Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Wolfpack!: Toronto Mike'd #346

Episode Date: June 8, 2018

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Toronto Wolfpack Rugby League Football Club* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)

Welcome to episode 346 of Toronto Mike's, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know that 99.9% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? GLB, brewed for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com, Toronto real estate done right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot. Download the app today from paytm.ca. And our newest sponsor, Camp Tournesol, the leading French summer camp provider in Ontario. I'm Mike from torontomike.com,

and this is everything you always wanted to know about the Toronto Wolfpack Rugby League Football Club, but were afraid to ask. With Joe Santos. Welcome, Joe. Thanks for having me. That's the longest title I think we've had in Toronto Mike's history. What's the acronym for that? I don't know. So the proper name of the team do people call it they just call

wolfpack right people aren't going around calling the uh team the toronto wolfpack rugby league football club no no the rlfc is like when you see you know toronto fc the football club right same thing so they because because you'll call them tfc or toronto fc but people typically will call our rugby team Wolfpack. Exactly. Yeah. You wouldn't say, I guess, T-W-R-L-F-C. That's a... Right. It doesn't roll off the tongue, right? Wolfpack, though. I can get behind Wolfpack. Okay. So you're here because, okay, when I started following sports as a young man, there was, even though they were young, there was already a Blue Jays team. So the Blue Jays

were very young, but they existed. The Leafs had been around forever. The Argos had been around forever. And then I got to witness the birth of a few teams. I got to witness the birth of, of course, the Toronto Raptors, which, you know, it's exciting. They're born and you kind of watch them grow. And then I watched the birth of TFC and the AHL version of the Marlies. So that's a few franchises that I follow today that I watched the witness the birth of.

But we also have a team. There's a new team in this city, the Toronto Wolfpack. And I think there's a lot of sports-loving guys like me that we're not quite sure what it is and what it's all about. So you're the man who's going to help me understand. I'll try and get through most of it, yeah. I mean, we hope to live up to all of those teams that you mentioned. I think TFC 10 years ago started off almost in the exact same situation that we did last year and you know 10

years later they are they are the biggest in the mls uh yeah i and the champions yeah i i think with uh i mean the whole idea of a professional rugby team in canada is unheard of because rugby really in Canada has always been an amateur sport in the spirit of rugby union, which is one of the styles of play. We play a style called rugby league. And in my opinion, you know, the difference of the two, there's fewer guys on the field for rugby league. So it's similar to like, I guess, rugby sevens. But it's very hard hittinghitting, easy to follow. There aren't nearly as many rules. And yeah, it's like hockey meets football.

Okay, Joe, we're going to slow the rugby roll right there because this is the deep dive. I need to understand the Wolf Pack. I've got a million questions. But first, please tell me this is the official anthem of the Wolf Pack, right? Hungry Like the Wolf? Does that work? No. I think this comes out during the games, yeah. It's a great

song. Well, I mean, I was looking at my collection for songs with wolf in the title. Well, this one jumps out, but also, as I turn my head, and it doesn't really apply, but the Guess Who had a big song, Clap for the Wolf Man, but that's Wolf Man. That's not a wolf. Like, it doesn't really apply, but the Guess Who had a big song, Clap for the Wolfman. But that's Wolfman.

That's not a wolf. Like, it doesn't quite work. And there is, of course, Warren Zevon had a big hit with Werewolves of London. But those are werewolves. They're not wolves. So this is the jam right here. That's the closest you're going to get. I mean, I had a poster of Johnny Taylor up on my wall when I was a kid.

So this is appropriate for me. I always joke, you know, Duran Duran was the Beatles of the 80s. They're awesome. Now it's kind of a joke, but no. Rio was the first, this is on Rio, I believe. Rio was the first vinyl album I ever purchased in my life, was Rio.

I tried to grow my hair like that, the big mullets. I think that is the, was it the start of the mullet? I don't know who to credit for that. I thought it was big mullets. I think that is the... Was it the start of the mullet? I don't know who to credit with that. I thought it was Wendell Clark. I wasn't sure. We'll give Wendell the credit. All right, so let's get to know you a little bit better, and then we'll talk Wolfpack here.

So, Joe, who the heck are you? I understand you were an NBA player agent. I was, yeah. I was more of a manager, player manager years ago. I brought in the first Brazilians that were drafted into the NBA. So Nene, who plays for the Houston Rockets, and a guy who played here with the Raptors, Barbosa.

Yeah, Leandro Barbosa. But what do you mean you brought them in? Be real specific here. You carried them on your back. 17 years ago, I guess, or more. 25, 26. A friend of mine, we went down. We decided, let's scour Brazil. There are no Brazilian basketball players in the league.

Why is that? They're fantastic athletes. They're obviously extremely coordinated. And it's a big country. There's lots of people. Yeah, I mean, it's 300 million, I think, now. Yeah, it's a lot. So we combed the country.

And we saw they had a league there. There's a guy named Oscar Schmidt who you may have heard of. He was quite famous like years ago, played against Magic and the Dream Team. And yeah, helped some kids get into JUCOs. And then Nene was just a

freak of nature. He still is. He came under everyone's radar in the 2002 draft and dominated the workouts. The workouts are happening actually right now. The Raptors are likely interviewing a whole bunch of players as well. And he just crushed it and was drafted seventh overall by the Knicks and then traded to Denver. It was Antonio McDyess and Marcus Camby deal. This is okay. This is a big deal. I know you're being very humble here, but are you the first Canadian

sports agent that ever had a client get drafted in the first round of the NBA draft? I would say probably not. Is that not true? I have no idea, but I mean, if that's the case... Because if that was true, that should be on your t-shirt. I was going to say, I'm going to put up

a poster of that. Let's just say yes. Just go withshirt. I was going to say. I'm going to put up a poster of that. Let's just say yes. Just go with it. Who's going to verify? I think it sounds true to me. I heard that somewhere. But okay. So I'm going to guess you're Portuguese?

I am. Yeah. Both my parents. My dad's mainland. My mom's the island. So I can split perfectly. But it means you grew up speaking the language. 100%. Did you know, here's a fun fact for you.

They speak Portuguese in Brazil. Did you know that? Yes. Man, you picked that up quick. Now, I'm from Kingston, Ontario, and when I walked in the door, if you spoke English, then my dad would just look at you, and then you knew, okay, I'm not going to speak English anymore. It's just Portuguese.

Well, that helps you out because that obviously must be why you ended up in Brazil. And I still try to... You help foster... Let's take Leandro Barbosa

for a moment here. You manage him as an amateur sort of as he into the draft? Leandro was, I'll say, is probably one of the luckiest in the world in 2003. The reason being, Nene was

such a hit. Nene was played like he's a power forward that played like a point guard. And Brazil all of a sudden became, you know, every team literally called me saying, who's next? So I could have put you in the draft. Literally, you would have been drafted. I could have just made up Michelangelo. I'd have to learn Portuguese, I think. Yeah. But, you know, credit to Barbosa. He found his role in the league and ended up

winning six man of the year. There's another kid who I thought was a perfect NBA player. 2006 was drafted, Marcus Vinicius. He's one of the top scorers in Brazil right now. But he didn't stick around. He played for like three years. Okay, but I got a question about, not that you were involved at all, but they told me Bruno was two years away

from being two years away. But I did the math. He's still two years away from being two years away. Like they need another two years away. But I did the math. He's still two years away from being two years away. They need another two years away. Yeah. If you could name anyone that was drafted 21st overall in the last 15 drafts, I'll give you $100 right now. I mean, after, in my opinion, the first dozen picks.

