Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Vic Rauter: Toronto Mike'd #168

Episode Date: April 19, 2016

Mike chats with TSN broadcaster Vic Rauter about his years at TSN, the origin of his "make the final" catch phrase, Ron Burgundy, the many sports he's called and the unfortunate corporatization of sports media.

Welcome to episode 168 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com and joining me this week is TSN broadcaster Vic Rauter. 168. This is when I get the call. You're number one in my heart. 168 on the playlist. Nice save.

Nice save. How are you? No, I'm great. How are you? I'm really well. Thanks for inviting me. This is very nice. I like the goldie mask.

That's old school. That's the real deal. Yeah, that's not a replica. So that's from, I don't know the origin story, except I've had it for like 40 years. Right. Well, then, of course, you realize, do you remember, did you ever see those old pictures of Jerry Cheever?

Of course, yeah. Well, because he had, of course, he would take his black magic marker and every time he thought he would get nicked, well, by the end, it was almost totally black. Right. It's hard to believe that guys like Johnny Bauer and Jacques Blanc back in the day, of course, played without masks.

It's insane, really, when you think back. Like, it's crazy. But they did. And about your commute, I just want to apologize right off the bat. You have what may be the longest commute in Toronto Mike's history. I live in Orillia.

Moved up there just shy of 10 years ago. And it's a great spot. I don't have to, fortunately, I don't come into Toronto every day. If I was doing a show, say if I was doing sports centres, it would be a tough commute. You know, just last week we did the world curling from Toronto instead of going to Switzerland. So we called it off tube. Toronto instead of going to Switzerland. So we called it off tube.

So that was, I think I put close to 3,000 kilometres on the car in about 10 days. So is that a cost-cutting thing? That's just, we can save some money by sending it? Well, I think, you know what, I think it's become, it's going to become the norm. You only go back to the London Olympics a few years ago. The majority of it was done from agent court. And we all just sat in a booth, people from TSN, people from Sportsnet. And,

you know, we crossed paths. We just, the booth would open up, I'd walk in and, okay, today I'm doing the marathon. So I'd put the marathon map up on the wall and get all my notes and my homework out. Yeah, I think it's going to become the norm, especially as costs, especially with the U.S. dollar being what it is. The Swiss franc is obscenely expensive compared to Canadian dollars. So, frankly, yeah, it was probably cost-saving. So, frankly, yeah, it was probably cost-saving.

Now, Aurelia, I'm just wondering what makes you do what might be, I don't know, a four-hour round trip. I have no idea from Aurelia. It's around there. Hour and a half. Hour and a half each way, right? It was an hour and a half to your house, exactly. Okay. So, a three-hour round trip to go to a stranger's basement for an hour, chat. Oh, well, I mean, listen, the people you've had on here is a credit to you.

You've had some good friends of mine, including Don Landry. And so when you gave me the call, I was very intrigued and look forward to the chat. No, you were number 168 on my hit list. Well, that's nice. You know, on some women's lists, I'm a lot worse. Hey, I heard you.

We're going to get to that. Don tells me you like school teachers. Oh, yeah, okay. We're going to get to that for sure. Now, when Don was on, speaking of Don, we're going to get to him later, because I'm going to play a clip of him talking about you. I was trying to think of what's a good curling song, and I came up with the Men With Brooms soundtrack

has a song Sarah Harmer in the Tragically Hip called Silver Road. Okay. And then after the recording, I realized I'm missing the obvious, which is the Weaker Than's Tournament of Hearts, which we're listening to now. So you get the true, might be the greatest curling song. Tournament of Hearts. Yeah. That's great. You're not familiar with Tournament of Hearts, which we're listening to now. So you get the true, might be the greatest curling song. Tournament of Hearts.

Yeah. You're not familiar with Tournament of Hearts. Yeah. You know, it's amazing to me. I've been doing curling now 30 years. The first event was the Canadian Mixed in 1986. It's remarkable. And the sport has taken me all over the world

and across this country, north, south, east, west. Would never have thought being involved in the sport would be this good. We're going to dive into curling, don't worry. Quick shout-out to my son. My son's House League Hockey final is tonight at George Bell Arena. Really? You know, the House League hockey finals is a big deal around here.

That's our Stanley Cup. Yeah, of course. Now, I'm not going to even mention the fact it's a four-team division. I don't even – don't worry about the fact it's four. Who cares? We're in the finals. That's all that's important. So anybody who wants to come out to George Bell Arena tonight

and cheer for, I think they're called the Storm, but they're wearing the navy blue. Now you tell me please, you don't get something if you lose. You know, that's a great, I think everyone gets something, but it might be something like a t-shirt or something like that. But the winner is held up as being the winner.

I'm glad you mentioned that, Vic. I hear about like, oh, kids don't even lose or win. Everybody gets a trophy and there's no... I heard somebody tell me that they stopped keeping score. I've never experienced this. No, I've heard that too. I've heard this and I always say, well, I have one daughter.

My daughter plays soccer and my son plays hockey. The little two don't play anything. But they've always kept score. They've always had winners and losers. There's a champion at the end of the season've always kept score. They've always had winners and losers. There's a champion at the end of the season. We're keeping score. We still have winners and losers. That's what it's about. Especially on Facebook.

They don't keep score. Kids don't know how to take disappointment because we've groomed them so that they're all winners and we don't set them up for the real world. This is nonsense. Exactly. I lost plenty and my son is losing them up for the real world. That's nonsense. Exactly. I lost plenty and my son is losing plenty. We know how to lose in this family. There's no problem there.

The beer before you from Great Lakes Brewery, that's yours. You take that home. Thank you. You don't have to crack it open like my last guest who had at least two cans. Yeah, really. But you got a long drive ahead of you i do and i don't need to be stopped i don't like those beep flashing lights things like that and if anyone wants to help crowdfund this podcast it's patreon.com slash toronto mike

so get over there and and help keep this thing going so we can have more greats like vick router uh come to my basement so I can pepper him with all of your questions and mine. Let's dive in, my friend. Okay, let's go. So how did you get into broadcasting? Take me way back here. I loved it. I'm 62 years of age now. And so I go back to the days of the old tabletop radios on my parents' kitchen table. And my dad had the radio tuned to CFRB and the legendaries, people like Sinclair and Dennett and the like. And I used to listen to Wally Crowder in the mornings. And everyone, when he snuck out, I'd switch it over to listen to Chum. I wanted to hear some rock and roll radio, and then I'd put it back. But I always was a radio guy. That proverbial had the transistor

underneath my pillow listening to WoW Radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the Fort Wayne Comets, and that kind of thing, and listening to baseball out of Detroit. Yeah. And so I wanted to always be in radio. And my marks weren't good enough to get into Ryerson. Even then, it was ridiculously hard. And so I ended up going to Humber College for a year. Took journalism. Got a job right of my first year at CFTR. Now, you mentioned the little transistor back when you were a kid.

I was the same guy, and I would listen to Tom and Jerry do Blue Jay games at night, but I listened to CFTR in the mornings with Tom Rivers. Of course. Can you tell me a little bit about those days at CFTR, just for a guy who, that was my station as a guy going to primary school. Well, it was fun, you know, because we were basically allowed to do what we wanted to do. And for a news guy, and that's what I was. I started off doing the news and being a reporter, and I chased fire trucks and ambulances and did all that kind of thing.

And I can remember those old page boys going off, and my dad would be there in the morning when I came up. He worked in the restaurant business, so he worked nights. And he'd say, this is not what I want for you, Vic. This is not what I want for you. What do you get a nice job, a good job? Dad, this is what I want to do. But for me, I was always at what people were talking about. If there was a major fire, or, you know, I remember covering City Hall for a long time with mayor david crombie at that time and all of us involved in that time we were it was really cutthroat for us against chum i'll give you an idea yeah bay city rollers were coming to town back in the day and uh it was a chum promotion so they landed at the airport we actually had eddie luther up in his helicopter and that time i lived in midtown toronto and

they said where is he does is anybody around and because they followed his this limousine and i said well i'm around vic get. They're going to the end of the park. Well, as soon as their limo pulled up, I was right there behind them with my right there radio news car, 680. And I did this interview, pardon me, as they got out. Well, that just blew it for Chum because we had the interview. Yeah. But that has how really fierce the battles were between Chum and 680. Right. Rock and roll.

Right. And it was fun. It really was fun. I'm not sure it's changed. I think the competitiveness is gone. There are so many stations. I mean, just to, I'm going to ramble, I'll think a little bit here, but there was a time, Mike, I could tell you everybody who was on the air in both Toronto and probably Buffalo, you only had a limited number of stations, AM and FM. Stations were two, maybe three when City came on. Okay. And you had three, including or four maybe with PBS in Buffalo.

And you knew them all. Right. You knew all the people. So it's changed dramatically. It really has. And it used to be you had your lineup, but now it's always changing. So you can't kind of keep up. Not only are there so many stations, but the constant change and turnover.

Yeah, and I don't think those people are as well-known today. If you were Duke Roberts and you were working the rock and roll at Chum, or if you were Bob McAdory, late-back Bob McAdory who I got to work with, or Jungle J. Nelson, these were heroes

in radio. Do you remember Dave Mickey? Yes, of course. He's been here. Is that right? David Marsden. Yes, of course. Although you knew these people, and they were all marketed people for their radio stations.

