Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Toronto Mike'd #27

Episode Date: March 13, 2013

With Rosie sick, Mike's brother Ryan steps in to fill the void.  Topics include the Pope, Stompin' Tom, hockey songs and a few stories Toronto Mike doesn't want you to hear.

Welcome to the 27th episode of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavour. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com. Rosie from MyTorontoScoop.com called in sick today, so my brother Ryan has agreed to co-host. so my brother Ryan has agreed to co-host and hosting this file this good audio file are the good people at Core Fusion. Without further ado my younger brother Ryan who's a lot taller than me but has less hair on his head. Hi Ry. Hello Mike how are you doing today, sir? I'm shaken by this, sir. I haven't been called sir in a very long time. I feel that after 30 somewhat years, I owe you a little bit of respect and you might deserve a little bit. It's true. I came out two and a half years before you did. I apologize to the listeners. My voice is not nearly as sexy as Rosie's voice is.

First of all, that's not true, first of all. Hi, everyone. It's Rosie. I'm back. I'm not sick at all. You're going to creep out Roshan in India. Keep that going. What do you mean, so? We've got to talk about the... Well, hold on. No, I want to do more intro of you.

What are you talking about? Nobody knows you. This is the first time you've appeared on an episode of Toronto Mic'd. This is true. And I just want to let everybody know that Ryan is a sports freak who hosts a podcast on the Toronto Mic Network. It's called Fantasy Sports Hookup. And he talks about really deep, statistical, interesting things about sports.

I like my sports. That is very true. I will certainly say that my number one and true love in life is definitely sports. Outside of family, of course. Outside of me. Outside of family. And your son. And the Vatican, which of course is first.

Although we'll get to the Vatican very shortly because just moments ago. This is breaking news, I think. Although it's on every radio channel in the world no ryan we never say that this is exclusive right we have word from the vatican i think that's where rosie is today she wasn't able to co-host with me because she's in rome is she the new pope seriously he is not eligible due to having the wrong genitalia but the new new Pope is some guy from South America. I think he's from Argentina.

That's an interesting spin. He's calling himself Pope Francis. All right. And I, well, we'll do it now because, you know, best laid plans of mice and men and all that. But I was going to ask you at some point, because I find it all complete nonsense. I could care less.

I know. But I was all week... Go ahead. Okay, me first and then you, because I do want to hear your thoughts on this. Okay. Since the only time we ever talk is when we're recording. It's the best talk, though, so go ahead.

Unless there's a Thanksgiving dinner at Mom's and we can fight about Andrea Bargnani. I like her arguments. Unless there's a Thanksgiving dinner at Mom's and we can fight about Andrea Bargnani. I like her arguments. So, I just, it's an awful lot of pomp and circumstance for a bunch of old men in some club to elect a leader of their religion, which was, of course, man-made to control and oppress the people. Agreed. And I listen to a lot of CBC Radio 1. I'm wearing my CBC shirt right now, as you can see.

I confirm he's wearing a CBC shirt, everyone. They've been treating this like it might as well. I think it's as much coverage as a federal election. There's a nuclear bomb in North America that could take out the entire continent. And we're waiting minute by minute to find out whether that bomb is going to go off or not. Here's what I'm trying to say right now. Let me hear it, bro. You just kind of said a few points, and I think that me and you are

very much on the same page as far as this is concerned. What year is this? Is this not 2013? 2013. I don't like 2013. Okay, well, it's 2013. I don't care if it's 1999 or what year it is really. The bottom line is this. You said it two seconds ago. The entire purpose for having organized religion was pretty much

to create and segregate and to be able to have people... To control. Control. To control the mob. To control the masses. Absolutely correct. Absolutely.

We are not in any kind of a society and in the world today where that is necessary, in my opinion, my humble opinion. However, another quick point here about this entire... But old habits are tough to break when they're so effective. They are. They are. You've seen the wealth. Every time I see footage of that church and everything.

That's what bothers me. But that's what makes me sick to my stomach. And it's simply this. And I'll say one sentence that has been said many times before. Let me hear it. How can, like, you know, mom is all over this. Mom's never stopped talking about this Pope thing. Well, yeah, but she gets just as excited over who's going to win American Idol.

But at the end of the day, doesn't the Vatican itself and the Pope being the head of the Vatican and the head of the Catholic religion, don't they have like billions of dollars? Aren't they like one of the richest people? Yeah. So if this religion is all about helping people and about taking care of people, why is that money not going out to countries to save lives? I just talked to mom yesterday about Mother Teresa, who she grew up idolizing, and about the money that Mother Teresa raised, how if she had put that money towards proper clinics and proper health facilities, she could have helped so many more people in these poor, impoverished cities. There's a lot of criticism against Mother Teresa.

She essentially, yeah, because they essentially, they basically didn't help to use her as a marketing spin machine. That is correct. It's all marketing. That's what we found out in hindsight.

That's what I actually learned. When I first... I don't have the stomach for it either, Ryan, but we both, we should point out to the audience,

we both were raised Catholic. Very much so. Went to church every day. Every day. Ryan went every day. Every Sunday.

I just went every Sunday. Actually, I went through a two-year period, just to be honest with you guys, in late grade school, early high school, where I guess a two-year period, just to be honest with you guys, in late grade school, early high school, where I guess a few things were going on. I wasn't all that happy.

And I went to rosaries every night. You were looking for easy answers to complex problems. I was looking for comfort. And you know what? I feel comforted because I was at a young enough age to buy into what my mom and my dad sold me. Why wouldn't you? I mean, you're a father.

We tell our kids, you have an eight-year-old born the same day as my eight-year-old. And if I tell my daughter enough times that, I don't know, a musician, name a crappy musician, but if I tell her enough times that this is the best musician in the world and I keep playing it and she sees the joy in my face and I tell her, this musician is the best musician in the world. At some point,

she's going to believe 100% that that musician, let's pretend Vanilla Ice, I could get let's pretend Vanilla Ice, I could get my daughter convinced Vanilla Ice is the greatest, is better than the Beatles, better than Mozart. I could convince her better than Mozart. I know you could. That's because they're kids and they believe

what their mommies and daddies tell them. But just for fun, since we're kind of on the topic a little bit here, in naming the new Pope, me and you are both disagreed. Organized religion, I think it's on the... It's bullshit. We can say bullshit. This is not on the radio. Let's go long bit here. In naming the new pope, me and you are both disagreed. Organized religion, I think it's on the... It's bullshit. We can say bullshit. This is not on the radio.

