Halford & Brough in the Morning - Are The Oilers Going To Get Swept By Canada's Team?

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk some baseball and movies with MLB Network & Cinephile Podcast's Adnan Virk (3:00), they look ahead to game three of the Stanley Cup Finals as the Oilers try to keep from going down 3-0 to the Panthers (27:00), plus they wonder how many people actually get behind the "Canada's Team" mentality (40:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's time to chat with Adnan, it's Adnan Berkey's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Redman. Yes, and then Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the films he's seen.

702 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. The dogs are back with another hit. That's all they do. They get in the booth. They get in the studio. They get on the mics, and they just churn out hits.

One after the next. Was that Laddie, or was that? That was me. That was A-Dog on the vocals. You're like Freddie Mercury. Yeah, kind of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes I feel like your talents are wasting away on the show.

And by sometimes, I mean all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes I feel like your talents are wasting away on the show. And by sometimes, I mean all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm feeling a bit of goodwill hunting. Like, what was the speech if you're still doing this in five years? I'm using the show to angle it for a record deal somewhere. I'm going to be coming in one day with a dart hanging out of my mouth and a Dunkin' Donuts. I'm like, I can't believe you're still here.

That is really well done. I can only imagine that Adnan liked it as much as we did. That was really well done. And here's the thing, as the progression of the jingles goes along, the lyrics have become more complex. Yeah, I actually tried to write lyrics this time. I was like, I can't just do the guy's name over and over again. Although I'm doing that with Randy Tindrove on Monday.

So it kind of goes backwards a bit. You are listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly,

knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. Adnan Virk's going to join us in just a moment here. We are in Hour 2 of the program. Hour 2 is brought to you

by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor. Without compromise, you can get some at a liquor store near you or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. And we're coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider,

powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet? What are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. To the phone lines we go. Adnan Virk from MLB Network joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Adnan. How are you?

Good morning, Mike, Jason. Wow, what an introduction. I mean, that theme song was fantastic. I didn't know we were going to get it. I'm glad that Andy teased it via Twitter. So I knew something special was coming, but that was great. It reminds me years ago when I would sail in on ESPN and Mike and Mike, they would play like the first time that we have a theme song for it.

Oh, my God. And would play like the first time that we have a theme song for it. Oh my God. And it was like the Batman song. So it was like, you know, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. Ah, man. And I was like, oh, that's pretty good. That's pretty inventive. But this was even better.

So I feel like I'm a part of the family. Also, I have a life advice question to ask both of you. So we can do that at the end. But please make sure you give me like one minute once we're done with all the baseball tomfoolery. Okay, sounds good. We got a couple things we need to do at the end of but please make sure you give me like one minute once we're done with all the baseball tomfoolery. Okay, sounds good. We got a couple things we need to do at the end of this

because I have a movie question for you as it relates to the Cinephile podcast. But you're right, we should start with the baseball. Let's start with the team closest to here, the Seattle Mariners. Ten games above.500. Now, I know that series was against the White Sox and everyone beats the White Sox, but the Mariners did it often in dramatic fashion with a series of comebacks. Let's give a little love, because someone was asking for it earlier,

to the Seattle Mariners, now 40-30 on the year after a 2-1 win over the Sox last night in 10 innings. Yeah, they deserve the love, man. Miller was great yesterday. He got blitzed in his previous start, kept seven runs against the Royals, which I believe was a season high. And this time, seven scoreless, only 92 pitches.

Like we've talked about before, guys, the strength of this Mariners team is that incredible starting pitching. And whether it's Luis Castillo or Logan Gilbert or George Kirby or Brian Wu or Bryce Miller, you know, these guys are awesome. And they're fun to watch. And they make sure that your team has a chance to win every night. Now, it goes back to the point you guys have made before. You know, what's more frustrating, seeing your team lose like 9-8 or 2-1?

The Mariners are going to have a bunch of those 2-1 type games. Hopefully they come out on the winning end, and they're a winning team right now. But part of what I like about this team is that this division in the past, fellas, we always thought was going to be a real bear, right? The Rangers defending World Series champions. The Ashers have won World Series, perennial contender, always in the playoffs, always in the ALCS. And now it feels like a change in the guard.

And it felt like for a couple of years, maybe we were too presumptuous to think it would come before, but now it really is happening. The Rangers are sub-500. The Astros have been beset by some injuries and just underachieving. And they're now missing Rikidi and Javier, two of their starters, both those guys, Tommy John,

they're eight and a half games back. So as we always know, when it comes to the World Series, just because on paper the Yankees-Phillies team is destined, that never happens.

The two best teams are never going to meet in the playoffs. It just feels like that every year, right? Arizona, 84 wins, can make the World Series. So why not Seattle?

