Halford & Brough in the Morning - Baseball Blues and CFL Breakouts
Episode Date: August 21, 2025In hour two, Jamie and Dan welcome Adnan Virk to unpack the Mariners’ slide, Houston’s woes, and whether Aaron Boone and Aaron Judge can keep the Yankees rolling—plus a detour into Tarantino’s... filmography. Later, The Moj joins to break down the Lions’ explosive win over Montreal, assess Nathan Rourke’s form, and preview a tough test against Toronto. Is the defense finally gelling, and how do the Lions stack up against the West’s elite? 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.
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It's time to chat with Adnan.
It's Adnan Furkees on the show.
We're going to talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen.
That's right, it's time for Adnan.
Yes, Adnan Furkey joins us now.
We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he's seen.
Welcome back to Halpertambrough here, Sportsnet 650. It is Jamie Dodd and Dan Riccio filling in for the fellas this week.
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He is Adnan Verk.
Adnan, thanks for doing this today.
How are you?
I'm doing great, I was going to be with you as always.
Don to age of August, but we're careening towards a more excitement, I feel like, in a couple weeks ahead.
Yeah, absolutely.
And there still is a lot of interesting stuff happening around Major League Baseball.
And we can start with the Seattle Mariners who lose again to the Phillies.
They get swept in Philadelphia.
They've now lost five in a row, seven of their last eight.
And, of course, that's coming off the great eight-game win streak they had out of the All-Star break in the trade deadline.
What level of concern should Mariners fans be feeling right now based on this skid here in mid-August?
Well, I think it's a legit concern because what happens is that you think because all of a sudden you make some moves that things are going to turn around.
But it hasn't been the case, and especially offensively, it's been worrisome.
You know, they've got this weekend series now with the A.
You know, again, the A's are not a very good team.
So this might be the tonic for Seattle to turn things around.
But honestly, guys, like, when I saw the trade that they made, I said, oh, my God.
You know, Hain & Swars has been a key deadline acquisition, great power bat, you know, tons of home runs, tons of RBIs.
But hasn't worked out well, right?
Hasn't been that guy that he was in Seattle previously.
There's a reason why he was no longer with him errors.
And maybe Tennessee's pressing too much, but regardless, hasn't been strong.
And as far as the pitching-wise, it's been way too inconsistent.
I mean, Trey Turner 5 had yesterday.
He was great.
We know they have a great offense, Philadelphia, with Schwerver, et cetera.
But this is a challenge, fellas.
When you make moves before the trade deadline, it doesn't coales right away.
You've got to click immediately.
And now, a sudden, you look up and you say, okay, we've got six weeks left here in the regular season.
And they've got the final walk-card spot right now.
They're two and a half games up on the Royals.
They're a better team of the Royals.
Any day of the week, they should be better than Kansas City.
And they're three games up on Cleveland.
So they should be a playoff team.
But I had thought that, especially the mood that they've made, the strength of their starting pitching,
they should win that division.
Instead, Houston's still trying to prove that they're the team to beat in that division
and Seattle has to just fight for their life to make the playoffs.
Yeah, it's crazy how things have turned around.
The eight-game win streak, Mariners could do no wrong.
And now with this slump, they've given it all back.
And, you know, Cal Raleigh is, you know, he's still in the MVP race.
But he's kind of slowed down here a little bit, Adnan, and, you know,
kind of just shows how much he's
carried the offense through the first half of the
season that, you know, he goes through a bit of a
stretch since the All-Star break
where his OPS is just under 800
and it's really, you know,
you're starting to feel it around the Mariners roster
completely. Oh,
no question, Dan. I mean, listen,
he's been a great story. There's no question about it.
He's going to set the record as far as
home runs by catcher. It's inevitable at this point.
But, you know, there was a point in the season.
He was hitting like 276, 280.
And he goes to the past, he was a 220 hit
who would hit 36, you know, 35 home runs, whoever it was.
Now, a sudden you go, wait, 280 hitter.
He's improved, like, 60 points in terms of batting average and the home runs.
Like, he's on pace for 60 home runs.
To your point, though, this is where he slowed down.
Now he's a 247 hitter.
You go, okay, well, who really cares about batting average in today's game?
Fine.
But 355 on base is nothing all that special.
The slugging is still there of 588.
But, yeah, that's where the difference becomes is you become a guy.
I just said an 800 OPS since the all serve break.
Like, it was a legit conversation between him and Aaron Judge who's going to win the MVP.
And certainly, if you're looking at the narratives, you can start to kind of buy the argument for Raleigh because you say, hey, man, he's going to hit 60 home runs that's a catcher.
He could break Judge's record of most home runs in a single season by an American League hitter of 62.
But at the very least, even if he just beats Salli Perez's record, 40 home runs, if the Mariners won their first division title since 2001, he's a catcher, you know, he's playing every day.
He's so durable, even though the dumb d-hing, you know, the wear and tear in your body and managing a pitching staff.
But now, to me, at least, I think it's clear cut that it's still Aaron Judge, who has not been great since coming back off the I.L.
But he hits his 40th run yesterday.
He'll guess this is 200 points on Cal.
To me, that's too much of a difference in a page of the judge.
And then he didn't run by the way.
They've now won five games.
You know, there are only four games.
Is there a game and a half up on the Red Sox going into?
which would be a huge four-game series against Boston.
So, yeah, I mean, there's only so much while he can do.
He's a great story, but even the big dumpers slowing down a little bit here in the second.
Just a little bit.
And, you know, I've never been one to really buy too much into home road splits ad-nan.
But, you know, I'm looking at the American League,
and it's just the Tigers and the Cleveland Guardians that are above 500 away from home right now.
