Halford & Brough in the Morning - BC Lions Have To Get Their Swagger Back

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

In hour three , Mike and Jason talk to the Moj about the BC Lions recent struggles plus the boys tell us what they learned. 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 the Moach. I did not eat four burgers. Yes, it's the Moach. I don't want to go to Winnipeg. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. It's the Moach. I went online and kind of did a little surfing.

It's a millennia. Yes, it's the Moach. Halpert's fine, but, you know, Brough is just grumpy all the time. Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj. It's the Moj. 803 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda.

It's Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour three of the program. Moj is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Orfi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what youotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorphe, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for.

Our next guest is a presentation of the Clayton Public House. It is Bob the Moj Marjanovic. He joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Moj? Like, first off, is this actually Halford & Brough, or is this like maybe Halford with AI Brough, or Brough with AI Halford, or just both AI guys? Buddy, as soon as they invent AI Brough or Brough with AI Halford or just both AI guys buddy as soon as they invent AI Brough Brough is sleeping in real real Brough ain't waking up at 555 like he normally does

speaking of AI you know what blows me away like the more and more you see of this stuff on social media did you guys see that bit with Quinn Hughes that they did where he's accepting the Norris trophy? No. Explain it, please. So it's Hughes is accepting the Norris trophy and it's all AI generated. It's like, I don't know why I'm getting this trophy. We sucked against the Oilers. And it's, I mean, you're looking at it and it is Quinn Hughes' voice,

right? It's just, it's really, really scary what they can do with AI these days. I'll send you the link after this hit and you guys will just shake your head and go, wow. Well, I was shaking my head a lot watching the Lions try to tackle Saturday in Ottawa. You know, it's funny. We had Ryan Phillips on the show last week,

and he was bemoaning the state of tackling by his team. So I thought, well, you know, if that's been a focus, maybe they'll be better against Ottawa. I think they were worse. Yeah, they were, and it cost them. I mean, any time you decide to blitz and play zero coverage behind it and they get the pass off, if you don't make the tackle, it's a major problem.

And we saw that with the touchdown where TJ Lee missed the tackle, right? And there were other, obviously, situations in the game where missed tackles cost them. But, yeah, it's something they've got to clean up. And the tough part about it is because of the way teams practice in today's game, it's difficult to do, to replicate getting that full speed. But there's a lot of issues with this team right now, none I don't think which aren't correctable,

but they've got to clean some stuff up because they've just got to get better. It's that simple. Very candidly answer this. How much trouble is this team in right now? Well, I'll say this. My old friend Chris Burns, who played for ron lancaster always used this quote and he got this from ron lancaster he says you're never as good as you are never as good as you think you are when you're on a roll and you're never as bad as you think you are when

you're on a skid um i don't think this team is this bad. Obviously, they're going through a tough portion right now. But the way I look at this Western division this year, I just see a situation where if you can win your last three or four games and be playing your best football of the year at the tail end of the year, I think you can go in and make a run to the Grey Cup. I mean, we've seen it in the past before. We've seen it with the Lions team that went 8-10. What was it, 2001 and won a Grey Cup?

We've seen it with the Calgary team that went 8-10. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the representative out of the West this year is 8-10. And again, it just goes with what I talk about, just getting on a roll at the right time because there's no real dominant team in the West. Other than Montreal Montreal and even Edmonton gave Montreal a run last night I mean to me Montreal's at one level and then everybody else and then Hamilton and then even Hamilton gave Winnipeg a run I mean the parity in the CFL this year is absolutely crazy so it's just about getting hot at the right time. Don't you think

Winnipeg though like we we should probably give I know what the record is and it's not all that impressive but they're the Blue Bom and it's not all that impressive but they're the blue bombers and they certainly showed that they're better than the BC Lions in their two outings this year yeah I mean you can give Winnipeg a bit of a nod but they're playing some good football right now but again at the start of the year they were struggling too right I mean granted they did have injuries but I look at Winnipeg's offense and I don't see anything special. I think Zach Caleros has been average at best this year. So when you look at Winnipeg, if you can get them to be one-dimensional, which would be extremely tough given the way their defense is playing, but if

you can get them to be one-dimensional on offense and say playing a game where they're trailing 20 to 7 or 28 to 7, they're in a whole heap of hurt. But that's a big if, trying to make them a one-dimensional team. What is the state of Vernon Adams' health? No reason I'm asking. Well, I'll say this. The last practice that the Lions had before the Ottawa game, before departing for Ottawa, he looked really good. He was moving around.

He was doing little triangle agility drills. At the end of practice he stuck around and threw some footballs to receivers um i would say that there's probably a chance that he plays this week although i think they'll probably give him just another week to be you know 100 percent um certain that he is 100 when he comes back but if this if this was a situation where they needed him, if they still had Jake Doligala quarterback, I think Vernon Adams would play this week.

But I think having Nathan Rourke gives him the luxury of perhaps giving him yet another week's rest. I know Nathan Rourke had some turnovers, two fumbles and an interception. But he looked better, though, didn't he, compared to his first start? Are you, not assuming, but are you expecting that he's going to keep improving as he shakes the rust off more and more? Yeah, I believe so. I mean, remember, he just came back to Vancouver, came back to BC a week and a half ago, right?