Let's go long term here. In 150 to 200 years, what do you think organized religion is like? Same. Okay, so you don't see it dying or phasing out. I see it.

Maybe 20 years ago, I would have said, oh, we'll get it. We'll become an enlightened people and we'll phase this nonsense out. Too much money?

But I see it every... Just too much belief. Too much power? You I see it every... Just too much belief. Too much power. You can't even question... In America, for example, that big nation below us, you can't even run for office and suggest you're an atheist without...

They'd sooner vote in any religious zealot over an atheist. It just seems like the world is going in the other direction. I don't believe religion is going anywhere. Okay, but do you think that the... I don't don't believe religion is going anywhere okay but do you think that the i don't want to take too long on this but do you think that the vatican do you think the whole pope and the vatican thing i just had a conversation with mom recently is i try to tell i try to tell mom that that is more of a government type institution in the hierarchical system and the way it's set up then in a political system much

more than it is having much to do with religion itself, in my opinion. Well, what is religion? Isn't it politics? Well, sure. I mean, I don't know the inner workings of the Catholic Church, but I'm sure that everything is designed to control and oppress as much as possible. I just wrote a quick blog entry right now when I saw this Francis nonsense on CBC News Network or whatever.

And I just wrote, like, the four things off the top of my head were they still won't let the poor guy in Africa where half the nation is HIV positive, they still won't let him wear a condom. The guy who prefers the same sex, whether he likes it or not, they still tell him he's a sinner. whether he likes it or not, they still tell him he's a sinner, and they still won't let Rosie be Pope, even though Rosie would make a great Pope because she was born with a vagina. She's ineligible. So women and men have never been treated the same in the Catholic religion, and that doesn't go to the point of this massive child abuse by priests and how they handled that issue, which was atrocious. They've never made amends for that and handled that appropriately. Those are just four things off the top of my head that the new Pope needs to get on

because he's got influence over a billion people on this damn planet. And the odds of anything changing there? I don't know this Francis guy, but I think the odds are pretty low. But is it really about this Francis guy? Because isn't there an entire team behind this Francis guy? Ryan, I've got to get off this. Pope, you've got me mad now. Anyway, just as a record,

I agree with everything you've just said, but I just want to say one last thing. First time for everything. I'm pretty sure, if I can say this, that you don't necessarily believe in God. I know we're talking religion here. Yeah, I know, but that's fine. What does that have to do with anything?

Whether I believe in God or not would be irrelevant, because religion is still man-made, whether there's a God or not. And I agree with you. Religion is ridiculous, but I just want to state that I do believe in God. I just don't believe in organized religion. Just because we're stating our points here. I'm not judging you for that. You can judge me if you. And I agree with you. Religion is ridiculous, but I just want to state that I do believe in God. I just don't believe in organized religion. Just because we're stating

our points here. I'm not judging you for that. You can judge me if you want. I don't care. I'm about to marry a chick who believes in God, so I mean, I'm not... She's a good chick, by the way.

She's going to have to reconsider before June 15th. Enough of the Pope. One last thing on the Pope. Fine, fine. Since it's Toronto... It's your show. Go ahead.

Last thing. If God, because the believers, because i follow uh my friend mike kick i play ball with his brother pete is a firm believer i follow him on twitter and he's all about the pope in the catholic church being you know the word of god if god has a has uh elected this pope why is it a two-thirds majority why isn't god telling the other third like it takes five votes to get this two-third majority. Is God telling everyone a different person? The hypocrisy on the base level, God is going to tell these cardinals who to vote for, and then they all vote for different people.

Sorry, I might be a bit ignorant, but is that exactly how it's supposed to work, that they're being told by God? Yeah, they say, yes, God is electing it through them. God chooses the poop. So I know on the news yesterday night, after I finished all my sports, because I really don't care

about anything else that we talked about, I saw this whole thing about how some steam, what was it, steam was coming in? Smoke, man. When it's white smoke,

they got a pope. When it's black smoke, they don't have a pope. Okay, so does that mean that God did not speak to them yesterday? Right, yeah. They went five votes

before God got through. So God wasn't available yesterday but apparently today God was able to connect with them. What would the symptoms say? Can you hear me now? Yeah. Can you hear me now? God. Can you hear me now?

God was visiting a tortilla shell in Mexico or something like that. Okay, let's move on. I wanted to point out in my introduction of you before we went on the Pope Talk that you, I noticed when I realized you were coming in because you were coming in to record your podcast and Rosie called in sick because she didn't take her flu shot. Rosie. Rosie. Then I realized that you followed me

to many of my Joe jobs before you graduate. It's actually hilarious. It's one of the things I actually brought with me to talk about. Is it true? I swear to God.

I swear to God. I got a job at the C&E and then after a couple years of working at a game booth at the X, I got you in there and you worked at the X with me.

That's correct. But can you not go on? Can we just go one at a time? No, because I want to talk about the X first. Or do you want to just go back? No, if you've got something

interesting to say about the ex, go ahead. So we worked at the C&E together for one year, my third year, your first year. Correct. My only year, by the way. And I just want to really quickly say something about that job at the ex. One of the most embarrassing two months of my entire life. It was 20 days, you know. Okay.

It was 20 days. It's not two months. But here's what I remember. I remember whatever his name was. It was your boss. Ardo. Ardo. what i remember i remember whatever his name was it was your boss ardo ardo i remember very clearly um ardo not really being too pleased with you for bringing your brother on board because i was not

bringing any money how do you think i felt exactly so i felt like i was completely like a hindrance to you basically he said he stunk and i guess i vouched and the truth is you did vouch for me and i did stink because at the end of the day i worked i worked some kiddie booth. You were in the main area, dude. I was managing Papa Ball. Yeah, and I was just some plebe who was trying to get these four-year-old and five-year-olds to fish. I'm sorry, but unless you have another good X story,

this segues nicely. I then got a job at McDonald's. You did. And I was happy after a while I got you a job there that's correct you did so you followed me to McDonald's

and then I quit it because I got a job at Food City at the Galleria Mall at Dufferin and DuPont before you go further with Food City how long did you work at McDonald's for about? 18 months I worked there for 7 and a half years I did 18 months and then I got more money at Food City I've got major dedication.