Yankees and Orioles are going to be battling right to the death with the two best teams in the league. But I feel like Seattle's got the inside track to be division champions. Hopefully, Julio Rodriguez gets going at

some point, puts the team on his back like he did last year, and Seattle can make a real run at this thing. The fact that they've never won a World Series, never been in the World Series, it'd be great to see. If the Mariners don't make a big addition at the trade deadline, will their fan base have a right to be extremely

angry with ownership? Absolutely, Jason, because you've got to assess the situation and go, hey, the time is now. And with Baltimore a year ago, they felt like they were kind of accelerating their path, and no one expected they'd be that good that quickly. But I think Michael Ives, their vice president,

erred in not going after Justin Verlander. Instead, they set up for Jack Flaherty. It was a complete mess. And by the way, he's been great now with the Tigers, but was not good last year. And I think they quickly realized in the offseason, all right, we messed up. We've got a really good young team right now,

but don't take it for granted that you're just going to be a contender every year. They went out and traded for Corbin Burns. He's a top-ten pitcher in baseball, and he's been electric for them. And I wouldn't be surprised if Orioles add again at the deadline. Why? Because they're two and a half games

back of the Yankees. And they know winning the division is of paramount importance. Yes, I know the wildcard teams can win, but you ask any baseball team, any player, would you rather have a few days off? Of course I would. So I think in Seattle's case, if Jerry DiPoto, who never saw a trade he didn't want to make, looks at Baltimore's situation and goes, alright, let's

assess this. Texas won the World Series a year ago, and yes, they're going to get some arms back at some point. DeGrom and Scherzer should be back in the second half. You know, their stars are going to step up at some point. But right now, they're a sub-500 team. Houston, you have to take advantage of this. You have to look at Houston and go, wow. I mean, Bregman's going to be a free agent after this year.

Verlander's looking long in the tooth. I mentioned the fact that they've really only got Ronel Blanco, Fran Bervaldez, and after that, they're just hoping for the best when it comes to their starting staff. The bullpen, which you thought would be amazing, with the hater acquisition, hasn't been. So yeah, if I'm the Mariners and I'm a fan, I'm going,

hey, this is the year, guys. Texas will spend and spend and spend. They should be back next year, and they're going to still make a second half search, as will Houston. But this is our year right now. Go get it done. Because if 160 wins in 2001 proved it was anything, it was if that still didn't guarantee the Mariners a World Series slot. So let's hope it's 92, 93 wins.

That's enough to win the division. And go get some offense. Because otherwise, you're spoiling just a fabulous quintet of starting pitching, which you don't find very often in baseball these days. Is it sometimes tough to predict what Jerry DiPoto might do? He strikes me as one of those guys where everyone will be talking about one player and then he'll go out and get someone who you haven't even thought about. Yeah, and even philosophically, Jason, he'll surprise you.

So meaning, you know, it's always pretty clear that you think your team should either be buyers or sellers, but he'll always go do both. Like it's a weird thing. He'll, for example, this trade deadline, he might like acquire a starting pit, excuse me, a big bat. You go, okay, Mariners are all in. But then he might trade one of those guys, like one of those pitchers. You go, what are we doing? Like, I thought we were all in. And it's like, man, that's where he's unpredictable to me that I'm like,

you know, he's willing to sacrifice the present for the future while still seemingly going for it. So he's, he's not like, like Dave Dombrowski is an easy guy to figure out the Phillies. He just always wants to go, go, go and spend as much money as he can. And if you're an owner like John Milton who will spend, then yeah, I love him. Like if you're a fan, like I love this Dombrowski guy. He's always willing to go.

And then there's GMs, again, who seem cautious and reluctant, like the Jays with Atkins and Shapiro. Like, come on, man, do something. Make a move. But the polar's tricky because it's not just that he'll get a guy you didn't think they were targeting, but he kind of tries to have it both ways. So you have to figure

out exactly what he's thinking. We're speaking to Adnan Virk from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Adnan, a good buddy of mine, is a diehard San Diego Padres fan. Probably the only one in Vancouver. And so, you know, we go back and forth all the time, and I was telling him how much I like watching Matt Waldron pitch

because that knuckleball is crazy, and it's a lot of fun to watch. You don't see a lot of knucklers. And then he's like, oh, you got to check out Jeremiah Estrada because Jeremiah Estrada has developed a brand-new pitch called the Chitter. And I was like, excuse me? He's like, no, seriously seriously that's what it's called it's a split change up and he struck out 13 straight guys with it can you tell do you know about this is this something you guys have been talking about a lot at mlb network because this

was all new i thought i knew stuff about baseball and then i realized that there's a guy on the padres i've never heard of that's redefining pitches and i'm like i need to learn more about this can you tell me about j Jeremiah Estrada and the chitter? Absolutely. Okay. You're being humble, Mike, you know,

a lot about baseball. I thought, cause you're one of the few who actually followed my Twitter feed. I thought you were going to say, I followed your Twitter feed because we recently interviewed Jeremiah Estrada on MLB network. It was me and, and Anthony Racker. And I can't remember the third person now,

but like you, I wasn't totally aware of it until I interviewed him. Like I'd heard there was this reliever who was throwing smoke, but when they said to me in the meeting, I swear to God, hey, we're interviewing Jeremiah Stratis, and I'm like, okay, quick Google search. Oh, that's the guy who struck out 13 straight batters. What a fabulous interview.

Great guy. You've got to look it up. He was charming, and I'm a fan of this guy for life, and as he was talking, I could see there was a baseball in his right hand, and when somebody had said to me, he throws a chitter. And I was like, excuse me? They're like, yeah, all right, don't say that three times fast in life. But I saw

that he had a baseball in his right hand. And so as he's describing it, I said, please explain to America what a chitter is. And exactly he said, and since he had the ball, and I know I wouldn't do this, but hey, do you mind showing me the grip? And he was great. And he took the baseball, and he did what's called a Vulcan grip. So, as you guys know, if you have

a baseball hand right now, two seamer, obviously put your fingers in the seams. The splitter means you split those seams. The Vulcan grip, just imagine right now, put your hands as if you're Spock, right, at Vulcan. You literally put your middle finger and your first finger and your third finger, fourth finger, and then grip the baseball like that. And I was like, oh my god,

this is like a Vulcan grip, and it's a chitter. And he goes, it's a half change, half splitter. And it's been a deadly weapon for him. We obviously jinxed him because then that night he did, like, walk a guy or get up and hit him or whatever. So the 13 straight strikeouts came to an end. But charismatic personality, wonderful guy. I'm cheering hard for him.