And Seattle, you know, just coming off this East Coast swing, had a terrible time.
Is there something to Home Road splits, or is this just a quirky part of this season?
Yeah, I don't know.
Like, it's tricky sometimes.
Like, you know, in the American League, it feels fairly wide open as to who the team is to beat.
Like, at different parts and different moments of the season, you could, you know, name any of those clubs.
Like the Yankees were the team to beat the first couple months.
And then from June 13th to about August 5th, they have the worst record in the
American league. So you know, okay, well, we'll discount them. The Red Sox were okay, and all of a sudden, they trade Raphael Devers their best offensive player. And you go, wow, season's over. No, actually they take off in their offense to sports and the majors and run scored and their pitches improved as well. You know, the Tigers were a great story, obviously the first couple of months. You go, they're on pace for over 100 wins. This is it. And they're actually, you know, they kind of hits the skids. They'll win that division because it's a lousy division, but they're not impressing anybody. And that's why I thought to myself, oh, Seattle could be that team to beat because all of a sudden they've got,
a more balanced lineup.
They score a lot more runs than they have in the past.
They still have the lead starting pitching, but hasn't bombed together.
And then there's Houston who nobody wants to give any love to,
but there they are, still a first place team.
Jeremy Payne, having a great year.
They're doing all this, but Joe Rod and Alvarez is their best player.
So, you know, when it comes to home, road splits teams, listen,
you should be demonstrably better at home.
But jays are like 20 games over 500 at home.
That's what good teams do.
They take care of business at home.
But, yeah, I still do think that you want to be at least 500 on the road,
you know, because all of a sudden, if it's a short three-game wildcard series,
you lose that game one at home and you've got to prove you can win on the road as well.
So, yeah, I think the best teams always have that split, but also the really good team is going to have a little bit of balance as well.
Now, the saving grace for the Mariners Adnan during the skid has been that the Astros are really struggling as well.
You mentioned they don't have Jordan Alvarez in the lineup right now, but still, I mean, they got shut out three games in a row this week.
They finally got on the board.
They scored two runs against Detroit yesterday, but they still lose that one.
Is it just as simple as, man, they need Jordan Alvarez back in that lineup, or are there bigger concerns?
in Houston. Yeah, it's a real challenge because their starting pitching has been so banged up.
And like you think that at some point they'll get some of these guys back,
like Christian Javier finally came back. He hadn't pitched. He's been out since Tommy John
was got over a year, obviously, coming back from that kind of a surgery. And there's only
so much their top two Aces can do. Their top two starting pitchers are amazing.
Fomrevaldez and Hunter Brown are going to get Sion conversation. That's how good they are.
But after that, they're just beat up. The one injury that I think is massive as Josh Hater.
I mean, Hader has been so dynamic these last few seasons is a closer.
And once the word came down a week ago that he's going to be out for at least a week
and a half.
After that, they're going to reassess.
I'm like, oh, God, I wouldn't say it's curtains for the Astros, but this guy is awesome.
And Brian O'Brien, by the way, is a great setup guy.
But all of a sudden, as you guys know, when the chain gets diminished a little bit,
obviously it impacts everything.
So if you remove Hater Nelson, Abrams, the closure, he's great.
But then who's a setup guy, that creates a problem.
They traded Presley, of course, in the off season.
He didn't think he was, you know, so critical to his fortune.
So that's what ends up happening.
So I do think offensively they're so reliant on Pena and Altuve.
And even Christian Walker, who was a great free agent acquisition,
you know, has not had a great season, just power numbers have been down.
He can play goal at first base, but there's only some of you can do.
Esoc Paredes was a great third base when he gets hurt.
They get Correa back, who was hitting 400 in his first nine games,
but it slowed down a little bit.
I kind of thought that was an interesting move, bringing Carlos back.
But, again, he is what he is.
You know, he doesn't have the same slugging numbers he had previously in the past.
So, yeah, it's great news for Seattle,
that Houston's slumping at the right time.
Now their team wants to win the division, so to speak.
I still feel like Seattle.
If you look at the top to bottom, I think Seattle's a better team.
But Houston is like that pest, man.
They will just not go away.
They're feisty and they're tough and still a first place team.
Turning to the J's Adnan,
coming off a disappointing series,
dropping two or three to the Pittsburgh Pirates,
and of course, Vladdy missing the last couple of games of that series as well,
which really saps the danger of their lineup.
But probably the biggest story this week is going to be the return of Shane Bieber and the debut for Shane Bieber as a Blue Jay when he starts tomorrow against the Marlins.
And he hasn't pitched for so long in the majors, but we know what he's capable of at his best.
What are you expecting to see?
What are kind of reasonable expectations over the first two, three, four starts here for Shane Bieber?
Yeah, Jamie, I think it's a critical, critical juncture of this baseball season.
You know, the Blue Jays are 20 games above 500, four games up on the Yankees.
again, New York and Boston is going to have this huge four-game series,
but hopefully beat the Tard of each other in Toronto is the one that says,
okay, good.
We can try to create a little distance here.
But Bieber is going to be absolutely massive for them,
because if you look at this Jay's team overall,
their offenses, I think, tremendous.
I really do.
I think that they can bang with the best of them.
Hopefully once Vladdy gets back, they'll be fine.
But, again, George Springer is now back in his 21st homebril of the season.
There's so many ways he's been the heartbeat of this team.
He's having his best year of four years.
Bobauchette's going to have 200 hits, hit 300.
Great.
it's well documented how good the Addison Bargers have been,
Ernie Komen, Alejandro Kirk,
the so-called supporting cast, has been strong for them.
