Halford & Brough in the Morning - Changing The Pace of Golf

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

In hour one Jamie and Dan discuss what happened in the previous day of sports which includes changes they’d like to see the PGA Tour make and Connor Bedard re-signing. Plus they get into team rivalries they miss from the past.  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.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Two-and-one on, Vinnie. And he swings and hits and well. Deep right-center field. That's way back, and the wind doesn't matter. It's a home run from Vinnie Pasquitino. to mama and she won't do it and she's the boss she won't do it so you run into daddy daddy says

do it and then you go back in say mama daddy said it was all right ladies and gentlemen the weekend it sure is the weekend we're here we did it it's friday it is halford and brough sports net 650 i'm jamie done still filling in for the guys for one more day and alongside also for one more day. He is Dan Ritchio. What's going on, Rich? Uh, hit the snooze button a few too many times this morning, but we made it. We made it.

We're here before 6 a.m. That's right. Crisis averted. That's what really counts. Still got my morning spro in as well. We're on the air. We're on the air at 6 a.m. We're making it happen.

Yeah. We're doing it. We're, uh, we're ready to talk Jerry Jones clips. That's right. Producer Alina is here as well. I'm so happy. We're all happy. It's great.

It's going to be a great mood. on the show today. Of course, Laddie is here too. Hello, hello. Hello, Laddie. Halford and Brough, we are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Halford and Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt free in just two weeks. Visit sands dash trustee.com. Of course, 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Busy show, as always.

on a Friday here on Halford and Brough. Guestless starts at 7. Nick Ashbourne, he covers the Jays for SportsNet. He'll join us. Of course, Jay's not in action yesterday, but an interesting game coming up for them today with Shane Bieber making his debut against the Marlins.

And the Bebs. Nick had a good piece up at SportsNet yesterday looking at the major lingering questions for the Blue Jays. And we've talked about a fair bit of them on this show this week as well, where you know, things are, the Jays are in a really good spot in the standings and a lot of the numbers look positive, but there are some

significant red flags, or at least almost red flags, maybe orange flags, for the Jays that we can get into with Nick Ashbourne at 7. At 7.30, your guy, Dave Pinota, of the fourth period. He'll probably be amidst appetito as he is in Milan. He is in Milan for the NHL European Media Tour. Yeah, which is pretty cool this year because they're linking up with, is it still called Syria. Yes, Syria. They're linking up. They only have some sponsorship now.

So they're at the legendary Sancero Stadium. There you go. Inter Milan and, of course, A.C. Milan also play. And they're doing some kind of joint. What's the business wordy thing? A collab. A collab. A collaboration.

Yeah. That's right. Collaboratory activation between the NHL and Italian. This has come up on the show before. I hate the word activation. I hate it. So stupid. Especially when people use it towards the public.

Why? It's like, oh, there's all these. There's going to be all these. Bring your family down. There's going to be these great activations. Do you know how stupid that sounds? Say activity. Yeah.

Just say activity. There's going to be fun things to do. Somebody's trying to sell you on the P&E and they're like, there's great activations this year. I'm out. I'm absolutely out. That was exactly the wrong thing to say. Anyways. Yeah.

they're at as you said they're in uh in italy for a pretty cool media day so we'll talk to pegs about that and get his thoughts some into some movement happening and maybe some whispers of more movement around the n hl too that we can chat to uh or chat about with him at seven 30 at eight o'clock brenden dig from the score NFL uh he'll join us to talk a little week three although you know starters not playing mostly so not that much going on in the preseason but we can look ahead to the regular season uh and of course uh also he had a piece recently about the coaches on the hot seat. So we'll get his thoughts for most coach most likely to be fired.

I love the NFL. They're like, you know what? We're going to add a regular season game, remove one of the preseason games since nobody plays their starters in week four of the preseason anyways. And now just nobody plays their starters in week three of the preseason. It's like, what's the point? Preseason football. Dress rehearsal is just now in week two.

The point is people eat it up and people will watch and people will pay big money to go. But you know what? My guy, Tommy Cutlet, he threw TD. three T-Ds last night, three Tuddies for Tommy Davido. He's in tough to make the roster though. Well, you know, when you throw three T-Ds and you're in New York and your nickname is

Tommy Cutlets, you might have a good chance of making the roster. All right, so that's the guest list. Plus, of course, it isn't ask us anything Friday. The concept, very simple. You can ask us anything and we will talk about it and answer it. Maybe assuming it's appropriate, assuming we want to talk

about it on air. Send those in now. Hashtag A-U-A. for Ask Us Anything. And of course, we're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway for the best submission. Now, if you want to be entered to win that, if you want to be eligible, you have to include the pizza emoji in your text. So if you want to have a chance at the gift card to AJ's pizza, text in your Ask Us Anything. Hashtag AUA. Make sure you include the pizza emoji. We will announce the winner at 830, but we'll try to read some of them throughout the course of the show. I know Reach and I have some prepared. as well. So we'll do ask us anything. We'll announce the winner at 8.30. 8 o'clock. Brendan Deegh from the score. 7.30, Dave Penaota from the fourth period. 7 o'clock. Nick Ashbourne covering the J's 4 Sportsnet. That is what's coming up on the show, Laddie. Let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened?

