Halford & Brough in the Morning - BC Lions Starting Quarterback Nathan Rourke

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with BC Lions starting QB Nathan Rourke, as his squad gets set to take on the Elks in Edmonton this Sunday,  plus the boys tell us what they learned (28:00). 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.

802 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford, bro sports net six 50. Halvin and brother the morning is brought to you by sands and associates BC's first and trusted choice for debt help with our 3000 five star reviews. This is the online at sands dash trustee.com. They're swinging into our three of the program here. Nathan Rorke, starting quarterback for your BC Lions, is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three of this program 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 footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. 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. Speaking of the BC Lions, on July 27th, you can bring the family to celebrate generations of Lions fans at the Family Traditions game. Your Lions will be taking on the Ticats that day. Get your tickets at bclions.com. If you get tickets, you'll see our next guest in action. Joining us now here, courtesy of the Power West Industries hotline, Nathan Rorick, BC

Lions starting quarterback joins us here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Nathan, how are you? Good. How are you guys doing? We're good, thanks for taking the time to do this. So we're gonna get a vibe check on how you're feeling first. How are you feeling just emotionally in the wake of a very very stirring comeback victory on the road in Montreal on Saturday courtesy of that Sean White walk-off? Yeah, feeling good. Obviously, you know a lot of things to clean up, a lot of things to get better on, to get better at, but

ultimately, you know, when you come out with a victory against a really good team in Montreal in a tough environment on the road, you can't be complaining too much. And how are you feeling physically after the game? Yeah, I'm feeling good. Feeling good. I bleak, uh, held up pretty well. So, um, certainly not as banged up as, uh, as some guys. So I caught myself pretty lucky when you're dealing with an injury like that, where, you know, it's some, part of it is obviously pain management and tolerance. Uh,

how do you personally straddle the line between knowing that it's a long season, you don't want to aggravate anything and you got to sit out for a little bit anyway knowing that you got to be healthy for the remainder of the season but also the competitive drive and fire watching your team as opposed to being out there which is what you truly want to do. How do you balance those two things or how did you balance those two things over the couple games that you missed? Yeah I think it's I think it's hard I think ultimately you have to trust the healthcare professionals, the ATs and the doctors, and work within their restrictions, which is sometimes difficult. You want to go out

there and I wanted to get every rep to practice and you're just not able to do so at the time. So it's about, I think, having some patience and like you said, the bigger perspective of it's a long season and you're trying to make decisions what's best for the long term. So I think it is definitely striking that balance. I watched both the post-game media availabilities from you and your head coach Buck Pierce afterwards

and you guys both said the same thing about needing to clean some things up. And there was a sense of being happy but not content with the victory. From your perspective, what are some of the things or what are maybe the one key thing that you feel that needs to be cleaned up moving forward and you guys take on the Elks and Edmonton this weekend?

Yeah, I think there's a couple of things. I think offensively, we have to figure out a way to put up more points, start faster. I think ultimately that comes down to me and to making sure that we're executing at a higher level. But I think as a team, the biggest thing that stands out to us is the penalties. We've had a number of games here in a row where we've had a number of penalties and the other night was no exception. We had I think 11 for 140 yards, you know, that kind of stuff is really going to set you back.

And, you know, we just can't expect to be able to win too many games when we're giving them that much free yardage, especially the stuff after play. I think that kind of stuff can really be cleaned up. So I'm confident we can, and I'm glad that we're able to make those mistakes early and still come out with a win at this point in the season. Nathan, what was your view of the big fight after the game? Yeah, I didn't get too good of a look of what happened

and what started it. Not quite sure even to at this point that it has been addressed in our locker room and we're trying to, I guess we're just waiting and seeing what's going to come out of it but definitely nothing that you don't like seeing that kind of thing and I don't think it has any place in the game. So let's bring it back to you and your performance so far this season. It's probably tough to judge considering you've had to deal with this injury.

But when you talk about things that you need to clean up, can you get specific on that? Is it just the chemistry that you've got with some of the receivers or are you just feeling that you're not making all the throws that you need to? Yeah, I think first and foremost, I think you just got to do better to take care of the ball. You never want to be able to give them any type of opportunity to have an extra possession. I think we're having a series where we're kind of feeling

like we're out of rhythm. So I think the combination of those things is just having some cleaner execution. I think going into any kind of season where you have a new offensive system and a new playbook, there's going to be some corn pains here and there. And so hopefully when you make mistakes and you know that you can execute better, you know, there's going to be some corn pains here and there. Um, and so hopefully, you know, when you make mistakes and you know, that you can execute better, you're, you're looking for, uh, um, you know, you're looking to improve. And, and I think in the, you know, hopefully in hindsight, we're looking back

and saying, you know, I'm glad that we had those type of, uh, mistakes so that when we could, you know, learn from them and ultimately be better because of it. So that's kind of what my head spacesaces right now but I think the biggest thing is yeah we can't can't turn the ball over and gotta put more points up. We're speaking to BC Lions starting quarterback Nathan Rourke here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. You know Nathan you talked about starting on time and putting up more points early and scoring more in the first half and it's funny we talk about starting on time a lot across all sports that we cover here with the Vancouver Canucks.