But there's no denying the fact that Blue Jays pitching staff
is in the bottom third in baseball.
If you're going to win a World Series,
it's tough to be able to say our pitching is in the bottom third,
and their starting rotation specifically is like 23rd in the IRA.
So, like, it's not strong.
There's no doubt about it.
Now, it's all names that we know.
They have proven track records.
They clearly can be great on any given day.
Like, I do think gospel will go out there,
some days, it'll be amazing.
You strike out pitcher, but some days they'll get blown up.
You know, Jose Barrios does an ERA of four.
Gossens in the three-eighths.
You know, Scher is a great pitcher, a Hall of Famer, but at 41 years of age,
how much can you handle this guy thick and thin, right?
You've missed three months of the season with left from inflammation.
So in terms of playoff starts, you know, the Shane Bieber movie is so intriguing because
it's like, you make a move for this guy, and you say, yeah, okay, I understand he hasn't pitched
since April of 2004.
He won a Cy Young five years ago.
feels like a long time ago. But so far in AAA, he's been excellent. Lots of zip on his
fastball, a lot of swing and miss. And like, it's not inconceivable guys. The Jay's traded
for him and did not give up a major prospect, right? You gave up, gave up a guy, but it wasn't
any major. Cleveland's kind of gave up on him. He's got a player option for next year. So if he
pitches well, hopefully he'll want to stay in Toronto. But you've got five or six starts to ramp up,
and it's, there's no denying the fact that if he looks good, he's starting a playoff game for
the Blue Jays, right? Like, if they win that division, maybe he's starting game one, maybe he's
during game two, maybe he's starting game three.
Like, he could be a guy for them, along with Goshen and Burrios.
Bassett, speaking of splits, those are too worrisome.
He's great at home, but then he's terrible on the road.
So maybe he gets a home start.
Do you play the numbers?
Perhaps.
You know, Eric Lauer was a great story for them.
He's a Godton of number five, but I wouldn't necessarily trust a young guy in a spot like that.
So, yeah, it's pretty remarkable to think that Shane Bieber, who hasn't pitched, again,
in April of 2004, hasn't yet pitched as a Blue Jay.
But if he can go, especially in these first few starts, fellas,
75, 80 pitches, five innings, a couple of earned runs.
He could be in line to start a playoff game.
He's a real wild car for the Blue Jays.
It's really critical of this team.
You know, it is a huge risk reward play,
as we talked about after the deadline for Shane Bieber.
And if he plays well, I think he's for sure starting one of those playoff games.
I guess, you know, how quickly does it take guys?
Does it take time for them to get back into their high gear?
I mean, we've seen Jacob Debram come back from two Tommy John surgeries.
So it happens.
Even show Aotani, you know, he's been pitching pretty well.
I know maybe not last night at Coors Field, but it seems like guys don't take a long time,
especially at the elite level, to get back to their former selves once they are getting back and going after Tommy John.
Yeah, I see the key is, Dan, like, you know, you want to ramp up at the right time.
Like sometimes what happens is guys are pitching the minors, you know, they throw a couple of bullpen.
You know, you always have a whole story, right?
first they're throwing off flat ground, then it's off a mound,
then it's in front of live BP,
then it's actual batterers in the way we go.
And you just have to be patient with the process.
Like even O'Tani, at one point they were saying,
maybe he could be pitching in August.
You know, it'll be right around the trade deadline.
And then all of a sudden it was like, maybe the All-Star break.
He was pitching in June, like what?
So, like, these things do get accelerated if a guy looks good enough to pitch.
And I think of the Dodgers case, they were smart with Otani.
And it was frustrating for all of us as fans, but it's literally he's just an Oprah, right?
The first couple of starts, he's just one inning, and then two innings, and then three innings,
and then slowly you'll lurch your way up.
So I think Otani is a unique case.
You're going to be so careful about him because he's a $700 billion investment, and he's so valuable
as a DHS and as a great hitter.
But in the case of Bieber, I'm like, this has been a while now.
Like, I remember thinking it was a week and a half ago, I think he threw like 76 pitches.
And I go, dude, if you're throwing 76 pitches in AAA, like, we're ready.
Like, let's bring him up to the majors.
And to me, 76 and AAA equates that, let's say, 65 in the majors.
Like, I want to see at least four or five innings, and then away we go.
So I don't think they're going to baby them.
I think they'll be careful.
Like, I think if Shane comes up and final night gets rocked, you know,
three in all of a sudden, these are, you know, 60 pitches, you know, four runs.
I'll let's say, like, you're not trying to prove it to anybody.
But hopefully it goes out there.
That's not the case.
It looks good.
And, yeah, I mean, there's some theory when you come back from Tommy John
that that first year is just kind of a working your way back here,
and the next year you get back to being dominant.
But there's no, there's no case study for it.
There's no rhyme or reason.
prior to a tiny rock yesterday he looked really good obviously he's been dominant for them so hopefully
Bieber can follow that script and be great for the Jays so bo Bichette you know he's got up 16 homers he
does his thing where he's leading the leading the league and hits again this year we know he's up
for a contract they got Vladdy done um it's going to be another big time contract to get bo Bichette
sticking around in Toronto what does that number look like and and do you think it's the right fit for
the jays to keep bow back long term well I think what happens fellas is it's now
Like, if you kind of get brought up with the guy, you're always keeping an eye on to him.
Like, for years, it's always been the baby Blue Jays, and it's been these guys who were, you know,
so-called prodigies and definitely sons are former major leagher.
So it's always been flat, it's been to Bo.
And then falling off, of course, no longer with the team is Kevin Vigio.
And they thought there would be those dudes.
But the point is, when one guy gets $500 million, it's human nature for Bo, then go, okay, what about me?
