Latest / Scene Projects Sports Network / Jeff Rimer's Broadcasting Journey, New Book, and Live Sports Insights
Transcript
- 0:14Welcome into the Scene Project Sports Network.
- 0:17I am your host, Bubba Starts, and we have a very special guest with us today, longtime
- 0:22professional broadcaster, Jeff Rimmer.
- 0:24Jeff, welcome to the show.
- 0:26Great to to be with you, Bubba.
- 0:28Looking forward to this, and we have been for a better part of a week when you and I first
- 0:32hooked up.
- 0:34Well and I I I forget that we're gonna have to add a author to your title here very soon as
- 0:40you're getting ready to publish your new book.
- 0:43It doesn't get any better than this.
- 0:45We're gonna talk a lot more about that as we get on the conversation, but I I'd love to open
- 0:50up the show here.
- 0:51Just getting a little bit of your back story, your your lengthy career in the broadcasting
- 0:55world, and we'll pick it up from there.
- 0:58Well, it's been a long, long career, and, I never worked a day in my life.
- 1:03I can tell you that, I knew in high school, the tenth grade, that I was gonna be a professional
- 1:10broadcaster because coming from Canada and growing up for my first sixteen years in
- 1:17Toronto, I wanted to be a national hockey league player.
- 1:21But, unfortunately, my career was short lived.
- 1:24My dad passed away.
- 1:26My mom remarried.
- 1:28We moved to Calgary.
- 1:30Made a good friend of John Davidson, Davidson, who starred for the New York rangers.
- 1:35Met him in the tenth grade in high school.
- 1:36He convinced me to try out.
- 1:38He was an outstanding goaltender, in junior hockey, and he had me try out for the triple a
- 1:43midget team.
- 1:44I was cut before practice.
- 1:46Then how about this?
- 1:47I get tapped on the shoulder before practice, and the first guy off the ice told house league
- 1:53starts Monday, went to House League Outdoor Rink.
- 1:55Next thing I know, I'm on the Snowbank, and it was at that point I decided I was gonna be a
- 2:00hockey broadcaster.
- 2:01But it was a long ways from the, tenth grade in a snowbank to, eventually making it to the
- 2:08National Hockey League.
- 2:09But I also spent a good deal of time in baseball and the Olympics.
- 2:13I did the Olympics in '76 in Montreal for the Canadian network, CBC, working alongside ABC
- 2:19and Chris Schenkel, hall of fame broadcaster.
- 2:22Jim McKay was right there as well.
- 2:24That was the seventy six Olympics, and I had the feature event, which was gymnastics with
- 2:29Nadia Komenech in all her tens.
- 2:31And I was pronouncing, the names correctly because CBC was kind enough to send me to
- 2:36events before the Olympics, and then they asked me to, help out with ABC and the pronunciations
- 2:42of the Russians and, the Romanian names.
- 2:45And, boy, that was an asset now covering hockey for as long as I did.
- 2:48But forty eight years in the NHL, twenty years in in baseball, both in Montreal with the expos
- 2:54in those early eighties where they had Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, all hall of
- 2:59famers today.
- 3:00And then on to Baltimore with my good friend Cal Ripken junior.
- 3:04And there's a funny story, in my book about, Cal and I and being renamed Jeff Ripken as
- 3:10opposed to Jeff Rimmer, but there's a story behind that as well.
- 3:13We may have time, but, certainly, the book is there, and it's a great all encompassing book,
- 3:18not only for, sports fans of hockey, baseball, Olympics, and whatever, but it's also a bit of
- 3:24a tutorial for young people that wanna get into broadcasting or journalism on how to do it and
- 3:30how hard you have to work and how to set it all up.
- 3:33But, that's certainly something we can discuss later.
- 3:36Well and I love that because we are new in this space as broadcasters and journalists around
- 3:42sports, and and really anyone has that ability to do it.
- 3:46It's a reason that we started the sports network on the YouTube channel and on the
- 3:50podcast feeds because we have our own takes.
- 3:53We wanna talk about sports.
- 3:54It's what we're doing anyway.
- 3:56And with the proliferation of fan generated content available on the Internet, it was why
- 4:02not?