What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit BCCSA.ca.ca.ca. Quickly in the world of baseball, no Jays, no Mariners last night. As I said, Jays opened a three game set with the Marlins today. Shane Bieber making his debut, making his return to the mound after. a layoff of what 16 months here last time he pitched April 24 and of course the Mariners will look to take advantage of the familiar heavy gravitational pull at T-Mobile as they host the athletics for a three-game set. I'm sure they're very excited about that. Probably the most notable score. Well, I'll go through a couple here. One in the AL East, the Red Sox and Yankees open in a four-game set. Red Sox beat the Yankees 6-3.

If you're a Jays fan, that's probably the result you wanted. I think you're just hoping for anything other than a sweep, like even the Red Sox taken three or four in this. I think would suit Jay's fans just fine. If they split the series, that's fine too. As long as the Yankees don't generate a ton of momentum out of this one. I think Jay's fans will be happy. So after that result, Yankees four and a half back of the Jay's Boston five games back. Bad news for the Mariners, on the other hand, Houston finally scored some runs and won a game.

They beat Baltimore 7.2. So they are now two up on Seattle. We'll do more baseball talk. in Jay's talk, especially with Nick Ashbourne, coming up at 7. I'll just whip through some things here before we get to some of the news out of the NHL. In the world of golf, Scotty Sheffler, two shots back of leader Russell Hensley after round one at the tour championship. And it feels like even though he's two shots back, he may as well be in the lead.

He's just like, oh, he's there, yeah, he's going to win. Yeah, it was, it was pretty crazy. Henley shoots a 61, and he's like, I feel pretty good about this. And Scotty was on the 16th hole. and he put himself into a lot of trouble. This is the green right. He's got a big mound, short-sided, very, very, very difficult chip and up and down to get in for par on 16.

At this point, he's five under on 16. And hits a great chip, nails the long putt, goes to 17, nails a long putt for Bertie, and then Bertie's the par 518th. And now he is living in Russell Henley's shadow, because that's just what Scottie Sheffler does. He's an absolute assassin out there. But I love the format going back the way that it is this year with all top 30 golfers starting on the same level.

I did not love the starting strokes thing that they had going on for a couple of years there. It did not make it to have a sense. No. It's like, you're starting a 10 under. This guy's starting an 8 under and we'll figure it out. But this way, it's, you know what, these are the best 30 golfers on the planet this year, certainly in the PGA tour.

And they've earned their spot here. winner takes home the 10 million bucks in the tour championship. I actually have a quick golf ask us anything before you reach because I was reading up on this yesterday they've got a new commissioner who came over from the NFL of the PGA and of course golf very much in flux

lots of change with live and everything and there was supposed to be a merger or a deal between them but now they're just kind of in a standoff again anyways the new commissioner has created a commission which I guess makes sense or a committee I guess with some big names and it includes

including Tiger Woods to kind of study how they want to change the PGA tour going forward and this guy's mantra is very much we're not going to be beholden to tradition. We're going to respect it, but look at the NFL we added, you know, the new kickoff rules. We're always innovating. We added the 17th game. We were always

trying to do things to improve the product and he's going to bring that energy to the PGA tour as well enlisting guys like Tiger Woods to help. I was trying to kind of think like what what stands out to you as potential low hanging fruit? changes, maybe bold changes that you would like to see the PGA adopt under this new

commissioner? I don't have a ton of thoughts on this, but I think the biggest thing for golf is, especially with some of the way the guys play on the PGA, they've got to figure out a way to get pace of play quicker. It's a good answer. You know, and I know baseball, like bringing in a pitch clock years ago would have been like, what are we doing? doing here guys like this is the tradition of baseball like you can't be doing this but i also remember when i first started in radio and i used to op blue jays games and jason fraser would come on the mound for the blue jays and you would expect an extra you know 45 minutes being tacked on to the time of the game because jason fraser took forever between pitches um kidding aside uh they need to

They need to find a way to get pace of playup, and I don't know what else they can do to make the courses a little bit more difficult, but you're watching yesterday, and these guys are just throwing darts all over the place. Not that I want every turn to be like the U.S. Open, but I do want to see the best players on the planet challenged a little bit more than they are. You need a good mix of, like, oh, my God, these guys are amazing, and they're just absolutely destroying this course and we can still test them a certain amount to show that they are still human. I like the mix.

Yeah. Because some people complain about the U.S. Open. I enjoy it. And I like that there's tournaments where the winner is going to be like 25 under. Yeah. And I like that there's tournaments like the U.S. Open where it's going to be a challenge to break part. Because there is an entertaining part to the whole 25 under thing. It's like a bunch of guys are just making birdies and getting after each other, you know?