That doesn't happen very much anymore. It was fun, though. It really was. We were allowed to do things, and, you know, eventually what happened, how I got into sports was that John Badham, we used to, we, TR, CFTR, used to have the Argo broadcasts. And John Badham, who now lives in Peterborough and I think still does some radio in Peterborough, he was the play-by-play voice.

And when he left to go out to do the BC Lions, because the Argo rights went back to CFRB, and John Hinnon, who was second in sports there, who eventually became and is now retired the vice president of news for Rogers, he moved up into his number one slot, and they said, listen, do you want to do some sports? And I said, yes, okay, and that's how it started. I did weekend sports, and then eventually Global came calling. So, yeah, you were at Global TV for four years. Four years. And I guess that's how you kind of segue from radio to television is on Global.

And that was fun, too, because for a different reason. I mean, Mike Anscombe was the sports director. Bill Bird was the other sportscaster at the time. And they started a morning show called Daybreak to try and compete with Canada AM. So that's why I was hired. And then I would do that show, and then I'd go out and report during the day. It only lasted 18 months, but I stayed four years. But what was fun about it was that was when I got there, it was the first year of John Candy and SCTV.

Thanks. And so they were off in another part of the building. Now, I'd go in to do the late sports, and I'd go into the makeup to get makeup on. And there would Candy be with a snake on his face and Eugene Levy and all these people. Catherine O'Hara and Joe Flaherty. That's amazing. So I got to meet all these people.

And a few years later now I'm at CBC and they've sent me down to Dunedin to cover the Blue Jays. And so they're playing at Sarasota, and off we go to Sarasota, the cameraman and I, and we're in the third base box, photographer's box, and the announcer says, Oh, ladies and gentlemen, here to promote is his new movie,

A Summer Rental, here is John Candy. And out comes Candy. I remember that he was an air traffic controller, if you remember in the day. And he wore his big Blackhawks jersey. And doesn't he get to the pitching mound, and he looks over, and he sees me in the third base. Hey, Vic! Vic, how you doing?

And so he throws the pitch, and his handlers want to take him off. And he says, no, I've got to go see Vic. And he comes over, and we talk, and we reminisce for a few minutes. He was just one of these big, very nice, cuddly big men. Before he died, he had bought a place on Pape Avenue, I believe, a theater, where he went to watch movies when he was a kid. And he had bought this theater, and he was going to refurbish it and open it again. But then, of course, he passed away on a shoot.

But he was just a wonderful, wonderful guy. I hear nothing but good things about John Candy. I just wish he was around. I could get him in this studio. I think if my memory serves me correctly, I went to high school at Michael Power and the legend was there that he had gone to Father John Redmond, which was

in our same division. Which, by the way, you could throw a stone from here and hit Father John Redmond. So apparently he grew up not too far from where we are right now. Well, I think my understanding was he grew up in East York around. Now, he may have gone. See these legends. But yeah, the Father John Redmond story, who knows if that's true?

Maybe every part of the city is claiming John Candy as their very own. No, I knew it. I believe it was East York. But yeah, you know, from global then, you know, if somebody sees you, somebody moves and somebody goes away. And I just left. I left weeks before McCowan, Bob McCowan came into Sportsline. Right.

And then Sportsline was, something similar had been going on in the States. It was something Michael's. George Michael? George Michael. The sports machine? The sports machine. Oh, yeah, I remember.

And so I think that's where Bob may have gotten his idea. But Steve Cooney left CBC, and he was the evening guy to Brian Williams during the day. Steve Cooney leaves, they give me a call, and I go to CBC. You know, a door opens, and you walk through, right? Door closes, a window opens. And so I ended up being four years there, and then they terminated me, and I was working within two weeks at CFT at TSN, which

had been on a year at that point in time. And that's back in 1985. 85. They went on the air in 84. And the the the curious thing about that was, I was working for the local channel 5 affiliate, CBLT. And so they had a change of management, and that's fine. They let me go. They didn't renew my contract. But I had still taped items that had not run, were in the can that had to run on Sports Weekend, which was Ernie Afghanis' old show. I get hired at TSN, and I'm not supposed to start for about three or four weeks.

They wanted me to get to know the lay of the land. And then one day on a Wednesday, they say, listen, we're really stuck. Can you do the sports center? It's 6 o'clock. And I said, sure. And they were on Leslie Street at that time, just north of the end of the park. So I go in, and I'm writing my show and getting ready to do this, my first ever show. And there on the monitor, I'm on Sports Weekend in the melon colored jackets. Remember those melon colored jackets?

Yeah. CBC people had to wear with the exploding butthole in the pocket. And so there I was on the melon jacket, and Ernie Afagana says, goodbye, everybody. Thanks for joining us Sports Weekend. And on TSN, up comes me in the black jacket with the TSN logo on the pocket, yeah.

Exploding butthole. I've always thought of it as more of a pizza. Well, it depends what your thoughts are on the CBC. That's what we want to know. What does Vic think of the CBC, really? It's a butthole. Because I have one of those. I have a t-shirt with the exploding butthole.

And forever, I've, oh, it's the exploding pizza. Now all I'm going to think when I see this t-shirt is exploding butthole. Yeah, the butthole, yeah. That's right. You know, for the longest time on this podcast, I had like a series of Rogers Sportsnet guests. Like, I won't name it, but basically Strombo and Elliot Friedman and Damien Cox and these guys. They all come in, like lots of Rogers Sportsnet guests, like, I won't name it, but basically Strombo and Elliot Friedman and Damien Cox and these guys,

they all come in, like lots of Rogers guys, like Wilner and Eric Smith, whatever. They all come in. But I had the hardest time and I realized I didn't ask you until episode 168. I realized that.

But I had some other, some TSN people. I couldn't get TSN people. So I'm just pointing out that in this year, I have a triple play here because in 2016,'ve had uh mike richards james duffy and yourself so okay it's evening out i just want you to know eventually it is slowly and the way it works so don landry comes on and he's and we're gonna play this in a minute but he talks about you and i'm like i gotta get vick on this show what was i thinking like what was i thinking and now you're gonna probably it's gonna be like you're gonna pass it on you're gonna like tap somebody else sure, I got to get Vic on this show. What was I thinking? Like, what was I thinking? And now you're going to probably,

it's going to be like, you're going to pass it on. You're going to like tap somebody else. Sure, you've got to go see Mike. Right. So the TSN numbers are rising. I just want you to know that. You were, so at TSN, so at the beginning of TSN, so what exactly were you doing?

Like, I know you become the first host of CFL on TSN in 87, but way before that. the first host of CFL on TSN in 87, but way before that. Well, I mean, TSN goes on in the air in 84. And it was interesting because we were all, we were in Los Angeles for the Olympics of 84. And I was there, my sport that year was field hockey. And the Canadian men's and women's teams had done very well leading up,

and they were expected to medal. So that's why they paid this attention. And so just a long story short here. So Brian Williams every day, basically the Olympics shut down in L.A. because of the heat. The only thing that played was field hockey on this artificial turf in East Los Angeles, which was very Hispanic at the time. May still be. Anyway, so Brian would say, oh, it's time for afternoon hockey in LA.

And they'd come to us every day. We'd fill about 60 minutes doing field hockey. People in charge then, of course, were the late Jim Thompson and Gordon Craig. And Gordon Craig had just left CBC. And it was announced at the Olympics in Los Angeles that John Wells, who else? Trying to think now. And a few others were leaving to go to start TSN. And so at that time, we thought, okay, well, this is

good. I mean, I'd be quite honest with you, I did not think it would work. You know, ESPN had been on the States, I think, five years to that point, or four. And I thought, we just didn't have the population, we just didn't have the demand for it. Well, I was totally wrong, of course. So, uh, then a year later, I'm, I'm out of a job and I get hired and I was basically hired to do sports centers. Uh, Michael Landsberg was there, Jim Van Horn was there and a number of others. Um, and that's what I got hired to do. And then it's interesting. And that's what I got hired to do. And then it's interesting, Jim Thompson comes over. He gets let go after the Olympics, so he becomes a vice president.

Gordon Craig, who was part of CBC for many years, he's there as the president. And more and more people gravitated. People that I worked with at CBC were now working at TSN. worked with at CBC were now working at TSN. But no, initially I was, again, it was an era of we all got a chance to do everything. So when you say, was I the first CFL host? No, maybe I did host a game. Did I host a car race? Yes.

Did I do something else? Yes. I did this and that and this and that and got a chance to do a lot of things. Very versatile. Oh, yeah, you had to be. You had to be like a Swiss Army knife. Well, I think you have to be in this business, I think. Listen, I think any of the people you have come to meet and talk to, you can't

just pigeonhole yourself. You have to be able to do everything or try to. You mentioned Jim Van Horn. Gino Retta was there at the time, I think. Yes. He came a little later. Okay. I'm just wondering, what has happened to this nation's great mustaches?

Okay. Because TSN had some great mustaches in the mid-80s. Well, you had Jim, of course, and then Gino, of course, and then the guys were growing their mustaches for Brovember, of course. Oh, yeah. That's sort of a recent phenomenon. But you know what? It was always thought, I was always under the impression that facial hair was less trustworthy.

Hmm. That's why the leaves aren't allowed to grow. That's what I'm telling you. Well, that just weighs them down and it just slows up their skating. That's why. It weighs them down and it is it just slows up their skating that's why it weighs them down this is a relevant question actually so on my blog torontomic.com i gathered some questions for you so periodically throughout this chat i'm just going to sprinkle in some of their their questions sprinkle away sprinkle away rob j he says in the early days of tsn

what odds would you would you have given that today there'd be nearly a dozen all-sports channels plus the ones dedicated to just one team or sport? So you mentioned you didn't think it would work. And here we are today, and there's multiple all-sports stations on radio and television, and like you said, there's Leafs TV. Come on. So I guess we'll let go. Yeah.

