Halford & Brough in the Morning - BC Lions Head Coach Buck Pierce

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with BC Lions head coach Buck Pierce (1:55) as training camp gets underway, plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Music 801 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first untrusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound, real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together

with you in step. Yeah, that was a tough one. Good little slip. Buck Pierce is about to join us and guests on Sportsnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Don't get caught in the dark. When it matters most, visit them at powerwest.ca.

Today they keep the lights on. They sure do. In the middle of the Buck Pierce call today, we're going to be doing a giveaway for a pair of tickets to see the Who at Rogers Arena on September 23rd at 8 15 this morning. So don't call now call in 13 minutes time. Caller number five at 8 15 604 280 zero six 50 that number again, 604 280 zero six 50 will win a pair of tickets to see the who at Rogers arena on September 23rd again, 8 15 this morning phone number 604-650, be caller number five.

Now though, we turn our attention to the aforementioned Power West Industries hotline. BC Lions head coach Buck Pierce joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Buck, how are you? Hey, good morning, I'm doing excellent. How about you guys? We are well, thanks for taking the time to do this

right ahead of today's practice, which gets underway soon. So I know you've gone through a lot of training camps before you've done it as a player, you've done it as a coordinator, but now as the head coach of the BC Lions, what's it been like, what's it been, how's it been different for you? This training camp has prepared to other ones now that you're the head coach of the BC Lions. Well, yeah, you know, it is different. I have been through quite a few training camps, you know, in my time in the CFL.

But, you know, obviously the head coach is a little bit different, right? It's a little bit more, you know, planning going in as a player. You know, you, you, you prepare, you know, your body, you know, to get ready to go and compete and, uh, you know, as a coach, um, or an offensive coordinator, you know, you're installing plays, right? So you're going to spend the majority of the time on the offensive side of the ball. So now as the head coach, you know,

you just kind of do a little bit here and there, you know, and just, you know, make sure everything's going smoothly, right? But I mean, what a beautiful facility we have up here. You know, the players are excited. The energy's been great. So it's been good work so far. So I was reading a quote that you had earlier in the week

where it said, training camp isn't just about X's and O's and running plays that are drawn up on the board. It's about finding out who you are as a team and being close as teammates. Who do the BC Lions, who do you guys wanna be this year as a team? Well, you know what, I think exactly that, right? I mean, you know, obviously our expectations

are extremely high, you know, for this group. You know, we have some talented players, you know, we're in the process of, you know, finding out who we are, you know, and that's what training camp is for, you know, and, you know, we're looking for, you know, players obviously that can, you know, help us win on the field but are also, you know, great character guys, you know, good locker room guys, guys that are great in the community. Those are the guys that really help you in the long haul. And the idea of becoming a team,

those are the things that will withstand adversity. So I'm big on teammates. That's one of the big things is, you know, to me, one of the only motivations you should have as a player is not letting down the guy next to you. Right? So, you know, training camps, performing those bonds, obviously, you know, where guys are here to compete, you know, earn a job. And that's always been a part of training camp, but also it's, also believe it's,

it's a time for us to grow together and get to know each other. How do you do that as, as a coach? Cause you can't just be like, Hey guys, get to know each other. Like other things that you do. Well, you know, I think you got, you have to, you know, create that environment, that healthy balance of, you know, competition and, uh, you know, allowing the players to, you know, have time with time with each other as well. Right, I mean, the great thing about coming up here to Kamloops is we're around

each other all the time, right? We eat together, we're at the same hotel, the same dorm, we're in meetings at night, we're in meetings in the morning, we're on the field together. So that atmosphere creates itself a little bit, right? So the more time you spend together, the more you know, that atmosphere, you know, creates itself a little bit, right? So the more time you spend together, the more you get to know each other.

Have you felt any nostalgia coming back to the BC Lions? What's new, what's the same, like, when, compared to your time as a player here? Well, this was my first time coming to Kamloops. When I played, we were, we had training camp in Chilliwack my first year in 2005 and then we were in Abbotsburg. So, you know, a little bit different.

I mean, what a beautiful facility, what a great place to hold training camp. The community support has been great. Yeah, I still know a lot of people within the organization as well, so there's some familiar faces. But I do get pretty excited when I walk in in the morning and I see that BC Lions logo hanging in my locker. As a former CFL quarterback, and specifically a BC Lions quarterback, how excited are you

to work with Nathan Rourke? Oh, extremely excited. And Nathan's been great. Nathan's been great. All the things you hear about when you're at other places and you're watching work are, you know, spot on. So he's been good. It's been good communication, you know, extremely competitive. You know, he wants to be coached, wants to be learned. And, you know, we're excited about that. What does he need to work on? Well I think

everybody has something to work on right? I mean his physical tools are elite, you know what he can do, throwing the football, his leadership skills, the way that he commands the huddle. I think right now it's just growing into the new offense. It's continuing to understand the little intricacies of what we do differently than what he's done in the past and being able to communicate that to the rest of the group. So I think with Nathan, where he's been and coming back in the middle of the season last year,

he's really able to sink his teeth into this and, you know, learn it, you know, from the foundation. Right? So I think that's, you know, that's the biggest jump for him right now. I'm sure you've had some conversations with Nathan about what happened last season. It was a tumultuous season, you know, just for the team. And some days it looked really good for the team and other days it didn't look

good and it didn't end well. Um, in your conversations with him, what do you think happened last season with Nathan Rourke and how can that change this year? Well, you know what, to be honest with you, like, you know, we've discussed, you know, certain things about, you know, how things were about how things were, how things were ran, those types of things, but we don't really get into much of that. We're moving forward.

