Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Toronto Mike'd #124

Episode Date: June 5, 2015

Mike chats with Elvis about his heart, the PanAm Games, smoking at Go Stations, the Gardiner Expressway and more. Elvis also reviews Dean Blundell and Co. on The Fan 590.

Welcome to episode 124 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavor. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is Western grad Elvis. Who's back? I can't believe you're here. This is like... Yeah, motherfuckers! How many times have you threatened to come by? I don't even like... It doesn't even register when you say you're

dropping by. I haven't even really threatened to drop by. That's how busy I have been. Oh my goodness. That's how long it's been. But you bailed... I guess I don't... I bailed one time. Okay, but you bailed on the... I'm still pissed you bailed on my hockey draft. Like, shouldn't that be the center of your attention? Like, just be here

that night? Isn't that important? Listen, my hours right now are insane i'm up at 4 30 5 o'clock and i generally don't get home until 9 p.m it's insane that's actually uh that's like ridiculous very and you have children do they know do they know what you look like and not really not really i like i had to chuckle when john stewart announced his retirement from the And you have children. Do they know what you look like and smell like? Not really. Not really. I had to chuckle when Jon Stewart announced his retirement from the Daily Show where he said, you know, people ask him what he's going to do. And he's like, I have this family and people tell me they're nice people. That's right. But how long can you do this?

I don't know. It's been two and a half, three. It's been 12 weeks, actually. So three months. Are you that important that they can't? Probably, three more months they can't survive without you. I'm doing multiple positions at the moment. So I'm pulling double duty and, uh, it's, I, I'm doing such doing so on an interim basis as they try and figure out what the longterm play. Are you pulling double paychecks? I've suggested that many, many, I'm like, cause they're always talking about what the,

what the, uh, the longterm play is and what I want to do. And I said, I'm happy to continue doing this. Just double my pay. And that's usually met with hearty laughter. And then they don't even acknowledge the comment. That's actually a serious request. And you're probably at a level where you don't get overtime. Are you nuts?

I don't know. Overtime. No, I do not get overtime. Okay. Because. If I got overtime. Is that a crazy question? It's a legitimate question.

I don't know. But if I got overtime with all the... You'd be rich. I'm doing one job, just traveling, because you fly late at night or on the weekend. Forget it. No, no, no. I get none of that. But I'm not complaining.

It's fun. It's a brand new challenge that I have at work, and it's fun. But certainly taking this toll, I think, a little bit, or starting to, but I'm trying to manage it as best as I can. Well, I'm glad you're here. Your last episode was 111. Holy shit. And before that, it was 99. Yeah, it's been quite a bit.

Yeah, in the last 26 episodes. I don't even think I can call myself your co-host anymore. I agree. You're fired. Because people say, do you still do your podcast? Of course, it's your podcast, right? Like my podcast. You're fired. That's fine. Because people say, you still do your podcast. Of course, it's your podcast, right? Like my podcast. The Elvis podcast.

And many, many people at work are very, very curious about this. They all want to listen to it. So they know because I noticed you don't acknowledge you're on this podcast on your Facebook, which is like your hub. Yeah, that would actually be,

that would actually be a lot of play. So how come you've got this wonderful gig here, volunteer position? Well, I think it's it's not regular and b it uh certainly i there have been times where i just sort of take a position or or say shit because i am somewhat anonymous oh like atheist and you're worried they'll disown you for your atheist i don't care okay because that's about as far as you go i don't think you've ever like talked about about how beating chicks is okay

if they stay with you. That was you with Cheon. I had the breakup with Muzzin over Facebook because he says Ray Rice, it's okay because she stayed with him. He said something else recently. I don't

see it anymore. I'm blacklisted by him. I can't remember if it was about Caitlyn or... Is he one of those guys if it was about Caitlyn or... And is he one of those guys who refuses to call Caitlyn a she? I've noticed that's the move by the deniers.

Is it? The humble folks. Is it really? And he's a super humble folk. I had him on and I said what if your son was gay and he started

shaking like that's impossible. That's impossible. I don't know. It was something. But whatever. That kind of stuff doesn't...

I know that stuff gets to you. It gets to me. With people I know. I don't care about Twitter, people I don't i know that stuff gets to you again it gets to me what people i know i don't care about twitter people i don't know but if i know you it bothers me i think it's just easy to say uh when you're on social media all right but that that that caused the great breakup and i heard he had another child and i'm not even like in the loop because he's disowned me i got kicked off his hockey team you're right you did i got kicked off his hockey team and out of his life and you you found a new hockey team. Yeah, yeah. Tuesday nights I play with my boy

which is the best. What are you, fucking Kramer? Kramer in karate class? I'm dominating the dojo. Oh, it's funny you mention that because... You are not playing hockey with your son. Yeah, and it's funny. Your son is... He's a child. No, he's a man child.

He's heavier than I am. His weight is higher than mine. Who are the people on the team then? We rent ice at Church Bell for an hour every Tuesday night and then we have our own teams. So it's not a league. It's an hour of ice time.

So we make the rules. What a fucking bullshit garbage thing is this? There's no house league. I mean, not that I'd be invited to house league with the kids, but it's like a summer thing. So we do this no house league. I mean, not that I'd be invited to house league with the kids, but it's like a summer thing. So we do this through the summer.

Who's we? Is it just one-on-one? Is it you and your son? The commissioner would be my plumbing friend, Murray. Why is it that the commissioner always wants to be called the commissioner? And they're always named Murray. Have you noticed that? That's a very Canadian name.

Bottom line is, we lace up our skates on Tuesday nights and we have a blast. And that's the key. It doesn't matter how. I noticed that you have this lovely large home and yet you still store your hockey equipment in your fucking car. That's true. That's got to be one of the most disgusting, vile things ever. First of all, this is a 100-year home.

There's nowhere to store anything. Absolutely. You want to walk around? I don't have a Costco room with you. This, by the way, your home, I just realized, if we could take your home and pick it up from North Oshawa and drop it

south of Lakeshore in this area, that's a $6 million home. Yeah. Well, this is why people live in Oshawa because you can get... Still not worth it. I still don't think it's worth it. You can get a house and not have to... I would give up the Costco room in exchange for the location. The Costco room is a lovely room.

Full of diapers. No, we don't buy diapers from Costco. I don't even buy, you know, I do reusable diapers. There's a list of things now that I'm accumulating of things that people do that they will volunteer. CrossFit is one. CrossFit, veganism, atheism, running, cycling. Did you know I'm an atheist? And fake diapers.

Yeah, but only when we're talking about diapers. It's not like I just throw it out there. I didn't mention it to Steve Anthony last week. People absolutely do. Steve, did you know that my son's diaper? It hasn't come up in a podcast maybe since we last talked about it. All right, hold on.

We have to get going. We only have a little time here. Come on. These are episodes you've missed since you were last here. My chair is lower than normal and it's starting to bother me. Did you lower my chair as like a practical joke? I did, yeah. I came here last night.

Anyway, it's going to hurt my neck. These episodes have occurred since you were last here for episode 111. All right. What do you want me to say after you say the name? Tell me if you listened or if you care. So I didn't listen to anybody, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything anymore. That hurts because you had so much time on planes. No.

Don't you have hours to kill on a plane? I don't actually. I don't fly a lot anymore. I'm about to, but. Weren't you just in Chicago? I was. You didn't have a chance on that flight to listen to an episode? It's a 45-minute flight.

Is that right? An hour flight, yeah. I don't know. I only fly to Germany or whatever, so I assume all flights are like nine hours. I took the long way to Chicago. I took the champagne flight to Paris, and it was like, oh, yeah, I just assumed that's it. What does that mean, the champagne flight? It means they give you a glass.

It's cheap, first of all, but they give you a glass of champagne on there. Oh, good. I got engaged at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Is that another thing people mention? like oh good it was i got engaged at the top of the eiffel tower is that another thing people mention like crossfit got engaged at the top of eiffel tower okay no all right i digress so the second appearance of uh hebsey mark hebbshire right uh no i'm not great that's good you know he's here right now i didn't listen to the first one um oh you missed out uh mike stafford are you familiar with the work of mike stafford we've talked about Mike Stafford. That is definitely one. You have to because I asked him straight out. What the fuck happened with Freddie P as your best man?

Yeah, I'm really fired him. What's that about? And he told me the whole story. I love I love it. It's actually on my phone, I believe. I will listen to it. Jason Barr. This gentleman was a part of the Dean Blundell show. So I like his work. I don't know if I would listen to a podcast, but you gave me a little bit of a scoop as to why I should listen, and I do want to listen. It's short. I do want to listen.

So we have time for that one. Okay. He's not a very verbose individual, so it didn't run very long. I like his work. And here's one. A name you might not know of, because I didn't know the name, but the story is interesting. Amber Giro was a reporter on 1010 CFRB,

now News Talk 1010 for 14 years. Wow. She was fired last summer and she came out guns blazing about the inherent racism of AM talk radio in Toronto. The lack of diversity. And we talked for a long time about basically,

if you look at the weekday lineups on 640 and 1010, and you can add... And even 590, too. You can add 590, I think 1050, too. I don't, like, I'm just saying it's a very white male-dominated world. Well, there was, I remember when the Dean & Company show debuted,

or when they announced it, there was commentary that it was all guys. And the only woman who does, who's on the show does the news updates, and that's it. Yeah, and typically white guys. Yeah, they had the opportunity to bring in a female voice and they didn't. And on 640, it's not just white guys.