It's a crapshoot. You have to roll the dice and you have to take gambles. And good for Masai. He did that. Bruno could have been spectacular. He could have also done what he did, which was... I think the big thing about the NBA is if you

bring a drafted kid like Bruno, you have to have the culture around him as well, or else they're going to get lost. They're young, young kids. And he had... I always call him BB, but Noguera? Yeah, Noguera's not probably, nice guy, good, you know, but not the best role model, I think, for Bernal.

He played, I think I saw him hit the court for that two minutes in the Cleveland series, and it was like the worst two minutes of basketball I've ever seen. Not to paint all Brazilian players with that same brush, of course. No, no, I've never worked with either of those kids, but, you know, you can't teach height in the league, and you hope that guys with that kind of height can get six fouls and get 10 rebounds for you.

Oh, that's amazing. So you basically built this company that kind of manages the facets of the Brazilian players' careers and stuff. You built this. Yeah. With your own two hands. I did.

Yeah, well, it was myself and another colleague. I ended up living with Mene. Oh, take the credit for it. You built this. Yeah. With your own two hands. I did. Yeah. Well, it was myself and another colleague. I ended up living with Nene. Oh, take the credit for it. It's okay. Oh, yeah, yeah. I was the first Canadian to have a kid

dressed at the top time. Yeah, I lived with Nene. He didn't speak English, so I traveled with the Nuggets for the first two seasons, which was awesome. Wow. I mean, that was an experience

that I'll never forget. Did you get a job? Like, you know, your job was to go out and scout for young, attractive women? Anything like that? Actually, it's funny you say that because at games, the Nuggets were struggling.

We only had 17 wins that year. And I was quite friendly in the town. I met a lot of lovely ladies. So the Nuggets front office heard about my connections and they said, Joe, can you give away these tickets to all of the beautiful women because our cameras will know where they're seated

and in commercial breaks, we're going to focus in on them. I knew this was more than just a coincidence. Okay, that's like a little peek behind the curtain there. Of course, of course. I might get in trouble for letting that secret out. No, that's why a little peek behind the curtain there of course of course i might get yeah i might get in trouble for no i mean this is no that's why you're here i want to know how the sausage is made as they say but all right so you worked at the nba that's that's already very cool but you

also did some work speaking of uh the mls you did some work with los angeles galaxy yeah so the galaxy at the time, it was a brief. Frank Yallop was a Canadian coach. He was the coach there. Another colleague of mine from Kingston who was heavily involved introduced me, and they needed some help with a Brazilian player they were trying to get on the team before Beckham approached. So it was about a three-, four month stint with them. Just a little bit of PR in different cities,

especially in Toronto when they came here, they had, we had, we hosted an event for them. You said this is during the David Beckham. Yeah, it was first season. Cause that was bananas.

It was, it was, it was spectacular. Like, and David, I feel special saying, just calling him David. He had, he invited me to that party that Will Smith and Tom Cruise put on, the welcome party.

That was awesome. You were there? I was there. Talk to me, brother. Forget the Wolfpack stuff. This is what you're here for. I spent half the night dancing with Queen Latifah and Rita Wilson. Rita Wilson?

Oh, that's Tom Hanks' wife, right? Yeah, he's half Portuguese. Is he? He is, yeah. I like to say that every time. See, that's Tom Hanks' wife, right? Yeah, he's half Portuguese. Is he? He is, yeah. I like to say that every time. See, let's finish it. My wife is Filipino. So she'll tell me when somebody is like a quarter Filipino or whatever, right?

This is something people do if they're proud of their homeland. Portuguese are very proud. Did you know that Bruno Mars has some Filipino blood in him? That's believable for sure. Katy Perry. I just assumed it was true. Katy Perry is Portuguese. I didn't know that.

Yeah, she is Portuguese. So who would you say is the world's most famous Portuguese person? Person of Portuguese descent? Tito Santos, my dad. I thought you were going to say Tito Santana

because I used to watch him wrestle back in the day. Oh, you got confused for that all the time. Tito Santana because I used to watch him wrestle back in the day. Oh, you got confused for that all the time. That was my area. What was his finishing? I'm trying to remember. He had some finishing move off the turnbuckles or something. Not a superfly.

A superfly snooker. But around that time, and he's called Chico. Chico Santana. Yeah. I remember Tito Santana. He had the nice mullet too. I got to bring back the mullet. Mullets are cool, man.

So David Beckham, though, handsome man. He's a good-looking guy. He's just a handsome guy. Super handsome, yeah. I was at a game. I was at a TFC match when he didn't play, though, but LA Galaxy, when he was on the team, came to town. I don't think Beckham got in the game.

I don't think so. But even that was bananas, to have Beckham in town. It was like the biggest rock star. The event we had was at, at the time it was called the Ultra Supper Club. It's on King West, near Spadina.

Above that, there's a store there. And the booth was sectioned off, and I'm not joking, there was eight, nine, ten rows deep of women just surrounding and just staring behind these, what do you call it, the barriers. He never sounded like he looked, right?

Because he's got the rugged, you kind of think he's going to sound like a, I mean, I don't sound, I'm also ruggedly good looking, but my voice isn't as deep as you would think for such a handsome man. David Beckham's voice is pretty high pitched. It is. Yeah. He... It reminds me of a YouTube clip that went viral that the Danish...

I don't know if you ever saw that one where the guy had an operation. We'll just leave it at that. Okay. Yeah, I know I missed that one. I try to avoid the danish parts of the youtube it's dangerous it's dangerous all right so here's a little that's a little background on you uh and so tell me what is your current like do you have a title what exactly do you do before i'm going to give you some gifts maybe we can reciprocate i see a bag with you

there i'm excited but i'm going to give you some gifts uh mention some sponsors and then i've got a lot of wolf pack i need to know everything about the Wolfpack. And I know so little, I'm embarrassed and ashamed. So tell me, what is your current title with the Wolfpack? What is your role with the Wolfpack? So technically with the Wolfpack, I guess I would call myself more of a I guess I would call myself more of a commercial consultant or an advisor. I started, I'm one of the founders as well. I brought in the main investor, David Argyle, who is our owner. The first year was I did heavy operations.

After that year, I ended up taking a different role where I started a company called The Craft Guys. And The Craft Guys, the focus of that is a collective agency for craft beers. So that's how I'm linked with the Wolfpack right now. Did you say craft beer? I did say craft beer. It's almost as if I wrote it on the board for you. Okay, there is a six-pack of craft beer. Yes. Now, I know, so you say different craft breweries are involved with your operation there.