So he has the luxury of knowing, say, 90% of this offense, but there's still things that he's learning. He's still getting used to certain receivers that he hasn't played with before. So he has to develop a little bit of chemistry with Justin McInnes, a little bit of chemistry with, say, you know, Aiden Eberhardt. So there's still things that they need to work on. But for me, the biggest issue with this team, and it starts with any winning football team,

is the line of scrimmage. It's what they're doing on the defensive line and what they're doing on the offensive line. If they can clean up those two areas and get better at those two areas, that's where the success of this team is going to start. It only allowed Nathan to work to have more time and not be under duress and be able to process information and make the right decisions quicker. Just on a separate note, because this has been a little bit negative,

that's what happens when you lose five games in a row, I guess, but how excited are you to see the game and cover the game and call the game in Victoria? Well, you know, it's interesting because, you know, as somebody who follows the Lions and, you know, even Lions fans are saying this, I mean, it's going to be a great event. It's like a little mini Grey Cup from what I'm told. People from all over the country will be showing up for this event as,

you know, they have touchdown Pacific and Victoria. And it's much more than the game, of course. It's a festival. The Lions will fly out on Wednesday. The Riders are probably the Riders. The Rough Blacks will come out a day earlier as well. The Rough Blacks, did you call them? Bring back the Renegades.

Yeah, exactly. But, you know, the one thing, to be honest, probably it's not the best timing for the BC Lions. And I say that because it's like a road game. Let's be honest. It's not a home game. It's like being back out on the road. The guys are going to be living out of a hotel for whatever,

three or four days, and it takes them out of that routine that they have at home. And then after this week, you've got to go to Montreal. So the timing of it all, probably not the best, but, you know, again, we'll see how it all plays up because again like i'm saying it's supposed to be a week long or whatever four or five day festival in victoria and the people are really stoked about it over there uh do you know if or how closely the lions or i guess any cfl team are monitoring matthew betts with the detroit lines because i

believe roster cut down day is tuesday and a lot of people are suggesting that he might not be on the Detroit Lions. Yeah, I don't know if the Lions have been in contact with Betts. I doubt that they have. They'll probably allow this situation to play itself out and see where it goes from there. But the one concern that I have with Matthew Betts, okay, first off, let's say that the Lions

probably would love to have Matthew Betts back. Fair to say. Because right now they're not getting that much out of their pass rush, especially off the edges. But how do you get Matthew Betts back and, you know, make it work in terms of the salary cap? He's not going to come back at a ticket.

I know that when he was a free agent and talking to him at that point, the Lions were in the hunt, as was Hamilton. They were giving him a lot of money. So there will be other CFL teams that will obviously want to bring Matthew Betts, and I just wonder how the Lions will be able to figure it all out given the salary cap restraints. You know, everyone talks about the departure of Nathan Rourke and what that meant, but if you look at it,

you could make the argument that the loss of Betts, given what this team is doing or more specifically not doing on the defensive side of the football right now, that Betts departure actually is probably looming even larger because in 18 sacks is 18 sacks like that was a sack a game and they're just not getting as much pressure right now you mentioned it like if they want pressure right now it's kind of got to be like an all-out blitz yeah um you know the one thing i'll say about bets and you know with all due respect to matthew he's a great pass rusher but he's not that good against the run and he just you know he's just one of those players he's a pass rush

type guy and doesn't play the run overly well i wouldn't say he's poor but you know his main focus is the pass rush so i don't know how much he'd help in terms of stopping the run but yeah i mean definitely getting him in the lineup without a spark in terms of getting to the pattern you know i don't know what's happened with this defensive line i mean last year they of stopping the run, but yeah, I mean, definitely getting them in the lineup without a spark in terms of getting to the pass turn. I don't know what's happened with this defensive line. Last year, they had no issue getting the quarterback. Betts was a big part of that. This year, they just... Man, I watched

blitz. I mean, I watched that blitz where they scored the touchdown, and they just run into bodies, right? They're not picking holes, making themselves thin, going through the line, throwing a move. It's just... I don't know. Right now, the big thing with this team, and it's funny because I asked Rick Campbell, going through the line, throwing a move. It's just, I don't know. Right now, the big thing with this team, and it's funny because I asked Rick Campbell about this after the game. Remember Rick Talkett last year when he talked about the Canucks

having to learn how to play in pressure situations and feeling comfortable in those pressure situations? That's the question I threw to Rick Campbell. I said, is this team feeling comfortable in playing in pressure situations right now? He says, they say say that but he wonders about it right so um that to me is like a big question with this Lions team right now is where's the swagger where's the confidence level at they can fail the right things but as we've seen in this this skid when it matters the most the Lions aren't making plays and why aren't they making those plays maybe aren't they making those plays? Maybe they're not playing aggressive enough.