So it can make for some drama at the end. but there has to be an element of higher difficulty for these golfers. It's interesting that you bring up the pace of play thing and compare it to the baseball pitch clock because one of the other guys on this committee for golf is Theo Epstein, who was instrumental in bringing in the pitch clock for Major League Baseball and trying to speed up the pace of play. So maybe he'll have some thoughts on that as well.

Other big story from the World of Golf yesterday, of course, at the CPKC Women's Open in Ontario, how about this? 15 year old 15 year old Canadian amateur Aphrodite dang stealing the show she shot a 5 under 66 was tied for the clubhouse lead for much of the day eventually landing in a tie for second two shots back of the leader I think they're underway there now she's not on the course but the leader's fallen back stroke last I saw so just one shot back now this is her LPGA debut she's won some very prestigious junior women's events recently so not necessarily a flash in the pan here obviously someone with a very bright future but to do visit 15 in your LPGA debut and be sitting as the clubhouse leader for much of the day is a pretty incredible story it's uh you're destined for start with a name like that aphrodite day i absolutely love it absolutely 15 years old i was reading some of the stories about her last night and i guess she plays uh the course out there in mississauga quite often and

uh the guy who was catting for was like i've never seen any like it was just like like a guy that's like a member at the course, he's caddying for her. And he's just like, I've never seen somebody cut up this course like that. That was incredible. He's like, I'm not needed here. She knows what's going. She knows the yardage. So it's, it's pretty incredible. And, you know, I mean, obviously we've got some, some pretty incredible athletes in this country. I know working for on the Sport PC Athlete of the Year committee for for a couple of years now that, you know, there's always golfers that we are debating, and especially on the junior side of things, there's often been male and female golfers that we are debating

for best athletes of the year in BC. And I know that, you know, Brooke Henderson, you know, she's obviously the story going into any Canadian Open, but there are many that are coming in along since she broke in, since she started winning majors. You go back further to Lori Kane. there's going to be some incredibly talented Canadian golfers on the LPGA tour to come. And Aphrodite is, I mean, at 15, she's doing what she's doing. So it looks like she's on that track too. Yeah, and I don't want to put any pressure on her to kind of keep this going throughout the weekend because that's going to be, you know, it's one thing to do it for one round,

hanging with the pros and the seasoned vets for four rounds is really difficult. But what a cool story and excited to see where it goes this weekend for her and for the future and her career as well. All right. in the world of the NHL. Interesting deal got inked yesterday. Now, we still we reported the

Michael Russo report about Marco Rossi on the show yesterday. That hasn't got done yet, but we'll keep an eye on it. But in Chicago, they signed an exciting, talented young forward to a big extension. Not the one you're thinking of, not Connor Bedard. They signed Frank Nazar to a seven-year

6.6 million AAV extension that kicks in after this season. And this is another one of those deals that I think we're getting used to seeing now in the NHL or we have been used to seeing where there's kind of immediate sticker shock and immediate wait hold on Frank Nazar got that

and you look and it's a 21 year old only 56 career games in the NHL and you think man that's a big bet now I know his production and his play really picked up late in the season for Chicago he also went to the world championships with Team USA helped them win a gold medal he earned an invite to their Olympic orientation camp.

So obviously this is somebody that the Blackhawks have high hopes for and USA hockey has high hopes for as well. And I think when you take a step back, you know, lock your young guys up long term has been a thing for a while. I think we're seeing teams getting even more aggressive with that. And I look at what Carolina did this year with Logan Stankhoven, Jackson Blake. Those are eight year deals for guys with not a ton of track record,

very, very young players, especially considering what we all expect to happen with the salary cap and what almost certainly is going to happen with the salary cap. Yeah, it's sticker shock now. But if you're a team like Chicago where you are nowhere near being in cap trouble in the next couple of years, you can afford to kind of take the risk that maybe at age 23, he won't be worth the money.

But by the time he's rounded into his game a little bit more, 25, 26, and the cap has gone way up. You know, you're talking about kind of standard second line money. And so you're betting, okay, we think this guy can be pretty easily a second line player with upside for more. You're locking in a lot of upside by doing this deal now, or at least the chance at a lot of upside. It's a bet, but it's a bet worth making when you've seen what you've seen from Frank Nazar already.

He was better than a point per game in the HL last year. Then he gets 26 points in 53 games moving forward there with the Blackhawks. Of course, there's a little bit of a size question mark at under six feet playing center, but he's a right shot with incredibly gifted offensive awareness to his game. And it's just, it's a bet that you feel comfortable making. And at that number, given where the cap is headed, you know, he doesn't have to be a superstar to at least bring value or to meet that expectation. You look through NHL history on these types of contracts and the senators have been big on

doing it mainly because, you know, it's hard to get guys to commit to Ottawa, especially once they get closer to free agency. They've done it with Tim Stutzla. How's that working out for him? Pretty good. Really well. Jake Anderson. That's going to work out really well.

Even Thomas Shabbat, maybe he hasn't reached the ceiling that we thought he might, especially earlier in his career. But still, at $8 million a year, you're like, that's totally fine. Yeah, that's the thing. That's kind of like one of the downside cases. And it's like, yeah, that's fine. That's not an anchor. He's a good defenseman. You're paying him $8 million.

