't. Well, you know what I might do? I might let the world know that tomorrow morning I'm being visited by Nick Ienies, who stepped up to help fuel the real talk. I'm basically like, I need, you know, you need benefactors. You need people that are gonna support what you're doing,

the Palma Pastas of the world, the Great Lakes beers of the world. And Nick Ien that are going to support what you're doing, the palma pastas of the world, the great legs beers of the world. And Nick Aini says, I love what you're doing. I want to be a part of this. And he's coming by tomorrow morning, not for Toronto Mike, but for an episode of building Toronto skyline and an episode of building success. And they'll be in those feeds tomorrow. Much love to Nick Aini's from Fusion Corp.

I used to be quiet on the P and you told me Mike, you got to nail that P. So I try to nail it, you know, Fusion Corp construction. Thank you, Nick. So that's tomorrow. And I just want to remind you and I want to remind Jamie and I want to remind Terry if they have or you have a drawer, a closet, a room perhaps full of old cables, old devices, maybe there's a blackberry in there that doesn't work anymore, maybe you got an old laptop from 1998, who knows? You go to recyclemyelectronics.ca, you put in your postal code and find out where you can drop that off to be properly recycled. Do you got it Scotty Mac? If it's time to 86 your Commodore 64. Yeah.

No don't do that. Actually I would take a Commodore 64 and put it here. You would. I would put it here. You got a lot of cool. I'm having nostalgia looking at this Blue Jays calendar hanging up on your wall here. I used to write the scores and the winning and losing pictures on those calendars when I was little. Shoppers, drug mart, Blue Jays, Scottie's point too and I have it fixed this is my player was George Bell so I have it fixed on May 1986. That was a rough year that was a rough year for Dave Steeb because he'd thrown so much and so well in 85 and of course they went deep into the playoffs and he

started three games in the series with the Royals. Yeah in like nine days. I just don't think he I think I just don't think he could get his arm going in 86. So that was his, I would say one down year in what was just an incredible decade. I remember he had a even number of years he would be off for a while and before he had his second era there. This is all going to come up later in this conversation. So put a pin in the Dave Steve thing. Let's just Shout out Who did who sent that to me? It'll come to me in a minute. I want to give credit to who sent me that calendar

I'll do that in quite in a minute, but I want to set you up by saying this This is gonna read this news item. You ready Scotty Mac. Yes, and then I want you to just go on this This is unrelated to my lacking SEO You know, I you're lacking SEO. I'm just letting you know. I'm sure you already do that. Maybe that's a good thing. Rogers, don't be triggered by that name, Rogers, tell us if you are. Rogers has become the majority owner of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. We sometimes call that place M L S E. After purchasing BCE's 30, sometimes we call that place MLSC after purchasing BCE's 30 sometimes we call that place bill

37.5 percent stake for four point seven billion dollars Rogers now owns 75% of MLSC and as listeners know but I won't take it for granted MLSC owns the Toronto Maple Leafs the the Toronto Raptors, the Toronto Argonauts, Toronto FC, Rogers already owns the Toronto Blue Jays, Rogers Centre, which I like to call Sky Dome if that's okay, and Sportsnet. I

read a comment from you. I think it was on Facebook, but this was from Scotty Mac and it said, uh, I'm a number of years. This is Scotty Mac. And I'm going to pretend like he's not here. I'm a number of years into my new viewing following habits, but this cements those changes into permanency. Take it away. Scotty Mac. What do I mean by that? Yes. Start with what do you mean by that? I don't I want to hear it all. Like what were your new viewing following habits and how how does this cement those changes into permanency? And then we'll talk about because I'm in a similar boat, but I want to talk to you. I lost so it kind of it has it's happened in increments with different sports. I've never been a huge basketball fan. My best basketball memories and by best I mean favorite

basketball memories actually come from the early 90s. I was a Phoenix Suns fan before Barkley. Tom Chambers, Jeff Hornacek and Hornacek was one of the ones who went to Philadelphia in the Barkclay trade. Right. Dan Marley, Kevin Johnson, who later would be the mayor of Sacramento, California. So I go that far back, and I remember the 93 NBA finals, and John Paxson shot in game six in Phoenix that sunk the Sun's chances to win a title. So that's actually my basketball heyday, 13, 14 years old. So look, I'm glad there's a team in Toronto, 2019,

we all got caught up in it, Raptors winning the championship. But did you get caught up in it? Well, I was actually in the middle of a move from where I lived on Fort York to the East End on Broadview Avenue and had the Raptors won at home in game five the parade would have been the day of my move and the way that the parade ended up unfolding I would not have been able

to move my stuff that day so so I was glad that they won in six so I got I watched I watched the finals yes I watched the games, but I'm not as emotionally invested as I would be, say, if it was a Toronto Maple Leafs appearance in a Stanley Cup final circa 2002, in a hypothetical world where that would have happened. I fell away from hockey and, you know, this is kind of copping to something now, but I forced myself to be quote on it through the 2010s. It was easier when I was covering the Blue Jays not to have to pay attention to it. But when I did the Scott MacArthur show on TSN 1050, 17 and 18, those two years, I would

stay on top of the Leafs. I'd watch every game. I'd talk about the Leafs, but I was forcing myself to emotionally invest. And I was actually worried that that would bleed through on the air. So I would really work myself up to believe in whatever opinions it was that I was conveying,

because emotionally, deep in my core, I didn't give a fuck right and two things happened with hockey one was The Maple Leafs era of the late 2000s early 2010s It was a complete embarrassment on the ice off the ice It was fraudulent. It was ugly, it was bombastic, it was boorish, it was shitty, it was confused, it was all that. Then the 2012, 2013 lockout happened.

And again, the context is, didn't we just lose a season less than a decade ago to sort all these problems out and now we're holding off into January of 2013 to get that season going and it was around that time I'm in my early 30s and I'm looking around and I'm going this is just all stupid and so I never felt the same about hockey and now that I'm out of the media and don't really have to pay attention, I don't. You know, if you don't have to, if the Mitch, yeah, but, but, but I would pay attention if I wanted to as a fan, but I don't like if the Mitch Marner situation had unfolded when I was 25 and you and I were sitting here, Mike, I'd have 13 opinions and be on to my 27th

opinion without having taken a breath. I would be railing but I look at it and I go yeah I get it from Mitch's perspective and quite frankly I get it from the team's perspective and I'm just gonna go to the beach, you know? So that happened, and then baseball, I covered it for a long time, so I have a, I feel a very good understanding. Yeah, people think of you as a baseball guy. Right, and I have a very good understanding of how that sausage is made,

and that's all well and good. I don't have, if I may speak diplomatically and leave the swear words out of it, I do not have, how shall I say, a strong affinity for the current front office and I will acknowledge the team is playing very well right now, just won ten in a row and dropped the final game in Chicago. I thought they were gonna go into the all-star break on a 14-game winning streak between the White Sox and the A's you know it was not impossible to to envision that but they're playing very well right now but I like I don't unless I pirate the TV broadcasts I don't have a way of seeing it I don't I don't have a way of seeing it. I don't, I don't have cable TV. I don't buy the app, um, that, that, that, that shows the games.

But I realized Mike that it isn't actually that I've fallen away from baseball. It's that I've fallen into baseball in a different way. And I know you've had Mike Wilner on this program before. Many times. way. And I know you've had Mike Wilner on this program before. Many times. And he's talked about this Lunatic Sim League that he runs. And I am one of the team owners in that league. And so, the way that I stay on top of baseball is to track the performance of players from all teams because that affects our teams this year and it affects our planning

for our teams next year because it is a player retention league and it goes year over year. Now this is the same league that Stu Stone is in. Correct. That's a force mention. I'm going to document this when Stu's over here. Stu and his co-general manager Ryan Pasternak and I just made a trade a few nights ago. So to be competitive in this, and are you allowed to speak to the controversy or no?

