Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - FlamesNation Barn Burner: Tommy Wheeldon Jr. Live in Studio for World Cup

Episode Date: November 23, 2022

Live from the Tower Chrysler Studios in Marda Loop! FlamesNation Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener Wednesday November 23rd, 2022- Tommy Wheeldon Jr Live in Studio- Flames Penguins Game Day- Betway NHL Bets of the Day - The Pinder Report | Village Honda Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All right, buddies, here we are. Showtime Barn Burner Studios, the Tower Chrysler Studios here. Marlop. Boomer and Pender getting her going on. A big game day. Now, you yesterday came in here with, are you not putting on your stuff, your gear? I don't know. I had it around my head.

If you're on the YouTube, yesterday Pinder came in. He had the scarf around his head. I don't want to knock over the Guerrero's. I know you shouldn't because it's the game day. I said to yesterday, you're all dressed up for game day. wasn't game day. Now it's game day. You're not dressed up. Let's get her going. Look at this setup. It's wonderful upon it. My goodness. I mean, live on YouTube. If, let's go. Come on, boy, it's big game. Belgium's boring. Hey? There you go. Now you're

a waffle anyway. Now you're ready. I was talking about Flames game day, but apparently there's something else going on. Yeah, this is my Flamescare. Oh, okay. He's a Belgian assistant goaltending coach in the penguins. Screw them. It's a big day. World Cup action. Bars are going to be absolutely jammed.

No work is getting done. We started. We started late and we're quitting early. I think it's probably how this one's going to go today. But nonetheless, we will talk a little bit of flames, penguins. It is a game day for the Calgary Flames. Get your helmet on.

And it's game day for Canada. Get your scarf on. And it must be American Thanksgiving today because I don't see Rhett. Is that correct today? Can we go to the, can we check in, Alex on the RET feed and they're the RETster. Technical issues. Do they get internet on American Thanksgiving?

Do they save it for other days? So just holiday. So I thought it was tomorrow. It's a thing I love. It's the commitment. Yeah. You can't question the commitment. Can't question the commitment.

I don't know what I said. You heard a, you heard a voice there in the background. It's the one, those, that does my head. The unmistakable tones. The undeniable one. Friend of the show, long time buddy, Tommy Weilden, Jr., here in the studios. Barnburner, the Tower, Chrysler Studios.

It's not a huge audience today. Not a huge studio audience. Yeah. But there he is. How are you? You look good as always. Man, it's, uh, between your hair and your hair. I'm, I'm, you talk about follically.

challenged. It's unfair you two pricks sashing around here with that kind of main man. It's impressive. Well, you can't go digging through a dumpster like I can and get away with it. Someone's going to think something he's going horribly wrong for you. Yeah. In fairness, it is two different styles of long hair. That's fair. Yeah. And also between us, you know, I've got the salt and pepper look going on as well. Yeah. Yeah. There's a bit of a blend and a crossover. Something for everyone you could say. There really is. Yeah. It's kind of like an evolution here. we've got going on. So you're, you must be very,

everyone wants to talk footy with you at all times. What's today like? What's right now like? Because I would think anybody that's anybody. Tommy, have you, it'll just be heavy soccer talk for you for the next few weeks. Yeah,

do you know what? And listen, thanks for having us on. This is a cool place you got. Thank you. You guys were the OGs back when we first started talking. I don't know if it was the, was it the 2018?

No, that. There's PDL stuff. Yeah, but we would bring the World Cups and the Euros I think.

You caught me on air when Uruguay scored against England and there was a pause and I remember the playbacks, it was the... You can curse now

if that happens. I can't. You can drop an F bomb if need be. Yeah. Okay, that's locker room talk. I like it. That's right.

We do go back a long ways with our soccer footy inside. I think it was the 2014 World Cup. We started working together. That would sound right. So I think I started with boom in 2013 in the fall.

so it would have been the following summer. It was. And that was before I had kids. So if you think I'm a day drinker now, imagine how Euro hits when, you know, pre-kids. So you get Tommy in studio to talk some World Cup, talk, Canada talk footy. This is going to be our Pinder report.

I'm going to let you guys get out of the Pinder report today, a presentation of Village Honda. Come and see why Calgarians are making the trip to Village Honda, 76, 63, 110 out of Northwest, online, villagehonda.com, $2 million. Is there by? budget to buy used vehicles. They'll buy your car even if you don't buy theirs. You'll get a trip to Vegas. It's all on now at Village Honda. Man, get after it. Yeah, and stay here for one moment. So

perspective, I think, is huge, you know, because there's the people that are hardcore soccer in this country. I think there's more than maybe many think there are and certainly more than there were 10 years ago, even four years ago when you talk about the CPL. But this feels like one of those events that has crossed over into the mainstream, the World Cup, but not just that that Canada's in it, to the point where it's like, oh, my wife might mention that Canada is playing soccer today. That never, ever happens. And what are you noticing different about this? Or at least, what does this day mean to you, given it's been 36 years?

Well, do you know what? I always think back even when I was a kid and obviously growing up in England, it's part of your culture here, you know, like the playoffs in the Stanley Cup and things like that. But for us, the world's biggest game and more countries that are playing it, for me, you know, I'm what ageing myself, 43. So Italian 90 was my falling. and love moment. For me, that was, you know, Nessendorma Paverotti, Toto Scalati, getting the golden boots, Gaz's tears for England. There were so many great memories that I think back now as an adult,

but that was my trigger point. And I think for me, now I've got a son who's 13, and he's asked to be picked up. So after I'm done this show, I'm taking him out of school. Really? He's getting out. He's getting out. Not the first. You know, my assistant coach, Leon Abgood's doing the same with his son, because for us, we know that these are trigger points for him. I was away on the weekend when England played at 6 a.m. My son got up. Yeah. Which teenager gets up at 6 a.m. to watch football.

And that's where you know things are starting to motivate. So I imagine I'm not the only dad in the city and the country that are getting their kids out of school to watch it. The significance of, you know, young players like, you know, Alfonso Davies, who's world class to Jonathan David to Stefan Astakio, but also having people, especially here within Calgary, having Sam Adacubi. You know, a guy that grew up in this city,

playing for Calgary Foothills, and, you know, has gone on and done his journey, he'll be starting against Kevin DeBroying today, who's, you know, on the world-class players on the world's biggest state in front of millions around the world. It's funny, you mentioned that, I was thinking about that,

how many teachers would have signed out that A-V unit for their classroom on this day? Who's watched, like, school rooms have to be watching this thing today. What are you going to learn that isn't as, or that's more meaningful than this thing today? You'll remember this game if you're a kid for the rest of your life. Maybe not the biology class you would have had otherwise. Yeah, fair.