So how surprised are you? Well, yeah, very. I mean, honestly, I didn't think it would work. I still think that you can cut this pie too small. And it's all about cross-promotion now. And in some respects, it drives me a little crazy. I'll listen to 680 News because I want to stay. And when their top story is a Blue Jays story, I go, really?

Oh, yeah. There's nothing out there that is of newsworthiness, that it's not the Blue Jays, and you're talking about this and touting that, and then about three stories in, now they're talking news. Right. Really? Yeah.

And I understand that promotion goes on on both sides, on the Bell Media side, on the Sportsnet side. We cross-promote this. But I do really think that they are getting to the point where the pie is getting cut too fine. I'm glad you mentioned that because, and I'm always, my wife will watch, she'll watch, like, for example, The because, and I'm always, my wife will watch, she'll watch like, for example, The Social,

and I'm trying to remember, The Social is at a, I think that's a Rogers entity. No, it is not, it's CTV. Okay, that's a Bell entity. So it'll be, I remember, there'll be, some guy will be on talking about the latest series on Crave TV. And it's like, so basically you're,

a lot of infotainment, whatever you want to call it, but it's basically, it's, and I'm sure the Rogers side has a similar story about this great series we're going to review that just happens to be on Show Me. So it seems like it's all over the place. The Bell, Rogers, cross-promotion. I bet you soon we're going to see leading news. Maybe the CTV Canada AM leading news will be Argo's preseason games. That's going to be the leading news.

You know what? Listen, it may not get to that point, but having said that, they will... See, we never... And again, I try to hearken back to the day that when you were in a newsroom, you had autonomy. You worked your newsroom.

That was your job. Right. You didn't... Management didn't come down and, or very rarely came down and gave you any kind of a directive to say, you have to go and do this, or you have to go and do that, because they just didn't do that. Today, I'm sure those emails fly.

You remember, now, Rogers today might just be saying, Blue Jays tonight are in Baltimore. You've got to talk about them. Or all the promotion with regards to the home. The home opener is great. I understand that. And it may be the number one story, but it doesn't have to be two, three, four stories. Right.

I understand that. But it happens on both sides. As a viewer slash listener, I long for the days where it wasn't so corporatized and muddy. Like it was just, you covered the big sporting events in the priority sequence that they were instead of the properties that we own or control, getting some kind of preferential treatment to, to promote,

you know, sales of, you know, at the dome, et cetera, et cetera. And listen, and I,

and I, and I, I'm, I would think, and I believe, yes. For example, if I, you always, there was that old adage about leading local and lining up your show. What is most important to that person watching right this minute, tonight? And I think we've lost that. I think that in many cases, you are directed to lead

something because it's your property. Absolutely. But it's the way it is. That's all. Let's take a break here so I can play a tribute to you, if you will, that appeared on SportsCenter, which I still call SportsDesk. Am I allowed to do that? Yeah, it is, actually. Remember the old set? Yeah, of course. It used to have that ramp.

You expected some motorcycle, evil Knievel, to come right up and leap over the two anchors. I think I asked Duffy this question, and he thinks the reason it went from SportsDesk to SportsCenter is because ESPN's was called SportsCenter, and they had some agreement, and it meant a lot of athletes, like LeBron James will say something like, coming up on SportsCenter, and they could reuse it.

That was his theory. I don't doubt that. No, exactly. Except for the spelling. I mean, if we could get away with the ER, yeah, we probably would. But no, I think he's right. Tribute to Vic Router.

So you're good. I'm glad you got your headphones on. You don't want he's right tribute to vick router so you're good i'm glad you got your headphones on you don't want to miss a tribute to yourself okay final stone in the really hard run it back jump it across a brilliant curling shot in this country needs TSN's Vic Rauter on the call. Otherwise, it's like a sandwich without the tangy zip of Miracle Whip. Vic puts the personality in broadcast personality, and he's the subject of what could be the greatest top ten ever. 10.

F. Isn't this special? And definitely a first. Hospitality everywhere has been wonderful, but nowhere has anyone welcomed me by making and carving a Welcome Vic sign. And it is quick. It is quick. Somebody take it. Don't argue over it. Take it.

Drag it back. Drag it back. Unbelievable. Petsa Salido. Petsa Salido through the middle. Can he catch it? Petsa Salido. Petsa Salido.

What a goal. Mitchell from the right side cuts it in. Bonbury. Bonbury. Thirty-nine. Thirty-nine. Thirty-nine. Thirty-nine.

Thirty-nine. Thirty-nine. Thirty-nine. Thirty-nine. Thirty-nine. Thirty-nine. Thirty-nine. Oh, what a goal! Mitchell from the right side cuts it in. Bonnery! Bonnery! 39, Ali says he can still do it. I doubt it. I will do it tonight with Christina Prochmersky. This is the sports at 11 o'clock. The sheep have arrived, the competitors are here,

and we are ready for this 1986 Canadian sheep shearing competition. And the rules are pretty simple. Speed is important, but not that important because you don't want to go so fast as to cut something off that wasn't supposed to come off. Vintage Vic from a memorable skins game in 1992. Watch him fly. Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! 1992. Watch him fly. This is Kakinga. He is the dominant gorilla. He is the silverback. There are two other adults. There is a baby and arriving soon from the Bronx Zoo in New York, four more adults, all considered, of course, lords of the jungle. Heading into day three of play at the Saddledome, the question Four more adults, all considered, of course, Lords of the Jungle. Heading into day three of play at the Saddledome, the question was who could beat the Lords of the Ring so far? Alberta and Ontario.

Counting them up at the 2001 Scotties. Curl up, bump it back, look at that. Count them. One, two, three, four, five, four. It's Hebron Island. It's handshakes. They talk about 50,000 people a year here on Lake Simcoe and some 5,000. It's got to be something more to this ice fishing for me. Now this is ice fishing.

Vic Roeder, TSN, in the ice fishing capital of Canada, Georgina, Ontario. Hey Vic, come on back in. I gotta go back. I promised her a dance. And of course, it's Vic Roeder's signature finish. Make the final, make the final. Make the final. San Francisco 10, Montreal 5. SportsCenter Top 10. Make the final.

Make the final. It's amazing I went 31 minutes into this podcast before I said, make the final. Tell me, I want to hear the origin story from Vic Router. You know what? I think, quite honestly, it started at CBC. And I just one night said, make the final. And it stuck with me.

Simple as that. Yeah. Never contrived. I don't try. Try, I think, is all broadcaster. We look for something that may be signature. And I'm flattered that people have said that it's make the final. But no, you're out there being a broadcaster

and trying to relay what you think and what the pictures are. That last one there from, I miss those days. I used to do the expos for about three or four years., I miss those days. I used to do the Expos for about three or four years. Really do miss those days. That was, to be part of baseball is, again, very similar to curling, laid back, don't have to watch it as intensely as a hockey game or a football game.

You can talk a little bit between the pitches, get a little bit more in-depth. Yeah, I miss those days. You know, it's a fun fact that 92% of Canadians can do a Vic Router impression, but they always use just those three words. So 92% can do it, but it's always make the final. That's it. There's no more.

No, they can't go beyond that. The only person that could do it was my buddy Don. Yeah, he was terrific. Oh, you're a professional because that's a fantastic segue here. Let's hear Don. All right. One more clip that allows you to drink another beer.

Just kidding. No pee pee. He's not drinking any beer. I'm going to play some Don Landry. This is from episode 162. And Don is, we're talking about dueling Vicks and more. So here's Don Landry. Who should I have on?

Well, you should have Vic Rauter on. You absolutely should have Vic Rauter on. But I can't, and we're going to get into this in a minute, but I'm not even able to fake my way through a curling convo. We're going to get to this. You don't have to, though. That's the beautiful thing about it. Vicks more than curling?

Way more. He's just a ride. He would make the drive to this neck of the woods? Yeah, he would. I think he would. All right, I'll have Vic on. The true story is when Pat left, we started sitting around going, okay, who's next? And at the top of the list was Vic Router.

Now, Stellick was not far behind. But the truth of the matter is we approached Vic and said, what would it take? Do you do requests? Could I request a little Vic Router? I haven't done it in a while. Well, I guess if you don't watch Curling, I just make the final. I should say, since I'm in your basement,

Mike the Final. This is a great podcast. That's my new bumper. Vic is a guy who... This might be an interesting story. I started doing an impersonation of Vic Rauter in high school because I'd seen him on TV.

He was with CBC at the time and I liked him in that but as fate would have it he starts dating my English teacher get out of here it's the truth and I never met him at that time but I have memories of being in the cafeteria and and entertaining people with hey what's it sound like when Vic's on a date with the English teacher, right? And so I was doing that. And I was kind of honing the router impersonation at that time. And years later, when I finally met him, I said to him, there were rumors that you were dating my English teacher. And I gave the name and he went, yep. That happened. That's almost as good as the story I'm not telling, but Adam Vancouver did. That's a fantastic story.

Make the final. Vic Rauter, like I remember him from like the old TSN, like Sports Desk, just Vic Rauter. Like, yeah, I would love to have that guy on. Why not? Let's go. He's fantastic. The thing is, I went from impersonating Vic Rauter when I was a high school student to he's, we're close friends now.

