The Phantoms Years

The Phantoms Years

In the summer of 2000 I took a leave of absence from TD Securities to spearhead the purchase and relocation of an Arena Football League team to Toronto. In October of that year the Toronto Phantoms Football Team was born with yours truly as President and CEO. This begun a new chapter for both Bailey and I. Instead of being an employee, I was running a company—and as I frequently joked, Bailey was my Chief Operating Officer.

Our new offices intentionally lacked the corporate feel of the bank. They had exposed ceilings and hardwood floors. Of course Bailey had the run of the entire office. When recruiting people to join our office two of the key interview questions were: 1. “Are you allergic to dogs?” and 2. “Do you like dogs?” Irrespective of the quality of the candidate, if they answered even one of these questions wrong there would be no offer of employment. I simply felt that work should be a fun place to be and if Bailey couldn’t share the experience with me, then it wasn’t worth it.

To keep Bailey active during long hours at the office I hired a dog walker named Sally Pickering. After only a short while if anyone even said the name “Sally”, Bailey would spring up and start looking for his leash. As my Zaida Irving (my mother’s father) used to say: “This dog is part human. He is the smartest dog I have ever seen.”

The Phantoms office was small and everyone acted as a family—front office staff, coaches, players, cheerleaders and Bailey. During busy times, different people took turns walking Bailey. Many of our players came from inner cities in the United States and the idea of having a dog around all the time was foreign to them. Some of the players were scared of Bailey at the beginning but by mid-season all fear had evaporated. I always found it amusing that these enormous football players who made a living by being tough were actually frightened by him. As I came to understand, many of the players were taught to fear dogs from a young age. In turn, those players had begun to teach their children the same thing. A few of our players told me that Bailey was the first dog they ever got to know and it changed their perception of dogs.

Before I met my wife Melinn, Bailey would always stay at my parents’ house whenever I traveled or knew I was not going to be home until very late. My parents have a huge backyard and a swimming pool, both of which Bailey loved. On more than a few occasions Bailey would go out into the yard to do his business only to disappear from sight. When Mom or Dad would go out to look for him they would always find him sitting on the pool steps cooling off. Although they would have to dry him off each time before he could re-enter the house, they seemed to accept the fact that there was no way to keep him out of the pool.

On one night at the end of the Phantoms’ first season, I had planned a night on the town with a few friends. Bailey would be staying with Mom and Dad so I wouldn’t have to worry about being out late or getting up early to let him out. That night I returned to my apartment at approximately 2:30 am and fell asleep on the couch. At 6:45 am I woke up to a ringing phone and a telephone number that I did not recognize. I answered the phone and the voice on the other end said: “Are you Bailey’s owner?” My heart sunk and any after-effects from the few drinks the night before quickly disappeared. “Yes. Is everything ok? Who is this?” I said in a nervous voice. “Oh its your neighbor down the street. I found Bailey walking on the road alone. He’s ok. He’s playing in the backyard with my dog. You can come by anytime.”

Dad had woken up early that Saturday morning and let Bailey into the yard to relieve himself as he did every morning. I am sure that when Bailey disappeared from sight, Dad thought he was in the pool. When Bailey didn’t return, he realized that the gardener had left the gate open and Bailey had escaped. Dad put his housecoat over his pajamas and began running down the street in a panicked search for our dog. About half way down the street his cell phone rang. “Dad, where is Bailey?” Dad actually sounded like Bailey panting on the telephone as he nervously looked for him. Before he could answer I told him about the phone call I received from his neighbor—he was so relieved.

I felt bad for my Dad that morning. He and my Mom were looking after Bailey for me. He let Bailey into the yard as he did each and every time. He had no way of knowing the gate was open. Moreover, Bailey was not the “escaping” type. Bailey loved his surroundings so much that he never tried to run away. I can only imagine that Bailey stumbled upon the open gate and figured he’d go for a short adventure before returning home for breakfast (and if he was lucky, some table scraps from Mom—just kidding Mom).

Still I can’t get the picture out of my head of my father in his pajamas and housecoat running down the street. I’m sure he thought, “I better find this dog or Rob’s gonna kill me.”

Thankfully everything was fine and Bailey had no idea of the panic he created. To him, it was just another adventure and just another day.