And I think that's my kid's thing. He's going through science, which I'm not sure he's got the best relationship with the science team. He's so smart that kid, he's so smart. It'd be fine. He gets by with his good looks and athleticism. So there's a few events in our life that cross over to that. I remember like someone had hit an ear button in a class I was in high school for like the OJ verdict. World Cups

would have been that other places in the world because the times ones are because the Olympics, it's different times. This is the late slot. It's noon today and it's I don't love the way the schedule comes at Team Canada in a sense that it's their toughest opponent first out of the group, but I feel like

there's a lot of momentum that could occur if you get any kind of a result here, i.e. a draw or you stun the world and get a win not like Japan and Saudi Arabia already having this tournament. Yeah, absolutely. And they were one sort of going to mention, but you also look, you know, the Egyptians beat the, the Belgians pri in a World Cup, in a warm-up. So you take a little bit from that. You can't take too much

because people are holding themselves back, but you also see that there are weaknesses there, and with Belgium, so technical, this is their golden generation, and this is the time that they need to be able to win with this, otherwise it moves on to the next one, and they bring through the next, but they're vulnerable, and I think one of Canada's strengths is their feeling. and something that John Hurdman has integrated into their brotherhood, as he calls it, is they've never won a point in the World Cup there in 86. They've never scored a goal. So he's set themselves a target of saying, well, let's score a goal.

Let's got our first points on the board before we become the host or one of the hosts in 2026, is how can we knock off these ones and almost create a trading history in performance in the World Cups, which you need to do? It could be overwhelming if you don't have those step one goals, right? It's the World Cup. It's, yeah, there's so much fanfare. Let's get a goal, right? I would think from a coaching perspective,

that's got to bring everybody in that locker room kind of down a peg. Yeah, okay, that's, that's, right? Touching distance, right? Everything's touching to just focus on getting a goal. And even, I think, the longer it goes on against Belgium without them score and the more Canada grow into it because I think the first 10 minutes is key. You can't, you know, can't get conceded on.

They've got to make sure that they keep the Belgians at bay. And it'll be interesting to see if her, Goodman comes out and he's done this, you know, whether it's against Mexico or U.S., where he's pressed in certain moments, gone on high pressure in their face, stop them gaining momentum, because that's key in football. And then he's kind of dropped off, let them have a bit of the ball and, you know, space in behind, which lives up to Alfonso Davies's breakaway pace and Tejon Bucannon's breakaway pace. So it'll be interesting in the tactics. I'm looking forward to that part of it. They played a bunch of games in qualifying, just to get into the octagonal or whatever we're calling it, those eight teams that each played 14 games for World Cup qualifying. in Concaf, that was a big hurdle to get into that because Canada hadn't been able to get into

that in many World Cup qualifiers prior. How different is the class of team outside of Concord Calf and how much can Canada lean on qualifying? Because it isn't peak Mexico right now. The Americans missed the last World Cup and I think are struggling for an identity. They had to win and a draw against each of those clubs in their two matchups, which is really impressive. But it does feel like there's another step from Conca Caff to hear. Massively. And they can't lean on any of that really. because Concaf is a different qualifying process in its entirety. We've also never beaten a European side. So they've almost just got to say this is a brand new challenge.

Again, back to small gains, right? Can we get our first goal? Can we get our first points on the board? And then build from there. And we've seen it. Nobody had put money on Saudi Arabia beating the Argentina. Argentina, one of the favorites. I can't remember when a favorite, like Spain in 2010,

where they lost to Switzerland, have gone on to win a tournament. So Argentina have their work cut out. We've yet to see the Brazilians play, and we've yet to see the Belgians play. So, yeah, they've just got to make the small gains and make today competitive. And a result early in the wee hours this morning, probably a good one from Canada's perspective,

a draw between Croatia and Morocco? I think so, and neither scored. So it's a case of, you know, keep them close to you. Because you then know three points is a massive swing when you're only getting for maximum nine points in the group stages. Let's back up a bit.

How do we get here? And did you have doubts in your mind that Canada could ever arrive here, or at least in this time frame, which does seem a World Cup ahead of schedule? We are. We're four years early. I mean, I remember going into these early meetings for the Canadian Premier League. And you're talking about, you know, the women's have always done well. And obviously winning the Olympics last year was huge. And they've always been the flag bearers, really, in terms of soccer in this country.

But the men's, you know, we're almost forgotten about, you know, Nick Ledgwood's assistant coach at ours and, you know, always competed in these. you know, Conker-Cath games, but it was so hard to get through. You know, how many times you've seen the Canada's team come out and it had, you know, undisclosed or they weren't with a club, you know, unattached. And so there's a nickname around the Canada supporters, the Voyages, saying unattached FC was the main club of Canadian football. Now, you know, we've got our own domestic league.

We're, you know, and us as a club at Calvary, we've already sold four players on, one of them being Joe Waterman that's now in the squad. Incredible. Yeah. I think, had we have done something selfish, said, no, we're not selling him. We're keeping him to see out his contract and let him have free agency after 2020. The Montreal offer would have never came. It wouldn't have been the step up the ladder that he deserved. So I think we've got a great base. We're four years early. So let's

use this to our entirety. And so getting there, you need a few things to happen. You need immensely talented, unique players like Alfonso Davies, like Jonathan David, the emergence of Estacchio. So, you know, Boreen's a very solid veteran goaltender that helps a ton. But you also need someone to shake up the program that I don't want to say was satisfied with losing, but didn't really maybe even believe they could do this. And I feel like John Hurtman's a huge piece of that. Oh, he's massive. I mean, I got to know him when he was in charge of the women's.

And I remember the decision being made because he actually came in. Funny enough, I did my Canadian A license, Terry Dunfield, who's one of the coaching staff there at TFC, my brother. We were on the course together. It was here in Calgary, and he got coaches from all over the world doing it, and he came in, and he was literally putting up

what the steps to success he'd done with the women, and then challenged something about the men's. I remember he's a disruptor. So I think sometimes the world's best, and you think of even the top athletes, we've all watched the Jordan documentary. You've seen the Redeemed team with Kobe Bryant.