It's actually like of Irish or British descent. Yeah, it's like MacArthur, Stafford. It's get off my lawn, white guys. Yeah, like the British Isles. Old guys too. Yeah. So anyway, I found that. And actually, it's interesting. My next guest, and I'm jumping off, but the next Isles. Old guys, too. Yeah. So anyway, that was, I found that, and actually it's interesting, my next guest,

and I'm jumping off, but the next guest is Matt Galloway, who identifies as a black man, and I'm gonna come, I'm gonna talk to him about this lack of diversity on Toronto radio. Right on. Because CBC is the great exception to the rule. Right. If everyone else, then talk radio is way too

white male. Well, they're also a government organization, so they have different policies. Regardless, they're still an exception because there's diversity on the radio. But are they an exception because they want to be or because they have to be? That's a legitimate question. Either way, Matt Galloway still wakes up every morning

a black man and does a hell of a good job. And I'm actually worried about that interview because he's a smart guy. Like, he's an interesting smart guy. How do I hold my own with Matt Galloway? I would be worried if I were you. I am worried because he's no Ed the Sox. That's a legitimate worry. I am worried because he could expose

me. Rick Hodge from Roger, Rick and Marilyn and other things. Rick, do you know any Rick Hodge who went on a date with my mom, but we did not talk about that. I thought my mom would kill me. That would be amazing if your mom was here.

My mom would hear it maybe because it's Rick Hodge and then I just couldn't deal with that so I did not go there. That's pretty awesome. Retro Ontario. He could be your dad. He could be my stepfather. Yeah, I'm interested. We talked about...

I'm just interested. I can't even remember. Is that a man or a woman it's a man it's a man Ed and how does Ed get access to well I guess I can listen but does he answer how he gets access

to all this shit he rips VHS that he has or other people give him I think and I know you've solicited for some VHS recently yeah I have VHS

I want to get ripped and I think he might help me with that so last game at Exhibition Stadium for example I think you can go to Costco for that too

can you you can I don't even have a membership you'll have to help me get in the doors there alright Stadium, for example. I think you can go to Costco for that, too. Can you? You can. I don't even have a membership. You'll have to help me get in the doors there. Alright, well, next time I go, I'll see if I can grab a flyer for you. They still got that cheap hot dog and drink, like $1.99? They do. I'm surprised you're not in on that all the time. I'm not. That and Ikea. Ikea, yeah, which just raised their prices from $0.50

to $0.75. Holy shit! That's when they priced me out of the market. That's like a 50% raise. It is. Rick Hodge, Retro Ontario. Danny Stover, who is on the air in Peterborough and was the producer

of the Dean Blundell show before she was let go at CFNY. All right. So Danny Stover. Very good, Danny. Roz Weston, who's on both

ET Canada and Roz Mocha. I see Roz in the subway very often. That's like their target demo, man. They're all over the subway. And it's always like, it's funny to have seen them age a little bit,

no offense, because we're both old dudes and I've certainly got a lot of grays and Gandalf beard, but it is interesting to see the different photos now. I think there's one of him with cake all over his face or maybe it's... Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're celebrating morning. Something like that, yeah, yeah. I saw this on the TV.

And they certainly do, it's just funny when they when they because because the risk of course when you have that type of show um and you're that type of audience you always risk alienating the audience i think when you show your face as much as they do and and people can see that you're not their age but they do a great obviously, and they do a great show for that demo and for that audience. It's obviously a very popular show, so good on them. Steve, the anti-Matt Galloway. Yeah, very much so.

So good on them. I listened to them a couple times. I thought it was a fun show. That would be interesting to listen to him. And then you also interviewed his partner, correct? No, not yet. Mocha. He's coming.

He's coming. I haven't had a brown guy yet. He's in the queue. I have to do a black guy first that's matt galloway and then i go into a brown guy all right um can we we can say that right billy holiday not the jazz singer but i would want to talk about mad dog yeah of course well first of all i play a clip from the mad dog episode and she talks about basically going to management and saying it's her or me and she claims and i looked in her eyes it's her or me. And she claims, and I looked in her eyes,

I don't think she was lying, she claims it was the very first time she heard that. Interesting. This is like a big, one of those big Oprah moments or whatever.

Okay. Yeah, you got to listen to that one. All right, I'll listen to that one. We're almost done. There's a lot of episodes since you were last here. Kate, this is for you. I did this one.

TSM. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's probably number one. I love that guy. He came over. I love that guy. I met him and obviously... Did you ask him about his... Because one of the things I find funny about him is I love his shit

and I love how he writes and all that kind of stuff, but it is funny because he... It's horrible grammar. And just like the spelling mistakes and the stuff... We did not discuss his grammar. Because I know he gets he gets razzed for that

all the time apparently because he does mention it quite a bit. Well, he says he writes it on an iPhone or something. Yeah, which is also part of his problem, I think. But in terms of the grammar.

Long, long entries I can't do on my phone. I like to do it on a keyboard. Yeah, I think that's your age showing though. I would agree with you. But he's older than me, I think. I'm not sure.

We didn't talk about that either. But I think he might be older than me. Well, I'm not saying that he's not. I'm just saying. He's better with the mobile. But yeah, in true case, so we talk about all the Dean Blundell and all that. Have you heard Dean Blundell yet? On the Fan 5? Yeah, do you want to talk about Dean? I've got a lot to say.

Let me just do the last one and we're done. One more. After TSM, we had, this is just last week, the last episode, 1, two, three. And one of my favorite episodes so far, Steve Anthony. I would listen to Steve Anthony. I'm a big fan of Steve Anthony.

He's Zany, Zany Madcap, Steve Anthony. He had a coffee like this size, but from a different company. And he put four packets of sweetener into it. Holy moly. And then I'm telling him like,

that's too much sweetener. Like, cause once I can't do, I do like, I do like one. Yeah. But I do, I do about, that's too much sweetener. Like, because one sweetener. I do like, yeah. But I do about a quarter of a packet per the size. Okay. So it gets me through like four of them.

He's holding up a venti. But he had four packets. He's holding up a venti. A venti. Oh, yeah. I forgot. Aren't we on Periscope? No one can see what you're doing.

Did I forget the Periscope is? You know what Periscope is? No. You're supposed to know your social media stuff. It's Periscope. We could be live streaming this via Periscope right now that shit doesn't work you think sometimes it works but will people watch it's another story no is that one of the like impromptu like you log in and you see you can like hey here's what's streaming now if you yeah you can follow it's like twitter it ties to

your twitter account but i uh did click through somebody's bike ride they were periscoping just to see it was it looked great not not because it was i want to watch because i want to see how it worked it looked great and that's all i'm saying is if you do need to live stream something that would be quick and easy um okay i digress so steve anthony oh yeah so i asked him straight out like you know uh we all joke about how you were on coke and we talk about like this we talk about his cocaine but really who wasn't or who isn't for that i don't know. A lot of people weren't, I think. I think a lot of people weren't. I've never seen, I've never been in the same, I've never seen cocaine in my life.

I'm not surprised. I have friends who would be, I don't know, I feel like it's strange I haven't seen cocaine. I would say it's strange that you haven't seen cocaine as well. Have you seen cocaine? Yeah. Have you touched, have you indulged?

I've not done cocaine, no. So somebody you were with was doing it? Or you were at a party and you started a corner? Yeah, with is like in quotations. I don't go to a lot of parties, to be honest. I'm going to the wrong parties. All right, let's dive in here. So let's start with, okay, you were going to tell me your thoughts on the new Dean Blundell show. Yeah. So, so I've listened to Dean Blundell more in the last three or four weeks or however

long he's been on, then I've listened to him ever. And, and that's only because of getting up early and I drive to this go train station in Oshawa because I am not flying as much. I'm in the office more often. And so I, I'm going into Toronto almost daily, which is a grind and horrible. We'll get to that later. And so I listen to the Fan 590,

and for one, I find it difficult to understand why he's on the Fan 590, because they don't really talk about sports all the time. It's a very weird show in the sense that they will go off on tangents about very interesting, or interesting in the sense that it's intriguing that they're talking about this on a sports talk radio station and has nothing really to do with sports. So I find that interesting.