It was an issue this year where the games would start slower. They'd come out of the break and start periods slow. I'm curious for you and for the offense, is that more of like a an actual feel like how you're feeling mentally, physically going into a game or as a slow start, more not about the feel or the vibe, but about what you guys are doing in terms of play calling and trying to design things to get points on the board early?

Is it more of a tactical thing or is it more of a feel thing with regards to slow starts? Yeah, I think sometimes it can be a feel thing. Sometimes when it's a tough environment, it takes us a little bit to kind of get going and in that regard other times it's you know they're coming out with something that we haven't necessarily prepared for we kind of have to take some of the best series or two to adjust but ultimately I think that we've been put in some really good positions from a Fugic standpoint and ultimately we just

kind of put it together and like I said it starts with me. Nathan we've had your throwing coach Rob Williams on the show before and I find this stuff fascinating. Can you take the listeners through your your journey with Rob in how you used to throw the ball, the technique and how you throw it now? Yeah, yeah. Started working with Rob in the beginning of 2021. Just moved to BC and we're connected over social media. I was a guy and kind of growing up my entire life never really the strongest arm. I was definitely an arm thrower

You know all the all the spin and the spiral that I would put on the ball came from and all the power Really came from my arm. So when I was in college, I had a lot of arm pain and You know was really almost a week to week thing And you know, I feel sore by the last day of practice and then I get treatment for it and hopefully feel better for the game that was the kind of the regular thing and obviously I didn't you know put up a I was in a super explosive throw or I didn't get a ton of looks in the NFL the next level so you know so but when I got started seeing Rob I just immediately kind of started seeing you know some some improvements been able to you to throw the ball with a little bit more velocity,

a little bit more power, add some distance. But also I started really not having any arm pain. I really don't have a ton of arm pain at all. When I do, I know that something in my mechanics is slipping, so it's probably time for a little bit of a tune-up with Rob. So it's been time for a little bit of a tune-up with Rob. So it's been kind of pretty life-changing in terms of the personal experience of just having

been able to just throw and continue to throw and throw. And there's guys that come in that I work with who are on the lines or people that I've worked, the teammates that I've had that are just amazed that I'm able to have the volume of throwing that I usually am able to. Obviously the oblique injury is kind of put a wrench in that, but normally I'm able to throw and not really have any issues with it or any arrow pain. So I think that combination has been pretty special and I'm very grateful for Rob's involvement in that. How difficult was it for you to fundamentally change the way you throw the ball in, like you can

do it in practice when there's no pressure on or where you're not running around, but to actually change something that you've been doing your whole life and then take it into a game. How challenging was that? Yeah, it's still difficult. You know, I think ultimately what we're trying to do is rewrite, you know, the code of how I think about throwing, right? I think that's ultimately what we're trying to do. And there's still habits that

come up and that you try to work on. And I think it's so easy to do it when we're in a session. Rob and I are, you know, we're throwing into a Vancouver in the off season and, you know, there's nobody around, but it's also another thing to do it in a game when, you know, Sean Oakman is trying to tackle you or trying to bat that ball down, right? So I think it's just about trying to make sure that all those habits, those things that I'm learning, all those cues that Rob gives me, trying to make that part of my natural reaction, making it, you know, an automatic thing.

And that's, that'll be my guess. That's going to be a continual thing throughout my career. And I think that's just part of the what's fun about the position and what's fun about getting better is really the pursuit of it all. And so that's part that's really fun for me. And like I said, I'm grateful that Rob's along with me for the ride. One more before we let you go, I'm just curious

because I kind of remembered him from his days in Arizona and then, you know, he bounced around the NFL a little bit and landed with you guys in the Canadian football league with BC, your wide receiver, Stanley Berryhill the third. You guys have developed a bit of a connection early here in the season. What can you tell us about Berryhill the third? Yeah, he's a he's a he's an awesome guy. Super, super glad for him or super happy for him. You know, the way that he started the season. He's a very explosive brings a lot of speed gives us a vertical threat that you need in a CFO

offense to be able to stretch and stress the defense. And he's just a super fun character to be around. He provides a lot of energy for us. After the game he's bringing donuts in for everybody and just a really great vibes guy for the locker room and we're very thankful that he's, we missed him for a couple weeks so he wasn't healthy and so we're glad that he's back and we'll open that, we'll continue to give him the ball in space because he's a real threat when he gets it. Well hopefully the good vibes continue this weekend, the Lions are in Edmonton to take

on the Elks. Sunday, July 13th, four o'clock kickoff. Nathan, thank you very much for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. Good luck in Edmonton this weekend. Thanks guys, appreciate it. Yeah, thank you.

