Cape Breton's famed amateur weather forecaster chats with football great Tom Brady
When amateur weather forecaster Frankie MacDonald joined one of his favourite podcasts Monday evening, he had no idea he was on a collision course with one of sport's biggest stars.
Max Field is the host of the SoBro Radio Podcast out of New York, N.Y. He says, thanks to a mutual friend, he had Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady on for a brief interview that lasted about three minutes.
During that time, MacDonald was contacted and asked to join the on-air podcast.
"I happened to just call in Frankie while we were on with Tom,” said Field. “And it was a match made, as they say. The rest is history."
The exchange between Brady and MacDonald lasted only a few seconds.
"I said, 'You're doing a great job,’” MacDonald told CTV Atlantic during an interview in his home community of Whitney Pier, N.S.
It's unclear if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback knew who he was talking to.
"Frankie was like, 'Hey, how're you doing? I love the weather,'” Field explained. “And then Tom's like, 'Oh hey, Frankie. Good to meet you,' and it was a very short sort of thing."
Many consider Brady to be the greatest football player of all time. However, the Super Bowl rings and records aren't the numbers that really matter to MacDonald.
"On his Instagram, he has 10 million followers. He has only two million followers on his Twitter,” said MacDonald.
MacDonald has a big social media platform of his own. Field says it was the power of the amateur weather forecaster’s words -- not Brady’s -- that got people talking about their encounter.
"No one cared until Frankie tweeted about it. That's when people cared,” said Field.
The podcast host says he now realizes he may have had two GOATS (Greatest Of All Time) on the same broadcast.
"Around this corner, Frankie MacDonald is a bigger star than Tom Brady in some regards,” said Field. “People like Frankie. They like that he's not like some big industry guy. It's just him being himself."
MacDonald says there are some other big names he'd like the chance to connect with.
"I'd like to say hi to Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and I'd like to say hi to David Letterman,” he said.
For now, MacDonald says his brush with the football legend is his biggest celebrity encounter to date.
"It makes me feel great. It's excellent. It's epic."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
As GC Strategies partner is admonished by MPs, RCMP confirms search warrant executed
The RCMP confirmed Wednesday it had executed a search warrant at an address registered to GC Strategies. This development comes as MPs are enacting an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power, summoning one of its contractors to appear before the House of Commons to be admonished publicly for failing to answer questions related to the ArriveCan app.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.