Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Sean Fitz-Gerald: Toronto Mike'd #333

Episode Date: May 8, 2018

Mike chats with The Athletic's Sean Fitz-Gerald about The Athletic and various Toronto sports topics before they play and discuss his favourite songs of all-time.

Welcome to episode 333 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know that 99.9% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? GLB. Brewed for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com. Toronto real estate done right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca.

And our newest sponsor, Camp Tournesol, the leading French summer camp provider in Ontario. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me is the athletics, Sean Fitzgerald. Welcome back, Fitzy. Glad to be back. Thanks for having me. I'm allowed to back, Fitzy. Glad to be back. Thanks for having me. I'm allowed to call you Fitzy. Absolutely. I feel, I got to admit, I got to tell you, online at least,

I don't know how it is in person. I'm meeting you for the second time. But digitally, I feel a kinship with you. You're a buddy. I have this soft spot for you. I think you're funny. You amuse me. I enjoy your insights. I think you're a buddy. I have this soft spot for you. I think you're funny. You amuse me. I enjoy your insights. I think you're a friend. Am I crossing any boundaries here?

This is lovely. I'm just going to sit back and listen. Keep going. Please don't stop. Oh, I say this to all the guests. Don't get too excited. It's worth the drive to Mimico, Mike. It's worth the drive, bud. Okay. We're going to start with that right away. I thought you might want to. Okay. Somebody on Twitter did KOROSH. How would you say that word?

I don't have it in front of me. I'm the visual learner. KOROSH. That's the first question for you. Mimico or New Toronto? Let's get this over with so it doesn't interfere with our delightful discussion. And we're going to kick out the jams later.

Absolutely. That's going to be fun. You do know you're in New Toronto. This is a bit you're doing. You know you found my weakness and you're jabbing at it. That's what guys do, buddies do. They bust chops. You know you're in New Toronto.

I have driven. I drove down the QEW, which looked like a parking lot this morning, but I'm assuming it was still the highway. I pulled off. I got a Tim Hortons and I saw a Mimico sign. And I'm still not convinced this is New Toronto. There's no New Toronto signage. There's no welcome to New Toronto. There's no like New Toronto Honda dealership.

I mean, we all know that we're in Mimico. And I appreciate that you, you know, for whatever reason, maybe a realtor had told you this. Or maybe you have some sort of stock that I don't know. But we're in Mimico, Mike. We're in Mimico, Mike. I think New Toronto has a PR problem. Maybe a branding issue that needs to be addressed.

Well, non-existent brands often do. Now, listen, everyone listening can just Google this. Sean, I can see that glint in his eye. He's a funny guy, but absolutely, he knows. He is in New Toronto. We have left Mimico.

By the way, speaking of Mimico, Mimico Native Biff Naked was on recently. Is she from Mimico? I didn't know that. She's from... She's got an interesting history. Born in India, then adopted by Americans, but then raised in Winnipeg, and then spends 30 years...

She's about our age. She spends 30 years in Vancouver and has just moved to Mimico super recently with her new husband Snake. Not the snake from Degrassi though. A different snake. This guy's name is Snake. Rock people have cool names like that. But yeah, she's in Mimico now. And when I asked you to come back on, because like I said, I like you for some reason. It's one of my other weaknesses. Because like I said, I like you.

For some reason, it's one of my other weaknesses. I thought, okay, I like Sean. Don't let Sean follow Biff Naked. Because I'm going to be blunt. Biff Naked is the best. She has a wonderful story. And some of the greatest songs to work out too I've ever had. In the gym and on my iPod list as we speak.

And you start every morning with, I love myself today. This is your affirmation. I'm not kidding. I'm going to be very sarcastic if I haven't been enough already. But that is legitimately one that I have every time I do leg day. Wow. Like leg day at the gym. And I'm not humble bragging because I clearly have missed a few

leg days the last couple months. Well, I'm checking out your legs, but you're wearing these jeans. I appreciate that. Yeah. But no, it's just a wonderful song. She's a wonderful musician. And I'm very intimidated that I have to follow. Well, you don't. I don't. I misread the preamble. Right. Well, yes. I'm a terrible communicator.

Why am I hosting a podcast? I like you so much I didn't want you to follow Biff Naked. So I decided you will follow Jay Onright. And then I listened back to the Jay Onright episode and it was tremendous. He was also amazing. So I've done you no favors.

No, it's not like he's a professional broadcaster who's worked abroad and has made many millions. I think they paid him $33 million a year. I think he made as much as Megyn Kelly. I have to double-check that. I didn't finish the New Yorker piece on him. He does have to share that with Dan, though. Yes, that's true.

Do you know in vaudeville in the 1920s that the straight man got 60% of the house take? No, but I love fun facts like that. I asked Dan. I had 20 questions with him for the Athletic not long ago if he was aware that the straight man in vaudeville acts that were seen as more valuable, I guess,

because it was tougher to keep that straight face and sort of tether the funny guy to the ground during these bits and he wasn't aware. In fact, he invited me to be his agent, so I'm not sure. I'm not sure that I'll be able to be continuing these podcast appearances when I launch my agency. Well, listen,

I'll match it, like whatever it takes. I do need to keep you going. I think you'd come for the beer, to be honest. 100%. Now, let's, so, okay, the athletics. So last time you were here was episode 211. You came with James Myrtle. I needed a chaperone, yeah.

Right, right. He cradled you like a baby. It was, it was very comforting. As you crossed, it was very sweet. You crossed the threshold because James had been here before and he was sort of carrying you over the threshold like newlyweds sort of. He carries me all the time. He carries me every day at work.

That's amazing. Must be exhausting for him. That's proof you've made it. Someone carries you around. But at the time, The Athletic had just launched, and you guys were talking about your new roles. So everyone who wants to go back and hear sort of like the Sean Fitzgerald bio, the ongoing history of Sean Fitzgerald.

And, you know, we even ask Sean, like, why does he? Fitzgerald should be one word, like a normal person, but it's Fitz-Gerald, just a mess. It's a hyphen. Is that a hyphen? It's a hyphen. I'm an English major. I forgot what that was called. It's a hyphen. And it's like, who are you? I know it's not you. You were born of this name, but who decided to be so difficult and to mess people up? So we talk about everything in episode 211. So everybody goes back and you can hear Myrtle and Fitzgerald talking about the athletic.

So I have a bunch of, my first question is, well, actually, since you introduced the Jay Onright interview, you're doing these media interviews with people like Jay Onright and Dan O'Toole. Was that inspired by Toronto Mike to the podcast? Mimico Mike, yeah, no. It was a big inspiration to me. No, 20 Questions is something that I stole years ago, more than a decade ago from the Montreal Gazette and the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, that they had this idea that you take somebody

that you know pretty well. And there's a couple of rules. One, you have to know the person who's being interviewed. But you have to know them in real life or just as a persona? No, no, no. Your audience. Whoever your audience is going to be has to know that person. So they have to be kind of famous on some level. Yeah.

And then it has to be done in person because you really need to try and convey the fact that the reader is also... You did the Dan one in person? Dan and Jay both. You were in the same physical space? Same physical space. You and Dan O'Toole? 100%.

Your eyes matched. This is not a FaceTime. I'm a little bit taller than Dan. But yeah, no, in his office. I met Jay at nine o'clock that night before a show. And then Dan came in at, I think, 930, 945 and had a conversation. So yeah, over the years, I mean, I've had 20 questions with P.K. Subban, Bill Daly, Karina LeBlanc, Haley Wickenheiser

and it's honestly one of my favorite things because I know that you do a lot of research for these and you really like to dig into the details my favorite thing is going in and finding a question that somebody's never been asked before and my gold standard for this was way back in the day Joe O'Connor, former colleague of mine at National Post who also did 20 questions and did them much better than I do, found out, and this is before it was sort of common knowledge, but Cassie Campbell, now Cassie Campbell Paschal, she's a descendant of Lucy Maud Montgomery and of Green Gables fame.

Wow, I did not know that. And Joe O'Connor somehow, this is 15, maybe 20 years ago now, found out and asked her about it. And she's probably back and it was it was great value for the readers because i mean i didn't know and it's an interesting thing about somebody that you know um and it shows them in a different light and it gets them to respond in a way that you haven't seen before no i'm with i'm so with you i do that same thing sean absolutely this is i love the uh like i love those things the 20 questions with these media people but have you considered recording these things?

And then you have a podcast that could be better than this one. And then all my listeners could flock over to the Fitzy cast. Have you considered this? I don't think people want to listen to my voice on a regular basis. They don't want to listen to mine either. But they are there for you, man. This is what you learn. It's not about you.

People are ignoring my voice to hear. In this case, they're hearing your voice, which means it's a lose-lose. But Jay Honright, Biff Nekin, people like this, Ralph Ben-Murgy, it's all about the guest, right? You're just there to extract these nuggets from the guest. I don't know why I'm promoting this. It sounds like I'd be introducing a great competitor in my domination of this space, you know, as the guy. But you're doing something great with these media personalities with the 20 questions. And I'm just letting you know, you've done the hard part, which is getting the guest in your presence to answer 20 questions.

You press record. You've got yourself a podcast. See, I'm not sure I can get all those folks out to East York. Here we are in beautiful Mimico, Ontario, and I live in East York. I'm going to edit this episode and replace Mr. Black. Mr. Black. New Toronto. Get them all the way out to the Great Plains of East York.

I don't know, but that is an interesting idea. And the other thing is they're so intermittent. If something interesting comes up or somebody's in the news or, frankly, if Karina LeBlanc's coming through town or Hayley Wickenheiser's coming through town. How come I don't know this name? The second time you said it I'm embarrassed. She was a goaltender who won bronze

with Canada at the 2012 Olympics. She's a long time teammate and friend of Christine Sinclair. She's going to one day dominate TV. She's already made a few steps to become a commentator and an analyst on television. She's going to one day dominate TV. She's already made a few steps to become a commentator and an analyst on television. She's a wonderfully smart, articulate, funny person.

Sometimes I'm slow on those types. Sometimes I'm late to the party, as they say. Totally fair. Because you did sandwich it between these big names, I know. And I'm like, Mike, you're going to be embarrassed on your own podcast. Fitzy's showing you up. Okay, you've got to represent New Toronto here and show Fitzy that you know your media personality.

That's the thing. It ends up because athletes are busy. And frankly, active athletes often aren't very good talkers for a number of obvious reasons that maybe we can get into later. But the last few have been media- but yeah i mean pk subban bill daly it doesn't have to be media people um it's funny i prefer i actually like it better as media people but maybe that's i have my own uh maybe it's not always true of course but i've yet to have not that they would come but i've never invited a i think i invited dalton pompey

i think dalton pompey is the only athlete I've ever invited on the podcast. And what did he say? Ever. He said, yeah, man, let's see if we can make it work. And then I never heard from him again. Died on the vine. Can you take the studio on the road down to Buffalo? Because maybe you can set up shop at the... Well, he's here

now. Is he down there? No, he's here. He's a Blue Jay now. Maybe I'm looking into the future, I'm educating you here. Maybe I'm looking into the future. It is a recent call-up, but he is back because they're on the road now. But I'm hoping when he plays at the Dome that we get his dad's great song, Summertime, Summertime, as his walk-up music. This is my agenda here.