That's Nathan Roerich, BC Lions starting quarterback here on the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. A reminder, games this Sunday, July 13th, four o'clock kickoff. Lions in Edmonton to take on the Elks for the second time this season already. That must be, I do, you know, you know, I find this stuff fascinating about how the guys throw

the ball and. Football's version of the golf swing coach. Yeah. But can you imagine trying to change your, your motion playing quarterback in the CFL? You're like running for your life and then all of a sudden, don't forget to rotate your body the CFL. You're like running for your life. And then all of a sudden, don't forget to rotate your body the right way. I mean, one of the, if you follow quarterbacking, there's all the documentaries, there's countless documentaries like QB1 and a lot of them following

the high school and collegiate quarterbacks because the quarterback position has become the most lucrative position in sports, I guess. So I mean, you've got count, there's, in the US, there are countless quarterback gurus and coaches and throwing coaches and all this kind of stuff. And they've all got different ideas. It's like the golf swing. There's a million different ideas because the position has evolved so much

and through the throwing of the football has become really like, it's the golf swing, you know, and it's the same thing. And then. And there are trade offs to each way. Like you can get more velocity one way or, you know, in the, in the case of Nathan, he was like, my arm was hurting all the time.

Yeah. Because that's, you're, you're just using all, you're all arm. Right. I mean, you hear about the golf swing, right? You're like, oh, your swing is too armsy. You're not using, you're not using your body enough.

You're not using physics. You're not using your body enough. You're not using physics. You're not using the turn enough. And I think that's generally the idea of what he's working on. And it's funny because if you, I mean, and Mahomes has sort of redefined the conversation. Well, if he asked Tom Brady, he says that he was doing it way back in the day anyway, but changing arm angles to find different throwing windows and all of this stuff. Once it gets introduced by one guy, the trickle down effect is almost immediate where everyone is getting on board with it, right? Where this is the new way to pass

and to run an NFL offense and to play the quarterback position. And it's got to be a tough decision though to make. First of all, who do you go with in terms of? There's gonna be a lot of inherent trust in, hey, you're going to help me redo the one thing that got me to be paid to be a professional football player, throwing the

football. And that's what it is, right? And also, you want to make sure that you don't throw any of your athleticism out. Speaking of the golf swing, I heard a recent interview with Paul A. Zinger, who's an old golfer. Zinger.

And yeah. And his point was like golf instruction right now is over the top. It's crazy. And it's almost too much because you've got, first of all, you've got video. So everyone's videoing their swings, seeing what they look at, but you've also got the track man's, I mean,

okay, basketball Ben. Basketball, golf man. You're a really good. Ben's a scratch golfer. How much do you use track man? Like, do you know what your spin rate is, your smash factor, all that sort of stuff? So I know what the numbers are, but I'm not

looking at them and paying attention to them every time I go practice. Right. I've never bought into that. I've always been more of a field player. And I think that there's too much too young right now of like, you need your swing speed to be this much and you need to have this shaft in your club to generate that speed and

whatnot. Right. And there's so much instruction to your point. And a lot of it now, what I tell people when I play with them, like, what do you think of, why am I slicing it? I'm like, okay, well, you're a tennis player. Pretend you're hitting a forehand cross-court.

Yeah. You're going to move your wrist over. You're not going to leave your wrist open to try to go cross-court. Hit a baseball to left field. How do you do that? Like, I think playing other sports at a young age and not just honing in on one sport is so

important because you develop the acumen to do different things. And then when you specialize later on, you can actually get better at that. But if you are just honing in on one thing, there's a reason why people that play in the Little League World Series oftentimes don't make it to the MLB because of the burnout rate.

Their arms get destroyed. What Nathan Rourke did is fantastic and amazing, but it's a bit risky too because if you change something so substantial, you change your golf swing when you're already a pro. That's pretty crazy. I think he might've been hinting at some things like, I wonder how the oblique, if that was. I wondered that too.

Anything related to your throwing action, because he's like, I might need to tune up with the throw, right? Yep. You never know about that sort of stuff because- He's trying to get the rotation maybe more? Yeah. Ben did a little hip swivel when he said that. So he's changing his style to work around the injury, is that what you're saying?

No, I'm suggesting- Yes, make it the video today. Yeah. Yeah. Say something controversial. Well, no, no, no. I would just be curious if like if maybe he thinks, okay, maybe I'm having oblique pain because I'm throwing this way.