But one of them, is it Great Lakes Beer? And if it's not, why the hell not? You know what? Great Lakes was there at the very beginning. Before we, I think it was right around the time we announced the team, which was 2016, we had a big thing at Real Sports Bar. Lennox Lewis was there as well. The emcee was Adam Fogarty, who played Gorgeous George in, oh, man, that movie's slipping out of my mind,

with Brad Pitt, he's the fighter. Oh, my God. Can't remember. Brad Pitt's the fighter? Yeah, I remember he's Irish or he's Scottish. He's a strong... Fight Club. No, it's not The Fight Club.

Yeah. Man, I can't believe I forgot the name of this. It's okay. It'll come back. The Gorgeous George. I hate pikeys. Oh, this starts with an S, right? This is the one directed by Madonna's husband?

Yes. Yeah, Guy Ritchie. Yeah, Guy Ritchie. Okay, not Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. The one after that, right? Snatch. Yeah, Snatch. Oh, thank you. Yeah, that Ritchie. Okay, not Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. I went after that, right? Snatch. Yeah, Snatch. Oh, thank you.

Yeah, that's a movie I need to watch with subtitles on. I struggle with the Cockney accent. It really gets me. But yeah, it's a great movie. Yes. Sorry, not to revere. No, no, no. So Great Lakes provided, helped us out with some beers for some events we did.

And then fast-forwarding to our first season, I was doing a lot of sponsorship work, and I met with Labatt, I met with Molson, I met with Moosehead, and it was, you know, they're great. Obviously, you know, you see their labels everywhere, but in order to start a new pro team, we had to do something different. So the idea was, well, let's do an exclusive craft beer garden at every single one of our games.

It was a bit of a risk, but it worked out. And last year we hustled quite a bit to get the spots filled. And this year it's like there's 21 breweries on a wait list to get in. Okay, but what do I need to do to make Great Lakes beer available in these craft gardens? I'm not trying to make it awkward for you. No, no, no. It's Canada's, it's Ontario's greatest tasting craft it awkward for you. No, no, no. It's Canada's,

it's Ontario's greatest tasting craft beer. It's a fantastic, no, no, I love their branding. I love, you know, I love when companies stay true and local. I will definitely have them, you know, if there's an opening. I will broker the deal.

I will bring you to the table. I'll put them high on the list for next year. How about that? We're on the road to Super League. If we make it to Super League, then it's... See, there you go. I don't know what that means. It sounds impressive, but I'm going to find out very soon.

What the hell is this? Super League? Yes. What the hell is that? I can't wait to find out. So, okay. So, yes, you're taking home that six-pack. Enjoy.

Thank you. Courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery, and I will broker the deal. I'll make that happen. Put it on my list. There is also a pint glass beside the case, the six-pack. So the pint glass is also yours. That is from Brian Gerstein.

Well, thank you, Brian. And Brian has a question for you. So Joe, listen up. This is from Brian. Property in the six dot com. Joe, listen up. This is from Brian. Propertyinthe6.com Hey, Toronto Mike listeners. Steve Fall here, guitarist with Acid Test. Just want to put in a good word for my buddy, Brian Gerstein,

who is totally helping me out with my own real estate needs. And he is really taking good care of me. You should give Brian a call for Toronto Real Estate done right. Thanks, Steve. The number to call or text me is 416-873-0292. Joe, what was the impetus for you creating your sleep disorder company? Was it based on your own personal experiences or someone close to you? Wow, that's amazing. He does his homework. Well, I really appreciate that question. I'm plugging two companies at one time.

It's a bonus. Thanks, Brian. And great picture on your card, Brian. If anyone can look up Brian Gerstein. Propertyinthesix.com Beautiful. You need to buy some real estate? You need to buy some real estate in the GTA? Hopefully next year, yes.

Well, you contact that guy. Yeah. Sweetheart and the most honest realtor in the city. So he's great. So it was a personal thing. I started it six years ago. You know, CPAP machines, we all know someone that uses it. Sleep apnea is actually pretty serious,

especially when you're talking about moderate to severe apnea. Both my parents suffer. I luckily, I have mild and I snore, according to my wife. But my dad wasn't using a CPAP machine. And it was being used as a doorstop. And unfortunately, it's used as a doorstop for a lot of Canadians. This leads, you know, if it goes unchecked or untreated, you're talking about high blood pressure, your weight gains, et cetera.

It's just a snowball effect. So I found this product called ProVent Therapy. It was created by a Stanford professor, and it was being trialed here by MedSleep. So I asked the doctor who was trialing, Dr. Adam Blackman, for some samples, and we tried it with my dad. And my dad is a stubborn Portuguese man. And he acclimated after two nights.

And I'm like, if my dad acclimates after two nights, then there's something here. And I just ran with it. And we brought in some other products that were just alternative solutions for sleep that weren't available in Canada. That was the idea. Sleep apnea, is that the thing where you stop breathing during your sleep?

Yeah. Imagine yourself just not sleeping consistently through the night. Unconsciously, you're waking yourself up, and you're never getting to that phase three REM sleep, which is your restorative sleep. So these people with moderate to high severe apnea, they're never sleeping through the night at all. Like, they shouldn't even be driving a car, right? This is serious. Absolutely not.

Especially truck drivers, pretty much all of them. Now, the laws are very serious where they have to continually do testing, and actually, they have to get passed by with a sleep apnea test. Yeah. Knock on wood. I'm glad I'm not afflicted with that. That sounds pretty awful, actually. No, you're in good shape. You're in good shape.

Well, you haven't slept with me yet. You don't know if I'm snoring at night. I don't. Actually, I'm kind of proud, like, because I hear a lot of horror stories about middle-aged guys and stuff and their wives have to wear earplugs or sleep in a different room

because these guys are snoring up a storm. I'm a silent... Yeah, enjoy your, you know, crack it open on the mic, though, on the mic. Oh, I like this one. What is that one?

A pompous ass? A pompous ass is delicious. Oh, very good. Very good. It's one of my favorites of this. And you're pouring it

into the Brian Gerstein pint glass. Has it been cleaned? Brian, has it been cleaned? Let me know. Text me right now. Camp turned us all.

Joe, do you got any kids? Actually, I don't, but we we have won our first on the way i'm very excited when's this when like uh this is uh due like in 2018 it is yeah wow well today my wife and i went for our um our four month appointment we found out that we're having a girl that's that's the exciting appointment where you can see the gender oh my my god, and you hear the heartbeat. I'm like just... But just be warned, when you win it's a boy, they know

for certain it's a boy. When it's a girl, they're 95% sure, but every once in a while, they're just missing something on that ultrasound. It's probably a girl. They batted a thousand with me, but yeah, that's fantastic. Yeah, super excited.

And you're going to name your daughter Michelle after me. Yes, after today. Everything is lined up today perfectly. In four years, so what? In four years, you need to send her to French camp, okay? I know you're going to teach in Portuguese at home, but they need to learn French at camp. It's going to be good for her.