And they've got a great bullpen. Suarez, we interviewed the week after that, and he was like the reliever of the month in the month of May. He was fantastic for San Diego. So I love the fact your buddy's a Padres fan. I always cheer for San Diego because being lucky enough to go to the World Series, my dream is always just to hang out in San Diego for a week in October. But they're one of only five teams that has an above 500 record in the National League,

which is appalling in and of itself. But there's just so many bad teams in the National League. And there's these super teams like the Phillies, the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Orioles, who are steamrolling everyone. But San Diego, by virtue of the fact, it doesn't seem to have much competition, I feel like is going to be that second wildcard team. And I echo your sentiments on Waldron.

When I first looked at the fact there was a knuckleball, I was like, oh my God, last of the Mohicans. There's so few of these guys. Now, he's not like the Tim Wakefields or the Necros of the past in which they almost exclusively threw those or R.A. Dickey. He only throws his knuckleball maybe 25% of the time, but I'm with you. It's such a fun pitch to watch, and it's obviously so great when you can just see a guy like that who's old school.

And by the way, much like the Mariners, not quite that level, but their starting pitching is a real reason why San Diego, I think, will be a playoff team, because they've got Hugh Darvish, and they've got Waldron, and they've got Michael King, who was a great pickup in the Juan Soto trade. So San Diego's got some good pitching, particularly Jeremiah Estrada, as you mentioned coming out of the pen. So he actually did

invent that pitch? Like, that's his... Why didn't... And he went with Chitter as the... I guess he could have gone with a Splange up? Splange up wouldn't... Yeah, so he gets with Chitter? I guess he could have gone with a Splange-up. Splange-up. That's a great point, Jason. So he gets to name it? That pitch has never been thrown before.

Well, I remember last year, Harold Reynolds' head was about to explode because he kept saying sweeper. I said, what is this? And he said, well, all of a sudden, there's this new pitch, the sweeper. He goes, no, it's not. It's a slider.

You've been seeing this forever. You're from Toronto. You know Dave Steve. I'm like, yeah, Dave Steve, greatest slider, the sweeper. He goes, no, it's not. It's a slider. You've been seeing this forever. You're from Toronto. You know Dave Steve. I'm like, yeah, Dave Steve, greatest slider of the 1980s. Exactly. The sweeper is just a slider. Why are we calling it something different now? And I'm with Harold.

I was kind of annoyed as well. But now it's commonplace everywhere. You can't watch a broadcast without someone saying, oh, he features a three-pitch hutter or his changeup and a sweeper. So if you can all of a sudden call a slider a sweeper in 2024, then, yeah, I guess we're just inventing pitches like the cheater. Thanks to Jeremiah Estrada. We're speaking to Adnan

Virk from MLB Network and the Cinephile podcast here on the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, I have a movie-related question for you, Adnan, then you follow up with the question you have for us to end this thing. But I know on the latest version of the Cinephile podcast you took the task of trying to

come up with the top five movie scenes of all time now i won't get you to unveil the entire list because you obviously want people to download the podcast and listen to it but how difficult the task is this because i looked how many movies have been made yeah i'm like there's there's a lot of scenes i'm like running up the stairs in rocky. You're going to need a bigger boat and jaws and offer. He can't refuse. And the Godfather, it goes on and on flying bikes and ET, right?

There's a million of them, but I guess how did you, how long up all those oil fields in iron Eagle? That's right at the top of the list. Iron Eagle reference. You can get in there. How arduous the task was this to come up with the five best movie scenes of all time. Yeah. You felt like no matter what it was this to come up with the five best movie scenes of all time?

Yeah, you felt like no matter what, it was going to be incomplete. The key that I tried to do with it, Mike, was at least they go by genre. So I said, okay, comedy, you know, 40-year-old version, you know, the waxing scene. Right. Okay, when Harry met Sally, the orgasm scene. And Rob Reiner's mom is the one who says, after Meg Ryan's screaming, I'll have what she's having. So let's do comedies. Those are pretty good. As you mentioned, you want to get maybe

an E.T. in there, an action movie. I want to say Mad Max Fury wrote the first 25 minutes of the movie because that's the entire action sequence. As you said, Rocky, iconic, running up the steps. I tried to go by genre and by different eras, but it's impossible. I knew the

Godfather baptism scene has to be in there because that's been so influential and so replicated by so many, but I love speaking of mob movies, of course, I adore Goodfellas. I said, how do I not have you think I'm funny in there? How do I not have the final scene in Scarface? As you said, it's an impossible task, but I think if you tell yourself, okay,

one comedy, one romantic movie, one gangster movie, one action movie, then that's probably the best way to approach it. But there's no wrong answer. There's been so many beauties over the years. Even the social networks. Someone said to me, how great is that first scene? I said, oh, yeah. It's so well written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher.