And I can't imagine a scenario, which he's not expecting at least nine figures.
So after last year, which was such an aberration, you had to say to yourself, okay, could they sign him now like for 30 cents in the dollar and go, come on, Bo, he'll give you a deal?
Probably not.
His agent's going to go, no, come on, dude.
It was a bad year.
It happens.
He only played 80 games.
He was hurt.
He was ineffective.
He'll bounce back.
And to Bo's credit, he has bounced back in a big way.
You know, at the start of the year, he was fine.
It was decent.
Really picked it up here in the second half.
And as you said, he was going to be Bo, which is a guy who hits and lead the league and hits.
And defensively, he's fine.
The numbers aren't great, but again, he's playing a premium position.
He's a young guy.
He can do this for a long time.
So I think if you'd ask me after last season, it would have looked like, you know, a three-year deal, maybe $15, $18 million a year.
Really, that's a little low, maybe $20 million year.
Let's say $3 for $60.
But I think the way he's playing now, like now he's vaulted himself to that conversation where he's going to get some big-time money out there.
Now, just a number to throw out there.
I think $8,000, $200 million is not unreasonable.
I think $25 million a year for a guy like him.
is great. Again, young player, brings a lot of pop. He's been slugging recently.
But does Boba shed in his head go, hang in a second? If Flattie got five, I'm going to
at least half. Like, I do think human nature enters into it. You say, I'm not going to expect
anything less than $2.50. Now, is there that even that market form? Who knows? But I will
tell you, people, MLB in New York, already whispering, where could Bo go if it doesn't work out
in Toronto? Where do you think? L.A. and Atlanta. You know, the Braves' offense has been a real
disappointment. Alex Anapopoulos, of course, knows Bo from his time in Toronto.
You don't think he'd love to have a guy like him there.
And the Dodgers, you know, Mookie Bex has had a terrible season by his high standards.
I love Mookie.
He's one of my favorite players, but he hasn't been good.
They moved him from right field to shortstop.
You could just easily go, hey, Mookie, you're going back to right field.
The Dodgers get Bob Bichette.
You could see them signing him to a big deal, just defer the money, figure it out.
I mean, even I could see Bo taking a smaller deal.
I don't think necessarily to prove himself, but just to be on a winner like the Dodgers.
Like maybe he does take a three-year, $75 million contract just to go, no, watch this.
going to go to the Dodgers to be a superstar.
That to me is my concern. Dodgers and Braves would be really, really attractive landing spots
from him if the Jays couldn't get it done.
Adnan, while we've got you, we need you to settle a movie debate for us that we were having
earlier in the week.
So I don't know if you saw this, but Quentin Tarantino came out and said that once upon
a time in Hollywood is his best movie, or maybe he said at least it's his favorite, his favorite.
So Riccio is all over.
He totally agrees.
He says, yep, it's the best one.
I'm on the other side saying, let's not over.
overthink this. His best picture
is clearly Pulp Fiction.
I like a lot of his other movies. Don't get me wrong,
but Pulp Fiction, clearly number one.
Where do you land on this, Edna?
Team God all the way.
Thank you. How about the disrespect
in that headline? I think the full headline was
something like, Kill Bill is the movie
I was born to make, and
once upon a time is my best movie,
and there's something else. He says, I ignore his
bastards as his masterpiece. I'm like, are you nuts?
Like, those three movies are not Pulp Fiction.
Like, what are we smoking here, quite? I'm like,
Pulp Fiction is your best movie, period.
It's an absolute masterpiece.
You can watch it any time, any day of the week.
Anybody who likes movies at any level, I'd say,
go watch Pulp Fiction.
It's beyond brilliant.
Matter of fact, when I saw the headline,
I'm like, I'm going to watch Paul Fiction again,
just to prove Quentin Tarantino, how wrong he is.
That it's way way way way better than those three movies.
I mean, I could point holes in each of those other three movies, by the way.
Kill Bill, I think is really good, but it's too long.
I mean, if you're looking at both parts, it's only four hours.
I think I got the point, the Kung Fu Action.
The first half, by the way, is being in action,
the second half slows down a little bit.
I don't think start to finish it's as strong as his other movies.
And Glorious Bastards probably has his best opening scene,
like that incredible Christoph Walt's monologue,
that first seven minutes is as good as it gets in a Tarantino movie.
But I don't think the rest of the as strong.
I like it a lot.
I like it's great.
And once upon a time in Hollywood,
reach you his favorite,
and Quinn's favorite,
I'm going to be honest with you,
of the three that you mentioned,
I think it's the weakest.
Like, I like it.
Again, it's a good movie,
but it's too long.
How many more shots I need of Margo Robbie driving and staring at her feet?
And my wife kept laughing.
She goes, I know what's going to happen.
You know what's going to happen.
Obviously, they're going to win.
You know, the Charles Vance is going to get reversed.
Like, yeah, so it wasn't exactly a surprise ending, at least to me.
It's a cool movie.
It's very atmospheric.
You can tell what comes from his heart, right?
As a guy grew up in the 70s, loving 70s movies, how cool is Brad Pitt?
You know, the great scene of Leo in the trailer where he's, you know, it's actually a great scene
because he's a great actor portraying a bad actor fighting through his anger and rain.
There's some great, great moments.
But again, my issues
was at Tarantino
was I just think it's a little bit labored, a little bit
long. Pulpiction is not. Like, even though
actually that's over two hours, it is lean
me, every performance is a winner.
Sam Jackson's never been better. He put
Chorota back on the map. Uma Thurman's awesome.
The great supporting cast, Harvey Kytel,
Tim Roth. Dude, Pulpiction's a masterpiece.