You know, you're seeing that with Vastappan and Lewis Hamilton, you know, Tom Brady to a certain one, going out, in retirement coming out. the best are disruptors and I would put John Herdman in there I remember being at the AGM in Yellowknife where we got our professional club licensing the candor soccer and he got up

on stage and I remember I think it was females had commented about it because nothing to come out about why he was moving and there was a bit of criticism outside and he answered it very simply he said rightly or wrongly the FIFA money has always been inundated more so to the men's side

so as an organisation and I've seen it with New Zealand when they qualified with the men to the World Cup, we will do better things if the men qualify for the World Cup that can then reinvest in all them. So we made a selfless decision to grow it to say, but I have to do it on the men's and everyone's like, but he's a women's coach and he has proved he's not. He's a, he's a transformational leader. Yeah. That's what he is. Well, I remember I'm seeing a hockey coaching event probably 10 years ago now and he was very new to Canada's women's side or at least into, you know, the sports sphere in this country. And the room was hanging on his every word. Like to hear the man speak in public is to understand his power as an orator

and as a leader of men. Yeah, he is. And I think you went to the one at Glencoe, didn't you? Yeah, he spoke in Calgary about a month ago. Yeah, he's, and everybody, you know, I think there's world, listen, he can, he could be president of the United States if he chose to, you know, transfer down there. because in a world that's kind of got some skeptical leaders, and there's not enough leadership. He is a natural leader, transformational leader. But not only that, he's very smart in terms of his tactics. You know, I've watched him on the coaching course.

We've talked tactics. And you'll see that with Canada. I think that's what's going to be the surprise package is, you know, it used to be days of playing 4-4-2 or 352, whatever your formation was, and you were that in and out of possession. And, you know, it's always different in smaller games like hockey. but you know if you read phil jackson's book 11 rings and the triangle offense he's got a lot of nuances that he'll defend in one formation so he might say like we're going to defend a four four two right

jonathan david and alfonso davies are going to be our two but in possession we're going to keep one of our fallbacks low and build out with three players and then have a almost like a three four three now what that does is it just offsets the opponent and then he'll flip it again so there'll be some in game changes that i think belgium may not be prepared for or Croatia, but they then got to own their time on the ball. And when they're on the ball, they've got to make sure that they make sure that they punish the other teams. I've always wondered from that perspective, because we talk, obviously, we talk a lot about

hockey. What makes a good hockey coach? What makes a good football coach, Bill Belichick, so widely respected? We're not really sure what a baseball manager does sometimes aside from just filling out the line. So to hear you as a coach, kind of not critiquing, but appreciating and seeing what he does as a coach. For footy, for soccer, what in your mind makes a good soccer manager coach?

And I think it's evolving as well, Boom, because you're right. Every sport's a little bit different. And I couldn't imagine being like Bill Belichick and having as many coaches as he does and having as many players as he does. It's almost like being the general of an army that you've got to put it out there. But I think what is relationships. And I think what he does better than everyone, it's the modern day approach now. And you think of all, you know, you've got kids, right?

They want to know why. They want to know everything. They need a purpose to get up and do it. It's not like you have to work, okay, I'll go work. Or you have to go to school. Okay, I'll go. They actually are curious about. Why do I have to go to school?

Why do I have to go to school? Yeah, it's true. You have to explain all this. We've probably said that as kids too. 100%. Only every day, Ryan, here, you're two. That's right. And he gets it in double barrel.

It's mostly one, but yeah. I think the modern day coach now, hey, listen, you have to know your exes knows because the best players want to know they're being challenged and that you understand the game. But then you have to be an outstanding communicator. The greatest quote I ever heard about coaching was from the late Dick Bate,

who was a coach educator in England. They said, and coaching is affecting behavior to improve performance. And that's it. And I think that's where John Irman is. It sounds simple. What you need to be motivated would be different than what you would need.

100%. And understanding a room of 25 athletes, and players is tough. So interesting hockey analogy, or Ken Hitchcock, like Paul of Fame, caliber coach, went away from the game for a while. He took his time rather than just hanging out and sitting on a beach.

He talked to coaches at university athletics, went overseas, talked to people coaching young people. And he said, you know, the tactics aren't going to change a ton. What's changing is how I communicate with players. I used to call them and then now I get mad than I'd answer my calls. Well, now I'm learning. I've got to text them and they get back to me on

their time. And rather than the here's why we do things. There's my one answer to 23 people. It's for you, here's why this is important. For you, I need to motivate you this way. Like, what you're saying is not a soccer thing at all. It's dealing with a different time in society. You used to just bark and yell and guys would go.

But now it's your buttons are entirely different than yours. And I need to have you working in concert. It's like a symphony at coach now has to run, not just one instrument. Absolutely. I mean, I had a grown up. And even in our U-18s, when we left school, school at 16 to be a apprentice footballers. And we would get a pregame, you know, go and fucking get stuck in, boys.

Get out there, make the first tackle, get forward, get shots in. And that was it. It was kind of like a theory. Half time. If you're winning, yeah, go, fucking go and do it again. Or if you're losing, like you get your finger pointed. And it was never, listen, all right, everyone take a breath here. And let's, let's look.

All they're doing is this. And let's solve the problem. Now we've got so much access to information. And it could go the other way where you're getting sports science results, You know, like our sports scientist telling us who's done the most running at a higher speed or could be flagging. You're getting your data analytics for where you're passing the ball around.

Then you're getting an opinion that might be an emotionally led from a coach that's pissed off with this player. And you may get another independent opinion from the guy, the analyst up in the crowd that's, you know, our eyes in the sky. You've got so much data to now say, we just need to change our left back. That's probably that's going to win it. And then when it goes right as a coach,

Everyone thinks you're a genius, and when it doesn't, everyone thinks you're a loser, right? That's the nature of the sport. Cruel. On an individual basis, I mean, you watch Connor McDavid and how he can take over a game. For football, a huge pitch, so many guys, so much, the running and the athletic ability to be out there and then to still be the best of the best at this level. It's mind-blowing to me. when you'll see guys like Messi,

how good you have to be in the world at that sport to dominate. It's amazing because of the volume of players, the leagues, absolutely. You know what baffled me? I think I watch on a show is, you know, I don't think people would appreciate how intelligent footballers are because they've got to run at a certain speed. You know, if I'm now a midfield and you're a winger, you're a striker, I've got to also understand what your strengths and weaknesses.