So make up your own list, fellas. We'll have guest reviews under the file. Top five movie scenes of all time the baptism scene in the godfather is the one we always use to um say like if if if a general manager wants to have a perfect trade deadline or a perfect free agency and all the plans come together that's the godfather baptism scene right like he's got like it rarely works out usually like you know uh i't know. I don't know what the comparison would be. Like, one of the hitmen was late for his assignment or something. Sure, he's gun jammed, yeah.

Yeah, he's gun jammed or something like that. But that's usually, like, you know, like, because we've got free agency coming up in the NHL on July 1st, and the Canucks have a lot of balls in the air. If they could pull off the baptism scene from the Godfather, then they get it all. They would add some size and toughness. They would have some speed. They'd address the back end.

Like everything would come together and then they'd be, you know, Jim Benning rarely pulled off the, the, the baptism scene. Often he would be the guy getting shot, actually. So he'll be,

he'll be the Sonny Tolbooth scene, just getting massacred like this. Another memorable scene. Did you guys mention Luke, I Am Your Father? Was that one of them? I was trying to run through as many as I could. Like, that's gotta be it. Yeah, Luke, I Am Your Father to me, I'm like, I don't know how I know. I didn't put it in my top five, but I'm like, I don't know how I did it.

The pottery scene from Ghost, we're gonna get Andy and Greg to do that. The chestburster scene in Alien, the chestburster scene in Alien. They're all in there, Andy. Okay. Sorry. Sorry, Adnan. I know you wanted to ask us a question.

Did you say you wanted some advice? Is that what it was? Yes. I want life advice from you guys, since we're fellow Emmy Award winners here. You need to help me out with a potential pickle. So I coach one of my kids in baseball, and it's a small town we live in here, and one of the dads in the group chat was like, hey, we're going to do Father's Day Eve Eve, which will be Friday the 14th.

He's like, come over to my place where I celebrate dads with beer pong, swimming, and ordering fast food at midnight. And he puts like a tire required as this, and he puts like a Google Doc of a Hawaiian shirt. And so my question to you guys is this. I don't want to go. I have no interest in going. But I was the coach of the team.

He's offering an olive branch, right? He's saying, hey, let's hang out. Let's celebrate that. The reason I don't want to go is I don't drink beer. I want to lose weight. I don't want to order fast food at midnight. I don't swim. I don't take my shirt off.

You know what I mean? I'm overweight. I don't know any of the things he suggested. I don't like any of this stuff. I don't own a Hawaiian shirt. So what do you guys do? But the best thing that I've covered in my own head, because I even said to him, because I saw him,

I happened to run into him, he's like, hey, you're coming Friday, right? I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm working until 7. I'll come by, grab a burger. Like, I'm hoping it's like a barbecue, burger and a hot dog, and I'm out. He goes, oh, make sure you come over fed. I'm like, oh, jeez. He's making it sound like, no, you're not. We're not giving you hot dogs and hamburgers.

You have to come over and bring it. What would you guys do in this situation? The best plan I thought of is this. Show up at 930. Again, sports is a big commonality. So just throw the NBA game on. Hey, let's watch a little Celtics. And watch the rest of the game.

And then make an excuse at 11. Hey, early day with the kids, I got to bounce. What do you guys think? The first thing you got to do is close the window of opportunity. So the time that you arrive needs to be late. So the time that you arrive needs to be late. And the time that you depart needs to be early. That way you can say that you've shown up. You've made an appearance.

But, you know, things got in the way. Secondly, the distraction is a huge part of it. Anytime I don't want to hang out with someone, I usually try and base it around a sporting event. Because at the very least, there's something else to focus on other than the fact you're not having a good time. I just say I don't want to go to that. And then there's Jason's option.

No, I'll see you at baseball, but no, I don't want to do that. Could you do that? Could you try that? That's the honest one. I like you guys. Your kids are fun to coach, but no. There's nothing you said that's of interest to me.

Yeah, that's what I do. I don't have a lot of friends, though, Adnan, so I don't know. That could be a factor. He's not getting invited to many of these, let's be honest. So, like, you're thinking get there earlier than I expect. Get there, like, 7, 8 o'clock. Get there early and then leave early.

No, arrive late, leave early. Arrive late, leave early. Close the window that you have to be there. Actually, that's a good idea. Like arrive. Here's how you do it. Okay, I got it. Okay, you arrive late and you act flustered.

Like you're so busy, but you made the time to go there. So you arrive late. So first of all, you get a benefit, right? And then you, so you get there late. You're like, Hey guys, I, I, sorry. I was like, I'm a very important sportscaster. And, uh, I, I, I tried, I, I just want, I wanted to come by, uh, you know, I, I can't stay for long, but I just like, I want to see you guys, you know,

and I want to hang out with you guys a little bit. And you make it seem like it was a big deal that you even showed up in the first place and say like, and that's how you do it. So it's almost like you're giving them something. Right. And then when you have to leave early, hopefully they're like, Hey man, that was nice that Adnan made the time to come by what a guy what a coach yeah what do you think i think that's the plan right there yeah basically just announce them i'm kind of a big deal guys you should be all right yeah just be on your phone

the whole time just be like oh like it's a bit of a george costanza didn't he do that like did he always acted busy at work so no one would bother right so coming just be like oh my god yeah just like oh man jerry pato depoto was making some moves it looks like i gotta go and cover this all right do that okay thanks for this adnan we appreciate it uh good luck on friday night and we'll do this again next week i'll keep you posted thanks boys appreciate it thanks that's adnan burke from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650

asking us for life advice. That's a first. Never happened again. I often go with just the truth now. I think as you get older, you're just like, I don't want to do that.