Come on, Q, too. Preach, Adnan. I could not
have said it better myself. Thank you
for settling the debate and thank you for
the hit. As always, Edna, we appreciate it.
All right, thank you, fellas. Take care.
That is Adnan, Verk from MLB Network.
work with the definitive, I think. Couldn't have said it better. He was right. I mean, author of
Cinephile, you know, podcast host for Cinephile as well. He's, uh, he's our, he's our movie
guru. I can't debate him too hard. Uh, the thing about, now I will say, the taste is subjective,
tastes is subjective. So you're allowed to have your favorite, but if we're just talking like
best. Yeah. It's Pulpiction. I don't know what it is about once upon a time in Hollywood, uh,
that I, like, I, I, I just love it. You know, even as long as it is, I, I, I,
I've watched it so many times and enjoy it.
But we're also rating like some great movies of the last 30 plus years, right?
Pulp Fiction obviously is one of the great movies of all time.
But, you know, I'm here for once upon a time in Hollywood being one of the best ever as well.
Just before we go to break here, we're going to talk to the Moge on the other side about the BC lines.
Mike Russo, who of course covers the Minnesota Wild for the athletic, tweeting out mere minutes ago,
hearing there has been significant progress towards a potential Marco Rossi signing by the Minnesota Wild in the coming days.
As we've been reporting, a bridge deal makes the most sense.
So they finally picked up the phone.
They started talking to his agent.
They have made contact with the Marco Rossi camp and Mike Russo reporting.
And as you know, Mike Russo, if he's reporting it, you can pretty much take it to the bank that not a deal done,
but there's been significant progress made, so it sounds like a potential Canucks trade target might be officially off the market sooner rather than later.
Too much leverage with the Minnesota Wilds. They have over Marco Rossi. As I've said for months, this was the inevitability.
As much as Rossi wanted to try and force his way out, he only had so many options if Minnesota wasn't going to trade him.
All right, that's the latest out of Minnesota. We will chat BC Lions with the Moge next here on Halford & Brough, Sportsnet, 650.
It's the Moj.
I did not eat four burgers.
Yes, it's the moch.
I don't want to go to Winnipeg.
Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg.
Yes, I love food.
It's the moch.
I went online and kind of did a little surfing.
You're millennia.
Yes, it's the moch.
Halpert's fine, but, you know, bruff is just grumpy all the time.
Moach, moach, moach, mooch, mooch, mooch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch. Moach, moch, moch, moch.
It's the moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, moch, it's the moch, moch, moch, it's the moch.
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hashtag WWL, what you've learned in the last 24 hours in sports.
But as you heard on the intro, we now go to the hotline powered by power rest industries
where we are joined, the play-by-play voice of the BC Lions.
Bob the Moge Marjohnovich joins the show.
Moge, thanks for doing this as always.
How are you?
Good morning, gentlemen.
So before we look ahead to your trip to Toronto and the BC Lions trip to Toronto on the weekend,
let's look back at that offensive outburst in the win against Montreal.
all. What did you think of the team performance in that win?
Well, you know, I don't really get too jacked up after wins,
nor do I get too depressed after losses.
So, you know, you try to look at the entire body work.
And I thought the lion's offense played rather well.
I mean, you know, Nathan Ork is getting much more comfortable with Buck Pierce's
offense.
Remember, he's only had eight games under his belt with this offense.
So it continues to get better.
I think they would probably agree in the sense that maybe they didn't let
Montreal hang around a little bit too much
in the first half, but they did what they
had to do. And let's face it, Montreal was playing
with a fourth-string quarterback for most of the
game. So it was
the situation that the Lions had to
take advantage of, and they did.
So moving on now, see what happens
against an Argonaut team that's, well, basically
in disarray. Yeah, and
you mentioned Rourke there.
I think when he signed back with the Lions
last year, we all expected it to
oh, he's just going to be the best quarterback
in the CFL. He's just going to walk right back in
and be that guy.
And it hasn't quite been that smooth.
But he throws the four TDs last week.
Do you feel like he's really finding his groove?
Yeah, he is.
I mean, you know, like I said,
he's getting more and more comfortable with Buck Pierce's offense.
Mealy too, it's just his approach.
I saw it, you know,
maybe a couple of days before training camp,
they had a press conference at the facility
and Nathan talked spoke to the media.
And even then, I could just see a different Nathan Rirk.
And even he's alluded to the fact that he's playing without having the
pressure that he's had the last couple of years.
I mean, like you said, when he came back
here last year, everybody thought he was going to be a Messiah
walk on water and, you know, just take
this team to the playoffs and the Great Cup.
You know, the fact that
when he was down south of the border in the national
football, he gave him when he said, you know, you make a bad
throw and, you know, you're losing reps, or
you lose a spot in a depth chart. And
he's, I think football is
back to being fun for him, right?
He's joking, he's laughing. He doesn't
have the weight of the world on his shoulders.
And as a result, he's gone out there and performed
rather well. You mentioned
the Argonauts this week's opponent for the BC
lines in a bit of disarray as you
as you said, Moge. What has gone
wrong recently in this season for
the Argonauts? Oh, where
do you start? I mean, you start
with Chad Kelly not being available, but
to be honest, I think Nick Arbuckle
has done a good job in terms
of filling in for him.
Their defense has been absolutely
brutal. League worst, 35.6
points per game.
They're special teams.
give up big plays, their defense gives up big plays.
Offensively, they cannot run the football.
I mean, they're averaging, I think, 46 yards per game or something like that.
Arbuckle is actually their leading rusher with 135 yards on 32 carries on the season.
So that tells you something right there.