I don't care if it's McDonald's or not. I am loyal to a T, my friend. Or you're too lazy to find something better. Seven years plus at McDonald's without ever becoming a manager. It's probably actually hard to do that. But anyway, I did. It is true. It's difficult.

They pretty much promote anyone. But at the end of the day, yes, I did follow you to McDonald's. I brought Steve into McDonald's. So all three of us, our younger brother, Stephen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then, of course, go on with Food City because there's a third one. All right. So then Food City, where I was for five years, by the way.

Price Chopper, I thought. No, it started for the first three years, it was Food City. And then we changed it into a Price Chopper. Because when I went there, it was Price Chopper. OK. So I worked a few years at Food City. And then it became a Price Chopper in like 96. And I got you in there at some point.

No, I wasn't very good at that job either. But it wasn't horrible at that job. But I got the sense that... You weren't me and I was a really good grocery clerk. They all wanted me. This is a great segue into something I want to talk about. So let me know when you're done with this. Okay, the last thing I'm going to say is that's the last job we worked together, right?

Correct. Food City? Since then I went on my own. But I did go to U of T and you did follow me to U of T. I didn't follow you to U of T. It was mom and dad's direction at the time that we had to go to U of T.

I didn't have a choice. Do you remember having a choice of what university you were picking? Of course, I could have gone to York. But do you remember really thinking of anything else outside of U of T with our marks

and our ability to get in and stuff? With the money I had that I didn't want to do OSEP, so I had three options. I was going to do Ryerson, York, or U of T, and then when I looked at everything,

it became clear I wanted to be downtown, and it became clear I needed to go to U of T. Well, I went to U of T as well for one year, and then went to Ryerson and got my degree.

All right, so you said you had a point you wanted to make now that we're finished the you followed me. Well, you talk about me following you everywhere. Yeah.

And I think that some part- Even to my apartment. You're now in an apartment building that I lived in. I just realized. It's true. The apartment building I live in now, my brother lived in many, many years ago.

Go on. And you had a child on the same day as me because you, or you had a child in the same, just because your child came a few hours before mine doesn't mean that I followed you on that one. Although I guess it doesn't. Yeah. Mine came out first. Okay,

go. But you didn't push it out. But anyway, at the end of the day, the segue is this. So I also followed you to high school. You went to Michael Power. Michael Power.

I forgot. You followed me to high school where I went with Rosie. Where our younger brother, Steve, did not. So again, another example of where I followed you. And I remember Rosie from high school, by the way. Was she nice to you? She'll hear this. I don't remember her.

Her aunt will hear this. I don't remember necessarily Rosie even saying a word to me or remembering even who I was. Do you have any memories of Rosie? Yes. What? Being pretty and

being someone you used to talk to once in a while in the hallways of the school. That's about it. That's all I remember too.

That's pretty much it. She was a hottie. That's all I remember about Rosie. But anyway, and not was. I'm sorry Rosie,

you're still hot. When was the last time you saw Rosie? Pictures, not live mode. Live mode in high school.

You'll see her at the wedding. Go on. Wow, I'm excited. I'm not going to the wedding, by the way. That's fine. I've decided I've got

a hockey game to watch. More food for me. When I followed you to high school, I'm going to be honest with you here, and I've told you this before, I kind of walked

into a situation where you were much more of a shit disturber than I was. I was an extremely ignorant, naive, kind of very, at that time an extremely ignorant, naive kind of,

very, at that time, extremely passive. I wasn't very aggressive, so I would definitely take the second fiddle and allow other people to take control of things. But you were very different. And so what I remember very clearly from grade nine was having quite a few people have a distaste for me before they even knew anything about me just because I was their brother.

Oh, I was a you love him or hate him kind of a guy. Well, you were. And so, yeah, there were a few people actually that I remember becoming friends with through you. And there's the good and there's the bad. But let's talk about the bad here. I remember this story so well. I just want to go over it with you. Wait, do you want to lie on the couch?

I don't need to lie on the couch. Okay. And by the way, just for the record, you know, after grade 9. No, this is good. This is therapeutic. After I worked out the Kings in grade 9, grade 10 going forward was all good. But grade 9 was a bit of a rough one. So grade 9.

I don't know if I should be mentioning names. You tell me if I should or shouldn't. Yeah, go use names. Who cares? I remember you having a fight with a guy named Simon. Yeah, I know Simon. Simon Grahn. Simon Grahn.

And I remember that very clearly. And I remember distinctly this. Do you why yes i remember the the situation if i can remember this correctly it was something to do with choosing a partner for a project you were working on or something wasn't it no i don't know keep going i have no memory of that yeah that's what you would explain to me and it started in the portable you guys were in a portable and it happened outside the portable and it happened outside the portable the fight correct and the the one thing i remember about the fight more than anything else because someone like me as a naive weak little guy in grade nine i would have been so scared of getting into a fight and by the way i have never been in a fist

fight in my entire life just so everyone knows that right now everybody knows now sets the record straight i remember how upset you were that you broke your goddamn watch over simon's face when you hit him yeah and i remember and i remember how I was so shocked by your swatch. And I remember the swatch. What was the show again where they synchronized their swatch? Ferris, not Ferris Bueller. No, it's Parker. Parker Lewis can't lose.

That was a good show. I mean, we watched that together. You liked his shirts. But anyway, I just want to bring that up that, yeah, my brother Mike, for anyone who doesn't know this, definitely likes to stir the pot. And he had done that ever since I've known him. I just want to point out, though, the high school Mike is different than the Mike today.