You know, for you, if you're able to get recently retired guys, guys who are writing books and doing book tours, I think you could get some athletes in. But are they interesting? I've met Wendell Clark. I did a 20 questions with Doug Gilmore when he launched his book. Was he interesting or was it all very safe answers? Could I ask him the tough questions or

would I have to be safe? I mean, it depends what you'd say by tough. I mean, my interest in the Gilmore thing was based off some of the anecdotes in his book where he admits for some reason, he included in the book that this trip to Pittsburgh when he had a beer and then a big chicken parm and then rended his pants. He pooped himself. That's real talk.

It's real talk. It's real talk and it's hard-hitting journalism. But I was interested if maybe he forgot it was in there and left it in the editing process. But yeah, no,

in his book, Doug Gilmore talks openly about pooping himself. Well, of course, once they put it in a book, that's fair game for you. And you know what? I didn't win

a National Newspaper Award for that. Can you believe that? The judges overlooked it. But the headline was the real shit on Doug E.G. You know what? We might have has overlooked it but you the headline was the real shit on dougie g like that we might have gotten a poop reference in the head okay but i like the media personality like jay on right for otanel tool who by the way i have exciting news for listeners of this podcast

i heard from dan yesterday and he's going to come on Toronto Mike. No. Can you believe it? I couldn't get him this far southwest, but apparently, I think Jay helped facilitate this. Are you sending a car? Are you going to fly down to Billy Bishop and then get a boat, like a pontoon boat over here? I think you could kayak. I don't know if... I may get a two-man kayak, and I do all the rowing. That would be a wonderful... It did.

That would be a wonderful... Hold on. That would take quite some time. It does take a while I do all the rowing. That would be a wonderful. It did. Hold on. That would take quite some time. It does take a while, but it would be fantastic. That'd be fun. So my wife works at One Young Street, and that's right where the Captain John's was forever, which is now gone. But I always say-

The Toronto Star Building. Yes, of course. Of course. I forgot. Yes, that is the Toronto Star Building. Yes, One Young Street. And I always say it would be a great... I like kayaking, but from here, you go

down to the waterfront, throw in the kayak, and then go along the shore to One Young Street there. I could do that. That would be a great way to get there. What you should do. We can solve problems here. Out of Vancouver, Olympian, kayaker, kayak enthusiast,

still, I believe, has probably done that commute. I bet you. Yeah, he talks a lot about... You should get him down here. You're absolutely right, because he talks a lot about kayaking the Humber River. That's the other waterway I want to be kayaking is the Humber River,

because it's right there at the Mimico, actually. Did you know the border of Mimico is the Humber River? Did you know that? That's where Etobicoke ends and then Toronto begins. I did not know that. Look, I'm full of these facts. It's sort of like how New Toronto begins at First Street. That's sort of the dividing line there.

How did it just go straight from Mimico into Mississauga? You're even screwing over Long Branch. That's just literally the go-stop, isn't it? It's not a thing. That's actually bigger than New Toronto. Yeah. Long Branch is a thing, man. They got Woody's over there.

They got lots of stuff going on in Long Branch. Where's the Blue Goose? That's in Mimico, right? That's Mimico. Yeah, I think Dave Bolin's working there now. I know his brother was there, but yeah, that's in Mimico for sure. Absolutely.

Because you're on the other side of First Street. Okay, so that is great, the 20 questions. The Jay and Dan, I just wanted to bring that up because Jay was on this show and I did think that maybe I inspired something there, but you're saying no, it has nothing to do with this podcast. Nothing to do with what I'm doing here, talking

to people like Jay and Dan. I think it's tremendous. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Dan's a good guy. Dan's got some good stories. What's his height? Because I've met Jay and I have met a few times, a couple times and he is like a giraffe. What's Dan's got some good stories. What's his height? Because I've met Jay and I have met a few times, a couple times and he is like a giraffe. What's Dan's height

approximately? I don't need the exact. I'd say Dan could be 5'10". 5'9", 5'10"? He'll have to duck down here. I just need a warning like does Dan have to duck down here? Yeah, I think anybody would have to duck down here. Siobhan Morris from 1010 didn't have to do it here.

I have a jam for us. You're going to kick out the jams, but I'm just going to introduce a topic here with... Oh yeah, I forgot they had that cool intro to this song. I love this song. I love Alice in Chains. Are you playing Taps for me? Is this how we're signing off?

Is this called Taps or is this The Last Post? Or is that something else? Is this Last Post? What's Last Post? I thought this was Tabs. Maybe. Isn't it? Maybe. Like a remembrance day thing. Yeah. Why did I think it was called the last post?

What is this? What the hell are you doing to me? Stick with it. Stick with it. It's compelling broadcasting here. Hold on here. That's how Alice in Chains leads into Over Now. It's Over Now, which is a great Alice in Chains jam. And I'm playing it because I want to talk to you about my Toronto Raptors. At The Athletic, what do you cover?

Do you cover all? You're like a master of all trades. You don't just cover the Argos. You cover multiple Toronto teams, right? Yeah, I don't have a specialty. I'm not smart enough to have a specialty. At The Athletic, we have specialists, and I'm not being

sarcastic. I should probably... Yeah, like Eric Corrine is your Raptors guy. Corrine's the Raptors guy. Blake Murphy does Raptors. Sy Corrine's the Raptors guy. Blake Murphy does Raptors. Syrat Sohi does Raptors. We ran, you know, some freelance pieces. Holly McKenzie had a really neat piece not long ago. So we have those folks who do specials. And then on hockey,

you know, we have Tyler Dello who does advanced numbers that I am not smart enough to read all the way through sometimes. You have Siegel? We have Jonas Siegel. We have James Myrtle. So that's sort of part of the Toronto team. We have Justin Bourne

who does video breakdown and systems analysis. And then, yeah, occasionally I'll come in and write about feelings. Somebody's cat. Maybe there's a family relationship. You're the one who goes and talks to the Jay Onwrights

how they're inspired about something that happened years and years ago no I'm I'm again I have a short attention span and I follow

a bunch of different things a bunch of different I'm a narrative guy I like the stories of anybody so yeah Argos Leafs probably jump into

some Jays didn't get to any Raptors probably lost my chance now but yeah I know it's I'm interested in Virgos, Leafs, probably jump into some Jays. Didn't get to any Raptors. Probably lost my chance now. But yeah, I know. I'm interested in anything. Okay, so as a fan, at least, let's talk.

So I know you didn't cover the Raptors for The Athletic. By the way, remind everybody what The Athletic is. Most people listening know, but remind them what it is and how they can subscribe to this. Yeah, The Athletic, it's basically a sports section in a newspaper, except it's only online and we charge you the price of a Starbucks coffee every month. And with that, you get access to what is now, it's a continent-wide company that for the price of whatever it is, $4 or $5 a month, you can access all the Toronto writers,

but also Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Boston, Golden State, everywhere across Canada that has an NHL team. And you access it all through your desktop, through your mobile app. There's no hot takes. There's no video. But Eric Corrine invented the term hot take.

He did. He has been credited with inventing the term hot take, but we don't do... You don't let him do take, but we don't do the contrarian hot takes where we do something that's intellectually dishonest just to get you to rage click it. Oh, like Steve Simmons. Sorry, am I mic set? I like Si.

I like Steve as a person a lot, but I am not going to sit here on Mimico mic and defend his full body of work. You have to be careful, too, because him and Myrtle don't like each other. You know this. Do they not? Because there's some analytics fight they had where Steve Simmons denied analytics. Honestly, and again, I like Steve Simmons as a human being and as a person.

I have lost track of the fights and the feuds in Toronto media. My Excel spreadsheet crashed, so I've lost track of who's got beef with who. It's true. I just try and get along with everybody. Are you going to do 20 questions of Steve Simmons, or will he say no because it's The Athletic? He's a subscriber.

Yes, he is a subscriber. So I've had him on and I've asked. I ask people. Steve Simmons came down here. A couple times. I missed it. Yeah, a couple times. He kicked out the jams. Yeah, he kicked out the jams. This is only my second time now. You've had him down a couple times already. Yeah, well, he's a higher profile guy. Oh, I understand.

Gotcha. You're just a print guy. Come on. That's fair. I see him on TSN sometimes. That's true. I'm on TSN radio. Do I got half marks for that sometimes?

No, I want to see you on TSN TV. Like, you should be... Literally nobody wants to see me on TV, Mike. You know, there's a lot of ugly people on TV now. I'd be like... I'm like Rocky Dennis from Mask. No, don't say that. Don't say that.

Well, he has hair. That's true. You could go with the guy from Goonies. Oh, what was his name? He was a Fratelli. Was he a Fratelli? A Fratelli? Because I remember the band.

You know the band, the Fratellis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Didn't they name their band after this guy? Wasn't his name Fratelli? No. Fratelli has something to do with the Goonies. What is that guy's name? Anyway, that guy, the Goonies.

That's true. He had a tough time there, though, too. But that was a great movie. But anyway, this is all a very rambling, vaguely offensive way of saying that nobody wants to see me on TV. Well, I think you're a handsome guy. I don't know. I have a soft spot for you, though.

All right, so everybody should subscribe to The Athletic. And when you, I don't know if you have any interest. You said you don't listen to Steve Simmons on Toronto Mike. But I do have people like David Schultz, Damian Cox, Steve Simmons. They come to Toronto Mike, but I always ask them about The Athletic. I'm curious to know. And they all have kind of the same answer. In fact, did I take it?

Basically, they all have the same reaction, which is sort of like they subscribe. They hope it succeeds, but they think too much too soon. They don't think it could be sustainable because too much money invested too quickly. I think that's the consensus. And a lot of that could be inherent, not bitterness, maybe bitterness, jealousy, competitiveness, that they're sort of like pretending they're rooting for you,

but on the side, they're kind of a backhandedhanded they're kind of rooting against you because you're kind of your owner somebody shit all over newspapers as i recall and they remember that stuff or whatever so what you you don't listen to these uh hot takes on the athletic by these mainstream media people like schultz and uh in car oh i mean, my wife works at the Globe and Mail and she and Dave sit next to each other. Listen, like I grew up literally since grade six

wanting to be in newspapers. My father was a newspaper reporter. My great-grandfather was sports editor of the Toronto Telegram and had beef with Con Smythe going way back because one was a Protestant, one was a Catholic. The good old days. In that era of Toronto, they didn't like each other so much.

So I have newspapers in my blood. Like, I love newspapers. I still read newspapers. Newspapers, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Toronto Sun are all in their own ways, indispensable voices in the city. And we are spoiled to have four of them. I mean, there's probably a pretty good chance that if the Toronto Star didn't send me out the door,

I mean, who knows where I'd be today, right? But as it turns out, they decided, you know, it was a health issue. They were sick of me and sent me out the door. Well, they cut a lot of people. They did. It wasn't a shock. No, it was a layoff thing.

No, I love newspapers, but I also fully understand where these guys are coming from, that, you know, the skepticism. One, as a journalist, you're supposed to be a professional skeptic in a lot of ways. But two, nothing like this has been attempted. Not at this scale. Not with these guys from San Francisco, Adam and Alex, and what they've been able to do in such a short period of time.