Fine. He's still a good defenseman. You're still okay paying that number. The two, there's actually Dylan Cousins, who they didn't give that contract to him. But, you know, you're kind of wondering, okay, what's going on here? Is he going to be worth the $7 million? bucks. He's already had a 37 goal season in his career, but obviously hasn't gone well from the last couple. But honestly, the two that came to mind off the top of my head that didn't

work out are Colin White, who the senators signed to, it was like something in the fours, and they eventually had to buy it out. That's how bad it was going for the senators with Colin White and Mattia Samuelson with Buffalo because Buffalo has done a lot of these kinds of contracts as well. And that one has been a problem mainly because of injury. There was a little bit of buzz that he might get bought out this summer or traded for pennies on the dollar. It didn't end up happening. It has been a good defenseman earlier in his career. Injuries have kind of derailed that the last little while. But even a lot of the misses. haven't ended up being major misses that you're really, really frustrated with.

So more often than not, when these deals get signed, they end up being a lot more team-friendly than they do end up being things that you have to, you know, move heaven and earth to get off your roster or something that you deeply, deeply regret. Even Yaspari Kokanyemi. Yeah. Like with the Carolina Hurricanes, it's like, okay, he's making four and change. but he scores 30 points a year. He plays okay defensively.

It's not great, but we're not losing sleep. He's not crushing them, right? It's not like, oh, my gosh, what are we going to do with this anchor around our neck? It's like, oh, he's making like a million dollars more than he should. Okay, we can live with that. And we took the bet. And I think Tulski's even said kind of when you take a bunch of these bets, yeah, some of them aren't going to work out.

But the hope is that when you add it all up, you're going to get way more surplus value than you're giving up on a guy like Kockenemi. And they're certainly taking that bet, and Chicago is as well. And again, you look at their cap situation. and I know they'll have to do a lot of work filling out the roster. And we'll talk about Connor Bedard's deal in a second here. But for the year of it, this kicks in, 2026, 27, they've only got 40 million on the books, including this deal.

And that's in a projected 104 million salary cap. So they, like for the year of it, this deal kicks in, which is in the lowest cap environment it'll ever exist in. They have 63 million in space still to work for. So you can afford, like this is what they should be doing is using that flexibility, using the fact that they don't have many good players that they have to pay right now and taking advantage of it to chase the upside later on when hopefully for them, they will be in more of a competitive stance

further down their rebuild. Now, as I mentioned, of course, Frank Nays are not the only young talented forward in Chicago who's eligible for an extension. Connor Bedard is as well. And this is going to be fascinating to monitor where this goes. Now, he'll get signed, right? I'm not starting that he's going to force his way to Vancouver conversation, at least not yet, not on this contract.

He will sign a deal, whether it's before this year or he waits till after this year, I think is a totally open question. The thing I'm most fascinated to see is what's the term. And that's the conversation we're having with Connor McDavid in Edmonton on what will be his third deal when he eventually signs it as well. But I know Connor Bedard, when he's been asked about it, has said all the right things about his experience. experience in Chicago so far and how committed he is and all of that. I think it's also telling

that he hasn't signed an eight year deal already, right? Typically, you have a player like Connor Badar that you drafted first overall. You drafted to be the savior of your franchise. You have no salary cap constraints. July 1st, when he's eligible for an extension, you're probably talking to him and saying, hey, what do we need to do to do to get an eight year deal? What do we need to do to get your signature on this eight year deal? Hasn't happened yet. And again, you don't have to be a body language expert to see maybe some of the dissatisfaction from Bedard for what's going on in Chicago. So I am just so curious to see how much term do they get? Yeah. How much does he say, you know what, I'll do a three or I'll do a four even and get that much closer. And then

then I'll really have the leverage going into my next contract negotiations. Or do they convince him to go long-term. I see no reason for Connor Vodard to sign into a long-term deal right now. Because, I mean, look, his numbers for an 18- and 19-year-old in the league to put up 60-plus points back-to-back seasons is still... It's really hard to do. It's really hard to do and does not happen very often. But I think about two cases. One, Nathan McKinnon, coming off of his first contract with the Colorado Avalanche, signed what ended up being the most team-friendly deal, maybe in NHL history, when he signed in the sixes for, I think it was six years for his second contract. And, you know, he was, it was like a 50, 60-point player early in his career. And then

he broke out. Then he was a first overall pick. He became Nathan McKinnon. And, you know, he's done everything that we've seen him do since. And you just, You don't want that situation to play out for Connor Bedard. Even Jack Hughes, to a lesser extent. Absolutely. Coming out of his first contract, his first two seasons in the league, 21 points, 31 points, then he signs the 8 by 8. And now in this cap situation, you're looking at Jack Hughes being,