Like we'd had a chat before I pressed record. Well, I'll speak to the controversy, but I won't name names. You don't have to name names. So tell us the answer. Well, okay, so- And then I'll come back to my point here. So it's just a really difficult thing for a listener

is like, what the hell are these two idiots talking about? But the best- I've never worried about that in the past. The best team in the league by record right now we're at the trade deadline so we play 78 games the trade deadline is after your 51st game so you play 26 three game series through the year one series per week you have 13 opponents in a 14-team league, so you play one series at home and one series on the road against each team in the league, 26 times 3, 78 games. So we're

all approaching or at the end of our 51st game, so 17 weeks into the season, so we're at the trade deadline. And the team currently with the best record in the league Just traded the league's best player Aaron judge to the team that has clearly had the most success through our four plus year history and to the owner of said team who is easily the most adept at this game because he has the most experience with this game and so

it caused some rankled feelings and certainly made my final days drive of the three-day drive from Halifax to Toronto interesting as the league was all worked up about this trade and and it was centered around the fact that how does the best team in the league trade the best player in the middle reason that this player was traded erin judge was traded is because his contract is expiring and he will be up in our offseason auction for bidding so the

theory in the mind of the seller was I've got to get value for Aaron Judge while I can because I'm losing him anyway. Most of us look at it and say you're the best team with the best player and you're subtracting him what are you doing? So there was a lot of what's going on with that. Now I respect your decision not to name names, and even though I know these names, I will not say these names, but can you tell us, are these known people, like are these famous people?

Yes. So, the seller and the buyer of Air and Judge are names the average listener of Toronto Mike will be familiar with. Yes, they are from different walks of public life, but they would be names that you A, would either know or B, if you didn't, you could do a quick Google search and they would have a better SEO than me. And if you, it's worth noting, if you email, email transfer $100 to Mike at Toronto Mike dot com, I will cough up both names.

Okay. All right. I'm going to cut you in on this deal. You're going to get 10% of all money that comes in through me, feeling like a pig here. Funnel it straight to Google to improve my SEO. Oh, Google's had enough of our money. Now that I know what one of those things are. By the way, Ken Daniels, that's the name I want to credit for sending me this Shoppers Drug Mart Blue Jays calendar from 1986, which I love because it did hang on my wall in 1986. I did love, like you, I love these Shoppers Drug Mart

Blue Jays calendars back when I cared the most about baseball. And long time fan 1430 fans, fan early days of fan 590 fans, know Ken Daniels well, and obviously has gone on to have a great career, right? Detroit Red Wings. Still, yeah, still calling games for the Detroit Red Wings. And he's a sweetheart, Ken Daniels, and he's been down here and he's hopefully listening right now.

So hello to FOTM Ken Daniels. Okay. So I, we're still walking through. So one quote I had when you were talking about how you didn't care about hockey anymore. Let me get this right, Scottie Mack. You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey. I never saw someone say that before.

Just a quote that jumped into my mind. Do you know what that quote is from? Do you recognize that quote? I'll say it again. Maybe, we'll see it again. Is this a movie? No. Oh, you don't hit me with the pop culture, Mike.

Well, I am hitting you. And if you don't know, that's fine. You're only, you can only be Scotty Mac, but I'm going to say it one more time. You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey. I never saw someone say that before. I have no idea. That means that. So that tells me it's revealing a lot about you to me and no shame in this game, but that's

a very famous lyric from a very famous tragically hip song called Fireworks. So you're not a tragically hip. I'm a hip. I obviously love and respect the tragically hip. I have sat on a dock on Pigeon Lake and listened to Bob Cajun and done the whole Canadiana thing. But I can guarantee you this, Mike. I do like music, but you will never have me in your basement to kick out the jams. What kind of music do you like? Because I will sit there and nod. But when you say you, I like music, so is it just that you like it when it's playing but

you don't ever seek out a specific... Right so but I'm also one of the crazies who will play a song on loop for weeks if it hits me. Sure. And it can be anything, anything. It can be be anything. Anything. It can be killing in the name of by rage against the machine. Love it. Right? It can be angry like that. Can it be Informer by Snow? Yes. Or Everybody Wants to Be Like You. That's a great song too. Right? So, because I hear you talking about the snowman all the time, so I threw Everybody Wants to Be Like You into my Spotify after i heard you talking about him and i i know he's a buddy of yours and doing some stuff i were texting yesterday i'm hanging with the snowman scotty mac maple leaves baseball and all that so i was i was in that and it's funny because that song takes me back to a particular time in the very same way

that killing in the name of by rage against the machine does and uh... i mean i'll listen to the beetles all listen to chicago I'll listen to The Beatles, I'll listen to Chicago, I will listen to REO Speedwagon, I will listen to Cypress Hill, I will but I but if you if you say to me like what's your favorite type of music or what's your favorite song I'll just sit here and drool like I'm waiting to eat a slice of pome pasta lasagna. And I'm willing to bet as a Canadian human being living in this world in the 20s. 50 Mission Cap, like I don't want people thinking I

don't know who Gord Downey is, right? Or some of the big tragically hit songs. 50 Mission Cap about Bill Barulko, quick fact dropped on the show recently which I have to follow up with the person being mentioned but apparently Steve Paikin is gonna Recreate the trip that Bill Barilko took when Bill Barilko disappeared that summer and Like this is happening So I just want to throw it out into the universe that apparently is that there's a Bill Barilko thing happening and Steve Paikin is Very involved. I just learned about this the other day.

And don't forget from our last visit a month ago, Mike, Steve Pagan has to do a Macho Man impression next time he's in the basement with you. Oh my God, I did forget because okay, because we just did his exit interview. He left the agenda and but he'll be back and I'll absolutely remember to get him to do a Macho Man impression. What are the odds he does one? Zero? He looks at you and says, I don't know who this MacArthur guy is and why he's suggesting

that I should and you're gonna have to explain that it's a joke from when I was on Zoom. Because I think I was on the day after Steve a month ago, if I'm not mistaken. Well that would make sense because early June was his exit interview. Yeah it came up in conversation because you said can you do a Macho Man Randy Savage impersonation, but it was somehow, it opened the door for me to pretend I was confused and suggest that you wanted Steve Bacon to do it. See, we're good together. Have you considered, forget Richard Griffin, have you considered a podcast with me? I feel like we're good. We could do it, Scotty Mac on sports, no not sports, Scotty Mac on anything

but sports. Actually, wait until the microphones go off a little later, Mike, and then I start talking business with you. Okay. So I do want to walk through this sports thing with you. So you didn't get, so I understand hockey's out. You had to, for work purposes, you had to follow it. I did watch the Leafs Panthers game seven, which I mentioned to you a month ago. So you'll be drawn into like high stakes. Uh, well I wanted to see if they were anything different than what they had been. And of course the answer was no, no, no. And that draws in casual fans if it's a game seven, but Mike,

I wasn't angry about it. Right. You don't have it. I watched with a mixture of amusement and be amusement. Right. And I was just like, Oh, okay. All right. Okay. So, so we've covered Leafs, we've covered Raptors. I know you're a big NFL fan, but have you ever had any love in your heart for the CFL? I mean, love in my heart, like, um, I don't dislike it. I, I, Doug Flutie, I, I, I'm an Argos fan. If you are saying, what would your favorite team be? I also have sort of a small part in my heart for both the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers, because my dad's parents grew up in Winnipeg and the Saskatchewan Rough Riders because my mom's parents were born and raised in Regina and I know that it is a conflict of interest to hold affinity for both the Blue Bombers and the Rough Riders given their rivalry but here we are. I am the product a generation later of Prairie grandparents. So I kind of like those teams. But I'm an Argos fan and I enjoy when they beat the Tiger Cats. Oh, Pekin's going to hate hearing that. Oskiwewe.

Okay. What about Toronto FC, TFC? Have you ever had any interest in MLS? Got into them. One of my brother's best friends, no longer, but one of my, well, they're still very good friends, but one of my brother's best friends at the time, no longer now, worked for MLSC and did a lot with the soccer team. And so in the exciting run of late 2017, and then the subsequent, and here I'm going to sound like a complete moron, but was it was a CONCACAF Champions League or it was whatever whatever it was that followed in the spring of 2018 or winter and spring of 2018 off the MLS Cup in 2017. I played a lot of big games and was quite into it there.

Really enjoyed the experience at BMO Field, but no, I would be offending die-hard Toronto FC fans if I appropriated their team and suggested that I was a huge fan. So that brings us, and again, I'm just really naming the big, the big league teams that Rogers now controls with their 75% stake in MLSE. Prior to that, again, prior to buying out Bell, they already own this team, but I want to focus a little bit on this team. Tell me what happened to you and the Toronto Blue Jays, like just in great detail, because I know that was the one Toronto team that you seem to truly care about and have some investment

in. Yeah. So the Blue Jays have a hugely important history personally for me. I come from a baseball loving family. My grandparents loved baseball. My dad's parents lived north of Oakville when I was growing up and they would go to Dominion to get their groceries and they would buy the $2 bleacher tickets for $1. And they would take us little ones in on the go train to the exhibition stop.