But you've hired big, big names. These guys can't be cheap. I mean, I know you've got this investment capital or whatever. I mean, you know me. I'm working for a six pack of beer. Well, today you are. Today you are. It's never been tried before. So I think it's exciting. I think it's a lot of fun to be on this side where you get to experiment and you get to work with a lot of exciting, smart people that I otherwise wouldn't have gotten experience doing some of the things I'm getting

to do now. Learning and just sort of watching these guys conduct themselves. And they're very smart. And they're very quick. And they're very aggressive in terms of expansion and that sort of thing. And it's fun. It sounds like it's a Pollyanna thing. But it's just fun to watch.

It's fun to be a part of something that's trying to grow, that's trying to do something new. No, I can imagine. Like, you know, and I, like, unlike these mainstream, I'm not a mainstream media guy. I really root for the, sort of the digital enterprises,

the disruptors like yourself. Like, I think you've hired, like, I mean, Lot, for example, on baseball. Like, you've hired some great writers on their respective sports. Sanaya Saperji we hired. She was let go from Yahoo, and we hired her.

And within 10 months of joining full-time, she was nominated for a National Newspaper Award. And that's good, right? It's the Canadian Pulitzer. Wow. And the event was held over the weekend. She was one of three finalists. Steve Wiest from The Hamlet Spectator won,

but I mean, to be nominated for one of the three best pieces of journalism from sports, the athletics first year of eligibility, and it earned a nomination, and her work was spectacular. So to be part of that energy, to be part of that group, to work with people of that caliber, it's just, it's really fun. And to be somebody who's sort of mid-career, like I'm 15, 18 years in, it's really fun. To be somebody who's mid-career, I'm 15, 18 years in,

it's really energizing. God, that sounds like a marketing speak. It is. I'm sure that you read it. I was at the Post for 15 years. Bruce Arthur is probably one of my closest friends on the earth. He was the emcee at my wedding. We got to work together.

Tell that guy to come on and do Toronto Mike. Invite him on. I did. He said he had four kids. He was busy. I said, dude, I got four kids, too. Well, you should bring him over. You guys can start a four-on-four. You can start a daycare. A tiny daycare. But yeah, no, I love newspapers. I want all

four newspapers to succeed, and I want... I mean, God knows I don't want my children to be journalists, but I think Toronto's spoiled having four newspapers, and I hope that goes on forever, because I love reading them all. And I hope The Athletic goes on forever, so things are still going great.

Yeah, it's fun. I mean, the company has somebody at the World Chalky Championships in Europe. You know, Eric Corrine was just on the road. Which is, I mean, as we know, the Toronto Star stopped sending their reporters on the road. This was the cost cutting there. I mean, and that's...

They still traveled for the Blue Jays, or excuse me, the Leafs playoff run and the Raptors playoff run. Okay, was the cost cutting there. They still traveled for the Leafs playoff run and the Raptors playoff run. They did put people on, and I suspect because it is the Toronto Star, and if you're in Toronto, the Toronto Star is so important and vital, and we've seen that again

and again, and so has the Globe and so has the Post, but I suspect that that'll come back online sooner than later well travel i mean no uh i that's just a hunch i don't have any insider information you've got great great writers over there people should subscribe to the athletic but i was disappointed i will this is real talk i gotta tell you i was disappointed that my buddy david alter is no longer there because last time you were here he was there and he's gone there and i don't know if you have any insight as to what happened there but but I always thought he, uh, he, he's a,

for covering the leaves. I thought he did a great job and, uh, didn't last too long at the athletic. Yeah. I've known Dave for a long, long time. Um, God, that sounds like Mike Babcock. Real good. Real good. Heart along the wall. Bucks in deep. You know, who does a good Mike Babcock is, uh, Darren Dreger does a very good Mike Babcock impression. We did a story in early April where I had just attended a press conference. And just sitting there, it was a nothing, at least already locked up playoff spot. And I just sat there and I was listening to the press conference

and his accent. I'm like, where? I've been to Saskatoon. Honestly, when I went to Saskatoon, I'm like, this cashier doesn't sound like Mike Babcock. Yeah, what is this? So what I did was, and this is part of, this is, I mean, talking about being a generalist, this is the stuff I love doing is, like, I started calling linguists across Canada,

called the linguists at U of T, linguists at the University of Manitoba, and said, hey, here's a couple of clips of Mike Babcock speaking. Where does this come from? Right. And you dig a little bit deeper. And Mike Babcock was born in northern Ontario, moved to a town called Tungsten in Northwest Territories. And Tungsten was a town of 200 people

that was formed only because of the mine. And it's now a ghost town. And he moved to a place called Leaf Rapids, Manitoba, again built by the government just for the mine, before settling in Saskatoon when he was 12 or 13. So he grew up in places where there was no real strong regional accent because these folks came from all over to work in the mines. Sure.

And what the linguist said was, yeah, it sounds like a northern Ontario accent. It sounds like a prairie accent. But the really interesting thing was, they said this guy's lived in Montreal. He lived in London. He's lived in California, Detroit. It's completely reasonable to pick up traces of those regional accents, whether it be, you know, the Michigan, you know, the A, or maybe a bit of a, maybe a bit of a lilt working on the coast in California in Anaheim.

But they said was, yes, your accent is more or less formed by the time you're 12, but you can pick it up. What he shows, what he exhibits is, by not picking it up, that shows a real sense of self-confidence that you know where you're from, you know who you are, you don't need to, I guess, melt into whatever culture you're in because you're who you are and you don't need to change anything. Like mosaic versus melting pot. A hundred percent, but except for accents.

So they suggest a real strong sense of self and self-confidence within Mike Babcock because his accent has not changed since he left Leaf Rapids, Manitoba in 1970, whatever. No, and I think that stuff's interesting. And I'm sure the readers do too. I love that shit. So I'm glad you're not specializing in anything. Keep doing I think that stuff's interesting. And I'm sure the readers do too. I love that shit. So I'm glad you're not specializing in anything.

Keep doing this generalist stuff like that. That's the stuff I like. Keep doing that. It's fun. But don't forget to come back and finish up what you were saying about David Alter before I threw us on the tangent.

You were saying something and then we went off to... I introduced the Darren Dreger, Mike Babcock impression. But Dave, something... Dreger did an impression, not again to put us on another darren dreger mike babcock impression but dave something dragger did an impression not again to put us on another tangent but dragger did an impression while i was interviewing him and i was in a off in an office and i started laughing so hard that i had to close the door and i nearly had an asthma attack his impression was so good so was that

for the athletic that you talked to darren drag? Yeah, that was for the athletic. I interviewed him for the Babcock story. He spoke about how when, you know, even before the Leafs, when, you know, all the old WHL guys would get together, Babcock would get there. And then all of a sudden you'd have to leave to go somewhere else. Like 10 seconds after he leaves, somebody would launch into a Mike Babcock impersonation. It could be another coach. It could be a scout. It could be anybody, but they all had their own Mike Babcock impressions. And very interesting. And back to Alter, though. Yeah. By the way, you said you go into an office for the athletic. And you did mention, so

there is no athletic office, right? They have one in headquarters in San Francisco. Okay. But there's no Toronto HQ for the athletic. No. That's one thing, again, because it is still just a startup, and those are sort of hard and fast costs that you want to get, I think, to a point where you establish your core competencies before you start building out stuff like this. My thing is just a personal thing. Myself and Caitlin McGrath, who's now working with John covering the Blue Jays, I can't work from home.

I stare at the wall in my dining room and I get really claustrophobic. And sports writers, you don't need an office because in sports, they work. Jonas Siegel is working at the MasterCard Center here in Mimico.

It's actually in New Toronto, FYI. Yeah, I know. Fun fact. In fact, that street that's north of it is called New Toronto Street. Really nice arena in Mimico. And he'll work there. So will Myrtle. And, you know,

it's just sort of the culture of sports reporting that you don't work in the office. Because I'm a generalist, I never really went to the press boxes all the time. I like working from an office. So this is a very roundabout way of saying Caitlin McGrath and I rent office space in sort of the east side of Toronto, and that's where we go to maintain a sense of...

So why don't you just pretend that's now the Toronto Athletic HQ? Could be. Can you get mail there? Yes, you can as a matter of fact. Just put that on the business card. You're done. I just needed a way to remind myself

that the importance of getting up and brushing your teeth and having a shower and changing. Because there were some days early on, probably about the last time I was in here when we were still in early days, where you get up and you have a million emails, you have Slack messages,

you have stories to edit, calls to return. There are times when I look up at the clock and it's time to pick up the kids from daycare. And I'm like, wait, why do I have stubble? Oh my God, calls to return. There are times when I look up at the clock and it's time to pick up the kids from daycare. And I'm like, wait, why do I have stubble? Oh my God, my breath's... I'm still in my pajamas. Oh yeah, you need to discipline. And it's four o'clock in the afternoon

and I'm like, this can't go on for a long time. This isn't healthy. Now wrap up the altar thing. We've done a great job of avoiding the altar thing, by the way. You should get a bonus for that. Do I get another six pack? Yeah, I would give you one. Appreciate that. Put a of avoiding the alter thing, by the way. You should get a bonus for that. Do I get another sex pack? Yeah, I would give you one.

Appreciate that. Put a bow on the alter thing. He's a friend. I met Alter because he's a good friend of a friend. Actually, listeners of the podcast know Elvis. Elvis's buddy is David Alter. They go to TFC matches together and all this stuff. I'm a little jealous because Alter sometimes gets those seats in the supporter section when I want them.

So there's a little natural rivalry there for Elvis's supporter season's tickets. But Alter was at the Athletic. I thought he did a great job and I think he always does a pretty good job. I think he's good at what he does. But then he was out at the Athletic. Do you have any insight into what happened there?

He works hard. He was everywhere all the time. That's, I mean, that guy would work 20 days straight. The decision, and I'm not dodging the question, the decision was not made in my home office. It was not made, as far as I know, in Toronto. I think that decision was made somewhere along the lines in corporate HQ. That's all, I knew that's where we were going,

but so you did not make the decision. You did not. Sean Fitzgerald did not make the decision to let Dave Olsen. I don't have input on high-level things like that. Gotcha, gotcha. I had to get Myrtle back and give him the tough question. I honestly don't know where that decision came from. Maple Leafs, you mentioned the New Toronto Arena

where the Leafs practice. That's very close to here, of course, in New Toronto. But I was curious, do you have any

insight, anyone at the Athletic know who the next GM of the Leafs is going to be? Shanahan,

who is a Mimico boy, he's a Mimico guy, not a New Toronto guy. Shanahan is searching as we

speak, I believe he's searching for the next GM. Who's it going to be? Dubas, Hunter? What's the word on the street? I mean, James Myrtle wrote, I think, a fairly compelling case that it should be Kyle Dubas.

There's going to be complications in there. I mean, what happens to Hunter? How do you keep him in the organization? Because I think that player identification and the drafting and the record, even in his relatively short time with the franchise is impeccable. I think for the long-term success, you need to find a way to keep both. But to have that sort of innovative young mind in what is quickly becoming a changing landscape where you need folks who can do a bunch of different things, who have a bunch of different interests, things like selection biases, being aware of that,

being aware of best practices from management teams in the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball. And yes, the analytics and things like that, even more than having relationships perhaps with other GMs, is being aware of all these other things. And I think Kyle Dubas represents and can deliver on a lot of those things. Steve on Twitter, and you kind of covered this right there, but a little bit more here is Steve on Twitter says, if Dubas is the next Leafs GM, why hasn't it been announced yet? And will the Babcock-Dubas relationship be as bad

or worse than Quinn John Ferguson Jr.? Which he reminded me of the JFJ years and it makes me sad as a lifelong Leaf fan. That was not a good time in Leaf land. Yeah, I think, I mean, there has been fairly well-reported tensions in the front office just because you have a bunch of different personalities. You certainly don't ascend to this level of hockey

without having a strong personality. I think the politics in the front office is different now than it would have been back then. Back then it was still sort of a royal court where everybody was trying to sort of jockey for positions of power and there are a bunch of different voices in the front office. Here I think the hierarchy is pretty stable. I mean Shanahan is the president.