especially if he's able to stay healthy, which has been the only question mark of his career to this point. It's easily the best contracts in the league that has the most surplus value tied to it if he's going to be a 90 to 100-point player consistently in the league leading the New Jersey Devils on an 8-by-8 contract. So if you're Connor Bedard, you can't sign. I mean, if I were his agent, I would vehemently advise against signing an eight-year term at this stage of his career. You want to go six. Maybe you can do that. You want to go four. That would be great. Five, they're not going to walk you to UFA. so that's probably out of the question. But you want to go bridge

if you're Conan Bedard preferably where his career is set to go once he gets bigger and really is able to dominate with the skill set he has. I think you'd want to wait until after this season as well. Because the difference between signing coming off a 67 point season, which again for a 19 year old is really impressive and we all know the upside

and the skill in Connor Bardard's game. But if he has a breakout and we're talking about hey, he scored 40 goals this year, right? And then all of a sudden, your leverage and your negotiating position is completely different. if you're coming off a season where you scored 40 as a 20 year old in the NHL, then you can really start

to dictate terms and command some big, big money on your next deal. So those negotiations are going to be one of the most interesting to follow. Throughout this season, we'll see where it goes with Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks. Before we go to break here, I wanted to note this as well in MLS,

the White Caps make it official with Shonlau and Eudrick pupa, I think we're saying it right now. We got the pronunciation guide. correct from the white caps. Udrich Pupa. They bring both those two in to fill out their defense for the stretch run and the playoffs.

And really you look at all of the work they did in this transfer window now. And okay, tough to lose Pedro Vite, but you bring in Kenji Cabrera as kind of a direct replacement. You also bring in Thomas Mueller as another attacking option. That goes a long way. And then you bring in the necessary reinforcements on defense as well. And on the back line. Did they do enough to be looked at as legitimate contenders in the MLS Cup in your eyes,

reach? For me, they are a contender in the West, 100%. We've seen them beat Miami in the Conca Calf Champions League. I think they're and have the ceiling that is just about as good as anybody's. Now, there's a pretty good contingent in MLS. You know, Cincinnati is bringing back Brenner as part of their, you know, transfer window closing. last night. He was a star for them, moved over to Europe, hasn't gone well, is coming back

on a loan deal. They've already got the inside track alongside San Diego to win the Supporter Shield is the best team of the regular season. Minnesota made some interesting moves. LAFC obviously brought in Sun Humin, who was a long time Tottenham Hotspur player. So MLS is loaded right now with talent across the board, and there's a lot of good teams. But the white caps what happens? I don't know. I know they're one of the contenders in MLS, even if they're not one of the ultimate top tier ones. They're certainly one of the contenders to win MLS Cup. And two, you know, this is the first time I think in their MLS era that they've been a legitimate contender that they've had really good results and they're backed by the underlying numbers. Like it's not just winning by fluke. They're a real team and they're really good. They win because they are the better team most nights when they're out there on the field.

And ownership for the first time has backed that up by giving them all of these talents. Sure, you lose Vite, but you didn't stop there. You went and got Mueller. You went and got Cabrera. You got these guys. And you've given this team a chance. You've given this team a boost. You had some tough injuries on the back end.

You needed to upgrade there anyways. You go and get two guys and bring them in as well. this is the biggest show of intent from White Caps ownership that I can ever remember and it comes in a year where the team is legitimately good and deserve to have ownership back them with this kind of support.

And it should be a lot of fun to watch down the stretch as well. They play St. Louis this weekend at BC Place and it seems likely that Thomas Mueller will make his first start for the White Caps. So that'll be another exciting game at BC Place. I hope so. I mean, he was doing all that.

biking, you know, you should be able to play 90 minutes at this point. Better be fit. Yeah, I mean, what do you go? What do you have against the biking? It's cardio. That's what I mean. He should be ready to go to play 90 minutes. It's not like he's doing like a, like a brewery crawl or something as part of his tourism push. He's, he's getting fit and exploring the city at the same time. You should love it. Let's see you play 70 minutes this week. Oh, wow. All right. A couple of goals in 70 minutes. Yeah. You set the bar. any higher? I mean, you're Thomas Mueller, man. My goodness. All right. We'll take a break here. He scores more than a goal of match. Come on. We'll take a break. We will get into some of our

ask us anythings and some of yours in the inbox as well. Keep sending them sending them in 650, 650. And remember, include the pizza emoji. If you want your ask us anything to be eligible for the $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway. It is Halford and Brough. Sportsnet 650. All right, now we're cooking with gas here. It's what Fiesta Friday is all about right there. Are you going to Taco Fino after the show? I wish.

My goodness. There's one around the corner here as well. Yes. I should know the name I don't know Considerate I live in the area There is a Chipotle No it's not that's the one

It's just on Yukon over there Yeah I know the one you mean I've been there Chapito There's Chapito Look it up Reach while I do some reads here It's Halverton and Brough

Sportsnet 650 Jamie Dodd Dan Riccio Halpernabroff brought you By Sands and Associates BC's first And Trusted Choice for Debt Help With over 3,000 5 star reviews visit sands dash trustee dot com we are broadcasting live from the kintech studio 650 650 is the

dumbar lumber text line metro vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and reno warriors for over 50 years visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dumbar lumber dot com uh chupito is correct all right wow which i haven't been to uh it must have changed it wasn't yeah okay and there's also la takaria pinche taco shop that's what that's what i was They share the Establishment now. Okay. Lena's on top of it.