I've got to make a split decision based on the pressure that's coming front, back or sideways. about you're the right pass to hit at the right weight with the right speed to create a goal scoring chance. And you think the amount of times Messi does that and he scans and has players around him that he knows where the keeper stood

and he thinks I'll just knock it into the corner there or I'll just chip it through or I'll scoop it and thinks like he's an artist. I remember we had Corey Sorich defense what he was on and I think was Jason Colomor. He told the story one time where Colomor was long shift. So a minute, minute and a half, two minutes.

And he's stuck out there. And the same way was, uh-oh, he's seeing an elephants. Like your brain just starts, you're so exhausted and you're so tired. You just can't. The amount of running and the fitness level. And like you say, to still have the wherewithal here's where I need to be. It's amazing. What would admit, are you, is it 10K-ish for around a midfielder?

Like I know certain positions be less. Top end, you know, 12, maybe 13, bottom end about nine, that buffered zone. So yeah, 10 to 11 is, yeah. average. So yeah, it's like, boy, they sure fall hard. It's like, yeah, well, you run 10K and I'll give you a shoulder. You'll understand it a little better. That's for a break. He's rolling over for a break. Yeah, you're damn right. He is. I get knocked over on a 10K. I'm going to take some water. So you mentioned Messi and world-class talent. Talk to us about Alfonso, what you know of him, because I believe you've had a brush with him coaching what, U-17 internationally. Yeah, so it's

interesting. I think I was U-17 assistant coach under Sean Fleming, good friend of mine. And It was the last camp we had. We just done the Conkercaf qualifying. Actually, a bunch of the CPL players, you know, like Borgies, Campbells, guys like that. And then the 2000 group came in. We're down in Mexico City. And you're thinking now, usually you're bringing down these nice Canadian boys there,

14, 15, Mexico City, and it's a hard area, right? So their training facility is in the middle of the city, and it's hard to get there. You've got, you know, cartels probably hanging on each corner and hardworking people, and it's not a cool place. You got these nice lads from Ontario and Alberta and just looking around thinking about it. And we got there and I remember seeing,

and I knew of Alfonso Davies because he'd played through the Alberta system and I think Leon Hapkud had had him in his system. And then there was this other lad called Jonathan David from Ottawa. So I remember saying to Sean after a couple of sessions and we played Qatar, funny enough, beat them. And I thought, oh, those two kind of linked well together. And I said, so like, have these two been on other?

Like, do they know each other? No, he said, this is the first camp here. I went, my word, I'd never seen in my life. Still to this day, I've never seen the chemistry of two players at 14 being that tight. And I've got it on my old laptop. And they went on to play Mexico the next game. And Mexico would usually dominate their turf. And Leggie calls it the Mexican wheel, because the way they would play it, they'd have two in the middle and guys on the else and just keep everyone playing piggy in the middle.

These two guys just went at them and took the game to them. I think we tied the game as either one one got the assist, the other one got the goals, something like that. But those two were on another level. And I remember just tracking it all the way through. Alfonso obviously went to Vancouver, made his debut quite young. Jonathan David, I was wondering, I remember talking to Carl Robinson, who was the Vancouver White Caps manager.

I don't know well. I said, you got to get this kid out of Otto. He's just playing grassroots football. He said, I've tried. He said, we're trying to get him. But the agents, you know, trying to move him to Europe. He said, you know, Belgium, et cetera, et cetera. He said, I think he should come play for me.

Couldn't get him. No matter what he did, the kid goes to Belgium, scores goals. He's now scoring goals. And, you know, he's up there with your name ours in France scoring goals. But the two of them, they're tight at the hip. So I'm looking forward now how that translates because to have seen them as young, that's a fortunate situation to be, to now see them against Belgium in the World Cup, that's going to be brilliant.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but those two give you the puncher's chance, so to speak. You need to be a strong team to get this far and have any success, but you also need people to break open games, and you've always admired the guys that can find a goal in a sport where there's so few. And those two, like, if they want to have good tournaments, keep playing, boys. Absolutely. Those two, and I think he's leading scorers in goals per game, Jonathan David. You know, it's ridiculous.

But there's also Kyle Laren, and in every World Cup, you kind of get a bit of an unfashionable hero, but I could see Kyle Laren being the one that scores the goal, if he plays today. And he didn't qualify, right? Tons of goals. Yeah, yeah, he did. Like, he's a score of important goals. So I look at that. I look at Stefan Astakio, who's playing well for FC Porto in the Champions League,

Tejean-Bucan, Club Bruges in the Champions League. They're now having a bit of profile, as well as the guys that are doing well for MLS. It's just, listen, if they can contain the back line, which I think is important now against Belgium, because Lecaccacu's not playing. Yeah. He's key. No matter if you're a fan of him or not, he's a quality world-class striker.

not playing. I mean, they've got no shortage of strikers, but he makes a difference. He's their best striker when he's their best striker. He's not there to start at least. The rest of the group, Croatia, they were, oh, just in the World Cup final last time they had this tournament, but their golden generation a little older, like Modrich is what, almost 40? Yeah, I think he's timeless. Do you know what? I think Modrich is. You've seen Lord of the Rings. I think he's an elf. I think he's timeless, isn't he? It looks like he could fit in there. He does look a little odd, yeah. And I think he's just going to keep on playing. We're all going to grow old and he's going to stay the same age.

He's beaten father time, someone finally. Them in Morocco, Morocco seems under the radar as well. Morocco. I shouldn't say as well. Croatia went to the final, but yeah. I think the change of coaches bring, because I knew Zich wasn't part of the mix because he had had to fall out with the last coach. New coaches brought him back in. They've got, you know, woman size as well

that's at war was playing the Premier League. They've got some good talent in there. And I think again, look at their result against Croatia. They were very effective. There's going to be no easy game for Canada. So either way, if they walk away with a point today against Belgium, that's huge because they'll always have a chance against Morocco or Croatia. Four points will get them through. Crazy. What do you make of the term here? I think I always have this challenge with the Olympics because I see the IOC is corrupt, bribe-taking jerks in their castles in Switzerland and leaving

cities that host in financial ruin and sometimes in actual, you know, the facilities in, in, crumbling just, you know, years later. FIFA's got a similar reputation. They've cleaned house a little bit after their last long-time leader was essentially, you know, caught money laundering. How do you, you know, I guess draw that whole thing together that this is the best in the pinnacle of our sport, but also, man, the organization that runs, it's got some warrants. I know.

