I attended primary school from 1978 until 1989. That makes me somewhat of an authority on schoolyard games played during recess and lunch in West Toronto during the 1980s. This entry isn't about the typical games kids play, like baseball or catch or tag, this is about two games we
YouTube user Retrontario frequently uploads fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips never fail to bring back a ton of memories for me, so I feature them from time to time. When John Mahjor passed away last year, I issued a Toronto Rocks host clarification. Major was the host of Toronto Rocks,
Blogging is one of the cooler hobbies. If there's something I can't find anywhere, I just need to write about it and eventually someone who can help me will find my entry and make my day. This happened with the Saint Ralph soundtrack, when I couldn't find or buy Gord
I'm a natural born archivist. In fact, when you think about it, that's the crux of blogging and I was blogging time-stamped journal style entries years before the birth of the blogosphere. I've always felt a need to document events with scrap books, photos, journals and video tape. As mentioned,
I'm a bit of a pack rat. Not the crazy obsessive kind, but I hold on to a lot of stuff because I think it'll be neat to have in fifty years. Today we spent the bulk of the day purging crap we've accumulated over the years. We're in hardcore
One of the first children's shows in my memory bank is Uncle Bobby. It aired on CFTO, our Toronto CTV affiliate, but it went off the air when I was five. One of the staples of Uncle Bobby was "Bimbo: The Birthday Clown". Wikipedia describes Bimbo as "a stationary cardboard
I'm watching the Jays opener against the Yankees. It's the last opening day in Yankee Stadium history. I remember skipping school to attend the last opening day in Exhibition Stadium history. There were 46,028 of us on hand that April 14th, 1989 afternoon. Jimmy Key pitched a two-hit complete
I was a member of the Lego Club. They sent me a membership card and everything. I loved Lego and would build castles, Star Wars spacecraft and cities galore. Lego is still everywhere. My son plays Star Wars Lego on our Nintendo Wii. It's the story of Star Wars in
My kids went to a toy exchange this morning. A bunch of neighbourhood mommies hook up and swap books and toys and such. It's a pretty good idea, so yesterday we were going through a bunch of old books to see what we could bring to the party. Amongst the
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. If you're not from Toronto, you can't appreciate our relationship with Buffalo, New York. We get
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. Here's a promo for CityTV's CityPulse sports back in 1984. The team consisted of Peter Gross,
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. Today I'm posting an ad from 1983 for Quaker Oatmeal. I was nine years old in
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. For most of my adult life, Fox has been my home on Sunday nights. Anchored by
I have a collection of expressions I'll use in place of "goodbye". Many of these expressions came from hip hop songs from the late 80s and early 90s as is the case with a farewell line I've been using for 17 years now. That would be, "I'm out like Buster
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. Here's a Maple Leaf game promo from 1986. The game was aired on CHCH TV out
When I was young, I remember cars with Ontario license plates had the slogan "Keep It Beautiful" printed on them. "Keep It Beautiful" was everywhere until "Yours To Discover" showed up. Then, for a while there was a split until all the "Keep It Beautiful" plates disappeared. A little digging
I got an email this morning from Mark Hebscher. Hebsy, along with Jim Tatti, hosted Sportsline on Global TV every weeknight at 11:30 from 1985 untill Hebscher left in 1995. I was a Sportsline fanatic. In the late 80s and early 90s, Sportsline was like no other sports highlight
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. In the 1980s, beer ads were different than they are today. Today they're more likely to
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. This is an ad for the TTC from 1984. I remember this song well. Does the
I have a pretty good memory, but for the life of me I can't remember who called me Andy Van Slyke. It was 1989 and my locker was in the St. Joe's building, and I remember vividly somebody bringing in an Andy Van Slyke baseball card from when he was
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. I know there are people in this country who hate the CBC. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. When I wrote all about The Polka Dot Door, one of my favourite television shows as
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. I've written about Elwy Yost before. He hosted Magic Shadows and Saturday Night at the Movies
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. Every Jays fan from the 80s is going to love this Blue Jays promo from CKCO.
YouTube user WNED17 recently uploaded some fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips have brought back a tonne of memories for me, so I'm going to feature them one by one over the next few weeks. About a year ago I wrote about Zoodles. Zoodles are animal noodles and here's the ad