Her French skills can blossom over the summer while she's having a blast. So go to campt.ca. They have French camps in the GTA for tens of thousands of children ages 4 to 14. Campt.ca. Browse what they have going on in the GTA. It's fantastic. There's overnight. There's day camps. Thereowse what they have going on in the GTA. It's fantastic.

There's overnight. There's day camps. There's heck to be honest, there's even Skype tutoring. Like if your kid needs some help with French and you don't want to send them to camp, there's even this like Skype tutoring with a French expert. It's pretty cool.

So camp T. CA. Your first purchase, use the promo code Mike and you'll save 20 bucks right there. So you got four years to go, Joe, but then I wonder if my promo code will and you'll save 20 bucks right there. So you got four years to go, Joe, but then I wonder if my promo code

will work in four years. No, I'm a big believer in learning more language, so that is a no-brainer. This news about the imminent daughter, did that news come, you said, today

or this week? Three hours ago. Really? Yeah. So this is not going to be the most exciting thing you do today or this week? Three hours ago. Really? Yeah. So this is not going to be the most exciting thing you do today. This podcast. Well, I can, yes. I'll record this and

have my daughter listen to it over and over and over again. Yeah, this is what daddy sounded like before you arrived. Before diving into a pompous ass. That's right. We'll do the before and after. That's fantastic. Congratulations, man. Thank you very much. It's the best.

Like, I think I'm done now, but every time, like, that's exciting when you find out you're pregnant, when you find out the gender, when the birth,

like, these are all, like, there's nothing like it. Oh, man. And I'm the suck in the relationship. My wife is, like, a six-foot supermodel, redhead supermodel,

and loves horror movies. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Slow down. Your wife is a supermodel. Shehead supermodel, and loves horror movies. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Slow down. Your wife is a supermodel. Yeah, she is a model. Is she visually impaired? That's what a lot of people say. Hey, I'll take it.

I'll take it. Yeah, she's stuck with me for 10 years. Punching above your weight. You must be loaded. Well, no. Loaded in happiness, yes. No, good for you for you buddy paytm here's a way to make some more money and you can all be loaded you can get 10 bucks listen this is how you go to paytm.ca and you download the paytm canada app that's where you pay all of your bills you can

pay with your master card or with your bank account or with your paytm cash but when you make your first bill payment it's really easy you, let's say a hydro or something, a hydro bill and whatever. You get a $10, $10 in Paytm cash if you use the promo code Toronto Mike. One word. That's free money. You can use it towards any other bill. I use Paytm to pay all of my bills because I like to get the points on my MasterCard. But that Paytm cash, $10, you're a fool if you don't take advantage of that. That's free money sitting there

and it's a great app anyway. Done. Joe, that's it. I don't see my 10 bucks. It's coming. You got to use the promo code Toronto Mike. Come on, you got to type faster.

Type faster. All right, Wolfpack. Where do I begin with this here? Okay. You became... Tell me if this is correct, because this is a monster title. You became the chief operating officer of the Toronto Wolfpack Rugby League Football Club. Is that true? Or is that a lie, like the other lie I told about you being the first Canadian to have a player draft?

No, that's true. But titles are, I'm not a big believer in titles. And when we first started this, we were wearing multiple hats and I got labeled with COO for some reason. And to be honest, I hate operations. But it is impressive. That gets you into like nice restaurants and stuff.

At least maybe it can, I don't know, open some door somewhere, having a monster title like that. But you told us what you're doing with it. So how do, okay. What other responsibilities do you have like with the Wolfpack before we get into the nuts and bolts

of like who they are, where they play, what the heck this thing you talked about, Super League or whatever, Justice League? Justice League, yeah. Marvel, yeah. Well, they do look like superheroes.

The guys are built like Adonis's. They're very, you know, all of them are over six feet tall, ripped to shreds, and they speak very well. I actually find it refreshing when they do interviews. We'll have to get one of them on your podcast. Okay, these players. How many players on the Wolfpack? So you play 13 at a time on the field. You can dress 25. Okay. And

are these guys Canadian? Like where are these guys from? Yeah. So rugby league is most popular in the UK and in Australia. So pretty much most of our players, I think we have an Albanian player, are from those two countries. We do have a Canadian. He's in our, we'll say, minor league programs. I think he's on a loan right now to the London Scholars, which is another team based out of London, England.

But no. I mean, it's just not, rugby league isn't something that is... We're not producing elite rugby players yet. No, it's just not, rugby league isn't something that is... We're not producing elite rugby players yet. No, no, no, that's not true. We're producing elite rugby union players and the Canadian rugby union, seven men's and women's is...

Okay, and that's the one you see at like, what was it, the Pan Am Games or something? At the Olympics, the women won bronze. That's it. Yeah. And that was really exciting. So that's called sevens? That's called sevens, which is a derivative of Rugby Union.

And Rugby League's derivative equivalent is called Rugby Nines. And that hasn't even been introduced here. Hopefully someday I can introduce that. What's the one that when you watch that great documentary about Nelson Mandela in the World Cup of 95, I think it was? That's Union. And that's what Wolfpack plays. No. I told you this was going to be a little bit of a re-venture.

So when I ask you about rugby, the first thing you're going to think of is that. The first style of rugby you're going to think of is your friends who may have played at Upper Canada College or whatever it is. It was certainly a private school sport. There's 15 guys on the field. There's scrums.

There's side-out plays. Million whistles. no one knows. Well, rugby league is 120 years old. It's actually, I mean, it has quite a bit of history. And 100 years ago, it actually made an attempt to come to Canada. In fact, with the creation of the forward pass, a sport called football was created. Right. I've heard of that one. If you look at the CFL, the rules are very similar to rugby league. In fact, the CFL was actually called the Canadian Rugby Football League. If you ask anyone over 80 years old, if there's a CFL game, they say the rugby match is on. The Grey Cup still says rugby league on it.

Yeah. Yes, it does. It's a derivative of this sport, of this style of rugby. So this is, yeah, similar. Okay, yes. Okay, and you mentioned 13 on the side. Is that the number? It's 13 instead of 15. Okay.

Six downs for the field. You know, on the fifth tackle, it's called last tackle, and you either punt it away or you do a drop kick or you can kick it in the air and catch it for a try. But it's just a fast-paced game. There's very few. Like if it's a whistle, sure,'s just a fast-paced game. There's very few, like if it's a whistle, sure, there's a couple

of suspect whistles that people don't really know if it's a high attack or whatever the play might be. Right. But it just moves on. And even during the game if someone gets injured,

you'll actually see the medic on the field while the game's still going on. Okay, and the league is called Rugby Football League. Correct. That's the English Rugby Football League. The other one is the Australian NRL. Okay, and the league is called Rugby Football League? Correct. That's the English Rugby Football League. The other one is the Australian NRL.

Okay, okay. So what's interesting... Okay, so how did we get a franchise here? Because the games are happening on the other side of the pond, right? These are all happening in England? Right. The majority of the teams are in England. There are two teams in France.