He's moving forward and excited about the opportunity to do something this year. The quarterback position is obviously looked at and put up on a pedestal. But the reality is we have to build pieces around it too. Our part as coaches is to continue to make that job more manageable, easier, and that takes all of us. That's not just Nathan. What does a Buck Pierce offense look like? Well, you know, I'm gonna,

you know, we're gonna, we're gonna, you know, hold our standard of, you know, things that we want to see, right? You know, we want to be physical, we want to be tough, all those things. Um, you know, in kitchen, if you're those things, if you're physical and you're tough, you can be balanced, right? You know, we, you know, we want to run the football. You know, that's something I've always done, you know, wherever I've been. But also, you know, I tell the players all the time, it's up to them what it's gonna look like. You know, we're in the process of training camp here,

finding out, you know, what guys do well, right? And, you know, how we can utilize their strengths in different spots and different, you know, formations, all those types of things. Right? So that's what training camp is kind of for, but you know, ultimately, you know, the players are gonna, you know, build this offense, you know, based on what they can do. What did you take from your time with the Winnipeg blue bombers? Because as much as I would hate to admit it, uh,

they have been very successful over the last few years. Yeah, you know, I think you take a little bit of everything. Obviously, you know, we had some success there, you know, but it's a new chapter. You know, I was fortunate enough to be there for, you know, 10 years as a coach, you know, and watched the growth, you know, throughout the years and, you know, get it, you know, help get it to where it was. So, you know, obviously there's a lot of lessons there, you know, just from, you know, how we practice,

you know, how we prepare, and then just, you know, what winning football looks like, right? And what it should look like, you know, so that's probably the biggest things I took away from that. Well, Buck, I know you got practice coming up in about 19 minutes here, so we'll let you go. Enjoy everything up in Kamloops at Hillside.

It should be a good week and happy to have you on board here. Happy to get you on the show. Let's try and do this again as we get closer to the start of the regular season. Hey, sounds good guys. You guys enjoy your morning. Thanks Buck. That's Buck Pierce, head coach of the BC Lions, getting closer and closer to the start of practice. So just real quick on that note,

training camp goes all week at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops. They're going to start at eight thirty this morning at nine thirty this morning. BC Lions owner Omar Doman, he teased this on Twitter or X. I started I'm saying X more, which I don't like. That's obviously I always sound that I always sounds like I'm trying to be extreme. So, yeah, just call it. I posted on X. I know it's just like being in my subconscious call it Twitter. I post it on X. I know, it's just seeping into my subconscious.

Just call it Twitter. Okay. On Twitter last night. Thank you. Amar Doman teased that at 9.30 this morning, they're going to announce the headliner for the concert series. And that's, you know.

It's Taylor Swift. Right, so there's a spoiler. You missed it the first time. 8.12 in the morning, the spoiler came out at 9.30's announcement. So it was 50 Cent cent LL Cool J. I don't know what this year's is going to be. But again, the B.C.

Lions owner, Mara Domen announced yesterday that they'll announce at nine thirty this morning. Do you think they'll go country? Don't know. Don't know. I don't know if it's necessarily the genre as it is the size and scope of the artist. Yeah, that's the important thing. Right. And I think that, you know, as we get more and more, as we evolve more and more as a society. It's Cannibal Corpse.

Or Cannibal Corpse. Musical genres, they break down. Yeah. And we just understand that it's all music. And it doesn't matter what category you're in. I mean, it would be very funny for them to book a really big death metal band. Cannibal Corpse.

That would be very funny. Yeah. Like, Obed. For the children. Well, do you remember when we thought, Actually, Tal That would be very funny. Yeah. Like, Old Beth. For the children. Well, do you remember when we thought 50 Cent would kind of rated PG? I thought he was going to clean it up. Radio play.

He did not. He sure did not. No. A lot of kids learned some new words that day. But then I thought about it. It's like, when they do Radio. The Flanders family will never be back to a BC Lives game. I was thinking about it at the time what they expect like obviously wouldn't do that

Well, no like when they do when you have a radio edit, that's what it means It's edited for the radio. They don't record a clean version. Mm-hmm So did he send probably only knows how to perform the song one way? Yeah, no how to bleep it out as he's going along Well, just use dancers though. Yeah, I mean they probably could have done some choreography switches It's amalterations. No, I'm not complaining. I thought it was awesome that they did it was legit It was like 430 in the afternoon. It was a very it was a daytime performance You guys remember that very famous rage against the machine concert on BBC and they told them like there's no swearing Yeah, and they're like don't say I know you say fu

I won't do what you tell me about 30 times to end your song Do not do that and then they did right off the hop. What were they supposed to do frig you? Yeah, I don't know what they were expecting. Well, I think they told don't perform that one song Oh, right, and they also didn't want them to be super political, but it's like it's right against the machine They didn't want rage against right she and to be super. I know it's like why did you book this band? Darren Drager is reporting on X. You know what it sounds like? Do you remember when Vince McMahon introduced the XFL?

