The Bob McCown Podcast

None other than the Commissioner of the National Hockey League himself, Gary Bettman joins the show today to talk with Bob and John. So much to talk about with so little time on todays episode as Bob and John try to fit all of their pressing questions regarding the NHL into Mr. Bettman's busy schedule. We talk to Gary about the Arizona Coyotes new facility at Mullett arena as we get an update on when we should expect the final product to be ready. Before we go, we talk to Gary about the conversation we had last week with Oilers GM Ken Holland and the lack of games scheduled this year between division rivals before having a candid discussion about the advertisements fans now see on the teams jerseys and the technical difficulties the league is facing after implementing the new digital ads on the rinks boards.

Barry Trotz Joplins the show today to catch up with Bob and John. With his name popping up in the hockey world recently, we talk to Barry about his recent comments regarding his interest in coaching for an Original Six hockey club and gauge his interest about an eventual return to the NHL. Barry also shares with us what he does to stay ready in case another opportunity arises, his opinions on various teams around the league and lets us know what he thinks about taking a gig in the front office on todays show.

Two interviews for the price of one on todays episode of the podcast. First, we bring in Arash Madani to catch us up on all of the Canadian Soccer news heading into the FIFA World Cup in Qatar before moving on to a preview of tonights World Series matchup between the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies. Before Arash leaves, we make sure to get in some Canadian tennis talk with our country's young star Felix Auger Alliasime recent stellar play. Matt Sekeres hops on the podcast for the second half of the show as the three discuss the dumpster fire that is the Vancouver Canucks start to the NHL season.

Buck Martinez stops by the podcast today to chat with Bob in John. Originally intended to be just a World Series Preview with Buck, the three get into the evolution of the catching position in baseball. Its been long since the days of a Major League Catcher playing 140 games in a season and Bob wants to know if Buck has the reason why. We also get into a conversation about Houston Astros Manager Dusty Baker before finishing the show with a preview of this years World Series featuring Baker's Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies set to begin Friday night.

Ken Holland, General Manager of the Edmonton Oilers and friend of the podcast, makes his return to the show to catch up with Bob and John. The three start the show off by talking about the peculiar set up of this years NHL schedule. With the Oilers only playing their provincial rivals, the Calgary Flames, 3 times this season, we talk to Ken about the importance of cultivating rivalries in professional sports. After the break we pick Ken's brain about his team, their performance so far this season and get some answers on a number of Bob's goaltending inquiries.

Matt Devlin and Paul Jones Join the podcast today for some NBA talk after the Toronto Raptors 1-1 split with the Miami Heat in their series over the weekend. The foursome start off the conversation with the NBA's new "baseball style" in-season series. We go over what it means logistically for the NBA and debate on whether the new format will affect the leagues ticket sales as we progress into the season. We also talk about some of the reported plans the NBA has when it comes to growing the game. We discuss the prospect of in-season tournaments and go over steps NBA commissioner Adam Silver can take to prevent teams from tanking. To end the show we address some of the early season concerns surrounding the Toronto Raptors, their lack of bench depth and the heavy workload being put on the teams starting rotation.

No guest today as Bob and John celebrate 500 episodes of The Bob McCown Podcast all by their lonesome. We look back at some of the early days of the podcast when the show was called "Okay, You've Got Five Minutes" with just Bob at the helm before the addition of Mr. Shannon as co-host as the two reflect on why they started to podcast and note the differences they've found going from radio to podcasting. We also find some time to fit in some sports talk as we end the show with a brief discussion on the MLB Playoffs and the Toronto Blue Jays

Ending the week with a roundtable as we bring in Mike Zeisberger and Eric Duhatschek to come give us some insight on all of the news swirling around the NHL. From the Vancouver Canucks rather abysmal start to the season to the Buffalo Sabres & Philadelphia Flyers unexpected early success, the foursome look at some of the teams that have surprised them the most after one week of the NHL's regular season. We also get into the drama surrounding Maple Leafs Head Coach Sheldon Keefe, and his comments regarding Toronto's star players as well as the teams cap and goalie issues on todays show heading into the weekend

Our business specialist joins the podcast today to catch up with Bob and John. For the first half of the show we focus on the issues surrounding Hockey Canada as we get Brians perspective on the matter. The three talk about potential replacements for head of the board and get into the details of how Brian thinks the organization can fix the mess they made and re-build the brand. We also spend time on the thinking between the NHL's in game ads being projected onto the boards.How much money will this bring the league and how much of the technical difficulties damage the brand? To end the show, we talk about the growth of Canada Basketball and get some insight on the future of international basketball in Canada.

John Gibbons, former Blue Jays manager and the last manager to win a playoff game with the ball club takes some time out of his busy podcasting schedule to catch up with Bob and John. The three focus on the MLB playoffs as we briefly go over the Wild Card series loss the Seattle Mariners handed the Toronto Blue Jays before shifting over to the New York Yankees win against the Cleveland Guardians. We talk about New York's chances at winning the World Series as well as their chances at keeping Aaron Judge in the Big Apple as we end our show wondering, if Judge isn't in a Yankee uniform next year, what will he be wearing instead?