Okay, but are we the only North American team? We're the only North American team for now. I think you'll probably see a few more in the next few years. So how does that happen? That's kind of an unusual move, right? I know I sometimes hear the NFL talks about putting a team in London, England or something like that. You hear rumors about this and that. But as of yet, we haven't seen anything quite like that.

How does Toronto get a franchise in this big league that most of the games are in England? Yeah, so I think it's actually one of the biggest pieces of this is we are the first major professional team that's ever played transatlantically. So we have joined what I say is the equivalent of their NFL, although to a much different scale. So I guess rugby league has been played here in beer leagues and things like that.

There were Eric and Corey, two guys who were living in the UK, fell in love with the sport about five or six years ago now. They helped start the Canadian National Rugby League squad and then slowly built the confidence of the group at the RFL to get a team here and they just didn't have anyone to invest and that's where I came in pitched a few people that I knew through my basketball days

in the sports industry and coincidentally ran into David Argyle not through them but through another gentleman and then the rest is, and coincidentally ran into David Argyle, not through them, but through another gentleman. And then the rest is history. You need an owner like David to make this happen. He's Australian, right? He is, yeah. He's from Perth.

But he was captain of the Michigan Wolverines rugby union team years ago. He loves rugby. Yeah. Okay, so where do I go from here? Okay, so this is kind of fascinating because where do you play your home games? this is this is kind of fascinating because where do you play your home games where does where do the wolf pack play their home games we play a lamport stadium so that's in liberty village like king and dufferin yeah my kid played uh soccer

when i had the the bubble over it in this in the winter he's got a bubble over right he played soccer there and yeah that's a gets a great neighborhood actually that's uh yeah king and dufferin a little bit uh east of there yeah it's uh yeah it actually just got re-turfed as well so your your kid will be playing on much nicer turf when he plays this i hope he notices now um the uh how many home games so uh we have eight home games right now in a row typically there are 22 games in the season uh because of the re-turfing we had to switch some of our home games right now in a row. Typically, there are 22 games in the season. Because of the re-turfing, we had to switch some of our home games. So we played one in Fletcher's Field, which was great.

Where's Fletcher's Field? It's in Markham. You can say it's the home of rugby. It's where a lot of major matches happened. You know what? I noticed on my bike rides, there's a park nearby called Colonel Samuel Smith Park. It's nearby. And on Saturdays,

I always see rugby matches going on. Is that like a rec league? Right over here? No, that's Aussie Rules. That's the crazy one. Oh yeah, those guys are crazy. I have so much to learn. Just be grateful I'm not asking you cricket questions because I don't understand cricket at all. No idea. I've got a funny cricket

story though. You can tell quickly and then we'll come back to it. It'll be really quick. When I went to Leeds to visit my buddy, went to my first cricket match, it was 17 hours. I passed out from drinking too much, woke up hungover, and kept drinking. And then people were clapping, says, and the game was over. But do they do 17 straight hours? I don't know. It's ridiculous, right? Yeah.

Yeah, it takes multiple days. I don't care to know or know either. No, I mean, I don't know. I mean, you know, I'm sure it's a great sport. I need to grow up with that sport, I think, to appreciate it. I didn't grow up with rugby, by the way, but I'm trying to figure this out. So they're playing the home game.

And because of this transatlantic thing, this is very unique. I'm guessing, yes, you do your home games in a row, and then you do the, like, you're not going back and forth, are you? In this case, the RFL accommodated us and the other owners. But next season, when we hopefully advance or whatever division we are in, you'll see them more spread out.

So our first games typically should be in April and they'll stretch out to the end of September, early October. Now I need to ask you what the heck that means, advance. Tell me what that means. Yeah, so I guess the second unique piece of the team, first being the transatlantic component. The second is that this is the first time

there is a promotion relegation league in Canada at a professional level. Meaning if you lose every single game of the season in the franchise model, you get the first overall draft pick. If you lose every single game of the season in the franchise mall, you get the first overall draft pick. If you lose every single game in this league, you get demoted to a different tier. And this is what you see, and I'm not a big soccer guy, but this is what you see in like the premiership like the English, yeah, in soccer. Yeah. Relegated and all that. Exactly.

Promotion relegation. And we had to start off as an expansion team in tier three and we won last year. We went to Tier 2, and now we're in first place, and we're attempting to, in two years, make it to Super League, which is Tier 1. So that's the big show, Super League. Is that the top notch for this rugby league? Like, can you go, that's the best of the best here?

Super League is the best of the best. Okay. So how close are we to Super League? So you said there's three levels? There are, yeah. And we started in the bottom and now we're here. We started in the bottom

and now we're here. You can use that if you want. Yes. That'll be our t-shirt. Although Drake forgot us when he made his t-shirts. I hope he's listening to this. Honestly, I think a lot of,

and we're going to dive in to numbers in this. Honestly, I think a lot of, and we're going to dive into numbers in a minute, but I think a lot of sports fans forget you primarily because if we're listening to the fan and we're watching TSN or whatever, there's no coverage. I don't see much coverage of rugby. But I also don't see much coverage of the rock, lacrosse, right?

But I think it's a fervent, loyal fan base there too. I think it's just a lot going on in the city and we need to be aware, which is why you're here. Because I need to know what's going on in my city. Well, I really appreciate that. Because, I mean, to build a professional team, you just need constant exposure. You have to think outside the box, and you have to engage as much as you can in the community.

And our three main principles really are to get rugby hands, rugby balls, rugby hands and balls, rugby balls and hands, And learn the rugby league style, right? We support Canadian initiatives as well, and we're actually championing a lot of UK and UK-Canada trade. Now, okay, so we started at the bottom, and then we went to the second level, and the next level would be the Super League. I want to get us to the Super League. I feel like Toronto's a Super League kind of city.

It is. When you're in Toronto, you want everything to be number one, right? So tell me, again, remind me what we need to do to get in the Super League. We got to win the second? We need to win. Yeah. So the way it works, it will be, if I can sum it up quickly, we have eight more games in the regular season.

Then after that, the top four teams of Division II, so it's called Championship, play the bottom four teams of Super League in one game, so seven matches. After those seven games, the top three teams, so you're 0-0 and you start the playoffs. After those seven matches with the bottom four Super League, top four Championship, the top three teams automatically advance, get promoted to Super

League. Okay. Whoever is fourth and fifth play one playoff match to determine the fourth team that advances. That's exciting. Yeah. It's going to be crazy. Okay. So our first season was 2017.

Am I right? So this is... Am I right? Correct. So this... I mean, I'm just checking my calendar. This is 2018. So we're in our second season now. We'm just checking my calendar. This is 2018. So we're in our second season now.

We are in our second season. What is that? Sophomore? Yeah. How did we, when we were freshmen, to use these Yankee terms, how did we win? Obviously, we won if we advanced to the second tier. See, I'm catching on. I'm catching on.

So we won our first season. We must have finished first in this third level. We did. And it was in fairness to the tier three, we stacked our team with a full time squad where we were playing teams that had a few full time players and a lot of part time players

who had to go back to do whatever their daytime job was. Okay. Okay. Because we go hard here in the TDOT. We had an investor who was ready to support the city and really build a team and climb quickly. We don't want to see a team that's losing. We want to see a team that's winning and advancing.