This is the X. Yeah, he said like, X. Anyway, Drager. I get it. Posting strong indications this week, Rick Tauket will soon land another NHL head coaching job. Philly, Boston, Seattle, believed to be among the top contenders.

The Flyers want to be aggressive, good fit. So we've heard all sorts of different information, some of it contradictory. You know, there was, I saw people discussing yesterday, maybe he's just going to go back to TNT. This report suggests that he's not going to go back to TNT and he's going to be coaching. Um, I've always thought it's going to be Philly

just because. Yeah. Um, and you know, Boston. Boston's intriguing. Boston's intriguing, but look, we had this conversation with Pete Blackburn. One of Taken's big things here was that he's Boston's intriguing. Boston's intriguing, but look, we had this conversation with Pete Blackburn. One of Tauke's big things here was like, I don't

love the middle of the ice. Yep. Where it's trending. Do you love the center position? And no, I mean, I mean. Boston is the number one problem. And Seattle. Um.

No, Seattle. You know, Seattle. No one's taking that job. Well, if they, if they, if they bid it up, it would sure be interesting if Tuckett took the Seattle job. Because I think Seattle's trying to make a splash. I think they've probably heard from a lot of people and whether Rick Tuckett as the head coach would be a splash, I don't know. But the franchise has been boring.

Man, even their head coaching positions, they're like, oh, okay, Bilesburg, great. Who was the guy they had before? Dave Haxdal. Yeah, Haxdal. It's like, okay, what's interesting about these guys? The recycling program continues. Right, and the whole team is not interesting at all. So here's what I think has happened with Talkit

and Pete sort of framed it nicely. By the way, if you want to hear Pete's, Pete Blackburn's interview our one podcast our two is available for download our three will be there soon Apple Google wherever you podcasts I think it's worth noting that Pete said it feels like and he got this from fridge it feels like Rick talk it is interviewing clubs more than clubs are interviewing Rick Tocket. Yeah. And it's because he's the belle of the ball right now.

And he is to a certain degree. I think that you can say that while also acknowledging that he's not the greatest coach that's ever been behind an NHL bench. And he's not without flaws. He's just he's well respected, though. He's the hot candidate at the right time. And he I'll be objectively speaking, I'll be honest. He has played his cards almost perfectly, almost perfectly.

He did not commit to the team that wanted him back. He probably left not on a high, but I put it this way. If talking to come back for another year, I think even more shine would have been off Then already was I think more bloom would have been off the rows than already is you got to put yourself in positions To succeed he saw and he saw a robust coaching market with a lot of opportunities and he saw the only other Really highly coveted candidate, Mike Sullivan, go to market and get swept up in like five days. So I think that Tauke had his play his cards

exceptionally well. And see until he. No, but what's the worst case scenario is he doesn't decide on a job this summer, he goes and works in television for a year, he goes back a year later. Yeah, that can be a risk though. Yeah, that's fine.

But he's played it, to this point, I'd say he's played it almost perfectly because he's got teams clamoring for his services. He's built up a bit of a bidding war. And here's the thing, if he takes the Philadelphia job, inherent in taking that job is that you are not expected to win right away. You're not.

Yeah. Boston's a different scenario. Boston to me is intriguing because of the history of the franchise, the market, the fact that they do still have Pasta and McAvoy and Swamen. Now, if I was Boston, I'd be looking at the possibility of entering a rebuild because I think that they are in no man's land right now.

But Sweeney and Neely have made it pretty apparent that they're gonna be aggressive and they're gonna try and build this thing back up and in a hurry, whatever the case. Part of me admires what Tauke is done on a personal level and is happy for wherever he lands. But the other part is like, I don't really care. Like for me, the talk it chapter's closed.

I do out of interest though. Out of interest, yeah. Emotionally, no, but I'm just curious about it. And the funny thing is, yeah, Whisk is over here. I'm far more interested in what the Cucks do next behind the bench because I think it's more intriguing than where talk it ends up because the job. I think it'd be very intriguing if talk it ends up

in Philly because. Not really, not next year. Because the flyers, here's the thing. if talk it ends up in Philly because not really not next year because this the flyers Here's the thing if talk it goes to the playoffs neck or sorry if talk it goes to Philly talk It's not a playoff coach next year and talk it's losing more games than he's winning next year. I'll put for sure I'll put money on that. Yeah, they're bad They're bad and they're not a whole offseason to change the roster, but they're not gonna do that because they're in a rebuild They're not gonna go out and get a real goalie and they're not going to go

out and spend big on a top six forward or center. And they're not going to get a prize. The fan, like they're going to be bad. Do you know that for sure? Yep. Do you have Intel from the flyers organization? They're going to be bad. I'm just telling you, they're going to be bad.