And we'd wander over to exhibition stadium and sit in the bleachers under the overhang of the grandstand and watch games. I have great memories of that. I went to exhibition stadium with my parents, friends came along at times. And my dad, Jamie, in 1987, so about two years before the opening of Sky Dome was hired as Sky Dome's or the Stadium Corporation of Ontario's CFO. And so I remember the first two Christmas parties for employees and their families in 1987 and 1988 being all bundled up on the floor, the playing surface now of Sky Dome. And we were, of course there was no roof yet. Everything was under construction. So I have very early memories of that. And I was in the building

for both World Series Championships, watching on the big screen in 92, and then at the Carter home run game in 93. So when I grew up and ended up covering the Blue Jays, my grandparents on my dad's side were gone by that point. My mom's mom had passed away by then too. And sadly, my mom's father with whom I was very close as well was alive at the time but deeply into dementia so couldn't extract the joy out of watching his grandson cover the Blue Jays that he otherwise would have and he's now since passed. But when I would walk into Sky Dome or Roger's Center every single day to cover the Blue Jays I would always have a moment where I would be on

the field probably be batting practice somewhere around the Blue Jays dugout would always have a moment where I would be on the field, probably be batting practice somewhere around the Blue Jays dugout, and I would just take a quick look around the stadium and I could feel the ghosts of family come and gone and remember the memories of the early 90s and the heyday of the Blue Jays and the two World Series championships and just all the fun that we had celebrating those. Days up at my dad's parents' cottage on Georgian Bay, up Bayfield Inlet, Point of Barrel, and my aunt Heather with her Sony, that TV, the Sony, was it the Walkman? Was it the Sony? was it the Walkman you was it the watch not the watchman yeah the Walkman of course was yeah yeah it was the watchman had the little TV yeah so you'd pull the antenna up and if the game and if the game

wasn't on cable if it was not on the CFTO it was on CTV right we'd watch it and it bit the squiggly lines and we'd be hearing. I'm getting such a like a pangs of nostalgia. Yeah, like Don, Don Chevrier and so we'd, and the Blue Jays and we're up at the cottage and you had to take a small little fishing boat to get from the dock where you parked your car to my grandparents cottage. Like it wasn't on land, it was on a couple of rocks in the in

Bayfield Inlet like we had no access to newspapers or anything else while we were there so that was our way of keeping up with the Blue Jays in summer and all they're a game up on whoever they're a game back a first play and of course you had to win your division back then to make the play you're watching that magic number we were we were all into it and so I have a ton of great memories. What has happened and I think I explained earlier, not really realizing it until recently, is that this sim league that I'm in that Mike Willner runs has taken up a lot of my energy when it comes to baseball because I have always, I'm like everybody else, Mike. I remember I'd play RBI baseball and then I ended up with a Sega Genesis and I played a couple of the Sega baseball games

and you get good enough at them that pretty quickly you're winning the games 30 to 1. And I actually wanted to stop playing and build the team and then let the computer simulate the game as I managed it. And so now as an adult with 13 other people as crazy as me, we are effectively the general's manager or the general managers of our teams. And so I think that that fills up a lot of my baseball bandwidth where I've sort of pulled away from watching games. And the other thing too is I can just pull up Instagram

and, and get a sense of how the game went in two minutes. Oh, Beau Bichette hit a game winning walk off home run. I just watched the highlight, you know, like, so I, so I still know what's going on. And, and maybe in some ways I have a, so I still know what's going on. And, and maybe in some ways I have a better breadth of knowledge of what's going on because I stay on top of the players league wide as I try to build my nerdy sim league team for the future, but I am less invested in the blue Jays and less invested in spending two and a half hours every evening sitting on my couch when I live in

Nova Scotia with a bunch of other things to do watching a game. But you still care, like you still root for the Blue Jays? I want them to do well because it matters to a lot of people I love and and and I'm from here and I think it's so much fun when, uh, that stadium is full and, and, and it's a destination point to start your Friday night before you stumble on out to King Street West to, to, to continue on your evening in the middle of summer. I think that's what it became in 2015 and 2016. It'd be great to go back to that. So I, I well, but I don't anticipate spending a cent of my own money in that stadium or on them now or into the future. Robert Leonard

But Scotty Mack, the Blue Jays, as we speak, you mentioned it earlier, but they did lose last night. They lost yesterday, but they were on a 10-game winning streak before that they're in first place They're surprising a lot of people a lot of people very excited about the current blue j team liking them again All the praise is gonna go to Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins like like they're gonna get praised for this Team that people are enjoying and I don't know what will happen the playoffs. Obviously. I don't have a crystal ball But is there no part of you that roots against this team because you don't want that administration to have to be lauded and praised?

I don't have enough energy in my life to wish ill on people I don't like. Well, you're not wishing them to be hurt. Like you don't want them to break an ankle or anything. But just- No, it's just- You're a better man than I am, Scotty. Well, it's just more like good for you. And if this gets them both brand new five-year contracts from that extremely ambitious owner who just cut Masai Ujiri because Masai Ujiri who

is better than the owner of the team will ever be, better human, smarter human, more accomplished human, wasn't born standing on home plate thinking that he himself was responsible for rounding the bases after he hit a 400-foot home run to right field. You know, Masai Ujiri who does a lot of things for the community, who does a lot of things for the global community, who's brought the only professional sports championship outside of the CFL. I don't want to piss Mike Hogan off. And outside of TFC. Yeah, TFC 27. Okay, so now I should probably shut up on that.

But of the so-called big three, we can't say big four because there's no NFL team in Toronto. No, we have a big three in Toronto. In big three, the only big three championship. But we can't keep them around because why would we do that when we don't want to pay for excellence,, we can strip things down to bare bones and, and, and cut costs here, put the company into massive debt to buy out Bell's shares or controlling interest in, in MOC and do all that great good stuff. Cubs fan and have been since 1986 when I was seven years old, but I find Tom Ricketts, the owner of the Cubs and in the Ricketts family as a whole, and they're very heavily involved in Republican politics in the United States, I believe Tom Ricketts, the Cubs controlling owner, has a brother who was a governor of, I want to say it was Indiana, it was one of those red states.

I find him and his family to be odious. And so, you know, I'm thrilled that Kyle Tucker is a cub, and I'm thrilled that they're having a pretty good season. And I will be interested down the stretch drive to at least follow them, but I just will not, not because I'm put off by these people, but because I just, where I'm at in my life, Mike, I'm interested in different things now. I'm just not going to spend two and a half, three hours every night sitting on the couch watching a baseball game when I, you know, when I could be doing other stuff. I agree with you. I'm curious when it's playoff time and there's a Blue Jays playoff game, will you be at a sports bar or somewhere where you can watch that game?

Well, I'm guessing because if they make the playoffs, cue the cranky, why aren't we playing at noon? Why are we playing at noon as if it's never happened before? And as if it doesn't make sense when you think about who decides the schedule and why. And as if the reason has never been explained a billion times. It doesn't mean you have to like the reason, but that is the reason and it's not going to change. So my answer is unlikely because the first semester of second year or the third semester of my college program, the final three or four weeks, so mid-November to the Christmas break is spent on practicum in a work environment. And so they jam four months of educational content into two, two and a half months from the day after Labor Day to mid-November. So I'm thinking classes

and school days will be long and drawn out through the week and I will be otherwise occupied. Okay, but if you didn't have school in the way... Oh, hypotheticals! Okay, so if I was just L Bundy with my hand slipped halfway down into my... Yeah, Peg. Oh, yeah. You're a peg. Oh, peg. You know, whenever I want to do a parody of that show, which I watched a lot of, Married of Children, I just, I can't stop thinking about the Simpsons parody

of Married of Children with, oh, Peg, like, what do you mean, is he flushed the toilet beside the couch? Do you remember this? He goes, and Peg's saying, let's have sex, Al. Oh, Peg. Do you remember this? He goes, and Peg saying, let's have sex, Al. Oh, Peg.

