In this 175th episode, Mike chats with Lowest of the Low lead singer and songwriter Ron Hawkins about Shakespeare My Butt, success for which you're unprepared, Gord Downie, the perfect marriage of Peace and Quiet and Tim Thompson's Maple Leafs montage and much, much more. This episode is exactly 1:
When I awoke this morning, the first thing I did was check email. The first email I read was my Tragically Hip newsletter. I'm looking for them to tour again because I want to take my teenaged son to see his dad's favourite band. I couldn't believe my eyes. Here's
John Brophy was 83. He spent the bulk of his hockey career as a player and coach in the Eastern Hockey League but I knew him best as head coach of the Leafs from 1986 to 1988. He was coach for one of my first favourite Maple Leafs memories, a
I've written about Whimbrel Point before, a spot in Samuel Smith Park where whimbrels rest for a day or two every May. This morning, I finally spotted these whimbrels. Apparently, they had just arrived from an overnight flight from Virginia. They're just resting on their way to the arctic. I
Welcome to this week's Open Mike. I'm Mike and I'll be your master of ceremonies for the day. Feel free to use this space to vent, rant, share a story and/or ask a question of the hivemind.
I just spent a week driving a new Ford Flex, and it all started with this tweet that prompted me to seek out a Ford Flex test drive. @torontomike check out a Ford Flex if you don't mind the boxy look ... lots of space inside (because it's a big box)
Morley Safer was 84. He was the Toronto-born CBS newsman who changed war reporting forever when he showed GIs burning the huts of Vietnamese villagers and went on to become the iconic 60 Minutes correspondent. Born in Toronto! In 1931! https://t.co/dK79IMAv2i— Toronto Mike (@torontomike) May 11, 2016
Back in the day, I would post "guest blog entries" from readers. I had a form for this and everything. Today, if you want this treatment, you're going to have to send me an email. That's what Jason from Sudbury did, and this entry was written by him. First, @Toronto
In this 174th episode, Mike chats with Marty York about his controversial Tweets, his thoughts on sports media in 2016, his career at the Globe and Mail, TSN and Sportsnet and what he's up to now. He names names and answers everything. This episode is exactly 1:48:31. You
In the end, it wasn't even close. The Raptors beat the Heat handedly in game seven of their second round series to advance to the Eastern Conference finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The final score was 116-89. Prior to tipoff, I was surprised by how little anxiety
If you caught episode 167 of my podcast, you heard Retrontario talking about the Laurie Bower Singers. We played "Season of the Yonge" by the Laurie Bower Singers, a song about our very own Yonge Street. Today, I received this tweet from Laurie Bower's daughter. @torontomike @retrontario Fun fact: The
Welcome to this week's Open Mike. I'm Mike and I'll be your master of ceremonies for the day. Feel free to use this space to vent, rant, share a story and/or ask a question of the hivemind.
In this 173rd episode, Mike chats with Marc Weisblott about his years on the bleeding edge of online journalism, his Toronto email newsletter Twelve Thirty Six and a wide assortment of Toronto-centric tidbits. This episode is exactly 1:26:35. You can listen to this episode in a variety of
Drake finally has his first Billboard Hot 100 number one as a lead artist. One Dance by Drake and featuring WizKid and Kyla currently tops the chart. Here's the complete list of 45 Canadian songs to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It's Love-Love-Love by Guy LombardoCry by Johnnie Ray
Baseball fans likely know by now that Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon went deep the other day. He's the oldest player in the history of Major League Baseball to hit his first career home run. He was exactly 42 years and 349 days old. That's older than me! Here's a nice
I fell in love with baseball during the summer of '83 when I caught Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth calling Blue Jay games while spending a couple of weeks at my uncle's cottage. I was hooked. Around this time, I was playing tee-ball. In my tee-ball league, the catcher was
Prior to game 3 in the Raptors ~ Heat series, Dwyane Wade was caught shooting during the singing of O Canada. Here's the video evidence. I get the feeling I'm supposed to get all riled up about this, yet I feel nothing. Was it disrespectful? Probably. Should Wade apologize and promise
In this 172nd episode, Mike chats with boom 973 DJ KJ about his years on 680 CFTR as Kris James, how he ended up on boom and everything in between. This episode is exactly 1:10:41. You can listen to this episode in a variety of ways: Subscribe in
Welcome to this week's Open Mike. I'm Mike and I'll be your master of ceremonies for the day. Feel free to use this space to vent, rant, share a story and/or ask a question of the hivemind.
On this date last year, I rode my bike to High Park and snapped some great photos of the annual Sakura cherry blossoms in full bloom. Here's a taste of what I witnessed. Just yesterday, I rode to High Park to see if there were any signs of this year's
Every week I'll listen to an episode of The Doc Project via the CBC Radio app. Today I noticed that eight episodes of a series entitled The Wire were available. Initially, I thought it might be about my favourite television series of all-time, but quickly learned it was an audio
Seven years ago, I shared a classic McCain's Punch ad featuring Toronto Blue Jay second baseman Roberto Alomar. Retrontario was sharing the ad and it brought back a ton of memories. That wasn't the original 1993 "Catch the Taste!" ad, however, which almost topped Retrontario's most wanted list. The hunt
In this 171st episode, Mike chats with Elvis about this and that as Prince brings Elvis to tears. This episode is exactly 1:25:51. You can listen to this episode in a variety of ways: Subscribe in iTunesListen via Google Play MusicListen via StitcherFollow on tuneinSubscribe directly to the
Heading into last night's game seven at the ACC, I was asked for my prediction. With apologies to Forrest Gump, I ended up comparing the Raptors to a box of chocolates. I could see us winning big, but I could also see us losing big. The Raptors could win by
