Episodes
Shawn and Howie look at the sports year that was 2025 in this episode. The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl; the Florida Panthers took the Stanley Cup; the Oklahoma City Thunder was the NBA Champion and, in what some have called the best World Series they had ever seen, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series. The NHL, in what would be its All-Star break held a 4-Nations tournament that turned out to be everything they wanted it to be. The Luka Doncic trade? What were they thinking? There is more too! Enjoy the show!
We have reached that time of year. It's Festivus. That includes the airing of the grievances. The time went by so quickly that Shawn and Howie didn't get to discuss all their points. But it's an absolutely lively conversation and the boys hope that Toronto Maple Leaf fans aren't too angry with them. They cover the Leafs, the way the Kansas City Chiefs season is arriving at its end, the movement of franchises, the pricing out of some families when it comes to pro sports and how the Canadian Football League went about their upcoming rule changes this year and how will they...
In a wild and bizarre weekend the Kansas City Chiefs lost Patrick Mahomes to an ACL tear and lost their game to end their quest for another NFL playoff berth, ending a run of success that was incredible. That same day, 44-year-old Philip Rivers came out of retirement to almost lead the Indianapolis Colts to a win over the Seattle Seahawks. But poor clock management resulted in Seattle having enough time to kick a field goal and pull the game out. On the Saturday night, John Cena appeared in his last wrestling bout as he tapped out against the Swiss giant, Gunther. On the cultural side that ...
The Contemporary Eras Committee voted for their Baseball Hall of Fame candidates this week. Would Don Mattingly finally get in? Dale Murphy, maybe? Nope. Neither. One man was selected to be inducted in 2026 from this vote. Jeff Kent. Shawn and Howie discuss the selection and what they thought might happen. It's a lively and wide ranging conversation and they bring up a lot of names and comparables for the men on the ballot.
On December 8, 1980, as we were watching Monday Night Football, Howard Cosell informed us all that John Lennon had been killed outside the Dakota Hotel. Shawn and Howie discuss their memories of that night, the following week and the impact that Lennon's death had on them and the world as they saw it at that time. Some illuminating audio accompanies their conversation.
In this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn and Howie cover a lot of ground. First, they remember the lives and legacies of the great Canadian curling giant, Colleen Jones, and 1979 Masters winner, Fuzzy Zoeller. Then they look back at three sporting anniversaries. In 1975, Archie Griffin won back-to-back Heisman Trophies. He's the only man ever to achieve that NCAA Football feat. In 1985, on Monday Night Football, the undefeated Chicago Bears went to South Florida and pulled the Nine of Hearts against Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins. It was their only loss of that 1985 season...
In this episode, Howie put together a compilation show of pieces from four different episodes. There are highlights from an interview Howie did with Ken Warren about the demolition of the Bob Guertin Arena in Hull, a show that Shawn and Howie did on the life of George Foreman, a short episode on the importance of August 12, 1994 and 1976, and a piece from an interview Howie did with SiriusXM's Mick Kern on the passing of Ken Dryden.
This episode is a bit of a random mish-mash of topics all over the sports history map. Shawn and Howie start off by discussing the passing of the first great pitcher for the San Diego Padres. Randy Jones won the Cy Young Award in 1976, winning 22 games and completing 25 of his 40 starts. He pitched 315.1 innings that year to lead the majors. But his 1975 season might have been even better. Howie explains why. The boys examine Major League Baseball's new agreement with ESPN, Netflix and NBC is back in the baseball business too. They talk about the good old days of the NBC Game of the We...
The sports world lost a few luminaries and Shawn and Howie do their best to remember them all. NBA All-Star player and one of the greatest coaches who ever walked the sidelines, Lenny Wilkens, passed away on November 9, 2025. He was 88. Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue suffered heart failure and lost his life on that same Sunday. He was 84. Mel Bridgman, who was the first overall selection in the 1975 NHL Draft and played 977 games in a 14-year career, died on November 8. He was just 70. Leon Stickle, who worked as a linesman in the NHL for 30 seasons from 1969 to 1998, in an era when...