It's been a while. He's our taco expert. Clearly. We got an open segment here before the guest list begins in the next segment. So as a reminder, still send your Ask Us Anything's in. It doesn't ask us anything Friday. 2.650, 650. You have Dunbar Lumber text line.

And we will give a $100 gift card to the person with the best submission, a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway. But I'll start with one here before we dive in to the listener inbox. So I mentioned quickly on the Major League Baseball slate yesterday. It was Yankees Red Sox. And opening up a four game series, and I'm sure you remember, Reach, four games between these two teams in late August, that used to be a point viewing. Appointment viewing because it was a war for baseball fans. Even if you didn't care about either of the teams, even if like me, you're a fan of a division rival.

in the blue jays and i kind of hate both teams it's still like oh man this is going to be really entertaining and i'm thinking like the air of like 2003 of course they met in the alcs back-to-back years oh three and oh four a couple classic series for like 2003 to maybe like oh eight oh nine in there really was the peak of it and it was like there was still the steroid era so every game took four and a half hours because they were two of the best hitting teams in baseball every game ended like 118 it was fantastic it ruled and it was a slog but as you said you said you it felt like war as well and this rivalry has lost a ton of spice even with both these teams likely bound for the playoffs.

So I was thinking my question is what's a great rivalry from the past that's fallen off that you really miss, that you wish would come back into relevance the way Yankees, Red Sox used to have that, you know, even for casual fans, that appointment viewing element. The easy answer for me is Red Wings Avenue. Lynch. Sure. That rivalry in the late 90s, Patrick Waugh versus Mike Vernon.

The whole, everything about it, the playoff series were wars. You had some real... Back and forth in the media, yeah. Some real bad news guys on both teams. Claude Lemieux, you know, you had

the Darren McCarties of the world. And it was just like, man, there was so much to that. that rivalry, the playoff series and everything else. And I know 30 for 30 did a piece on it as well. And it's just, I mean, it brings back all kinds of nostalgia as well, you know, being a young, a young guy growing up in that era with some of the biggest names in the sport all on those two teams.

Now, is that, that's got to be the most vicious rivalry in NHL history, right? And at least in my recollection, so I can't speak to anything going on the 70s or the 80s. Yeah, I can't remember the Habs, Nordic's rivalries. Yeah, so this is one that comes to mind, or obviously, the Battle of Alberta in the 80s as well. So I can't speak to those, but certainly in the 90s and on, that one stands out for just the absolute, the barbarity of it. Barbarism. You bring up the Battle of Alberta, and I don't know if you know this about me. I used to work at a sports card memorabilia.

I did know that about you. And we would get into a, like a lot of ex-players would come through. Yeah. A lot of those guys from the 80s on the Oilers teams and even the 89 Flames teams would come through guys like, you know, Jim Poplinski and, you know, the randomest names that you could think of. And they were like, yeah, you know, those rivalries were pretty bad, but they were much worse in real life. You know, you just got a butt end of the stick into your midsection when you weren't expecting it. And the ref's not going to do anything about that. No, absolutely not.

And it was just like, you'd come out of those things with a few bruises to say the least. So, you know, those ones live in legendary hockey lore. But from my lifetime, you know, those are kind of the ones. And I guess a different one, since we were talking about golf earlier, Tiger Phil was a pretty great rivalry as well through the 2000s because, I don't know. It's kind of like wrestling in some ways, like the lines are blurred. Like, do these guys actually hate each other? And I feel like there probably was something going on there. There wasn't really love.

There wasn't much love lost between them. And Tiger Phil had that element to it, even if Phil wasn't quite on Tiger's level for a lot of it. Old guy Bruce says Habs Leaves, which of course is still a rivalry. But I think he's right that like when was the last? I know they met in the playoffs. Was that in the bubble? Yeah. Yeah.

So, okay. So it doesn't have the same atmosphere, obviously. when was the last time both those teams were viewed as like Stanley Cup contenders going into a year it's been a long time I don't think it's happened in my living memory you need you need multiple like back to back

you know similar to Canucks Blackhawks you need like multiple years where you meet each other in the playoffs I remember I was living so this would have been like 2007 I was living in Montreal and it was the last game of the season and it was Habs Leafs And it was theoretically for the eighth spot in the playoffs, in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

And I remember my girlfriend at the time, she was American. And her dad was like, everyone's so hyped up like Montreal, Toronto. Like, aren't they, don't they have more pride than getting this excited about going for eighth? And I was like, no, they don't. No, they don't. And the best part about it was, whatever the result was in that game, it was like the Islanders won in a shootout. And so it totally nullified that result. That was the Wade Dublovitz game, wasn't it?

Yeah, and they ended up making the playoffs. It was like, there was all this hype. Oh, battle for the playoffs between Toronto and Montreal. It was like, no, actually, the Islanders are taking it. Yeah. So I would love to see that rivalry with real stakes. We've not, not just, hey, are the fans going to get in a fight in the stands? Yeah.