Right. I mean, I, I, I could see that I could see next year being about, okay, you bring in the talk of culture and he talks about eating elephants and all that sort of thing, and it teaches them how to play structural hockey and then, and then maybe you make your moves after that. But I also know that a lot of organizations don't really act that patiently.

They're like, if we're bringing in Rick Tauke as the head coach and we're paying him, I don't know, top dollar for a coach, We want results and we want them pretty quick. And the Flyers have been out of the picture in Philly for long enough, I think, for that organization. I realized that they've got the roster that they do. Yeah, their roster stinks. Yeah, but look at the Canucks roster, man. It's not much better. But that's not what...

It's better than Philly. But that's not what... It's better than Philly. I know. But... Target's coaching maybe in Philadelphia. Yeah, but the management here is saying we expect to be in the playoffs next season. Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about that, right? I'm talking about if he goes to Philly, they're going to be bad. In Vancouver, whoever the next head coach is, I think it's a far more interesting dynamic

because of the types of coaches that they're targeting, what they're inheriting, and what the pressure is gonna be. And their crazy expectations. Because they've got Quinn Hughes still. Yeah. And there's that, that's not, that dynamic doesn't exist in Philadelphia.

Quite frankly, it doesn't exist in 31 other NHL markets. That there's this impetus to be good with a very imperfect roster because you don't want to lose your franchise defenseman. The pressure that that puts on a coach coming in is high. And you're also seemingly trusting it to a guy that does right now. If you're going to say that the clubhouse leaders are, let's just say Manny Malhotra and Marco Sturm for sake of what's out there

and reporting. Neither of them has a single game of NHL head coaching experience on their resume. Never coached a game in the NHL before. Right. Both are similar playing profiles, played close to 1000 games in the league, well respected for what they did during their time. But they've been assistant coaches in the NHL and very brief 10 years as head coaches in the American League, which we know is a different beast.

How much do you think Taket's decision to leave Vancouver and go to a new team, do you think it was influenced at all just by the short nature of coaching stints and how much coaching life a coach has in the modern day NHL, which is like two years. So if you go to a new team, you're like, okay, we start the clock again. Right?

Because if Taket had signed a lengthy extension with the Canucks, let's say you got five years and then he comes back next season and things aren't good. Right? Like that's a tough situation to be in. You get so much more grace in your first year as head coach. I'll use a poker analogy for Tocket, which is fitting, because I think I've heard he likes poker.

You know when you try and like figure out the pot odds, that's like the potential reward as opposed to the risk of like calling a bet or whatever? Yeah, yeah. I think that's what he did looking at the Canucks job as opposed to the risk of like calling a bet or whatever. Yeah, yeah. I think that's what he did looking at the Canucks job as opposed to anything else. Yeah. You know?

People still ask me and they're like, why did he leave? And I'm like, dude, take your pick. Yeah. And, and, and, you know, maybe it's, he doesn't expect Quinn Hughes to resign. Maybe he looks at, uh, down the middle and he sees, you know, it's tough, right? Like, and the, and he sees it's tough.

Like, and the challenges of fixing it at this off season, so much is dependent on number one, PD bouncing back, number two, finding another center in a trade. And then you go to just like the vibe and you go to the lack of a practice facility. And there's also, and again, I keep coming back to this, and if he takes the Philly job, I'm going to be really curious to see how excited he is.

He might not take the Philly job, and I could be totally wrong about this. But I still feel like when Torz was fired, and when I was like, oh, the Flyers are going to need a new head coach, that must have perked his attention and be like, oh, I can go back to Philly. And the thing that informed me is just how the Canucks reacted. They were very frustrated with the speculation about Taukit going to Philly. Very.

And not just from the local market, but from the national market in Canada and the United States, all this talk about, oh, talking going to Philly makes sense. That's when they started saying, we're going to wield that option, right? They're like, no, no, no, he's ours. And then eventually they realized, okay, well, that's probably not the smartest thing to do

because we don't really want to have a head coach here that doesn't want to be here. And they said that. It just strikes me as. And so to me, Philly is the obvious choice here. I agree with you. The question that I can't answer is why hasn't it been done yet then? Um, maybe you want to, maybe he's negotiating, man.

Maybe he's, maybe he's feeling a bunch of offers. He's, I mean, we're saying that he's trying to get his price up. Yeah. But if Philly, if he wants to be that Philly He's trying to get his price up. Yeah, but if Philly, if he wants to be in Philly and Philly wants him, why isn't it done yet? That's the puzzling one to me. Because other teams Maybe he wants to go to do the TNT thing for a while.

When Sullivan got fired from Pittsburgh, it became pretty apparent right away that the Rangers wanted Sullivan and Sullivan wanted the Rangers. Bang, deal's done, right? Real quick. And now you look at it. Anaheim filled their vacancy.

Quenville. And now I know that there's other vacancies across the league. As a reminder, you still got Boston, you still got Chicago, Vancouver, Seattle, Pittsburgh. So there are vacancies there and there might be more. Who knows? LA might still come available. But what I'm saying is, if it felt and seemed like

that much of a layup, but the layup hasn't been made yet, I just keep coming back to the why. And that's- Well, I mean, Drager's reporting that it's probably gonna be one of those three teams this week. But Philly, Boston, or Seattle. Yeah, so we'll see. Okay, we're up against it for time.