Babcock is the coach. And everybody else in between is going to be that layer with that specific role in that job. I mean, certainly you need to communicate, but I don't think you can necessarily compare the two eras. Babcock, who we've been talking about quite a bit because of that unique accent he has, is there a rift between

him and Austin Matthews? There's reports Babcock flew to Arizona to chat with Austin. Like, what the hell's really going on there? Golf. Some golf. There'd be good golf down there. That's right. I mean, you know, Toronto, I try not to partake in this whole Austin versus Babcock rift thing. I'm sure they'll work it out. I don't know what's going on there. But was it Kipper who kind of threw some gas on this fire? Nick Kiprios? I'm trying to...

Well, he's the one who sort of broke it with that. I don't know if it... I can't remember if it was a tweet or if it was on... No, it was on... I think it was on The Fan during a morning show. I could be wrong on the show there, but I think it was on the radio where he talked about how there was a lack of trust or something like that about usage. Yeah, it's not unusual for a

player and a coach to have tension. There's that famous quote, and it's almost so famous it's become cliche, that the Montreal Canadiens hated Scotty Bowman for 364 days a year, and it's almost so famous it's become cliche, that the Montreal Canadians hated Scotty Bowman for 364 days a year, and on the 365th they got their Stanley Cup rings. I heard that's a misquote. Is that a misquote? Yes, I believe it's on the 365th day they cashed their checks. I think that's the quote.

I like the rings version better, for what it's worth. Maybe the checks arrived the same day they got their rings. I like the rings version better because it should be about the ring, not the check. But I believe the actual quote is checks, I believe. But Strachan, I think, tweeted the correction and then it turned out he was

actually right. Interesting. I'll go back into that. But I mean, that's the same sort of, that's the same sort of feeling. Like, you don't need to love your coach if he's a good coach. Well, no one loved Keenan, right? Like coach. If he's a good coach... Well, no one loves Keenan, right? Mike Keenan's a good example. He has had

success. I don't think anybody liked playing for Mike Keenan. I don't think. I think they liked the... Certainly not if you're a goalie. But no, I mean, you can probably go through a whole long list of coaches and eventually you're going to rub somebody the wrong way.

I mean, you've got 22 people sitting there every day. Not all 22 people are going to get along famously. Football, same thing. Sometimes you just don't like the manager, but as long as they put you in a position to succeed and the team is successful, then really who cares? Everything else is details. Amen.

And prior to, I'd say a month ago, I was convinced that Austin Matthews was going to be the next Maple Leafs captain. And now I think it's Morgan Riley. What do you think? That's going to be a tricky one. I don't think I would... It makes sense for Austin Matthews

because he is going to be the face of the franchise. He is going to score a lot of goals. I do think he has a lot of things to say. I think you can see that sometimes that he's, you know, there are times when you can almost feel his teeth biting into his tongue when he wants to say something and pulls himself back. But it's like, it's just so much,

it's a fire hose here. And it's not so much that, you know, you're being asked the impossible questions every day. It's just they're there every day. It's a responsibility. And yeah, you only really have to talk for five minutes a day, day, you listen to yourself talk and listen to people dissect what you say. It is a thing. And if he's ready for it, I feel like he's the logical choice. But at the same time, you know, who's to say it couldn't be Morgan Riley? I think, you know, who's also to say if you're looking for a face and a comfortable voice in public?

I mean, Mitch Marner showed himself in the playoffs. voice in public. I mean, Mitch Marner showed himself in the playoffs. Could he get an A somewhere? Because he is comfortable holding court, which is part of the job for any Canadian NHL market, is to communicate with this massive gaggle of notepads and television cameras every day. About a half an hour ago, I started playing an Alice in Chains song because I was going to have a quick Raptors discussion. We never got to the Raptors, but now I'm glad I didn't get to the Raptors because Brian Gerstein at propertyinthesix.com, he records a question for every guest. His question is a great introduction to this topic. So let's listen to Brian's question and then we'll talk a little raps here.

to Brian's question and then we'll talk a little raps here. Property in the six dot com. Hi, Sean. Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Might. Call me at 416-873-0292 for any real estate needs you have in the GTA. For listing, my pre-sale marketing package includes a free home inspection, professional floor plan, and a virtual photo and video tour to get you top dollar for your home or condo. That's 416-873-0292 to get you started.

Sean, I had already accepted the inevitable going into Game 4 and now had time to reflect on the series. If you were Masai, do you keep Casey or not? I feel the Raptors need a new voice and was disgusted how easily the Cavs carved up the Raps, who were No. 5 in regular season defense, for end-to-end slams, open layups, easy post-ups, and wide-open frees. What do you think?

That's a really good question. I think that's obviously the one that's already being floated today. and wide open freeze. What do you think? That's a really good question. I think that's obviously the one that's already being floated today. Eric Kareen, our basketball writer, who is very smart, and I am not, says that the Raptors shouldn't tear down. That, you know, this is still the team that... He wrote that today?

It wasn't... I believe it was over the weekend when it was... I mean, the funeral started on, started on Saturday, didn't it? Yeah, after game three. Yeah, so I advocated against a teardown. But at the same time, I don't know what you do. You can say yes, okay, they came up against LeBron James, and that's amazing.

But then the Raptors are going to go 80-2 one year and still get swept by a 46 year old lebron james like at a certain point maybe you need to figure it out and lebron i i still wonder you know when you come up in the final if they are able to get past boston um are they going to compete against the team from the west or are they finally going to get picked apart if if the answer is they get they get picked apart in the final, then where are the Raptors? And what does the regular season mean? And how do you hope to give your fans hope that what you're going to be isn't just the Washington Capitals of any year previous to this year?

Let me read my tweet from last night. I think I wrote this after the third quarter. You're quoting yourself. I'm quoting myself here. You're quoting yourself from Twitter. Yes. Okay. This is Toronto Mike on Twitter yesterday after the third quarter. You're quoting yourself. I'm quoting myself here. You're quoting yourself from Twitter. Yes. Okay. This is Toronto Mike on Twitter yesterday after the third quarter.

I didn't watch a minute of the fourth quarter. I was watching hockey, but okay. Did they even play the fourth quarter? I don't know. I wasn't watching. I don't know. Maybe they just... Yeah, maybe they conceded.

It's like Little League. Yeah. All right. Wave the white flag. You're done. Good job, Toronto. So here's Toronto Mike's wonderful tweet last night. Fuck it. Here's what I wrote. Fuck it. Bring them all back next flag. You're done. Good job, Toronto. So here's Toronto Mike's wonderful tweet last night. Fuck it.

Here's what I wrote. Fuck it. Bring them all back next season. Casey too. These raps entertain me and I'm okay with 59 regular season wins, winning a round in parentheses or two, and then losing to the greatest player of all time. So my thoughts on this sounds like it's similar to what Eric's saying,

but I'm saying like the rest of the Eastern conference, we haven't figured out LeBron James. We're not alone. Apparently, uh, when the, when the Cavaliers don't have the number one seed in the East, they dominate the number one seed in the East.

Like they've been doing this, uh, for how many years now, wherever, since LeBron came back, uh, this is what they do. They've only lost one game apparently in three series or four series

against the number one seed when they weren't the number one seeds themselves. So no one in the East has an answer. I know Indiana took them to seven games, but no one in the, no one in the Eastern conference has had an answer for LeBron James since 2009 when the Orlando magic beat them. Okay. I say, uh, I loved this team until the Cavaliers series. And that game one we blew is the worst loss in franchise history. We had game one and we coughed it up in a shameful fashion. Game two, we got blown out. That was humiliating. But game three, again, LeBron did this trick playground shot to win it as time expired.

And then game four, we folded like a cheap suit because it was done. We were done like dinner. So games two and four, we got smoked. Game game one and three we could have won both games i don't i don't think we need to i don't i don't know what to say i'm almost saying that i'm okay with losing to the best as long as we don't lose to anybody else i don't know i'm not paid by the athletic for my basketball hot takes but that's how i feel as a guy who watched parts of, I think, almost every single regular season Raptors game this season and was thoroughly entertained.

Yeah, I think, I mean, this is the best season in franchise history and the biggest disappointment in franchise history all wrapped into one. So I think for now, I think that's a good take. That's a reasonable take. That's an acceptable take. Thank you. But again, and not to bring, you know, not to relate everything back to hockey, but take a look at the Washington Capitals right now. The Washington Capitals have been down this

road for the better part of a decade where it's, oh, great regular season, just can't do it in the playoffs. And that's fine for the first bit. Again, Washington was wandering the forest for a long time. So when they started getting really good and changed those uniforms to dark red and got that sense in the building, that was fine. But eventually, and I think maybe here sooner rather than later, that starts getting pretty tired. If you have another great regular season next year and then crap out in the playoffs again, it's not.

It's pretty hollow. It's pretty empty. So if you're in Masai Ujiri this morning, you've got to think, okay, what do I do? What can be done? And it's not an easy question because, yes, LeBron James hits a playground shot and beats you, and LeBron James is dominant, and LeBron James is LeBron James. He's probably the best to ever play the game.

Agreed. But the issue is there are guys in Raptors shirts who didn't perform as well as they should have. I mean, DeRozan didn't play the fourth quarter in a lot of those stretches and was ice cold again yesterday, and that's a concern. I mean, maybe he's injured.

Maybe we find out today he's got a torn shoulder or something. But if you're going to assemble a team to make a run, you need to make sure that you can assemble a team that's going to perform when you need them to perform. It's fascinating because you could put great arguments towards leaving it as it is, and you could put tremendous arguments towards blowing it up.

This is what sports media lives for, right? These debates about the Raptors are going to go on now for a while. What do you do about the Toronto Raptors? This is why I'm very glad I'm on this side of the microphone and I'm not the size office this morning because I honestly wouldn't have a clue what you do. And frankly, it's something similar with the Leafs.

The Leafs are on the cusp, but they got beaten up by the Bruins, who were in the end almost no match for the Lightning. So how far away are the Leafs? And we did not match up well at Lightning. True that. So how far away are the Leafs? We did not match up well at all against those Bruins. How far away are the Leafs? So the question is for both teams.