Which the answer is yes. But real stakes and real good teams involved. I would love to see that. John and Campbell River says Leif Sends, even though he wasn't a fan of either of those teams in the early 2000s. That was a good one. You're not wrong. He's starting to come back. When the Leafs and Sen's been in the playoffs this year, us at Sportsnet, we made sure you remembered the Battle of Ontario battles.

But like those were pretty great because the senators, the narrative around it was pretty funny because the senators would own the Leafs during the regular season. I think they would win essentially every regular season matchup and then they get to the playoffs and the Leafs would win every series. Yeah, that was tough. Oh, Patrick Levileem turned into a pumpkin again. That was a tough way. Who could have seen this one coming? Somebody texted in Phil versus the IRS. I think that rivalry is still happening.

I don't think you need to wish for that one to come back. I think that's ongoing. How do we feel about Carlo Ancelotti taking... I don't know where this is going. Getting away from Spanish police by vacationing in West Vancouver. It's great. Keep those tourism picks coming, buddy. It's a perfect situation for us.

Sonny texts in the L.A. Lakers and the Sacramento Kings. oh man as a big basketball fan in high school the one series where the Kings lost to the Lakers that was tough because I loved the Kings I mean obviously I was a Grizzlies fan

first and foremost but those King's teams were like cat-na The Vladi Vladi DiVac Pages Stoiacovitch today Chris Weber are you kidding me those teams were electric loved the way they played basketball and I was all in on them

beating the Lakers and they came back just just short or came up just short in that one Pager could hit a three from anyone oh fantastic and I know and I the best version of those teams obviously had Mike Bibby as the point guard but yeah when they were coming up with uh white chocolate Jason Williams yeah big big Jason Williams guy back and then anyways my answer like all this white guys were big Jason Williams guys absolutely we were

it was a very common stance um my answer to the rivalry I miss and which would come back I wish it would come back in a big way and it's still technically a rivalry because they're division rivals but it's Steelers. Ravens in the NFL. And you remember when it was Paul Malu and Ed Reed and those vintage of defenses and they were absolutely elite

and again similar to the Red Wings As right there was legitimate hate legitimate beef they played each other twice a year and you knew every time doesn't matter how good the offenses were it was going to be a bloodbath an absolute physical war between those two teams

on the field. So yeah still a rivalry and again it's it's kind of similar to Habs Leaves, where I'm sure the fans still get hyped for it, but it does not have the spice, the real extra layer of excitement that it did for a number of years there. Yeah, it's, uh, it's just, it's falling short. The Steelers have kind of just been mid for so long, right? It's, I know Mike Tomlin keeps them afloat, but, uh, they've just not been a good enough team. And I don't know if it's like getting older, but, uh, I don't feel like I live these rivalries as much as I used to in my younger days.

Maybe they're just not as good, or maybe I just, uh, what would you say the best team versus team rivalry in sports is right now? That's a good quite like I don't know that there is a defining one. And maybe are we just jaded sports media guys now that they might be jaded sports media guys now that, uh, that, that, that, that don't we just roll our eyes at the cool rivalries instead of getting invested in them. Yeah, uh, man. Like, it's like chiefs bills can't be it because the chiefs always win.

No. I don't think there's, is there, whether there's Panthers. No, Panthers always win. I don't know. I don't know, I don't know what there is a standout rivalry. PGA Tour versus versus live, yeah. Even that's kind of settled down. Yeah, it's not, it's not really all that great. Just in a holding pattern right now. Um, there's, there's not, I can't think of one, honestly. And, you know, it is a little bit different. Uh, maybe, uh, guys are a little too friendly now, you know, and that, They don't carry the same hate. They're all chummy once, you know, the final whistle is gone or whatever it might be. But it just doesn't feel like there is a go-to sports rivalry that is appointment television in any of the four major sports right now in the way that there used to be. Yeah, somebody texts in, if you have a good answer for that. And somebody texted in Canada versus USA hockey, which is a good shout. And certainly, of course, on the women's side, that's always been a fantastic rivalry.

And I think we, I mean, we all saw what we saw. the four nations right so there is that that beef there it's just it's not regular enough so i'm thinking in a in a professional sports league what's the best rivalry on the go right now i mean i know obviously if you want to go to european soccer those rivalries are still still electric no even even uh you know Barcelona rail madrid isn't the same as it used to be like it's still it's still big yeah but and especially big for those the fans in those cities but it doesn't have the same it doesn't have the same animosity that it used to with like the sideline brawls and yeah jose marino like you know going crazy on people it's just like it just it's it's it's not

the same as as what it was there's not the same level of animosity as there used to be uh just in an east van with an ask us anything if you could swap jobs for one week with anyone at rogers whose job would you take and for a second i thought he meant uh at rogers arena and i was going to say jim Rutherford not because I want to make a bunch of trades because I want Jim Rutherford to host a radio show yeah yeah I think that would be amazing can you imagine Jim Rutherford I don't know he wouldn't make it through two hours oh buddy without without lighten any fires so that would be electric no no no no yeah can you imagine the ratings gold for the station it is like hey guys it would be incredible you know the fill in host on the morning show is this week in the summer

Jim Rutherford. No. No. No. I feel bad for the producer of that show. Oh, I feel great. That would be, uh, there's a reason why he used to do weekly hits in Pittsburgh and where he doesn't do a weekly hit here in Vancouver. I bet Jim could do a tight 10-minute NFL interview, no problem. No problem.