Maybe they're not playing with enough confidence. I mean, there's probably a million things you can look at. But to me, that's one of the things that I think comes into play is this team has lost its swagger, and it's got to get its swagger back. Who's the leader on defense that would lead that swagger? Well, I mean, you look at guys like T. lee and gary peters guys that are veterans i mean gary has a ton of swagger and you can see it in his play i mean he's probably you know playing at an all-star level again this year but up front you know maybe it's a guy like christian covington

who has to come to the forefront but um it's tough to you know be a swagger guy when you play in the interior, right? You know what I mean? An interior guy is kind of one of those guys that just kind of does his job. He doesn't make those big plays. He's not noticeable. But for the most part, I mean, if I'm looking at the defense, I'm looking at guys like Peters and Lee who have to be the leaders

and have to provide that swagger. But they also need somebody up front. You know, that's the one thing I think when you look at the Alouettes last year and why they won the Grey Cup, I mean, Darnell Sankey and Sean Lemon came in and just changed the personality of their defense, right, especially Sankey, right? And that's one thing I think the Lions – and here's the other thing, too. People are talking about what's happening with this defense and this and that.

This team really misses Josh Woods in the middle. He was slated to have a big year. I mean, we all see how well he played at middle linebacker during those two playoff games last year and you know even Woods talked about the fact that he loves playing inside because he's more involved in the play and losing him really hurt this defense and they lost a lot of physicality with Josh Woods how's the fantasy premier league team doing hey baby I was in first place after week one, and I'm in third place after week two.

I'm only like nine points out of first. I love it. Say top of the table, though. No. No. No, I'm not going to do that. Hey, Moj, thanks for doing this, buddy. We appreciate it. What happened?

What happened? Ask me anything. What happened with that? It's not Monday, buddy. You took off on that, literally. Yeah, you took off on asking me something Friday. Actually, there's a really good food tip I was going to give you,

but I'll wait for Friday. Okay, wait for Friday. Thanks, dude. Appreciate it. He's gone. Bob the Mojimar Jonovic here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 6. That must have been funny when Matthew Betts went to the NFL. He's like, what team are we playing for?

The Lions. Also the Lions. What's our coach's name? Campbell. This is cool. This is exactly the same. Apparently he's going to get cut. Yeah.

I wasn't monitoring it, like, closely as a stretch, but I was kind of paying attention to it. And I started paying attention to it after Nathan Rourke came back. I was like, oh, I wonder if they could just get both guys after they get severely dismissed from their NFL teams. Remember cut down day used to be a lot bigger deal in the CFL? Now guys kind of just stick around there. Yeah, because you can make good money.

Nathan Rourke made pretty good coin over the last couple of years, not playing football, just kind of hanging out and bouncing from city to city and market to market. I'm not that worried about Nathan Rourke. I wouldn't be. I'd be much more worried about that they can't play defense. The defense, yeah, for sure. They needed to score 35 points

on the weekend because the defense wasn't getting stopped. There was one. Just not being able to get a stop when they made it a one score game was so frustrating to watch because they put the Red Blacks in a couple of second and long situations and then didn't even really come close to stopping them

like wide open receivers yeah and that's that's and the red blacks called a nice game like that was you shouldn't be getting lit up by drew brown i don't think and he spells it dr you the cool way right drew brown he goes through for 400 yards okay let's do some what we learned um i've got one i got one okay it's not a competition i'm excited okay well've got one. I got one. Okay. It's not a competition. I'm excited. I got one. Welcome back. You do yours first then. Sure.

I learned a little bit about potential NHL expansion in that 32 Thoughts article that we were alluding to earlier that Freed wrote where we were focusing on the Thatcher Demko part of it. But I guess they were doing

the NHL's European media tour over the last couple weeks in Prague. And Bill Daly was over there and uh the quote from frege was daly was most interesting talking about expansion it's coming and the union believes that as well they haven't they didn't go down the road of putting a particular timeline on it or anything but the interesting thing union was like can we have some of that money and the league was like no no we're gonna wait we're gonna do our due diligence we'll get more jobs and that is it okay so the interesting thing... The union was like, can we have some of that money? And the league was like, no. We're going to wait. We're going to do our due diligence. You will get more jobs, and that is it. The interesting quote for me, one of them anyway, was, is 34

teams the maximum, or could we see 36? Is 36 NHL teams? 36, man. 36. You're getting too hard. I don't want to see one cup in my lifetime. Could you imagine? Poor poor frege is gonna have to do four extra thoughts every week now he needs a raise then yeah i don't think i have four thoughts

all week he's gonna do it every time he writes an article you don't okay so let's run let's run through this as an exercise we're at 32 right now all right where are the next three where are the next atlanta yeah oh good again again third time's a charm houston arizona okay those are the next? Atlanta. Yeah. Oh, good. Again. Houston. Third time's a charm. Houston. Arizona. Okay, those are the three that we came up with, and then the fourth would be the wild card, right? And you had a good wild card.

At what point will someone just give the Leafs a bunch of money and say, knock it off with this territorial stuff. Toronto needs two teams. Isn't it crazy that la has two teams i know la is a bigger city overall than toronto but technically it's la and anaheim but i feel like there might be more hockey fans in the greater toronto area than there are in los angeles and then you look at all the teams in the new york new jersey area like all around there and i understand why the Leafs would want to be like,

no, we're the only team in town. But I just wonder, everyone's got a number. What would be the number for MLSC for someone to say, okay, let's do this because we've got to put another team in Toronto. Well, that's why I brought up the number 36. Because I thought, okay, 34, it makes sense. You add two more teams. It's not a good up the number 36. Cause I thought, okay, 34, it makes sense. You add two more teams. Um,

it's not a good number for, no, you know, like 32 was perfect. 36, you can have four divisions of eight or eight divisions of four. 36 isn't, 36 is awkward too.