I'm happy to say that. We met each other through him co-hosting and then we would have him on whenever we possibly I was a fascinating Vic router when I was a high school student, too. We're close friends now. I'm happy to say that. We met each other through him co-hosting, and then we would have him on whenever we possibly could. Dueling Vics, right? We did Dueling Vics. I'm never Dueling Vics. We did that whole thing, yeah, which I won. I'll remind everybody that we used to do these best of seven Dueling Vics, best of seven in callers calling in. And we did seven separate ones.

It went to a seventh and deciding D dueling Vic, and I won it. He was supposed to change his name legally to something else so I could be Vic Rauter. He never did it. That's the one thing I find very shameful. But he's a smart guy. He's as smooth as they come. I think he's doing his 30th briar starting this weekend.

He's a great friend, and I think he's one of the superior talents when it comes to play-by-play in this weekend. He's a great friend, and he's just I think he's one of the superior talents when it comes to play-by-play in this country. There's a ringing endorsement. Yeah, dueling Vicks. I can remember going into and Don's right. We did chat, the fan

and I. Nelson Millman was kind enough to talk, and I just wasn't ready. I was still enjoying TV, and still do. But then we did this first dueling VIX, and we came up with the freestyles. What we would do is we'd pick certain words that we both had to say. So we'd say meatball, and he'd do meatball, and beer, beer. and he'd do meatball and uh beer beer and then we go into to uh to uh freestyling it and we'd pick out these really these obscene things i'd say really officer i thought she was 16

and we'd picked all these well the control room was full of people they all came in to watch Dueling Vix. And yeah, we did seven of them. And people would then phone in, was it number one or number two? And it turned out that I was number two. You lost. No, that's great. That's great.

I just love that clip. That's fantastic. Some other stuff is raised in that. So you did date the teacher. Yes, I did. That's fantastic. Some other stuff is raised in that. So, yeah, so you did date the teacher. Yes, I did. So that's a fun, small world story. Well, it is because we went to high school together. Wow.

And we dated in high school. And then we lost track of each other. And then we reconnected. And, yes, she was now teaching English up in Nobleton, Ontario. And Don said he saw me pull up. I think I went to have lunch with her once at the school. And, uh, he said, Vic Rother just pulled into the parking lot of, uh, of King, uh, secondary. Yeah. That's funny. Very funny. And as you said, it was almost, uh, Don and Vic or

Vic and Don or whatever it would have been instead of the Gord Stelic, Don Landry duo. It could have been. I mean, it was nice and it was complimentary, but I wasn't ready to do it. Wow. Now, do you think today you could even do that? I'm thinking now the 1050-590 rivalry is such. Would they let a TSN guy go do that much stuff on the 590 station? Listen, they let me do it longer than anyone else

because Nelson Millman fought for it and said, we want Vic. And that was, Rogers had taken over. Yep. And so, but then eventually ended. Yeah, like today there's no chance. Not a chance. Not a sniff. Not a chance.

No, are you kidding me? Dean Blundell hasn't called you and said, let's do some dueling mix? No, nothing. No, never happened. I think he would beat Blundell for what it's worth. And that's a shame in some respects. Yeah, it is. But they've carved out their own areas of expertise.

You're never going to have the TSN hockey experts go on with the Rodgers people. It's just never going to have the TSN hockey experts go on with the Rogers people. It's just never going to happen. Never. And when you think about some of the people like Damien Cox, Damien Cox got his start at TSN. Well, there was a heavy rumor, I think it was published somewhere

in the mainstream media that Cox was re-upping with TSN. This is back, yeah, this was like, I don't know, five years ago, whatever it was, four years, whatever. I remember reading the article and they got it wrong. Like, essentially, Cox actually upped with Rogers.

Yeah, I remember Cox distinctly, like, what team was he joining, basically. No, but listen, more power to him and anybody else, but there isn't a chance. Is not a chance. Now, look it. If somebody were to retire

and leave the business and had appeared on both, there may be. But at this present time, no way I would ever be. Or anybody at TSM would be asked to be on Rodgers. I actually have heard, this is speculation, but you know how like Rodgersockey is simulcasting some of the hockey playoff games?

So they're sending their crew, be it Jim Hewson and Bob Cole or whatever, to certain games to cover, but the other playoff games, they're airing a simulcast of the regional feed. So you might be watching the Islanders versus Panthers, and you're getting the MSG feed, okay? Yes. And the reason is? Well, the reason is to save a buck, right? No, of course.

But the real reason is. So this is the idea. It's like, okay, so somebody's saying, why aren't you simulcasting the NBC feed, which is less biased and stuff. Yes. And then somebody pointed out the obvious and it becomes like, of course, there's a lot of TSN guys doing the NBC broadcast. Yes. And Rogers won't simulcast the face of a TSN hockey. Not a chance.

Yeah, it's interesting, right? But on occasion, they got caught. They've gotten caught. Where you might not see the face, you only hear the voice. And they might go past the introduction, where you see the on-air commentator. And they'll fill that time until the first commercial break

or the puck drop. Now you'll go. It's fascinating that we're in this era where they're going to select. They're basically, I now think,

because I wrote an entry, like how is Rogers, I was trying to figure out, well, how is Rogers deciding which games they send their crew to? Because some really interesting games

were not, like one interesting series, for example is chicago versus st louis it's just a great series to me it's a no-brainer like since there's no canadian teams in this playoffs send your crew there because that would have a lot of a lot of canadians would be interested but i think they're choosing based on when they can simulcast games that don't have tsn people on it it It's based on airline points, basically. It's just such an age we live in, you know?

No, I mean, listen, I don't disagree with you. And I think TSN, I can't try to remember, but I remember we got, TSN got caught too, hearing Paul Romanuk do something. And, you know, he's a sportsman. Maybe like, he likes to do like the European hockey stuff. Well, not anymore. So now Spengler, he used to do the Sp hockey stuff. Well, not anymore. So now Spengler. He used to do the Spengler Cup, right?

And now when he... Not anymore. Since he came back from London, we'd occasionally hear his voice. I mean, gee. Yeah, what a strange era. If I accidentally hear a little, I don't know,

I'm going to make it up, like Glenn Healy or whatever, now I'm only going to watch breakfast television. I'm not going to watch CP24 breakfast. But I'll argue with myself for a second here. Why you would not hear, for example, any of the ESPN, AABC guys on CBS, right? Yeah, that's true.

That's true. Yeah. So, okay. So maybe that's just's true. That's true. Yeah. So, okay, so maybe that's just the nature of the world. Maybe we're just digging a little too deeply here. But I understand

exactly what you're saying. Okay. Okay, so Jay Honore called you the Vin Scully of curling in Canada. That was very nice of him, yeah. Vin Scully,

I just read yesterday, like, because he's winding down. Right. And he's, you know, with apologies to Dan Schulman, who is the next great one, if you will. Vin Scully is the greatest, you know, living baseball commentator. But he's also, and Dan is a friend too,

but calling it on radio is different than television. Okay. Okay. It truly is. You have to be more descriptive. That. Okay. It truly is. You have to be more descriptive. That's where Jerry is very good. I used to love Van Miller calling the Buffalo Bills games. Yeah, in 550.

In 550 or WBEN or whatever, 930, whatever it was at that time. So those people who come from a radio background are usually, I'll suggest, have a way of describing it. There was a, he made a comment the other day, a knuckleball that came out like a bullet and ended up just being like a butterfly. Yeah. How good is that?

Shut it down. You know, that's brilliant. Whereas today, the television, the pictures will tell the story. Now, you can enhance it. You try to enhance it. I mean, I do. I think we all do.

But no, the guys who come from radio are different. They really be. I remember I used to do back in the day, again, the Inter-County Maple Leafs. Of course. Jack Dominique. Christy Pitts. It's Christy Pitts. And Roger LeJoy and I were in this little green box up top behind home plate.

I used to call it the cooler. I always thought I was in The Great Escape. And the German commander was telling me, there's a cooler. And I'd have to go in here and I'd be sweating. And so we do these games on CJMR in Mississauga. And before us, it was all primarily East Indian programming. And then Jack Dominica would buy this three hours on a Sunday afternoon.

So we'd hear the announcer say, oh, very sorry, we're leaving you now for Maple Leafs baseball. And then he'd hear the crack of the bat and take me out to the ballgame, the Oregon. And we were doing this game. Now, I'm trying, I enjoy it, and I enjoy radio for that reason. But I'd say, well, there's the one tree down the left field line, you all know, and the shade is getting pretty, it's taken up now.

There's not much left. And the ice cream truck just arrived over on Christie Avenue. And you're trying to explain what's going on and being a little bit more descriptive and you'd hear the aluminum bats. And it was, listen, it was fun. And eventually I got a chance to do the expos, which was really great.

Yeah, well, that's fantastic. But so the Vin Scully of curling in Canada, which I think is an appropriate description. I was, you know, I've been listening to your, I guess you heard from my Don Landry clip. I'm not a big curling guy. I don't watch a lot of curling.

I like Olympic curling when it's a gold medal match between Canada and some other country. That's what I like. But I have to say, I've been listening to a lot of your stuff over the last, it's the cadence. Okay. He says, Ben Scully, you remind me, your cadence reminds me a little bit of Bob Cole calling a hockey game. And I'll listen to, I'll listen to a little bit of Bob Cole calling a hockey game.

And I'll listen to a game just because Bob Cole's on it. Bob Cole's doing it. Yes. And I don't care if Bob Cole misidentifies a player. Right. Oh, he's making a lot of mistakes. Who gives a crap? This is the cadence, the sense of the moment, the cadence.