I haven't had a fight in a long time, but I still don't take shit. I still forget on the ball field. I'll still forget that I'm not a very big guy. Now I'm down to 150 pounds. I go up against 240-pound cement heads. I don't remember the name. I go eye-to-eye, and I'm ready to go, forgetting I'm going to be murdered. I don't remember the name and I go eye to eye and I'm like ready to go

forgetting I'm going to be murdered I don't remember the name but there was a big guy that didn't like you and he was going to fight you I don't remember you guys ever going to end up fighting or not

but he was so much bigger than you that I would actually wonder every day is my brother Mike going to get his ass kicked today yeah I know maybe we should end this topic because I was

what do you call it I was you were the biggest shit disturber honest to god I swear to god not shit disturber you were looking for I'm not saying you have in the last 15 years at all

I'm saying at grade 9 When we're all going through our hormonal grade 9 stages You were looking for Conflict You were searching for conflict And angry I was a rebel without a cause And I wasn't

I rebelled later in life but not at that time I was first out You're right I did antagonize a little bit Do you remember us having to rush home rebelling for sure. And I wasn't. I rebelled later in life, but not at that time. Yeah, I was first out. I don't know. You're right. I did antagonize a little bit. Do you remember us having to rush home from school, Michael Power together,

to watch Saved by the Bell because we had to catch it every day? Do you remember that? No, but it does sound like something we do. We did. I did watch Saved by the Bell

every day. We caught a Warren Park bus from Jane Station and we had to get that bus by a certain time to watch Saved by the Bell on time. God, that's hilarious. I think I have to edit that part out. When's the last time you've seen an to watch Saved by the Bell in time. God, that's hilarious. I think I have

to edit that part out. When's the last time you've seen an episode of Saved by the Bell? No, a long time. Not since then. High school, I guess. Remember when Zach Morris talks to his... Well, that's not true. I saw the movie when they came back. Do you remember that moment where Zach and his dad are having that heart-to-heart and Zach's dad is always on the phone with his work? Of course.

And then Zach calls him with that big cell phone and he talks to him and he's like, Dad, this is the only way I can talk to you. And his dad right away realizes everything. He puts the phone down and he's Of course. And then Zach calls him with that big cell phone. And he talks to him. He's like, dad, this is the only way I can talk to you. And his dad right away realizes everything. He puts the phone down. He's like, oh, it all makes sense to me. I always remember Jesse Spano. Time.

There's never any time. She's lying in the bed going crazy. Yeah. That was the pills thing, right? Anyway, really, I don't know how much you have planned here. I want to bring something else up here as well. Oh, hold on. Can you hold it for a second?

Yeah, sure. Go ahead. I have a question for you. That's the... Okay. Ryan. Yes. We lost a Canadian legend last week.

Stompin' Tom Connors died. This is the hockey song, isn't it? No. Come on. But Stompin' Tom Connors did do the is the hockey song, isn't it? No. Come on. But Stompin' Tom Connors did do the hockey song. I'll play that in a second. I'm sorry. This is Bud the Spud.

Okay. And this one and this one I'm starting up now. So this is called Sudbury Saturday Night. The first one was Bud the Spud. The big hits, I guess, outside of the hockey song. But this segues into Steve, our other brother. Our brother. He won tickets to see Conan O'Brien record live.

I think it was 2004 or 2003. I remember that. So we were going to the Elgin Winter Garden Theater, whatever it's called. And we went to see Adam Sandler was the big guest, but the musical guest was Stompin' Tom Connors. I remember this.

And he played the song that we now know him best for. Here it is. And I just thought This is it. I don't know if you have... This is hockey, Mikey. 50s Mission Cup and this.

50s Mission Cup and this. These are the two songs for me, anyway. So those are your hockey songs. The Stompin' Tom Connors, the hockey song, and 50 Mission Cap by the Tragically Hip. And another one that I thought of just for the record. It's not necessarily hockey, but I remember... I haven't even introduced this yet,

but I was going to say I wanted to have a quick chat about our favorite hockey song. Well, let's throw Tom Cochran in there, Big League. Big League, yeah. That's sort of a sad one. It's kind of a sad one, but it is sports. It's definitely sports. And I remember that was a big hit at the time when Gretzky was being sold to the Kings.

And it just felt like that song was on the radio all the time. I think Tom Cochran and Mike and the Mechanics were going at it for number one on the billboard that year. Living Years? He's from Mike Rutherford from Genesis. You're a huge Wendell Clark fan. I didn't know this until today, but did you know there's a part one and part two ballad of Wendell Clark?

Oh, please. Maybe I should do my list first, and then we'll get back to it. So I took some notes here. By the way, just for the record, I'm 35 years old. That, oh please, is exactly why I have no confidence. But go ahead, continue.

Thanks for that, Mike. All right, well, come on. Oh, come on again, that house. To suggest I don't know the ballad of Wendell Clark. Well, but go ahead, continue. Thanks for that, Mike. All right, well, come on. I'm just... Oh, come on again, that house. To suggest I don't know the Ballad of Wendell Clark. Well, I didn't suggest it. I started by saying you're a big Wendell Clark fan.

Well, I posted, I think five years ago, I put my 10 favorite hockey songs and that was one of them. Sorry, I wasn't on that. So let me... You mentioned the Tragically Hips 50 Mission cap.

Yeah. You did, right? Yeah, that's my favorite. Okay, I want to mention another song by The Hip, and this kind of segues into another topic that we can chat quickly about, but I always liked two other hockey songs by The Hip.

One is Fireworks. Great song. Which is essentially about Bobby Orr. If there's a goal that everyone remembers, it was back in old 72, which is Paul Henderson, and then... Love it, love it. Yeah, it's a great song.

How many hip concerts have we been to, dude? I can tell you, I've been to 11. I've been to about 7 or 8. Go ahead. And the other one, this one reminds me of someone we lost fairly recently but the song Lonely End of the Rink which I absolutely adore by the Tragically Hip. Lonely End of the Rink is about

it's about a goaltender and his dad and the play might be on the other end and the goaltender and his dad. And the play might be on the other end. And the goaltender and his dad are sort of alone on that end because the dad's kind of watching the goaltender behind the net, if you will, in the stands. And there's a goalie. And this is like the lonely end of the rink, just you and me.