- 4:03If you have the ability to do so and you have you know, whether it's just yourself doing a
- 4:08solo show or you have guys that would love to get together and share that experience and talk
- 4:13about, you know, whatever sport it is.
- 4:15Right?
- 4:15We we talk football.
- 4:16We talk golf on this network, baseball, and and hockey coming later this year, which is why I
- 4:22reached out and and but I didn't know that we were gonna get to have this conversation.
- 4:27And and I love that in your book, the tutorial of of teaching young people how they can do it.
- 4:33The the barrier to entry is much lower now than it ever was for you growing up.
- 4:38Absolutely.
- 4:39Absolutely.
- 4:40It's, it's hard work.
- 4:42I think it's a little tougher now to get to that upper echelon, and you see all these cut
- 4:47cutbacks.
- 4:48Look at ESPN yesterday.
- 4:49Carl, ravaged thirty three years.
- 4:52Ravaged that he was their number one broadcaster on Major League Baseball.
- 4:56Cut.
- 4:57He's out of ESPN when his contract's up.
- 5:00It's, it's a very, very tough situation today, and that's why you've gotta work.
- 5:05You've gotta work to get there.
- 5:06And as I've said to many young broadcasters and journalists that I I get tapes and talk to a
- 5:12lot of people along the way, you have to be committed and prepared to really pay a price.
- 5:19But guess what?
- 5:19When you get to the top of the mountain, it's very, very rewarding.
- 5:25Well and and a life well lived.
- 5:27Right?
- 5:27I I don't know any broadcaster, and I know most of them feel exactly like you do that they
- 5:32never had to work in a day.
- 5:34They never dreaded going to the office because you got to go and to, you know, not just call
- 5:41the games, but to become friends with some of these players and and absolute legends of the
- 5:46game.
- 5:46You obviously dropped Cal Ripken Junior's name out there and and others and Muhammad Ali while
- 5:51we were off.
- 5:52And so many people that you've had a brief interaction with and you don't become best
- 5:57friends with all of them, but you get to kind of I equate it to, you know, touching the sun a
- 6:03little bit.
- 6:03Right?
- 6:04You you get up close and personal and get to have these conversations and ask that one
- 6:09question that maybe now becomes a clip that lasts forever.
- 6:13Bubba, let me say, from the outset here, and this is something that I learned very, very
- 6:18young in my career.
- 6:19And in fact, had a executive actually applaud me for my take, and that is you never break a
- 6:29confidence.
- 6:30And I've made a lot of great friends along the way in sports.
- 6:33I've maintained a lot of friendships.
- 6:36And, again, it's illustrated in the book as well.
- 6:40You don't ever break a confidence.
- 6:42If you can gain the trust of these athletes, these performers, these entertainers, you're in
- 6:49for life, and they will respect you beyond your belief.
- 6:53And that is something that I've cherished since early on.
- 6:56And as I had a young executive tell me early on in my career, it is so important it is so
- 7:02important to maintain professionalism, but also the confidence of the people that you're
- 7:07talking to that you're not gonna burn them.
- 7:10And, yeah, I mean, I'm not the kind of guy that's and and there are broadcasters that are
- 7:15very successful today that, they're poison pens.
- 7:19They're poison broadcasters.
- 7:20They don't care.
- 7:21They'll tell you what they believe, and they may expose a thing or two.
- 7:26But those are the guys that, well, they live their life, but I choose to live it differently
- 7:31than I have throughout my career.
- 7:35Yeah.
- 7:35And without any regrets, I I don't think that any of us as broadcasters and sports
- 7:41journalists that, I'm never doing it for the clicks or for some notoriety and a brief flash
- 7:48in the pan.
- 7:49I'm doing it because I love the access.
- 7:51I love getting to to hear the stories.
- 7:54And for me, being someone who works, for a nonprofit, Operation Combating Veteran Suicide,
- 8:00which you can see behind me here as director of marketing and PR, I'm always looking for an
- 8:05angle maybe to have these people help us with their foundation, but also to help them with
- 8:10theirs.
- 8:11So I'm much more interested in getting to know them on a more personal level and finding ways
- 8:17that we can serve them in their foundation and doing some good in the world rather than just
- 8:22betraying their confidence and printing something that you would know they would never
- 8:26want out there or, you know, be smirching someone's name just for a few clicks and a a
- 8:32quick bit of notoriety on the Internet.