I, I, I, Married with Children would not be on TV today, right? I don't know. I think it would, it would exist as a streaming show on. I hope, okay. I hope it would because it is, I have, I follow an Instagram, I think it's Al Bundy clips or something. And so it'll just, it'll pop up on my feed and I'll watch it. And it's like I'm 11 years old and seeing it all over again for the first time. There is a crossover with your WWF and I remember King Kong Bundee on the show.

And he was like a cousin, right? Because his last name was Bundee or something. Right. So there you go, Married of Children. And I know that's one of those shows where, when it was released on DVD, they didn't want to pay to license Frank Sinatra's Love and Marriage. Right. Okay. So they had a sound-alike copy. So imagine, imagine you're sitting down with your DVDs. We have to go back in time to like when DVDs mattered, but imagine you're sitting down to watch Married of Children and you hear a different theme song when that fountain goes up, right? The first scene, I guess, is the fountain going up and then you're loving marriage and you're

hearing some bullshit sound like clone, which is not even the song love marriage. Anyway, I dig. But it actually adds to the because the Bundys were just so pathetic. Right? So it actually, I think it adds to the personality of the show, but it's not the chairman of the board. Right? Right. Okay. The fifth and final mention. But you said, no, but I want to answer the question

you asked, which was if I, in a hypothetical scenario, where I didn't have class. I just want to know, is there any emotion, do you have any emotion for this Blue Jays team? I would watch, I would probably watch a playoff game, yeah. Because the stakes are high enough to draw you in. Sure, but I would not be yelling and screaming at the TV and dying with every pitch.

I would simply, similar to the Leafs Panthers game seven, I would be watching with interest to see how it played out, but I would not be. Fair enough, like I'm just. I reserve my energy for the San Francisco 49ers, Mike and my good friend, Uncle Sean E. Sean Levine, my former producer who lives in Nova Scotia now has actually suggested to me. And I think he means it.

That we should put a camera in my living room train and like a live and live stream me Like almost like I don't even know that the cameras on because I pace I scream I Yell I so I I still have that but I the 49 I just well and I just find the NFL is an easy Investment if you have a favorite team, it's three hours a week. If you, if you have a fantasy team and that's your thing, you can track players throughout a Sunday and then it's sort of incremental, Thursdays, Monday nights, the whole deal. I just find the NFL schedule is very manageable, very digestible, and it

doesn't require you to give up your life to stay locked in with and on your team. From 83 to 93, that's a solid decade. I think it was important to me, and I wanted to tune in to all 160, be it Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth, or if I was lucky enough, it was on TV, but it was important for me to follow my Blue Jays, who I loved, for 162 regular season games.

But now as I'm 51 now, this season's way too long. It's way too insignificant. Like even before this 2025 season, which I haven't peaked at any Blue Jay action at all in 2025 and I don't even feel like I miss it. I can't believe how many hours people pour in during summer hours too. Like to me it's different,

like I'm gonna watch my Raptors or my Leafs, my Leafs particularly because it's like a cold Tuesday, it's a cold winter night, like it's freezing outside, it's snowy, whatever. But these Jays games are playing in the summer. Who wants to sit in front of a TV for two and a half, three hours? But that's it.

So, and I think I told you when I was with you over Zoom a month ago, I love doing the Exit Philosophy podcast with Griff. I love the doing of the podcast. Griff is just a wonderful guy. But I knew that as I really resented sitting down on like a Saturday, late Saturday afternoon, everything's an hour later out there, right? So your 307 Saturday starts 407. And I'm not going to lie to people and say that I watched nine innings or more, depending on how it went, but nine innings of every game. You don't have to do that to stay plugged in, but you do need to have a sense of what's happened in games. And as I would sort of feel a resentment, I wanted to be doing other things.

And so I think that that's pretty telling. And I'm at a point in my life, Mike, and it's not just with sports, it really can be with anything where it's like, do I enjoy this? You know? Does it spark joy? Like the condo, do I enjoy this? You know, I, I like, Does it spark joy? Does it? The condo, what was her name? Everybody was talking about, does this spark joy? If it doesn't spark, this is where I'm at. So I think I'll be back for the playoffs.

I can't even commit to that right now. I just feel like I probably would watch a high stakes game and featuring the Toronto Blue Jays. I, I, at the start of June, I moved into a retrofitted former shipping crate. So, okay. Like season two of The Wire, I can see it. Yeah. So, they, they turn former shipping crates into small apartments. Wow. Okay. And I have a view of the water. So I have perpendicular sliding glass doors. So I slide both of them open, get the cross

breeze and from my couch, I can sit with a coffee and stare out at the water. And that's the way that I start my mornings. That, that, and somebody may listen to this and go, Jesus, you're boring as shit. and that's the way that I start my mornings. That, and somebody may listen to this and go, Jesus, you're boring as shit. Nothing can bother me in that moment. And those are the sorts of things that I take very simple pleasures in now, Mike. When I look back, I remember somebody asked me, it was probably a couple of years after I did the whole coming out thing publicly,

they said, man, you must feel like a thousand pounds was lifted off that's, and this person was not the only person to ask a question sort of around the, wow, did it just feel better right away? You must just feel so much lighter and happier. And my response to him and my response to others was that actually that's when the real work began. Um, because when you spend your entire batch of formative years creating a persona and creating a character that you think you need to be in order to survive or thrive, when you suddenly are authentic

and you have no secret to keep, which means all the time frees up suddenly because all the time you spent keeping the secret and managing your world such that the secret would be protected. What do I do with all that time? And so it can be very humbling to, it was actually, it was actually, it was more difficult, not, not sort of coming to peace with, with my sexuality, but coming to peace with the fact that I'm a deeply, deeply introverted person. Um, like I test off the charts for introversion, like wild.

Um, I'm a deeply sentimental and emotional person. And so you have to accept yourself for being gay. Like it's okay. No, no, no, I've done that. It's true for any individual about any part of yourself, accepting it. So if you're somebody who feels pressure to go out a lot because your partner's extroverted or your friends keep complaining that they don't see you enough, but you're this deeply introverted person, you need to reconcile and find the correct balance. You need to reconcile with yourself, like, I'm going to drown out here pretty quickly if I don't take the time for me that I need. I can't people please constantly. I can maybe set aside an evening or set aside a day and go do things

with people. If my partner is more extroverted, hey, you go out, I'll be here waiting at home. The only agreement we have is you come home to me, right? Like, but, but you go and have your fun and, and, and whatever you need to do socially and all that stuff. Like you, it, it's, it's, it's, it's being at peace with all parts of me. So if you had asked me a decade ago, Scott, would you be living in the Halifax area in a retrofitted retrofitted shipping crate, drinking a cup of coffee every morning and staring out at the waters of the

Bedford Basin and feeling completely and totally at ease in that environment, I would have said, what? But I live in Toronto, but I'm flying from one city to the next every third day covering the Blue Jays. But I have a radio hit at 11.45 in Vancouver and then a radio hit in Toronto at 1.15 and a radio hit in Montreal at 2.20 and then I have to get to the stadium and then I have to interview this player for that story and I should get a comment from

this coach who works with the infielders because my subject today is this particular infielder. Then I've got to go upstairs and write that story, fit some time in to get a media meal. The game's then going to start. I got to keep writing my story while watching the game. Oops, I just got a message from the TV people. I'm going on TV, sports center, after the game. Oh, and I just got a message from the Toronto radio station. I have a 7.45 in the morning hit tomorrow, even though I'm up for 17 hours right now because I flew from Tampa Bay to Minnesota. I gained an hour in the process, but my brain's still on Eastern time, so I'm going to have

to get up early tomorrow. I'm going to be exhausted. Now when I get up, should I have breakfast and then try to go to the gym because I do need to somehow stay in shape with this lifestyle because I don't want to completely and totally fall apart. Oh geez, I just got a text from the people in Winnipeg, they need me at 10 o'clock Eastern tomorrow morning on their radio station. Like that was my life.

You know? And so it is just so different now and I am so much more at ease, so much more at peace, so much happier, and I'm challenging myself in different ways with school and different things that I'm doing now. It's just like none of this shit matters to me anymore. It's part of my life. I'm glad I did it. I learned a lot, but it's over.

Well, to quote you about an hour ago, you wrote, this is all just, you wrote, you said, this is all just stupid. Like I took down a note, like sports, but that's, that's essentially sports. It's all just stupid. It's all just meant to be entertainment to, you know, keep you from thinking about all the crap going on in the real world. But when you think, yes. Okay. That's true. Right. It's the just meant to be entertainment to keep you from thinking about all the crap going on in the real world. But when you think, yes, okay, that's true, right? It's the toy department. It's the toy department. It doesn't matter. None of it matters. It's just fun.

