Episodes
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 list. After the boys discussed it, th...
It's always interesting every once in a while to look back at what happened on a certain date and kind of analyze what went on and what went down on that date over numerous different years. Of course, mid-July offers us a few different things. There are All-Star games in baseball, of course. Wimbledon can come into play. But then there are outstanding feats that occurred as well. In this one, you'll hear about the first ever Soccer World Cup, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, an unprecedented and singular swap that took place in the NFL, the first All-Star game played outside the United States, some...
We had an eventful 36 hours or so from July 1 to the morning of July 3. In that narrow window of time, Clayton Kershaw fired his 3,000th career strikeout, the great Alex Delvecchio passed away at the age of 93, hockey insider Bob McKenzie announced he was walking away from broadcasting and hockey after 48 years of work, and the soccer world mourned the loss of Portugal and Liverpool's Diogo Jota. A lot of material for Shawn and Howie to cover in a single episode.
The passing of the newly inducted Baseball Hall of Famer, Dave Parker brought sadness to a lot of people who were looking forward to seeing the baseball superstar with his plaque at the ceremony in Cooperstown later this summer. Shawn and Howie look back at his career and the careers of some other players who so far have been snubbed by their respective halls of fame. They look specifically at the case of Carey Price and this year's Hockey Hall of Fame selections. It was a spirited conversation covering a wide range of people and sports.
On June 24, 2025, the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted eight new members and Shawn and Howie were standing by with their thoughts and opinions on the inductees and some of the players who did not make into the class of '25.
In this episode of The Sports Lunatics Show, Howie talks about the Florida Panthers winning the Stanley Cup and their celebrations with the trophy. He talks about Jonathan Toews signing with the Winnipeg Jets and his hopes for next season for Toews and his new team. He also talks about a number of things that happened on June 22 through the course of sports history.
Shawn and Howie had so much fun discussing ChatGPT's Top Ten Stanley Cup Heroes list that they decided to check out a similar list for the Canadian Football League. There were some surprising results, both on the list and off. Give it a listen and see where Russ Jackson ended up.
Jim Marshall was a great defensive end for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Cleveland Browns and most notably, the Minnesota Vikings. He was truly an ironman. His NFL career lasted 20 seasons. He was an All-Pro, and the Vikings captain as a member of a stalwart defensive line on those great Vikings teams that went to four Super Bowls. That front four included Carl Eller, Alan Page, Marshall and Gary Larsen and was known around the league as the 'Purple People Eaters'. Marshall had his jersey number 70 retired by the team and his name sits in the Vikings Ring of Honor at their stadium. But ...
The Sports Lunatics are never afraid of trying something new. With the Stanley Cup Final Series now taking place, Shawn asked ChatGPT to make a list of the Top Ten Stanley Cup Heroes since 1970. Shawn and Howie were somewhat surprised at the players on the list and the order in which the app ranked the players. They sat down to discuss that list in this episode.
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...even in pickleba...
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 and defeate...
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 get their pl...
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 first winner of the J...
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 in 19...
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.