Toronto Mike

My 2 Cents

Total 438 Posts

Everyone is Gay

Growing up in the 80s, everyone was straight. Unless you were gay. Otherwise, everyone was straight. In the school yard, a go-to insult you'd hurl at someone would be the F-slur or you'd just call someone "gay". If something sucked, it was "gay". We giggled at The Flintstones theme commanding
Continue Reading

Sunsetting

Sunsets are beautiful. It's always a highlight of my annual camping trip to The Pinery. An Ontario sunset doesn't get much better than the sun setting over Lake Huron. When you use a service and the proprietor of this service decides it's not generating enough revenue and should be shut
Continue Reading

Reclaiming Weird

Yesterday, Carol Off dropped by for a chat and we discussed the need to reclaim the meaning of words like freedom, democracy, truth, woke, choice and taxes. I told her I'd like to add a seventh word to that list: weird. The Democrats in the United States have co-opted the
Continue Reading

Resign vs. Re-Sign

Will Bo Bichette resign or re-sign? The meaning of these two words are almost opposite, but they're often confused. If one resigns, they're quitting, or to put it gentler, voluntarily leaving their gig. But if one re-signs, they're re-upping, or signing up to continue the gig. The hope in Blue
Continue Reading

We Need To Talk About Buffy

Only about 13 months ago, I wrote this about Buffy Sainte-Marie. Go ahead and click over for a quick read. It's about how much this woman means to me. As listeners of Toronto Mike'd know, I'm a Buffy fan since the 70s when I saw her on Sesame Street. Buffy
Continue Reading

Someone Else Can Print the Legend

As I shared yesterday, I had a great time at the Toronto premiere of 299 Queen Street West, a documentary about Muchmusic. A fun nostalgic rump followed by great conversations with several FOTMs. I didn't bike home from Roy Thomson Hall until midnight. That doesn't mean this is a perfect
Continue Reading

No Space For Hate

I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but I'm passionately supportive of trans rights. I've never had an anti-trans thought in my little brain. I'm keen to anplify the voices of members of this community, as you might have heard in heartfelt conversations with Ariana about her transition and
Continue Reading

In Defense of The Wave

Do you remember attending Jays games as a kid? I do. I've loved that team since I was 8 years old. Seeing games at the old Exhibition Stadium was great fun, and part of that fun was the wave. If you've ever been to a baseball game, you likely know
Continue Reading

Canada Legalizes Single-Game Sports Betting

Starting April 4, we in Ontario can legally bet on single-game sports.  iGaming Ontario, a subsidiary of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, made this announcement after Bill C-218 passed federally last August. Bill C-218 was a private member's bill brought forward by Kevin Waugh, Conservative MP for Saskatoon-Grasswood.
Continue Reading

Fake Crowd Noise? No Thanks!

Mark Hebscher and I have a recurring disagreement over whether sports telecasts without fans in attendance should pipe in fake crowd noise. Hebsy believes hockey games will sound strange if there's no cheering after the home team scores a goal. He'd like an audio engineer to bring in cheers and
Continue Reading

In Defense of Steve Dangle's Tweet

I had quite the disagreement with Mark Hebscher on Friday's episode of Hebsy on Sports. I'm not talking about the fact he thinks Michael Jordan could have been an MLB player, which I passionately disagreed with, but I'm referring to the recent controversy over this tweet from Sportsnet personality Steve
Continue Reading

Rough 24 Hours for Hot Takes

It's been a rough 24 hours for social media hot takes from members of the MSM who oughta know better. Two incidents sparked this barrage of tweets: Cheers in Scotiabank Arena when Kevin Durant went down with his injury during Monday night's Raptors gameThe USA women's soccer team celebrating with
Continue Reading

Print Journalism in this Digital Age

Reports of the demise of print journalism are greatly exaggerated. Print's not dead, it's just moving from dead trees to digital. The challenge for newspapers will be creating a model that can be fully funded in an environment of decreasing ad revenue. A paid subscription model is the obvious move
Continue Reading

Stranger Things is Overrated

Just my opinion, of course, but I think Stranger Thing is overrated. I've watched both seasons and thought it was okay, but nothing special. My favourite thing about the series, and the reason I've watched every episode, is the nostalgia factor. I was about the same age in the early-to-mid-80s
Continue Reading