And then you have Ryan Dindwood, their head coach, who's, you know, called out their players in the media on a couple of occasions.
So it's just a dog's breakfast in Toronto right now.
And I look at this stretch of the schedule for the BC Lions, and they're playing in Toronto this weekend, then they've got the buy, then they play in Ottawa, then at home against the Ottawa Red Blacks again.
And look, I know a couple of those are road games, but it's also against, you know, I know you had your power rankings up at the BC Lions website this week, Moj, and you had Toronto and Ottawa as the bottom two teams in the league.
So you've got three games in a row here against two of the less competitive teams in the league, plus a buy sprinkled in there.
How important is it now but they're back to 500?
And as you said, Nathan Rourke's really getting comfortable with Buck Pierce's offense.
How important is it for the BZ lines take full advantage of this stretch and really hit their stride in this portion of the schedule?
It's huge.
I mean, you know, these are the games that you have to win.
You play who's on your schedule.
And, you know, as you mentioned Toronto and Ottawa twice, you know, these are games.
that you have to win.
And, you know, the other thing, too, is the fact that, you know, if you can start
stacking wins, building a little bit of confidence.
But to me, you know, it all boils down to what they do on defense.
Hey, make no mistake about it, they're going to put points on the board.
To me, this team is going to go as far as it goes because of its defense.
So we saw some improvements last week.
Now, granted, again, fourth string quarterback, but they at least got some pressure,
particularly in the first half, which is something that they did knew, the previous
couple of games.
It's a situation where you continually building, and that's the one thing I think that I like about this team compared to, you know, the previous editions of the Lions is the fact that Buck Pierce, it's about the process and the players are buying into it.
And, you know, I've said this right from the start of the year, this team, instead of starting strong and fading like we've seen in the last couple of years, I really think that this team is just going to get better as a season progresses.
Yeah, we spoke with Micah Alway, tackle leader on defense there for the BC Lions and having a great year.
earlier in the week. And he mentioned it feels like things are coming together. They're starting
to communicate more on D and really get a feel for themselves as a group. Now, they're going
to need the defense to be better if they're going to realize their potential as a team this
year. And, you know, one thing about the Argos, Moge is they can put up points. I think they've
got the second most points scored in the CFL so far this year. So this, you know, if nothing else,
this should be a good test for the defense as they continue to progress. It's a great point. And
Don't kid yourself.
This is an Argos team that has played competitive football.
They've lost six games by 10 points or less, right?
So they're there.
I mean, and that's the funny thing, fellas.
Usually like when you see teams losing close games,
they're young or inexperienced teams or whatever.
I mean, these are the defending Great Cup champions.
You would think that they would know how to win these close games,
but for whatever reason this year, they're just not getting the job done.
And you're right.
This Argo team, I mean, they can pass the football.
They've got some great numbers in terms of,
What Arbuckle has done, they've got some decent weapons on offense,
although we don't know what's going to happen with Cokesy and his status.
He's banged up a little bit, but it's going to be a good test for this B.C. defense.
We were talking earlier in the week as well, Moge, about, you know, the B.C. Lyons,
they've beat the Elks this year.
They've mostly taken care of business against the teams in the East Division.
But Saskatchewan, Winnipeg have given them problems, you know, the teams in the mix of the top of the West Division.
how what do you need to see from the BC Lions over this next stretch here and you know towards the end of the season that that will give you confidence that they can hang with you know the Saskatchewans and the Calgary's and the Winnipegs of the world well for me it's about their defense right I mean that's what it boils down to if they can at least play I don't want to say I say good defense you don't have to be an excellent defense with this offense but as long as you play good defense I think you're going to give your team a chance to win in.
any game. The other thing, too, they've got to clean up guys
as penalties. I mean, okay, some
of the penalties that are being called, or don't even
get me going on CFL officiating, but at the same
time, there's a lot of penalties that they've got to clean up.
So it's strange because
they started out the season, like,
amongst the league leaders in the least amount of
penalties, I think, for like the first three or four games.
And then they kind of had this really
bad streak. Then they had a couple of quiet games,
and now they're back on, you know, getting double-digit
penalties in over 100 yards. So
that's the other thing, too, they've got to clean up a little bit
as penalties. And
they've got to get some explosive plays.
Hitting in the last week, and I haven't seen the updated stats,
but there had been 29 returns for touchdowns
either on defense or via punt or kickoff returns.
The Lions had zero, right?
They didn't have one punt return or kick return for a touchdown or defensive touchdown.
So that's something that they've got to get better at too,
is somehow some way getting some explosive plays into their game.
I know you have a column coming out for the Black Press tomorrow, Moge,
talking about a potential tweak to how the CFL does business
in terms of the salary cap and the potential of maybe would they ever look at certain players being exempt from the salary cap?
What can you tell us more about that suggestion of yours?
It's basically a piece that's kind of been spurred on by what the white caps have done and, you know, other teams and MLS have done in terms of the star power.
You know, it's kind of interesting because, you know, you just look at the two leagues, right?
And the MLS franchise is on average valued anywhere from $500 to $700 million.
Yet I kind of looked at it.
I'm like, well, how are they pulling this off in the sense that the attendance for the MLS is $23,000 and changed?
Your CFL had $22,000 and changed.
The MLS Apple's Apple deal was worth $2.5 billion over 10 years.
You divide that in the $30,000, what, $250 million divided into 30 teams,
works out to what, just a little over $8 million per team.
So it's not like they're making a ton of money either off the gate or their TV deals.
And, you know, the CFL, I mean, their PSN deal, I think, is worth $50 million.
So you divide that into nine pieces.
That's what, $4.5 million per team.