I'm not a fan of the show. I just don't think that it's a sports talk show, and it's not what I want to get in the morning when I drive into the GO train station. So you're not entertained? I'm not entertained. I'm not sure that Dean is right for that station. I can certainly now see that I've been exposed to him a little bit more because it has been a long time since I listened to him, even when he was on CFNY. I can see why people like him. I mean, he's certainly not a bad broadcaster. There's not that aspect to it, which I think some people think, but not me. I think he's a fine broadcaster. I

just don't know if it's the right fit for a sports station. So Brady and Walker, for example, totally different show their sports and they would talk sports. They know their sports. They would talk sports and that's pretty much all they would talk about. I think in the afternoon, I have caught them a couple of times in the afternoon and they do talk. Sometimes they'll talk about movies or whatever. You know, Brady does bring in a lot of pop culture to the conversation. He likes eighties music. He does. But I think in the afternoon it's a little bit better. I mean the morning show can just, you can just jam pack that shit with, you know, what happened in the NBA finals last night, what happened in the nhl finals what's going to happen you've got baseball like you can it's it's yeah the morning show is about talking about what happened and

what's going to happen right right whereas the afternoon shows you can get into a little bit more deeper analysis and go off on tangents and maybe talk about the long time prospect of so-and-so or whatever um or have a funny game or do the lunch bag let down all that kind of stuff i don't know lunch bag let down do a lot of that stuff in the morning right um so and george for i don't understand why george just keeps referring to dean blendel as dean he calls him dean every single must be a consultant telling him to do that it must be i don't know i heard their voices are similar we will kind of and tsm i'm not sure if you want to uh i'm not sure if you want to give this away but there's going to be a guest on the

show that i think can offer a little bit of insight into into the um into some of the people who are on the morning show you can give it away go ahead so i went to school with uh i didn't go to school with him because he's younger than than i am but we actually, I actually did a football game with him. I think I did a quarter or something. He was actually calling the game, the former play-by-play gentleman for the Western Mustangs. And then, which no one cares about except for me, but you would know him from his days at the Fan 590 and now his days at MapleLeafs.com. David Alter is going to be on the show. So he works for MLSC?

He works for MLSC right now, yes. And that's how he got to the World Championship in Prague? No. How does he get that trip? That's a freelancing gig, I believe. Okay, so he got to expense that, though. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just wonder who was paying his ride.

You can ask him. You can ask him. Okay, so basically you're saying you're bringing in, you are delivering just like you delivered Greg Brady once. You are delivering David Alter. Yeah. And he's going to talk about the Fan 590. Yeah.

That's where he worked for many, many, 100 years. And he's going to be, like, he's not going to worry about burning bridges. Well, I can't. I don't know about that. We'll see what happens when he gets in here. We can do what I did to Shapiro. Remember, I roughed him up and he saysed him up you can still see a blood stain I don't think he's not malicious

or anything he's got stories he was at the fan for a long time I'm excited this is the breaking news we have David Alter coming on does David Alter listen to this show? super nice guy

he does listen to the podcast. He enjoys the podcast very much. You can tell him. I'm sincerely excited. It's funny. When he listened, he found the podcast first before we reconnected. Because we've already been in touch. Just recently, we've been out of touch.

And he heard the podcast. And he's like, Elvis, I fucking know who that Elvis guy is. But no one. Oh, yeah. You used to be known as Elvis. And then I brought it back. Put two and two together. And he's like, fuck, that's you. So then when I asked him, we went out for beers a few weeks ago before the World Championships,

World Hockey Championships. Right. And I asked him if he would be on the show. And he said, yeah, do you guys want me on the show? And I said, absolutely. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I mean, absolutely.

So he can come in as long as he spills lots of dirt about 590 so i'm going away to uh dublin and then brazil and then when i get back we'll uh we'll set it up for the end of this to me those are those are good business trips those are big long business trips but those are good because you're going fine i want someone to pay my way to brazil yeah well brazil you want to go to rio though you don't want to go to sao paulo i'm going to sao paulo okay fine sold okay let's go uh but i've been to dub Brazil. You want to go to Rio, though. You don't want to go to Sao Paulo. I'm going to Sao Paulo. Okay, fine. Sold. Let's go.

But I've been to Dublin, but I want to go to Brazil. I've never been to South America. It's an interesting place. Very. So anyway, Dean Blundell. I know the cops are corrupt, right? I don't know. Dean Blundell. So I wasn't a fan before.

Let me say that, Dean. No offense. Not that he fucking cares about me. Come on. I don't know if he cares about much. But yeah, not a fan before let me say that dean no offense uh i'm not that he oh he doesn't care about me um i don't know if he cares about much uh but yeah not a fan uh of him previously not a fan of him on the fan don't necessarily get the show but it's better than 640 and well what about that other station we forget about that 10 50 because i heard yesterday it was announced mike richards is taking a leave due to health reasons.

Oh, really? Like, I don't know, two or three months. So, for one, the reception for 1050 is horrible in the city. In and out of the city. Really? Yeah, it's bad. That's the old famous chum, chum. I know. I don't get it.

My mom's station. You could be downtown. I used to listen to 1050 chum when I was a... Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was a CFTR guy. Really loved oldies too. Yeah, you could be in the city, dude, and it's like scratchy.

Oh, I don't know. You could be... And then certainly there's parts of Durham region, and I've been out west as well. It gets scratchy, and I'm like, this is weird. They need a new transmitter or something. Interesting. Okay, so we'll see, but good...

I don't listen. In fact, you know what is interesting to me is I now sometimes hear Brady and Walker at 1 o'clock. Yeah. Because I'm on my bike ride. It's probably more convenient for you. Yeah. And I've heard more Brady and Walker since the Switch. I never heard with them in the morning.

I don't listen to any radio in the morning. You know what I like? Go ahead. Brady and Walker, same show that they do in the afternoon as they did in the morning. That's what I've noticed. And I liked it. I love it. I think it's a really good show

and they know their shit. I'm enjoying it. I think they've got a good chemistry and it's always interesting. There's enough sports stuff. You're right. To kind of good meat on the bones, you know. Yep.

And they also are much more comfortable now, I think, than they were maybe a year ago about disagreeing on things. Like they will, because you know how you're kind of like, okay, we'll disagree. But then you sort of like, you sort of sugarcoat your disagreement disagreement a little bit they'll actually

disagree now and and be very very adamant about where they stand and say that the other person is wrong and that makes for great radio so um i really enjoy their show yeah me too uh okay let me change topics here uh we have uh i don't know if you heard the pan am games are coming now for fuck's sakes have you heard no no you haven't heard um i so okay so i real quick is that uh like yeah i so the pan am games are coming like in a month and i don't have any interest in the pan am games because i feel like you know if you can't have a rowing competition without the europeans like it just none of it seems world it doesn't seem best against best because you know what it It's not the Olympics. It's horrible.

It's like the Commonwealth Games, but for this, speaking of Brazil, it's for the Americans. It's sad because it takes us as a city and as a larger region, obviously. It's not just Toronto because it's all over the... Milton has the

bikes. Yeah, and Hamilton's got soccer and Oshawa's got... What do we have, wrestling, I think, or something? Do you? Yep. It's horrible to think that as a region, we need to manufacture fake excitement about a stupid, totally meaningless sporting event in order for us to actually build shit to get to where we should have been like 15 years ago in terms of public transit it's embarrassing it really is that it that's what it takes i know the only people who care about the panhandle games are the 50 000 athletes and their families no one else fucking cares do you know anyone who has a ticket to go to an event

okay my uh my uh my kids the first two their grandmother on the other side bought them tickets to see diving whoa and field hockey right so they're not interested to take them to they're not interested in going no right uh it's it's it's dumb and and this whole idea that it's on but under budget and on time is but it is it is uh there will be wonderful improvements to my my bike uh trail through the queen shouldn't we be doing that regardless i'm not disagreeing and then and now we're hearing of so now like you know up has been delayed forever and ever and now you know like they're just under the wire the tunnel from the airport is not gonna be oh yeah that won't be ready right games which is like how long does it take to build a fucking tunnel? Like, come on.

It's just, it's really, it's sad. It's sad. It's totally manufactured too. You can see it. So my office is in the Eaton Center and there's a store,

Pan Am Games merchandise store. Oh, patchy stuff. I have never seen one person in the store except for the staff people, the people who work there. It's really so if you could get free tickets is there anything you'd go like wouldn't you be curious to see the

100 meter final even though it does have the americans and the jamaicans although i it's unlikely usain bolt would actually run in this race but he'd probably come and like sit and watch why would he come and sit and watch because he went to the i feel like he went to scotland for the commonwealth games he uh he came there he didn't run but he came to like support the event what's he'll come and wave you know the commonwealth games has got to be even worse Commonwealth Games, he came there. He didn't run, but he came to support the event. What? He'll come and wave. He just won't run. You know what?

The Commonwealth Games has got to be even worse than the Pan Am Games. I think it's equally bad. Because the Commonwealth is manufactured. At least Pan Am is like an actual place. I know. But at least, yeah. You know? And I like the, yeah, at least we have the Americans at the Pan Am Games.

But Olympics are bust. We agree. But there's another event coming here. Not here, but Canada. Sorry, are you going to any of these fucking things? No, I was just wondering if I were offered free tickets, what if I would go? Because field hockey and diving, you could give me tickets.

Unless it was maybe the gold medal match in field hockey, and Canada is there. Field hockey? Why field hockey? I don't know. Soccer? Soccer maybe. Lacrosse maybe. I admit I'm underwhelmed by these games.

I'm not here telling you that I'm excited. Underwhelmed? I'm not excited. But I feel a bit of excitement right now brewing in me for this Women's World Cup. That's the real event. Because I was in the airport when that semi-final against the US. I was in the airport when that semi-final against the US.