And they're in Qatar of all places in the winter, not summer. Well, and the last World Cup was in Russia. So I'm thinking, I can't wait for North Korea to get it next. Yeah, exactly. We've done the trifectar, aren't we, really? But yeah, it's hard to read sometimes. And I went off social media for a bit

because you just read in negative, it's fueling you in a negative way. And I thought, you know what, it wasn't for me because there's always different facts no matter of way and you've got to do your research versus just read what somebody said on there and take it for facts. So I'm like, I didn't have time to do the research.

So I've kind of, whether it's right or wrong or otherwise, I turned a bit of a blind eye to it and tried to appreciate the opportunity it's giving people and hopefully it's leaving a legacy for good people there and also changing a culture because for the things they've got

whether it's drinking or the LGBT plus community isn't the World Cup meant to be a game for all no matter your race, gender orientation or whatever you want to choose to be the World Cup's meant to bring the world together not separate us so let's focus on that and the world needs a bit of healing right now doesn't it?

It seems like it should be easier than they're making it out to be, right? Yeah, it would be nice if they'd embrace a little more of that. It sounds like there's armbands that teams want to wear that FIFA won't allow, which feels like it's more of what Qatar doesn't want, not FIFA. Neither here nor there. I mean, I shouldn't say neither here nor there. That's a rabbit hole to go down that's a lot. And it's heavy, and it makes you feel less excited about a world-class tournament.

So I get the whole focus on the sport thing. That's what makes it special. It's not people with bags of money that we care for. And it's easy to do it. We have to, as a league, every time we start a season, we have to go through these things because you've got to think that there's young people that can be heavily influenced by a suitcase of money that they may be in debt. And these people are beyond that and the corruption side of it, very clever.

They do their homework on it. So you'd hope that it's just rumours and it's not a proof. But there's a way to get to everybody. The Marino documentary is unbelievable. Jose Marino, the Portuguese coach, that before the Champions League final, the amount of mafia that was after him and his family. Like, I can't imagine. I do this for a living.

You know, I'm okay taking a little bit of beef on Twitter. Going after my family, I couldn't imagine that type of feeling. That's just outlandish. Last Calgary tie-in, the Adi Kubez or soccer royalty are becoming such in Calgary. Tell us with the family. We know Elijah's played for you all the way back to the PDL days in the first four seasons of the CPL. Sam, the older brother, was the one who jumped in the snowbank in Edmonton. at Iceteca and will play a significant role for Team Canada at the World Cup.

And apparently those two are not necessarily the wow. Look at the whole family's phenomenal. Everyone loves the Atacuba is what it's his father is a preacher I believe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they run a church and I mean it looks like the most fun church going. They sing and dance and it's interesting because, you know, Ben coached with me and my brother, the dad and give back to the community. mom D is just she's the matriarch of the family she's brilliant

but then Ruthie Atacubi she got a scholarship at the dynos and won a gold medal national gold medal as a soccer player really playing for my brother so there's a nice tie-in between the wieldens and attacubis and obviously you know we had sam come through cowrie foothills and then my brother and elijah had a great relationship whether it was in the pdl or the cpl on it was a really interesting conversation with elijah at the end of his contract this year where he's 26 he's recovered from two Achilles injuries and we sat down and it was like talking to

your kids about right it's time to move out now you know because I looked in his eyes and I knew that he was ready for a change and it wasn't anything other than he knew that this next move for his was whether his career kicks off again or he chooses his music that's how talented these people you know these this family is and uh it was an easy conversation to have he's gone with martin Nash and you know he'll end up there and I think that's it good move for him. And, you know, I think now he's out in Qatar looking at, you know, his brother with Ruthie and watching them. And they're just a terrific family and, you know, part of the Calgary folklore here. Mom's on Twitter as well. She's all set up. She's got the big

stack of Gatorades and waters. The room's set up. There's merch all over the plate. It's, she's dialed ready. It's game day. Let's go. Well, I'm a hobbyist. I be a fringe fan. I can get into that. I love going to Calorie games and doing all that. And I just remember, It was years and years ago. It was a guy from, I think it was from England. He was giving me shit one time. He's like, do you realize how short these games are? We're not watching baseball.

Don't be going to get your fucking chips during the game. Get your shit figured out at the half and then get back in your seat because it's quick. You can't miss anything. Yeah, 90 minutes. So I'm going to get your bathroom breaking your chips or whatever you need. Get it before and get ready. But you know what? Boom, that's been the biggest learning for us at Spoochman.

100% is, you know, when we're running horse shows or you're used to the hockey culture and there's like 20 minute breaks and there's three of them before and after as well. We've got a 15 minute window to get everyone a fresh beer

and figure it out. I mean, that's a small window. So that's been one of our biggest learning lessons. I keep telling people, go a half hour early. You can get the food and the beer and don't miss the game. This is not to your point baseball.

There's no four-hour Red Sox Yankees. It's not fucking baseball. It's not fucking baseball. Get your chips. Okay. Tell us feelings, vibes, predictions, and or just a hope or dream for this team. Listen, I see a world in the four points, I think, is achievable.

I think they can certainly look at, I've got a sneaky fit. If Belgian don't score in the first half, that gives Canada a better chance. I'm going to go with a 1-1 today, and I think they're going to beat Morocco in the last game. That's my four points. Man, that'd be something.

And that puts you into probably tie break territory if you get through or not. Wow. Exciting times. I think a lot of people didn't believe this could happen and even the ones that did thought, oh, that'll be 2026, not 20, this is all gravy. Enjoy.

And you know what? The role that you have played with the players we mentioned, grooming them along the way that the CPL has played. You mentioned Joel Walsh. Waterman on this team. You played for you in the PDL and CPL. I mean, you've coached many of these players at U-17 level. Like, this is, I hope you are as proud or are as proud as many people think you should be at this because you've played a significant hand as someone from another country contributing to Canada returning to the stage after almost four decades.