Or whatever. I was just thinking about Demko, like with his injury, like how he had to change his way of playing based on his injury. And like, is that a similar? Demko's felt like it was just the, he was working too hard. Like it was just like, you're gonna burn your body out, right, and Laddy's talked about this a bunch, that the goaltending position,

like it's all the unnatural movements. When you're amplifying them in terms of aggression of practice and the volume that you're doing it, it's just gonna be a wear and tear thing. Ben brought up a good point, which is rare for our producers on this show, but. Thank you. When you talked about, you know, playing other sports and using those as reference

points, that's really important because I found when especially young athletes specialize in one particular sport, the jargon and all the references are within that. And so it's almost like you're teaching them to do something and using a bunch of vocabulary and adjectives like what were you saying? Spin rate, smash rate, smash factor, smash factor. What's your smash? You know, what's your smash? What's your smash factor, dude?

And it means nothing to nobody that that term was made up specifically for golf, right? And it's interesting because if you were to say, well, do it like you would do it in tennis or if you were going to hit go Oppo and baseball or anything, that's something that people are like, oh, that's a real life, real world example where you can say, okay, I've actually done this elsewhere. I can try it as opposed to like, you need to.

And it gets yourself out of the rut. It lets your mind go to something different where you're like, okay, I understand what that feels like. Imagine telling an 11 yearold, it's like, you need to upgrade your smash rate by 12%. They're like, I don't know what any of that is. So the idea is you want to know what your smash factor is in golf and baseball.

Smash factor, I'm sorry. I don't know what is a smash factor. I don't even know. It's how close to the sweet spot you hit your driver or any club, your driver, especially. Can't that be applicable to tennis, too? You should be able to have a smash factor in tennis. And baseball as well.

It's basically the efficiency of your swing. Yeah. How much energy you're creating and how much is getting transferred to the ball. 1.50 is perfect. Yeah. If you're above or below that, you're done. I'm 1.51.

Get out of here. We're learning a lot today. By the way, we were talking about Gavin McKenna earlier in the show. In case you missed it, obviously a superstar in the dub with medicine hat and the Canadian Hockey League, he's going to play at Penn State next year. Reportedly, we're going to have Chris Peters, our good buddy on the show tomorrow, college hockey insider to find out more about this. There is. So there's there's the first story that was percolating that he's

going to that he's already agreed to go to Penn State. That's I mean, there's so many multiple sources that seems like it done. Yeah, there's another story out there right now. This one's coming from another college hockey insider. I don't have the information in front of me. Oh, it's Mike McMahon from College Hockey News. Reportedly, reportedly, the offer made from Penn State to Gavin McKenna to go play hockey there next year

comes in at $700,000. And that bests another offer made to McKenna from Michigan State that came in at around $200,000. Do you wanna get- I wanna know how all this stuff works because- Give the Coles Notes version because you kind of have a basic understanding. Well, I don't think that the actual universities

make that offer, right? It's, they get, they work in tandem with the boosters. Yes. That can pull that money together. So in previous years, in college football specifically, boosters would be very rich alumni that would help out the, I'm using air quotes

right here, they're going to help out the program. And NCAA rules used to be so stringent that they would have, you know, that would be the classic, you meet a guy at midnight in the McDonald's parking line you get a brown bag full of money or you get a guy's second cousin on his mother's side suddenly that guy has a new one million dollar mansion that he's living in yeah right and that's used boosters used to boost programs but they used to have to do it outside the lines of the NCAACA rules. Right. That's no longer the case. Yeah, they were just like, make this legal. Right. They're like, why are we doing this? Like dancing around it, we may

as well just make it legal. So an example, and I'm sure this is gonna happen in a bunch of places, a lot of these boosters are self-made millionaires and in some cases billionaires, and they've got businesses and companies that they need, I don't know, a sponsor for, for example. So suddenly, let's say your booster owns a chain of Shake Shacks throughout America, right? He's a franchisee. The way you could do it, hypothetically speaking,

is you could get a young athlete that's coming into college and you could say, you know, you're gonna be a spokesperson for Shake Shack. You know, that's your personal branding exercise and we're gonna give you money, not through the university, but through one of the boosters that just so happens to own a franchise of these

and now you're making a lot of money. And that was the bold and brave new world that collegiate athletics and NCAA fought against for years. And then just finally they relented and that's part of how the NIL. And also ties in perfectly to how advertising is done these days. Oftentimes it's through influencers.

So, you know, Gavin McKenna, and by the way, people were wondering, well, he's Canadian. How do you get around the laws? I think Gavin McKenna would just have to go home and tweet out. Right. Or whatever, social media, TikTok. He could go to maybe like. Shake Shack.