But when I look back at, and I was far from perfect, so I'm not sitting here saying that I didn't have a hand in it, But when I look back at some of the interactions I was involved with, the sheer panic, the threats or the veiled threats, the seriousness with which it's all taken. Now, I'm not saying putting together a television show is easy and that everybody doesn't have to play their part. That's not what I'm saying. But when I look back at it, the fretting, the misery, and part of this is the fact that these goddamn corporations fire everybody and the people they keep end up with three responsibilities rather than the two they had and they previously had had one. And then they end up with more dumped in their lap and they didn't get a raise.

And so now they've got four responsibilities five responsibilities they're essentially doing this that the other thing so they're all stressed out and then they come at you probably a little more aggressively than a personality like mine can handle because I've already got 16 other things that I feel I'm responsible for and I'm a people pleaser at the time so I don't know who I should be responding to first because everybody who sends you something thinks their thing is the most important and they're not thinking about the fact that you might have fifteen other things that

you have to do and then it it it's just it like i'm getting myself worked up thinking about it it's almost like a ptsd trip that i'm on right now but i i look back on it and i learned so much about who i am what I want in this life, what I accept and tolerate in this life, and I walked away from all the parts that I do not accept and will not tolerate. Well, I don't want to trigger you in that PTSD, but I'm going to just ask you specifically

about the R word. OK, the R word in this context is Rogers because you worked when you worked the last two radio stations you worked at. One was owned by Rogers. That was five ninety and you were let go from that job. And then you got a job at 1010 host co-hosting of the rush. And that's a Bell owned station. And you quit that job and then you need to guys go back to the archive everybody.

I did that. I did that essentially to save my life. To save your life. And again, that's more about me than them. I want to be clear about that. You've always been very kind to Bell, but you've been less kind to Rogers. And I'm wondering, because now this is where I was going with the whole, again, I'm quoting you. I'm a number

of years into my new viewing following habits, but this cements those changes into permanency. So I wanted to kind of establish like what were the new habits and we walk through all the teams and it was very interesting to hear your thoughts on it all and where you're at with the Toronto Blue Jays, for example. But the fact that Rogers and Edward Rogers Jr. What do we call him? The third? I don't even know what the term is for the current Rogers guy. I know Ted Rogers is the guy with the statue. The son of the entrepreneur. So Edward Rogers, so what factor does Rogers, owning all these Toronto teams, play in your emotional investment in these teams, considering your personal experience with the big red machine, Rogers? Well, there's a broader societal issue.

I mean, again, we refer to sports as the toy department. But there's a broader societal issue, and it's not limited to Canada that I believe we're living in an era of corporate totalitarianism. Maybe we have been for far longer than I've recognized, but I don't believe it's healthy for big massive corporations to own own so much of what feels like everything. So that is not specific to your question, but it is an overarching issue that I have with our existence. Keep you and me yelling about whatever social issue, you know, Mike, the big matters of the day, right? Rhonda, who was born Brett, wants to run a 100 meter race in high school track and field three states over in a town you've never heard of and will never visit. And that's what matters here, right?

Not the fact that a company has its name on every stadium and what seemingly is every other street in this country right or in that country united states so so keep the keep the proletariat fighting so that the wealthy can accrue and further accrue further accrue so that's the general overarching issue i have with corporate totalitarianism. Some people would call it fascism. Specific to this, I was a very unhappy person for those three years. I blamed myself for it because I had heads up in advance and still chose to make the move. So that is my responsibility. That is 100% my responsibility. is my responsibility. That is 100% my responsibility. I had heard rumors and I... You know you're wrong though. It's not your responsibility. Like if somebody says,

oh, working for that company, they're going to treat you like shit. That's a bad culture, bad environment. And you go there and they do so, you're absolving them of the responsibility. It's not on you. I wouldn't say that I was treated like... I wasn't treated like shit. I just got absorbed into what it is and I am a I'm a truth-teller That doesn't mean that I'm always right but if you ask me my opinion, I

will give you my opinion. If If you ask me my opinion, I will give you my opinion. If you ask me my opinion and I give you my opinion and then you hold my opinion against me, I will consider you a liar because I thought that you wanted my opinion and now you're throwing it back in my face. And then I will tell you what I think of you and it probably won't go well for me, but at that point, I'm looking to get out." And I did. So it, you know… Well, they fired you.

Right. Right. So, and I can't get into the minutia of that, but all I'll say is that I don't have warm feelings. And it gets back to what I said earlier, which is as we get older, and I hope it's true for all of us, but as we get older and we start to understand ourselves individually better, if we are, and I understand that there is some good fortune that goes with this, it is not the case for everybody. Certain stressors, financial pressures, responsibilities to others, particularly dependents, all of that can come into play. But as we get older, what I hope for each of us is that we are able to take the time to better understand ourselves, so that we can become more authentic versions of ourselves, which means that even if it leads to a disagreement

or disagreements that may cost us a toxic relationship, that may cost us a job, you're being you. And that ultimately, whatever comes next will suit you better and you will land on your feet. I think a good chunk of misery in this life, Mike, is that a lot, and it is not a fault thing. So like, I don't want people to say, oh, it's not blame. I'm just talking about sort of my general perspective on this existence. And let's be honest, I mean, there are a lot of wonderful things about this existence. There are a lot of very trying things about this existence. And as far as we know, we only have one shot at this thing. If we are reincarnated, I don't remember my previous life.

So I can't sit here. Let's not bank on that. Right. So be yourself, pursue the things that you care about and cut out the types of people and the types of things that rob you of your joy. It's the old thing know, it's the old thing, the 87 year old is lying in 46 and I'm doing that. Thanks. Like I'm not crazy, even if I sound it, I'm just not caught up in the goddamn grind culture that this city lives off of. And I hear the panic in people's voices. A lot of people who think they're going broke tomorrow if they walked away from that job, that's keeping them up at night and making them cry and breaking them down and you ask them like, so do you own this home?

Well, I carry a mortgage, but I own more than half of it or three quarters of it. Okay. What's your salary? How much do you have in the bank? Oh, you're not going broke tomorrow. The misery ain't worth it. And that's why you quit your co-hosting gig at News Talk 1010. I did that. I had a breakdown.

Yeah. And again, we're not obviously- I have no problem talking about that. My experiences at Bell generally were positive. My experiences at Bell generally were positive. You know, TSN is very much sort of a family-oriented place. I think, you know, the one thing, I never go back, Mike, and say to myself what could have been because I'm in the right place for me right now, doing the right things for me, et cetera, et cetera. But I've sat with myself and asked, you know, if I had not left TSN at the end of 2018, would I still be in broadcasting?

It's possible. Now, but I am somebody who believes, not that there's necessarily a spirit guiding us or whatever, but I'm meant to be where I am now. And so the path that I took to get here was the path I was supposed to take. And so the decisions that I made, I made with the best intention and with the best information I could at the time. But would I still be doing this if I had stayed at TSN?