On this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn and Howie do a post-mortem on the 2025 World Series. They examine it from a number of points of view and eventually pose the question of whether or not it was the greatest World Series ever played. It was a series that even Alex Rodriguez said that it was awful that one team had to lose. Howie brought up the 1975 World Series and the epic sixth game of that year. It's a lively back and forth and in the end, they both agree that it was, at least, the greatest World Series in the last fifty years.
In this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn turns interviewer and Howie is the subject as they discuss Howie's latest book, An Unlikely Story, about the season for the 1981 Ottawa Rough Riders which culminated in an appearance in the Grey Cup. Despite being 22 1/2 point underdogs, the Riders gave the reigning champion Edmonton Eskimos all they could handle. In the dying minutes though, a referee's call takes the Riders' hopes away and the Esks eventually kick a game-winning field goal with just seconds remaining. The Ottawa CFL Alumni Association called the book "a hea...
Netflix recently released a highly anticipated documentary on how the Montreal Expos met their ultimate demise and who might be responsible. As Howie says in this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, there was a blame pie with a number of responsible parties. The guys discuss the documentary and provide some historical analysis that accompanies the narrative of the documentary. You may agree with some of the things they say or you may not. Feel free to weigh in on the show on The Sports Lunatics Facebook page.
After an incredible seven game series against the Seattle Mariners, the Toronto Blue Jays are headed to the 2025 World Series to take on the highly favoured Los Angeles Dodgers. Shawn and Howie discuss the wild finish to that seventh game, how things have gone for the Blue Jays and their prospects against the vaunted Dodgers. They also look back fifty years to the sixth game of the 1975 World Series and Carlton Fisk's game winning homer against the Cincinnati Reds.
With the anniversaries of so many fall baseball accomplishments and the coming of a new documentary on the team, Shawn and Howie decided to take a look back at the life and memories that were created by the Montreal Expos. The team still holds a place in the hearts of many and the guys reminisce about some of the ups and some of the downs and a few of the wacky moments that took place in the 36-year history of the club.
Listen in as Shawn and Howie discuss a list of the Toronto Blue Jays postseason memories. Howie made the list and Shawn doesn't let him forget it. From Dave Stieb to Marco Estrada, from Devon White to Josh Donaldson, from Dave Winfield to Jose Bautista to Joe Carter and a whole bunch of other memories in between. Shawn inserted some amazing audio to help make all the memories come alive!
In this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Howie explains why September 28 is so important. Specifically, the anniversary of that date in 1972 - the date that Paul Henderson scored the goal that allowed Canada to overcome the Soviet Union in their Summit Series.
On September 22, 2025, Canadian Football League commissioner Stewart Johnson held a media conference during which he laid out numerous rule changes that would take effect in 2026 and 2027. The reaction from fans was mixed. BC Lions quarterback called the new rules 'garbage'. Moments after the media availability, Shawn and Howie discussed their responses to the declaration and to Rourke's reaction as well. While it's too early to tell how everything will play out, the guys speculated on how they thought things may go.
There was a two-year period in which the Philadelphia Flyers' Bernie Parent might have been the greatest goalie on Earth. His team won two Stanley Cups and Parent won two Conn Smythe Trophies and a couple of Vezina Trophies as well. His career was a colorful one and in this episode, Shawn and Howie examine his life and legacy.
It's been a time for loss and remembrance. Within a few days, the world lost Rangers' great Ed Giacomin, former NHLPA executive Bob Goodenow and legendary actor and director Robert Redford. The boys recount how the scene in The Natural in which Roy Hobbs gets shot by Harriet Bird was inspired by a real live incident involving a former major leaguer. In the course of recording this episode, Howie got word that his latest book had been released on Amazon. It was a wild show. (52 minutes)
Howie flies solo on this episode as he remembers the late Davey Johnson. A Gold Glover, 4-time all-star and World Series winning manager, Johnson had a colourful career both on the field and as a field boss. You'll hear some insights into why he left North America for Japan in the mid-70s, how he treated his players "like men", and the fact that he used his mathematical training in university to introduce rudimentary analytics to managing. Johnson was 82 when he passed away on September 5, 2025.
On September 5, 2025, Ken Dryden passed away. Dryden was a Hall of Fame goalie, author, Member of Parliament, NHL executive. He was an astute and intelligent man. Yes, he was an athlete, but he was more than that, especially to a generation of kids who saw something different in him. Howie sat down with the NHL Network Channel's Mick Kern from SiriusXM's Under Review Show to discuss the life and the legacy of Ken Dryden.
It's September! Howie and special guest, former SiriusXM reporter Terry Mercury sit down to discuss their memories from around September of 1972. That was when Canada faced the Soviets in their intense eight-game Summit Series. They talk about the games but they also go through their memories and the feelings they experienced through that whole time window. It's truly a lively conversation between a couple of guys who lived through that time as 12-year-olds in different parts of Canada.
In this rebroadcast episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Howie has compiled excerpts from three interviews with former Canadian Football League personalities, Jo-Anne Polak, the first female general manager of a North American pro sports franchise, former Edmonton Eskimo Jed Roberts and the former Ottawa Rough Rider slot receiver Pat Stoqua. Canadian football people are absolutely awesome and each of today's guests have some amazing stories of their times in the league.
This one is for the hockey fans. Specifically, this one might be for the older hockey fans. Shawn and Howie talk about what might be a forgotten Canadian hockey landmark - the 1996 Canada Cup. Sandwiched between the 1972 Canada-Russia Summit Series and the 1980 Miracle on Ice, the team that Canada iced in 1976 was possibly the greatest team that ever played. There were 18 Hall of Famers on that team. The guys discuss their memories from that team and that tournament and what it meant for the game of hockey as we see it today. They also talk about the career and the legacy of the great recei...
If you ask come Canadian baseball fans of a certain age what August 12 means to them, they may or may not have a memory of 1994. If they do, that date will bring sadness. On that date, the Montreal Expos were in first place in the National League East. That was also the day that major league baseball players went out on strike. They stayed out long enough to throw away the season, and with it, the Expos' chances of maybe getting to a World Series. Rewind to 1976 and the day that Toronto's major league team got its name. Howie talks about the sadness of August 12, 1994 and the reac...
On August 2, we observed a tragic anniversary. On that date in 1979, Thurman Munson perished in a small plane crash in Ohio. He was practicing takeoffs and landings in his personal Cessna jet when he missed the runway and died at the scene. His death hit so many people hard. He was a star on the New York Yankees and was instrumental in their World Series victories in 1977 and 1978. In light of that, Shawn and Howie looked back at other tragedies involving players and athletes who died while they were still active in their respective sports. It was not a fun episode nor was it an easy one to...
In this edition of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn and Howie look back at the career and the life of Chicago Cubs great, Ryne Sandberg. From how he got to the Cubs, to that magical game in 1984 that propelled the team to the National League Championship Series to the unending respect that was shown to him by teammates and opposing players throughout his career and even after it, the guys leave no stone unturned in discussing Sandberg's legacy. Shawn also looks back at the stroke that abruptly ended the pitching career of the great James Rodney Richard and the 100th anniversary of the b...
Terry Bollea, also known as Hulk Hogan, by the end of his life, was hated by many and loved by many. By 2025, his life and the way he was perceived and portrayed, was complicated. But as media personality and wrestling fan James Cybulski posted on Twitter, "To say Terry Bollea the person was an incredibly flawed individual would be an understatement, but the character Hulk Hogan is one of the biggest reasons wrestling is what it is today." indeed, there was a time when he was an absolute cultural phenomenon. In this edition of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn and Howie try to look at the lif...
The baseball world lost a couple of pitchers recently. A member of the original Toronto Blue Jays who pitched twelve seasons with the team and one of the last pitchers in the majors to make 40 starts in a season, Jim Clancy passed away on July 14, 2025. Clancy was an all-star in 1982 who was near the top in many team statistical categories. He was 69. Bobby Jenks was the closer on the Chicago White Sox when they won the World Series in 2005. He was an all-star in 2006 and 2007. He was second in franchise history in saves. He passed away in Sintra, Portugal on July 4. He was just 44. ESPN ha...
As the calendar edges its way to mid-July, sports fans' minds might travel to a few different things. If you're a golf fan, you'll be paying attention to the British Open. If tennis is your thing, then it's likely that Wimbledon will be your thing. If you love baseball, then your focus will be Major League Baseball's All-Star Game. For almost a century now, the midsummer showcase has given us a myriad of moments. In this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn and Howie went on to ChatGPT to get the bot's Top Ten All-Star Game moments. It's not a bad li...