No, thank you. Listen, it takes a village and there's many people across the country that have done similar, but I was prepared to pick up a shovel and I think that's what it is. Everyone's got an opinion about how things should be done. everyone thinks it's like fantasy football that you can do this and that and the other but it's the late night board meetings trying to raise $50,000 so we could compete in the PDL and almost being I think we were three days from not getting it and I was on the phone in a family holiday trying to get it you get it you're traveling 14 hours to Portland because you run out of gas and you haven't got enough playing tickets to ride home they're the hard yards and all these players that you're going to see today have all had a similar territory everyone that's had a bit of success in this have all just refused to quit and I think that's That's what we're getting now. And what I really love, right, is that it's going to create another wave of generation. So I'm seeing it with Nick Ledgerwood now out in the community dealing with people. I'm seeing it with Mason Trafford out there dealing with partners and community.

That ripple effect of affecting more people. That's the only way you build a culture. And it's a brilliant time to be here. Always wanted to give back to a country that adopted me. Proud to be a Canadian citizen now. So this is part of the enjoyment of it. Go get your kid. Yeah.

Go get your kid. Look at the clock. Go get your kid. get ready. Thanks for coming in. Tommy, appreciate you, man. Thank you very much. So good to see. We'll do it again soon. We've got lots of questions about, obviously, with cavalry. It's November heading into December, but we got time. We'll get into that as we... There you go, folks. Tommy, I appreciate.

We'll take a quick, tight turn. Quick anecdote before we go, really quickly. Sam Atacuby, the Calgaryan we talked about, said, when asked about this tournament and what's going to, how this team's built. We've played in the weeds in Central America. We've played in 100 humidity, 35C. We've played in minus 20. We've had bags of piss thrown on us. These guys are not intimidated. They might be matched in some areas,

but they have fought so hard to get here and overcome so much. This is not a group that will wilt. It would be fun today. Who are you cheering for? You know, I'll make the best team win. I don't really have a rooting interest. Good football. It's all you're cheering for.

Just to, yeah. Tight turn. Stay there. We're coming right back. Tommy Wilden, Jr. Always good to see you, Tommy. Get your kid out of school. Don't let your kids go to school.

That's right. Learn from the best. I like that a lot. Flames game day, as we pivot here for the second half of the program. By second half, I mean, the final few minutes of the program. Whatever works for you. I got nothing going on today.

I can stay as late as you want. Let's get into, there's a few things we've got a hit here. We want to do the Betway bets of the day. The flames are on this road trip, about middleway, you know, part of one. Six Gamer. It turns very quickly from the, this team, they lost seven in a row. Oh, that's one back to back in four or five. Four or five.

It happens very quickly. So they'll look to keep things going. They've already beaten Pittsburgh once this year at the day. Dome. Yep. Here are my bets of the day for Betway. I do kind of like, what's this? The penguins in this one.

Really? They've won three in a row. They've been pretty good. Sidney Crosby is on a four-game point streak. 11 points. I say 10 in his last three, and I thought, what's 10 divided by three? That's tough math, but it sounds good. Yeah, 11 in his last four.

So I'm going to take the penguins to win with the money line. and Sid at least a point paying plus 125. And if I'm going in, I'm going, you know, money line and total goals. So I've got the penguins on the money line to win, and I'm saying it's over five and a half goals. Total paying plus 160. You're doubling down on the penguins. Dirty dog. It's a long road trip.

It's Pittsburgh. That crowd's going to be so drunk, drunkest day in the calendar for the Americans. It's going to be a party crowd. Consistently says this is the drunkest day in America. The Wednesday ahead of American Thanksgiving. And Alex, if you're listening, Rhett is looking for a link and he'll join us as soon as he gets that. I don't want to go to behind the curtain, but there you are.

Alex, just send him a link. My picks of the day, let's do that. Same game. There's 15 in the NHL tonight. None tomorrow. Fail your boots because tomorrow is all football, friend. 33 teams tonight. That's 15 times two-ish.

Wow. What's the three-headed game? Which are we playing that in? Yeah. I hear my picks. I just like some of the roles. of these players are on. Jonathan Hubertow has not been dominant,

but it's probably been the best version of Jonathan Huberto we've seen in a Flames jersey, him to get a point, Anne Crosby, who we noted has 10 in his last three games. That's even money? I could double my money if they each get a point. Yes.

And then some other guys that I'm not going to sleep on. Lindholm and Malcon, one point each or more. That pays plus 150. And we didn't talk about it. Well, I guess we talked about a bit of it. Vladar will start tonight for the Calvary Flames.

he had his first ever start and win in the NHL against Pittsburgh, beat them last year as a flame as well as first one, obviously, as a brune. And it'll be Tristan Jari back in net who has not had this season Tristan Jari had a year ago. I would not be surprised if, you know, there's a little more of the goals, not less. So I'm going to go Crosby, Ubitur, Lindholm, Malkin, those two pairs of just a single point. See how we do. Betway bets of the day.

You mentioned with Ladar He's made three starts He's been in four games But has started just three games this year It feels like we're well into the season Now for him to have just started three Going into this one And what did Daryl say?

There's 26 weeks and once a week Are we three weeks into the season Or is it four? Because this would be his fourth start Markstrom has started five straight Nine of ten I think of ten Going into tonight And it will be interesting

They get the back to back How do they treat that? Is it Markstrom for both or does Vlodar if he plays well? So Penguins tonight and then Friday, Saturday. Yeah, so it's three of four starting today and it's matinees Friday and Saturday. Noon in Washington Day after Thanksgiving. Saturday at two in Carolina. I guess it depends how Vlodar plays today, whether he gets one of those two.

And I feel like we've liked how Vlodar has played. Didn't like him in the Buffalo game. He's one and three. His goal is against 3.33 with an 881 save percentage. I feel like he's performed better. than those numbers. Now he's played in four games. And I think, you know, you saw a fair amount of them in that skid where they weren't playing that great. I think they've tightened up significantly defensively of late.

And hopefully that is also reflected in the same percentage numbers as Lidar gets his forced start here. Who are we talking about the other day as far as a team that was super streaky? It was St. Louis. Yeah, they won three to start the year, lost eight, lost seven, and now one eight in a row. So for Pittsburgh, started 4-0-1, then went on that 0-6-1 skid. The pastor of Calgary, one of those losses of seven in a row. They blew a two-goal lead to Boston. It was ugly.

Yeah. So win four or five, lose seven straight, five-one-and-one now since that skid ended. That's similar. Very similar. And I was looking at this roster. Like, I get it. It's not peak Crosby. It's not peak Malkin.