Yeah, go on a boat in international water so they can't get you. But like, you know, if you think a lot of the, who's it? Livy Dunn? Yes. Is that. Yep, like she. I'm familiar. Paul Skeen's his girlfriend. But she's, LSU gymnast.

Right. Is she maybe the most famous of the, she makes. Take your pick. There's the. How much do you think she. The Cavender twins. Right. They used to play basketball in Miami.

Yeah. There's those two. Bronny was making. Bronny was making a lot of money. Yep. Right. He was, yeah, I mean it's a lucrative collegiate career for some people now where they're taking pay cuts to go pro. Millions is the answer, bro.

If you were gonna ask how much you made. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I see her flogging that latest Vuh-ory or whatever. That's the latest brand. None of those words you said made sense. Yeah, V-U-O-R-I. I had a pair of shorts and I lost them. You know who, oh by the way, you know who's making

a ton of money currently is Arch Manning. Right. And then Cooper Flag, who just got drafted by the Dallas Mavericks, was making a ton of money at Duke as well. Anyway, for Gavin McKenna, he probably wasn't gonna make much in the NHL, so it's good he's getting it now, right? I think he might make more money at Duke as well. Anyway, for Gavin McKenna, you probably wasn't gonna make much in the NHL, so it's good he's getting it now, right?

I think he might make more money at Penn State than he will on his rookie contract. No, he won't. Well, you don't know. You don't know. No, if it's $700,000, he's gonna be there for a year. But imagine what else he could get in addition to that. I mean, who knows?

It is a brave and bold new world. There's opportunities galore. Right, he gets drafted, he's like, eh, no thanks. I'm gonna, yeah, I'm good here. How long can I stay in college for? Basketball Phil, I know we're way up against it for time, Basketball Phil texted in, and he called it a Halford hot take,

so immediately I started investigating. He suggests that when McKenna plays at Penn State and makes his debut, he will be the most highly recruited athlete to ever play at the college, regardless of sport. So I started looking and he might not be wrong because for the rich and diverse history of football at Penn State, if you go look at the highest high school

recruits that they've ever had, they've never had the number one player in the country commit to there. Right. And they, you know, they don't get me wrong. Penn State has had countless pairs, although they've only had one Heisman winner ever. I didn't realize that. But I mean, the model really, like Saquon Barkley was a Penn State graduate. Like there's countless players that have gone on to have amazing NFL careers, but we're talking about someone coming into the school being the most Ballyhooed recruit of all time,

and you'd go right to the football program. Well, I don't know that they've ever had anything like McKenna, because McKenna is consensus across the board, no question, the best hockey prospect currently playing, right outside the NHL, right? Undrafted, he's it. So for him to go go to Penn State it could really not just redefine their hockey program but their athletic department on a whole okay now we're way up against

them for time we got to go to break when we come back it's what we learned so we're gonna announce the 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. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time.

On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show. On the show.

On the show. On the show. On the show. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn. 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. Alright everybody, it's the announcement you've all been waiting for. All right, everybody.

It's the announcement you've all been waiting for. Throughout the last month and a bit, we've been promoting and pushing and encouraging everyone to participate in the Sportsnet 650 Jays Care 50-50 for Challenger Baseball. We will now announce the winner of the 50-50. Congratulations to Kimberly in Kamloops. Kimberly, one congrats on the victory, two Adog is currently trying to get ahold of you. So if you're listening to the show,

again, one congrats, Kimberly in Kamloops, you have won the 50-50, over $10,000 coming your way. And don't forget to pick up your phone because Adog is trying to get ahold of you. I was already imagining winning it on air. I thought so too. Yeah. Halford retired immediately.

She didn't even finish the show. We just ran out the door. Thank you to everybody. And I do mean everybody who purchased a ticket and supported the sports net six 50 J's care, 5050 for Challenger Baseball. This endeavor was supported by Tiltown, a proudly Canadian-owned company operated since 1971. Visit them online at mytiltown.ca.

Once again, I'll remind you, Challenger Baseball is a program dedicated to empowering kids facing barriers through the power of sport. Since 1992, the JaysCare Foundation has empowered over 59,000 young athletes of all backgrounds and abilities to unlock their full potential. And listen, just because the 50-50 is over, it doesn't mean that you still can't support Challenger Baseball. Visit them bcchallenger.com. You can volunteer, you can coach, you can help out. But for everyone that did support this endeavor through the 50-50 on behalf of Bruff and the dogs

and everyone else here at Sportsnet 650, thank you very much. And once again, congrats to Kimberly in Vancouver for winning this year's Sportsnet 650 Jays Care 50-50. Okay, let's do some what we learned here from our side of the table. Jason has won, basketball Ben has won as well. We're going to start Jason Brough.