You have that. Oh, thanks. It's great. Bob, and you're right. And I'll agree with you wholeheartedly. I think Bob can take rolling dough out for a pizza and make it exciting. Yeah. That's what I loved about Van Miller.

I can remember Van, I'm listening to the end, doing something, and there's a fumble. There's a fumble. Who's got it? Who's got it? Wait for it. Wait for it. Bill's got it.

Got it. Bill's got it. And you're going, holy Jesus. Yeah, it just feels good, eh? I'm tingling all over. That's exactly what you want to feel, I think, as a broadcaster. You want to relay that kind of thing. So how does Vic Router become the voice of curling in this country. How did that happen? Very simply. I get there in the, I get to TSN in the fall of 85. And in that January or so of the next year, 86,

the vice president, the late Jim Thompson says, Vic, how much do you know about curling? And I said, oh, I play in a hit. I play in that sportsman's league with Jim Hewson at the time, down at the old terrace in downtown Toronto. We play for a hit giggle and tell some lies and have a beer. And he said, okay, we'd like you to do the curling, and you're going to work with a fellow by the name of Ray Turnbull.

The previous year, the 85 season, they had rotating hosts. They had Don Chevrier. They had Tom McKe doing some of the games with ray and so then ray and i our first event oh so what i do is i phone uh ed warrenick who was a two-time canadian two-time world champion and i said hi listen i we've done a story yeah i need some pointers so he took me for three consecutive days to the Avonlea Club over off of Railside in Don Mills.

It no longer exists. And three days we just spent on the ice together. He gave me a little ins and outs and that kind of thing. Then we started very innocently, Canadian mixed and Kamloops in 1986 and have been doing it ever since. And that's honest to good as that's how it started. Wow.

Because I have a good friend who helped me set up the studio. His name is Andrew Stokely. Okay. And he does a lot of the Jays games at the Dome. He does the audio, but he also does a lot of curling. So if you saw his face right now, you go, I know that guy because you've crossed his path dozens and dozens of times. And we talk about curling a lot because I can't seem to get into it. You saw his face right now. You go, I know that guy because you've crossed his path dozens and dozens of times.

And we talk about curling a lot because I can't seem to get into it. Right. But I see, for example, I'll see ratings, for example. And these are very popular events in this country. Yeah. Well, listen, and particularly this year with the Canadian hockey teams doing not so well. Not so well. You know, they had to... We were number two. I think

coming out of the Briar, I think we had six of the top ten shows in a week. It's really remarkable. And so, like, yeah, so you've got the Briar Tournament of Hearts and the World Curling Championships and major eyeballs on these things. We never stop. Once we do usually

one or two events before Christmas and then when the year changes and the calendar turns, I think we do six or seven after that. And we just basically it's for all intents and purposes a dedicated crew of people both production

and on the technical side. Some of whom have been doing it for 25 years. Love it. They love the people. And some of them, you know, would give up other things to do the curling circuit. Yeah.

We mentioned, you know, Rogers Hockey and Bob Cole and these guys. And so Bob Cole worked for Hockey Night in Canada, CBC, when they had the rights to the games. And then Rogers comes in and outbids everybody by a mile and suddenly they have the games to the games. And then Rogers comes in and outbids everybody by a mile, and suddenly they have the games, and people like Bob Cole kind of are recruited and jump ship, if you will, to where the games are.

So in a hypothetical situation, if Rogers decides to outbid everybody, we want these curling properties. I don't know how curling works, because I'm not a big fan, but... Well, same idea. It's a property that's owned by, run by the Canadian Curling Association, and if you want it, you have to same idea. It's a property that's owned by, run by the Canadian Curling Association.

And if you want it, you have to make an agreement with them. So if Rogers overpays and takes the rights away from TSN, like we've seen with hockey and stuff, you would have to jump ship? You would have to jump ship to be where the curling is? Well, first of all, would I jump ship? I don't know. That can't happen, I believe, until 2019 when the contract is up. That's my understanding in that area, that date, that timeline. They have a good bunch of people too.

You see, this is where we're all different. I do my thing. This person does his thing. They do their thing. I will tell you, though, I don't listen to other broadcasters very often who are doing my particular sports because I don't want to be influenced. Gotcha. It used to drive me crazy.

We would be at an event from Saturday when it started until Friday, and then the CBC would come in and do the weekend. And you talk about lack of acknowledgement. They wouldn't even acknowledge that we were there. Oh, yeah. And some wonderful people involved in this broadcast. But I just, it was just so childish to me that they couldn't say,

well, you know, as you saw on TSN all week, this is what happened, now we're here. And to our benefit, to TSN's benefit, people got really used to us. So we became their slippers. Throughout the week, we became, and our style was a little different. We would have a hit, we'd have a chuckle and a giggle,

and we'd tell some stories, and the production team would produce little things that had some laughs to them. So we became their comfortable pair of slippers. And then Saturday would roll along, and people had to put their feet in these hard-soled, brand-new shoes and tie them up, and they didn't like it because the CBC style was altogether different from what we did. So would I jump ship?

I don't know. Goodness gracious. I'll be... You'll cross that bridge. Oh, yeah. I mean, they've got really good people of which... They might want the big scully of... No, but a lot of people, and it's interesting.

A bit scully of a country. No, but a lot of people, and it's interesting. When you look, you go back, and at one time there was only CBC. So CBC became the great training ground for a lot of the people who went then to TSN, which became the training ground for a lot of the people who are now at Sportsnet. Right. And if you look at the cross-pollination here, the B has gone back and forth a few times, right? And there are good people on both sides.

Who's the gentleman who, is it Paul Jones? There's somebody who doesn't work for Rogers or Bell and has like an independent contractor and is therefore, and this is a weird tangent, except there's, because I talked to Eric Smith who belongs to Rogers. So when a Raptors game

is on TSN property, you'll never see Eric Smith. But there's somebody, you know, Eric Smith, I believe will never appear, ever appear on a TSN property because he belongs to Rogers. Right, but he's doing it,

but he does the basketball. So he's sort of their basketball insider because he does the radio as well. Right, but only for Rogers properties. That's right. But Paul Jones, I believe, back and forth. Well, Paul will appear on radio, and then he works the pregame shows. Okay, but he's one of the few guys I think of off the top of my head who can be on,

whether TSN is broadcasting it or Rogers. And you're right, there's a radio versus TV part here somewhere, but I believe whether you're listening to 1050 or 590, you'll hear Paul Jones. That's right. Right, because his contract, he's not a permanent full-time employee of Rogers. But we aren't.

But, I mean, all of us are. I guess I'm trying to find a way for Vic to show up on any curling regardless. No, that's not going to happen. You know, listen, I love it. I'm working on it. I think some of the Grand Slam events are good. With all respect to the Grand Slam, they are Bonspiels, which have a new name. I think the curling season goes far too long.

I think that when the curling season with the world championship, curling should be over. You should be done. Now they just had another grand slam down at the Mattamy, which is fine. They've still got another one to do out in Edmonton. And I'm thinking, holy smokes. But it's about making money.

And full credit, give credit to the people at Sportsnet. They picked up the, that's their property. There again, that's how things have changed as well. SportsNet runs that curling property, the Grand Slam. There are TSN, the CFL, it's their property. Right. There's a CFL that runs the league, but it is a TSN property. Right. There's a CFL that runs the league, but it is a TSN property.

Right. And they probably talk very often about how are we going to enhance this property? We're going to do it. And so, and you get networks now buying, we want that particular sport. We want to control everything about that sport. That's the difference too. I mean, in the 30, how many years have we been doing this? 30, 40, 19? Yeah, goodness gracious. Yeah, 40 years odd. How dramatically that's changed. You're right, because you're right,

the Bell Media owns the CFL telecasts in this country. Right. And that's why often when I'm listening to a Rogers property, let's pretend 590, which might be it, CFL is a redheaded stepchild, if you will. Okay, that's a good point. Where is it in their sportscast? Well, if it's anywhere, it's less and less all the time. Yes. In my observation. Yeah, I know.

And sometimes it's not there at all. It's almost like, the way I look at it is, okay, so the Jays, 2015 Jays had a magical season, which this whole, the whole country really, but especially the city, we all fell in love with the 2015 Blue Jays. Yep. TSN couldn't ignore the 2015 Blue Jays. No, how can you? How can you? But you're covering sports.

Right. You don't care. You don't care who owns it. Right. I don't think that's true, though. I think that they would love to ignore the 2015 Blue Jays, but they simply made a decision, how can we?

It'll be, because you can't ignore the 2015 Blue Jays. You can't ignore it. But I would suspect, and I don't know this for a fact, I would speculate that the Rodgers people are. But I would suspect, and I don't know this for a fact, I would speculate that the Rogers people are going to not ignore completely, but will cover CFL less and less and less.

Especially now that the Argos in this city are owned by Bell, right? This is the first year, I believe. So I just... No, but it's going to happen. Which is stupid. But further to your point, when TSN loses the hockey contract, do they not cover hockey?

Right. They still cover hockey. They still have to. Yes. You still have to. And, you know, it all comes around and goes around. And this property goes from this network. It's because we only have—now, CBC is going to probably get more involved, and they still do the Olympics.

And I see they're buying some properties. But you think about where, particularly in the United States, where properties go from this network to this network to this network, and it just—but you still have to cover them. You still have to. There's got to be, at some point, yeah, you can't ignore a property because it's owned by the competition. To me, that's—you're not serving your— Well, you never do that. I mean, how could you do that? Yeah.