But if they're the, the fact that it was entertained leads me to believe that they've got, okay. So yeah, Houston and Atlanta are the obvious no brainers. I mean, they've got okay so yeah houston and atlanta are the obvious no-brainers i mean they've been bandied about already we had atlanta come up a couple times last season it made it pretty obvious that the ties and they're more than willing to go back to atlanta for another kick at it people texting on quebec city it's not gonna happen

guys but the lead the toronto territorial rights thing at what point do the does the league just step in and say hey you hey, just give them this much money and no more territory? I don't understand the legal, but I don't know. But for the good of the league, you think all the other owners will be pushing for it, right? Because it would make the league stronger and make more money. Which is the goal at the end of the day.

Does MLSC have the right to be like, I hear you, and no. I don't know. I honestly don't know. And the final point, and it's interesting because we were talking about enrollment at youth levels and the player pool to draw from from a football perspective. We talked about it earlier. Freedj did ask Bill Daley if there's any concern whatsoever

about is there a requisite talent pool to draw from for more teams? And they said, like, across the board, it is not a problem. Like, they feel like they could go to 36 and there would be more than enough players available because the growth, I mean, especially in the U.S., the growth of the sport has been, you know, noticeable. There's been a major uptick in quality players that are coming through to the point where you wouldn't have to worry about the skill level

of the game being diluted whatsoever. Yeah, and none of them are learning how to play defense either, so there'll be more goal scoring. Even better. Old man. Yelling at the clouds again. Okay, mook out that old man. Okay, old man, go.

I learned also from 32 Thoughts, and I like this one, that David Pasternak does not like receiving lengthy texts. Makes him nervous. And he said, I'm super bad at texting. Anytime a text is longer than one sentence, there's no reply from me. I panic when I see long texts, always easier to FaceTime. I like to see the person eye contact. So two things like I'm really mixed here because I like to see the person. Eye contact. So two things. Like I'm

really mixed here because I also hate getting long texts. My sister texts these really long things. I'm like, I'm not. Just call me. But FaceTime? I don't like FaceTime. No. I don't like it. I hate FaceTime. Yeah, I don't.

It's just so awkward. There's always some sort of. I end up looking at myself more than i end up looking at the person i'm talking to in that little square down there yeah is that what i look like well that's just because you like looking at yourself no not even no it's it's more self-loathing yeah it's a sharp reminder of how things have gone you just keep adjusting the phone like what about angle can i put myself at yeah i can't can't stand that. But like... Like, are you doing a duck face right now? I'm like, no. You got to drop everything you're doing, right?

You can't... It's not like talking on the phone where you kind of put it on speaker and keep doing it. But with FaceTime, you got to hold the phone. What about long texts? Not a fan. Not a fan at all. Like you said, phone call is easier.

Call me. Yeah. If you've got that much to discuss. Do kids still Snapchat? Do they do that still? Is that a thing? Lena? I think Snapchat's not cool anymore. Call me. Yeah. If you've got that much to discuss. Do kids still Snapchat? Do they do that still? Is that a thing? Lena? I think Snapchat's not cool anymore.

You're the youngest. We haven't even heard from you. Were you even asleep for the whole show? I'm trying to keep up here. Snap is making a comeback, actually. Wait, it went out of style? It did go out of style. And now it's back.

A lot of celebrities and influencers are being given incentives to start snapping. So you can follow celebrities and influencers and see what they're up to every day. Okay. And they make money through the ads that get placed in between their snaps. Where's the real action in social media now? Is it TikTok? I'd say TikTok is top of the table. Excuse me?

What? You ever heard of Be Real? Yeah, he's the lead singer of Cypress Hills. There's another social media called Be Real. Really? Okay.

What does it do? Laddie, aren't you on Truth Social a lot? Yeah, I've been known to peruse. Be Real is interesting because it gives you

a window every day where it lets you post something, but it doesn't tell you when that window is. It's invasive. It's supposed to be a real snapshot of your life. Oh. Here's a chance to see a peek into your life.

Right. And you have to do it at that moment in time. You can't set things up. You can't set it up. That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. It's so dumb. It gives you a two minute time limit to post. Sweet.

And you can be on the toilet. Yeah, yeah. I'm just yelling at someone in traffic right now hold on a second let me grab my phone but that's real but it's real stage is not choreographed is it supposed to make people less depressed about their lives or more or more no but like if you're watching someone and they're in a bad situation and they have to be real at that time you're like at least you're not at a on situation and they have to be real at that time, you're like, hmm, at least you're not on vacation

somewhere I want to be. Somehow we made social media worse. But if you pull off a really good be real and alive in the moment. Nothing gets realer than that. I got another reminder of why I don't like Twitter and yet keep going back.