We gotta go to break. When we come back, we're gonna do what we learned from our side of the table. We're gonna do yours as well. Get in dumb. Our number text line is 650 650 What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know. It's your chance to be on the radio You're listening to the health for the in-breath show on sportsnet 650 Darren Drager is reporting on X You know what it sounds like. Do you remember when Vince McMahon introduced the XFL? This is the XFL. Yeah, it's like, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhh uhhhhh uhhhh uhhhh uhhhh uhhhh uhhhh uhhhh uhhhh and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. ["It's What We Learn Time"]

Now for my favorite part of the show. What does that 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. It's what we learn time. On the show. 8.33 on a Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program.

It is what we learn time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound, real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell dash pound.com today. All right. We're going to do some, what we learned from our side of the table. Jason Brough is going to start. So the news out of the national football league this morning is it the NFL's

international game slate has been unveiled. We mentioned this earlier in the show, NFL is going all over the place, all over the globe next year. They're going to Berlin, they're going to Madrid, they're going to Sao Paulo, Brazil, Dublin, London, take your pick. The NFL will be there. And one of the teams that's gonna be incredibly busy

is the Minnesota Vikings, Jason. The Vikings are going back to back. I love it. September 28th at Croke Park in Dublin. My favorite. My, my favorite Hurling stadium. Love to watch Hurling there. And Gaelic football.

Both. Um, so they'll play there September 28th and then they're going to stay in that area because they're going to go to London and play at, uh, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 5th. So they're going to play the Steelers in Dublin, and they're going to play the Cleveland Browns in London. That's a road trip. That is a road trip. They've got to be the first NFL team to do that. I know most NFL teams-

They are, yeah. And I would imagine that the Vikings are probably going to get a bye week after that. I know most NFL teams are. And I would imagine that the Vikings are probably going to get a by week after most of that's how it works. Right. Is you you either go before or after a by week to sort of give yourself a little bit more time in terms of the travel back and forth. But that's pretty cool that they're doing that. I mean, it's taxing. Ireland seems to be getting into football because they've had they had the college football games there. The Notre Dame games. Right. Yeah.

Hey, there is, I mean, if you go and you do a deeper dive into the reading about the fan bases that have been established there, like there are, the games sell out all the time. Easily. Yeah. And there's a real appetite for it because. The games in England though they are they mostly English people in your in your deep dives are they English fans it's definitely a split because there's a lot of Americans obviously a lot of American finance in London or whatever you know there is that there is that element of it for sure

yeah and I imagine a lot of people if there was a game in any of these places Madrid Ireland if you were a fan of the team, you're like, that'd be cool, let's go. Yeah, no, that is a part of it too, and that's part of the reason why individual teams have drafted individual regions, because they're trying to get a specific brand foothold with their team, not just the NFL team.

The Steelers would love to be the official team of Ireland, right? Right. And then, if you have green uniforms now. Yeah, like just, you know, figure it out. You know, the reason Notre Dame's over there, right? They got Leprechaun on the side, you know? Yeah, you can dress DK up as a Leprechaun.

Sure, why not? Yeah, put on this hat. I do think that there's a definite mix in terms of what you're talking about, but they're trying to grow that foothold. And look, it's not that uncommon. It's almost the inverse of the soccer fan, the European soccer fan here.

Of course. You know, like think about it. Like think how much coverage we've got access to now and think how many people routinely like watch matches and have become fan. Like not people that already had it like baked into their individual sports recipe, but people who have gotten into it over the last little bit. now go to bars at noon so they can watch your favorite teams play

I've been a Liverpool supporter since I don't know three three hours ago, right? You know now consider the inverse in Europe for NFL teams anyway moocow all that Couple kids are so lucky today with the things they get to watch I know I just keep on coming back to it because a lot Of this has been created because you can watch it Accessibility has never been greater Not MLS. Do you remember except for MLS, which is very difficult when we've talked about this on the show before but guys like Maradona. Yeah when we were growing up

there's like wouldn't How much video footage would you see of him? Oh, live, none. Tape, minimal. Right? Yep. Like you'd get it once in a while, because where would you see it? You would see like clips maybe on the sports, like the six o'clock news.

Where else would you have seen growing up any video of Maradona except maybe during the World Cup? Soccer Saturday with Graham Leggett, seven o'clock in the morning. That's what it is. But that was more English stuff. Yeah, it would be, yeah, they'd actually do the championship in Scottish football before any of the other leagues.

We go now to Kilmarnock. And now you think about all the kids and how much they've seen video of Messi or Ronaldo. So when I, in my teens, so mid to late 90s, I distinctly remember having to go to the most random places to try and watch England games and then like the FA Cup final. We got a satellite and it was like the massive satellite. The'm sorry. I the amount of times that I went to the British X Servicemen's Association,

which I don't even think is open anymore. It was on Kingsway and it was very, very English. Smoking indoors, one window, bag of crisps clipped up. That was the snack. And that was it. The Barnett. I remember I used to go to the bar. I went I went and saw Man United and Newcastle

playing the 97 FA Cup Final and you had to pay like an ungodly amount of money to get in the door. There was an English pub on Denman, wasn't there? Yes. West End, is it still there? Yes, no, but I know exactly what you're talking about. Dover Arms? The Dover Arms, wow, yes.