But I've noticed, I will agree with you, that I'll listen to a 680 sportscast, and that CFL score is... And the Argos, they lost to Hamilton last night. Yeah. Yep, yep, yep. And thanks for joining. And that's not an accident.

No, I mean... By design. Why is that local pro team not number two? Okay, I can understand you're going to leave with the Blue Jays, but the Argos played last night. Why? And it's below that, and then it's below Milos Raonic, and that's that tennis because it's the Rogers tennis, right?

Right. And you keep going down and down and down. of tennis because it's the Rogers tennis, right? And you keep going down and down and down. You can't tell me shows aren't lined up on what and who owns them, the property. I wouldn't because I think they are. Yesterday, was it yesterday? Yeah, yesterday the Jays played at like 11 a.m.

because it was the Boston Marathon game. So I'm tuned into a Rogers property to watch this game and I'm watching it and it ends. And then I listened to a bit of the recap because we won. And then I only listen to recaps and we win. I always turn them off and we lose, but I'm launching. And then a doc, Stephen Brunt is narrating this documentary on Mark Shapiro, the new CEO and president.

Okay. So I think I tweeted like the premise doesn't pass the sniff test, but I'm going to watch this thing. Yes. Yes. Okay. So I think I tweeted like the premise doesn't pass the sniff test, but I'm going to watch this thing. Okay. This Stephen Brunt documentary was an

infomercial, which basically he's a good guy. His kids love him. He loves his kids. He tries really hard. He's smart. It's not his fault.

AA left. Don't blame him for that. It's not his fault. David Price signed in boston hey let's give this guy a chance jay's fans it was a big infomercial for like let's give him a chance don't don't hate him all right yeah yeah and stephen brunt who i used to think of as like one of the uh a man full of integrity like a sports journalist full of integrity is narrating this fluff infomercial and i'm'm wondering what happened, this world we

live in, where now, to me, Rogers owns the Blue Jays. They hired a controversial president because this city was in love with AA. And now we have these fluffy... Well, Beeston, before that, I mean, you're talking about the GM. But no, I know where you're going

with this. And I would be surprised if Stephen Brunt didn't put up a little bit of a stink and was told, we need you to do this. I'm certain that happened. And I'm certain he thought about how expensive university is for his children and how many jobs are in this country. And the place in the Newfoundland or whatever he's got going. And he made the decision he had to make. Well, you have to do it. So you're going to, yeah, I would be surprised.

But again, it's the world we live in now. They own that team. And what was it? I thought it was really funny. The April Fool's joke about it's going to be going to Rogers. Rogers Skydome. I thought, wow. And I got hooked for a second.

And then I stopped biting on the. And you checked the calendar. I checked the calendar. I thought, oh, no. Listen, that doesn't surprise me. Does not surprise me. And you know that when they were making the decision what to name that dome that they picked up for $25 million that we built for like half a billion dollars or whatever.

I was there for the sod turning, actually. Were you? Oh, yeah. I was there for the sod turning. Oh, I was a teenager when that was happening, and it was very exciting. Of course. It's very exciting.

And so you know when they're in the boardroom, and somebody at some point probably says, well, what if we called it Rogers Sky Dome and then you know somebody piped in, well, people will just call it Sky Dome, right? Which is a fact.

If you call that Rogers Sky Dome, we're just going to call it Sky Dome. Now, I haven't been in a while. They didn't replace all the seats. The seats still have

the Sky Dome on the side. Some do. I see them sometimes on Twitter or something. Somebody will take a picture. But there's very few elements of the old dome left in that place.

But you know, we're going to go, I'm going to take you on a tangent here. Yeah, and I got to get back to my question, but yeah, please, go. But just, see, as somebody who's, this is where I, as a more elderly member of the broadcast community, sometimes think that people such as myself aren't used properly. I think sometimes that, because I remember what went on. Now, maybe it's not of any importance to anybody. They just care that the dome was built or that ACC is down there. But I remember the somersaults and the hand-wringing that went on.

Where are we going to build this dome? They wanted to initially put it up at Downsview Park. And I thought that that was a great spot because you got the 401, you got the Allen Expressway. The Allen Expressway is going to go right downtown at that time before Phil Davis put the stop to it. And then where else? Well, they thought about putting it at Woodbine Racetrack.

That was another one. And ultimately, putting it downtown on those railway lands was the best thing they ever did. And the ACC right beside it, because ACC was going to be just for the Raptors. I remember this. Yep, yep. You see?

And so all that stuff when people talk, and when I remember this. And so, all that stuff when people talk, and when I sometimes watch some of the... I'm going to get myself in trouble here. I watch some of the people who are on TV, and there's no problem with that, but I look for

a little depth, and sometimes I don't see any depth. There's no relationship to when the Leafs actually were a good team or where they, they can't remember that. And you're talking only about the shite that they've been playing and how badly they are. And I, sometimes I, I, I, I do rue the fact that

sometimes I watch people on TV and camera and making comments and I go, you have no idea. I'm with you. You have no idea. You know, that's actually the impetus, if you will, the catalyst for this exact, what we're doing right now, this podcast, which is I got tired of the sound bites,

and I got tired of such lack of context, if you will. You get the spin, and you get content, but there's no context. The long-form interview, if you will, Like you get the spin and you get like content, but there's no context. The long form interview, if you will, the discussions like this are dried up. There's nowhere for them to happen. You can't because everything is, well,

everything is a sound. When I first learned, you talked about a 40 second wraparound. That was rock and roll. 40 seconds. Yeah. And you put your voice, clip, maybe clip, voice, and that was it. And hit the post.

But now it's gone. It's 20 seconds. If that. It's 10 seconds. You hear some of these clips. And I had a chance to talk with Bob. It was a bad fire. And Bob, that was it.

Yeah. You're moving on. Now, I just sometimes, and then again, we're also, we're dictated also by these so-called doctors, the radio doctors, the TV doctors, who know all and profess to know all. And you're using air quotes. I better tell people. Yes, yeah. But, you know, you can't do this. You can't show that highlight because that doesn't relate to your audience.

Really? Really? You can't show that highlight because that doesn't relate to your audience. Really? Really? So the argument is that you can't show this because there's no racing fans. No. You want to just spin this.

All right. I guess you know better. For somebody that's been around as long, I just go, you end up just going with the flow. Yeah, you just do what you're told. Yeah, you just say, all right, you know better. You almost have to stop caring, right? Like, it's like, I don't know if I'm putting words in your mouth, but I would think that at some point, you know, if the doctor is saying, do this, even though you feel maybe that's not the best approach,

but you want to be employed and you need to comply and you do what you're told, you sort of have to, at some level, you have to care less in order to preserve yourself and be able to continue. Well, caring less, I never stop caring. That's why I bring it up. Because I do care. I care that, I mean, I always used to argue when I went on Beyond Sports Centre and hosting,

I'd have to argue with the, I'd argue with the lineup or the producer, and I'd say, why aren't we not putting in 15, some NASCAR? Why aren't we putting in some Formula One or IndyCar? Well, our guys don't care. What do you mean they don't care? Why don't you care?

You pick up a newspaper. I always thought that SportsCenter and Connected should be almost like the newspaper. So I would argue, just give me like the newspaper. You give them. So I would argue, just give me 15 fricking seconds. Give me that. Just let me throw it in. The guys are, are you telling me that somebody's going to click away and go to the other channel for 15 seconds?

That was their argument. Come on, guys. Really? Yeah. Well, you know, you just you just eventually just bang your head against the wall here, and you stop. All right, stop. Whatever you want. So you'd rather

just recycle and recycle and recycle. Yes, that's what they want. All right, okay. Then I'm so old school. Why don't you just put me in, cover me up, and, you know, tag my toe. Just don't get it.

Yeah. I have some more questions, and there's some more reader questions, if you will. But my question, real quick question, so turn the channel here. In March 2015, you're in Japan. So you were sent to Japan. You didn't do that one from... No, we went to

Sapporo. Right. And you're covering the Women's World Curling Championship, and Canada's taking on Denmark, and you have no voice. I got sick. I was fine. We flew over. I sat beside...

So you fly to Tokyo, then you've got to go up to the island of Hokkaido, which is about 90-minute flight, and I'm sitting beside some petri dish, some guy who is just as sick as a dog. Two days, two shows, three shows in and I'm losing it. What do you do? So Al Cameron used to work radio in Calgary, is now the public relations director for Curling Canada.

He takes over. I got some doctor in the arena through a translator to give me some pills i went and sat in my hotel room for two days for a day and a half basically and steamed myself to death yeah i was a prune but then i was back within uh within three shows and yeah no shoot i mean look at you lose your voice you're not doing this podcast that is true. And particularly on radio. It's not the first time it's happened to me.

I lost it very early once in Ottawa, and they brought in John Wells. Well, you can bring in somebody from Toronto, but you're not flying somebody over from Canada. So no, it's unfortunate. It happens. It just happens. And it must be a horrible feeling.

Hey, it sucks to be sick when you're overseas. Well, it sucks to be sick anytime, particularly when you are, this is what you do. Yeah. Okay. And if you're that sick and you haven't got a voice, and I know what it's like.

I've heard people on air. You do not want to listen to a sick person. That's true. Get him off the air. Get her off the air. Will Ferrell. Wow. Here he is. Come on down.