Because I have generally very good memories of my time there. I just, the 1010 thing, like I think I told you on the Zoom chat a month ago, when I got shit-canned by Rogers, I like totally pulled away from the industry and actually started applying to Ontario Community Colleges for social services work work and I'm now studying that in Nova Scotia back at school. But so the opportunity at 1010 comes up and I'm conflicted inside when those conversations are happening because I know that my head and my heart are saying move on, but I also know that I have a mortgage, that I live in an expensive city, and that the bills need to be paid. And also, I was still in the mentality that I think a lot of us are in, which is, well,

this is just what I do. And I'm being offered to come back and do it, albeit in a different genre, but I read newscasts on a Bell-owned radio station in Ottawa for 10 years in the 2000s. And it's a good gig in Toronto Radio because it's a big AM station and it's the afternoon drive. It's fantastic. All of that is all positive. What I should have been is more honest with myself at the time and taken the chances that I ended up taking because when the mind and the body start breaking down and saying,

we're not even giving you a choice now, pal, you keep doing this. This anxiety that's oncoming, like that started with me trying to catch my breath as I would walk to work for 40 minutes because I lived in the East End and worked at Richmond and John. I would walk to work and walk home every day and I would practice my breathing for God's sake. just get better as you get in tune. And it was hard because, you know, I'm entering a new genre in a city where I have plenty of sports contacts, but not necessarily a lot of political contacts or, or what have you. And it's still kind of COVID. So it's not like there are these soirees or these opportunities to go have a drink with, with somebody. Things were still pretty controlled at that time, or at least I

was making the decisions to play it on the safe side at that point. And so everything just started to break down. First it was the breathing and then it was the agitation and, you know, being almost being needy. I remember talking to a couple of people in the industry, not around our show, but in the industry, people who are close friends of mine, and I would just say to them, I'm like, I don't think I'm, I think I'm dumb. No, like I don't think I'm smart. I'm not a fit. But what I was identifying, Mike, isn't that I'm stupid. It's that I didn't feel like a fit. And I didn't feel like a fit because I wasn't a fit. It didn't mean I was incapable of doing the job, although, you know, the way that it played

out, I became mentally and physically incapable of doing anything for a while. It was that I wasn't a fit and that I had stopped pursuing where I am a fit or felt in my heart and mind I would be a fit when I foregoed the college admissions I was receiving to my applications to go back into radio and so right so when I again I get back to accepting the parts of yourself that push you toward authenticity. You know, I was the radio guy. I was the radio guy. But you know who the radio guy was, Mike?

The radio guy was the character. Now I won't argue the skill set. I'm thankful. You and I can have a conversation and sound like we're professionals here. Or you can. Pull up my end of the bargain, right? But so I emerged with skill, a wonderful skill set over two decades.

I emerged with wonderful friends that I made through my travels, both in Ottawa and Toronto. I can lay claim to knowing some pretty accomplished people. I still see some clips of certain people on YouTube and stuff, and I'm like, it's so fucking cool how great this guy or gal has become. Because we could all see it in the early days,

and now it's like, now it's there. Like Brian Hayes, for example, right? I remember driving in, first day of the radio station, April the 13th, 2011, and I heard all the shows and I remember, I didn't know Brian, I'd worked in Ottawa. I didn't really know much about his work. I think he did a lot of behind the scenes stuff at 640. He did some on air stuff in the later days of his 640 time, but I remember hearing him the first time and I'm like, that's the future of the station. And here we are, what, 12, 13 years later. His dad's a sweetheart too, station. Right? And here we are, what? 12, 13 years later.

His dad's a sweetheart too, as he's been over here. Yeah. And so I can celebrate those things, but I do it from afar now because I don't belong there anymore. And it's got nothing to do with whether I want to or don't want to or feel I should or feel I shouldn't. I just know at the core of my soul, I don't belong there anymore. And people will say to me, Mike, but you were so good at it. And I'm like, thank you for your kind

words. There's a difference between being good at something. And that is not my assessment. Somebody's telling me that. The difference between being good at something and belonging in that space. And I don't belong in that space anymore and I'm totally cool with it. I totally get all of that. And you're so easy to talk to. Keeping these two hours is a great challenge. But when you started that conversation, you talked about how people will think you're boring because you have your coffee and you're looking at the waterfront there. And I'm just here to tell you, that doesn't sound boring to me at all. That sounds amazing. And I'm just here to tell you, that's not, doesn't sound boring to me at all. Like that sounds amazing. And it sounds like you found happiness. Like you had the courage to kind of blow up your current life and identity. Like I'm Radio Guy in the biggest city in Canada. And

here I am on afternoon. You blew that up. And you found happiness. Radio Guy was, Radio Guy was the character that kept the secret and protected the secret. You know why? Because my job, especially when I was covering the J's, but in general, my job was something that all my friends, whenever I got to see them, wanted to talk about. Tell me what Jose Bautista is like. Right. Tell me what Mike Wilner is like.

Is he like the guy on J's talk? Right. I teased Wilner about that too. And he's like, well, what did you say to them? I said, I disappointed them and told them you're a good guy. And then I said, well, I'm not going to them? I said I Said I disappointed them and told told them you're a good guy And they were you know, and and and he's like, well, thank you

But but you know what's Jose about? He said what's Mike? Well, they're like, so I would end up I would end up Reconnecting with friends when we both had free time. They were busy with their lives too, getting married, starting families, busy at work. So we wouldn't see each other much, but when we would, they would ask me all about my job. And that would cover the me end of the conversation. So if we're talking about my job, what are we not talking about? Right. We're not talking about Scott MacArthur. Right.

And so when there was no more secret to protect, right. I'm looking around and I'm going, uh, I don't think this is me. You don't need to wear that mask anymore. Well, well, yeah, but it's also when I talk about learning about yourself and accepting things about yourself, I just assumed, okay, I'm going to be big gay broadcaster dude. No, like just add gay in there and I'll just Work for 25 more years and retire like everybody else does but I realized oh my god Because my entire young adulthood my adolescence and young adulthood was built

you know, I built this like guy that I felt I needed to be and Then when I didn't need to be that guy anymore, it stunned me, worried me, and surprised me for a while that the career was part of what needed to go. And I didn't realize it until I had the breakdown. Fascinating Scott MacArthur. I'm gonna put a bow on this segment because again we'll probably revisit this in a future visit because I find it all very interesting, the whole psychology of it all. And you explained it so well.

But if, just a question I'm asking now, which is, would you have the same feelings about the 2025 Blue Jays? Let's go back to the Blue Jays. Yeah, I have to put a bow on this. If the Blue Jays were owned by Bell, if 75% of the, no, the 100%, I forgot we're talking about Blue Jays. If 100% of the Blue Jays were owned by Bell, would you have the exact same feelings today about the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays? Can't say that my viewing habits would be much different. Can say with, cause I haven't thought about this, can say that I would be less hawkish about my feelings.

Yeah, but I can't say that I would be sitting there watching a lot of baseball. But yeah, I would, I think I can't say to what extent, but I would feel more positively. What if I told you there was a? compelling entertaining Baseball team in this city that's not owned by Rogers. Would you believe me? Absolutely, I would and Whether it was you or Larry, milson telling me about it

where so as so I still Larry and I every now and then, will DM on Messenger. So, so Gibby, so the writers would always go into Gibby's office every day pregame, right? Three and a half hours, three hours before the game and just shoot the breeze with the manager, sort of get the injury updates and the whatever else is going on with the team, get some storylines and blah, blah, blah, ask their questions. And I would always tease Gibby about this whenever, because Gibby is a little right of center and Larry's a little left of center, right? So I could always tell when Gibby was getting tired of the baseball banter because he'd turn around and make a statement that he knew would get Larry going.

But he called Larry, LAR! So whenever I see Larry or even when I DM him in messenger, it's L-A-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R- I'd sit with you and where lair who lives right nearby loves coming out He takes some great photos to of these Toronto Maple Leafs baseball games at Christie Pitts. It's just fantastic I mean, it's great baseball. You don't have to buy a ticket. Nobody's gouging you to be there You can just go there for free Sit on the hill at Christie Pitts grab a hot dog grab a leafs lager You can you mentioned in the well, I wasn't, it was the Macho Man from Beyond the Grave, shut out to Ridley Funeral Home, but you don't have to worry about breaking any, breaking the law, breaking the law. You can drink that beer at Christie Pitts. It's completely legal. Take in a blue, sorry, don't take in a Blue Jays game. They're taking a Leafs game. I do have a

book for you, Scotty Mack, on the history of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. Rob Butler, Rich Butler, all the histories in there. Fascinating. Well, and I just randomly opened to a page and I see Rob Butler's and Paul Spalgerich's names. Oh, still buddies. Which is fantastic. Yeah.