Now, I'm cheating here. So I don't want people to think I actually knew this off the top of my head. But I see, I'm reading here. I'm cheating here, so I don't want people to think I actually knew this off the top of my head. But I see, I'm reading here. So the Wolfpack had, they won 15, 15 of 15 regular season and then five of seven playoff games. And that sounds pretty damn good. Yeah.

So like, yeah, we were stacked. We were the Vegas Knights of the Rugby League. We were undefeated at home. We still are. Okay. Tell me about at home. So, when is the next match at Lamport Stadium? Well, thank you for asking, Mike.

The next match and our first match on the newly turfed Lamport field is this Saturday, 4.30pm. That's tomorrow. Okay. Now, how many people can you jam into Lamport? Capacity is 10,000. And how are you doing so far?

Like, I know awareness is probably, I mean, we're going to help get the word out here, but how are you doing so far trying to fill up those 10,000 seats? We have, from last year, our season ticket sales have, I think, jumped 20-fold. I'll expect this year we would have most of the games flirting with sellouts. This game tomorrow, we're projecting anywhere between 8,000 to 9,000 people in. And really, it's all because our corporates have also beefed up, right?

They've come to the table and they've supported us. Well, yeah. I'm thinking, right now, let's say you, right now, if you get, let's say you get 8,000 into Lamport for a rugby match, Wolfpack rugby match, that's, are these a lot of transplanted English people? Like these are people from, you know, maybe they were born in England or their parents are from England and they were raised with the game. Is that, are you getting a lot of new fans?

So that's certainly one of the vignettes of our fan base are the expats. I think what we have to do in order to introduce a new sport and grow it is also get that new millennial fan. And we're in the perfect spot for that in Liberty Village, right, in Parkdale. You just have to get them away from BMO, right, where the TFC plays. There's room for both. Yeah, there's tons of room for both. I love what TFC's done.

And, you know, we are working with MLSC as well on a lot of their initiatives. The Argos are now going to be practicing at Lamport Stadium. Oh, I didn't know. Like they were doing Don Bosco, right? Yeah, so you'll see them soon practicing there. Don't let them mess up your field. That's been a big controversy I hear. I got my TFC friends are still pissed about apparently the Argos messing up their field.

And then I have to remind them it's not their field. Come on. Yeah, exactly. Come on. Now, what does it cost? Like if I were going to take the kid to a Wolfpack game, what kind of dollars are we talking about? Well, one of our missions certainly was to make it cost-friendly. So you're going to pay, it's $250 for a season pass.

That's for 12 games. Kids under 12 are free, I believe. I'm pretty certain about that. Well, now if it's not true, they'll just play that clip and then it'll have to be... If you play the clip, then they'll let you in for sure, if you're 12 and under. And like we said,

like craft beer, everything that's sold there. There's a few other Canadian companies that are sold in the stadium. It's all $9.50 for a drink. So we try and keep them... Everything's somewhat competitive and food is actually very affordable.

Who do you play on Saturday? We play the only team that we have lost to this season, the London Broncos. And okay. Is there only one team in London, or is this one of those things where you've got like Islanders and Rangers or whatever? There is another team, but they're a lower division team.

It's more of a development team. But the London Broncos were a Super League team last year, I believe. They are a very strong team. They're currently, I think, in third place behind Toulouse. So this is a very important match. This is a very important match for London. Wow. Okay.

Now, logistically, I got logistics questions. So there's a team in Toronto. Sure, they play their home games here, but then they got to go play all their games at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. So the players aren't even Canadian, pretty much. Primarily, they're not really Canadian. They're from rugby nations,

and there's an Albanian guy in there, right? Right. But where do they live? Is there a place where they all... Are they all living in Melrose Place? There's some kind of a complex where they all live when they're here and then they live out of a suitcase. Like, how does that work? No, because we, we have, uh, our season overlaps nicely with, uh, university and college schedules. Um, we have a, an awesome relationship with George Brown, you know, the new facilities they built for Pan Am. Is that by Chorus Key

or is that different? Yeah, that's, is by Chorus Key? Or is that different George Brown? Yeah, that's Chorus Key. It's a distillery district. Okay, I got you. That's right. They're spectacular. I highly recommend if you have visiting family, friends, it's better than Airbnb.

I got married at the distillery district, for what that's worth. That's awesome. I don't know what that's worth. That's not worth too much, is it? I love distilleries. It's great. I don't know what that's worth. That's not worth too much, is it? I love distilleries. It's great. But yeah, so we stay there.

Our visiting teams, I'm not actually quite sure where they stay. Where? Okay, so you're playing Saturday. And then when does the Wolfpack go back to Europe for our next away game? Yeah, the end of the regular season will be at the end of our last game, July 28th.

So we have eight games in a row to end the season. And then we'll go back. We'll likely play our playoff games, our first three playoff games there, and then come back here. Who's the best team in our current tier two? What's it called? Champions League?

Championship League. Championship League. We are number one. We are the team to beat. Okay. By far. in our current tier two what's it called champions league championship league championship we are we are number one we are the team to beat okay by far so now that that'll be yeah when you get into this uh super league i think uh some of the casual guys will kind of perk up i think that because i know that that's what they always one of the detract the cfl thing is that they say hey there's a there's a better league just across the border there or whatever. But like in that we don't support anything but top notch and stuff. But there's nothing close to this caliber of rugby going on in North America, right?

Like this is, in North America, is this the best caliber rugby? This is the highest caliber rugby, especially professional rugby. There is a professional rugby union team, the Ontario Arrows. They play out of York. I haven't been to a match there yet, so I can't comment. But I would say all of our guys are very high-level athletes. And I see you're wearing a wolf. Is that a wolf pack hat?

It is. I see. Okay. I now see it. It took me a moment. Now I see it. The wolf eyes and nose, that's a T for Toronto. That's actually really clever.

This is the best logo in the city. That's a clever logo because at first glance, I see a wolf, but now I see a T, and it's like, yeah, it's both. That's cool, man. I tip my hat to McCann. They're responsible for designing. No, very good. Very good.

But that's a perfect segue. That's what I do, man. I know. I think you did that lob ball for designing. No, very good. Very good. But that's a perfect segue. That's what I do, man. I know. I think you did that lob ball for me. So one of the little treats that I brought here for you, it's not a Wolfpack hat

because I wanted to switch it. Oh, because I like the logo so much? Oh. Okay. Yes. Thank you. The beer garden

was so talked about as the party of the summer last year and we're going to make it even better this year. Thank you very much. Lostcraft made these killer hats. And you do have the T on the party of the summer last year and we're going to make it even better this year. Thank you very much. Lostcraft made these killer hats. And you do have the T on the side of this hat.

I get the T as well. Thank you very much. More guests should bring gifts for me. Well, I actually have two of them. Oh, get out of here. It's for your daughter. Thank you very much. She'll have to, yeah.