I guess... Brilliant. Let me play this. This is Will Ferrell's Ron Burgundy, and he's got a message for you. It's about 30 seconds. Let me play it for everybody. This is a personal message to Vic Rauter. As a fellow broadcaster, I respect you.

Your mane, your suits, tie, choice of knot, impeccable. Up north, I'm told you're somewhat of a god. Well, I believe in God, and he created entire oceans and no wrinkle slacks. I've seen your work. It's no wrinkle slacks. I've seen your work.

It's no ocean of slacks. Ron Burgundy joins Vic and the crew live at Tim Horton's Roar of the Rings on TSA. Make the final. That was honestly from a promotional standpoint. I don't know if you know the background. So I'm going to surmise here a little bit. I don't know if you know the background. And I'm going to surmise here a little bit. TSN had done other promotions with Paramount Pictures.

And I think he was on this world tour. I mean, he had been in London and he was in L.A. and he was in Australia to promote Burgundy, too. And so they probably said to TSN, what have you got coming up? He said, well, we've got the Grey Cup. It's football. We've got something else, hockey. No, no, no.

And because this is in the fall of 13, right? This is November of 13, prior to the Olympics in February of 14. And he said, yeah, well, we've got this thing, this curling thing. Curling. Perfect. Perfect.ling. Perfect. Yeah. Perfect. Perfect.

So we, producer Scott Higgins, and I said, Scott, have you talked to these people? No, we're just, they're just, they're arriving. And he had been in North Dakota, I believe, the night before reading the news. So he comes into Winnipeg. Still haven't met him. And we're up in our booth, and then I get this sort of sign from Scott, come on down. So I go in, and he's a tall fellow. He's a tall gentleman.

He's about 6'4", so there he is, all in his Ron Burgundy. And I go over to him, and I said, Mr. Farrell, Vic Rauter. He says, oh, I know who you are. I punched your picture. Now we're making some small talk and he's asking me about curling and are these pros? I said, no, they're amateurs.

And then they had the opening ceremonies and he put his head between the curtains to have a look. And he looked around the MTS Center, and he saw 15,000 people. And I think whatever he had planned to do, it drew him in. So he comes out, and he does a little bit of, he throws a stone with Glenn Howard. And then around the second end, he, well, I said to him first,

what do you want to do? He says, let's just swing it. I said, okay, fine. So he talks one of the Highlanders, Pipers, to take off his kilt, and he wears the kilt instead of his slacks. So out he comes in his hard-soled shoes and his short little socks and this kilt on, and he comes up to the booth. Well, there were people in the crowd, Mike, who had never gone to a curling game in their life, but were there just to see Ron Burgundy. And they all came dressed as the characters. And I tell you what, we had two really good ends with him.

He got over to the telestrator and was tapping on them where Russ does the telestration with the rocks. And he says, look, they're multiplying like rabbits. And oh, yeah. And he says, look at the ice. He said, what was the other line? He said, does anybody ever go out and just sprinkle Parmesan cheese?

And we thought, what a, it was a hoot. And it really was a great promotion. And it must be quite the honor that he, just to have a Ron Burgundy message for Vic Router spreading through the interwebs. It was fun. It really was fun. You've covered a lot of sports. What's your favorite sport to cover? I'm not being flippant here. It's the one I'm doing. Has to be. Has to be.

Has to be. If, and I've said this before, if tomorrow I'm covering the World Tiddlywink Championships, that's the most important. Or a sheep shearing competition. Or sheep shearing. Honest to goodness, it has to be. You cannot sell anything short

because there are people out there who do take sheep shearing seriously has to be do i love so no and now if you're asking what are my favorites i'll i'm curling obviously i'm a gearhead from way back when my dad used to take me down to the old exhibition stadium and we watched the sunday stalkers on the friday night stock races and i still go and so you know it was a great thrill for me to be able to call Formula One for many years. Okay, great. Because somebody who goes by the name Another Andrew,

just not to confuse him with the other Andrew. So Another Andrew has a question about, do you miss those early Sundays getting up to do F1 pre-race shows with Jerry Donaldson? Yeah, sure. I do because it tied you to the sport. It forced you to do the homework. I could, yeah, I'd know things inside and out and to have Jerry over at the races was, was terrific. And then of course it prepared you for the Montreal Grand Prix,

which was always as in June. So yeah, I miss it a lot. Uh, I don't follow the sport quite as closely as I used to. Are there any sports, this is from Douglas, but are there any sports that are on your wish list that you haven't covered? I have done most sports. I can't say, honestly. I mean, this past Olympics, the Olympics in London, I did women's wrestling from studio, from a booth. Not unlikely we're sitting here now. I did the marathon swim at Hyde Park, whitewater canoe and rafting. I did marathon and

race walking. I've done field hockey at Olympics. I've done softball, baseball. I've done water polo at Olympics soccer at Olympics what else have I done oh did cricket at Sky Dome I've done cricket you could do cricket I did cricket I know what a boundary is I know what a boundary is

I know what a six is done rugby although they're not my strengths. I mean, Luke is far better at it, having grown up with it. There aren't many sports I have not done, to be honest with you. I also had a chance to do some NHL

for a little while. I was probably the number five man on the crew. But when they got stuck, they called on so it was it was fun cool yeah the um i guess it's rob j again had a second he had a question earlier but he's got another one about uh he was listening to primetime sports with bob mccowan uh and they were discussing a random vic anecdote about you interviewing a player live when you were expecting someone else with the same name. Yes. Tell me that story.

Well, this is 1979. Oh, wow. And I was hired by ITV to be their first Edmonton Oilers Midway Coast in Chicago. And I'm expecting Doug Wilson, but the Doug Wilson I'm getting isn't the Doug Wilson. Oh, there's another Doug Wilson. There's another Doug Wilson. So basically, I look at him, and, hey, how are you doing? Good. How are you? Welcome.

Is this a good first period? Yeah. That's hilarious. Yeah, and finally, I just sort of lean back, and they push him up. Oh, here, now I know who you are. Because they didn't know who this person was. Yeah, that's the truth. Yeah, 1979, that was the first year of, well, that was the expansion year with the four

WHA teams. Right, right, right. So I was doing, that was the Oilers and Gretzky's first year in the NHL with Semenko and Mark Napier. No, not Mark Napier, but Messier was right out of junior, and oh, yeah, it was...

Well, Gretzky and Messier, I think they're the same age. They were like 18, I guess, at that time. Yes, exactly. And that was the famous not really a rookie year because Gretzky was ineligible. Yeah, so no,

in fact, I have a couple of pictures on my wall at home, and one of them is with me sitting with Gretzky. Nice. And yeah, that was wild. That was when I was at Global, actually. Wow, that's cool.

M.M. Oh, by the way, make sure I get a picture with you after this, because some people on Twitter, they were worried, can they trust this is a Vic Router interview, or is Don Landry making another return? I need to prove this is the real Vic Router. All right, we will. Although you don't do a good enough Vic Rauter to pass as Vic Rauter.

No, exactly. No, he was the best. MM wonders if you could share some memories of Graham Leggett during the soccer broadcasts. Yeah. He passed away last fall. Graham and I were together many years, and Graham, I always thought, was the reluctant broadcaster.

He never felt quite comfortable, but he was a great broadcaster. Loved the game. And he and I did the Canadian Soccer League for six years, traveling across the country. Sunday night soccer on TSN. And it really gave some players that opportunity to make a living and then go overseas. Alec Bunbury, Paul Peska-Salido, for example. Some of the guys are still involved now in coaching in MLS.

So, yeah, he was truly a special guy. Loved his golf. My goodness. Loved his golf. We would take our clubs wherever we traveled. So for example, we used to do, the Calgary team was the Calgary Metro Ford. So this was our weekend.

Game would be on Sunday night. Saturday morning, we'd take the first light out. He, myself, director and technical director, all avid golfers. And we'd land and we'd drive right to Kananaskis and we'd play a round of golf at Kananaskis. Come back Saturday night, doing my homework. Sunday, do the game. Monday, before flying home, drive out to Banff Springs and play Banff. Catch the last flight back. So we did one game and had two rounds of golf in the mountains and we would try and do that everywhere. He was a special

gentleman and quite ill when he passed away and he'll be missed. Are there any sports, looking back, that you wish you had not covered? Or perhaps sports that you wish you had another crack at now? This is from Douglas.

I hope that's clear. Yeah, I mean, you always try. There are sports that you obviously, we know more about as Canadians, as North Americans. So if I'm going to do a cricket match, I'm doing it, I did it with a fellow from Barbados, Tony Kosier. I let him run and I sort of filled in. I'm not that stupid.

If it's a rugby game, I'm trying to identify and I'll let somebody else do it and in fact that's always been my style actually you've got people say to this day with regards to curling do you know anything because I still

rely on the experts the analysts and I've never been afraid to do that I can okay I'll see that car losing its back end. Well, I know maybe the tires are going on it or in fact, maybe there's some oversteer but that's not for me to say.

I've got the expertise. Oh, because you know the answer doesn't mean you should be the one to present it to the viewers. Exactly, and more importantly, from a broadcaster's perspective, if I happen to volunteer that opinion and that opinion is wrong, they have to then correct me.

I've put them in an embarrassing position. That's always a little awkward. I never try to take something out of the mouth of the analyst. In your time covering sports in this country, which sport outside of the four major sports has seen the most growth? So in your opinion, I guess the major four would be like, I guess, basketball, football, hockey, and baseball.