I think I went and watched the 98 World Cup game there. Yeah, you used, those were my, Or you'd go to commercial, you'd go to commercial Avenue if you wanted to watch Italy. The Dover Arms. The Dover Arms. Wow, yes. I think I went and watched the 98 World Cup game there. Yeah, you used Dover. Or you'd go to commercial. You'd go to commercial avenue if you wanted to watch Italy. Are you talking about the West End Dover Arms? Yeah. Is it still there?

No. Yeah, yeah. It closed like right before I moved there. Yeah. But the sign was up there forever. Yeah. And a guy would walk in. They all looked like Andy Cap.

It's true. Andy Cap. All right, sorry. Moocow, me again. I apologize. So a couple of. Imagine hearing that right out of context, just that one line. What? Moocow me again, I apologize. Imagine somebody's tuning into the show for the first time, that's the first thing they

hear. I like to think they're intrigued by that. Many people ask about the origins of the Moocow. It's our charm. Moocow me again, I apologize. God, what did he do to get Moocow'd? So a couple... A couple news and notes out of the National Hockey League.

Anthony Stoneman, the director of the National Hockey League, said, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, People ask about the origins of the moon. It's our charm again. I apologize So a couple what did he do to get food out a couple news and notes out of the National Hockey League?

Anthony Stollers is back on the ice for the Toronto Maple Leafs optional practice taking shots today So I mean I can't imagine that he'd feature in this series Especially after the game that Joe wall had the best thing to do for recovery from a concussion is to get under those bright lights and start moving around buddy laddie But it means he's feeling good means that he wants to get back out there and face some shots Yeah, also he's in any shots with the concussion for those of you that have played through those injuries Don't you concussions are the best ones to play through? Yeah? Yeah, you can't do that more extra damage on it and get back out there Max Domi find

$5,000 the maximal allowable under the CBA for that late hit on Barkov at the end of game four. So no sussy, as the kids say, no suspension. Did anything come of the referee getting hit? Nope. That's bizarre to me. You're talking about the Mason-Marchmond thing. Mason-Marchmond thing, yeah.

Mason-Marchmond took a whack at the referee during game three of the Stars-Jets series. Somebody posted an Antoine Vermette clip from 15 years ago and he got like 10 games for giving a ref a very similar tap to the back of the leg. So you know what happens is, I think this was for each to put it out there, the NHL defers to the on ice official

that was involved in the altercation. It's almost like, do you wanna press charges? Yeah. That's what they ask. Honestly. They're like, do you wanna do this? Do you wanna go forward ask. Honestly. They're like, do you want to do this? Do you want to go forward with this? And I guess the official in the Stars Jets game said, do you want to press charges?

Basically, that's the NHL version. Yeah. Do you want to go forward with this? And they're like, you know, like, I don't want to go to court. Yeah. And this guy didn't want to go to court. He's like, no, it wasn't a big deal.

I was surprised because I felt like, you know, striking an official in any manner like an auto Suspension, you know and it can think it could lead down a very slippery slope. It was shocking to see though Yeah, it was and the fact that they didn't follow up on it in any meaningful way was shocking That was great restraint by the refs. I don't know what to say usually they're so sensitive So yeah, he's funny you mentioned the Vermet one, because I do remember that one. You know what other one I remember?

The face off. And he was like. Dennis Weidman. Yes. Remember him? That ruined a couple careers there. The referees and Dennis Weidman's. That was blatant though.

That was like. See, but he says it wasn't. Weidman always maintained that it wasn't. But that was like, honestly a career. A lot of guys in jail say they're innocent, Mike. Oh God. Not if you don't want to press charges that it wasn't. But that was, honestly a career. A lot of guys in jail say they're innocent, Mike. Oh, God. Not if you don't want to press charges, it's not. K, Mu, count me.

Ah! I guess Heiskin might be back tonight as well, by the way. Wyszynski's writing about that right now because he's in Dallas for that series. Yeah. Yeah. So that's good news for the Jets. Yikes. All right, let's print out some submissions

into the Dunbar Lumber Text Line at 650. What did you call commercial earlier? Someone says commercial drive. Did you not call it the drive? Did you call it something else? Oh, I might've said commercial avenues. Oh, okay. Yeah. That's fine. You know what we take creative liberty- I wanna go down to commercial avenue. I'm going to get some pasta. Did I ever tell you about the time I, before Italy played England, uh, in the Euro final. The 2021 Euro final. I drove down commercial with an England flag

hanging out and let me tell you, those Italian flags know how to, those Italian fans know how to flip the bird. Yeah. It was, it was, it was scored. A lot of scoring. Okay, turns out they're a passionate bunch. They are passionate.