Couple old Blue Jays. Well, you're gonna love it. This will be great. I'm gonna look through it and I know my folks will be interested in this too. Oh, amazing. And heck, I could give them their own copy. I have a... What is this a tape measure? That's a tape measure that is courtesy of

Ridley Funeral Home. Does this measure my casket? You can measure your casket, you can measure the length of your hair. Like is it growing today? You've got great hair, you know? Yeah. I love the hair. I wonder if you got a haircut, would you still have this power? I can feel the presence. I can feel the power in this basement here. Would you be as strong if you cut that hair? How about this, Mike? I would bet reasonably good money that the next time I'm in your basement, you and I will be able to answer that question. the next time I'm in your basement, you and I will be able to answer that question. Wow, Buddhist, I said a Buddhist, a barber,

Pete King, I think. We're getting nearer, I think, I think, I'm not committing to anything, but I think, been thinking about it awhile, started to talk about it with people, I think we're getting nearer to the shearing, the great shearing. Wow, let me know know my phantom lung,

you might see it over there, that's Andy the barber's band and I've given exclusive hair cutting responsibility to Andy the barber on Lake Shore. Let me know if you want me to hook you up with him. Okay. He's not a sponsor, but I do want to welcome the Waterfront BIA

and we're talking on July 10th. July 12-13, that is Saturday and Sunday this coming weekend. Celebrate the Festival of India, Chariot Fest at Centre Island. So there's a big parade on Yonge Street. The Chariot Fest celebrations then move to Centre Island on Toronto Island there for the rest of this weekend coming up. It's open and free for all and it's something for everyone to do. There's a diverse mix of celebrations and fun. So check out the Festival of India Chariot Fest at Centre Island this weekend. Got it, Scotty Mac?

Love it. Quick hits because I'm trying to keep this at two hours because I have a bunch of stuff going on here. What do you have, like a life or something? I do have a life or something. What are you crazy? Do love talking to you though. What, by the way, we talked music earlier and I took a note to ask you if you ever bump into Ashley McKisick when you're hanging around Nova Scotia there, but he's probably on Cape

Breton. I haven't. I haven't yet. Well, my, but I will take a selfie with him. Have I ever take a selfie with them? Uh, I think you guys would hit it off, but I also, next time you have a long road trip, I really, I want you to listen to Ashley McKisick's Toronto Mic debut, which recorded in, I think it was in May.

Ashley McKisick on Toronto Mic was bananas. You got to hear it. So just tell me next time you have a road trip, you're going to listen. Well, I'm driving back in early August, so I'll do it. Ashley McKisick. And I got to listen to the Brunt and others Dave Steve episode. Well, let me ask you about that real quickly here since you brought it up here. We're doing some mop up here. But yes, I just recorded with the two gentlemen behind the social media account

today in Blue Jay's history. Have you ever seen this account on, well, it was on Twitter, it's still on X, but I don't go there anymore, but it's on Blue Sky. Do you know what I'm talking about today in Blue Jays history? I remember it, uh, before I shut down, uh, my X my, yes, but my account with the, um, cyber truck owners company, but I, uh, yeah. So, so, but I haven't followed them on blue sky. Maybe I will. I should check them out on blue sky.

They were in the basement and we had Steven Brunt joining us from Newfoundland. And we were talking about Dave Steebe and making the case for Dave Steebe to be in baseball's Hall of Fame. Do you, Scotty Mack think Dave Steebe belongs in Cooperstown? I'm the wrong guy to ask because I'm hugely biased. Dave Steebe was my mom's favorite pitcher. Dave Steebe is the answer to a question I've posed to others before. He's my answer to the question, if you could teleport

back in time to one day or one night and watch an athlete in their prime, who would you pick? an athlete in their prime, who would you pick? And I would pick Dave Steve. I would watch, I would ask and hope to be able to watch Dave Steve pitch a baseball game one more time in his prime. I adore Dave Steve. I adore everything about Dave Steve. I love the fact. I mean, you know, it probably wasn't best that he rolled his eyes at some teammates and would get frustrated, but, but he, but I always felt that he cared, right? That maybe he wanted to be perfect. It wasn't the best way to express it. Uh, always, um, showing up your teammates, but, but if it's coming from a play a good place, wanting to be the best, wanting

to win today, we've all got to pull our weight. And Dave Steebe did almost every time he was out there, the back-to-back, one hitters in September of 88 where he took the no hitters into the ninth, the perfect game for 26 outs on August the 4th, 1989 against the, against the New York Yankees, damn you, Roberto Kelly. So like, I, I remember all this and driving back from a baseball tournament I was in in Sarnia and listening to Tom and Jerry on September the 2nd, 1990, as Dave Steve got his no hitter in that 80,000 seat Cleveland

stadium that had about 8,000 people in the seats that day, but he got it. He got it done. Special, special pitcher. I love watching highlights of him. That's slider and just watching hitters flail. I'd put him in, but I'm the wrong guy to ask because I am beyond biased in my love for Dave. You're checking your bias at the gates here. And I have the same bias, but if you ask people with less bias at the time, they valued wins in, in hardware, like how many Cy Young awards, how many wins and Dave Steve never won 20 games in a season. No, he didn't. And he never want to say, he never came close really to winning.

You know what? I forgot Mike. And I know it was a different era of baseball so a little different we always have to put that in context. I was surprised when I went to his baseball reference page recently and realized how few strikeouts he had per nine innings. He wasn't a strikeout. No, no. He had that wipeout slider but he didn't strike. You think with a pitch like that he'd be a K per inning guy, but he wasn't.

Hey, I'm gonna take you back. Let's close your eyes maybe, Scotty Mack, close your eyes and listen to this. One ball, one strike to Brown. The pitch is swing and a fly ball right field. Junior Felix is there. He's done it. He's done it.

Dave Steeve has his no hitter. Dave Steeve has his no hitter, finally Steve has his no hitter, finally! He has done it here in Cleveland. He is being mobbed by his teammates. Dave Steve has pitched the first no hitter in Blue Jays history. So you'll hear that and you'll hear the Don Chevere call, which I missed because I was working at the C&E.

I missed that call too. I actually got chills listening to that. You know, it was special times, great, great pitcher. And I remember the fly out to Junior Felix. I have no idea who Brown's first name is, the Cleveland, the pitch to Brown. He was a bench guy. Yeah. It must have been a bench guy.

But I do remember it was Junior Felix who caught the 27 to Brown. He was a bench guy. Yeah. It must have been a bench guy, but I do remember it was Junior Felix who caught the 27th out. I know Candy Maldonado was the second out in that inning and was struck out as a second out. Future world champion with the Blue Jays in 92, right? Absolutely, 100%. Candy Maldonado. And I believe he walked, Dave Steebe walked four batters in that game, so I don't even think he considered it one of his better games. But Murray Eldon, Candemo Donato. So Murray Eldon, who I've never met, but is still with us.

Okay, Murray Eldon is still alive. You gotta get him down. But I wanted to have, since I recorded episode one, I've wanted Murray Eldon on the phone. The names I remember the best. Okay, so I remember how he did Tony Fernandez. Tony Fernandez is like tattooed in my brain as one of the... Jesse Barfield. That one as well, Jesse Barfield. But these, you know, I always talk about the drive of

85 and how much I love that 85 Blue J team. But Murray Eldon saying these names, I just recently got, you know, I had off the top of this episode, I had Macho Man cut a ID for me. Well, just last month, I found myself at the Joe Carter Classic and got this. Hi, this is Ernie Witt. You're listening to Toronto Mike. So Ernie Witt cut a promo for me

and that was a pretty exciting moment for this fan. I remember the old Ernie chants at Exhibition Stadium. He'd come up in a big moment and the crowd would chant Ernie, Ernie. Absolutely. Oh my goodness. Buck Martinez was another good Murray Elden. The platoon, right? Oh yeah. Well, the best platoon was Brance Molyneux and Garth Orge. We grew up with this platoon. I got to say, it kind of warped my thoughts on Platoon because they seemed more normal to me growing up with Orge and Mullenix. And then you realize that it's not actually super common to have a complete sharing, whether it's a righty or a lefty pitching that day or whatever.

You don't get Platooning the way we had it with Garth and Rance. So much has changed, right? Because I just remember A-Rod. Now there was Cal Ripken before him, but Ripken wasn't like a 40 home run guy, but how A-Rod really changed the shortstop position. Because it used to be the- You didn't expect power from the shortstop. The elite athletes who could make all the plays in the field, the Ozzie Smith types, and they'd be slap hitters, or they'd take their walks, or whatever. But if they had two home runs when the season ended, it was like a banner year.

Right. I think Cal ruined that. I know A-Rod took it next level, but I feel like Cal Rifkin kind of blew that up. But just last thought here before we move on here to wrap up is that we talked about these heartbreaking moments with Dave Steeve, and you said you remember Roberto Clemente, almost said Roberto Clemente, shout out to Rayleigh Funeral Home, but Roberto Kelly and the Yankees won and all these things. But the one that if you watch it, your heart breaks all over again was that bad hop on Manny Lee. Oh, 87.