Yeah, she'd wear that for sure. In the spirit of a European sport, similar to TFC, how they, you know, a lot of their fans lift their scarves in the air. Yes. We wanted to bring you.

Get out of here. Our Toronto Wolfpack scarf. I'd like to see it hanging over the GNR. Actually, no, I'll put it up for sure. And then, yeah, I'll put it up, and it'll be a good conversation piece too

when the guests come in. And maybe these sports media guys will come in, and I can be, hey, let's cover these guys. There's something happening here. I hope so. That would be great. And there's one more gift. I might as well do them all three at a time,

just like you do. Yeah, I know. This is the best. Take your time. I'm enjoying this. So we have, in our beer garden this year, we have seven craft breweries and one craft cider. So the two tier ones, which means the two are two tops, are Henderson, based here in Parkdale, and Lost Craft, also a Toronto. I bike by Henderson on that rail path all the time.

Yeah, that's awesome. So they made custom beers. So Henderson used their food truck beer. Yeah, that's awesome. So they made custom beers. So Henderson used their food truck beer. And Lost Craft is launching a new beer called Unify, which is a light lager. So we went through. No, thank you kindly. I can't keep those in the studio.

It would be a huge conflict of interest, you understand. But I will give them a good home. Let's put it that way. Perfect. No, that's great, man. Thanks. Yeah, so we look at this gift exchange here. You've got the pint glass.

How's the beer tasting? Delicious. It is delicious. That one might be cold, so you can try that one. But then again, it might be a conflict of your... Well, that's the thing, man. All these craft breweries, at least from what I can tell, most of them are friendly. They kind of like a rising...

What is that? Rising tide floats all boats or rises all boats, whatever that is. I use that expression all the time. But I messed it up. What is it? All ships rise with the tide. Okay, that's an easier way to say it. I've been blowing it there.

But yeah, because I always talk to Troy and the guys, Lackey and all these guys at Great Lakes Beer all the time. I'm over there all the time. I'm literally like I'm hosting a Toronto Mic'd listener party at the Great Lakes Brewery patio on July 19. By the way, come down. I'll broker the deal there and we'll get this done. Get them in this beer garden.

The fact that they are your Great Lakes is your sponsor makes me believe that there are a few out of your multi-million subscribers that are craft beer lovers. So this is brilliant. If you love craft beer, we will have great likes next year if they want to come on board, of course.

Yeah, we'll make that happen. But we have some other ones. But this is very cool. This is very cool. And I love the artwork on this. And is that the van or a camper van? Is that Walter White's camper van? It is. Are they cooking meth in there Walter White's camper van? It is.

Are they cooking meth in there? Is that your secret? It's mixed in with the beer, yeah. This is by far the most gifts I've received in the program. Oh, we have one more. There's more? Are you kidding me? Well, you have to come and check it out.

Oh, yeah? You know a lot about the Wolfpack now. No, I... This is a game in the 23rd. So this is the team that we tie. This is really a rival team for us, the Barrow Raiders. I'm glad it's the 23rd. I was worried it was Saturday.

I'm working the beer garden, the Great Lakes Beer Garden all day on the... This is perfect. This is great. So June 23rd. Okay. And here, our beer garden is sponsored by Sports Interaction, which is a Canadian betting company.

I don't know if you do any sports betting. Those are tokens that we're using, like poker chips. They have a nice weight to them. Okay. First of all, thank you again. All of this. I love it. I'll wear that scarf to the match.

We call them matches, right? They're not games. Correct. I got that right. See a little bit of soccer stuff going on there. We're playing the Barrow Raiders. This is on June 23rd at 4.30, and that's a great location for me.

That's super great. I just have to decide who's the lucky second this ticket goes to. I'm going to see. If you need more tickets, just let me know. Let you know? I have 10,000 friends. I need 10,000 tickets.

That's cool, man. Thank you very much for that. Very much for that. Let me scan my brain though I must have more quiet okay so let's just

I got who the players are the rules obviously we can't do we need a deeper dive into rules I'm gonna have to watch some

and do some reading for the rules like because it's not like what are the biggest differences between the football we watch

and rugby right so just keeping it really simple. You score a try. A try is four points. Wherever you score that try, you have a two-point convert you can kick. But it has to be along

that line. So for instance, if you scored kind of going almost out of bounds on the edge, then you're going to be, it's a really hard kick, right? So you can score a total of six points. When you score in this league, you get the ball back. They kick the ball back to you. So technically you could just keep scoring offensively.

To the victor goes the spoils. I think Elaine said that. There you go. Maybe that's where it came from. And it's six downs. So again, another thing to follow would be on the fifth tackle, if you see a punt happen, then if they're tackled on the sixth, then it's turnover on downs similar to football.

Okay, great. Now, is there any, like, I talked a bit, briefly touched on media coverage, but, like, if I wanted to watch a game, like, is it streamed somewhere or broadcast somewhere? It is. So we just actually did a deal as well, not that it's going to pertain to Canada, with Satanta Sports, a premier sports in Europe.

Here in Canada, Sportsnet was broadcasting our Challenge Cup games. CBC airs our games live. You can stream them live. And Game TV. I'm not sure what station it is on Bell & Rogers, but Game TV on cable airs our games live. Okay, okay. And you can watch archived matches right on the YouTube.

You got a Wolfpack YouTube channel, and there's archived matches available. So I can go back and catch up and see what's going on there. Okay, so you're going to win this tier two. Then you're going to be in the Super League. That's a great... Is that Super League? If we win tier two, we advance to Super League.

That's amazing. Yeah. I think it might be the first time it's done. So another first. The first draft. The first Portuguese something. And now the first team to ever advance the Super League in two years after starting.

Is there anything I did not ask you about the Wolfpack that a new fan should be aware of? Like, is there anything else they should know? Like, who's our best player? Like, do we have, it's a team game, but is there anybody? I think that's a toss-up. Yeah, I mean, each, if you took a poll, and maybe that's something we could do,

is find out who your favorite player is. We have a new signing, Ashton Sims. He's just a massive beast, but a really gentle giant. Very well-spoken. He seems to be a fan favorite. Liam Kay, our winger, who has been nicknamed last year, sex on legs. That's my nickname.

But I think what I mean, one of the big things to take away is it really is actually a family sport. And it's family friendly to come and watch. There are no, no one's behaving out of sorts. Even the visiting fans, they'll cheer on their team in GRRs. But at the end of the day, you clink glasses and you congratulate the other, which is really the ethics of rugby, the core of rugby values. Yeah, no, I love that. I love that spirit. Now, the UK, though, the UK broadcasts all the games, right?

Right now, it's a bigger deal in the UK, right? This is a bigger... Right now, it's a bigger deal in the UK, right? It is, yeah. I mean, that's where most money from any professional sport come from is TV deals and sports TV down in the UK broadcast the Super League. So once we get the Super League, they have the rights for those.

Oh, man, let's get the Super League. I want to get the Super League. Wicked Awesome. Now, I asked you to, we're not kicking out the jams, but I wanted to kick out a jam with you. So I'm going to play your jam now, and we're going to talk about it.