It's not peak Latang. it's not peak Jeff Carter but they're just still too talented to write off it's not like no like you're not selling your UFAs you probably are moving your picks for more help with the deadline again you're still in that Crosby Malkin window they found a way to bring Malcon and Latang back in an off season where they both became

were set to become UFAs last year and you know when they're losing seven in a row it's easy to say oh it's over for them but like no then Sid goes off and Malcolm's still Melkin and we saw it in the dome a night they lost 4-1 they went on the man advantage and you're like, yep, they can still zip this thing around as good as anyone and the power play numbers aren't strong this year, but it feels like it's only a matter of time before

they will be. There's too much talent there. Yeah, I was going to say. A goal 25th ranked power play. And based on what we saw at the dome last night, how the hell is that the 25th? Yeah, back in October. Sheesh, whipping it around. Zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, back of the net. How do you feel about it? I don't know. I think I've, with my way bets.

I'm very unsure about how it goes. and I think Vladar is a part of that. I also think it's tough to draw a lot from that Philly game because, yeah, you won and you beat a team, but they were missing six regulars, and I think they were a bad to mediocre team ahead of losing six bodies there. What I have liked is that the flames continue to be tightening up on the backside in terms of they aren't giving away the odd man rushes we saw in that seven-game losing streak.

I think the newer players are starting to look a little more comfortable. I heard Jonathan Euberto talking after the Florida game, or at least in one of the intermissions about, you know, we played a lot of east-west in Florida. This is North-South, and I have to get better at that. And I like his ownership of that

rather than a suggestion that he and the coach don't see the game the same way. He's saying, no, no, like, I just need to get better at North South. I think he has gotten better. And I, you know what? We were skeptical of it at the beginning, but that line's been fine.

That line's been really fine. Backland and Coleman, we've worked well together since Coleman got here. And Huberto there does not look out of place. I don't think it's going to give him his greatest offensive ceiling, but they've been really good in the differentials on shots and scoring chances as a trio. And what's, Coleman's had a couple here in the last few games, Dubay finds the net the last game.

Those guys, and if you get Manjapani in there too, if you guys want to give a little bit more, just a little bit more, it makes a big difference for sure on that end. Now, do we have the donkey from Buffalo? He was going to join us late. I didn't know late meant the, And like tomorrow's late? A minute, a minute left on the show.

There he is. There he is. Sound check. Yeah. Yes, yes. Yeah. Is this thing on? Are you drinking yet?

What's going on tonight? Are you in the bag? Oh, no. Tim the booze guy's here. He's, he's disappointed in you. Yeah, Timmy's here. I thought he was Tim. He's disappointed.

I'm not in half in the bag. He would be, wouldn't he? I will be at, I will be at some point, but not quite yet. Give us the update. down to the rink. I'm going to get down to the rink before I can. Kids ruin everything. Two blitzed up.

Blitzed. You're going to be a puddle tonight, aren't you? I might go for it, Pinder. I might try and do my best. Hercules, Hercules. Why wouldn't you? I don't know if I'm going to half ass it tonight. I think I'm going full throttle.

There's only a few holidays a year where you cook a big bird. This is one. So I'd encourage you to cook the goose. all the turkey's in the oven. Yeah. And, you know, and I don't, you know, the nice thing about tonight is no one judges you. It's just. This is quite a holiday.

It's not like it's, it's not like it's Sunday night and you've just decided to drink 18 gin in your greenhouse. This is an expected. It feels very close. So awfully specific for a thought to be real. But I was going to say, you are very generally concerned about what other people think of you, the people that judge you. That really holds you back from really letting loose a lot of times. I do take it into consideration. Yeah.

So do you have a running mate? Do you have somebody who can go shot for shot with you? Is it going to be lonely rat at the table? Where's Coletta? I feel like he could pour him back. No, he's in Ireland drinking already probably. Yeah, probably. Robert doesn't drink anymore.

I'm sure there'll be somebody around the rink that, I'll just go sit in the alumni room and somebody will walk past. What kind of performance does the shoveler put on for Thanksgiving? Because you're an adopted, but she's a born and bred America. Like this is their throwdown holiday of the year. Yeah, except she's so excited about going to grandma's tomorrow and seeing all her family. She's like, I don't know. I want to feel good tomorrow.

I'm like, that's great, honey. You stay home. I'll do the hard work tonight. So how many around the table? It's like like Daryl Lubinicke used to tell us in junior hockey. You guys don't worry about going out and drinking. I'll do all that stuff for you. You guys just play hockey.

That's team lifting each other up. Yeah. Leadership. That's what that is. That's leadership for sure. How many at the dinner tomorrow or around the house? Wow. A dozen.

Like family. There was five kids. There was five kids in that family. and all those kids had between two and five kids, and now those kids have had grandkids. There's a lot more math than I had hoped here. 40. 40?

30 to 40. Oh, I did not have that in mind. That is an entirely different event than the one I had in my head. So you're going to have to pick your spot, like on the couch or a chair. How is that? you're going to need some serious navigation and planning because you've got a full day of being hung over and fat tomorrow. There's one chair. So there's two couches.

Now one's kind of a normal size. One's kind of a love seat. And then there's a reclining chair. And that is the spot. You got to get there early. You got to establish dominance. Plant the flag. Maybe drop a few bombs and to keep people away.

Mark your territory. I like it. Pump some far as in that thing. there's a couple things that I wanted to get through. We mentioned it yesterday. We are going to have our own YouTube channel. We heard from all the people saying, you know, I love what you guys are doing.

I want to be part of Flames Nation, but I can't handle all the stuff about the Oilers and that. We are doing our own YouTube channel. It's going to be Flames Nation content only. We're going to be doing different things, different shows. We've got a lot coming up here in the next two to three months. So the incentive for you to go and subscribe is we are going to to have a pair of tickets for the Florida game.

Cichuk Bowl. On the 29th, we're going to pick one of you people, you people, who have subscribed to the channel, one of you is winning and going to the Cachuck. So all you want to do, hit us up on social media, screenshot you subscribing, click the button, it says subscribe, send us the screenshot. You're in the mix for the draw.

Is that how it goes? All my mentions are just people showing screenshots that they subscribe. Love it. Thank you. We do. We can't do this, though, all these beauties out here. Madrose Pub. Thank you.