What We Learned Humanoid Edition brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Homemade dough, premium local ingredients and authentic cooking methods. AJ's is for diehard pizza people dying in or order at ajs.pizza. Jordan with What We Learn. Talk it going to the flyers would be a lot like Dan Campbell going to

the Detroit Lions, tough, hard-nosed city inheriting a bad roster, has a bad first season, but implements his culture and eventually turns it into a wagon. I mean, if he takes that job, that's a story they would love to have. You know what I wonder sometimes? What's that? If there's ever going to be an NHL team, and maybe Florida's kinda done this, that ever just says like, we're going big and bad and really tough.

Florida's done it. Yeah, but they have talent too. Sure, but I don't think you could go big and bad and tough and not have talent. Would you just get killed? You'd just get killed. Yeah. I mean, someone texted in,

oh, it's Amaro the actor. What we learned, I learned that the NHL will soon emulate the basketball model where if you don't have one or two bona fide stars, it'll be tough for you to be competitive. I agree. When I look at the Canucks roster for next year and like if they don't hit on some of these targets, can they go with a lunch bucket crew of forwards? They're all middle six guys that kind of work hard, but don't necessarily have high end talent.

And then I look across the league and I'm like, no. No, you can't. You can't. You really can't. Like I look at Florida and it's like their high end talent is Barkov and Kichuk and it is. But then they've got like tranches, layers underneath them where it's like Bennett and Verhaggie are very talented guys.

I mean, Sam Bennett was on Team Canada for a reason. Sam Bennett scores goals and plays the way that he does, but he's also got talent. And then it's underneath that, it's Lundell and Marshawn. That's an immense amount of talent. They gotta let the, okay, I'm to read some more text because here's what we learned, unsigned. Yep.

Every team has said they need a top six forward. How are the Canucks going to attract three of them if less dysfunctional organizations are looking for them as well? Going to be a long rebuild, I think. Um, Oz with what we learned, this off season should be a bullhorn to Betman that further expansion is a terrible idea. Three quarters or more of the league desperately needs top six forwards, right shot defense,

competent goaltending. There isn't enough top talent, top end talent in the league as it is. Additional teams will just further water down the quality. I really want to talk about this. So, okay. Okay.

We'll go. I mean, I, I, I more think about it from a Canucks perspective because I know I've said it almost every show and I, but I still don't feel like people appreciate the challenge that the Canucks have set out for themselves. They're just really like, oh yeah, we've got to find three top six forwards. Oh yeah. How are you going to do that? And they've said, well, we don just really like, oh yeah, we've got to find three top six forwards. Oh yeah. How are you going to do that? And they've said, well, we don't really like the

unrestricted free agent list either. And I think Jim Rutherford said, maybe on a podcast, we're not exactly a destination team either. Well, then how are you going to do it? What are you going to trade the 15th overall pick and get a top six forward? You're not going to do that, first of all. You're going gonna trade the prospects? How?

But like, I know you wanna get into this, but how are they gonna do this? Well, they're probably not. So Oz, he brings up- And they've probably accepted that truth by now. No, they haven't, I don't think they have. We're gonna try our best, but- When does this organization ever accept reality?

So this is interesting. We could almost spend an entire show talking about this because Batman and Daly, and I've heard them speak about this before, and I've talked to a couple of guys that cover the league as an entire entity, the notion that there's not enough talent to fill additional expansion teams is way off.

They believe that the pipeline of talent has never been more robust, and in large part because Betman's plan of expansion in the US wasn't about putting NHL teams in markets, it was to get kids in non-traditional hockey, part of the plan anyway, was to get kids in non-traditional hockey market, part of the plan anyway, was to get kids in non-traditional hockey markets playing hockey, get

athletes, take advantage of this massive, massive number and the population in the U.S. and have more kids playing hockey. And what have you seen? You've seen the U.S. become a global power in terms of developing hockey talent. And I'll be honest, I still don't think that they're

done. I still think there's more that they can squeeze out of that place. But I agree that there's not enough legit talent to go around. I think that over the NHL with all the teams looking for top six forwards. And you know, like a right shot defenseman is impossible to get at times. I hate the fact that they're looking at expansion. Absolutely hate it. I think there's a little wiggle room because I actually just thought of this yesterday because I saw the AHL posted a graphic of their top goalies of the playoffs. All five of the top goalies could be in the NHL right now.

But the goalies are the least confirmed because knowing- I know, but I was just thinking like there's a lot of talent just kind of brewing there in the AHL that probably should be playing in the NHL right now. But the goalies are the least confirmed because- I know, but I was just thinking, there's a lot of talent just brewing there in the NHL that probably should be playing in the NHL. That's kind of what they, and also, you know what you're gonna start seeing. Well, I hope so. There should always be talent in the NHL. But you know what you're gonna-

There should be. It's like Kevin Levi, Arthur Silov, Askarov, those are all guys that- The goalies are different. The goalies are different, because there's only so many jobs in the NHL. It's more than just the goalies? Like those are all guys that go to the- The goalies are different. The goalies are different, because there's only, you know, so many jobs- It's more than just the goalies though. In the NHL.