And it's sort of Gord Downie is the goalie and his dad is there with him. And every time I hear the song, I love the song, but it always makes me think of Uncle Bruce and Mark, our cousin who played OHL hockey. Hold on. I hope you're not going where I think you're going because that was my segue.

I wanted to do that so bad. Well, do it. Do it. Quickly, quickly. Now, go. Do it. About, I would say about, and help me out here, Mike,

but I would probably say when I was about 17 years old, 16, 17. Remember, I was an ignorant motherfucker, guys. I was very- Hey, I don't do the F-bomb, the mofo on this podcast. I thought you said we could swear. I did. Did I say that? You said that earlier in the show. I thought...

I meant bullshit is okay, but mofo is cool. Sorry, guys. I apologize. Anyway, the bottom line is this. iTunes will ban me. I was very ignorant. I was about 17. Mike was about 19. Remember, at this time, internet... Just so you know, I wasn't going there. I was actually not going to tell this story. I was going to do a sweet, tender story about love of a father and son.

But you do this one first, and then I'll do the sweet story. Are you sure that's cool? Of course, go. My brother took an article from the Toronto Star and he basically... An online article. He took an online article and he fudged it to make it look like our cousin who's... I modify the HTML.

His cousin... Back then, I didn't understand this could be done our cousin. I modified the HTML. His cousin. Back then, I didn't understand this could be done, guys. I mean, today, obviously, it would be ignorant for anybody. But back then, it wasn't. I mean, I was ignorant back then, but it wasn't as bad. So just remember that. What was this, 96 maybe? 95, 96? It was a long time ago, man.

We definitely had to dial up internet and the shitty computer. But at the end of the day, all I'm going to say is that you fudged the article to make it look like our cousin, Mark Gowan, who really was an OHL goaltender. At the time, I think he was Belleville Bulls he was playing for. Yeah. That he had been drafted in a late round pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs. And Michael, my brother, Mike put that in the article. And of course, call me excited to tell me about it.

No, I emailed it to you. I don't think I didn't call you. Me, being who I am, and anyone who knows me would know this about me, got extremely excited, didn't take two seconds to actually think this through, and got on the phone and called his mom, our Aunt Maura, Mark's mother, and told Aunt Maura how excited I was that her son, Mark, had been drafted by Toronto and how they must be going crazy about this news. Maura didn't know what to say or even, I remember, just silence. And that silence haunts me.

Let me take this opportunity to apologize for that prank gone awry. I thought, first of all, I didn't think anyone would believe it. I thought it was funny because how it would be such, no one would believe it. And then obviously at that time, you guys didn't understand HTML and you could modify it and host it locally. You can call it what you want to call it. It just speaks to my naivety. All right, fine. I apologize for locally. You can call it what you want to call it. It just speaks to my naivety. All right, fine. I apologize for that.

You don't have to apologize. My story was going to be much sweeter because I was just going to say, I remember when Uncle Bruce passed away of a heart attack at the age of 58, I think. I remember at his funeral, I remember Mark telling a story about how Big Brucey always had his back in the stands.

And if somebody was getting on Mark about a bad goal, Big Bruce would say, that's my boy out there. And he was an imposing figure. Very big man. 6'4", 240. He was a big man. And he had the imposing attitude as well. Like, I was all that guy.

So the guy would shut up and stop. And I just always, when I hear lonely end of the rink, I think of Mark and Bruce. That's beautiful. Thank you. For someone like you, Mike, that's actually as emotional as you're ever going to get. Okay.

And some other great hockey songs I'll just bang them off I have so many more things to say And Rosie's going to come back next week Rosie stay sick for three weeks Jane Sibury's Hockey I Love Gretzky Rocks By the Pursuit of Happiness

I knew you were going to go with that Because the POH is your band And you mentioned it already But the real statics Ballad of of wendell clark parts one and two i love that video and in that video it shows like old etobicoke and there's a cameo by uh you went to michael power before it moved right you i'm the last graduating class from the old location but on dundas near islington there's now it's a second cup exactly at the time. Exactly where I live. At the time, it was called Old Mill Donuts. Yeah, I remember.

And in this video, the Real Statics video, if you find it on YouTube, you get a nice cameo by Old Mill Donuts. And every time I see Old Mill Donuts, I remember the old neighborhood when we went to high school there. And the last one I'm going to play for you because it's like an unknown gem. I want to drive the Zamboni. No, I never liked that. This is Warren Zevon, who you might know as the guy who sang Werewolves of London. Werewolves of London.

That guy? He's dead now. Rest in peace. This song was written by Mitch Albom, who what's that stuff he wrote? Tuesdays with Maury and things like that. But this song always reminds me of John Cordick.

Just the whole notion of, you know, the guy only makes the big leagues because he's a tough guy and he fights. The other great factoid about this song, it'll turn down a bit, but is that there's a... Somebody else hitsoid about this song, I'll turn it down a bit, but is that there's a, somebody else hit somebody in this song. And guess who's saying hit somebody. I'm kind of hoping he would do it by now.

Maybe we'll wait for it. When you hear hit somebody, you get one guess as to whose voice it is. more than 300 fights till a scout from the flames came down from Saskatoon said there's always room on our team for a goon son we've always got room for a goon there were Swedes to the left

of them Russians to the right a check at the blue line looking for a fight brains over brown that might work for you. What's a Canadian farm boy to do? Hit somebody. What else can a farm boy from Canada do? Hit somebody.

Who's saying hit somebody there? What else can a farm boy to do? Hit somebody. What else can a farm boy... Can I ask... One more guess. It's obviously not Tidomi. No. Is it a leaf? Can I ask you? One more guess. It's obviously not Ty Domi. No.

Is it a leaf? Can I ask you that? No. Maybe I'll tell you. Is it a hockey player? No. I don't know. It is David Letterman.

Are you kidding me? That's David Letterman saying hit somebody. Well, no. Warren Zeon is a famous singer. It was easy for him to get David Letterman. But just so you know, that song is hardly known, but it's fantastic. Is Letterman a hockey fan, by the way? Out of curiosity?