And they're like, I respect you. You guys love to bail on things. So he asked the right people that question. When have we bailed on things? When have you ever invited me out to anything?

It's always us doing the inviting. It's true. Because I don't want you to pay. I'm not going to invite you. So there is a, we've discussed this, I know we have the CFL report to do. We've discussed this before. He brings up a very interesting aspect

of the youth sports dynamic is that oftentimes you will be subjected to social situations with people that you have nothing in common with other than your kids once wore the same colored uniform on a team. Right. That's it. Yeah. You will have nothing aligned with them whatsoever. But to bridge the gap, they'll invite you to do something that they think is fun.

Right. And then they won't realize that maybe you don't think it's fun, but you'll go along. Like at badminton right now, right? Again, if someone was to say, hey, would you like to eat fast food and swim and drink beer? I'd be like, yeah, I can do all three of those things. Probably at the same time. But some people don't like those things.

So you have to. Should we eat first and then swim? I like to eat first and then swim. Can we do it at the same time? Yeah. Eating a burger whilst swimming. But the interesting part of all of it is there's two ways to go. You either lie and pretend like you're enjoying yourself

and mitigate how much you don't like it, or you go your way and you just tell them the truth. Yeah, I don't want to do that. I'll be in bed by then. It is time now for the Canadian Football Report, brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. In case you haven't heard, the BC Lions are expecting a huge crowd

for their home opener against the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday. The point spread has been set accordingly. The Lions, despite losing the opener in Toronto, eight and a half point favorites on Saturday at BC Place. The Lions will host the largest regular season CFL game in a couple of decades. Over 50,000 tickets have been sold with Rap Icon 50 Cent

set to perform before kickoff. As mentioned, the Lions opened the season with an upset loss in Toronto, losing 35-27 in Toronto to the Argonauts, the Chad Kelly-less Argonauts. As we mentioned earlier in the week, Vernon Adams Jr. threw for 363 yards,

two touchdowns and one interception in the win, but his offensive line was a problem. Failed to protect him consistently. They allowed six sacks. It might have even been more had Adams not been able to elude pressure on a number of occasions. Here's the thing. If the Lions are going to get a win

in their much ballyhooed opener on Saturday, they're going to need to sort out their O-line issues, and they're going to need to keep Adams upright. That was the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada. P.S. They're playing the Stampeders. You didn't mention that. That was the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. What are we even doing here? What's this music? Whimsical. Yes, I called it whimsical. Oh, whimsy.

Gladys reminded him of It's Always Sunny. Oh, yeah, that's not bad. The best part was while I was previewing this music in the break, you guys were fighting with each other. Now we're back. So having this music playing while you guys were going at it was quite entertaining. Everyone is happy.

Yeah. Because it's whimsical. 732 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for.

Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in. Hour two of the program. Hour 2 is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some at a liquor store near you. This is the music that plays when you're drinking at Primetime. Or you can visit the brewery.

Sit back. So happy. Enjoying life. Yeah. Yeah. Halford and I were fighting, and it always visit the brewery. Sit back. So happy. Enjoying life. Yeah. Halford and I were fighting and it always goes the same way. It always goes the same way. You're being defensive. No, I'm not. There, you just did it again. No, I didn't.

No, I didn't. I was like, yeah, it's like that old, was that SNL with Martin Short? I'm not being defensive. You're being defensive. You're being defensive by being defensive. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you boys

have been together a long time now and, you know, every once in a while it's the old married couple vibes. People are... Have you ever had a fight

with Laddie? No, we love each other. Nope, never. No dog fight? We agree on everything. Yeah. No dog fight? Great minds think alike.

Nope, no dog fight. No dog fight. How do you think we're able to produce such wonderful music together if we didn't have... You're harmonizing? Yeah.

We used to get in really... that at the break I don't even classify that as a fight that's no that's just brough being brough and me being me the better the better person oh there are some being defensive 1040 beauties back in the day we used to have these big blowout fights in front of people no i know well no 10 40 was nothing oh you mean even before that oh yeah oh wow yeah where it would just be like knock down drag them out just like yelling at each other and then we just go back to being normal but the people the residual scarring on the people that had to witness it it's a sign of a healthy relationship it was not yeah right and then you don't talk about it. And then you drink until you fall asleep.

Talk to your therapist about it. Therapist? Why is he so defensive? My therapist is like, I know, he's brutal. Had your therapist like, he's not being defensive. Was he his therapist too? We can't go to this therapist anymore because they're ganging up on me. So before we, we're going to do some Stanley Cup final talk. We got some audio from Chris.

Don't call me Chuck Knobloch, but I did want to throw out a couple Canucks related queries to the listeners. So you can weigh in Dunbar Lumber text line, 650, 650. Jason had the one prior in the show asking about in the event, in the event that the Canucks lose, say Dakota Joshua, how will they replace his size and physicality up front? Do they even need to? We can also ask the questions of if the Canucks are indeed out on Lindholm

and it sounds like maybe even Nikita Zdorov, what direction do they go from there? Dunbar-Lemmer text line is 650-650. Weigh in on that. Can we play some Knobloch audio going into a very pivotal Game 3? Tonight, it is Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. The series has shifted back to Edmonton. Knobloch and the Oilers looking to get their first win

and more than a single goal in this series. Here's the Edmonton Oilers head coach from yesterday's media availability. Just focusing on the details that we need to do, playing our game and thinking about, you know, all the things that we've done well through the season and accomplished, they should be very proud and happy about what they've done so far this year.