I was in the airport watching it at the airport TV with a bunch of Canadians or whatever. And I have this taste in my mouth from that that just makes me very excited for this. It's going to be fucking great. Unfortunately, we don't believe in treating women the same as men and having them play on fake grass.

So, another problem. See, that's why you're here. You're the soccer expert. It's unbelievable. It is so ridiculous. I mean, and obviously FIFA has shown who they really are in the last month. I'm shocked by that. You know, month. Yeah.

That's the greatest part is that no one is shocked. No, no. The other one that should get this is the IOC. That's the other. Oh, there. Come on. Between the FIFA and the IOC. You have to wonder.

The IOC might just be too big and too insulated to be able to have this. Right? They're like the United Nations. that's the other oh there come on between the fifa and the ioc you have to wonder if the ioc might just be too big and too insulated to be able to to have this right they're like the united nations the ioc it seems like right yeah but anyway pan am games i don't really no one cares i'm not sure anything is actually going to be disrupted in any way uh i really i i honestly don't know like i we don't like we have a plan at work um but it's sort of just a way just for the athletes because you're just like athletes and their family because that's it athletes this is not going to suddenly turn into like what happened in vancouver during the olympics you know no we're not all going to get this buzz in

fact most people i talked to are like trying to get out of town yeah yeah well i mean it's so weird because the government is basically telling people it would work but not to work from home. But not basically, but they have said, we need to reduce traffic by 20%, take vacation or work from home. I'm like, oh yeah, that's really good in encouraging people to be in the city when something exciting happens or to create a buzz or whatever.

Like, it's so ridiculous. I'm going to work from home during the pandemic. People are going to take vacation and go to the fucking games? I don't think so. All right, no, so we agree. Now, you just mentioned oshawa is hosting something yeah is oshawa excited how big a deal was this memorial cup because i saw a big

fucking deal i didn't watch the game but i heard like an overtime goal yeah yeah oshawa wins and i was just wondering what's this like for a city like oshawa well it's interesting because you know oshawa is the um the last city east before you get to Kingston. It is a proper city in the larger GTA, you know, as opposed to, say, like, no offense to Mississauga. I grew up there, but it's sort of like it's a suburb more than it's a city. And it just happened to have this explosive growth. But there's a long history in Oshawa as a proper city. And so there's a lot of people that actually

feel pride for the city. And certainly the Jennys are a big deal. There's not a lot going on in Oshawa. Does Lindros still play for the Generals? No. He's gone? He's gone. But, you know, Taveras, we've long hockey history starting from, you know, Bobby Orr to a bunch of players all the way

up to Lindros and then Taveras. It was a big fucking deal. There was a parade. They filled up the Dior to a bunch of players all the way up to Lindros and then to Veras. Um, it was a big fucking deal. There was a parade. Uh, they filled up the, uh, the, the GM center with,

uh, with a victory celebration or whatever. Um, did you consider taking the kids to the parade? No, no, it was six to six to 8 PM, which I understand why I get that as to why it wasn't during the day.

Um, but, uh, yeah, I mean, my kids are too young to appreciate what was going on. All right, good. I'm, I get that as to why it wasn't during the day. Um, but, uh, yeah, I mean, my kids are too young to appreciate what was going on. All right, good.

I'm, I'm happy for you. It's a big deal. It's pretty cool. It's a big, I mean, it's the Memorial cup. I think just an exciting tournament,

regardless of where, who wins it. I think the Memorial cup is a big deal in any city, maybe except for Toronto. But I think even in Toronto, if, if the Marley's were not the Marley's, if,

uh, St. Mike's was in it, uh, and they actually played in Toronto, I think Toronto would actually get excited about it. So you're saying we don't have an OHL team? St. Mike's. St. Mike's Majors.

They play in Mississauga. All right. They play in the Hershey Center. Yeah, the Hershey Center. Okay. Yeah, because Mississauga. What happened to the Bulldogs? The Ice Dogs.

The Ice Dogs moved to Niagara. They're in Niagara Ice Dogs. Does Brampton still have a team no they do not brampton battalion i think they're the north bay battalion or something like that wow something like that yeah that's amazing but they have i mean they have these two beautiful arenas in in mississauga and brampton now mississauga ones get used i don't know what the brampton one gets used for other than just community shit okay cool so good for you um good for me okay so i i had a chance i don't know how closely you're

following my annual pool since you bailed on it but uh you're gonna come next year but the last i heard or saw was that you were rooting for the ducks to beat the that's correct because that would mean that you had a really good shot of winning no i couldn't lose if the ducks won oh okay ducks had won the hawks since i'm i was up and i would have been bringing five high scoring players so now where does it stand so now i'm in trouble so i have nobody left so my score is frozen are you still in first though but by 11 points and the guy mofo the guy in second 11 points behind me he's bringing five prolific black hawks so he's got taves cane he's got hosa he's got keith so he's got sod that's like it's basically in any any game, he could rack up 9, 10 points.

So he's hoping for a long series or a high-scoring series? I got lucky in game one. So Chicago wins 2-1, and MoFo got one point. That could have been... Anytime I see a shot on net by Taves, it looks like three points for MoFo. So it's really tough to watch this series, actually. So I'm hoping for 1-0 games. That's so great.

Let Chicago sweep now. They've got to sweep the floor like 1-0 games. That's so great. Let Chicago sweep now. They've got to sweep before 1-0 games. You should go back into the archives and see if anyone has won the pool with no players in the final. I bet you that's never happened. I bet you. Well, in your pool maybe.

I'm sure it's happened before, but it's probably really rare. Let's get Mike Wilner on the fucking stats to figure that out. You know what? I still listen to Wilner, and I still like Wilner. I love Jay's talk so much. I love Jay's talk.

I like him on Twitter, too. He's got the same attitude on Twitter. He gets so angry with people. I heard him yesterday. What was it? A couple of weeks ago, I was driving home and some guy gets on and makes some sort of, you know, proclamation. Yeah.

It wasn't like, you know, ridiculous or anything, but I didn't agree with him. And then his reaction was just like, okay, you're wrong. Next call. No, I like it. It's so good. But your typical thing would be somebody would be like, Gibby's got to go.

And then Wilner would say... He's a big Gibby guy. Did Gibby give up that home run in the ninth inning? I didn't realize gibby hit into that double play it's like you know what in willner's eyes gibby takes no account has no accountability when things go wrong but when things go right uh gibby's a great man well that's interesting you find that in baseball more i think more than any other sport and that's happening right now in toronto because there's a lot of people who are saying gibby's the wrong manager for this club most of us didn't think he was the right guy the second round anyway yeah and the first time and now you get all these people saying well the

manager doesn't do anything except for like the lineup card and then you say okay well Cito Gaston sucks as a manager then too oh my god Cito Gaston is the greatest manager ever to live he won two world series well if he's just filling into the fucking lineup card and he's got two all-star teams, essentially, then how good is that? You can't have it both ways. So I do find that funny. That is funny. I've got to tell a story. We have time, right? Yeah. Story time with Mike?

Story time, Mike. So I've been holding on to this story until your episode, but this story only resolved itself last Thursday, so I now have a conclusion to this story. So you ready for my story? Bring it. All right. Let me. Okay. So this goes back, I guess, a while now, now have a conclusion to this story so you're ready for my story i'm bring it all right let me okay so uh this this goes back i guess a while now but a couple of months ago i started like at night when i go to bed i'd feel like it felt like the sensation of like a pin in my heart

okay like someone poking a pin in my heart right where is this going well let it go there it's fine don't worry uh but let it go there so uh i felt this and it's fine. I'd go to bed and have it for like an hour or two. And I'd kind of joke with Monica that, oh, I'm having another heart attack or whatever. But then it would go away and I'd fall asleep or whatever. And then one night, I guess this is about a month ago, like it was all night long. So I couldn't even sleep. The sharpest pain and right. And I say my heart, but it's actually I guess it's right above my heart. But right where your heart is, I felt the sharpest pain where I could not sleep. It was so bad. And now you have a mix of like the pain and then you have the whole, am I dying? Is this going to

be my last night? Like, am I going to die of a heart attack tonight? And it's like, ah, shit, like what's going on? So I actually, somehow I get through the night, like, uh, just like, I didn't sleep very well, but at like five in the morning, I think I got a couple of hours sleep or whatever. So that morning I wake up, I take Jarvis to daycare and I decide I'm going to go to the urgent care center and just like have them clear me just in case. Like I was thinking, what would I recommend my friend do? And I'd say, oh, you should see a doctor. That's what I would tell my friend to do. But I don't listen. Like I got to treat myself like I'm someone else, like to get the right advice from myself so i'm like i gotta go to urgent care so hi this is

my do you not do you have a family doctor or no yeah but he's yeah i do have a family doctor uh so that's part of the story uh so i i hop on my bicycle and i cycle to the urgent care center so it's like eight kilometers or whatever i bike over and i go in and i say i have this pain in my heart uh so fine they take me in so I get a cardiogram first, okay? Cardiogram. Okay, you're not actively having a heart attack, but we need to do an x-ray and some blood work to be sure,

because it just means you're not having a heart attack right now. So I'm like, oh, that's good. Because if I was having a heart attack, I wouldn't have biked. I knew I wasn't having a heart attack, but I was going to just find out. I don't know. So I'm there.