What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? I learned that IMAAC Ian McIntyre gave the Canucks a grade of B for their off season. If you want to read IMAX piece, it's up on sportsnet.ca right now. I love report cards. The headline is positivity and potential are on the rise.

Couple of P's there. For the Vancouver Canucks. So IMAAC mentions the extensions to the likes of Besser and Demko and Garland bringing in Evander Kane to boost the top six. I like this line. The Canucks even had a positive entry draft, actually using picks in the first three rounds

and selecting two way centre, Braden Koots with their top choice at number 15. He did note that losing Pugh's suitor could hurt more than people expect. And he said that management's main blemish to this point is that they didn't get a top six center, like they had hoped to. But you look around the league, a lot of teams

didn't get a top six center. So are we grading on the curve? Is that it? I was, you know, I'm a little surprised. What grade would you give? Probably would have C plus, A, B, C. I felt like they, and C is very clever here because the C is what they ultimately did not

land, a two C in free agency, which is what I think a lot of people, including the president of hockey ops, Jim Rutherford, intended on doing this off season. If you were to look, again, comparatively at the rest of the league and grade on the curve, maybe you could have a B as the final report card grade. Well, it was interesting because it was plan H that went through, actually.

See, that's what I'm saying. You joke. But people liked it. The majority of people that have texted in and responded because they like Brock Besser. And I imagine if they had signed Dvorak and let Besser go, people would not be very happy with what happened this off season. I do think it sets up a very interesting year for the Canucks and I'm not

predicting which way it'll go one way or the other. Um, but you know, if the team comes together and the coaching staff works out and Pedersen returns to his form, then things could go pretty well for the Canucks and they should make the playoffs if they remain healthy as well. But, you know, if the team doesn't perform well or Pedersen doesn't come back and play well, and that would affect, you know, the power play, and that would affect Brock Besser's production

or all the other wingers' production. And if they don't stay healthy, people will look at this team and go like, well, what did you expect? You, you brought back the same guys. And that's where I understand that people who had an affinity for this group have left free agency feeling pretty positive. Again, you look at those, that, that 24 to 48 hour window where they got extensions done with Garland and Demco and Besser,

there was a lot of positivity and optimism because the three of those guys genuinely liked by the fan base. Garland's really endeared himself. Besser's been here forever. And I think people understand that if the Connex are going to go somewhere next year, it's going to be with the strength of a healthy Demko backstopping them in a minimum of 40 or 50 games. So I understand that part of it. The other side of the grade to me, though, would be the center position in a minimum of 40 or 50 games. So I understand that part of it.

The other side of the grade to me, though, would be that the center position. Badly needed an upgrade. Prior to July one. Yeah. And at the end of it, it was actually a downgrade because they lost the services of Pugh suitor. And there's no sugar coating that. And I don't think I'm being house of negativity by accentuating. It's just not that's a glaring issue. Yeah, you didn't address and you said you would and you actually had a quote where you said

It's gonna be expensive to acquire a center, but it'll be even more expensive to not acquire a center Well, I guess you chose the more expensive fruit. Well, I still don't think that they're done. I also don't think that they're done. I think- That goes for so many teams. I think they're thinking, first of all, okay, we got the rest of the summer, and second of all, we can go into the season

and maybe address some things. I think that there's a trade coming for a center, and I don't think it's gonna be as high a profile center as some people wanted, but, and I would not be surprised if it comes at the expense of the blue line. And I don't know which sort of variation of the blue line trades that we've gone over, the speculative,

the hypothetical ones. All right, we we've talked about trading every blue liner not named Quinn Hughes, I think at this point, we've even discussed trading Quinn Hughes and there's been that too. But in a real world, we've talked about all the prospects, you know, either ones that are fully ingrained at the NHL level or not. I mean, we've talked about all the prospects, either ones that are fully ingrained at the NHL level or not, I mean, we've talked about,

I guess the only other guy we were talking about is Marcus Pedersen. But I mean, we've talked about the possibility of trading Chronic. Other guys have come up that if it was available and if it was an option, yeah, sure, you'd entertain it because the need to upgrade center is that dire. Dire is a fair word for it. They need to do it.

And I got a feeling that it'll happen at some point this summer. By the way, IMAX depth chart down the middle starts with Pedersen obviously. Hedl, number two. He had Atu Ratu as the three C and Teddy Blugger as the four C. Okay.

Let's put a moocow on that. Ah. Basketball Ben, what did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? That Grigor Dimitrov had to retire from a Grand Slam for the fifth consecutive Grand Slam after he was leading Yannick Center two sets to none in Wimbledon in the quarterfinals.