Absolutely. Yeah, he's big sports guy. 100% golf? He loves golf? Loves golf. Yeah. You could do a lot like, hey, Jim Rutherford's a, uh, he's, you can have an easy conversation with you. Jim Rutherford. There's no questions. No doubt about it. A couple more coming in on the rivalry discussion. Canucks versus Wilds

from back in the day. Yeah. That's fine. A couple saying The one thing I always remember of that is that the Wild fans held on to it for a long time after it was over. The most exciting thing the Wilde have ever been a part of it. So, you're our biggest rival. We've had like three different rivals

since that guys. We've totally moved on. A few more shouts for the the Nordiques versus the Habs. Another one, Stone Cold versus Vince McMahon. I mean, that one was pretty legendary. That's one of the best rivalries of the late 90s, no doubt about it. Whopping his ass in the hospital bed? Doesn't get much better than that. Late 90s, Steve Austin was maybe the greatest sports wrestling character of all time. Oh, 100%. A hundred percent. Somebody texted in as one they wish would come back, Habs Bruins, which I think is a really good shout. And that's another one

which still has the kind of residual glow on it where it's like, oh, okay, that's interesting. But again, hasn't really felt like, what was the last big Habs Bruins moment? Was it Zadano Char? Who did he hit into the stanchion? Patch ready. Yeah, yeah, patch ready. Like that feels like probably the last. Yeah. Big Bruins Habs rivalry moment. Hasn't been enough big games. No, haven't been enough big games. Uh, CFL Bombers versus riders. I'll take your word for it. Sure. Tyler Myers versus the Cracken from Brian That's a good one Crackin fans absolutely think Tyler Myers

is the biggest goon in the league because he once hit Mattie Baneers Yeah, it's so funny I think they have Dave Softie Maller on regularly and he's a sports radio guy Big character and everything And when he comes on and I've interviewed him on the show He's like

Try really tries to pump it up like Oh that guy Tyler Myers up there And it's like what? Oh right That Maddie Baneers thing Yeah you guys are still hung up on that of course. Now I remember. And this text always comes in when we have this

conversation, Canucks versus the refs. John and Seale. Of course. Somebody suggested that maybe it's the white caps versus the refs. Well, now it is. You know, that one. That's also a good shout. Like Tim Ford and the white caps, man. Like, I mean, Vanney wanted to put him out

next to Falls Creek over there. Got himself suspended for crossing the line with those comments. I don't think any Canucks coach ever sort of hinted that, you know what? I'm not going to go down that road. We all remember what Vanney said. No, we've never crossed that line in the, in the NHL.

Uh, Nate and Richmond suggests that Dodgers Padres might be the best rivalry in Major League Baseball right now. A little one-sided. But then he follows it up. That's pretty sad. Yeah. It is. Yeah.

I guess it's probably still one of the big, like traditional NFL divisional rivalries, you know, like Cowboys Eagles. and again I know the Cowboys are kind of a joke but they still are usually in the playoffs or in a playoff position at least and the Eagles have been good and that of course is a historic rivalry going back a long ways

so like that is is that kind of the answer by default yeah yeah it's it definitely is the answer by default better versus Nadal Jason the killer goalie that was a good one

does Alcaraz sinner start like is it beginning to get there that might be be the answer, actually. Yeah. It's now I know the match in Cincinnati didn't materialize. He had to retire for injury there, but it might be just like six months too early, but in six months, we might be saying, oh, that's clearly the best rivalry in sports

right now. Yeah, because, I mean, some of the battles they've already had are pretty incredible. Rob and Surrey as well, saying Mariners fans and every fake Blue Jays fan that discovered what baseball was in 2015. I got to give Rob credit, man. He has a schick and he sticks to it. I'm firing back. I say every Blue Jays fan outside of V.C. Doesn't think about the Mariners.

You and Rob like to go at it in the inbox, Laddie. I commend you guys. You're sticking to your guys. According to him, I'm a real Jays fan because I'm from Ontario. There you go. There you guys. I have his credit. You have the moral authority to push back. All right. Keep those tax coming in 650, 650, either

on best rivalry in sports right now. I think we're still looking for a satisfactory answer there. A rivalry you wish from the past that you wish would make a comeback or send your own ask us anything. in 650, 650, hashtag AUA, and of course, a hundred dollar gift card goes to the best

submission, a hundred dollar gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, but we'll talk a little Jays next and some of the big concerns for them going into the playoffs with Nick Ashbourne from SportsNet here on Halford and Brough Sportsnet 650.