Why? So yesterday, last night, I came across a picture of Vancouver in the early 80s. I saw you tweeted it. And I thought it was really interesting

and all I said was, so it was a picture of BC Place under construction. There were still like sawmills in False Creek. And I find it like, you know,

like I'm, I'm older, but I'm not like ancient. And I just thought it was like interesting how much the city has changed while I've been alive. Right. Like there was no Rogers arena, you know, Yaletown, which is warehouses. There wasn't, you know, Concord Pacific hadn't started building, uh, all the condos that

they've got now. It was just, and I just said, I threw it out. There was like, it's crazy how much the city has changed five minutes until the hateful comments came right only five yeah like it's just it's it's just like you know i don't know whatever i shouldn't bring it up i shouldn't complain about it because it i know it gets people down but um i just you should be allowed can you can i is there some sort of thing where i can just be like hey i want to show this but i don't want anyone's opinion on it yeah you can just put it well you turn the turn the replies off just throw it out there right but then can

people quote tweet it then yes don't they do that to the owner of the canucks this is he turned his replies off this is why i never tweet the oakland A's. The Oakland A's turned their replies off. Oh, did they? Yeah, no one's been able to comment on any of their stuff. Okay. I wonder why. But can you imagine how sad your life is if you're yelling at sad club commish at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night about how Vancouver's gone to hell?

I mean, it wasn't a ringing endorsement for that guy's life. There's got to be so many better things you could be doing right now. And I was kind of joking around with you guys. I'm like, I'm sure that guy's doing a lot to help the city of Vancouver make it better. I was like, oh, wait a minute. Are you the director of the symphony orchestra? Definitely a functioning member and a contributing member of society. Definitely.

Okay. Moo Cow that. That was a multi-pronged what we learned. There was like eight what we learned in there. We're officially back. We ran the gamut there. Okay, we'll come back and we will do more. We'll dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket

and read your what we learneds as well. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time.

It's what we learn time. On the show. 834 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for 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 three of the program. It is what we learn in time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound.

Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. Oh, it's like he never left, Alfred. Just nailed it. Best part of my day, that and leaving. That and the nap afterwards. Two best parts of my day. That and leaving. That and the nap afterwards. Two best parts of my day. We're going to do a few more of what we learned here before we turn it over to the humanoids.

I want to do one. Jason wants to do another one. I learned that we've had two incredible walk-offs in the last little while. We had a walk-off rouge in the CFL. It was great. And in the Little League World Series, the championship game, there was a walk-off bunt.

Now I'm going to set the scene here. It was the Little League team from Florida. Lake Mary. And the Little League team from Taiwan, Chinese Taipei, whatever. I don't know what they, well, they're both the same thing. Chinese Taipei. Okay. That's the name. That's what they call it in the Little League team from Taiwan, Chinese Taipei, whatever. I don't know what they, well, they're both the same thing. Chinese Taipei. Okay.

That's the name. That's what they call it in the Little League World Series, Chinese Taipei. It was in extra innings, so it was the bottom of the eighth. Correct. There's a man on second. That's how you start. And the play was a bunt. Well, they bunt Alexander with the runner at second base, Norton.

He gets it down. Oh, it's perfect. He's rolling away. Lake Mary's going to win the Little League World Series championship. Ah, the walk-off bunt. So we were talking about this earlier in the show. Who's to blame here?

It was a walk-off wild throw. Really? So, okay, there's a walk-off wild throw. Really? Okay, there's a few things that went wrong. When the pitcher picked up the bunt and turned to first base, and I don't know. There was no one there. There was no one there. I think what he did is he saw the umpire and thought that that was maybe

someone. That guy would catch it. Yeah. Hey, hey, guy, catch this. Do me a fave. Yeah, he did not. And then the ball rolled into right field, and the runner that started on second base

scampered all the way home for the winning run. Again, bunt defense essentially is if it's to one side of the diamond. Yeah. Pitcher should be first on the scene. But there should be multiple. But the pitcher should have been cognizant of the fact that the first baseman was right beside him. But what happens is when you're practicing it,

you just sort of do, like, you don't think. It's to the point where it's like everyone knows where they're supposed to be. So the pitcher's job is to get down, get up, and throw it to first base. And he assumes that who's going to be there, the second baseman? Well, yeah.

And, like, why was there, like, there should be a multitude of covers on that, too. Like, someone, there should be someone on the bag, obviously. There should be someone behind the bag in case the throw goes wild. And then, like, the right fielder should have been, I was going to say the right fielder should have the bag, obviously. There should be someone behind the bag in case the throw goes wild. And then the right fielder should have been in, too. What a moment for that to come down.

Well, you know, people have gone away from the bunt and small ball in favor of all these dingers that kids are hitting nowadays. Just goes to show that if you lay down a well-executed bunt, you don't have the proper bunt defense. And there's children fielding. And not major league professional players. Many of whom are crippled by fear and anxiety because it's such a big moment.

It's crazy how good those kids are, though. Like, with all due respect to that play, I mean, that can happen in the majors, right? There's mix-ups in the majors that happen like that. I mean, I saw one play from the Mets from a couple of days ago where I think they made about four throwing errors all in the same play. That's the Mets. I mean, that's the Mets, yeah.

I guess the other part of it too, though, is that – so Little League rules – We had the Wally Little League coach on last week. Oh, did you? Steve Young. He's not the quarterback. Right. I was like, wow, he's so versatile. Yeah, so he played Wally little league.