Well, I think, honestly, curling is starting to grow. The Olympics has had a lot to do with it. There's been a lot of investment. We don't have to invest in it, although Canadian curling numbers are down. But in the United States in particular, if the United States could ever reach a point where they have clubs in almost every city, that would change where the sport would go, ultimately, be on television. It's on television now. They do a Friday night show on the NBC Sports Network. You know, so many of them are falling.

Formula One right now isn't as popular as it once was. NASCAR is struggling. I think the economy has a great deal to do with that people are are tending to their dollars a little bit more where are we going to spend it um golf i don't know it's that's a tough one to ask i mean i guess you could you could even you could say well mma is uh has has really broken through but i think they're even pulling back a little bit. They're not quite as popular as they once were. So that's a difficult one. That question, by the way, is from Heads Up, which I think is a cool handle, Heads Up.

In Toronto, so I live in Toronto, spent all my time in Toronto, and curling doesn't seem to be a popular... I understand there are clubs around. Right. Right. I understand there are clubs around. Right.

But when you hear about the popular curling telecasts and the high ratings, usually it's like outside of the Toronto area. Am I off? No, I don't think you're... No, I think... Listen, I think the sport grew up in the prairies and it's still from Winnipeg to Calgary. But it has its hardcore fans.

That's why Curling Canada, I think, now we just mentioned the fact that the Grand Slam was at the Mattamy Centre this past weekend or this past week. They've taken a chance in coming into Toronto. Now they're in a smaller venue. I think the Mattamy only holds about 2,000, if I'm not mistaken. So that's good for them, and I think that's a great... Would you ever have a

briar in Toronto? It would take a lot of chutzpah to want to do it because of the fact that the population is so ethnically diverse. Would people go and watch it? Yes. Would it be expensive? Probably. There's the other thing. It's whether you, in fact, could put all those packages together to make it attractive enough. You still go to the old reliables like the Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina's, go out west. I think you're going to find that the briar will have to find, well, we're going to St. John's, St. John's, Newfoundland next year. They have to go to

some smaller venues. There used to always be this thought that the briar was always 10,000 seats and more. I think you're going to find they're going to have to go to smaller venues. You might even have a briar, say, in a Barrie, for example, one day, only because people can get to it. There was a time the briar was held in Hamilton. This is the problem with just, I've often said they should put up a sign outside at the city limits.

Toronto's full. There's no more people. They'd have a Briar World Championship in Hamilton, first game at seven at night. You could leave here at five o'clock and get there. Not a chance.

Yeah. Not a chance. And that hurts where you select, what city you select. Right. You need to be able to get there to see it. Yeah. You know?

That's a good point. I'm trying to get this name right. At Zubizorn wants to know, what was your favorite Canadian soccer game to call? In that tribute to Vic Rauter I played at the beginning of the show, there's some soccer calls in there that are just, I had goosebumps. Well, Pesca Salido and Alex Bunbury. I mean, there was a story.

After the Atlanta games, the Americans were supposed to start a league and they never did. Canada did. At one time, the Canadian Soccer League had teams from Halifax to Victoria and everywhere in between. You had a team in Halifax, they had Montreal. In Southern Ontario, you had the North York Rockets that used to play up at Esther Shiner Stadium, a little bang box of a place. There was the Toronto team. He had Hamilton. There was London, Kitchener. Then you went out west,

you had Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Victoria. But it collapsed under the weight of the travel. So, you know, was there a favorite? I mean, listen, to be able to just call the game. Those people who got involved loved the game. Those people who played the game loved it. It was, for all intents and purposes, semi-professional. And a few of them did go on to bigger and better things and playing in England. So it was a special time for us. Cool. I mentioned Andrew Stokely earlier, just because he likes to hear his name on the podcast.

Yes, okay. But he had a question for you too. What's your favorite blooper of all time? He says, and he adds that his favorite blooper of yours is the giant beaver. Yes, the giant beaver at Beaver Lodge. Yeah, Beaver Lodge outside of Grand Prairie, trying to do my opening in front of the giant beaver.

Yes, and it just, I got it right until I turned around, I saw my camera and bent over, and all I saw was his ass shaking. And then I, Jim Young, and yeah, it took about 40 takes. I have said occasionally something slips out. When the rock finally stops, and instead of sitting in the forefoot, I've said it shits in the forefoot. I remember this was a this was, uh, this was a Jim Brady back in the radio times. And, uh, and I,

my last, my last, uh, little brief was, and don't forget the intercounty Leafs will be playing London tonight, later today at Christy Tits. And I just stopped and I froze and he was so quick. He came on, he said, yeah, I know that. That's the diamond with the two mounds. That's the stuff that should have made the tribute to Dick Crowder. Christy tits, yeah. And then, of course, that other thing with Christina Pokmerski, with her and I doing it tonight at 11,

that made foul-ups, bloops, and blunders with Ed McMahon and Dick Clark. I remember. I used to get royalty checks. Did you? Oh, God, yes. It was always in U.S. dollars, and it might only be 30 cents or 40 cents like that.

And they would stop from the United States, and then I'd get one from... It was airing on NHK in Japan, and it was airing on Deutsche Television, but all dubbed, right, of course? Yeah. And then that stopped years ago. Yeah. What was it called? What was it called?

Something bloopers and practical, Blenders bloopers and practical jokes. Like they're jokes or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to watch that. Dick Clark and... Ed McMahon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to watch that. Dick Clark and... Ed McMahon. Yeah. Yeah.

The... You mentioned earlier Sportsline on Global. Yes. And Bob McCowan doing that. And then the next question comes from a guy named Mark Hebbshire. Oh, yeah. Who spent many a good year hosting Sportsline with Jim Taddy. Yes, of course.

Ask him about the red Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. Karmann Ghia. Karmann Ghia convertible that he used to drive. Great car, Hebbs, he says. It was, yeah. It was a 1968 Karmann Ghia convertible that I bought, purchased, and I threw

some money in to restore it. And it was one of those, it was one of those Volkswagen semi-automatics. So you had one gear for up to about 40, and then you pull it back for the second gear. The guy used to laugh. You mean you got an automatic Volkswagen? Yes. But it was fun.

Every once in a while, the belts would overheat, and, of course, they would stretch, and then I'd have no torque at all, and I'd be really just putting up the hill. Yeah, Mark's done well. Yeah, he unfortunately got the Hamilton feature. Yeah, he started a podcast, actually. Oh, did he?

Speaking of podcasts, yeah, which I've actually been on his podcast. That's how great the guest lists are for his podcast. But you know Liz West? Yes. So Liz West? Yes. So Liz West, who did CHCH. Well, she used to be

at City TV at one time, right? Yep, she was, like entertainment reporter. She ran, she almost became a Toronto City Councillor. Like she was like 40 votes away or something.

All right, yeah. Anyways, Liz West and Mark Hebbshire have a podcast called Square Off, I think. Okay, similar to that debate kind of thing? Yes, it was a show

they had on CHCH. Yes. And they now do it in sort of audio form. Right, similar to that debate kind of thing? Yes, it was a show they had on CHCH, and they now do it in sort of audio form. Right, yeah. So they're active and they're busy. Oh, good. If you do talk to them, say hello. I will, for sure, for sure. So was this worth the drive?

I need to know. Yes, it's better than driving to Acton, actually. Yes. I had a great aunt who lived in Acton, and every time we would have to go visit, that's all we would ever say. It's worth the drive. We debated, is it worth the drive to Acton? Yes, it was. No, listen, Mike, it's been a pleasure. It's nice to reminisce and to, as I said, I've been doing this for a long time and worked with some extraordinary people.

So to be able to do it and do something, um, do something that I really love is, is, has been wonderful. Think about it though. I mean, I started at 19 and it's funny, I was talking about to a friend of mine the other day and we were chatting about it and I said, the number of people, I think they estimate you change your career three, four times. I've been doing this since I was 19. Yeah. And I've been very fortunate. Yeah, and you've been at TSN since 85. That's incredible. Run two, because there's not a lot of broadcasters who can say I've been at the same meeting company for three years.

No, but I mean, a lot of us, and I mean, Gino's been there, I would think, close to 30 years now. There's a couple of originals, director, and I'm trying to think of some others. Oh, Michael Landsberg. Yeah, of course. He's an original. He was 84. He came out of CHFI Radio, if I'm trying to think of some others. Oh, Michael Landsberg. Yeah, of course. He's an original. He was 84.

He came out of CHFI Radio, if I remember correctly. So he's the longest serving on-air person at TSN. At TSN, yeah. And then you're second, unless you can throw out another name. I can't think of anybody else, so I might be. I might be at this point in time, yeah. I might be. It's been fun, my friend.

Thank you very much. I'd love to do it again. Let's see. Think now 200. At 438 or so, you can ask me. No, listen, I would love to have you back. Just it's amazing. I could just hearing your voice.

That's how I know this will be a good episode because it doesn't really matter what you said. Okay. So thank you very much. Thank you very much. Can you give me a make the final? Am I allowed to make requests from you? You know, I have to, one before we go.

Do you remember my original name on the air? We never got into this. Okay, tell me. It was Gardner West. Oh, get out of here. Gardner West. My first broadcast on TR doing a newscast

was Gardner West. And then my news director called me and said, he'll never be on again. I said, okay, Bob, whatever you want. Make the final. Thanks, Mike. You just made my day. And that brings us

to the end of a 168th show. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike and Vic is at TSN Vic Router. See you all next week. because everything is kind of rosy and green. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the sky is snow.