Now they do an x-ray and a blood work, and the nice French lady tells me it looks normal. I don't know what the pain is, but you didn't have a heart attack tonight. I'm like, okay, good. I didn't have a heart attack. So then I go yearly to see my doctor. Do you?

Yes. Because you're a survivor? I go multiple times a year. Because you're a survivor. Sure. Holocaust survivor. Yes. You can't make jokes like that. Come on survivor all right too soon um i'll edit that out so now i'm going to my doctor

just a regular thing and then in the passing i mentioned to him i'm like you know just you know i went to urgent care and you get the finger in your ass no not yet really he doesn't do it yet i guess i'm not i'm too young still only 40 you know i thought they were supposed to start it at 40 my guy doesn't do that and he seems like a thorough guy like he's a good guy there's no no i was ready for it but i guess he's gonna wait till 45 i didn't even ask anyway he's he's got this like this is a nice system now he's got like the hospital sent it to him because when you tell him your doctor i guess they send it like he had all the reports in front of him yeah anyway i didn't I didn't know how organized you were.

You sound like an old person. I didn't know that we were so organized. But now he's like, okay, we got to rule out heart disease. So he goes, I'm going to send you for a stress test. So I get an appointment with this heart place, Cardio Matters or something like that. And I'm going to do a stress test. So I do the stress test, which is kind of neat. They strap you up like you're ET.

Remember, he has all these things on him. Yeah, It's like you're pregnant. Yeah, I guess. And then, but you're doing a, on a treadmill, you're, uh, doing all this exercise to get your heart rate up and they compare. It's kind of a neat thing. So I did all that test, you know, good stuff. And, uh, the re this, the results come back inconclusive. Okay. He's like just inconclusive. So my doctor's like, I got to kick this to a cardiologist. So inconclusive. He's like, just inconclusive. So my doctor's like, I gotta kick this to a cardiologist. So inconclusive means they can't say it's good or bad. Thanks! That's a regular word.

I told my mom, she wanted to know how the test went. It's inconclusive. My mom's decided inconclusive means bad. Of course. I sent her a link to the dictionary. You need to understand. And then she said, my brother suggested, one of my brothers, I won't name it to protect the guilty he said maybe in the medical

community inconclusive means something different i'm like no it just means they can't anyway oh my so uh i go see now i gotta do a what's called an echo test did anyone suggest that you maybe shouldn't involve your mother in this in any way i don't i tell her very she's on a need to know so i'm gonna do an echo test now echo test is like i don't know there's basically like an ultrasound in a cave they do a lot of cool shit hello you get a lot of visuals of your heart doing lots of different things anyway so i go to an echo test and then i have to go see a cardiologist okay so now i'm going in to see the cardiac so the cardio this only happened last thursday so this is like weeks and i've done so many tests at this point to find out about like, do I have a hole in my

heart? What's going on? Long story short, this is the conclusion is it was, uh, uh, he says it was inclusive is because I had a abnormal resting heart rate, but he, uh, thinks it's because of the size of my rib cage. Apparently I don't have a very large rib cage and he thinks it's an audio effect because he says when he looks at And he thinks it's an audio effect. Because he says when he looks at my heart, it's actually fantastic. He says my heart's in great shape. He says the stress test. He says I chronologically am much younger than my 40 years.

He says. So it's all good. I tell him, you know, you mentioned like that you like. Yeah. I'm like, well, you know, I go, I bike 25 kilometers a day. And he goes, it shows in the stress test. You can see that. Yeah. So I had to mention to him he's a doctor it's different anyways long story short is uh i asked him okay so heart guy thank you for telling me i have a good heart like i feel

good about that i won't you know but uh what the hell's causing my pain he goes ah it's just skeletal don't worry about it that's so there's the long that months later it's skeletal i'm still not sure what that means it's skeletal but it's not dangerous don't worry about it. So there's the long... Months later, it's skeletal. I'm still not sure what that means. It's skeletal. But it's not dangerous. Don't worry about it. There's my heart story. Do you have bones in your heart then?

Is that what... It's skeletal, man. You know what they say about guys with small rib cages? What? Small penis. Small heart? Small penis. Is that right?

Yeah. You know what they say about guys with big feet? Big shoes? Big shoes. Yeah, very good. All right. So there's, that's my, I wanted to tell my heart story. So there you go.

I'm glad you saved that for when I was on the podcast. Well, I don't want to bore Steve Anthony. Billy, Billy Holiday. I got a story for you. Hey, Billy, do you know I bike? I biked while I was having a heart attack. But now, of course, because this doctor made the mistake of telling me I'm much younger chronologically than my age, now that's been my go-to line when I'm talking to Monica or whatever.

I go, you know, physically I'm younger than you. I was like, I've decided. He said I was like 30. He never gave me an age, but I've decided. But you've decided. He gave you an inconclusive. So I'm actually younger than you. You've given an inconclusive rating, and you've put a number to it.

Are you still running? I am. Yeah. Do you still look fit? You've got a big-ass watch. It is. My GPS watch. My Garmin watch.

That's crazy. I hate wearing watches, but I can't wear wedding rings either. I see you've got a big-ass wedding ring, too. How is that big-ass? It looks thick. It's not. It's thicker than mine. I've got mine a big-ass wedding ring, too. How is that big-ass? It looks thick. It's not. It's thicker than mine. I got mine upstairs. We'll compare later. We'll compare who's thicker.

You don't like wearing watches? I don't like wearing anything. Like necklace, nothing. There's nothing on me now. I'm like nude. Do you know you're supposed to speak into the mic in order for people to hear you? I'm on the mic. I'm practically kissing this thing. I just wear a watch and my wedding ring. That's it. Do you wear sunglasses?

I don't. No, and I should. Why don't you wear sunglasses? I don't. I never, I don't like wearing them. You put sweetener in your coffee

and you wear sunglasses. I put a quarter of a packet. It doesn't matter. It does matter. Just put real sugar. Moderation. Put real sugar in it. I've,

I've grown to like it this way. Be a man. Use real sugar. Don't use the fake shit. Come on, I bike 25 kilometers a day. Don't you know I'm fit? That's probably why you got fucking pain in your heart. No, I don't. It's skeletal, man. Don't use fake shit. Come on, I bike 25 kilometers a day. Don't you know I'm fit? That's probably why you got fucking pain in your heart.

No, I don't. It's skeletal, man. Don't worry about it. Yeah, well, the fake sugar is going in your bones, and then the bones in your heart are causing it. He should have had a checklist. Do you use fake sugar? Skeletal.

What does that mean? Actually, I don't know. And I haven't even bothered to Google it, because now I know it's not my heart. I actually don't care about the pain as much. A lot of it's psychological. So you still have pain now? I've had it mild since the pain as much. Like, a lot of it's like, So you still have pain now? Mild. I've had it like mild

since the all night thing. Like, I don't have it actively like right now or whatever. And it's not, it's not when I exercise. It's at night. Like when I'm falling asleep,

I'll feel like one sharp, and he tells me, if you have a real heart plane, he says, it's not going to be like a single sharp pain there. It's going to be a more general pain.

So I, I don't know. It's skeletal. If anyone knows, they can send me an email. It's skeletal. If anyone knows, they can send me an email. It's skeletal. That's what he said. He said, it's not dangerous. Don't worry about it. Oh, all right. So you're stuck with me.

And did you bike to all these appointments? No, because he was in fucking North York. He left that out of the conversation. I would have. You only biked to the urgent care. I bike anywhere I can bike to. That was a crucial point of the story. I live my life. Because I thought it was hilarious that if I was having a heart attack, like who bikes when they're having

a heart attack? I think a lot of people, I think people not knowing they're having a heart attack is probably pretty common. But then, yeah, but why am I going in if I know I'm not? Well, that was my question initially. If you're really having a heart attack, why are you? Because I felt better safe. Why are you biking? I said, if my brother told me he was having

this, what would I tell him? Would your brother tell you to bike to the fucking doctor? No, but I would tell my brother, you should go in and have a doctor. You should get someone to drive you to the doctor. I could have drove myself. I drive, you know. All right. So you have an issue with smokers at your go station? Oh, yeah.

So what's going on there, man? Getting militant, motherfuckers. Is this Oshawa? It's actually, my personal beef is with Oshawa, but I've learned now that it's in almost every single Is this why they call it the Dirty Schwa? No, it's GoTrain. It's Metrolinks.

Metrolinks is a horrible, horrible place. It's where people go to die. They don't care about people in any way. Lovely people at GoTransit that I've been working with, but I'm going to be taking matters into my own hands and because they quite clearly cannot. Smokers are degenerate assholes who feel that it's okay to smoke right underneath non-smoking signs. They feel it's okay to smoke on platforms. But they're suffering from an addiction. I don't fucking care. I'm going to addict. You're going to get addicted to the tracks when I push you on him in front of a train. You

would murder somebody for that. Go fuck yourself. And the problem is, is that Go Transit does nothing about it. And so the only recourse we have as a public is to now start taking pictures of people, which we can. Oh, you can publicly shame them? You can legally and publicly shame them because they're in a public space. But that leads to physical confrontation, right?