I don't know, actually, of Letterman's. I know he's a big race car guy. He's an Indiana guy, so he's probably into basketball and NASCAR or whatever. But how much time do we have left here, Mike? We don't have a clock, but I wanted to tell a quick story

about when you were a kid and we used to watch Blue Jay baseball religiously. You were a huge Ernie Witt fan. I was. And remember at Exhibition Stadium when the sign would say... I wake up in cold sweats with this thought. When the sign would say, we want a hit. We want a hit.

The whole crowd would chant, we want a hit. And you thought they were saying, we want Witt. Correct. Because no matter what the batting order is, just put Ernie Witt at the plate and we'll be fine. And I thought it was kind of sweet that you thought it was saying, we want Witt. I did. So my question is quite simply, did you watch Canada at the plate and we'll be fine. And I thought it was kind of sweet that you thought it was saying we want Witt. I did. So my question is quite simply, did you watch Canada at the World Baseball Classic as I did?

And what did you think of Ernie Witt as a manager? Because I did not like many of the decisions he made as a manager. So let me ask you this. For example, Russell Martin saying, if you want me on the team, I'm going to play shortstop. I'm not playing catcher. And Ernie Witt turned to him and said, get out of our team. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, get out of our team. That's a good call. So there's a good coaching decision right there.

Absolutely. Be proud to play for this country and play your damn position. I actually personally think that once we lost Laurie to injury on the team, our team became so weak. We had an aging Justin Morneau. Our team isn't very good. Let's be honest. Other than the Italy game...

So how can we really, how can we really, 14 to 4 against the When we were down by one against the US in the ninth inning, why didn't he put in Oxford? He brought Oxford

in way too late. Why not? Why didn't he start the ninth with Oxford? What's he saving him for? I hear you 100%. I don't understand. We need to preserve

the one run lead. But the guy he did bring in had done well all tournament. It doesn't matter. He had done very well all tournament though. It doesn't matter. You bring in your closer, he has no tomorrow. It got out of hand too quickly and by the time they brought done very well all tournament though. It doesn't matter. You bring in, you bring in your closer.

I agree. It got out of hand too quickly. And by the time they brought Axford in, it was too late. And I just want to say really quickly, because we're talking about WBC, um, that brawl between Mexico and Canada.

Oh, that was awesome. It was amazing. But let me just say this really quickly. Yeah. I understand the whole Canada hockey. We like to fight, uh,

Mexico soccer. There's lots of brawls and you know, how the soccer gets very, you know, there's a lot of fights in soccer as well. And you know, scrappiness. So it's kind of funny how it was Mexico and Canada ended up in this brawls and how soccer gets very, there's a lot of fights in soccer as well and scrappiness. So it's kind of funny how it was Mexico and Canada that ended up in this brawl in the World Baseball Classic.

But when you're dealt by six runs, nine to three in the last inning, and you decide that you want to lead off by dropping down a bunt, do you remember Perez at their basement pointing at the pitcher? Oh, yeah, he ordered the pitcher to hit him. So you had one inside pitch, you had a second inside pitch. You had warnings to both benches. And the third pitch was square in his back. Because the pitcher wasn't going to go against Jordan. So here's what I got to say.

And it's quite obvious. And I know I'm pro-Canada. Say it once. And then let me respond. And we'll move on. Mexico stayed a frick out of baseball. Adrian Gonzalez, you can stick around. The rest, you got to go.

Because honestly, that's ridiculous that you would throw at somebody for bunting in the first inning. In why first inning and the world baseball classic is different from major league baseball in that the tie the tiebreaker is run differential so canada needed to score runs correct in case there's a tie and even if they didn't though canada wasn't running up the score they were helping their chances but i don't understand you get six runs a herpy in the world baseball oh i know we've seen it but he felt like they were running up the score. First of all, my whole opinion is that third baseman was so lazy and didn't even run for that bunt that he literally probably felt embarrassed and decided, let's hit the next

time. Yeah, but I would be more tolerant of the decision to hit the batter in Major League Baseball than I am in that World Baseball Classic, where it just looks like he didn't understand the rules. More tolerant, I'll accept. However, either one, Major League or World Baseball Classic, it was a completely dumb bonehead move. Hey, speaking of bonehead moves, this is not a

bonehead move, but they shut down Bargnani for the rest of the year. Bergs is out for the rest of the year. We never ever have talked about this on Toronto Mike, but we have discussed this on your podcast at length. And several times outside the podcast. Always. But you still believe Bargnani's got value? Yes or no? Yes. Because in my opinion, the only way But you still believe Bargnani's got value? Yes or no?

Yes. So, because in my opinion, the only way we could ever trade Bargnani at this point is if we get back a worse contract than his. We could only trade Bargnani for a horrible contract.

Had a couple of good games when he gave him minutes before he got injured. Not really. Yes, he did. Actually, his last game before he got injured was solid. But why do you defend him like this

when he doesn't seem interested in competing and the only thing he was't seem interested in competing and he's the only thing he was ever good at was scoring and he seems to have forgotten to do that. He doesn't play D. He's a defensive liability. Yeah, so all he is is a scorer and when that disappeared for most of his healthy times this year because even before he got injured the second

time, if he's injured, he did not seem interested in competing. He doesn't have any grit or intensity or passion in the belly. How can I disagree with saying that's actually a factual fact? If you're not going to defend and you're basically there to score, he's

got no value. You cannot get anything for him. Perniani is not a first overall guy. He's not even a first round guy. I'm not even going to talk about that. But what I am saying though is that he can give you a very good 25 to 27 minutes a game when you put him in the right spots and stretching out your defense, hitting some three-pointers, and basically...

You think now... He did drive to the hoop quite a few times more since he came back off the injury. I've watched every round of the game. You're cherry-picking. A lot of games, he looks so completely lost. He'd end, whatever, 0 for 4, 2 points. Well, first of all, there was a bunch of games where he got, like, six minutes, four minutes, five minutes, like that.