Now saying that, no one's content about what they've accomplished right now. But I think they should feel good about themselves. How good of a team that we've got. Each individual are good hockey players. And if we bring it collectively, we should have a pretty good chance.

That didn't sound confident at all. That was the first thing I said. I knew the audio. He walked it back mid- Was he going down a road? And then he was like, wait a minute, don't go down this road. John Cooper would never do this. And you're trying to be John Cooper. I knew the exact audio that you were going to play.

And I'm like, I heard this yesterday. And I was like, it's just a scared, sad little man by that audio. He knows that it's over. There's two things that they're struggling with right now. One is this opponent is the perfect foil for the style that they want to play. Is that, you know, what's the best way to shut down McDavid and Dreissel? It's to have the most stifling

defensive team in the National Hockey League. Yeah, Barkov and Forslund. Choke the life out of you. And the coach for the Oilers' answer for it is we just gotta bring it. We just gotta bring it. The other part of this is that I think Knobloch knows that the tank is really close to being on E if it's not already there.

Like the warning lights went off in game two. Do you want the Oilers to win tonight? Yes. Yeah. Do you want the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup? No. Right. But I want it to go seven.

I'm kind of in that boat. I want it to go to game seven. Although I know I'll be watching the game and I'll be like, come on, Panthers. But in my heart, I don't even want the others to get a sniff. But in my head, I want this series to go seven. I don't want the NBA finals and the NHL

Stanley Cup finals to be completely one-sided affairs that lack any sort of intrigue. And the NBA finals already there. I feel like an idiot, more so than usual, for telling people to get emotionally invested in the NBA Final. I don't know. It would be very funny if the Oilers got swept, though, and part of me

would really enjoy it. I mean, if it wasn't for the fact that they beat the Canucks, I wouldn't be disappointed because I'd like you guys want more intrigue and want the series to go to seven. I mean, obviously, it's game seven, Stanley Cup Final. It's cliche, but you can't get better than that. However, you can get better than that. It's watching the Oilers get swept in the Stanley Cup final. It's cliche, but you can't get better than that. However, you can get better than that. It's watching the Oilers get

swept in the Stanley Cup final. Removing the Schadenfreude and the, you know, I want to see the Oilers lose because they beat the Canucks along the way. No, you can't remove that though. As a sports fan, just someone who likes sports, there is something incredibly deflating about a championship game or series being completely

one side. Sure. Of course. But at the same time, it's the Oilers. But at the same time, you're kind of like, this isn't really befitting of what we hold up as being this Holy Grail and the ultimate challenge. And,

oh, it takes so much to win the Stanley Cup unless you get to the final and then you take on, like, like last year with Vegas, Vegas didn't win this. Vegas didn't really win the Stanley Cup against the Florida Panthers to me it was the road that led to the final yeah because

the Panthers were so done yeah they were done they lost 9-3 in the clinching game I mean it was so one-sided it was just it was this sort of the air was let out of the balloon a little bit yes but it's the Oilers I get that Andy yeah I think you're missing the point if the Oilers. I get that, Andy. Yeah. I think you're missing the point. If the Oilers go in and they get swept, it'd be awesome. There's also going to be a bunch... You're going to get punched out soon. I think you're missing the point. I'm not. I know what you're saying. It's not because the Oilers aren't good.

It's because the Oilers got there and ran out of gas. So they're going to have that cooked into the equation as well. It's not going to be, well, we got there and we fought valiantly and it was a close series. It was, we were cooked by the time we got there. Yeah, it's going to be tough when they get swept and then Drysaddle's like, I don't really want to sign an extension. He's like, do you see us get swept in the final?

I don't want to stay here any longer. But I want to see a competitive. The best loss is where you get super close and then lose. The best loss is not getting swept. Because then you say... Maybe, but then you run that risk of what if they win? Yeah, I get that part. I don't think you understand the pain thresholds.

For the Vancouver Canucks in 2011, losing in Game 7 at home was significantly more painful than getting swept. If you get swept, you were never in it. No. It was over. I mean, when you look back on it, you If you get swept, you were never in it. No. It was over. I mean, when you look back on it, you're like, ugh, we were way over on the team.

No, in the long run, it feels far less bad to get swept than it would to lose in a game seven, of course. Yeah, there's levels of pain involved in all of this. James from Richmond, I no way want Edmonton to win tonight. Don't want to give them any sign of a chance to come back. Another unsigned text, sweep and let's get the offseason underway. I kind of have

time for that. There is that. There is that. Although, for the Canucks, the offseason is underway. Like, I don't think the Stanley Cup final is keeping them from announcing anything. No, but you understand. When the Cubs hand it out, it's like, let's go.

Gary Bateman is like, you may now all make your transactions. You can go do what you want to do it's also just putting this sort of symbolic bow on the season quite I mean the symbol is you hand out the Stanley Cup no one no one's doing anything anymore that's it Cody from Maple Ridge the Oilers losing in four is a much better scenario than that series going

the distance the meltdowns from Edmonton media and fans would be worth it all I'm a Stars fan that lives in the lower mainland. They've hurt me in ways I've never been hurt before. And then he has thoughts on what Sam Steele's new contract could look like. This is a bit he started last week. Oh, Cody. Yeah, he's determined.