So I'm sitting there's, how is the MLS perceived as, well, MLS?
And they don't have an image problem with the CFL does.
And then I started thinking about, you know, what they've done in terms of bringing in these superstars at the end of their careers, whether it's a METC.
a Beckham, a Mule, or whatever, whoever you want to talk about.
And, you know, and I'mbrahimovych is another one, right?
And I think to myself, they do such a great job of imaging, right?
And, you know, having these players at the end of their careers, it's huge for the brand.
You know, it just elevates your brand to those people that are kind of on the periphery
that might not know about your team or follow it, and all of a sudden you bring this star in.
And guess what?
Now, you know, we had a tournament radio.
I don't know if you guys do it, but, you know, your P1s are the people.
People that listen all the time,
P2, P3, P4, right?
So those P4 is on the periphery,
so those fans on the periphery are now engaged
because you have this superstar.
And it's something that I've talked to some people at the CFL,
and I've been told they've had informal discussions,
nothing formal yet about maybe having a player
who is exempt from the salary cap.
And it'd be interesting to see if that would work in the Canadian football league.
And, you know, you bring in a guy at the tail of in his career
who creates that buzz.
But, you know, the other thing, too, that I was thinking was almost that you might want to get that kid out of college who might not get an opportunity in the National Football League.
You give him a big chunk of money and you give him some reps in Canada and you allow him to flourish.
And then maybe after two years, he heads back down south.
But it's something that the MLF does.
And I think it's something that the CFL has to start doing is getting a little bit more star power, a little bit more marquee power in its brand.
That's a very interesting suggestion, motion.
I like the comparison, too, between the two leagues and the image gap, I think it's fair to say, as you describe it there, too, between MLS and the CFL. Now, of course, we always like to get the road trip report from you, Moge, what you're looking forward to in the city. The Lions are visiting. So what's the highlight of the trip to Toronto for you?
Oh, without a doubt. Not even, like, I'm so looking forward to this. I don't think I'm going to eat for the next whatever 16 hours. A trip to Mama Caravadis.
All right.
So off to Atobico, we go, the caravada household still standing firm.
Richo, you probably know this.
None of this upstairs business.
Downstairs in the basement, everything goes right?
It's a tried and true Italian household if you're eating in the basement.
Serbian, same thing.
Like, you don't eat it upstairs is like for showtime.
Like downstairs is like, you know, everything goes downstairs.
So, you know, downstairs, you walk out in the back, you look around, you see the garden.
Everything is like from the garden, the past is whole.
homemade. The lemon cello is homemade for fried out loud. So it's going to be a great meal. And she makes
this wicked, I want to say it's called the pumpanella. It's like this meat dish, except she
has a twist on it. So she lets everything kind of meridate for like two, three, for about a day
or two, whatever. So you got veal, you got pork, you got sausage. And she puts this little
pinch of vinegar in there that makes it taste so damn good. And I'm telling you, that's going
to be the highlight of the trip. And like, you know, the other thing, too, is like when you
walk around the Caravetta household, it's like you're in a museum, right?
Pictures of Giulio like in Great Ten.
You go to the backyard?
Did he ever tell you the story about the hockey sticks?
No.
You ever hear the story?
I haven't.
So he comes home one day, and he's looking at his dad has shot off all the blades of his hockey
sticks and used them to prop up the tomato plants.
Brilliant.
Another staple of Italian households, yes.
It's like, Julia's like, what are you doing?
He goes, hey, he goes, I'm going to keep the,
tomato plant up you want to play or you want to eat right so like you know it's just like i said
it's a lot of fun going back there and you know hearing all the stories and julio's dad
stories like i mean i could go on for like a bowl i'll tell you another julio's dad story to make
you play so you walks home one day sits at the table and his dad looking at him like really
funny like strangely he looks at him once looks at him and julio goes what's wrong he goes what are
your name he was julio he goes okay julio why you wear a shirt says nick
Julie looked down, and I'm sure it's Nike, right?
Oh, it's brilliant.
That's fantastic.
Hey, you want to make Mama Caravada happy?
You go to San Remo Bakery out there in Atobico
and bring some pastries over for dessert.
Okay, San Remo, I'm going to have to remember that
because, you know, we go, have you heard of Musina?
Yeah.
That's where that's kind of Giulio's stop.
There's Musina bakery.
They have unbelievable canolis.
Oh, so good.
You guys are viving right now.
San Remo is like, it's a whole, it's an experience.
when you walk into that place, man.
It is insane.
I'll take that into advice and note it.
I'll tell you the other funny story
about the Caravetta House.
The first time I show up there,
very quickly,
I show up there,
bring two bottles of Caymus.
Julie goes,
Moge, what do you bring in the Caymus for?
I go, Julia,
it's the first time I'm meeting your mom.
I'm going to say, Karen Sermon and Mike,
when I go,
Gama's, I go, nice for your mom.
It goes, Moj, you know what you're going to do?
She's going to put,
take a sip of it,
and then she's going to put Sprite in it.
I'm like, no,
there's a Camus.
so okay not even a wine glass we're talking like the old school tumbler glass you know what i mean
she pours the wine into the tumbler glass takes the sip she goes it's not bad then she takes the
sprite opens the sprite pours it into the camus and makes the spritzer out of it and julius is just
looking at me laughing I'm going hey it is what it is hey it is when's once you turn it over to the
host right it's theirs to do uh what they please with it uh all right it's not an ask us anything
Friday, but we do have, because it's you, Moge, we have a question from a listener, a food-related
question. Marcus and Gibson's text in. Moge, what is the best summer barbecue food you've eaten
this summer specifically? Oh, summer barbecue food. Well, my good buddy, Rusty Johnson, Rusty's
barbecue had it probably like, probably like a couple months ago, a little bit of a gathering.
he makes, well, he's a world championship.