And then the police are going to get involved. And that's really that or the idea I have, which I'm actually going to do, is to buy traffic paint, which is really- Really? Yeah. And I'm going to be- Is this real or are you joking? No, I'm actually serious. I've found a huge big fucking tub of it on Amazon.

They'll deliver it to me. Not Costco? No, not Costco, actually. Amazon. They'll deliver it to me. Not Costco? No, not Costco, actually. Amazon.ca. And I'm going to paint the platform and the surrounding area around the station with no smoking and also put up no smoking signs, more than there already are. Because I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it. I got to walk through cigarette smoke on the way to my train. And it's a 30-second walk, yet it's a 30 second walk yet it's like i inhale 50 cigarettes it's disgusting yeah you know i uh that's terrible i uh just go into don't think you can do that painting thing oh i can't

gonna get you in trouble i will and what are they gonna do they're gonna find me as the smokers i see you on cp24 this is super arrested it's really interesting because i got them to send out a transit safety officer to the Oshawa station. And I was like, you know what? This is going to be bullshit because the officer is going to be standing there and who's going to possibly want to break a bylaw in front of a transit officer. He's got to go undercover, right? He was there in his full fucking uniform with the vest on. And then he lit one up. Nope. I was, I spoke with him for maybe four or five minutes and he actually had to interrupt our conversation twice to tell people not to smoke.

It was ridiculous. I'm like, it's that blatant, but he also didn't give anyone a ticket, which is part of the problem. They didn't find anyone. They just told them not to smoke there and go walk somewhere else. Can they emit some kind of gaseous substance that when fire encounters it, it actually puts a person on fire? I requested a sniper tower. And it might be because I'm playing Boom Beach a little bit too much on my phone, but a sniper tower would be great.

Someone illegally smokes and we just put a bullet right through your head. So, yeah, you know, I've never been on a go anything in my life. Really? I've never been on a go anything. Because I've always lived in Toronto. Even from exhibition to union? Never. Never. That's free, you know. know you know that i did not know that yeah you can

hop on an exhibition and then just go to union because it's like literally like a four minute ride i know i didn't know that uh that's interesting to hear um yeah i know fucking never never in my life anything go because i because it's always for i find typically it's for people i know although my my wife uses it from the Mimico station to Union. But I personally just take the TTC. But I've just never had it. It's faster. Right?

In that sense, it would be faster. But yeah, I used to take it from, a lot of people get on it from Kipling. Yeah. And they go right down instead of going on the subway because it is faster. And it cuts through the city a little bit more. So I'm at war with Go Transit and Metrolinx at the moment. I'm getting a lot of support. And I have a phone call with some sort of the person who reports to the, what is she,

the vice president of customer care or something like that. I have a conversation with her. This is exciting. Have you considered leveraging this monster website, Toronto Mike, with a guest blog entry about this? I have. Because I get a lot of results. Absolutely.

Like Rogers and everybody come and make things right. I was actually going to talk to you about that. I'm going to, because I didn't know because it is kind of, maybe it's dumb for people. Maybe they don't care, but there's a health and safety issue. Certainly a lot of people that care about it seems like on Twitter and

there's blogs dedicated to this, to Go Transit just in general. And I'm going to be leveraging LinkedIn and Facebook as well. I'll be writing some blog posts there as well. But I'd love to be able to blog on Toronto. They've made a powerful enemy.

Yeah, their mission is to just make these complaints go away and I'm not going away. I'm excited. I want video footage of this painting thing. That's fucking amazing. The plan as well. I want footage footage of this painting thing. That's fucking amazing. The plan as well. And I want to see that. I want footage of you being carried away in handcuffs.

I dare them. That's the money shot right there. Yeah. All right, good. That's good shit. I am not a crook. It's been so long since we recorded. I have all these notes which are really dated now.

Like, for example. Are we going to talk about the Leafs not making the playoffs? Yeah, did you know the Leafs didn't make the playoffs? Or firing Randy Carlyle? Oh, shit, that's happened. Yeah. Did you know Mike Leafs not making the playoffs? Yeah, did you know the Leafs didn't make the playoffs? Or firing Randy Carlyle? Oh, shit, that's happened. Yeah. Did you know Mike Babcock is in the playoffs? And did you know the big sign when Babcock was hired said,

Welcome to Toronto, Mike? This was the big sign. Was it really? He used it everywhere. Yeah, I even took a screen cap. So if you take away the comma, it says, Welcome to Toronto, Mike. I'm surprised that's not a banner on your website right now.

No, but when I wrote about the hiring of Babcock, I used that image. Clearly, not only do you not listen to the podcast, you don't even read my little blog. You missed the Mike Babcock entry. You know what? I think with the Mike, I did see the Mike. I saw the entry.

Yeah, you just glossed over it because you don't care. I did. I care, but it was just like it's overload. It's a fucking coach already. I know. For fuck's sakes. I know. It's more we're all shocked he would want to come here. I care, but it was just like it's overload. It's a fucking coach already. I know. For fuck's sakes. It's more we're all shocked he would want to come here. I am surprised by that.

And even Don Cherry's like, stay in Detroit, man. And Don Cherry's as big of a Toronto fan as anybody else. It's interesting. We'll see what happens. Now we just need players. Well, I think that that's what I'm more excited about for the team than just Mike being the Mike. Mr. Babcock being the coach.

You can call Mike. I think he's a good coach. He's clearly a good coach, and I think he's a way better coach than Carlisle or Ron Wilson. And I think that he's going to be boring from a media perspective. Ron and Randy were interesting because they weren't afraid to be dicks to the media,

which is always entertaining and fun. But I think Mike coming to Toronto is going to do a lot for players and attracting players. That's the money shot. When he told Bob McCow and people are going to want to come here, Ontario players are going to want to come here. To me, that's the big switch.

Big time. You got Stan Coates and all these guys. Yeah. You got Shanahan and Babcock now, and then who's going to be the GM. I mean, that's it. Now you can actually, it now you can actually

maybe now you can actually get somebody who isn't a name gm but somebody who actually is a really good gm you know because now you don't need to worry about the name gm right because you've got babcock and you've got shanahan and you know that both of them are going to have huge input into players anyway um so maybe now you can get just you can actually get a good gm and you don't have to worry about the who the person is. Because that has always mattered here, right? Like the GM is always like the man, right? And you needed a big personality.

And then you get a JFJ who was a bad hire anyway. He wasn't very good at what he did. Maybe we'll bring back Gord Stelic. I fucking love Gord Stelic. Because you mentioned Lynchburg. The youngest general manager in the history of the Leafs. That's absolutely right. He was younger, way younger than we are right now. He was 34, I think, or something.

So fucking great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but he didn't have any actual power. Do you think, I would love to ask him the question, do you ever, in your heart of hearts, I know that he wouldn't admit it because he's very self-deprecating, and I just think that he's a jokey guy, but I wonder if he ever has a feeling like, know I'd really like to do that again I'd like to have a second shot

and be given the a real opportunity to do it as opposed to Ballard just putting me in as a puppet yeah I know he did get a assistant role in New York yeah with the Rangers but that's a hundred years ago yeah it's a hundred years ago I mean I just wonder now if he's... And maybe... Probably not now because he's doing well with broadcasting and whatnot. You know, somebody was actually talking to Gord Stelic about him coming on Toronto Mic'd. I'm trying to remember the gentleman's name. And we had email correspondence about it. Really? It was like tabled, I guess, until the spring.

I wonder, wouldn't Brady be able to help you out there? I don't know. Maybe David might be able to help you out too. Maybe. He knows all those guys. It's crazy. Can David Alter get me Bob Cole? I want him on the podcast.

I'm not sure. I think Bob Cole might have to do it from Newfoundland. I don't think he... I still miss Bob Cole calling my Stanley Cup final. I know it's been a long time, but... So are they mixing up? I know they've only been one game, but I noticed that game 7 of the Hawks and

Ducks was Paul Romanuk. But that was his series. Is it now just... What's his name? Jess Hewson. It's in his contract. Oh, is it really? That he has to do the finals? He gets the finals of the whole series. I'm not surprised. I'm sure Cole had that at some point.

Yeah, probably. I'm mildly surprised that it wasn't Cole and Hewson doing the conference finals. I'm mildly surprised. Romanuk. I like Romanuk. I really like Romanuk. I know. But I really like Bob Cole.

Do you find that... Maybe I'm just reading into it a little bit too much. But do you find that Paul Romanuk is polarizing? I feel like people hate him or love him. I don't know anyone who hates him. Or actually hate him or just that he's okay. I think we're in the minority that we love him. Do you know know anyone who hates him. Or actually hate him or just that he's okay. I think we're in the minority that we love him. Do you know anyone who likes Glenn Healy?

No, I don't think so. I think everyone's opinion on Glenn Healy is that they hate him. There might be some indifferent people, but nobody seems to love him. I like the Pan Am games. Yeah. If Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt were

going to participate, at least I could feel I'm watching like one of those generational. But that tells you what kind of type of event. It's because the money. Yeah, the money's in Europe. And yeah, you're right. And they got like. And no one cares. You're right.