When the round of 16, pardon me. I just like couldn't believe it now for five straight Grand Slams this guy- They call it a walkover in tennis. Walkover. He's had to leave because of an injury. They walked over his body. Yeah, over his very-

He was like my pack. It was his elbow, it was his elbow. Was it? Yeah, it was an elbow injury, yeah. So I am of two minds of this because I'm a little bit uncomfortable that Yannick Sinner was down two sets to none and he's like, well, he gets to go to the next round. He even said in this post game presser, he was like, well, I don't take this as a win.

And I'm like, okay, well, maybe you shouldn't get to win then in a way. Right. It just seems kind of unfair. And now Ben Shelton has to play Sinner who is, you know, obviously a tough matchup, he's the number one seed, but Sinner does not deserve to be in the quarterfinals, and I feel bad for Dimitrov, who's injured, but I know there's tickets, I know there's logistics here, it just doesn't sit well with me,

and I realised that last night, and I was like, this is not great. Yeah, what are the options, though? You don't play? I don't know. Give him an extra day of rest. By the way, you were right, it was Sinner that injured his elbow in that match, What are the options though? You don't play? I don't know. I don't know. Give him an extra day of rest. By the way, you were right. It was Sinner that injured his elbow in that match. And it was, Dimitrov was the pack.

The pack. Yeah, that's right. Because Sinner came right over and the guy was like, my pack, my pack. Ben Shelton, did you see the interview they did on court yesterday? They were talking about his, speaking of athletes that played

multiple sports growing up He was a QB in college and God bless I can't remember the name of the very nice and very polite English lady that was doing the interview and she said I Understand that you played quarterbacker Yeah, it was great And he was a he handled it pretty well He wasn't trying to laugh at her and he's like, you know some color quarterback her and then there was this long pause and everyone Started laughing

Yeah, so he faces center now he faces center. Okay, let's give us a moocow on the tennis Fire matrix What we learned is humanoid edition Bratu is always by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. You gotta try the bar pie. 14 inches of cracker thin crust topped with tomato sauce, matzo and cheddar only at AJ's Pizza. Order online at AJ's. Pizza. Rob and Suri with What We Learned. What I've learned is that Chidura Sanders has likely already made more money than he will ever make from all of his future NFL contracts. It's possible. 6.5 million at the University of Colorado.

Yeah. With his NIL money. And then he signed his rookie quarterback deal, which is like four years and like a million a year or something like that. Yeah. I know they don't make much coming out of college. It is possible. Yep.

I'll be curious to see what happens with Shudder or Sanders. That Cleveland quarterback room is hilarious. It's very random. Yeah. It's just a mix of veterans and young guys, has-beens and never-wills. Well, they drafted a guy, a young guy. Dill and Gabriel. Yeah.

Before Shadrura Sanders. Yes. Yeah. And then like, wait, we got a value pick here in Shadrura Sanders. I guess Kirk Cousins opened up about the Falcons drafting Pennex. I saw this.

Do you have that story in front of you? I saw this. It's not in front of me. But he was like, yeah, I was a little confused. Is confused the word for angry? He said, I felt a little bit misled when the Falcons drafted Michael Pennings, Jr. Not long after they signed Kirk Cousins to that law.

I mean, it was it wasn't like all the money made it feel better. A little bit. Kirk has made so much money. I know. It's honestly ridiculous. He well, he didn't have the dream job because he had to play. The dream job, I think, is Chase Daniel. If you go look up his career earnings, for the amount of snaps that he played. He was like the career backup quarterback. He played in about eight or ten different places.

Charlie Whitehurst had a good run as a backup quarterback as well. Although he had to play a couple times. We should come up with the list of like least great athletes that have made a lot of money, $294 million career earnings for her cousins. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, but OK, at least at least with cousins like he went out there and he got beat up and I keep. I mean, the fourth quarters aside, like he was a good quarterback for three of the four quarters

and he couldn't quarterback at night. That was a problem. But you know, he suffered injuries. He got hurt. Like he was out there. There was a price to be paid for what he did. Like there's some other guys that don't. But he's in the conversation.

I mean, you were talking, you mentioned some backups, right? Like they didn't make hundreds of millions of dollars. Who would be on that list? Like you gotta think a lot of the live golfers. Yeah. They're gonna end up on, on like this guy made half a billion dollars

and he was doing that good. I always like to put it in the context of when we look back. And I think when we look back and we look back at some of the paychecks that the guys got to go to live, we're gonna be like, that was it. That was a time in history and a chapter in the sporting world that will never be replicated.

I don't think it'll ever happen again. Yeah. Where it was just the perfect time and the perfect storm for a lot of very average tour golfers to make gobs of money that they'll never see again. When I was lost to me, you heard of Ian Poulter. He got paid big bucks to go over.