He qual, you know, he's been on Iron Chef Canada.
He qualifies for the world championships.
He goes down to the States all the time, all these competitions.
You haven't checked out Rusty's barbecue.
It is like to buy for.
So that's probably the best barbecue that I've had.
His brisket, second and none.
Brisket, I love brisket so much.
Moj, thanks for doing this, man.
Enjoy the trip to the Caravada household and enjoy the game on the weekend.
San Ramos, baby. I'm checking it out.
You got to do it. Absolutely.
Thank you, Moj.
Ciao, Moj.
That is Bob the Moj, Marjanovic.
Of course, play-by-play voice for the BC Lions and food expert.
God, I'm so hungry now.
Just the thought of going to the Caravada households.
Seriously.
It's the truest thing ever.
Italian brings you into their house.
You know, you know, you know you're like, you know you're like pretty much.
family if you get brought into the basement for for for dinner why now is it actually is it a
basement or is it just like the bottom floor of a split level situation uh it could be either or okay
uh but usually yeah it is full on basement and um like i'd say what's the fascination upstairs upstairs is
usually reserved for uh an event or like it's uh christmas dinner or something so it's more it's
fancier. It's more formal.
But if you're really like
in the clan, you get to go to the basement. But if you're
in the clan and you're like one of the group,
you go into the basement.
You know, that's, that's
how it is. Fascinating.
I never knew that. Yeah. And the
tomato sticks with the, or the hockey sticks
for the tomato plants is
classic. It's a legendary move.
It is Halvard and Brough here. Sportsnet
650. Jamie Dodd, Dan Riccio.
We're going to chat a little Seahawks
with Cameron Van Till of Seattle Sports
coming up in about 10 minutes
just before we get to the break here.
I did want to just mention again
the report from Michael Russo.
Of course, covers the Minnesota Wild
for the athletic who says hearing
there has been significant progress
toward a potential Marco Rossi signing
by the Minnesota Wild in the coming days
as we've been reporting a bridge deal
makes the most sense.
And in the replies to his tweet,
somebody said, give him three years
and hopefully his value
increases then trade him and Michael Russo says yep so well interesting though that maybe if it's
does his value increase because you've got the contract in place and then all of a sudden it's
more tenable for a team to go out and acquire him or is it more of a get him signed play him
give him an opportunity to thrive here for a year and then when he's not coming off a playoff
appearance where we played him 10 minutes a game maybe we'll have an easier time getting teams to
to give us the type of assets we want in return for Marco Rossi.
So it's going to be a situation to monitor.
It does feel like, though, as a short-term solution for the Canucks,
Marco Rossi probably off the board here pretty soon.
Well, it just felt like this was inevitable, right?
When the Canucks offered 15th overall in Minnesota said,
we don't want futures in a trade for Marco Rossi,
it essentially took the Canucks out of the conversation
because who is the like-for-like type of move?
that you could make.
It just doesn't exist on the Canucks roster.
Minnesota essentially put their stake in the ground.
If we're trading Marco Rossi,
we want a player that can give us
his level of or similar level of production
right away, 50 to 60 points.
Which, by the way, never really made sense to me.
Yeah.
Because it's like, well, why is the other team doing that then?
Yes. Right? You know what I mean? It's like, well, you have all these concerns
about Marco Rossi's size. So your
your ideal trade return is a player
just as productive but without those concerns.
I was like, well, how's that going to work?
Well, it doesn't work, right?
And Minnesota found that out pretty quickly.
And then they decided, okay, well, we have all this leverage.
If we don't get an offer that we like for Marco Rossi,
we can just hold on to the player.
Okay, he wants a Matt Boldy kind of contract.
Well, we don't have to give him a Matt Boldy kind of contract
because he's got zero leverage with us.
We can wait it out.
see that he's not going to get traded and then give him the bridge deal that's a little bit
more favorable to us and give us more time to figure out what we want to do with this
player. If he hits it big, great for us. If he's middling, then we'll deal with this
somewhere down the road and move him off. The risk is like Rossi sort of flattens out
he doesn't like grow in his production he kind of flattens out and now you're not looking at
even getting something close to what the Canucks offered for Marco Rossi down the line you're
going to get something less because he's closer to free agency there's less upside play that
you're making in a trade bet on Marco Rossi those kinds of things so all of this is leading
to Minnesota not liking the options outside of Marco Rossi and deciding we're just
going to hold to our leverage and get him to sign a bridge deal and work it out further down
the line. And we have seen, and I think of the Martin H's trade. Now, that was a unique scenario where
Miko Ranton and became available. But that was a similar situation where it was, is there
a long-term future here. And it's like, you know what? Let's sign a two-year deal. But it didn't
take a trade off the table, right? It was, let's sort this out. And actually, maybe it'll help us trade,
trade you and find a different situation because there's some cost certainty. Not saying that that's
going to be the immediate domino of Marco Rossi signing a contract, but it does potentially,
it doesn't take a trade permanently off the board, even though it might probably for the
Kinnock's purposes this year. If you've got time, use it. And Minnesota is absolutely going
down that road. All right, it is Halfertobrough Sportsnet 650. We're going to chat Seahawks next
with Cam Van Till from Seattle Sports. After that, we will do our What We Learns. And then, of course,
at 830. We'll dive into your What We Learn submissions. Could use a few more for sure. So 650. 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Text in now. Hashtagg, WWL, what you've learned in the last 24 hours in sports. We will read them at 830. But up next, we'll talk Seahawks here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet, 650.