15 Royal Vista Place, hooking people up. Do you think it'll be jumping in there today? Yes. How happy are bar owners today? Bar owners are thrilled. Yeah. Pumped. I mean, they're already doing the Lord's work, Dean.

Pouring all those drinks for Lugans like Tim the booze guy and I? The Lord's work indeed. Madrose.comb, the website. Go and check out the menu online or just go. Just get there. Just go there. I want to go, speaking of social media, I want to go to, we had a couple shots of Twitter. Speaking of helping out.

You talk about good people and helping people out. Now, Kelsey Snow is the wife of Chris Snow, who is one of the assistant general managers of the Calgary Flames. They are from Boston. Americans, transplants, but have adopted Calgary brilliantly. So this was Kelsey's tweet as of, I had it written down as of 824 a.m. Yeah. Y, Y, C friends, anyone know where I can get a fresh turkey in the city today? I've procrastinated on American Thanksgiving,

and so have no time to thaw a frozen one in time for tomorrow. Help. That went out at 824. She then posted a second tweet, a response to that at 907. Less than an hour later. Yeah, half 40 minutes. And thanks for the pro-tip friends. Greg at Bontan has saved American Thanksgiving.

Outta boy, Greg. And you know what? Not only thanks to Greg, because Greg's not on social. I know. Not a big social media guy. Thanks to our boys that listen to this show, that love the potato salad,

that know what Greg and Bontan are all about because her mentions, as soon as that first tweet came out, everyone's yelling Bontan. Of course, because Bontan's great, but B, because our boys know snowes deserve the best, that's where you go.

Greg's going to take care of you. It's perfect, right? It's exactly how this whole thing works. Yes. I love it. You're in the trust tree with us. Go ahead. Can I tell you a funny story about a turkey that wasn't frozen?

Okay. So we did the world's stars tour, right? Yep. Lockout. Lockout. And so on the way home, we left Poland. And on the way home, there was a massive ice storm in Toronto and Buffalo, that whole area. and we were getting back the 23rd.

So we get smashed on the flight home over the pond and land in Toronto. And of course, flights are delayed. Now there's one choice. You fall into a stupor and turn your life into misery or you keep drinking. So Regier and I decide it's the holidays. Let's power. Keep the train rolling. So we have to do because it's Saskatoon.

So we're on as we get on the plane in Toronto and now we've sat on the plane for like an hour and we had to go through Winnipeg and connect because it's going into Saskatoon. It's a disaster blah blah blah so I'm where's sitting there cut and I'm like reg. Phone Burke Burke's stomach my dad used to work for the summix at flexi coil. Burke's stomach is a pilot owns planes. call Burke, have them meet us in Winnipeg. So Reggie phones Burke. Okay, the plane will be there. We'll be good to go.

Fully stocked. Get to Winnipeg. All these poor saps, it's very arrogant comment, I know, but all these poor saps are stuck and flipping Winnipeg, and we grab our bag and we head over the private airline. All from the plane there. These guys had to fly to Regina. and bus home.

Oh! Get home on a 24th. So that has nothing to do with the turkey. So now we've been drinking for an extended period. So now we decide, because we're really smart, and we got the jet. And he's, so we're like, you can't land the plane until all the booze is gone. Oh, dear. Now, he's not drinking.

The pilot's not drinking. So Reggie and I have to start machine gunning booze. Because we can't be up there forever. We're going to run out of fuel. So then we land. Now it's the 20th. It's like really late on the 23rd. Then we're texting Dug.

Dug, pick us up at the airport, blah, blah, blah. So we finally we land and Dug's there. And he is just like, holy, like we can hardly walk. And we're screaming and yelling. Right? We're young. We still got the pender in us. So now we go to the house and mom had some meatballs made.

So we get a little, some food in us and a glass of water. And then we have a shower and we decide, let's hit the bar. This is where the turkey comes in. So we go out and we go boozing all night. Now it's four or five in the morning. We're at my buddy's house. It's the 24th. It's got to be the 24th.

Yeah. And so we're sitting around on the couch. All of a sudden he's like, holy F. he's going to Elrose, Saskatchewan, and he's taking the turkey. He bought the turkey. He forgot to take the turkey out. So now he's got a frozen turkey that has to thaw,

and a turkey don't thaw in 10 hours, right? So we get smart. We threw the turkey into the hot tub. Oh, thawed it out. Oh, God. No. Oh, you put the... turkey in man soup and people ate it?

Isn't this how like diseases begin? Oh. So if you ever find yourself in a bad spot, you got to get deep rocks. I think we have to end the show. I'm not going to last here. Chris Cruz, you donkey, you cruiser. That is frigging gross.

That is so gross. Yeah. Although at the time, I'm sure it was brilliant. Genius. Yep. It was brilliant. Somebody saved Christmas. There's only one Redster.

Totally redeemed yourself. Gross. So did the people know after the meal? Oh, by the way. You can't. I don't know if Chris ever letting me on that. No. Now it thawed the bird in a big bowl of swass.

Gross. Couldn't put it in the microwave. We get it. Yeah. Yeah. If you have more questions, you can ask Rett tomorrow on the program. It's a presentation of Hope Street Property Management.

Every Thursday we do, Ask Red. You can send in your questions. Get them in. Askret at Flamesnation.com. Or on the, on the Twitters. Hashtag,

Ask Rett. That's coming up tomorrow. Ask them how much bro mine you should have in your turkey for the holidays. I didn't know, Greg. I mean, we're in Saskatoon. Yeah. Problem sol,

industrious people. And a final reminder that every Sunday, still November, right? Every Sunday in November, South Street Burger, New York fries hosting a family skated Optimist Park. Sunday afternoons 1245 PM,

free skated Optimist Arena. South Street gonna be there. They got prizes and giveaways and they've partnered with kids' sport, Calgary to help out. Seven South Street locations across Calgary, South Streetburger.com for locations. Go get after it.

Now, the laptop's closed. Bender's ready to go. I got a chauffeur. So you have a chauffeur. You have a reserved seat at a pub. We'll see. I've got a backup rezo if the first one's too chaotic. We're not going to miss this.

It's been 36 years since there was a Canada at the World Cup. That team never even scored. Let's do it today. All right. Thanks for your, you know what? What time's kickoff? It's in for 19 minutes. Got to go.

Bye, Red. Love you. There it goes. Oilers. What are the Oilers do that? The nation every day is coming up next. All right. See you're a lot of us.

Yeah, there you go.