Yeah. The ball, it's a routine grounder. Yep. Right? That's the no-no for Dave Steve. And there's that lip on the field between, I guess where the dirt on the infield and then the, there's the no-no for Dave Steep. And there's that lip on the field between, I guess, where the dirt on the infield and then there's the lip. Literally, it hits that lip, and it just

takes off 20 feet in the air. Manny Lee doesn't have a chance to bring that down. Think of the luck required to lose a no-hitter that way. Well, yeah, and just the final week there in 87, where they lost seven in a row and that chopper certainly contributed to it, but it kind of had an other worldly feel like, okay, everything's out to get them now. But you're telling me,

cause Ernie Witt had gotten hurt and Bill Madlock had hard slid into Tony Fernandez at second base at exhibition stadium. Now think about this. There was like, Tony comes down on his elbow after the hard slide on this, like there was like a little bit of wood or something underneath the turf. Like he came down hard on his elbow. Yeah, there was something there. Yeah. Like- Shattered it. Like think about the fact that those players used to play on cement covered by

green carpet and that that was acceptable. Like the thing I always remember is that Jesse Barfield, Lloyd Mosby and George Bell each were out of the game by age 33 or 34. Like how, because they played the entire eighties on, on that, on that Turfett exhibition stadium. But that was heartbreaking. 87 is a killer and I think it took until 92 when they won the World Series

to truly feel like that had been exorcised. 100%, by the way, to this day, Scott MacArthur, whenever I have a blister, like, you know, whatever from a long walk or something, whatever. It's like, hey, look, Al Leiter. Yeah, and to this day, I have an Al Leiter like a blister to me is an L lighter. You said Jesse Barfield, and I realized how much I hated that trade at the time. And because of the blisters, I hated that trade for years. And then all of a sudden all blue Jays fans have this moment of

like, what a great trade that was. Well, yeah, I mean, cause lighter went on. What a great trade that was. Well, yeah, I mean, because lighter went on. My understanding, and it would probably take a Steve Simmons or, or somebody else who was around and, and who would have been talking to people at the time. But my understanding is that when L lighter left for Florida in free agency, after the 95 season, you know, Devon white had left. Roberto Alomar went to Baltimore. Like it was kind of the dismantling of, of the hayday team, but that there was some resentment held for Al lighter because they had stuck with him through all of the blister issues and all of that stuff. And he had a good year in 95 on a really bad team. That team had cratered, but he had a really good year and he parlayed that into good money

with Florida. Obviously ended up being traded to the Mets because he won the world series with the Marlins and then Wayne has angles like trade everybody. And Leiter went to the Mets and was in the subway series in 2000 and had a very nice career. But I think it was a bother to summon the Blue Jays higher ups that, uh, that all lighter chose not to stay in Toronto. Without a doubt.

Last question, Scotty Mack. And, uh, this won't be the last time we talk because I just love talking to Scott MacArthur. I don't care who knows it. I'm putting that on the public record. Okay. You're a sweetheart. Jill Deacon was my guest yesterday.

Jill got a great story by the way, uh, because Jill Deacon was my guest yesterday. Jill got a great story, by the way, because Jill Deacon had two bouts with breast cancer, had to take a medical leave of absence from her hosting job. She was doing afternoon drive when you were doing afternoon drive. She was on Here and Now on CBC Radio 1. And then she suffered from long

Covid. So for two years, she was it was the worst. She talks about it, but she made a decision kind of like you a lot like you now you need to listen to Jill Deacon. There's a lot of parallels actually. Hopefully you never have to, you know, battle cancer, but our long COVID, but she talks about a decision she made to walk away from hosting afternoon drives in Toronto and finding happiness and she gave it was a great conversation but Reshmi Nair used to fill in for her on Here and Now and when Reshmi was with uh CBC, Reshmi

Nair who was a great FOTM who was wonderful on this program. I don't know what you can say and I asked Jill this and she wasn't saying anything and she's a friend of Rashmi's, but Rashmi near was let go from 10 10, where you were working, you were co hosting the rush with her, the rush for rush me. And honestly, this is somebody I like as a person Rashmi near I think she's a fantastic broadcaster, but she has seemingly disappeared from the public realm when she left the 1010 airwaves. In that, I text her to see how she's doing. She doesn't reply.

That doesn't mean much. A lot of people don't reply to my texts. But is Reshme Nair okay? What happened there? It's been years now. What a strange Toronto mystery that she seemingly disappeared and she was in the public eye for so long. Yeah. I mean, all I can offer is the truth, which is that I don't know.

Um, I would also say that if I did know, which I don't, but if I did, whatever's going on is for her to share if and when she wants to do that. So it wouldn't be my place to share, even if I did know, but the truth of the matter is I don't. And a lot of that, Mike, is to do with the fact that when I left, I left. I pulled away from the industry. So I remember when you reached out to me

and you said, hey, you want to come on? I said, well, just so you know, like I'm not able to help you with any of the goings on or the scuttlebutt because I've pulled away. I maintain some close friendships with people who are still in the industry, but we are friends. And we talk about life and our interests and we share memes and articles and gripe about the state of the world and the country to ourself and all of that. So I really, I have no handle on it. I hope that she is well.

I hope that she is enjoying whatever it is she is doing and wherever it is she is at. And it is true. She's cool and a very good broadcaster. And I echo those sentiments. Rush me if you're out there, we just hope you're happy. That's all. We hope you're happy. Well, a couple of quick hits.

One is that if you are chatting with Stu Stone in your baseball league, you cannot have a reasonable discussion with Stu Stone about the baseball decisions made by Atkins. Stu Stone and Atkins are very close and I can tell you this and I say this again with the Jays actually playing interesting entertaining baseball doing very well right now but Atkins can do no wrong in the eyes of Stu Stone. Are you aware of this? I'm aware. And what's funny is, is that in our nerdy league group chat, Jay's stuff comes up because

there's a healthy Toronto or Canadian contingent in the league, lots of Americans too. So baseball stuff comes up and we'll say, especially last year when things weren't going well, we'd say, oh this or all that and he would always, before I knew about the friendship, I was always like, I remember a couple times I'm like, is Stu being serious? Because Stu's a comedian, he's funny guy, right? So, I mean, is he being serious or is he being funny? And if he's being serious, like, is he friends? Is he friends with Ross? Right. He's definitely friends with Ross. And I find out, of course, that he is.

Very good friends. Do you own a copy of Blowing Up, Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone's album? Do you own a copy of this? No. Okay. You got to check it out. The big song is Circle, Circle, Dot, Dot. And then there's another banger called Rollin' with Saget. Would Stu crush me if I pointed out that the photo of him on the front of the CD here that this wasn't made yesterday was it I'm not saying you've aged I'm not saying you've aged I'm just saying it wasn't yesterday was it

it was not just is fantastic I it's do I hope the trade we all had the other night makes your team in our nerdy league that suddenly Toronto Mike is involved in even though he doesn't have a team. He seems to hear about it from everybody. Remember, $100. I hope it makes your team better. I hope it makes your team better. $100.

Mike at torontomike.com. And I'll tell you the two people in that big trade with Aaron Judge there. That's all it takes. Scotty Mac, thanks for doing this, buddy. Always great to see you and maybe we'll do it again very, very soon. And that... Does that mean I'm going to visit you in Nova Scotia? Dude, the invites open.

Always. It's just, you gotta get yourself out there. Yeah, can I bike there? I guess that would take a couple of weeks. You would be insane, but you could. If I had that kind of time, uh, geez. Okay. These are all things I need to consider.

And that brings us to the end of our 1,728th show. Go to torontomic.com for all your Toronto Mic needs. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery, delicious fresh craft beer. FOTM's only drink Great Lakes, brewed right here in Southern Etobicoke. Palma Pasta. Jamie and Terry, they're going to get that Palma Pasta lasagna. I've got one in the freezer for you.

Unless I eat it on the drive home. It's going to break your teeth. Toronto's Waterfront BIA, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Building Toronto's Skyline and Ridley Funeral Home, See You All Tomorrow Night, which is Friday night. It's Toast with Bob Willett and the guy who co-wrote this song we're hearing right now, Romantic Traffic, Stu Stone, did I say that? I can't fix that in post. Rob Pruce, I have Stu in the brain this episode. Rob Pruce co-wrote this song. This is Don Pyle in Shadowy Men and a Shadowy Planet. I love kids in the hall. See you all tomorrow night for toast. Be there.