So now you have Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. They have two reigning champions and two major questions. Yeah, and at least those two major questions are consistently now making the playoffs. So at least we've made that step. Now we have to figure out how to turn them into champions. I forgot to mention to you that not only did Brian Gerstein

have that excellent question, but he wants to give you a gift. Just for coming on Toronto Mic'd in New Toronto here, he wants to give you a pint glass. That pint glass is yours. That is a wonderful-looking pint glass. Did you get one last time you were here, or was that pre-pint glass? That was pre-pint glass. I did get the adult beverages, but the pint

glass is a very, very nice and new addition. So enjoy that from propertyinthesix.com. Nice pint glass there. You're going to need something to go inside the pint glass. So yes, the fiercely independent Great Lakes Brewery. I don't even know what the neighborhood is called above. They're not in

Mimico or New Toronto. They're above. i can't remember what that's called actually i get it tobaco well yeah the whole thing's called the tobaco but i gotta remember what that neighborhood is called but i'll just say it's near the costco near rural york and uh queensway great lakes brewery are giving you that six pack so enjoy it's a lovely looking six pack thank you very much and i made sure there's an octopus wants to fight in there. Still my favorite. I had one the other day and I'm like this is a tasty IPA so enjoy the beer

courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery. Baseball you mentioned you cover the Jays a little bit at least I saw the double A stats for Vlad Guerrero Jr. are ridiculous. He had a couple of homers last night after being named player of the week or whatever. So now, of course, right on schedule, Jays fans want him in the big club.

So I think, I don't know what your thoughts will be. You'll share it with us in a moment. But I just want to say we need to slow our roll because as my friend Keegan Matheson says, he's correct. There is more, not that you should subscribe to Keegan Matheson's Baseball Toronto instead of The Athletic. You should pay for both. This is what I'm saying to you. But I would just say we need to slow our roll with regards to Vlad because there's more to being a Major League Baseball player than hitting.

There's other facets to the game. He's a 19-year-old kid who needs seasoning. For example, his glove needs some work. I don't think you want a 19-year-old being your DH. What's wrong with his glove? Is it just out of the box, you mean? Yeah, he's got to work it in. It's under his mattress, yeah.

You can put like oil and stuff on it. I miss those days. Those were the best, getting a new glove and doing the oil and you put the ball in the pocket. I put it under my mattress. There was a whole romantic routine to breaking in the new glove back in the day. I think mine often got broken in by playing street hockey.

Like the goalie used a baseball glove. Yeah, the goalie used a baseball glove and that's how it got worn in. And my little guy has started playing catch. He's seven now. And I still have that glove that I must have been 11 years old when I got it. And now I feel like the guy who, when we were kids,

was playing with the DiMaggio era glove. It just feels like I am the oldest human being in all of Toronto with this glove. It's an old Cooper, and it's got... What name is on it? It's Cooper. Oh, it's Cooper. Because sometimes gloves have... I had a Fernando Valenzuela Rawlings glove that I loved as a kid.

No, this one could have been... God, this was like a pre-Wally Joyner glove. Oh, yes. Who knows what this is? It's an ancient glove. Gotcha. So my four-year-old is just learning. We play with a tennis ball, and he holds it like a bucket or whatever,

and he tries to move it under the ball. And we're working on his catching. Can he hit those? Is he ready to go up to New Hampshire? Yeah, I think he's ready. I think he is ready. But I gave him his older brother's glove, which I looked at the palm of his glove. It's a Vernon Wells. think he's right i think he has funny but uh i gave him his older brother's glove uh which i

looked at the palm of his glove it's a vernon wells and i'm like that's so my my oldest son had a vernon a glove signed by vernon wells which now the four-year-old is using so it kind of kind of fun to kind of revisit those uh those days uh got me thinking of vernon wells again vernon wells was a funny guy too uh i mean i'm sure he's still a funny guy he's still with us but i could he would just i could he would just sign sometimes he would sign funny things on a ball and give it to somebody who was giving him a business or whatever in the stand funny guy okay so vlad guerrero jr um he is coming so we can all just be a little patient hopefully he's here next year maybe he comes up at the september call-ups

or whatever but he is coming but all because he's knocking the cover off the ball in double a where you get double a apparently that's like your development level. That's why you don't have him yet with Buffalo or whatever. There's more to the game than the bat, and he's got to season some other parts of his game before he gets the call. But he's coming soon, so be excited, but you don't need him tomorrow. No, not at all. I mean, this year, the Blue Jays are off to a pretty good start,

but they're still what? It was a great start. And now it feels... But even with all the winning, they're still, what, 5.5 back of Boston, 6.5 behind New York. I mean, those two teams aren't going to stop. So, you know, are you going to waste, I mean, burn, I guess part of a year of control,

depending on when you call them up, and then also rush them into a situation where you don't need to? I think that, you know, if you're patient, if you follow any sort of, you know, building plan, when you call them up. And then also rush them into a situation where you don't need to. If you're patient, if you follow any sort of building plan, the Shanna plan, I guess, bring them up when they're good and ready. What's the rush?

You're not winning anything this year. You're not winning anything this year. Always, from before the great start, your hope was maybe you'll contend for the second wild card. That was always sort of the dream, but you're right. We're a middling team, and Vlad's coming, but we don't need him tomorrow. Let him season

his game and double A there. Jake the Snake, here's a team. I'm glad, because I know you're at these Argos games, because whenever I'm at an Argo game, I know you're in the press box, covering it for the Athletic. Jake the Snake, he's a huge Ticats fan. He lives in Calgary, I think. Yeah, but he's from Hamilton, maybe,

and he lives in Calgary. But yeah, he's a big CFL booster. I can name all eight of them. Just a joke, Argos fans. Remember, you're talking to the face of the Argos Eastern Conference win, because right after the game-winning touchdown in the Eastern Conference final,

I got my TV time. They call it the East Division in the CFL. Is that right? It's not a conference. Oh, because it's too small. It's the East Division. Five teams? Yes. That's the problem. We need more teams. Why does it... Well, no. Is it five now? Is it five or four? It's four.

It's four because they move Winnipeg back to the West. And three make the playoffs? Yes. And yeah, unless there's a crossover from the West. Right. That's right. So can we get a team in Halifax or whatever and make it 5-5? They keep talking about it. Let's just do it. They can't support a team there? A CFL team? Regina's got a team. Sure, but it's

part of the ground there. It's organic. But in Halifax they have to build a stadium and I don't know who's going to pay for it. Maybe Ron James? Could be. Okay. So Jake the Snake, what did he say? He says,

Is MLSE the solution to help the Argos get over the hump to becoming a sustainable and potentially profitable business? The rest of the team seemed to be in this space already. Sans the Bandit from Hamilton. Yes, okay. I was hoping you'd understand that. That fell off the table there. the bandit from Hamilton. Yes, okay. What? I was hoping you'd understand that. That fell off the table there. The rest of the team

seem to be in this space already. And then in parentheses, it says Sands, the bandit from Hamilton. So I think Sands means not including, right? So it's like not including the bandit from Hamilton.

I honestly don't know. Jake the Snake had a couple of pops before he tweeted this at me. But is MLSE the solution to the Argos becoming a sustainable and profitable business? Will people in Liberty Village learn that they're playing down the street? Yeah. I mean, sustainable business, the benefit of having MLSE is the ownership. It almost doesn't matter at this point. The losses the Argos can sustain are going to be managed and they're going to be tax write-offs that, you know, unlike recent history where an owner can just stop paying the bills like they did in 2003, you're not going to have that concern. The issue now is what can MLSC bring to the table

that the previous iterations could not? You know, the last group had two executives who tried to do things like online targeted marketing, tried to build things through a tailgate, a pregame tailgate, a legal tailgate. They had different ideas. The tailgate is going to be scrapped. The marketing approach, as far as I know, has been ripped up. And they're going to try different things like tarping off the upper section on one side, you know, trying to make the tailgate party closer to the stadium. But again, those are approaches that have been tried before. So my concern as an Argos fan wouldn't be, is the team going to be around next year? Because when you have MLSC as your benefactor, you're going to be around.

You're fine. But it's how do you grow the fan base? At the Argos fan base, it's getting gray. It has been gray for a while. And it's how do you grow the fan base that the argos fan base is it's getting gray um it has been gray for a while um and it's it's atrophied um for a bunch of different reasons that we even don't have time to get into in the podcast necessarily but how do you grow that and i don't know i mean they've they've launched new t-shirts they're trying to be brash but again that's been tried before too so it's so tough issue is, I mean, just take a look at this offseason. Now, yes, MLSC took over.

They're absolutely entitled to take time to figure out the market, develop a plan, but the Argos won a great cup in November and there's been almost literally nothing heard from them since, and they opened training camp in like 10 days. Because their answer is if you want to buy a Leaf ticket, you've got to buy an Argos ticket too. This will be the bundle. Well, that's

it. They haven't bundled it necessarily between BMO and the ACC. They have bundled the ACC suites and things like that. They haven't bundled that at BMO, but they are looking into it. And they have figured out that the overlap, if you're looking at Venn diagrams, is a little bit stronger between the Leafs and the Argos than, say, the Raptors and TFC. Oh, 100%. Just look at the fans. There's 100%. I agree. You're right.

The Van Dijk is a great way to say it, too. You're right. There's not a lot of... You're right. I've noticed that. The TFC fans and Raptor fans, there's not a lot of Argos love there, but there is a good chunk of Leaf fans who also love their Argos. I think that's well said.

Yeah. I mean, the TFC has the built-in animus too. I mean, that was their stadium. That was their soccer stadium. That was their home. That gave them legitimacy when their team was terrible for a decade. And all of a sudden you have this football team come in and sort of take your turf, so to speak.

Now, I mean, the real logistical concerns about the turf, you know, the Argos don't destroy the turf. So it's not a huge impediment to TFC. The schedule hasn't been, you know, that terrible. So it can work. But how do you go about winning? Because that's the demographic you need. How do you go about then winning over, say, the TFC cohort in Liberty Village? Can it be done? I don't know. Does MLSC have a strong plan that's going to be demonstrably effective? I'm not sure.

I'll be curious to see. No, again, that is going to be tough because I know TFC fans and they despise the Argos. Forget winning them over and getting them to a game. They want to protest. They want to put signs up

on your way in on the Gardiner. They want to put the big signs on the bridges over looking to say, get off our field and all this crap. There's a lot of animosity there. I just want to say the tailgates thing, I guess what they learned is what I think is apparent in retrospect is that the tailgates were very popular with the existing diehard Argos people. The old guys who already have their Doug Flutie jerseys and everything already love the Argos.

Conrad Chaloway. Right, that's right. You're absolutely right. I was going to do pinball there. Even when I went to that game, I saw pinball. I mean, pinball is the nicest guy. That guy is a great guy. Absolutely.

No, he's unbelievable. What an ambassador. Yeah, I've started covering the Argos in 2000. I'm not afraid. I was an Argos fan as a kid growing up from Burlington. Because it was honestly easier to get to Skydome than it was to Iverwind Stadium because you just hop on the train.

But yeah, no, he's a remarkable ambassador. And he's been brought back into the fold as, I don't know what his official title is, but it's sort of a goodwill slash brand ambassador. But again, how do you deploy him? How do you use him? How do you possibly get new fans in, in the media landscape?

You need Drake to come to Argos games. How's that? But I mean, they had Mitch Marner come in. They had Mitch Marner a couple times last year. That's true. But you know, the old delivery mechanisms aren't there necessarily anymore. That, you know, everything is,

everything's in silos, everything's spread out, everything's online. And how do you reach those markets? And that's going to be the really interesting thing. Here, I'll close the Argos talk full circle by saying I went to two games last year. In the first game, I was at Jay and Dan were there. They were like promoted as the big halftime guests, Jay and Dan. They were halftime guests?

I don't remember that. Yeah, they came on the field and talked to us. It was a little underwhelming. It's before I had met either of them. But yeah, that was the big draw. So, okay, go Argos. Hopefully things work out. I know you're kicking out the jams.

