Only on TSN.ca

We harp a lot on the Toronto Star for all the poop they like to pass off as sports journalism. But the truth is, we hold the Star to the highest of standards because it is the top paper in the land and should therefore pump out the best sporty scribble. If the Star's sports section is the grand poo-bah of newspaper writing, then TSN is the daddy mack of sports television. Therefore, their own forays into Web 2.0 social media super community building blogs should be just as much fun as the Star's, right?

We're not disappointed.

From former Star writer (yes folks, this man was paid to write for a living) and current gigantic head on the screen Bob McKenzie:

Only in Canada.

It was one of those "you had to be there" moments last night at TSN.

Yet, I have a feeling you're going to tell us anyways.

That's Hockey, with Gino Reda, was wrapping up and I was on the set answering One Timers, you know, short, snappy answers to a rapid-fire succession of questions.

One of them was asking if Hall of Famers Al MacInnis and Scott Stevens constituted the best junior hockey tandem ever when they played together on the 1982 Memorial Cup champion Kitchener Rangers.

I must have been washing my hair during this gripping segment.

Not having time to do any research of course, the easy or pat answer would have been to say, yes, they are, and as a matter of fact I was at that Memorial Cup week in Hull, Que., watching them and marveling especially at Stevens' take-no-prisoners physical edge that bordered on out of control at times.

The easy or pat move I could have made was to discontinue reading this "article." I either love you dear readers too much or hate myself that much more.

But no, I decide to get glib and cute. I responded, MacInnis and Stevens were great, but I'll go with Bobby Orr and whatever stiff he was playing with on the Oshawa Generals."

You get the point. I was saying Orr was so good by himself that it didn't matter who he was playing with, that tandem would be the best. Plus, I didn't know who Orr's partner was in Oshawa.

Wait a minute! Are you, Robert T. McKenzie Jr. saying that Orr was good enough by himself to be the best OHL pair of all time? That is both glib AND cute. Chuckle, chuckle guffaw! But really, please explain your point one more time.

The show ended and producer Geoff Macht told Gino and myself to sit tight for a moment because our audio guy was going to talk to us. There seemed to be a bit of a commotion in the control room and I immediately thought, I don't like the sound of this. Last time something like this happened, I found out what I thought was an off the air remark, a bit of an eff bomb, went out over the air.

Maybe Bobby was worried someone was going to run out of the audio booth and stab him in the jaw for making them listen to Bob McKenzie talk.

So the audio guy, Grant, comes on and says, "That stiff you talked about was my Dad."

Turns out Bobby Orr's partner in Oshawa was one Chris Roberts, who just happens to be the father of TSN audio technician Grant Roberts.

Grant was laughing. The rest of the control room was howling, especially when they recounted Grant's initial reaction as soon as the words came out of my mouth. He exclaimed: "That's my Dad."

No shit. Great story. Really. One time I was playing house league basketball and some dude gave me a hard foul as I went up for a layup. I called his mom a whore. Boy, did I turn red when a teammate whispered in my ear that this fellow's mom actually was a prostitute. True story. Okay, not really - but still much more entertaining than Bob's.

Chris Roberts played four years in Oshawa. He wore No. 4, Orr No. 2. A stay at home defenceman, Roberts had seven goals and 39 points and 205 PIMs in four seasons between 1963 and 1967. He is not credited for having played pro hockey after that, but suddenly, my "stiff" comment had a name and face to it and his kid was in our control room.

I told Bobby Orr about this morning. He laughed, long and hard. Grant was going home to tell his Dad about it. I hope he laughed, too. Nothing personal, Chris.

Was this a funny event, Bob? Did it make people laugh? Did someone call TBS to check before everyone's sides started splitting?

And that, my friends, is what Canada is all about.

You go on the air and make some obscure throwaway reference to a nameless, faceless "stiff" in junior hockey from the 60s, and the guy's kid turns out to be in the control room.

Only in Canada indeed.

Canada's about poor hockey players? Sparse populations leading to "small world" coincidences? Illiterate hockey analysts writing blogs? Name dropping Bobby Orr?

I would like to whip this guy with a beaver tail.