And then as, when he was in his twenties, he helped coach and then he had a son and he was like, we're making this. Yeah. And, uh, and, uh, the two of them got to the little league world series together. And, and one of the things that I was talking about was just how quickly the kids have to get

good at baseball and how much they have to pick up in what four or five years because we've all seen seven and eight year olds well parents have play baseball and you're like these kids don't know what they're doing first base is over there well yeah no it's the skills that you need the fielding the throwing the hitting that's one thing the pitching pitching's the big but but no but it's the skills that you need, the fielding, the throwing, the hitting. It's the pitching. That's one thing, the pitching. The pitching's the big one. But no, but it's the situational stuff. When they're seven and eight, you're still working off the slinger arm, right?

They're not pitching yet. Yeah, yeah. You get two years. It's incredible how quickly they get. You get two years of minor ball where your kids learn how to pitch and get good at it. And then you're in the majors and you're like, now try and go to Williamsport. God bless. So shout out to, where was it?

Florida, right? Lake Mary. Congratulations. I think it was the first ever Little League World Series for Florida. First Little League championship game to go to extra since 07. You know Chinese Taipei will be back next year. They'll be back. Practicing bud defense all off season.

Okay, Mook, how about that? Laddie, you got one? Yeah, well, today's the big day. Blue Jays season has been building for this moment when they have a make-up, rained-out game with the Boston Red Sox. But everyone should know, we did what we learned before about Danny Jansen possibly playing for both teams in that game, and he was the one at bat when the game was postponed.

So someone's actually going to have to take over his at bat, which is pretty intriguing. It's never been done in baseball before, so that's a thing you can check off the list. But there's also another little wrinkle because there's been a lot of roster changes for the Blue Jays over the last little while since this game was played. And there's two players who have the potential to play,

Leo Jimenez and Will Wagner. And if they get a hit in this game, they will technically have a hit that predates their first career Major League hit. Because the game is still technically played on the date that it was originally scheduled. We went back in time. But they have gotten hits since then. But what would you consider your first ever hit then? Would it be this game?

Or would it be the game where they actually got their first career hit? What was the game I was watching yesterday? A pitcher had to come out in mid-at-bat with two strikes because he got injured. That was the Blue Jays game. Zephyrjohn came in. Yeah, the guy that came in got his first career ever MLB strike when he threw one pitch.

This is the only thing that's interesting about the Jays now. Oh, yeah. Just these funny little things. Well, that's what you got to do in baseball, right? You got to find these little intricate weird stories that you can keep interested in. It's like Marge with the potatoes. I just think they're neat. Yeah. There's no real got to do in baseball, right? You got to find these little intricate, weird stories that you can keep interested in. It's like Marge with the potatoes. I just think they're neat.

Yeah. There's no real significance to this at all. I texted the show chat. I don't think you were on it, but Josh and Laddie were on it. I was like, how do people watch these full games when their team is completely out of it? So if you're a Blue Jays fan or even, you know, I know the Mariners, they're giving a little hope recently. Yep. But, like, how do you watch these games when there's nothing to play for?

It is. And Josh was like, you don't got that dog in you. Yeah. It's great. I'm trying hard enough. Okay, we'll get out of that. Or did you want to say something? Well, I was going to say, you think Canucks fans,

you guys stick through them, like, with them through thick and thin. Yeah, but we're in for a living. And it's only 82 games. It's not 162 that you have to stick through them like with them through thick and thin for a living and it's only 82 games it's not 162 that you have laddie if i know some of those seasons before last season i would not be watching those games i wouldn't unless we're built different my friend death march games were those like why would you yeah why you know like why what what's so okay well i'm gonna ask you why why why do you watch Why do I watch even when it's long gone? I just enjoy it. It's our kind of a daily tradition when you just put the Jays game on when it's time to

have the Jays game on and you pick up little things that you just, you see relievers come in that you'll remember them down the road and say, Hey, that guy played for the Jays. And it's just, you pick up things like that, that you don't necessarily need to know, but it's stuff that you just follow when you're a baseball fan you just melodic nature of it i do lots of people that like one of this guy that moved up here from cleveland that i kind of became friends with he got the mlb radio package streaming so that he could listen just and you just have it on in the background he just liked having the sound like the ambient noise i just i like the organ i like knowing who's in the organization

i always look at who's on the 40-man roster, and you get to see guys come through that you wouldn't normally get to watch. Watch a lot of these guys in Vancouver. They get to come up and play for the team. You're a true fan. I am, well. A fan of the game, too. A fan of the game.

Not just the team, the game. A scholar of the game, really. Okay, now we're pushing. Knock it off. Yeah, stop. One final one from me. Congratulations are in order to John Abbott, former play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks,

has just been announced as Sportsnet's new play-by-play voice for the Calgary Flames. It just got announced on social media. Just got the press release right now. We're already chasing it. Oh, yeah, where did Baller go? Baller went to Chicago. Right, right.

To replace the outgoing Chris Vosters, if I'm not mistaken, right now we're already oh yeah where did baller go baller went to chicago right right to replace the outgoing chris vosters if i'm not mistaken who only had two years on the job and he was replacing pat foley i don't know how i know all this because you hang out with shorty why it's committed to memory but um baller obviously i mean baller went to chicago and i think we actually either tried to get him or we talked about it at length. It was me and Jamie because it was funny not for Chris Vosters, but Vosters' exit and dismissal was not without controversy.