It's more. Okay. Both of you shut up. You know what you're going to- Phil Deeser, D. Giuseppe. He's gotta be on the NHL team, right? Yeah, Sammy Blay, former Stanley Cup winner. You know what you're gonna see,

is you're gonna start to see more first round picks into the late first rounds, playing in the NHL a lot sooner than you have. That's what the end game is going to be is that the NHL when you're talking about, well, the lack of top six talent, well, you've got potential top six, like Tom Willander in a few years. I don't think you're going to have a story about him going and playing at Boston

university for two years before he goes to the NHL. What you're going to get is a product at the NHL level that's going to be more erroneous, more wide open, and less veteran savvy, but you're gonna get higher in talent that you draft early that's going right to the league. I think that's the next logical step for the league. If you're like, well, we gotta go to free agency

to get a top six forward, it's like, or we fast track the kid that is 18 or 19 years old and looks like he has a ton of potential and we start playing him younger. I think that's where it goes. What about the idea of the league just having too many teams? Well, there's a danger of that. I mean, for sure. But they don't, if the, if the, if the NHL goes to 33 teams or 34 teams, I'm sorry, there's just too many teams. Right.

I'm speaking mostly as a Canucks fan. It's like it makes it harder and harder to win the damn cup. It's a valid concern. Right. I'm speaking mostly as a Canucks fan. It's like it makes it harder and harder to win the damn cup. It's a valid concern. Right. I mean, because I don't know how closely you follow the NBA. I think I do. But a large group that you talk about, the current NBA is like the play kind of stinks because there's a lot of three point shooting. Yeah. If you talk to like diehard hoop heads, it's like there's a lot of guys that

break into the league that don't really know how to play professional basketball, but they're sort of thrust into it and they either learn on the job. And that's why you get these really horrible teams with really young guys and they don't really know what they're doing. But that's sort of the next wave of this. It's been an analytics push too, because a lot of folks out there will say, Hey, these guys are reaching their primes at younger ages these days, you know, but the teams aren't adjusting to that.

They're still debuting players at 25, 26, 27, when 24 is really shown to be the prime for a lot of these. They talk about it in the NFL a lot too. They're like, with the way that these college programs are and guys spending less and less time in them, guys opting out of games to preserve themselves for the NFL, you don't get a ready-made product, but it's like, hey, it's go time. You know, we sunk a lot of draft capital in you.

You could be the guy. So anyway, I knew I was going to call off on that. Well, look, with all this talent, maybe it'll be easy for the Canucks to fill their off-season needs. Maybe it'll be, because there's so much, I mean, you're talking about all the talent that's out there. So, like, Leckermackie full-time,

Willander full-time, unless they trade Willander. Oh, that'll go well. To another full-time. Well, that's what I'm saying, is I think there is gonna be, that begrudgingly teams are gonna have to embrace that. That if it's a draft and develop, Embrace losing?

No, drafting and playing the guys. Playing unfinished products. Playing unfinished products. That's what they're gonna have to get used to. High on talent. And maybe not necessarily high on the finish. You're gonna win a cup that way? Probably not, maybe in four or five years though,

once they figure it out. Put it this way, you ever seen those videos where they take a baby and they throw him in the pool, and they're like, okay, swim? You see those ones? Yeah, that's kind of what they're like, that's the best way to teach a kid how to swim. Throwing a baby in the pool is the best way to teach a-

Please do not take advice from Alfred and Brushfield. You've all seen the videos. It's very dangerous sounding. But you've all seen the videos. It works nine out of 10 times. One out of 10's not great. 9 out of 10. So there's a theory there.

I don't know if I subscribe to it, I just know it's out there. I think there's an age where you should probably not do that though, right? Yeah. It's more like a toddler than a baby. Yeah when you say baby, what are you talking about? What age? It's a little kid. Three weeks.

Three weeks. It's a sink or swim world, kid. This kid sucks at swimming. Kid is sinking fast. Collin into Austin. What we learned, there will now be three goats commentating on their respective sports with Michael Jordan joining NBC Sports

as a special contributor. They meant real goats. To its NBA coverage for next season So you got Jordan? Yeah, not real goats Jordan Gretzky and Brady. Yep. I'll be curious to see what Jordan's like. I hope I hope he's just a I don't know For those that haven't followed nice. No, but he's not he's Gretzky. He's kind of Gretzky isn't bland. So who does all mean? Yeah, he's he's in the Gretzky mold really remember Jordan's famous line Like Republicans buy sneakers, too. Mm-hmm. He's very much one of those guys is like he knows that yeah, but when he was a player

He was mean. Yeah, I know but he's not this isn't playing this is Appealing to a large audience and he likes to appeal to a larger audience I just hope he wears jeans. Yeah, his wacky Michael Jordan jeans. He'll grow his mustache back You guys like it I'm bringing it back don't do that stop too bad don't don't do that. All right We gotta get out of here for today, but we will be back tomorrow. Thank you all for listening and thank you all for contributing. Congrats to our winner of the Who Tickets. I don't know who you are, but I'm glad you're going to the contest.

His name was Andy. Sorry? His name was Andy. His name was Andy. A-Dog's going to the show. Yeah, and Andy that won. Oh, congratulations Andy. I hope you enjoy the show.

I will. I mean, he will. We gotta get out of here for today. Signing off, I have been Mike Halpern. He has been Jason Brough. He's been Adog, he's been Laddy. This has been the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.