Hack Alert: Mike Toth

I decided to take some time off from disabling car horns on Dundas Street this evening to offer my opinion on a little weasel who has somehow managed to finagle his way into securing a platform from which to infect an unsuspecting audience with his ill-informed opinions.

No, despite the description, it's not Spencer Kyte from Bugs & Cranks again. This time I'm writing about the Larry The Cable Guy of Canadian sports radio, Mike Toth.

On today's Prime Time Sports on the FAN 590, Toth, filling in for an otherwise occupied Bob McCown, began receiving telephone calls during the first hour of his program from listeners bent on insulting not only the Toronto Blue Jays, but also the host of the post-game Jays Talk radio show, Mike Wilner.

As the calls and bashing continued to mount, I was shocked to hear Toth, who is always quick to inform his audience of the "correct" way to do things in journalism (whether it be moving on from a verbal flub or speaking into the breasts of a Sportsnet colleague), actually encourage the hate mongers to voice their insults.

As a writer on a blog titled Drunk Jays Fans who enjoys comparing the performance of his favourite baseball team to the travails of Jesus Christ on a cross, I am hesitant to use words like inappropriate.

However, Toth's fanning of the flames on air this afternoon came across to this particular listener as nothing more than the sour grapes of a threatened mental midget unable to keep up with a fellow radio host who actually goes to the trouble of forming opinions based on factual analysis instead of reactionary conjecture.

Toth's insecurity over Wilner's unwillingness to abandon ship on a .500 team with just under a hundred games to be played stems from an incident earlier this Spring when the Jays reporter was a guest on Toth and Mike Hogan's The Bullpen radio show. Toth was spouting off his mouth on why the Jays should fire John Gibbons, and Wilner, never one to let an uninformed opinion fly, brought up factual contradictions to Toth's ramblings. While Toth usually manages to do a good enough job of it on his own, Wilner's objections made Toth appear ridiculous.

Since this segment, Toth has often referred to Wilner as a blindly optimistic flag bearer for the Toronto Blue Jays organization (although with less imagery and more I-just-feels). Today, following an abbreviated Jays Talk hosted by Wilner, Toth allowed his shallow thinking to spill over the airwaves as he almost seemed giddy to learn that there were others out there that still haven't realized that a baseball season is 162 games long.

At the end of the segment, a calm, but justifiably perturbed Wilner phoned in to defend himself from the encouraged onslaught of attacks. He maintained the opinion that he's offered throughout the frustrating defeats that the Jays have faced this season: It's still early and playing .500 ball and staying within striking distance of a wild card spot isn't a bad thing.

It should be noted that all the members of DJF think of Wilner as a breath of fresh air in a medium that too often panders to its listeners by allowing them to get away with offering uninformed thoughts or incorrect figures when they phone in to a radio show. While some of us may disagree with the Miked Up blogger on occasion (cough Barajas cough), we all agree that listening to Wilner following a Jays game can be every bit as entertaining as listening to the game itself.

I would also like to mention that I have defended Mike Toth in the past. While I've often been left with the impression that his supposed irreverence is more shocking to himself than anyone else, I could understand how his antics would be considered humourous to the type of people who use the word "party" as a verb and refer to their trailer as a cottage.

Like almost everyone else not in a vegetative state, I didn't fall for his ill-advised April Fool's joke, but I have remained somewhat impressed with Toth's ability to remember where every single hockey player in the NHL played his junior hockey, and his lack of sophistication can at times be refreshing in comparison to the raging self-importance that other radio personalities may emit from time to time.

However, this afternoon's antics had all the convivial appeal of a diseased gnat burrowing itself deeper into my eardrum. I liken Toth's amateurish actions today to a child who misbehaves when his parents invite company over for a visit. He thinks he's putting on a show while the observers are merely watching a shameful spectacle.

Unfortunately, for Toth and the FAN 590, this spectator will be averting his eyes, and more importantly his ears, elsewhere when Toth is hosting a radio show from now on.

And if all that isn't enough, just look at what type of company he keeps:


Update: Wilner has an explanation for today's events on his blog.