Okay. He was not necessarily a hockey guy by trade. He was a young play-by-play guy and he was coming in the heels of... That's not the right way to say that. Coming off the heels of Pat Foley who was a Hall of Fame broadcaster. Clipping that.

Definitely clip that. Anyway, point being, Baller got to go and be the voice of Conor Bedard's. Right. That's a dream job in an original six market. Regardless of what you want to say about the Chicago Blackhawks as an organization, I'll just get that out there.

I know that some people are going to text me, how could you say that? I mean, it's Conor Bedard, it's Chicago, it's an awesome city, it's an original city. Congratulations to Abs, truly one of the nicest guys I've ever met. Right, so the gig opens up. Almost to a fault, I'll be honest with you.

He was too nice for the Vancouver market. He was too nice, yeah. Anyway, yeah, congrats to Abs. It's a great thing. So Sportsnet's new play-by-play voice of the Calgary Flames, John Abbott. Moo cow that. Okay, we're ready to go to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket.

If so, fire out the dead matrix. Did you guys do the fire plan stuff while I was away? Let's hear it. Josh was doing it. Great. Oh, my God. We're having a fire plan. I didn't have the heart to tell him that we really didn't have to do it,

but he was very excited. It's a part of the show now. Marcus and Gibson's with a What We Learned. I missed this whilst on vacation. Hashtag WWL What We Learned. I learned San Jose got a steal of a deal in the Askaroff trade. Mike Greer doing some fine work. That guy that got traded from San Jose to Nashville.

Poor guy got drafted in 2023. He's a first-round pick. What's his name? Edstrom. Yeah, and now he's on his third team already. Nobody loves me. Yes, I heard he's a problem in the room. David Edstrom. I've never been in the room. He doesn't even get to go there. Anyway, what did you think about the

Askarov deal? I think it's good that he's found a home, that he can play some regular NHL minutes. I hope there's oxygen on the bench waiting for him. He's going to get just annihilated. He's going to get shelled. And I know in the goalie world, there's a bit of a split about Askarov. Some people think he's a little overhyped. Other people think he's great.

I think a lot of that negativity comes from his attitude. He's got a bit of swagger. He's got a bit of bite to him. And I think a lot of goalie coaches don't like that. A lot of regular coaches. Well, after a year in San Jose, that swagger might be knocked out of them. Yes, and it was kind of interesting to hear Barry Trotz kind of throw him under the bus on the way out, too, saying that they thought they had a plan in place where he could play about 20 games and still be with the organization and then try to transition.

Yeah, but when Soros signed the long-term contract, if I'm a Scarra, I'm like, what's my future here? Apparently he was on board, though. Apparently he was initially on board, and then he changed his mind at some point in this offseason, which kind of threw them, you know, for a loop a little bit there. And then he said his attitude was a bit of the part of the reason why they looked at or explored trading him in the first place. I mean, I was

thoroughly impressed with Soros in that first-round series against him. How did he not? I know he's good. I knew he was good before. I knew the reputation and everything, but I guess I didn't watch enough national games closely enough to appreciate how good he is. I can understand why they were like, we're not going to move off this. Why would you? And he doesn't get hurt for a tiny

little guy. He's just a tiny little guy. As soon as he signed that extension, how do you not expect Askarov to one out? They should have been exploring all their options at that point immediately. And San Jose was like, advantage us. Askarov, one out. Sure. They should have been exploring all their options at that point immediately. And San Jose was like, advantage us. Yeah, Askarov, I've noticed your attitude has become a lot worse since your future has been blocked here in Nashville.

Yeah, it has. Creed from East Van, what we learned. I wrote my law school paper requirement on the competition act and the Leafs and expansion of another Toronto team. So Creed has done the work. Law school. He said, the conclusion to scenarios, MLSE considers litigation to stop any expansion,

going to the Competition Act and NHL Constitution as their reliant sources, or like all things, they settle and get a ton of money. I just wonder if it's going to be the latter eventually. Yeah. You know? It's the easiest way to do it. Everyone's got a price. I mean, there would be a price, but.

Yeah, a big one. But what would be the price? What do you think to put a second team in Toronto? What are you looking at? What would you have to pay the Leafs? Plus then you've got your expansion fee. I don't know. What are you looking at?

5 billion or something like that? Probably. Three to the Leafs? Two to, I don't know what are you looking at five billion or something like that probably three to the leafs two to i don't know what the i have no idea the numbers around sports right now are just like so crazy you're just kind of like yeah all right we need to come up with new like aliens because we got like trillions is now in play right soon soon we'll have to go to something else i don't even know well there are companies worth over a trillion dollars yeah i don't even know what what do you do after that do the numbers run out does money even go that high i don't think we know but i think we do i think you don't know

i also want to say um the jeff vinick selling or is in the process of trying to sell the tampa lightning their valuation was like at two billion yeah which is i mean that's great it's good for the league that it all depends though sometimes like how much yeah which is i mean that's great it's good for the league that it all depends though sometimes like how much real estate is involved sure that sort of thing plays into it as well but like i know when we talked about expansion earlier and we talked about it with like it it does kind of shock me sometimes that the nhl is this financially like robust because i remember i mean like there's some dark days in the nhl when it came to money yeah right like you know deadbeat owners you know guys pretend guys pretending they had money and

not that long ago right boots del biajo wasn't that long ago right and then you know there's a name boots yeah boots you don't have any facts and memories i'd like to make a presentation to the ownership committee hello my name my name is Boots. Yeah. I like what Boots has to say. No, and then. Well, I mean, look at the Coyotes. Yeah.