He's a Stars fan? He wants Stars talk? Every time he texts in, there's always this really random Stars question. I'm impressed, though. I've never actually in the flesh met somebody that really followed the stars. No, I've never thought about Sam Steele's new contract in my life. It's a great name, though.

Sam Steele? It's worth signing him just for the day. I love our listeners. They're all looking for the most painful way for the Oilers to lose this series. That's what I'm saying. I thought all of Canada was behind the Edmonton Oilers. That's what I've been told by the broadcast and the advertisers. I like this.

I don't think people are picking up your sarcasm on the Twitter machine. No kidding. Yeah, I don't think they are. People are missing it. There's this text. I want the Oilers to win one just to give them hope. Painful as possible. Painful as possible is losing in seven.

Yeah, in seven. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hopefully in overtime. 4-0 to the Boston Bruins and then there's a riot. That's the most painful way. Like, when the Bruins lost, I don't think people understand how painful 2019 was for Boston. Even though they had

the 2011 Stanley Cup, when they went home for Game 7 against the Blues, they thought they had it. Totally. They were like, we've got this.

We just did the tough part. We won Game 6 in St. Louis. And to be honest, I thought the same thing. And then I remember listening to Marshawn afterwards. And again, we can all drink in the tears. But when he was crying, it was equal parts disappointment because the season had come to an end in crushing fashion,

but also shock. There's the shock element too. When you think you got it and then you don't. James and QB text in, in 2004 and 2006 respectively when calgary and edmonton went to the finals i felt like the country was behind them this year i'm not feeling like the country is behind edmonton am i accurate on that and if so why not james i can't speak for the rest of the country i don't know maybe you listen to this show too much and you're not feeling it.

2004, 2006, that was a long time ago. Yeah, it was a different world. That was different. That was only just past a decade past the Habs had won in 93. I think for some people, and this is the group I'm in, that it's been so long now since a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup that if it's not your team that wins it, the jealousy will just be off the charts and the celebration in that city will be so big that you'll be like, man, I wish it was us. On the other hand, I think there is a group that's like, no, I want to see a Canadian team win a Stanley Cup. I don't follow that, but I guess I understand it. My dad's like that.

Yeah. We have discussions sometimes. I've got friends like that too. And I'm like, maybe we shouldn't be friends. But I just think it's just uh i i think the time factor has played a role in further dividing the two groups yeah 2011 was pretty pivotal and i don't we we don't need to re-litigate what happened but watching the entire country turn against the canucks definitely played a really weird role in uh how we view quote-unquote Canada's team

the obligation to cheer for them which I think probably did exist to a certain degree in 04 and 06 here's what I remember James about 04 is I wanted no part of Calgary winning because they beat the Canucks in the first round and that was a very sort of famous series now because I like the red mile I thought that was cool I like them in the sense that they were very sort of famous series now. I liked the Red Mile. I thought that was cool. I liked them in the sense that they were a sort of plucky underdog. I mean, they were a great team during the regular season. They only won 42 games and had 94 points. I remember wanting them to lose to Tampa Bay in the final,

mostly out of spite, but I remember people getting behind them because they weren't expected to go on that run and they did. Yeah, they were a Cinderella team. 0-6 Edmonton was kind of a similar vibe because they just kind of snuck into the playoffs. So there was an underdog element that I think a lot of people got behind.

But what happened in 2011, and again, a lot of it had to do with the composition of that particular Canucks team. It wasn't that they hated them because they were from Vancouver. They hated them because of the guys on the team. That was where it's... If you look at the origin story

of the villainous 2011 Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup final, it was because they employed the likes of Lapierre, Torres, like Burroughs, go down the list of unlike, Kessler was unlikeable. I think there was some disdain for the management too.

Mike Gillis was called arrogant. But it was kind of a know it all. But it was character based, right? It was a lot of these. Definitely. Yeah, definitely. Right?

When the Canucks went in 94, that team was so much more likable because of the, I mean, everyone loved Pat Quinn. Everyone loved Trevor Linden. Everyone liked Kirk McLean. You go down, I mean, Burry was probably a little. Burry was so exciting. He was, yeah. And later became polarizing.

But at that point, everyone loved him, right? And then it just sort of turned in 2011 i think this is a good text the canada drought back then in 2004-06 wasn't as long and we didn't hate each other as much because twitter didn't exist that's a good point i think that is definitely social media plays a huge role in it all i I would wonder, actually, this would be interesting. If there was some polling company that could ask, are you cheering for the others to win the Stanley Cup? And then a follow-up question would be,

are you an active social media user? Yeah, that's true. And what the relationship would be. Because I don't know if you guys have heard this before, but social media has a way of dividing people. Are you suggesting that it's a polarizing platform? Yeah, like almost it's built that way. It has problems with nuance, sarcasm.

Well, you mentioned the sarcasm thing. I do get great pleasure watching your tweets go up about the Oilers Canada tweet and seeing like a hundred replies of people that are not in on the joke whatsoever. I'll tweet out like all of Canada is going to have to really get behind the Oilers now. They're in a 2-0 series hole

and people are like, not all of Canada is cheering for the Oilers. And then I replied to one and I'm like, no, I think they are. To be fair, maybe some of them aren't listeners of the show and they're just seeing this talking head on Twitter say this and like, how could you say these things? Yeah. So I get it.

It is funny, though. Someone just texted in, does your jealousy run this deep about anything else in your life? Nope. Absolutely not. Nope. I'm not a jealous person. I take all my pettiness and my bad person-ness is sports-related.