And you've chosen a jam from my favorite artist of all time. Really? Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. The Loon. Kingston, Ontario. There's a picture of Gord right over your shoulder there.

Right at the secret path. This is... There's certain songs in your life that you immediately get transported right back to a certain age. For sure, man. For sure. What a beautiful song, too. I was just talking to Stephen Brunt about how

we're all kind of processing the death of Gord Downie. It's still being processed i well i think it's uh we'll process we'll be processing it forever i mean he will certainly gordon and the entire band uh will be stapled and etched in in our history for sure in my heart they've been etched well i I mean, I can imagine. I mean, they're Canada's band, but they're huge.

Somebody recently pointed out that the hip are actually much bigger in Ontario than the rest of Canada, they were explaining to me. Because what do I know? I'm born and raised in Toronto, so this is all I know. That makes sense.

And I said, okay, that makes sense. And then you kind of drill deeper. I mean, the hip are massive here, but Kingston, they're just like gods, right? Well, they have a bunch of things named after them now. Our K-Rock Center, where the very last show was, is the Tragically Hip Way. They'll likely be a school.

I think there was a new school that was just made in Kingston, and Gord Downie, that was high on the list for the naming yeah I mean I don't know I don't know if you made it to any of those last shows so they did the three in Toronto I was in the middle one I think it was a Sunday

I was in the first and the third you know they added that third they added the third late so originally there was only going to be the first two so I got the second one on purpose because I wanted to be at the last Toronto show then they added the third late so the originally there's only going to be the first two so I got the second one on purpose because I wanted to be at the last Toronto show then they added a third

and took that glory away yeah so I was at the second last Toronto show but it was fantastic so you and I combined to be at all three

fantastic I went to the Kingston one too I had what was that like I had to go to that I mean that was I went in with a light grey t-shirt and I came out it was black because everyone's standing dancing to go to that. I mean, I went in with a light gray

t-shirt and I came out, it was black because everyone's standing, dancing. Yeah, it was really a celebration, if anything else. The first one, I got all my tears out of the way. Right, that's right. The second one was very enjoyable. The third one was the send-off.

Did you, of course, I'm sure you did, but you watched the documentary about that? I did, yeah. I watched it at TIFF. It was very well done, long time running. It really does. It's hard to believe the condition he was in and that it all came together as it did

because it's almost, it's a miracle. It's unbelievable. For any fans, hip fans that are listening, the official hip photographer was a very talented guy named David Bastido. Yep. Because I know him. Did he have a website? He probably does. Yeah.

I think he does. He's selling his images of the last run. And there's a restaurant called Leslie Jones in Leslieville that actually is the first exhibit of them. And you can see they're printed on archival paper. You see these images and you're like, oh, man, your heart skips a beat and you want to break the piggy bank open and for sure collect one. It'll be a collector's item.

No, man, that guy's going to be... I mean, he's missed, man, but look at this catalog he left us, right? Like, so many wonderful songs and just so many memories. What's your favorite? That's a really tough one. Like, sometimes I think of, like,

it's something from Up to Here, maybe, because that's the first disc I fell in love with, and maybe something like Blow It High Doe or something, because it's, like, one of the first jams. I used to listen to the top 10 of 10 on Q107 and when they first started playing Blow It High Doe, I'm like, what is this?

And then you hear New Orleans is sinking and you're like, oh my god. And then you find out they're Canadian and you're like, what's happening here? And then I'm hooked. So yeah, it's tough to pick a favorite hip track. I think that's exactly what the hip, why they're so unique. Everyone has a favorite hip track. I think that's exactly what the hip, why they're so unique.

Everyone has a really heartfelt story of how they fell in love with the hip or a moment that they, they spent, whether it was a concert or with your first girlfriend or boyfriend. He was our national poet. That's what I like to say. And a hell of a front man for a kick-ass bluesy rock outfit, but tragically hip. There will be, there will never be another Gord Downically him. There will never be another

Gord Downie. There will never be another Gord. I would have to agree with you. So the Wolfpack are playing this Saturday at Lamport Stadium. What time is... What is it? It's not a kick-off. What is it? It is a kick-off. It is a kick-off. Kick-off is at 4.30. All games for the next eight weeks

except the last one. It'll be an earlier game, but our games are Saturday afternoons 4.30 the doors open at 3.30 and it's cool vibe the people are

buying the swag and wearing the the colors and all that I mean I know I know I'm a part of the team but I do truly believe that the logo is spectacular

and one of the other no it's honest to God yeah you're sitting right there I'm gonna blow smoke up your ass probably but I'm telling you blow smoke up your ass probably, but I'm telling you, swear to you, that's a very cool logo. It's like the FedEx logo that has the arrow, and you don't, oh, there's an arrow there,

and then you can't unsee it or whatever. This wolf, that's a T, and it's perfect. It's both. It's great. There's one piece I forgot to mention that I think is very unique about our experience. At the end of our game, we continue the party in the beer garden. Everyone, you know, if you want to stay a little longer, because the players, they go in, they shower, they come out and they interact.

They're drinking. And those guys can drink, right? Because those are big men. Well, they don't drink alcohol with the players. Some of the visiting players do, but they'll have a soda with them and just, you know, talk to them about the game, sign autographs. You don't see that in any major professional sport. No, you don't.

That's cool. That's cool. You really get to know the player. Yeah, this is a cool vibe. I'm going to go to my first game, and I'll share my experience with the listeners, and I'll write about it on TorontoMic.com. I should be ableomic.com. I should be able to make this. I'm 99% sure I'll be at this June 23rd

match against the Barrow Raiders. Yes. They're good or not? Are they good? They're a little lower on the standing. Good. We'll kick their butts. Well, for some reason they play really well against us. It's going to be an interesting match. I just hope I cheer at the right times. I'll just do what the rest of the people are

doing. Yes. You'll figure it out. Joe, this was fun. Thanks for coming in and teaching me everything I ever wanted to know about the Wolf Pack.

I feel like I can hold a conversation now about the Wolf Pack, which is, that's half the battle right there. Amazing. Thank you. That was a great

experience. I really appreciate it. And that brings us to the end of our 346th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Joe, are you on Twitter? I am, but I rarely check.

Well, tell us. I think it's JoeSantos100. JoeSantos, my son is like James the Best 100. Yeah, no. I'll start getting on Twitter a little bit more. JoeSantos100. Are friends? Well, is the Wolf getting on Twitter a little bit more Joe Santos 100 our friends well is the Wolfpack

on Twitter yes Toronto Wolfpack official is on Twitter do that up our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer I'm going to get them

into the Joe Craft Beer Garden that's my goal propertyinthesix.com is at Raptors Devotee Paytm is at Paytm Canada and Camp Tournesol is at Camp Tournesotee. Paytm is at Paytm Canada. And Camp Turnasol is at Camp Turnasol. See you all next week.

I'll play this guitar just the best that I can. Maybe I'm not and maybe I am. But who gives a damn? Because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms me today. And your smile is fine, it's just like mine, it won't go away. Cause everything is rosy and gray.