I'm going to speak really quickly because a couple of very quick questions that you can do really quickly. One is from J-Rod. Is this Notre Dame's year? And if not, why is he a dream killer? Oh, that's for you. Why are you a dream killer?

Is this Notre Dame's year? No, it's never Notre Dame's year because I'm doomed to an eternity of angst and tears. How do you tell us? Is this something like as an impressionable young person, you fell in love with Notre Dame? You don't have any ties to the school. You didn't go there or anything.

No, retracing the family history is that, you know, Notre Dame came to succeed in a time where maybe being... Irish. Yeah, it wasn't, you know, there were signs... I saw Gangs of New York, okay. Well, no, I mean, even not super long ago, there was signs in Toronto windows that said, Irish need not apply.

So again... Well, how super... You've gone back to the 40s, maybe? What I'm saying is that one generation passes it on to the next, passes it on to the next, so that when I'm growing up completely privileged in suburban Toronto, there was still only one thing to watch on our one television on Saturday afternoons between 1 and 5.

And it was Notre Dame football. Go down there a couple of times, and all of a sudden, you're a lifelong addict doomed to failure and tears and incoherent sobbing in the basement. At least you have a rooting interest. Yeah. Something to entertain you, even if it is. I'm a Toronto sports fan. No one knows this, except no one knows it better than me what it's like to kind of love a team and be disappointed

at the end of the season. So, course, uh, now fake Bobby Duff, this is really simple. He just, he doesn't have a question for you. He just wants to tell you, Sean, uh, keep up the great work.

That's what fake Bobby Duff. That's all he wants to say. Keep up the great work. So keep up the great work. Um, I'm glad you're at the athletic and that you guys are still, still thriving and you're still growing. And do you have a number you could throw at me before we kick out the jams?

Like, uh, your subscriber base has hit, has hit a billion people. Is that correct? A billion subscribers to The Athletic. I have to double check, but it could be a billion, yes. With a B. I just want to make sure we heard that properly.

Okay, The Athletic. It's doing very well. How old are your children? Seven and three. That seven-year-old needs to go to French camp. I'm telling you, this is what you do if you're a kid in the summer. I've heard that guy do something during the summer. He's in French immersion.

It sounds wonderful. That's perfect. My kids are in French immersion as well. That's a very good thing to do with your children. So send them to Camp Tournesol. It is the largest French camp in the GTA. If your child's between the ages of 4 and 14, they have a French camp for them.

And it doesn't matter if your kid is Francophone or like Sean's in French immersion, or even if your child has no French experience. There's a day camp or an overnight experience for them. Go to campt.ca and check out what they have. I mean, I look at the list because it's fantastic. I mean, the overnight camps, of course, of your kids between the ages of 8 and 15, but there's introduction to French day camps that you can send your 4 to 12-year-olds.

There's a trip to Quebec. There's these programs for grades 7 and 8, CIT programs for grades 7 and 8. Campt.ca. And when you make your purchase with Camp Tournesol, use the promo code Mike, M-I-K-E. Thank you, Nana Muscuri. And just before we kick out the jams, I want to tell everybody listening about my friends at PayTM Canada.

It's the only app in Canada that gives you rewards for bill payments. And you get to choose how you pay your bill, credit card, bank, or cash. And you can watch your points grow. That's what I do. I was on Humble and Fred's podcast yesterday and I was saying what PayTM has done essentially

is gamified bill payment. Like we all have to pay bills, but they've gamified it. I count kilometers when I bike. I'm one of these guys, I like to measure stuff. Like if I'm going to lose weight, I measure it and I chart it out and it's all this stuff. They've done that with bill payment. So it costs me nothing to use the app. It makes it easier. I get to use my credit card for all my bills, which I like because I get my president's choice money, but it's all gamified. I get points with Paytm and I can use that for

buying and redeeming things and instant cash back. So what do you do? You go to PaytmCanada.ca, you download this free app, and when you make your first bill payment, you use the promo code Toronto Mike and PaytmCanada gives you $10. $10 to use towards any other bill. That's free money. Do it up. Fitzy, are you ready to kick out the jams? Now, we didn't kick out the jams last time, so I'm not 100% familiar on how this works. You've never heard an episode.

Do we kick something literally? You've never listened to a kick out the jams episode. Maybe not this late into an episode. How about that? Fitzy, this is the last invitation you get to New Toronto. I'm going to ask you one more time. And look at my face. Am I joking?

No. As my four-year-old knows, if I don't wink, I'm being serious. This is the big tell. I haven't seen you wink at all yet. There's no wink. I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious. Are you ready to kick out the jams?

Yes. All right. The blue on the street Loose and complete Under skies So smoky blue green I can't foresee A Dixie did she So we danced

The sidewalk thing My memory is muddy What's this river that I'm in New Orleans is sinking, man And I don't want to swim Fucking love it, Fitzy. New Orleans is sinking. The Tragically Hip.

Tell me why. Tell us why you love this jam. I came to the Tragically Hip later than I should have. But I just, I love the riff. I came into Tragically Hip later than I should have. But I just love the riff. I love, I mean, the video's a lot of fun, too. It is, I mean, over the last couple of years, for reasons that are both sad and obvious,

I think a lot of people have been taking a look back and reflecting on what they like about the hip. I mean, this one, I tend to gravitate to a lot of their earlier work, and I think it's just something you can play with the window down and the car ripping along a country road or on the highway in the summer. This is that bluesy feel, that bluesy rock feel. And you're right, this is from Up To Here, which was their first big album. I know they had one before that, but this was their first major album.

And this was their second single off that album, as I remember, my Q107 Top 10 of 10 Days. And this jam still kills. I mean, you are talking to a man whose favorite band of all time is the Tragically Hip. Is it? Yes. It might be yours, too. They're definitely up there, yeah. Hold on here.

Pale as a light bulb Hanging on a wire Sucking up to someone Just to stoke the fire Picking out the highlights Of the scenery Saw a little clown And looked a little like

me. Oh my god, just bitsy. This is amazing. And you like the Killer Whale tank? You ever heard the Killer Whale tank? The Killer Whale tank is one of the best. We played that in our university student paper offices. Hours and hours and hours on end.

I had a job before this. Now, I have more Tragically Hip questions and discussions, but I'm going to save them for later. Is that a spoiler alert? I think technically maybe. It could also be a tease, right? The radio term, you're teasing it for later? I thought you were going to say fully completely.

Fully completely. Now, Gord, bringing it back to sports, Watch this river that I'm in. New Orleans is sinking, man, and I don't want to swim. Now, Gord, springing it back to sports, Gord, of course, was a Bruins fan. And his godfather was Harry Sinden, I believe. He was a goalie, I think. I think Ron McLean told me a lot of our Canadian rock superstars are goaltenders. Dan O'Toole, goaltender. Good to ask him. Thank you. That's going tooole, goaltender. Good to ask him.

Thank you. That's going to take a note. I'm going to definitely ask him. But you'd be surprised, like be it like a Ron Hawkins from lowest to low. I mean, the list was lengthy and I'm going to blank on it now, but you name a rock star in Canada and they probably tended net.

That'd be fascinating. So goaltenders become television analysts and rock stars. Definitely a common thread. Yes, sir. We're off to a rocking start. That's fantastic. You ready to kick out another jam? Sure. My love Took a ride on a red-eyed plane Going home And we're never gonna feel the same Change this feeling under my feet Change the sheets and then change me

Kathleen Edwards, this is Change the Sheets. I want to lie in the cracks of this lonely road. I can feel it in the blanks every time you don't fall. Here is the truth, this very used to be fun. Go ahead and run and run and run and run. Change this feeling under my feet. Change the sheets and then change me. Tell us why you love this jam. She's amazing. She is absolutely wonderful. And again, came on late.

This album's been out for a long, long time. I got into it because of Tim Thompson, Boundless, the guy who did the montages. He's kicked out the jams. He's amazing. Yes, I agree. He does fabulous work. And it was a H night in canada intro

before an ottawa senators playoff game and i was watching it i i'd never heard this song before and i immediately if i didn't dm them like real time saying who is this i had to google the lyrics it was amazing and now i am a complete and utter devotee of all and she just played in toronto a couple days ago and i missed it, but she's wonderful. This is, again, another great song where you're riding along in a southern Ontario summer with the windows down and the radio blasting. It's just a wonderful, wonderful song.

Wonderful song, wonderful singer, songwriter, but back to Tim for a moment. Tim Thompson at Boundless. That man is underappreciated because what he does for Canadian rock, I think, is right up there with anybody. When he chooses a song and builds the montage for the song... It's like Oprah's book club.

That's exactly what it is. He literally introduced me to Kathleen Edwards as a music consumer and as a fan. I know you haven't listened to a kick out of the jam, so if you listen to nothing else in the kick out of the jam universe, listen to Tim Thompson kick out of the jam. So Tim you listen to nothing else in the Kick Out the Jam universe, though, listen to Tim Thompson Kick Out the Jam. So Tim, you...

A former defenseman, not a goalie. Who played with my cousin, who was a goalie. So there we go. At Guelph University. We're the Griffins. Yep, true story. They played together.

Weird small world story. And my cousin now lives in Burlington just to bring that full circle. But hi, Mark, if you're listening so tim thompson um loves canadian music and brings it home in a way no one else does and when he kicks out the chips he's a soft-spoken gentleman i begged him to project into these microphones it's not in his DNA, but he has the content, like the content, what he says, it's priceless. It's content is king. He may not project into a microphone.

So you're probably not going to hear him a lot on, you know, trust your radio, whatever. But what he brings in terms of content, no one's better in this country. That guy's amazing. And that may believe I was really, I know you did your brother, you're a speak, but the Toronto Maple Leafs montage that he did to Ron Hawkins, the Ron Hawkins song about Kensington Market, which will come to me in a minute, is one of the greatest Maple Leaf montages I've ever seen. He did a great one, too.

He used to do the one shining moment, except for NHL at the end of the Stanley Cup. He did one to the Smashing Pumpkins. I think the year Chicago won for the first time. And it was just pitch perfect the whole way through. Do you remember which jam from the pumpkins he chose? Is that in your memory bank there? It's not tonight, is it? Yeah, it was tonight.

It was just, it was perfect. That was, yeah, Tim Thompson's great. Let's kick out your third jam. We can't defy to be looking back The path is drawn, we won't get off track Vision changed from black to gold And we were frozen in our steps But the light gave us a rest Vision changed from black to gold

Ground below was shaking Every breeze was changing Clouds above us clearing in Thank you. Black to gold, Deer Rouge. Tell us why you love this jam. Another Canadian band from Red Deer, Alberta. Tell us why you love this jam. Another Canadian band from Red Deer, Alberta. It's just, it's kind of a moody, ethereal sort of vibe to it.

Again, I heard it for the first time on 102.1, not long after it was released. And it's just, I mean, I have an old CD player in the car. And I went out and I bought a physical CD just so I could play the whole album on a loop. It's just remarkable. It's just, it's great. I'm going to bring it back to sports media really quickly. You know, Gare Joyce, you know, he wrote the books that the, uh, who played, uh, Brandon on, uh, Jason Priestley. Yes. Why? I'm like, I can see his character on 90210, and I'm like, what's that guy's name again? Jason Priestley.