- 8:35Well, good for you, Bella.
- 8:36And for coming on with you and finding out a little bit more about you, I really appreciate
- 8:41and respect what you're doing, not only on the air and these podcasts and whatever, but what
- 8:47you're doing in your community and communities around.
- 8:50Good for you.
- 8:51And, I I know that, you're a first rate person, and a lot of success is gonna already come your
- 8:58way.
- 8:59There's even more ahead.
- 9:01I appreciate that.
- 9:02Means the world to me coming from you, Jeff.
- 9:04I I I I know it's hard to narrow it down to just a few moments, and that's why your book is
- 9:09as extensive as it is.
- 9:12But is there one call, that sticks out with you, among the, you know, tens of thousands
- 9:19that will just be something that, you know, in your later years that has just stuck with you?
- 9:25And what's that really that one moment that you'll live with forever?
- 9:30There's the book, and there is the call.
- 9:33It doesn't get any better than this.
- 9:36There's a backup, title as well, unforgettable calls in the booth and unexpected turns in
- 9:41life.
- 9:42But that call was ruled on, TSN in Canada, the goal of the decade.
- 9:49ESPN used it on their promotion for hockey for quite some time.
- 9:52Never got any royalties, but it was great.
- 9:55It was great to see the sport in that call used.
- 9:59And what it was was the goal in Arizona, the Phoenix Coyotes and the Columbus Blue Jackets,
- 10:05and Rick Nash, the captain and, a player certainly capable of being in the Hall of Fame,
- 10:10the greatest Blue Jacket of all time, their captain, and a good, you know, great personal
- 10:15friend.
- 10:16He got a penalty late in the game.
- 10:19It resulted in a power play goal for Arizona tying the game late.
- 10:23There was maybe more than a little more than a minute left in the game.
- 10:27And what happened next was and I could see Rick Nash, and I read I read his mind.
- 10:32He was so upset about the penalty, which needlessly never should have been called, and,
- 10:37came out of the box, picked up the puck on a pass from Mike Pekka, went through the entire
- 10:42Coyote's team, beat the goaltender after, turning the two defensemen around like
- 10:48turnstiles and put the puck into the net for the game winning goal.
- 10:51It was a thing of beauty.
- 10:53And as I said in calling the goal, and it was spontaneous, it doesn't get any better than
- 10:58this, and it doesn't.
- 10:59Because as I say, it was the goal of the decade.
- 11:01I was just a small part of it.
- 11:04And that's why we watch sports.
- 11:06That's why we're enthralled with with live sports and every bit that we can now having it
- 11:11available on our phones and with us all the time.
- 11:14I know that I have always been a huge fan of being in the stadium, especially for hockey.
- 11:20Those who don't understand the game of hockey, just go watch it in person.
- 11:24It's okay to watch on TV, and it can be exciting there.
- 11:30But being in the stadium for the energy and the elation of a goal, especially if you're in your
- 11:36home stadium.
- 11:37But, you know, as a Blackhawks fan, I've gotten to visit a few opposing stadiums as well, and,
- 11:43sometimes it's even better celebrating an enemy territory.
- 11:47Well, let me tell you that, I've been broadcasting long enough to have called games
- 11:53in the old Chicago Stadium.
- 11:56And you have to go up the stairs all the way to the top of the old building and then climb
- 12:02through the stands and out into a bucket over the ice at the old stadium.
- 12:07And it was great because you were literally hanging over the ice.
- 12:11And let me tell you, you could almost reach out and touch the players below you.
- 12:16And I saw some great black hawks.
- 12:18My youngest memory of, the Chicago black hawks is 1961.
- 12:23It's the year they won the Stanley Cup.
- 12:26And, players like Bobby Hall and Ken Warren, Pierre Polotta.
- 12:31Can go through the entire team.
- 12:32Glenn Hall and Gull.
- 12:33My dad in Toronto let me stay up till midnight to watch the cup being presented to the black
- 12:39hawks, and that was certainly one of my thrills.
- 12:41Of course, the United Center in Chicago is is a spectacular building, one of my favorites in
- 12:47the entire National Hockey League.