You funnel it into sports hatred. Yeah, yeah. It's a healthy hatred. It's fun. It's a healthy outlet. I don't even consider myself that much of like a tribal person in terms of politics. I'm like, yeah, I see the points on both sides. I'm a good old-fashioned centrist. You're not a hater? No, no, no. I'm not.

I actually would hate me if sports me was politics me. Yeah, we'd hate you too. Think about the time you'd waste instead of talking about sports. Yeah. You'd be talking about politics and stuff. No, I don't want to do that.

I mean, I think part of this absolutely has to do with the rivalries are inherent in sport. It doesn't matter if it's the National Hockey League or any of the big four sports leagues in North America. I mean, go to like a lot of the ones, especially like the European based football clubs that have hundreds of years of history of this is part of it is cheering for your team. And I don't think I'm reinventing the wheel by saying a part of it is actively rooting against another one. And it's usually the one particular rival that you have.

Now, in Canada, it just so happens that it's kind of manifested itself into, well, there's three or four. And I don't want to see Toronto win a Stanley Cup. I don't want to see Edmonton win a Stanley Cup. We've gone through the power rankings of acceptable Canadian cities, and that has to do with the fact that the Cup drought has been so long. So, I mean, it's going on. Do you think a lot of the factor, is that most canadian teams have had a shot

yeah the canucks have been there twice since 93 calgary's been there once edmonton's been there once montreal's been there once uh toronto and ottawa's been there once. Toronto and Winnipeg haven't been there. Winnipeg's always like the innocent one. They're like the little brother of the group. You're like, fine, we'll kind of be happy for you if you won the Stanley Cup. Because they lost the team. Yeah, yeah.

They suffered something that none of the other Canadian teams have really had to deal with. Exactly. But I think the other teams that have been there, I know certainly as a Canucks fan, I'm like, man, imagine if another Canadian team won the Stanley Cup and then you're looking back even more. And you see the celebration that that city has

and you're looking back even more on the way things ended for the Canucks in 94 in 2011. And I think it would hurt even more. Roman and Calgary, brilliant marketing by Boston Pizza. They knew everyone would be talking about it. I do wonder, because we talked about this at length on the show, and we're like, how does anyone sit down in a marketing meeting and being like, tell you what, guys.

Yeah. We got a wacky idea here. We have in society. It is kind of brilliant. I could also see some corporate type be like, what if we, Boston Pizza, could get all of Canada behind Canada's team and break the drought? Unless

someone didn't want to tell Jim Tree living that to his face. I can't see someone not being like, oh, sorry. It's a good, you win either way, because even if it's good, it's either good or bad publicity, but either way, everyone's going to be talking about it. I would love to know what they really did discuss though. I almost can guarantee you that conversation came up.

Like there's going to be one guy that would be like, I'm on hockey Twitter a lot and this is a bad idea. But, but everyone's talking about him. So is it bad? Like, cause any publicity is good. Probably. Yeah. Probably not.

You bring up an important point. So there was a conversation going on. People would be like, I do like their wings. We should go to Boston Pizza. Does anyone feel like Boston Pizza right now? There's a conversation going on right now with the New York Jets with Aaron Rodgers. Because Aaron Rodgers is not attending minicamp. And the general school of thought from those that have covered the NFL and Rogers and

the team is that this isn't a big deal in the service because he's a 40 year old quarterback he doesn't need minicamp he knows what he's doing he knows the playbook it's Aaron Rogers he's a hall of fame quarterback but he likes the attention good bad or otherwise and the reason that he went to New York in the first place was so that he could be news. So he knows that him not showing up is going to make news, even though it's not newsworthy. Isn't he the guy, though, that was like, we got to stop this circus-like atmosphere around the team

and block out all the distractions? And he did that. What's he doing? Does anyone know what he's doing? Hold up, I'm going to make a circus in a second. Yeah, just that guy. Put this tent up, bring in some elephants. What's he doing? Does anyone know what he's doing? Hold up, I'm going to make a circus in the second year. Yeah, just put this tent up, bring in some elephants. That's what I'm saying. I don't want to draw

any additional attention to myself while I appear weekly on the Pat McAfee show. I only want to focus on football so I won't show up to minicamp and make a story out of not showing up at minicamp. Do we know where he is? No, he's just doing stuff. He's got some things on. Yep, he's just doing stuff. He's in the dark place. I don't where he is? No, he's just doing stuff. He's got some things on. Yep, he's just doing stuff. He's in the dark place. I don't think he is.

I think he's just doing stuff. To your point, though, we have reached that point in society where it's just attention, good, bad, or otherwise. Attention is a currency. And the more you realize that, the more you're going to try and gain.

The whole BP ad campaign was, I bet you, it was based around that. I can almost guarantee it. It was based around that. And it worked. Did you see the advertising that our company has? Dear Stanley, it's time to come home. Have you seen that ad? Oh, yeah.

I nearly resigned. It draws it in. It angries up the blood. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Attention. Good, bad, It angries up the blood. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Attention. Good, bad, or otherwise, attention is attention. And it's a commodity and a currency now.

Except for Jason now. We always have measured, responsible takes here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of those, Thomas Drance is going to join us on the other side of the break. We'll talk to him about everything that's going on with Jake Gensel and Nikita Zdorov and Elias Lindholm. At 8.30, we're going to do what we learned. Get them in. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know.

Hashtag it WWL. It's your chance to be on the radio. That's coming up at 8.30. That is the final hour. Coming up next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 6.50.