Yeah, so Jason Priestley's in a show called Private Eyes, based on the Gary Joyce book. The theme song to Private Eyes is a cover of the Hall & Oates song, Private Eyes, performed by Dior Rouge. Did not know that. I'm here with the fun facts for you, buddy. Appreciate that. But I love your CanCon.

I don't even have a CanCon requirement, because this is all under the radar. Don't tell anybody. But four, well, so far, three for three. Very good. Tim Thompson would be proud of you. Tim Thompson didn't introduce me to Deer Rouge, but I would be very cool with Tim Thompson

putting Deer Rouge in a montage somewhere. I'm sure he has because he still does stuff for the CPCs, pumping them out. That's why I love those Olympic montages. He did a great one for the Andre de Grasse stuff with Maestro Fresh West's Going the Distance, I think it's called the song, Going the Distance. But yeah, this podcast is all about Tim Thompson.

This song would be tough to do a sports montage for unless it's sort of a redemption sort of song. It'd have to be dark and moody, and it starts somewhere where a team's been knocked to the ground and now they're working their way back up. It'd be tough to do. The Vegas Knights. He could do it though.

Could do it for the Vegas Knights maybe something. Potentially. I don't know. He'll find a way. You know what? It matches their uniform. That's why it's black to gold.

I was thinking. I'm always thinking. I can't wait to kick out this. By the way, I believe, I don't want to say this because I haven't checked the record, but I think Tim Thompson might have kicked out this exact jam we're about to kick out this. By the way, I believe, I don't want to say this because I haven't checked the record, but I think Tim Thompson might have kicked out this exact jam we're about to play right now. Let's hear it. I had this dream where I relished the fray

And the screaming filled my head all day It was as though I'd been spit here Settled in into the pocket of a lighthouse on some rocky socket Off the coast of France dear

But afternoon Soccer Off the coast of France Dear An afternoon For a thousand men Tied in the water Here And five hundred More are crashing Madly As parasites

Mine In your blood Thrashing madly This parasite's mind In your blood Now it's in a light bulb Designed for a ten Ten of me Anything that's systematic Would get you hated It's not a deal

Nor a test Nor a love Or something Hated Death The selection was quick The clue was picked In order

And those left in the water Got kicked off our paneling And we headed for home Nautical Disaster, the Tragically Hip. What a song. Right. Doesn't even have a chorus. Like, you don't evenragically Hip. What a song. Right. It doesn't even have a chorus. Like, you don't even notice it doesn't have a chorus.

Yeah, I don't know when to talk. Yeah, I didn't know. Usually I fade down kind of after the chorus, but here it's like, I'm not... Yeah, there's no natural spot for that. It's a brilliant, beautiful song. My seven-year-old, which is funny, because, I mean, when you think about how old he is,

this would be like me rocking out to Fleetwood Mac or some band from the 70s. This is the song he wants to listen to last before he gets out of the car before going to hockey. Wow. And he'll sing along with us. That's amazing. That's great. He's got that line in the song, and we're headed for home

and when I saw his last, no, he did three shows at the ACC in the last tour and I was in the middle one. It was my last time seeing the hip live and when I heard those words I just started crying. Like it just, because headed for home, like they're on their way to that Kingston show on August 20th. Where were you? Where did you watch the last hip concert from? I had, this is a, so I was playing hockey at Maple Leaf Gardens on a Saturday.

Fell and I shattered my elbow. So I was playing shinny. Right. So went to the hospital in East York. Had surgery on the Sunday. Was discharged on the Monday. On Tuesday, the Toronto Star calls to say, sorry, we're laying you off. On the Wednesday, my sister had, I have no idea how,

had somehow gotten me Tragically Hip tickets for their last show at the ACC. Right. Or their second last. Okay, the second last. I was there too. Yes. Well, here's the thing, except I had just freshly broken my elbow. I couldn't go. So I have, I never got, that was my chance to see them live. I have

never seen them live. But you watched the live broadcast of the final show. I was hopped up on percocet in the basement with my wife yeah it was incredible my wife was not hopped up on percocet i was i was separated my shoulder playing hockey and they gave me perks and i i had to host a birthday party for my oldest at uh chucky cheese and i remember that hopped up on percocet's feeling like's a definite buzz, like a high that comes with the Perks. For me, it was just sort of like responding to even an email seemed like a Herculean effort because I was just lying on the couch. Right.

Such a perfect song. It's a gorgeous song. And hearing now that's a second hit. By the way, normally I don't, there's no hard rule. Your jams are your jams. But I try to like persuade people one song per artist but i never actually told you that so i don't of course i never said that to you how would you know i have ideas but so yes that is your second hip jam because your jams are your jams uh but hearing this hip with you now in

my basement i am like i miss i miss gourd like i i'm looking because Gord's right behind you, over your shoulder there. And I'm like, he really is gone. It's almost like, wow. I mean, there were so many stations when he passed that went 24-hour, tragically hip.

And it really is amazing. I mean, there are certain bands you're like, yeah, that's a good song. But they went 24 hours. You're like, I know this song. I love this song. I remember this song at the cottage. I remember this song at high school graduation.

I remember having a friend pick me up from a barroom floor to this song. There's always something that it really has been for a certain segment of the population, the soundtrack of your youth. I don't think that's overstating it. I've had this discussion with my wife. It turns out if you're a white English Canadian,

the Tragically Hip is the soundtrack every year. That's not even necessarily true. Bruce Arthur is from Vancouver, and he doesn't have the same connection to the band that St. Ivor. I think it can be localized to a southern Ontario thing. Really? I think so. I never considered that.

I just thought all of English Canada was on board with this. But yeah, not big in... Because I was actually driving through Quebec during that final tour. And yeah, the French speaking Canada didn't quite jump on me. Well, that's not to say that, I mean, everybody in Canada loves the Tragically Hip. I think it really does resonate for whatever reason. Maybe it's just the airplay they got here earlier. But I mean, the people in Southern Ontario that i've come across have a very it's different for us like this is really hitting really in our heart because these guys not only

did gourd have a house in toronto jill deacon was on this show uh she's a host of a of a here and now on cbc radio one she's great yeah she's great and literally gourd's neighbor in his toronto home like neighbor like so when we talked about gourd's passing, she was talking about Gord as not just this rock god that we all kind of worship and love, and poet, but this was her neighbor, helpful neighbor, helping to shovel the snow and all these regular

things. He was a great guy. My favorite part was everybody just calls him Gord. He's just Gord. If you came across him in regular life, he's just Gord. But you know what? We'll talk a little bit more about Gord in Yeah. Like he's just Gord. Right. If you came across him in regular life, he's just Gord. But you know what? We'll talk a little bit more about Gord in a couple of jams here.

Let's kick out another one. Is that a teaser or a spoiler? That's both. Okay. All I wanna get is A little bit closer All I wanna know is Can you come a little closer?

Here comes the breath Before we get a little bit closer Here comes the rush Before we touch Come a little closer The doors are open The wind is really blowing The night sky is changing overhead

It's not just our physical I'm a top who won't get oh so critical So let's make things physical I will treat you like you're oh so typical Closer by Tegan and Sarah. The CanCon Street continues. From Calgary. Yeah, no, it's... I liked them before the Lego movies

and before I think the song became a tourism jingle somewhere. I heard this. This is strange. I think this one was from the 2011. No, it wasn't 2011. Pan American Games in Guadalajara. I'm pretty sure this is where I heard this one for the first time, and it was on repeat on Guadalajara Radio.

Every cab I took to a different venue. And it just sort of became the soundtrack of that game. And it just felt like it was perfect at the time. The energy, the fun, the drive. It was great. Tegan and Sarah were this cult favorite indie thing that all of a sudden became like mainstream. This is where they started mainstream. I have one more on the list,

again, teaser spoiler, that I think was when they were sort of in their indie pop sort of thing. But good for them. And you're right, the Lego stuff kind of even broke them further in terms of American mainstream. It's a global, I guess, success. Good for them. Everything is awesome. Right. Closer is not a cover, of course, of a Nine Inch Nails song. That would be a different jam.

But that was kicked out by Jay Onright, Closer, by Nine Inch Nails. Interesting. So you each have Closer, but very different Closers. So he likes the darker sort of stuff? Is that how it went down with him I'm gonna go back and listen to it right now

On the way home on the way home. I'm gonna say let's finish your chance first Think we call this power pop I think we call this power pop. Can we call it power pop? I think so. That's fair. I want you. I want you. I won't treat you like you're typical. I won't treat you like you're typical. I won't treat you like you're typical. Good things come in threes. I'm pretty sure it was him And he spoke so softly And I caught his figure Going to the dim

He said to bring on A brand new renaissance Cause I think I'm ready Well I've been shaking All night long But my hands are steady And three pistols came And three people went

And I never wait Three pistols strong And three people faint Three pistols by the Tragically Hip. Why do you love Three Pistols? What a great opening lyric, right? Tom Thompson came paddling past. I mean, yeah, no, it's just,

it's funny listening to these now in this order is that you can probably spend a little bit too much time in a car because all of these songs are like great summer driving songs. Yeah, this one's just, these are, I love so many Tragically Hip songs, but these three

are legitimately ones that I could listen to on a loop going to the moon. Like, I could listen to them in any context, any day, any weather anywhere, they're just great and this is from Road Apples, right? yes, so again, yeah

their earlier work, I think it's off three different three different of their more earlier albums I think, well the Nautical Disaster was off, that was the one after the big Fully Completely yeah, Road Apples were there yeah, so you get one from, Road Apples was before Fully Completely. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was after Up To Here. Yeah. Right. I remember, again, that East Coast road trip I took during the final... In fact, I left for it right after I saw the hip at the ACC. We hit the road, me and my... all six of us. And I was listening to a lot of hip on that show on that trip because they were you know i just saw them and they were in their farewell concert and we were going to be a

new no we were going to be in cape redden when the uh final concert aired from kingston but i was listening to three pistols on the radio and we passed trois pistoles in quebec the exit anyways from the highway at that exact moment and i'm like and of course Three Pistols named after Trois Pistols that's my French for you, that's my grade 9 French but man this band was tremendous was tremendous, what a band

will there ever be, let me ask you, will there ever be a band like this again in Canada? I mean it's possible, you're seeing more and more artists in different fields realizing they can make a living here in Canada? I mean, it's possible. You're seeing more and more more and more artists in different fields realizing they can make a living here in Canada.

I mean, not the same field, but the same general, like Letterkenny, Jared Kiso, and everybody in Letterkenny working, you know, developing content for Crave TV

independent of any aspirations or want to be in Los Angeles. I mean, can that same incubator exist for music? Sure. Well, the Arkells are doing very well with good rock and sounds. The question is going to be is, I don't know if you're ever going to have a lyricist connect and weave in so much of our strange and varied

and overlooked elements of our history that connect us coast to coast to coast. You're right. He was a poet. So yeah, you have this great poet, the best frontman, one of the best frontmans of all time. Forget Canadian

in the world. And great band, great sound and such a diversity of sound too. You got the bluesy rock stuff. You can go, you know, there's beautiful ballads, Bob Cajun. I mean, so much there. I should spoiler alert, there's no more Tragically Hip songs in your list. And also, that ends the CanCon streak.