Because they had to... Coach had to get him off that court he plays power forward Amir Johnson might be in my opinion by far and away the best Raptor

so why do you think maybe this is because you made this quote previously that he's a top 10 guy in the league you've told me Andrea Bargnani

and I said he's not good enough to start for a CBA never would I ever call to Andrea Bargnani a top 10 player in the league. What is he? Top 10 in his position, not 10 top 10 overall.

Andrea Bargnani is a serviceable power forward. Is he a starter in the NBA? I think that next year he will be, yes. Okay, that's where we disagree. We'll leave it there. I don't believe he's good enough to start in the NBA. Okay, now one last point. He does have a lot of growing to do. He's a lot of maturing to do. He's 27. Okay, he's good enough to start in the NBA. Okay, now one last point. Really, he does have a lot of growing to do.

He's a lot of maturing to do. He's 27. Okay, he's 27. I understand that. A lot of players are wrapping it up now. A ton of players find their groove at 26, 27, Mike. In the NBA? It happens.

I'm just saying it's possible. This isn't like a pitcher or a catcher. He has too many skills for me to give up on him just yet. I don't want to talk too much about Bongani. That's all I got to say. Too many skills to just give up on him like that. I would trade him away for a bag of balls. We've gone over this so many times. That's way better I don't want to talk too much about Bernani. That's all I got to say. Too many skills to just give up on him like that. I would trade him away for a bag of balls

because that's way better than what we're going to have to trade him for which is a horrible contract. I was praying that we could leave Bernani off one podcast ever because I've never

had that happen. I'm just surprised you're still defending him. Okay. Tell me. I got some things. I don't think I'm going to have time for my stuff.

Tell me one last thing because we talk a lot on Toronto Mike and other places. I'm an e-marketing guy so we talk a lot uh on Toronto Mike and other places I'm an e-marketing guy so there's a lot of chatter about social media like be it Facebook or Twitter and you're on the record in the family as uh wholly rejecting the notion of social media supposed to run this stuff by me I didn't necessarily want to talk no I told you going cold this is better this is nothing insulting to you a lot of people will praise you for this like

to have the strength and courage to stay away from social media, it is actually probably something you should be proud of, I think. Yeah, you can't find one if you try. I love it. So I love Twitter. Yeah, I'll never tweet. I'll never ever join Facebook.

I saw mom tweeting today. I'll never ever join Facebook. So yeah, just to confirm what you're saying. So I just want to know, my question is, tell me why you have zero interest in Facebook or Twitter. Just tell me.

Tell me why you have zero interest in Facebook or Twitter. Just tell me. The only answer that I can come up with is that I have other things that consume my life, and I actually have no interest in having anybody know what I'm thinking or doing at any point in time. And I also have no interest in staying connected through some sort of viral method. Okay, but this is only my point. By the way, social media, you can call it what you want to, but I worked for Bell Mobility and I have for the last 11 years. So I'm very much into the mobility world.

So I do a ton of texting and BBMing and stuff like that. That's not social media. That's one-on-one, like a phone call. But that is a way that you can stay in touch with people. No, but tell me this. What else do I need? Let's say you've got a colleague at work that you're good work friends with. Sure.

And he goes and has twins, let's say, okay? Okay. Today, I will see the twins and learn about the twins through Facebook. Correct. That's just how it'll work today. That's how you'll do it. That's correct, yes. Well, that's, yeah, but the alternative is essentially I'll never see this kid or no

Or he's a friend. You'll say, hey, buddy, send me some pictures. Like you would have done. Nate sat on Santa's lap. And there's a bunch of pictures of Nate's, by the way, I should point out, is our nephew. So our other brother's son. So Nate sits on Santa's

lap. Vanessa shares it on Facebook. Me and Mom and Monica and everybody is liking it there and looking at, talking about it there. How do you ever see the picture of Nate on Santa's lap? I don't, but let me follow up.

That's why I think you don't need to share anything on Facebook. You need to go on and friend your family and friends and not, you don't have to tell them

what you had for breakfast. Let me give you my one very easy answer. All right. Okay? I, in no way, shape, or form, want anybody

from my past to be able to find me at any time for any reason. And how would they find you? By searching my name on Facebook. My name's not on Facebook.

But I'm sure somebody could find you on Facebook. How could they not? I don't understand how Facebook is meant to work that way. They can't see anything. I can set it so they can only

see my stuff if they're my friends and I have to approve that. I might have a whopping four or five friends on Facebook if I join. That's another reason. I actually, by choice, have a very few amount of friends.

I select my friends and they're very good friends. I know, but I'm thinking more of Vanessa is the one I'm thinking of. Because she's funny. They both share lots of neat stuff. At the end of the day, what you're saying is almost, I can almost turn this around and tell you that this is where the world is almost going awry. And I don't want to make this our big topic. Yeah, but this is where the world is today. Yeah, but it's a problem.

But you can't undo it. And I'm not trying to undo it. You can either get on board or watch the bus go by. But I've never been an advocate against Facebook. All I'm saying is I choose not to join a social media program. I don't even care about Facebook, except that if I wasn't there, I would never see my Kix kid. I would never see Nate's pictures.

But these are all things that you would never have seen 20 years ago or 15 years ago when Facebook didn't exist. Yeah, but it's there now. It's sitting there free for me to look at. Why wouldn't I enjoy it? You can and you're allowed to. And I have nothing wrong with you doing that. Me personally, I find Facebook and those things to be very – like I find tweeting, tweeting in itself – and this is not just my opinion.

This is not my own opinion. But tweeting in itself is a very arrogant, arrogant idea. But it's no more arrogant than you hosting your own podcast. Not necessarily. Like what's the difference? You're putting your opinion out there in the public space. Yeah, but I'm doing a podcast once a week because I think that people might enjoy listening to me talk about sports or listen to me talk about whatever it is that's going on.

The same way you do your podcast. People want to go on this. Yeah, but my podcast, I already have a blog. If somebody wants to go and click on the link and listen to the podcast, you know, go for it. iTunes, whatever, go for it, right?

Same as Twitter. You don't have to follow. Yeah, but you follow people on Twitter. Yeah, but only if you want to see what they're writing. I understand that, but at the end of the day,

the concept of Twitter is for you to say, I have something interesting that I want all my followers. How many followers do you have on Twitter right now, Mike? I don't know, 3,200.