You're right. Like the people that you see when they flash out like in the Olympics. It's like. And here's the, you know, the 100 meter final. And here's a swimmer from Mexico. Here's the gold medal. Oh, yeah. Games like no one cares. a swimmer from Mexico. Here's the gold medal games. Like no one cares.

He's in lane eight. Like who fucking cares? Yeah, that would be great. Um, yeah, I know I'm with you. We're going back to that Pan Am thing, but yeah,

I mean, it's shit. It's the best we can get. Like it's apparently it's the biggest event ever hosted in Canada, by the way, in terms of numbers, biggest sporting event. And it's still extremely underwhelmed as a sporting event.

I do believe it's bigger than the winter Olympics. Lots. Yeah, there's more. Yes, yeah. There's more. Yes, absolutely. And way more than there was in the 76 Montreal games. They've added a bunch of events.

It's a big fucking deal to the athletes, maybe. Some of them. I would imagine all of them it's a big deal. No, because I heard about it. It's a lot of conflicts. Like, for example,

apparently there's women's soccer at the Pan Am Games. Meanwhile, we're hosting this other event where all the best... The one that actually matters. So it's like, you've got the B teams. Well, some of these... There's a lot of conflict. Some of these events, that's what

they're made for. They're made for the B teams. It's not a conflict in the sense that the A players would never play. You've got to assume Christine Sinclair would be in the Pan Am games if she wasn't busy with... I don't know if she would be. I really don't think she would be in the Pan Am Games if she wasn't busy with World Cup. I don't know if she would be. I really don't think she would be.

Okay. Why not? Okay. All right. But they'd probably have real grass for the Pan Am Games. They would. So I was going somewhere. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So these old notes really quickly bang them off.

I watched this HBO doc series called The Jinx. Now, this is going way back now, but we haven't talked since. The Jinx. It's called The Jinx. And it's about this this uh rich this guy from a rich family this new york real estate mogul family who uh like people around him are like dying mysteriously and then just nothing's ever stuck to him but uh they have this fascinating discussion with the guy and i can't remember his name now but you it's called the jinx it's an hbo

series and i don't know if you have a means of scoring this series it's fantastic i have hbo serial the podcast if it were like uh a six-part webs i'm not web series uh television series i have i subscribe to hbo go so i can or hbo now hbo okay well if the jinx is on there i i highly recommend it to you all right i will um i will put it in my phone and i'll look it up tonight. You got to do it. The Jinx. The Jinx. Gotcha. Put that in your fucking phone. It's in there. Next time you're on, we can talk about The Jinx.

What else? Oh yeah, so one of my favorite shows of all time concluded since we last talked, Mad Men. I haven't seen the final half season, so don't tell me anything. Alright, I won't tell you anything. Is it good? I like it.

I like Mad Men, even if nothing happens. Well, that's the big thing about Mad Men. That's the big sort of criticism. I guess so. I know people like series like Sons of Anarchy where there's lots of action and things happen or whatever, but I am in love with Mad Men, just the way it was written,

the way it was acted, the way it was, the style of it, the whole thing I was in love with. And I loved it to the very end. And I think it was a good final half season. I plan on, I got to find it.

I think it's on iTunes. But that's definitely, Mrs. Elvis and I watched that. So we got to watch the last half. My baby is walking now. I've seen the pictures. Very exciting. And he's one years old now.

Very good. 13 months, actually. Cool. So at this moment, I have a 13-year-old and a 13-month-old. That'll never happen again. Like, I'll never be able to have the numbers the same. You don't think? It doesn't work. Oh. Well, it never happen again. Like, I'll never be able to have the numbers the same. You don't think? It doesn't work.

Oh. Well, it could work with another kid, I guess. But with these existing children, that doesn't work. My Charlie is seven and a half months. So how,

does Charlie recognize you? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. And he recognizes Only through FaceTime. My phone just fucking died. It's an Apple product, right?

And his, yeah, he totally recognizes his name and, yeah, he totally recognizes his name. And yeah, he's eating. He's got the mummums. So now that you've got like two beautiful daughters and now there's a son. Yeah. Like, are you done?

That's a personal question. But I guess if you decided with Mrs. Elvis you were done, would you get a vasectomy? Like, is this on the table? I never really thought about it, but yeah, that would probably be the logical thing to do. I'm just naturally curious, because I'm not... Like, I don't think I'm done, so I gotta keep my door open here.

But I was wondering... I'm not against the practice, no. It's not... Yeah. I'm not... Sure. What if the study showed that vasectomy increased your chances of prostate cancer well they're already increased so i probably so why not increase it's probably even doubt it's okay i'm just curious i was just curious does it really i don't know does it well uh recent studies are

showing a higher rate of prostate cancer amongst men who have vasectomies interesting uh just stuff to look at uh but i was just curious only because I'm thinking I got to do one more. So would you? So I was thinking if I have one more, like for sure I'm done. Like that's four kids. Like I'm way done. You're already a bad human being anyway. Because why?

Am I overpopulating the earth? Yeah. So would you, if you, let's just say that, you know, you popped out or what's her name? What's her name? Popped it out tomorrow. Okay. That's amazing. Yeah. Would you then go and get snipped like the next day?

No, no, no. But it would be up for discussions would occur about it. Are you against the practice? No. Is it something that freaks you out? Why would I be? No. I don't know.

Some people just don't think it's... No, no, no. Absolutely not. No, no, no. All right. No, no. Okay. It takes a lot more than that to freak me out.

No, absolutely not. But I was just curious if you... Because you seem like you'd be at a place where you might be done. Like you can't do four kids because it's the same mom. Like three is enough. Like I was just curious because you seem like you'd be at a place where you might be done. You can't do four kids because it's the same mom. Three is enough. I did two moms. Each mom got two.

Way to go, Sean Kemp. It's different. Two moms is not that bad. No, it's probably really common. Doesn't Vander Holyfield have... I don't know. There's lots of examples. Sean Kemp is the one

that gets the most press. What does he got? Like 13 kids with eight moms or something like that? You know, I loved him when he was on Seattle in his prime. I love that guy. He's lots of examples. Well, Sean Kemp is the one that gets the most press. He's got like, what does he got? Like 13 kids with eight moms or something like that? You know, I loved him when he was on Seattle in his prime. I love that guy. He's a massive, massive man too. Yeah, yeah. He's huge.

He's got a lot of extra weight on that big frame. Quickly, who's going to win the finals? Golden State or Cavs? I'm rooting very heavily. I don't care who you're rooting for. I'm going to tell you, as I tell you, I'm rooting extremely heavily for Cleveland. Right. And I mean, I believe, I still believe Cleveland in seven. And, I mean,

I believe, I still believe Cleveland in seven. That's my, what I'm going with. Even though, yes, it was close. It was?

Yeah. But, you know, Steph Curry, whose daddy was a Raptor, of course, but this guy can shoot the lights out. It's ridiculous.

He has the record for most three-pointers in the playoffs by like a huge margin. But every time he heaves something up in the corner, I don't even like need to see it. But every time he heaves something up from the corner, I don't even need to see it fall. I put the points, go on the board, and I just move on or whatever.

It's crazy. It's insane. I'm calling the Warriors in five. Especially now that Kyrie is out. Let's take CFL off the table for a minute like most people do. I'm into cities and their professional sport championship droughts.

This is one of my little hobbies or whatever. So Cleveland's got the biggest one right now. Yeah. Okay. But Oakland's on a pretty good one too. They haven't, Oakland hasn't won something since 89. Yeah.

But it's, 89 is a lot longer than we got it in 93. So it's hard because you got to have different levels, right? Because they have the Raiders, they have the Golden State Warriors and they have the athletics. Yeah. But are the Warriors really Oakland?

Yeah. Are they? Yeah, completely. Like that's, you take away the name and just call them Oakland Warriors. Yeah, for are the Warriors really Oakland? Yeah. Are they? Yeah, completely. Take away the name and just call them Oakland Warriors. Yeah, for sure.

That's Oakland. For this purpose, it definitely counts. So the Warriors, last time they were in the finals was 75. The Raiders, last time they were in the finals

was what, like five years ago, six years ago? I don't know. I know they haven't won in a long time. In the Super Bowl and the Athletics haven't won in 100 years.

89. So 89, they swept, that was the Earth won in 89. So 89 they swept. That was the earthquake series. So yeah. So so Oakland is basically since I don't even get into the

finals doesn't count at all to me because then Buffalo would be fine. They get to lots of finals. But if you're looking at droughts so

Cleveland's definitely one and then Buffalo is definitely two. Over Oakland. Yeah. Because Buffalo has the ones in the 60s or something when

that was a Super Bowl. Yeah. So and that's the same deal. Yeah. Still legitimate. So we'll count since the 60s or something. And that was pre-Super Bowl. That was AFL. And that's the same deal with Cleveland. Yeah, it's still legitimate. So we'll count it, of course. But you've got to go way back for Cleveland. How about the Bisons?

Did the Bisons ever win a championship? Probably, but that doesn't count. Does not count. Although, at least Buffalo only has the two teams. Yeah, see, that's the thing. It's hard to, like, a New York... Like, Cleveland's only got the two teams, too. But they had an NHL team for a little while.

