Episodes
As the 2025 NHL Postseason heads into the Final series, Shawn and Howie look at how this year's Panthers-Oilers final series may be different from last year's. They also examine the handshake line, Paul Maurice's take on the coaches and other staff participating in it and how it has evolved from years past to what we see today. They also talk about how animosities in series can manifest themselves in the actual handshake line at the end of it all. They even discuss how some of their own handshake lines have devolved into strong words, coming just short of exchanging blows...e...
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost Game 7 in their Atlantic Division Final Series against the Florida Panthers amongst the boos and the tossing of jerseys by the fans that remained in the building. The way they lost incensed and infuriated the team's fans and many were calling for the departures of certain players on the Leafs as well as the job of some in the front office. What does this all mean for the team? How do the Leafs move forward? Shawn and Howie discuss a lot of the ramifications of this important off-season for the club. It's a contentious listen.
It's a packed show as Shawn and Howie discuss the removal from the Ineligibility List of Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson and others by Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred and what it all could mean. They also talk about the upcoming recognition of the Pete Rozelle Award by the Pro Football Hall of Fame to Brent Musberger for his career in football broadcasting. Lastly, the boys remember the life and career of White Sox' and Tifers' centre fielder Chet Lemon.
On May 13, 2025, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred took Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson off the ineligibility list, allowing them to be included on ballots for Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Howie appeared on CJBQ-AM in Belleville, Ontario to discuss this move by Manfred. Listen until the end for a Seinfeldian conclusion with producer Ted Bradford asking Howie a trivia question based on the show.
In the latest Sports Lunatics Show episode, Shawn and Howie get back together after both were involved in the odyssey of moving. Howie is now back in Ottawa, where he grew up. The boys discuss the stroke that forced Gregg Popovich to have to leave his coaching responsibilities for the San Antonio Spurs, the passing of Philadelphia Flyers hard-rock defenseman and two-time Stanley Cup winner Ed Van Impe and they debate whether or not Bobby Orr's Stanley Cup clinching goal back in 1970 is indeed the most iconic goal in hockey history.
The great Philadelphia Flyer defenseman Ed Van Impe passed away on April 29. We wanted to put a segment together that remembered Van Impe, a true hard-rock D-man in an age of them. In his rookie year, he was runner-up for the Calder Trophy as the league's Rookie of the Year to one Bobby Orr. He was a mentor to the many young players that came through the Flyers' organization during his time there and he played an instrumental role in their two Stanley Cup victories in 1974 and 1975. And the moment most people remember him for took place in January of 1976 when the Flyers took on a...
Howie is hosting and flying solo and he hits the Wayback Machine to go back to May 4 in 1980, 1989 and 1993. He looks at a night in Bloomington, Minnesota when the Flyers' Bill Barber scored four goals to help his team to a win over the hometown North Stars, then he heads forward to follow the defection of Alexander Mogilny to the United States so he could escape the repression of the Soviet Union and play for real money with the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL. It's life and death as Mogilny and his stewards, Gerry Meehan and Don Luce of the Sabres do their best to avoid the KGB and ge...
In their latest episode, the Sports Lunatics, Shawn and Howie, look at Rory McIlroy winning the 2025 Masters and achieving his career Grand Slam. They talk about why it was such a compelling weekend of golf television. It's NHL Playoff time and the boys talk about the matchups, the combinations and permutations. They also look back on the life and achievements of Ray Shero and then discuss Ray's father Fred who coached the Flyers to consecutive Stanley Cup wins in the mid 70s.
Long time NHL executive Ray Shero passed away this week at the age of 62. In this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn and Howie look back on Ray's career and they reflect on the career of his father, Fred, as well. Ray was the assistant general manager of the Ottawa Senators, the general manager of the Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins, the New Jersey Devils and an advisor to the Minnesota Wild. Both Ray and Fred have their names on the Cup. Fred was the mastermind coach of Philadelphia's 'Broad Street Bullies' that won the Cup in 1974 and 1975. He was the f...
On Sunday, April 6, 2025, Alex Ovechkin scored a goal against the New York Islanders in a 4-1 Caps loss. That goal was the 895th of his career allowing him to surpass Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer. Shawn and Howie discuss the day, Ovechkin's feat and whether there might be a present-day player who might be able to pass whatever Ovie's final total might be. There are a bunch of weird and wonderful statistical nuggets that came out of this record as well, and the boys touch on many of them.
It seems like there is so much happening at the same time these days. At the same time as Alexander Ovechkin was scoring the goal that broke Wayne Gretzky's NHL record (another episode), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was agreeing to terms with the Toronto Blue Jays, the hockey world lost Greg Millen, and the Pittsburgh Pirates were dealing with a public relations nightmare while insulting the family of Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente. Shawn and Howie deal with all of this. It's another lively episode.
In this episode of The Sports Lunatics, Shawn and Howie start off with a quote from Bubba Watson about how Scottie Scheffler's 2024 season was better than Tiger Woods' 2000 year. They bring up a number of great years and great eras in golf history in discussing Bubba's quote. They remember the great hockey character who was Mark "Trees" Laforest. And they add their possibly final opinions about Alex Ovechkin and his chase of Wayne Gretzky's NHL goals record. Will he break in this season? We'll have to wait and see. It's a fun episode
In this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn and Howie look back at the life and the many sides of the former heavyweight champion, George Foreman. They also look back on what was the greatest era of boxing in their lifetimes. The good, the bad, the winners and the losers. It's about the life and career of George Foreman.....from his gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics to his defeating Joe Frazier to win the heavyweight championship of the world to losing it the next year to Muhammad Ali and coming back a different person to win the belt back at 45 against Michael Moorer ...
This episode began as a discussion of Tiger Woods and his dominance of golf through his prime years and it became a conversation of great and impactful athletes who dominated during the lifetimes of Shawn and Howie. It brought back memories for both of them. Hope you enjoy it.
As they've done many times in the past with other sports figures, Shawn and Howie look back and celebrate the lives of John Feinstein, Al Trautwig, Oliver Miller and Junior Bridgeman.
In this episode, the boys talk about the meaning of 'Elbows Up', the toughness of Gordie Howe, Alex Ovechkin's chase of Wayne Gretzky's goal scoring record and Shawn tells a touching story about his conversations with the late Mike Lange.
On March 5, 2025, Howie was a guest on The Lorne Brooker Show on CJBQ AM800 in Belleville. Zach McGibbon and Ted Bradford had a fun conversation with Howie as they talked about his latest book, The Consequences of Chance. The book is available on Amazon.
Shawn and Howie get together to discuss their feelings about the outcome of the NHL's outstandingly successful Four Nations Face Off and the fallout of the Canadian victory in both a hockey milieu and everything else that came with that. They also talk about the tarnishing of the image and legacy of former Canadian hero and icon Wayne Gretzky in his home country.
February of 2025 marks the 45th anniversary of the United States' Miracle on Ice victory over the Soviet Union at Lake Placid in 1980. It's also the anniversary of Shawn and Howie's first show which happened to discuss that American victory at those fateful Olympic Games. Here is the repackaged first ever episode of The Sports Lunatics Show from February of 2020 as the boys talk about Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig, Herb Brooks and the incredible hockey win that changed the course of hockey in the United States.
In this episode, Shawn goes solo with his impassioned reaction to the Four Nations Face Off and Canada's dramatic overtime victory over the United States.
In the latest episode of the show, Shawn and Howie talk about the Super Bowl, whether the Kansas City Chiefs are a dynasty or if they're finished, whether Patrick Mahomes is on his way to becoming the GOAT or not and Sequon Barkley's place in football history or as a Super Bowl performer. They also discuss the selections for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Baseball Hall as well. Who might deserve to be in the Football Hall that's not yet in? That's in there too.
It's that time of year, time to find out which NFL team will achieve supremacy. Will the Kansas City Chiefs establish themselves as a true dynasty? What about other teams that have proven themselves as a dynasty? Both today, or in the 2000s or 50 and 60 years ago. Shawn and Howie share a spirited conversation about teams that have held power over their sports over the last six decades and whether they are good or bad for their sports. It's worth the listen.
In this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Shawn and Howie discuss John Tortorella's career and highlights after he coached his 1,600th NHL game this past week. They also look at the career of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, especially punctuated by the ovation given him by the fans of the Canadiens in Montreal after his last game there. The boys also remember and pay tribute to Ottawa's Shawn Simpson, goalie for the 1987 Team Canada Junior team, member of the Washington Capitals' family and sports broadcaster after he passed away this week.
On January 16, 2025, Bob Uecker passed away. Shawn and Howie discuss the life of the catcher-turned-play-by-play man, pitchman, actor and personality. Howie's grandmother used to say that "It takes a brilliant man to play the clown." Uecker's ability to tell stories and make everyone laugh illustrated his brilliance. Uecker was 90 when he passed away.
In this episode, Shawn and Howie discuss how January 1 Bowl games seem different today from the way they used to be. They talk about their thoughts on the playoff system in college football today and their memories of some their first January Bowl games and some great college teams they've seen in their lives. They also discuss what Greg Gumbel meant to each of them after his passing after Christmas of 2024.
On December 21, 2024, Rickey Henderson passed away. He was a Hall of Famer who was one of the greatest baseball players of his generation. He had strength, speed and personality. He stole more bases and scored more runs than anyone else in the history of the game. Shawn and Howie remember the legend who passed away too soon.
In this episode, Shawn and Howie celebrate Festivus and in so doing, they have their Airing of Grievances. They talk about a bunch of things that bother them in sports today. Pricing at sports events, break dancing at the Olympics, bad owners of pro sports teams......there are a number of things that get skewered in this first of what may eventually become an annual thing.
After a long wait, Dick Allen and Dave Parker have selected by the Era Committee to enter Baseball's Hall of Fame. Shawn and Howie discuss the two men and their feelings about their selections. Shawn has mixed in some wonderful audio as well. Also, December 10, 2024 was the 40th anniversary of the day that the Montreal Expos dealt Gary Carter to the New York Mets for four players. The trade changed the fortunes of the two franchises as it sent the Mets to a World Series win a couple of seasons later.
Back when Shawn and Howie started The Sports Lunatics Show, one of their ideas for the show was to talk about things that had happened on that day in years past. In this episode, Howie talks about three different things that happened on December 8 in 1967, 1977 and 1987. He looks at the Oakland Seals, Earl Campbell and the first goalie to ever score a goal by shooting it down the ice into an empty net, Ron Hextall. We hope you like it.
This was a great conversation between Howie and the Ottawa Citizen's Ken Warren. Ken used to be a part of the sports department and now writes news. But as soon as the two men began talking they reverted back to the 1990s when they crossed paths at sports venues all over the city. The more they talked about the old barn in Gatineau, the more they laughed and, as Ken warns, if you listen to this, you may want to have a quart of Molson and Howie adds that you may also want back bacon on a bun. Make that quart a Laurentide! Enjoy, everyone!