The next jam is not a Canadian act. So what is that? One, two, three, four, five, six for six in the CanCon so far. So good on that. That's great. Love it. You ready to kick out a non-Canadian song? I'm waiting. I've been waiting I've been waiting for this moment All my life But it's not quite right And this real

It's impossible if possible That whose blind word So clear but so unheard I've been waiting I've been waiting for the silence All night long It's just a matter of time To appear sad It's just a matter of time To let it be a sad With the same old recent lazy eye

Vexed to rest on you If it is so untrue And it's an intimate rearrange And I want to focused clearly with sunshine Everyone's so intimately reawakened Everyone so focused clearly The sunshine Lost and loaded I still love it Still the same old days

As you're Been through it all Yeah That's why I said I really I said we really And so far too really Woo I was waiting for that

I love this song buddy I got One of my favorite songs Really Yeah absolutely Silver Sun Pickups Always loved it I was waiting for that. I love this song, buddy. I got one of my favorite songs of all time. Yeah, absolutely. Silver Sun Pickups. Always loved it. Silver Sun Pickups, Lazy Eye. Great, great single. It's a great song.

Yeah, no, it's... I can't remember. It might have been on 102.1. They just played the one. They played the hell out of it. And I remember Martin Streak doing the best, whatever they did, the top 102 of whatever year this was, oh, whatever.

And this was number one that year. I remember Marty Streak. And I remember it was number one because I was listening on New Year's Eve to the top 102 songs of the year. I love this jam. That's great. Again, same thing, moody sort of atmosphere. But not to bust this buzz, I did just do a bit of fact-checking.

Closer, I wouldn't have listened to it at Guadalajara because it came out in 2013, so... I'm glad you corrected that. I misremembered. Accuracy is important, so my middle-aged brain misremembered that, so I apologize. This is great.

And you're right, it builds up this crescendo. I like how it builds, and that's why I knew exactly when I was going to fade down. It has that build-up, and then it's just like, just my heart rate, boom, bam. Then it kind of builds up again. But yeah, it washes over you almost. It's just freaking cool. They haven't come to Toronto a lot.

I think maybe twice over the last couple years, twice over the last five years maybe. And I missed them both times just because I was out of town. So again, I haven't seen them live, which is really annoying because I think they played the Danforth Music Hall, which is sort of in my neighborhood, and I missed them.

And that's really annoying. I don't want to swear before noon, but it's really annoying. You can swear on the show. I think the Danforth Music Hall will get a lot more interesting acts as Massey Hall shuts down for three years or whatever. I think they'll get some spillover for sure for Danforth Music Hall will get a lot more interesting acts as Massey Hall shuts down for three years or whatever.

I think they'll get some spillover for sure for Danforth Music Hall. Who did I saw? Lois DeLow. I saw somebody there recently. Lois DeLow. See, I'm not a huge concert guy necessarily. I mean, the last one I saw. Yeah, well, there's that.

Alabama Shakes, I think, was the last one I saw. They're amazing too. Alabama Shakes, I think, was the last one I saw. They're amazing, too. I like this song coming off of... I mean, it's not coming right off it, but Nautical Disaster. They both have these waves that wash over me. No pun intended.

No pun intended. I've been waiting I've been waiting for this moment I tremble They're gonna eat me alive If I stumble If I stumble They're gonna eat me alive Can you heal my heart?

Can you heal my heart? Can you heal my heart? Help, I'm alive, my heart Like a hammer Like a hammer Help, I'm alive My heart keeps beating Like a hammer Hard to be soft Tough to be tender Come take my pulse

It paces on a runaway train How I'm alive My heart keeps beating like a hammer Beating like a hammer If you're still alive My regrets are few Back with the CanCon. Metric. Help. I'm alive.

Emily Haynes is amazing. You ever see the movie Defendor with Woody Harrelson? No. Set in Hamilton. No. Yeah, I know. He sort of plays this sort of superhero, this crime-fighting superhero guy.

Metric, I believe this was one of the title tracks. Because they lived in the hammer, quote-unquote. And this was the title track. She is amazing. Emily Haynes. Fun fact is that her sister was on this podcast. Avery Haynes. Yeah.

Yeah. And I did ask her about Emily. Emily, I believe, in fact, I'm certain, went to the Etobicoke School of the Arts on Royal York, which is not too far from Great Lakes Brewery. There you go. But that's where a lot of artsy, creative types go to high school there. But yeah, man, Metric. I've seen him a couple of times and just love her voice, love the band.

Fantastic choice. Such a great Canadian rock band. I mean, great rock band either side of the border, but it's just perfect. Man, there was that time when Broken Social social scene metric uh kind of arcade fire there was uh uh the pornographers what are they called again the anyway bottom line is uh can con canadian rock bands i mean they've they've always been great i think canada canada punches above its weight when it comes to music, always. But there's just great explosion of this rock that came out when this band was peaking.

Tremendous stuff, man. We should be very proud. Anybody ever kick out the jams and you're just sick of all the jams but you have to sit here through all 10? Yeah, I'm enjoying this with you. This is okay, yeah. So I'm enjoying your jams, like legit. I enjoy Jay Onright's jams,

but there's no guarantee I'm going to like the jams. And I've had artists come in and it was country heavy. And I'll be, you know, you could tell them, I'm not bullshitting you when I say, like when I come out of Silver Sun Pickups and I'm like, fuck, that was great. No bullshit here, okay? I'm fucking digging it, man.

I'm fucking rocking here. But it's not, I'll be like, I don't know, a country artist will do this thing and I'll be like, okay, tell us why you love jam or whatever, but I won't be like saying, oh, that's a tremendous jam. I'm not going to say,

oh, that was really, your jams are shitty. I know you came all this way to play your music. You have terrible taste in music and your favorite band sucks. No, come on, your jams are your jams.

It is all good. It's just a long time for you to sit down here and listen to music you wouldn't like, is what I'm saying. You're telling me you need a bathroom break. Is that what you're telling me?

No, I may need a bathroom break eventually, but no. Two more jams. I love it. And yes, because I had so much I wanted to talk with you about before we kicked out the jams, and this happened with Jay. We hit two hours because of that. And we're going to be close.

We're not going to quite hit two hours, but we're going to be close. But if you want, we can. But fucking love it. I could just kick out the jams of you all day i don't care if it hurts my back you ready for another jam sure am build a wall of books between us in our bed Repeat, repeat the words that I know we both said Relax into the need, we get so comfortable

Remember when I was so strange and like a bow I just want back in your head I just want back in your head I'm not unfaithful but I'll stray Tegan and Sarah, this is back in your head. Got into this one, again, because I'm not musically inclined. I don't profess to have great taste in music or really pay as much attention to the scenes as I should. But I find out a lot through radio. And I found this one,

I found Tegan and Sarah because Tiesto did a remix of this song and it got a lot of play on 103.5 and I believe even 92.5 back in the day. And it's a great remix and then sent me down the rabbit hole on YouTube of

learning their back catalog and I mean, I love the remix still, but this is just a fun pop song that doesn't sound like a lot of pop that you're going to hear. Again, before the Lego movie. 1035, I think their head office is on

Dundas. I don't think it's far from the Kipling Subway Station. No, very close. Very close. Because that's near the Six Points Plaza. They're trying to rebrand that area for people who can't afford to go live in Liberty Village or whatever. They're calling it the Kip District. This is the marketing brand. If you want to buy in the Kip District, contact Brian at propertyinthesix.com.

But they've got a great brunch place I like there called Dundas Street Grill. Okay. And Apache Burger is there, which was seen, remember the movie Room, I think it was called? The one where the mother and son were held captive and escaped. Anyways, it was filmed in this neck of the woods. And there's a big scene in there where they're at Apache Burger. There you go. And it won.

Did it win the Academy Award for Best Picture? Maybe it was just nominated. But I think it might have been just nominated. A Mimico-made film. Actually, what are you up there? The Kip District. I don't know what that area is called either. But that's definitely not Mimico.

It's not New Toronto either. It's North Mimico. North Mimico. Great jam. And it's coming to an end. I'm almost sad. Make sure we get our photo together before

you disappear. Are you ready for your final jam? I believe I am. I'm not sure everybody else will be though. I hear the drums echoing tonight But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation She's coming in 12.35

The moonlight wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation I stopped an old man along the way Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melody He turned to me as if to say Thank you. We're not in Kansas anymore, and that's not Toto. Africa. And tell me who is performing Africa. I can't pronounce his last name. Leo Morisculli, I think.

That's better than I would have done, I think. He's, again, found it at the bottom of a rabbit hole. I don't remember how I got there. But what he does is he takes famous popular songs. He's done Adele. He's done almost anybody you can name. And turns them into metal covers. Some of them don't quite hit.

This one is amazing. In part because Hannah Bolton, an independent artist in the UK, does sort of the chorus here. Here she comes again. It works. I think it works. I'm digging it. And the guitars are by another YouTube guy

that does a lot of instructional videos, Rabia Massad, I believe. I don't know how to pronounce it. But I don't know if you have the extra, that you clipped the extra off the YouTube video. No, I killed it. You killed it? Okay.

The extra, if you get a chance to go on YouTube, this guy, he's basically, again, I think he's in Denmark. After each of his videos, after each of his covers, does an extra where he just jams or does something crazy. And this jam is something that will blow the windows out of your car door, out of your basement. You should have told me to keep it. I could have kept it. It took effort to lose it. This is something that you can go

and explore on your own. It's a lot of fun, and I think I actually like this cover more than the original. Since we're kicking out the jams, I need to tell you

the original by Toto was kicked out by both Jim Van Horn and Mike Wilner. No kidding. They both had Africa's Toto on their jam list. I'm going to take this one over the original. You need to play this for Wilner and let me know what happens.

I think this would be my walk-up music if I was playing for the Jets. This would definitely be my walk-up. It's no summertime, summertime, but it's pretty good. But no, the extra to this one, it's just, Hannah Bolton has a couple of lines in it. And it's just two guys just, just hammering away on the guitar. It's amazing. How are you not banging your head right now?

How do you resist? The microphone. I don't want to, I don't want to wreck your microphone. But the best part about this is too, it sounds like it's very serious and very great. But you watch the video, they're all having a blast. Woo! Fitzy. That was fun, man.

That was fun. Thanks for having me here. I'm all fired up now. Let's go play football. I was going to say, let's run through some walls. Where is that? I'm going to run. I would run through a wall. Why didn't Dwayne Casey play that before Game 4? Maybe we could have mounted. I was thinking maybe we could win four in a row against Cavs.

That would be the story. But that was not the story. You play the bridges from that song, they could win eight in a row. Oh, man. And that brings us to the end of our 333rd show. You know, they say three is a lucky number. You got three threes. This is the luckiest episode of all time.

Did the threes start canceling each other out then? So it was a good number, then a bad number, then a good number? Oh, good point. Yeah, you're right. I guess we'll find out. We'll find out. Hopefully you don't shatter any elbows or anything. And that, I said that, right?

Okay, you can follow, yeah, where am I? You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Sean is, okay, pay attention. It's at Sean Fitzgerald, but there's an underscore between the Zed and Fitz and the G and Gerald. So Sean Fitz underscore Gerald. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at

Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthesix.com is at Raptorors Devotee, who wasn't as sad today because he had resigned to the fact we were going to lose the series. So he had no expectations at Game 4, so he wasn't sad. He was sad when he recorded his message for Jay. But he's better today. PayTM is at PayTM Canada,

and Camp Turnasol is at Camp Turnasol. See you all next week. ¶¶ Eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can...