See, I didn't blame, I didn't blame the older guys for going over. You blame like Cam Smith? Yeah. Or even like guys like Kapka. Right. You know, I, Poulter and Lee Westwood, those guys were at the end of their career.

I mean, Poulter was nails at the Ryder Cup, but those days were behind him. I didn't blame him, but it was just the guys that went over and played in shorts with music playing. I mean, blame is a hard word. I judge. Judge. Look, here's the thing.

Is it, when they were on tour, the end game was all, I mean, there was two things. There was the, I think, honestly, the personal pride that went along with winning trophies and majors. But the other part of it was, I mean, there was, there was two things. There was the, I think, honestly, the personal pride that went along with winning trophies and majors. But the other part of it was it got the, the sums of money kind of got astronomical on the PGA tour, right?

And then when Liv came along and it just became solely about who was going to get paid where. Yeah. The competition bottomed out because the, the biggest competition was where can I make the most money? That was the real competition. Well, at the end of the day, Nicholson, who started all this, he was right.

He went about it wrong. Maybe there was no other way to go about it because there is so much more money on the PGA tour now. I think being as glib as he was about human rights atrocities in Saudi was probably not the right way to go. He was a little flippant about that. But actually having to, I mean, I think he had to get in bed with someone that people would

have an issue with, right? Yeah, but you don't have to tell everyone how it went in bed. someone that people would have an issue with, right? Yeah, but you don't have to tell everyone how it went in bed. No, I know. Yeah, that's kind of the, that's the rub there with Phil. That's a good way. Yeah. Yeah. Bobby in the Okanagan hashtag, WW what we learned, the Redwings and the Penguins are closing in on an Eric Carlson trade. Bobby tapped the brakes. That's still very much in the online rumor mill. I have seen it countless times people trying to connect the dots there. I suppose it would make sense in that Detroit needs to do something and Pittsburgh doesn't need Carlson anymore. And I know some people

have said that back in the day when the Carlson to San Jose trade happened that there was some interest there, but this speaks to a larger point, I think, that there's a lot of teams, as we said countless times, that want to get things done, that didn't get things done in free agency, that are going to have to make the moves via the trade market. We'll see if that one comes to fruition.

Again, I know it's out there. I saw it percolating on X last night as well, but at this point, it's nothing more than I saw it percolating on X last night as well, but at this point, it's nothing more than a sort of salacious rumor than anything else. Sheldon in Surrey, what we learned, I learned that Mike Trout and Aaron Judge are the same age, 33, which seems wild considering when they both

started their careers. I'll have to take his word on that. Yeah, Mike Trout's 33. Guess how many post-season games Mike Trout has appeared in? Eight. Three. Oh, okay. I was off.

I thought he made 12 at bats. Is he a Hall of Famer though? That's a good question. I think he'd have to be. That's a great question. I think he has to be. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

It's a great question. It's just so sad. It's a great question. So in previous iterations of Major League Baseball, the lack of postseason success was somewhat understandable because it was so hard to make the postseason in baseball. It was a limited field. Mike Trout has played in the era of the expanded field.

By all accounts, there should have been more postseason appearances with the advent of the wild card in the years where the field grew to multiple. The angels and trout, especially during the Otani era, you look back on it, you're just wondering what fell short here. Through no fail, trout's health fell short for sure, but it's an interesting dynamic because again, I wonder in a few years time what those conversations are going to look like, the lack of postseason success when you start stacking it up against the expanded playoff field.

What we learned from the Queensborough dangler, Tyrese Halliburton pulled a KD, he risked it all trying to win a championship. Now he's paying for it, might the whole season have to respect the heart But tough break for him and the Pacers might there. Yeah, they ruled him out yesterday, right? And was it Prichard said that he's gonna be open on fire season Yeah, so that so the Pacers went from the NBA Finals to I think they're like a hundred or one long shot Now Achilles cares and messed up the Eastern Conference because Damien Lillard That was like the end of his time in Milwaukee and now you're talking about Tyrese Halliburne.

Jason Tatum. Jason Tatum, like it's really fundamentally affected how that Eastern Conference is gonna look next year. And it's such a short window in the NBA with the max contract lengths being at what, four or five years? The Saltics are basically like, oh well, time to start fresh.

Saltics are done now. As a survivor of an Achilles tear, I can tell you that it gets better. Not much better, but it gets better. So there's all the math to look forward to. Walking around all the time. I can walk, Jason Tatum. I can walk.

Okay, we gotta get out of here for today. I'm gonna walk right on out of here. Thank you all for listening, and thank you all for contributing, and congrats once again to Kim and Kamloops for winning the Jays Care 50-50 for Challenger Baseball. For now though we gotta say goodbye. Thank you all for listening. Signing off I have been Mike Halford, he's been Jason Brough, he's been Adog, he's been Basketball Ben, this has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.