Okay, so there's something that you have to say today that you think 3200 people care about often it's and that's not arrogant hold up but that's not arrogant to think that 3200 people care about something that mike boone has this thinking way more people than that read toronto mike.com it's a terrible example because there are way more people than follow me on twitter reading toronto mike.com yeah but twitter is much more of a direct, you know, from... It's not direct because you choose who you follow. Yeah, but you can tweet,

like some people can tweet like 25 things a day. Yeah, but if you don't want to see what they wrote 25 times a day, you unfollow. Like, I'm hungry. Like, there's shit. No one's tweeting that. Because who would follow somebody

who tweeted, I'm hungry? I understand that, but what I'm trying to say is, and by the way, I do, I'm not on Twitter, so I don't follow your tweets, but I'm on your website every day, so I see your tweets

because of how your website's set up to be able to view them that way so i do see all your tweets but you do know it's not i'm hungry it's most tweets i have the people i follow are you know different interesting perspective on bargnani and they'll link to the national post and eric let's just let's just let's just honestly let's finish this up if you don't mind all i gotta say is this yeah i have things that i would do over those things so if there there's any sort of sport on it, I don't care if it's a basketball game, a football game, a baseball game, a hockey game, that comes first. If I'm with my son, I have an eight-year-old son. You're going to hate this. That comes first.

The best. TV, that comes first. Movies come first. They all come ahead. The best part use of Twitter, in my opinion, is during the sporting event. You follow people who are fans and get their real-time reaction to things in the game. Well, you're going to hate what I got to to say, because I PVR a ton of games. I know, I can't watch sports much time.

Well, because I want to watch four games at once, so I have to use PVR to be able to watch them, because they're on simultaneously. I have no other way of doing it. Ryan, do you know why I'm playing time? Please tell me. I'm dying to find out. Daylight saving time. Dark in the morning. I don't want us to do this anymore.

So I want to know if you think it's time we can finally get rid of this old relic from the days when all the farmers

were relying on the sun. I agree. There's no need for it. There's no need for it at all. It's archaic.

It's based on farm. You're right. It's based on the farming schedules. Absolutely. If we could

please, when we go back... Who are we submitting this request to? Who would we actually have to go to to get this? Does the Pope control this kind of stuff? Pope Francis might be the guy. Could this new South American help us with this daylight savings? There's places in North America that opted out

of this. They don't change their clock. I think Arizona and there's other places. Saskatchewan? It's got to go. It just has to go. So I agree with you. So I just want to know who I have to talk to because I'd like to stop this silly clock change which causes more trouble than it's worth. Let's move next time. Let's

go back to the other way. So what is it? Let's fall back and then keep it there forever. Agreed. Thank you. I don't agree with you much. Do I have a minute to talk about something very quickly? Yeah. Do whatever you want and then I'll close us out. Okay. Just one little quick story I wanted to share,

because I doubt that I'll be on Toronto Mic'd. I'm definitely the go-to guest host when Rosie is not available. Ryan, that microphone is always empty and available for you anytime you want. You and Rosie kick ass. I would just be a third wheel. But at the end of the day, all I want to say is this. I don't think out of... Of course, I'm here with Mike.

He's my older brother, and Steve is our younger brother. And the three of us, we played all the sports. We were raised and we played. We were big sports. You got me into sports, and of course, Dad was a part of it as well. But at the end of the day, here's what it is. Who? When I was younger. But did you mention... I've never mentioned I had a dad. I'm just saying that when we

were eight and nine in the backyard, we were playing hockey with dad. But anyway, and I hated that because dad had to be on my team and it was always you and Steve and you would always beat us. Pissed me off. But anyway. Steve was a good goalie, as I remember. I would say that out of the three of us,

I was the least athletic person out of the three of us. And I think that's kind of transparent and clear to everyone in our family here. Mike, I think, might have been the best athlete and Steve would have been right behind him. But here's the thing. Yes. We played ice hockey at a young age. We got involved in it.

You remember Swansea. I played at a Pee Wee, my very first game ever. Now, I was about, I think I was like nine years old. Correct me if you think I'm wrong on that. I think that could be right. I remember. Pee Wee League, put on my skates. I couldn't skate, couldn't stand up on skates

while I depended on it. I remember dad walking up to me and the coach about 10 minutes before the actual game and said, hey, we don't have a goalie for the game today. And I said, what do you mean? And they said, we want you to be goalie. And I looked at him and I said, are you kidding me? I don't even really know how to skate.

And dad looked at me and said, this is perfect for you because when you're a goalie, you don't have to skate. And I said, well, what do I have to do? I didn't know. I didn't really get it. I followed hockey, but I couldn't really put it together as to what I had to do. You were asked to be Alan Bester. I wish I was Bester. Anyway, just to make this long story very

short, they threw me in a net. I didn't have any clue what to do. I'm pretty sure my save percentage was about maybe, I don't know, if the puck hit me accidentally, I saved it. Otherwise, I didn't. The final score in that game was 17-16 for our team. We won. This is the season, by the way, that we went undefeated.

Our team, Devers and Davidson. I remember you. I was on the other rink. There's a public rink beside the main rink. And I was skating around and watching. And I remember having difficulty watching because every shot I had was going in. Secondary embarrassment. You allowed 16 goals, right?

I allowed 16 goals on probably about 20, 21 shots. But you know what the only statistic that matters is? I won the first game for Derby. You got the W, Rye. Congrats. I've never played a game in goalie again and just for the record, I played about three or four seasons and never scored a goal. I love watching my hockey. I like talking my hockey.

You guys don't want me playing hockey. That's all I got to say. And that brings us to the end of our show you can follow me on twitter at toronto mike and ryan well he rejects twitter completely so don't follow him on twitter if you if you uh want to follow me i've got a podcast once a week and you can find that on toronto mike.com from the top right corner i got a drop down for the directory fantasy sports hookup. It's good stuff guys. It's been fun,

Mike. Thanks for having me. Thanks Roy. And see you all next week when Rosie's back from her sabbatical.