Blackberry guy almost takes over the team. The most recent guy. What was his name? Morello. Yeah. He's gone now. Yeah, yeah. He's just a weird footnote in NHL history.

I don't think he was the perfect candidate, but he had the money. And then the NHL learned that even though a guy has money, he's not always good for the league. Justin and East Van, what we learned, the 1932 World Series Babe Ruth game worn Yankees called shot jersey. Saw this. Sold at auction for over $24 million US. So, um, obviously that's the jersey that Babe Ruth wore. Yes.

And the game where he pointed that he's going to hit a home run and then hit a home run. Justin asked the question, which Canucks game worn jersey would fetch the highest price in an auction? That is a great question. Wow.

If it was available, right? Sure. I mean, I saw this earlier. The first one that jumped to my mind was Burroughs' Slay the Dragon jersey. But don't you think, and I don't mean to disrespect Burroughs here, wouldn't you want more of a star player? But what star player had that moment? I've got one.

Caval Burroughs in 94. I've got one. Cavalbury in 94. I got one. Yeah. So the one that he squirted. Overtime goal against, which was similar to Burroughs. Iconic photo of Lyndon hugging the plane. That's what I was thinking too. The bloody shirt.

Oh, Lyndon's jersey with the blood on it. Was that after game six against the Rangers? I changed my vote. I want the blood jersey. Give me that one. But only if the blood's still on it. If it's been cleaned, I don't want it anymore. No, it's. I want the blood jersey. Give me that one. But only if the blood's still on it. If it's been cleaned, I don't want it anymore.

No, it's got to have the blood stain on it. That would be great. Okay, I changed my vote. Do you think Trevor's listening at home? He's like, do you think I'm going to get 24 million for this? Oh my God. Am I Dave Ruth?

What I learned from Iron Blair. Hashtag WWA, what we learned. If the Blue Jays could have played 162 games against the Angels, they might have made the playoffs. How bad are the Angels to watch? So bad. Yeah, there's not...

What a sad, sad franchise. And they just extended their GM. I know. Like, what? You've done a remarkable job of keeping us below mediocre. You lose the premier player in the sport in that offseason.

You go on to be 20 games under.500 and you get an extension? What is going on with the LA Angels? Nobody cares, though. Is that what it is? They put a lot of money into that team. It's not like they don't pay players, but they went out and got Rendon,

and then he was immediately terrible. Yeah, straight to stink town. I know I've asked this question before. Is Trout trapped there? I think he likes being there. He enjoys that area. I don't think he cares about winning all that much. He gets hurt a lot.

The warm weather helps his body. Yeah, no, it's good. It's a weird organization. Brian from East Van. Hey, we're going to stay on the baseball front here. Hashtag WWO, what we learned from Brian and East Van. I learned that Shohei Otani could be the first player for a 50-50 season in MLB history after joining the 40-40 club. The unicorn keeps delivering.

You did some research on this earlier about guys that did the 40-40 and aren't in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, I was shocked to see. The first three. What do these guys have in common? Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, and A-Rod. Oh, three of the best to ever do it. The combination of power and speed.

That's all they have in common with one another and then soriano in 2006 did it for the nationals and a lot of people consider that like the first well clean 40 40 do you remember how big a deal it was when kenseiko did it yeah it was i was a huge i was a huge bash brothers i had the poster did you see how otani did it no grand slam really or is 40 i just i just saw it. It just popped across yesterday. Walk off Grand Slam. So who's that? I love the dates, by the way.

September 23rd, Canseco did it. And then all the other guys were in September. September 16th for Soriano. August 23rd for Shohei. And that's why a lot of people are wondering if he can do 50-50, which would be incredible. He's got 41 homers already. He only needs 9 more. And he's also been, I think he's been

working a little bit on the mound too. He threw for the first time since his surgery. He got plunked a couple times yesterday. I was worried for him. Like not Shohei, not the unicorn. Can a plunk ball tear a ligament? I don't know. Possibly. I've never seen that before. Big Brian in Langley. Not to be confused with little Brian in Langley.

Hashtag WWL what we learned. What I learned, the Lions are a mess. The individual skill is there. The basics are not. Trench play is brutal. O-line can't block a three-man rush. D-line has poor pass rush. It seems they can't make adjustments throughout the game.

The defense is what's going to sink this team. I know everyone is maybe more enamored with what Nathan Rourke's going to do or how good he could end up being, but when you get all these different pundits saying that they're not playing defense at a professional level, it's really hard to expect that you're just going to flip the switch

and figure it all out. It's bad right now. It's cool that we've had to watch the Seahawks and the Lions play defense in the last few years. How much bad tackling in the Pacific Northwest? Make a tackle. Make a play. Just someone make a play. Okay much bad tackling in the Pacific Northwest? Make a tackle. Make a play. Just someone make a play.

Okay, we've got to get out of here for now. That's what the music means. It has been fun. We will be back tomorrow. Signing off for now, I have been Mike Halford. He's been Jason Brough. She's been Lena. He's been Laddie.

This has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.