The Bob McCown Podcast

With no games, trades or free agent signings to talk about, we bring in Sportsnet's Shi Davidi to discuss the need's and wants from both sides of Major League Baseball's work stoppage and to tell us why the owners and players are taking so long & if any progress has been made See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Live from Charlotte, where he has been sequestered in a hotel room since Friday due to Covid protocols, Matt Devlin joins us over zoom to catch up with Bob and John. The gentlemen talk about pretty much everything but solve absolutely nothing. The three attempt to discuss Devlin's early days as a broadcaster, Matt gets a Covid test in the middle of the show and just as we start talking about the Toronto Raptors, his internet conks out... lots of laughs shared on todays episode of the podcast. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) on Monday suspended Russian and Belarusian teams from its competitions until further notice and revoked Russia's 2023 World Junior Championship hosting rights. Today we bring on Vice President of the IIHF, Bob Nicholson, to discuss their decision and the future of international ockey with or without Russia and Belarus. We also talk about the Edmonton Oilers, the teams decision to fire Dave Tippett as their head coach, Mike Smith and the teams plans heading into the trade deadline and playoffs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dave Perkins and Dave Hodge join us to talk about the slow moving negotiations between Major League Baseball's players and Owners for the first half of the show before discussing a topic that can should not be ignored - Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the impact it has on humanity and on the world of sports. The four talk about the IOC's call to ban all Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competition. We ask whether or not this will have any sort of influence as we have seen international soccer teams already refuse to play Russia and discuss what professional leagues should do with their Russian born players. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Buck Martinez joins the show to give us another update on Major League Baseball's ongoing labour dispute between the leagues players and owners. The three discuss both sides of the dispute as the league is threatened with a shortened season if the two parties can't come to an agreement by Monday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After Phil Mickelson set the Golf world on fire with recent comments on The PGA Tour, the Saudi Tour & Greg Norman - Bob and John bring in Ian Leggatt & Richard Zokol to weigh in on Phil's apology and the overall state golf is in right now. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eric Smith and Paul Jones join the podcast to talk some hoops with Bob and John. The four talk about the NBA's All-Star weekend and discuss why this years event was especially bad. From the Dunk contest to the game its self, the gentlemen share their opinions and offer up some ideas of their own on how they think the NBA could make this more entertaining for everyone. We also talk about the Toronto Raptors and their chances at not only staying in the playoff picture but how far the team can go. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steve Simmons from the Toronto Sun joins Bob and John for todays episode. The three discuss the growing interest in Soccer in Canada and question whether the viewership we have seen with our Canadian Men's Soccer Team will translate to Major League soccer or if this affinity to the game will stay at the international level. We also look at the apparent declining interest in the Olympics, why we think that is and wether the popularity of the Olympic Games will ever get close to what it once was. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To start the week off, Mike, Scott, Bob & John discuss the second half of the NHL season and the NHL Trade deadline as we are only a month away. The four talk about Jack Eichel's return and the strong Western conference before shifting over to the topic of the trade deadline on March 21st. The four debate about why a team should or should not push for a trade this late into the season and what teams will be buyers and who will be sellers this month on todays episode.

Friend of the podcast and sports writer for The Athletic Ricard Deitsch joins the show to go over his thoughts on both the labour stoppage in Major League Baseball and the Beijing Olympics. We discuss how long we think the two sides will take in order to get Baseball back up and running again and the current state of the Olympic Games - predominantly the women's free skate figure skating event, the IOC's lack of action when it comes to the Russian doping scandal and the medias involvement in the issue. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.