'My friend' Pat Burns..

The news finally came about the passing of Pat and I would like to take a minute to say a word about the man who became my friend in 1995.

I started working at the Fan590 that year and got to know Pat through Bill Watters who was with the Leafs as an Asst GM at the time and was a regular on the station with us.

Pat, as the Leaf's coach was on the Morning Show at my request on a regular basis and I remember the day in March 1996 when we got word that he had come back from a road trip, out west I think, so the team wasn't at the rink when he was fired. He wrote a note on the board saying goodbye and I called him on his cell in his truck as he drove all the way home to his cottage in Magog, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec..

 " Yeah, that's right I'm gone, and I'm heading for a few Double Diamonds back home so don't call til later tomorrow "

It was the next year 1997 when he was out of work that cemented our friendship as I had asked him to join us on the Morning Show every Mon/Wed/Fri as our playoff analyst at 745am . I paid him $75 a show and he was just great with Pat and John   ( Marsden and Derringer,then my hosts on the show) and remember he was still hot here in Toronto..

All the years following we stayed in touch, through his time in Boston, his favourite rides through the New Hampshire hills on his beloved Harley when the cancer depressed him, his 3 fights with cancer, his time in New Jersey, his years in Florida with Scotty Bowman, the time his house down there was hit by a hurricane, the times he'd call from the truck while he was waiting for Line (wife) to "finish her freaking shopping !!" ...many have been well documented, but like Grapes, once Pat was in your corner, he was always there for you which is why he was so effective as a coach.

He said he always remembered I "gave him a gig" when he didn't have one !! All of $75 bucks !!!

Once he tried to do the interview from one of those plane pay phones, which due to some distortion made him sound like he was slurring his words which of course didn't go unnoticed by Marsden !! In addition the captain kept on coming on the plane's intercom pointing out landmarks below and Burnsy said " It's bad enough I sound hammered but the frigging captain thinks he's a tour guide "

When we moved to Rogers he couldn't come on with me anymore because he was doing a daily morning hit on a rival network in Montreal (CKAC) ..

The last time we spoke, I apologized for having left it so long saying I didn't know what to say since we knew by then his time was nigh.. Typical of Pat he scolded me " Well I'll be dead soon so if you don't start calling you'll never talk to me anyway !"

I guess I won't my friend, but I'll never forget you...

Bryan Angus