- 12:49It is huge.
- 12:50And when they sing the anthem in that building, it's second to none.
- 12:55Yeah.
- 12:55There's nobody better.
- 12:56Jim Cornelius said, I've had those trade.
- 12:59And before him, we've been blessed.
- 13:02Right?
- 13:04Absolutely, as sports fans in Chicago.
- 13:07We've lived in South Dakota for years, but I've always had, attachments to the teams there.
- 13:13And, it's been a blessing for me.
- 13:15It's probably why I am so passionate about, you know, sports to this day.
- 13:20Really no no better sports cities.
- 13:23I don't think there's a very short list of cities that rank up there.
- 13:27Talk about being I know that you kinda came on with Columbus when the franchise was just
- 13:33starting.
- 13:34You had been out of the league, I think, for a little bit during the the lockout you you had
- 13:38mentioned.
- 13:39Talk about coming back and kind of being there for the beginning of a franchise.
- 13:44Well, actually, I was there for the lockout year.
- 13:48They hired me, immediately once word came that, there was a chance at that time that, the
- 13:54National Hockey League would be shut down because Gary Betman, the commissioner, wanted a
- 13:58salary cap, which he got by basically sitting out that entire 2004, 2005 season.
- 14:06I, had a four year contract with Fox Sports in Florida.
- 14:09I did the Florida Panthers through their first eleven years of the franchise and, agreed to a
- 14:15new four year contract that was sent to New York and rejected because they pretty well
- 14:20knew, and, Gary Beckman was up front with all the rights holders that they would likely lose
- 14:25the entire season unless they got that salary cap.
- 14:29So my contract was sent back to Florida.
- 14:31And what they did was they said, we'll pay you two years, and then the other two will kick in
- 14:37once we know there's hockey.
- 14:39Even if there's a partial lockout, we'll pick up the remaining two years and, accordingly,
- 14:43we'll move along.
- 14:44Well, we'll make an offer to you, which they did, subsequent to the lockout starting.
- 14:51And, Columbus, which had approached me when the franchise started, said, we want you now.
- 14:56And I said, no.
- 14:57I'm not coming.
- 14:58But when the lockout looked like it was a reality, they made me an offer I couldn't
- 15:02refuse and went there.
- 15:04And that first year, the lockout year, I basically worked in the office and went out.
- 15:09We did a number of personal appearances.
- 15:11We wanted to keep this young franchise out there in the public.
- 15:14So we played ball hockey with kids all around the state of Ohio.
- 15:18We made all kinds of presentations.
- 15:20We were on television.
- 15:22We were on radio.
- 15:23And then when the season started my first, it was great.
- 15:26And, again, I started in, in the NHL in Montreal, the Canadians.
- 15:31I saw four straight Stanley Cups in the late seventies.
- 15:34I went to Baltimore, Washington.
- 15:35I did the Orioles and then, did the Capitals.
- 15:38I actually lived halfway between the two cities, the Baltimore, Washington corridor.
- 15:42If I did baseball, I went one way.
- 15:44If I did hockey, I went to Washington.
- 15:46Ended up with George Michael on the sports machine on weekends and worked at NBC.
- 15:51And then, from there, got this terrific offer to go to Florida and start with the new
- 15:58franchise there.
- 15:59I'm the first broadcaster that first season to do both a partial schedule of the Florida
- 16:04panthers and the Washington capitals.
- 16:08They're two different teams in the same season.
- 16:10There's a story in the book about both teams coming to me and said, okay.
- 16:15The the, Panthers almost made the playoffs in the inaugural season, and they wanted me to do
- 16:20their games.
- 16:20Capitals wanted me to do their games, and they asked me, okay.
- 16:24Who which games you're going to do?
- 16:25Well, I held them at bay as long as I could.
- 16:28Florida fell off.
- 16:29They had the best record of inaugural team until Vegas came in the league, but I ended up
- 16:35doing the capital games and all but three games for the Florida panthers during the regular
- 16:40season, and that's when they offered me another long term four year contract to do not only
- 16:45Florida panthers hockey, but I did arena football.
- 16:48So it was, quite a move to Florida.
- 16:52Loved every minute of it.
- 16:53And, then when the the Blue Jackets came calling, went to Columbus for twenty years, and
- 16:59I gotta say, best move I ever made.
- 17:02Loved Columbus.
- 17:03Reminded me a lot about Baltimore.
- 17:05The Midwest people are the best.
- 17:07You're a Midwestern guy.
- 17:08You know what it's all about.
- 17:09Columbus is the sleeper city in the entire country.
- 17:13Great place to raise a family.
- 17:15Great city.
- 17:16Love the Blue Jackets, and I'm a Blue Jacket for life.
- 17:20Really incredible.
- 17:21And I think something, to point out here because you are already well established.
- 17:25Right?
- 17:26Being with the Canadians organization and then with the Capitals organization, Florida just
- 17:31starting out knew that they needed someone that could be a trusted voice in that booth and no
- 17:37different than Blue Jacket.
- 17:38So elaborate on that a little bit of why it's so important for a new franchise to have that
- 17:45kind of trusted voice in there and and to have that for a new franchise, especially to help
- 17:51introduce new fans in a new city to a game that obviously you you've loved your entire life.
- 17:57What a great point by you, Bubba.
- 18:00And you know you know the point because you're not saying it, I will.
- 18:04That's a very, very classic commentary.
- 18:08And the reason why, you've got to establish roots in that community.
- 18:12You've got to establish the team in that community.
- 18:15And you make the point right here without giving the name.
- 18:19The guy in Chicago, Eddie Olchuck, left the black hawks.
- 18:24Bit of a contract dispute.
- 18:25Eddie and I are really close friends.
- 18:28Wasn't happy with the situation and then left for Seattle, the new franchise.
- 18:32He's still there in Seattle in addition to doing the games for TNT.
- 18:36You ought to talk about an established voice moving to a new hockey market.
- 18:39They've had hockey in the past.
- 18:41They had a minor league team for years.
- 18:44Junior hockey's been there.
- 18:45They've had a professional team way back when, and here they are in the National Hockey
- 18:50League, a great franchise, a franchise that is growing.
- 18:53They wanna have more of an impact this coming season.
- 18:55I've talked to people out there, Eddie, and, they're trying to beef up the team to be a
- 19:00little more competitive in the Western Conference.
- 19:02But you're right.
- 19:03You've gotta have those established people that can help bring the community together, make
- 19:08them hockey fans if they're not, and for the educated hockey fans, give them a little bit
- 19:13more.
- 19:13And that's what Eddie does.
- 19:14That's what I attempted to do when I first went to Columbus.
- 19:17That's what I attempted to do when I first went to Florida.
- 19:20I was fortunate enough in Washington.
- 19:22The franchise was already established, and you wanna talk about the Montreal Canadiens.
- 19:26They won four cups those years that I was there in the late seventies.
- 19:30And I lived on the West Island, the predominantly English part of Montreal, and
- 19:35most of the players were right there.
- 19:36So we were together, whether it was on the ice, whether it was in the dressing room, or whether
- 19:42it was, somewhere on the road, and, those were great years too.
- 19:46Yeah.
- 19:47You probably got another five books in you with all the stories you could tell.
- 19:52Maybe a few.
- 19:53The publisher's teasing another book already, but, I'm I'm happy with this one because it
- 19:58should be going to print this week.
- 20:00As I said, this book, it doesn't get any better than this, should be available on the
- 20:06jeffrumor.com site, which will take you directly, to Amazon or go to Amazon.
- 20:12And, the book should be out in September, and it's a great read.
- 20:17And I think, as I said, it's very helpful to young people that are thinking in terms of
- 20:22their career.
- 20:23I knew very early what I wanted to do, and I'm sure a lot of people that are tuning in here
- 20:28watching this podcast have some pretty good idea where they'd like to be too because I
- 20:33can't tell you how many broadcasters, future broadcasters, podcasters, radio, television
- 20:38people, and, journalists that I talk to and get tapes from that, I can help out.
- 20:44Anybody I can help out, that's my job away from the sport.
- 20:47I wanna give something back to the sports of hockey and, of course, the broadcasting as a
- 20:51whole.
- 20:52Not to mention baseball.
- 20:54I love it, Jeff.
- 20:55Yeah.
- 20:55Well, obviously, you know my roots, being a a Northsider fan my entire life.
- 21:01Love my Cubbies.
- 21:02We've had some of the best.
- 21:03I love the radio broadcast, and listening to the games, especially with baseball because
- 21:08they can be, you know, well, a lot shorter now than they used to be, with with all the changes
- 21:13that they've made.
- 21:14But it it would be much better for me to sit and feel like you're, you know, watching with a
- 21:19friend and having that described to you.
- 21:21That that's very hard to do.
- 21:23And and I don't think that it gets the respect necessarily that it deserves, but kind of
- 21:28alluding to your point about Eddie O and and, you know, coming over to having a trusted voice
- 21:34in that booth is is just an underrated piece of a new franchise.
- 21:39And I think that as fans, we don't because you have to understand that not only is the city
- 21:45you have existing hockey fans that are probably living there that probably grew up rooting for
- 21:49another team.
- 21:50So you can't if you wanna pull those people in, then you have to have someone that they are
- 21:55aware of and that they can trust to know hockey.
- 21:59It's it's a huge piece to that and no doubt why, you know, Columbus made you the offer that
- 22:05you couldn't refuse all those years ago to bring you in.
- 22:09I just love your point on that.
- 22:11I don't wanna keep you too much longer, Jeff, but I really wanna talk about the process of
- 22:16writing the book.
- 22:17How much fun was it to take the trip down memory lane and to go over some of these old
- 22:22calls and maybe reviewing the tape yourself and refreshing the memory in preparation for the
- 22:28book.
- 22:29Lot of work.
- 22:30And, having retired here recently, it gave me a lot of time.
- 22:35And, actually, everyone says, well, what's your hobby?
- 22:37What are you doing now?
- 22:38I put a lot of effort into this.
- 22:40I have a great ghost writer who had written a book previously and and Craig Mers, and we
- 22:45spent a lot of time on tapes, working out.
- 22:49That's my dog there.
- 22:50Hey.
- 22:51Spending a lot of time on tapes and answering questions and doing some research and that kind
- 22:56of thing, but it was a lot of fun.
- 22:58A lot of it was right up here.
- 23:00A lot of it was written down, and it brought back just great memories.
- 23:04And I I'd I'd make some notes, and then in the middle of the night, I'd wake up.
- 23:08I'd wake up and say, oh my.
- 23:11I've got another story.
- 23:12And I get up out of bed, start writing, finish maybe forty five minutes later, then hop back
- 23:18into bed and get up the next morning and then rewrite what I'd written the night before.
- 23:22So it was something.
- 23:23I'll tell you a funny story.
- 23:25As a 20 year old, while I was going to university in Calgary, Mount Royal University,
- 23:31then it was called Mount Royal College, I got my own TV show on cable TV, the community
- 23:37channel.
- 23:37They had just started cable TV.
- 23:39I'd come to Calgary for the first time.
- 23:42And, you might be too young to remember, but Muhammad Ali you're still a young guy.
- 23:47Muhammad Ali was stripped of the title, the greatest of all time, and and the reason why he
- 23:52would not go to Vietnam.
- 23:54Well, he came shortly before his, being reinstated or agreed and actually was there for
- 24:01reinstatement to fight three round exhibitions.
- 24:05And it was a major news conference.
- 24:06There were cameras because he had just, you know, come back and and being reinstated.
- 24:12He was the heavyweight champion of the world, top of his game when when, he was stripped to
- 24:16the title.
- 24:17So he came to Calgary.
- 24:18So every US network, ABC, NBC, CBS was there.
- 24:22All the Canadian networks were there.
- 24:24And I was 20 years old, and I was gonna get the the heavyweight champion of the world to come
- 24:29and do a half hour show with me.
- 24:30Well, people laughed at me.
- 24:32Now I went to the airport when he came, and I actually met him, introduced myself, shook
- 24:38hands with him.
- 24:40And I'll follow-up on that in a minute.
- 24:42Fast forward to the press conference, and I go to Angelo Dundee, his longtime manager.
- 24:48And, and, Angelo hang on one second here.
- 24:55Sorry about that.
- 24:58You're good, Jeff.
- 24:59You and the champ.
- 25:01Alright.
- 25:01So I go to the press conference.
- 25:03I talked to Ali, Ali's manager, Angelo Dundee, and I said, mister Dundee, I don't wanna talk
- 25:08to the champ.
- 25:09He says, no problem.
- 25:11He says, wait for the one on ones and get your camera, and away we go.
- 25:14And I said, no.
- 25:15No.
- 25:15I don't have a camera, but I got a studio up the road.
- 25:19And, everybody starts chuckling.
- 25:22These people say, oh, yeah.
- 25:23The heavyweight champion of the world is gonna go to this studio.
- 25:25I said, oh, it's not that far.
- 25:27It's just up the hill here on MacLeod Trail.
- 25:29Well, this is at the Stampede Ground, world famous Calgary Stampede.
- 25:33So, fast forward, the press conference is over.
- 25:36It does one on ones.
- 25:37He's magnificent, comes over, taps, Dundee on the shoulder and says, okay, Angelo.
- 25:42Time to go.
- 25:43Ali looks around.
- 25:46Dundee says, one second, champ.
- 25:49This young man here wants to talk to you.
- 25:51So he remembered me from, obviously, from the airport, but he kinda gives me the once over
- 25:56again.
- 25:56And he says, okay, kid.
- 25:58Where's your camera?
- 25:58And I said, sure.
- 25:59I don't have a camera, but I got a studio up the road.
- 26:03Everybody breaks out laughing.
- 26:05He looks around, turns to the limo driver and says, do you know where the studio is?
- 26:09He says, yeah.
- 26:10The kid's right.
- 26:10It's just a mile and a half up the road.
- 26:13He tells me, go.
- 26:14Take off.
- 26:15I'll be up there with the entourage.
- 26:17I race up to the studio.
- 26:18Tell them to get it ready.
- 26:19Nobody believes me.
- 26:20The heavyweight champion of the world is now coming to this little cable TV station.
- 26:27Somehow, word got around the three story building.
- 26:29All the secretaries are in the lobby thinking maybe we'll get a glimpse of the heavyweight
- 26:33champion of the world.
- 26:35Okay?
- 26:36In walks the general manager from lunch, and he says, what's all the commotion here?
- 26:40Jeff Rimmer says, heavyweight champion of the world's coming.
- 26:43Muhammad Ali, he starts laughing.
- 26:45There's not a chance, and you know what?
- 26:47So guess what?
- 26:49Two seconds later, in walks Ali with the entourage.
- 26:53We sit down.
- 26:55We do twenty minutes.
- 26:57He turns to the camera, he says, hey.
- 26:59What did you say your name was, kid?
- 27:00I said, Jeff Rimmer.
- 27:02Goes to the camera, and he says, pointing, this young man here, Jeff Rimmer, has held his own
- 27:07with me, Muhammad Ali.
- 27:08And I predict in five years, after naming Johnny Carson, Jack Parr, Michael Douglas, and
- 27:14everybody else, Jeff Rimmer will become the greatest forecaster in the world.
- 27:19I said, thank you.
- 27:20He said, in your dreams, got up and walked out.
- 27:24Got up and walked out.
- 27:25Incredible incredible way to end this interview, Jeff.
- 27:30Looking forward to reading the book.
- 27:32I encourage everyone else to find that.
- 27:34Jeff Rimmer is r I m e r, jeff common spelling dot com.
- 27:39You can find more about the book there.
- 27:41It's been an absolute pleasure, strolling down memory lane with you, learning a bit more about
- 27:46you, and, I I look forward to working in the future with you.
- 27:49Congratulations on your recent retirement and getting this book out there finally.
- 27:54I know it's gotta be an exciting time for you.
- 27:56It is, Bubba.
- 27:57Anytime you need anything, by all means, just reach out.
- 28:00You know how to get me.
- 28:02It's been a pleasure joining you, and I look forward to talking to you again real soon.
- 28:07Thrilling.
- 28:07That's Jeff Rimmer, everybody.
- 28:09Thanks for being part of the scene, Jeff.
- 28:12My pleasure.
- 28:29Skunked golf.
- 28:30Look good even if your game stinks.