Yeah, that was 100 years ago. 100 years ago, before my time. Anyway, I root for Cleveland because they haven't won in forever. And because for some reason, I wasn't a big LeBron guy in Miami. I found that team to turn me off. But LeBron and Cleveland excites me so much. Really? You're a romantic.

You're a hopeless romantic. I love the idea of LeBron delivering a title to Cleveland. It's like a story. They burn the fucking city down, right? It would be like the Leafs winning the cup here. It would be huge. It would be so huge. Although the Indians made it to a World Series, right?

Yeah, but they coughed it up. Remember? Yeah. They coughed it up against, I want to say Arizona or Florida. I think it was Arizona, wasn't it? One of those two. Or was it? They went to game seven or something, and they coughed up.

Yeah, they coughed up. That was when, what's his name? Larry Walker was playing. No, he was Colorado. 97, I think. Who was it? Cleveland. Anyways, Cleveland did get to a final, but who cares about getting to finals?

You got to win it. Yeah, but still, that does say something. Well, Buffalo got to lots. They got to four Super Bowls. They got to a couple of Stanley Cup Super Bowls. But that's 100 years ago now, right? So really, it's only the Sabres that have been there. And that was a long time ago now, too. And it wouldn't be like, I mean...

That was Dallas. When did Dallas win? That was 2000, what? Oh, yeah. The Aiken, Emmitt Smith. And that was a good team. Good team. Okay.

So Cleveland has the longest drought, without a doubt. And it would be nice to see that end. No, Buffalo Sabres against the Dallas Stars. 2000. Brett Hall. 2000. So that's the last time they were in the finals, right? Yep.

That's a long... That's 100 years ago now, too. I know. In my head, though. Was that 2000? So that's the last time they were in the finals, right? Yep. That's a long, that's 100 years ago now too. I know, in my head though, in my head, I don't know about your head, but like, we talk about the Jays and like this big drought

and in my head, that was really recently. You were a maniac. That is so long ago. because I was, like I was a teenager so I feel like I was an adult. My adult brain remembers it

so it feels like it was like yesterday. You're insane. So that wasn't, that wasn't. No, it was 100 years ago. But it's in my lifetime which it feels, even though like yesterday. You're insane. So that wasn't... No. It was 100 years ago. But it's in my lifetime, which it feels... Even though I know I'm 40, I don't feel 40.

You can't even recognize the city. The city is significantly different. There was a dome, though. It's post-dome era. There was no... Toronto was a different... Toronto is not Toronto. New Toronto has a different...

There was actually a... Fuck off with the New Toronto. When was the last time New Toronto was New Toronto? That's 100 years ago. The Goodyear plant. When was that? That was 100 years ago. They still got a nice Campbell's soup plant going on.

When did Etobicoke eat up New Toronto? Mel Lastman era. So when was Mel Lastman era? 80s and 90s. No, late 90s or early... I don't know. There's only been Lastman, Miller, Ford, and now... No, but Lastman was the mayor of

Thing for a hundred years. But he was also a mega city mayor. First one. Yes. Is he still with us? Remember he had jaundice? Or like hepatitis C or something like that? He's still with us. He's probably doing a bad boy ad right now. But remember he was really sick, right? And he looked bad. He looked all yellow and shit.

Am I not remembering this? I'm pretty sure he's sick. He's an old man, but he's alive. Barbara Hall's still alive, too, by the way. She's just very slow when she's talking. She's excited about tearing down the garden. If her and Ken Dryden ever have a conversation,

you've got to cancel your dinner plans. Cancel my 7 o'clock. What do you think about that? You're a Toronto guy., you got to like cancel your dinner plans. Holy moly. Cancel my seven o'clock. What do you think about that? You're a Toronto guy. I got to go. I am a Toronto guy. I got to go. Toronto, what do you think about tearing down the Gartner?

Hybrid or tear down? What's your vote there? I don't know. It's a great debate. The hybrid's a no-brainer. Like everything east of, the east ends can go. Apparently, it only affects like 3% of people in like three minutes. There's nobody hardly using that part.

Like I'm all for the hybrid for sure. Tearing the whole thing is a great discussion because my, you know, not in my backyard is a NIMBYism. Like geographically, I'm right at the Gardner and it's like right there and it's like convenient. But I would be willing to sacrifice some commute time in exchange for kind of having revitalizing the waterfront and giving us that wonderful space. I would say long-term, we should tear down the Gardner. Well, you can't go long-term.

Now, you've got to choose one or the other. You can't choose both. So are you choosing both? You can't choose both. No, I'm choosing to tear down the Gardner. All right, fair. But they won't, because they will probably go with this hybrid option. Well, I don't know.

I really, really like John Tory, but I think he's really fucking wrong on this. And he's thinking about his short-term political future as opposed to the long-term success of the city and tearing down the Gardiner is the way to go. It's going to be painful, I think, for a decade probably as it gets done, but it's the right move. It absolutely is the right move.

Agreed. Okay, so we're going to wrap up. I'm just going to glance at my list here and see if there's anything else we got to talk about. I did want to say just a quick word because it's never been talked about, but that extremely sad news about Aaron Davis's daughter. So I attended the memorial for Lauren Davis, which was like beautiful. her favorite Beatles songs in this beautiful theater right by the Royal Conservatory of Music. The name I forget. But the speeches, the poems.

So it's right downtown. Yeah, right by the room there. Yeah. Yeah. It was just like not a dry eye in the house when Aaron spoke and Rob, who I know affectionately as Miles Long, he spoke. who I know affectionately as Miles Long. He spoke, and the father of their child,

who they call Coco, so his name's Colin, but the nickname is Coconut. They call... So Aaron and everybody's calling the baby, so Lauren had a... Yeah, yeah. But they call the dad Coco? No, the baby is Coco. His real name's Colin.

Anyways, basically it was beautiful, not a dry eye in the house, and it... Very sad. Very sad. We know it was a cardiac episode, but they don't yet know what caused that. But condolences to Aaron and the family. That's horrible. Absolutely.

Horrible. Yeah. Did you bike there? Yes. But I did. But I brought a change of clothes. Like, so I bike. No, listen to me.

Don't laugh. Listen, it was made the most sense for me to bike there. I definitely bike. It's a beautiful day and I bike there. But then I went to the Tim Hortons across the street and I went into the washroom. I had a nice collared shirt in a nice pair of khakis and I changed. Okay.

Right. And, uh, even sprayed myself with some, uh, Axe body spray, except it was old spice, but it was a body spray.

And then I went in receiving us as we came in was Aaron. So I gave her a big hug. So you went by yourself? I went by myself, yeah, for sure. I was during the day and then I changed and there was a reception after and I felt like it was for friends and family. I just felt like I was invited. I would not buy. I should point out, I didn't I went to the memorial because Erin personally invited me.

I think, I don't know if people need that explanation, but I thought that was But I don't want people to think I think think suddenly Aaron and I are buddies or whatever. No, I think that was a fair comment for you to make on your blog. I did read that, that you said, you specifically pointed out... I was actually not going to go because I didn't feel I was close. You know, I only met her twice. I met her...

And you haven't even met her daughter. No, I never met her daughter. We had a Twitter conversation once. But it's just timing wise. I actually met, I was with Aaron the friday before the mother's day when lauren passed away uh because we were at the david marsden document oh right which i know we're gonna i'll wrap up here but uh go to work yeah me too you're at work and now i'm going to i have to what that is also on my list the the documentary i saw that you went to, the opener. Yeah, the Canadian premiere.

I want to see it. Lots of old CFNY people there to support. And I've got lots of TFC tickets for us to go to the next game. I hope the next game I can go to. So expect an invite there. I'm excited to see that team. If I'm not in jail. Yeah, that would be fun.

Now that they've put the extension on BMO Field. Yeah, yeah, my brother says it looks pretty good. He's been, I haven't been. I bike by it many times. I've just never been fun. Now that they've put the extension on BMO Field. Yeah, yeah. My brother says it looks pretty good. He's been. I haven't been. I bike by it many times. I've just never been inside. For fuck's sakes. It's on my way. That's my route. I take Lakeshore to Strawn and then Strawn North. That's my Strachan. That's my way. That's why you used to live there. Did you? Strachan and King.

That's my route to downtown stuff. So are you going to the orgy at Trinity Bell? Yeah, I heard about that. It's a couple weekends, right? I'm there. Sign me up. Yeah, I'm going to put it on my blog.

Orgy. I have no interest in an orgy whatsoever. I'd rather get vasectomy than have an orgy. A lot of people bought that story as fact. Oh, it's not real?

It's satire because there's going to be something else at Trinity Bell Wiz. I can't remember. Something more PG. And as a satire, making fun of that,

they talked about the orgy. It's not real. That's so great. Not real. And that brings us to the end of our 124th show. We never did a TFC update. I don't think anyone needs a TFC update.

We're doing much better in the last five games than we have probably in 100 years. Everything's 100 years this show. I don't know why. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike and Elvis is at Oshawa Elvis. See you all next week. Fuck you, Metro. Matt Galloway next week.

Don't miss it. You've been under my skin for more than eight years. It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears.