Halford & Brough in the Morning - Darts Should Be An Olympic Sport

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason discuss the latest Canucks news with Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre (1:19), plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Music Music Music Music 804 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands & Associates BC's first entrusted choice for Dead Help with over 3,000

five star reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com We are in hour three of the program. Ian McIntyre Sportsnet's very own is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour three. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step.

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. Let's go to that aforementioned hotline. Now, joining us on the Haliford and Brough show, it's Ian McIntyre. iMac, as he's known here on Sportsnet 650.

Good morning, Ian, how are you? I'm doing well. You know, that started off as kind of a stage name for social media, but it stuck. It also helped that the most valuable company in the world came out with a computer called iMac. When I write his name in the notes, I actually stylize it like Apple. I put small i, capital M. Does it auto correct to it sometimes? Yeah, now it does. I do that too. Yeah. He's iMac. You know, when I was registering for Twitter, which was a long time ago, and already it

was hard to get a name that you wanted because everyone had taken all the good stuff, I actually thought about Mac I am. That would not have aged well, would it? No. Probably not. Probably not. Probably not. Probably not.

By the way, you guys scare the crap out of me. Every time I come on, just being on hold, because it's like, I don't know, operating a ham radio from the moon and you're picking up every station on earth while you're on hold. I don't think a ham radio would actually work from the moon and you're picking up every station on earth while you're on hold. I don't think a ham radio would actually work on the moon, but. You're picking up a lot of stations

while you're on hold? Yes. Oh really? Yes. I never hear, I never hear just you guys. I hear like three shows all superimposed. And then when it's time for me to come and I'm fretting like, what am I going to do?

I can't hear them. I want to be able to hear a question. And then it all works out. It all works out. Andy pulls some kind of magic switch and here we are. Yeah, we've got some engineering problems, but hopefully some of the shows were better than ours. You know, maybe you get entertained a little bit. Okay, so let's start with,

cause we haven't spoken with you since Tauke left and Adam arrived. What do you think about everything that's going on with the Canucks right now? Well, it's a big swing, right? Like it's a calculated risk and high risk, high returns, I think. I'd also like to point out, like this was always, this was always a possibility.

I mean, I, I think it was Drance's show where I said, I thought it was 50-50 whether he'd come back and Thomas said 60-40 comes back. So let the record show I was less wrong than Drance on this one. That will kill you too. Yeah. It was always a possibility that, that Rick would leave. You know, I, I covered, I had a couple of talks. So I'm not about, Hey, are you going to stay? Are you going to leave specifically?

Um, cause I don't think he was interested in that conversation with a member of the media, but I had a couple of conversations with him late in the year when I was on road trips and you could just see firstly how draining this season had been on him and on everybody involved, right? And maybe that's not a shock to anybody, but it really took a toll on him. But the other thing that I got the sense from as the season was winding down, he was a free agent. And it's like with players and guys that you think are going to come back, they get close

enough to free agency and they take a look around and maybe they don't come back. And I think there was a little bit of that. He got to the end of the year suddenly, there's seven other jobs open. And in the end, I was still, even though I said 50-50 in my gut, I thought he would come back. But he didn't and you know, he had the freedom to leave. And I'm not sure that Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen really could have done anything differently

because they, as far as we know, they more or less came up to his price. Certainly they came up to his term. And you know, sometimes stuff happens. I think if anything, in hindsight, maybe when all the bad stuff was happening back in November and December, if they'd gone to him then and sort of as a show of support and a show of commitment said,

Hey, let's, let's do this deal now. We believe in you, even with what's going on. Maybe it would have been different, but you know, he's found, I think a good situation for himself in Philadelphia. And back to the other half of the question with Adam Foote. I describe it as a big swing because the connects that I don't really know how to characterize the situation they're in right now, but they've got to be good next year. This can't be sort of a methodical realignment or retool.

They've got to be good next year. And so Adam Foote certainly gives them a chance, a possibility to do that because he's got the system, the structure. So there's continuity there. He's got relationships with players, most of whom are coming back. And you know, it's, it probably among options gives them the best chance to have an immediate bounce, but you know, and this is all because of the Quinn Hughes factor.

There wasn't the Hughes factor in the hiring per se is both Alvin and Adam Foote said to Quinn, they didn't talk to Quinn during the process, but there is the Quinn factor in that he could tell them they're leaving after next season. He could say, I'm not going to resign. And so there's that creates a situation I think is almost unique for, for Vancouver. And that they've just, they've lost their coach. They're coming off a terrible season, but there's this real urgency that they have to have a big bounce back next year. And I think Adam foot gives them that chance. What does Adam foot need to do to. urgency that they have to have a big bounce back next year. And I think Adam Foote gives them that chance.

What does Adam Foote need to do to return optimism to the team? Forget about the market. The market is going to be what the market is, but like, how do you, I think we can all admit that the room needed to be fixed. I think there were steps taken to fix that room. But I don't know if we can sit here and say like, oh yeah, everything's good now. So what does he need to do to make sure that it's a better, it's a better environment next season?

Oh man. And here we are, we'd gone like eight minutes without talking about Ilias Pedersen. Oh, why do you bring him up? I thought that was my job. Halford pushes back on it. He's tired of talking about PDN. I'm sure a lot of people are too.

Well, I kind of am as well, but it is, it is reality here, like if you're, if you're talking about the room and, and culture, like culture is not just everybody getting along. That's really simplistic. It's so much more than that. And, and one of the most basic things about culture is you have to have complete buy in from simplistic. It's so much more than that. And one of the most basic things about culture

is you have to have complete buy-in from everyone and especially your leaders. And so in that respect, Ilias is going to continue to be an issue. I don't think it's a bad thing that there's now a different voice in charge, but I also am pretty sure Adam Foote isn't gonna be any more lenient than Rick Tauke it was as far as expectations and accountability. So I think that's gonna be an ongoing issue and we're really not gonna know until probably next November.

We probably won't even know at training camp, assuming that Pedersen comes back because everything seemed okay at last training camp too. And it was only after that that we started to learn of the organization's frustration with him and later at some point after that, even teammates frustration with them and not only JT Miller. So that's a factor. I would say though, I think it was important that they made the move that they did. I'm sorry on a personal level that JT Miller is no longer on this team because I had a lot of time for him and we all know he was a hell of a player when he was on his game but you couldn't

continue with both and in the end as JT said to me in New York, he needed change too. So I think that was an important step but they need more. I'll say this though because I reached out to a couple of players last week. I was actually covering the Dallas Winnipeg series, but wrote about, obviously, the coaching hire. And the couple of guys I reached out to loved this hire. Like, people on the team really wanted, and almost universally, I would say. And I would say universally, except I've covered hockey a long time,

and that would be naive to say that every player on the team wanted Rick Tauke back. But I think almost all of them did. So there'd be a lot of disappointment when he left, and I can tell you there is probably a lot of happiness, maybe even relief, when it was announced that Adam Foote was staying.

So I think there will be some positivity within the group. I don't know that that's gonna filter out into the marketplace and be reciprocated, but I know internally guys will be happy to have Adam Foote. Obviously he has a lot of work to do, so including filling out his staff and it's going to be really important. They have a good camp and good preseason, really important that they have a good start to the season so that they're,

they're operating in a far different environment than what they tried to survive last year. We are speaking to sports nets, Ian McIntyre here on the Alfred and Bruff show on sports net six 50. Speaking to sports nets, Ian McIntyre here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. So the the understanding of timelines and deadlines is pretty important for this organization. I think everyone understands that next year there needs to be a bounce back and

hopefully a playoff appearance after missing the year prior. And then, you know, at further down the road, there's the Queen Hughes timeline and everything that pertains to whether or not he'll make a decision to resign or go elsewhere. I suppose there's also one regarding the president of hockey ops, Jim Rutherford. Have you spent a considerable amount of time or any amount of time at all thinking about Rutherford's future in Vancouver and the timeline there and how much longer he might be in charge? No, it's actually, I wish I had a good answer for you and could jump in with with something that could Occupy maybe a segment even when I'm not on but but I can't because it's been a while since I talked to

To Rutherford. I mean he he is on his second contract obviously with Vancouver but he said himself in that press conference at the end of the year that he hasn't thought of doing anything else. And I also thought maybe one of the most revealing things that was said at the end of the season that didn't get a lot of attention because there seemed to be so many other news items to unpack. But when Rutherford said, and I can't remember the exact quote word for word, but he feels responsible for what has happened, that this isn't what he envisioned, I think that's going to, if anything, if he had any thoughts about easing out, I think that's

going to make him dig in, at least in the short term, because he feels a responsibility for this. I think over time though, and we've already seen it a little bit, that Patrick Alveen is going to become more and more prominent and the focus of the decisions made and Jim Rutherford is going to be less so.

And, uh, I mean, Ultimately being realistic, ultimately, Rutherford still has boss and he's going to have to sign off with them on, on big decisions. But I think we already saw this, at least I saw it in my job and the way I cover the team, I saw that Patrick Albean kind of stepped out front a little more, seemed more confident with us and seemed to be much more as you'd envision a GM, a guy who's making day-to-day decisions, seemed to be the guy making day-to-day decisions. And I think that transition will continue even if Rutherford stays, but it is a good question.

You know, how much longer Jim's gonna do this and ultimately, you know, what that might mean for the franchise if you are gonna change a hockey operations president. Remember, they went years without one, right? From Mike Gillis until Jim Rutherford. So, you know, maybe when Rutherford leaves, Patrick Alveen's just in charge for a while.

There isn't a president, but it is a fair question. Ian, when you reached out to some of the players to talk about the coaching change, did you just stick to the- Just two of the players. Oh, okay. So did you stick to the coaching story or did you get into anything else about what needs to change

for next season to be more successful? I was just canvassing on what they thought. And people were, the two guys were, and it wasn't on the record, otherwise I'd be telling you their names or sort of written about it, which I haven't. But just wanted to know what they thought. Like take the temperature and, you know, both were disappointed, but very respectful of

my clothed decision. And both were really happy that Adam Foote was going to be the guy because there's a lot of... Here's the thing I can tell you, and for better or worse, the belief or the tone in the dressing room is often very different than what it is outside of it. And those guys think that they still have the makings of that. They still think they can be the makings of that. They still think they can be that 109.2.

Sorry if you're getting some wind here, I'm out walking around. No problem. They still think they can be that 109.2. They're not, they're not, you know, the dread and the sense of doom, which we all feel sometimes living in this city with the Canucks, that doesn't really permeate, infiltrate the dressing room. So their view is very much that they can do this.

They can have this bounce back. And I would go one further, the new Mike, they not only have to make the playoffs next year, they have to show that they can compete. And that doesn't mean, say going to a conference final or winning a cup, but they can't just, if they're trying to make an impression on Quinn Hughes, I don't think it can be another

mosh pit finish for a wild card spot and you get in. They have to show, I think, that they're a serious team and can mount a serious challenge in this league. But again, the guys in that room, I mean, they saw all the challenges and more than what we saw on the outside. And even through all that, you know, the team had 90 points, was in it till the second to last week of the season. So they think that they can bounce back and be that 109-point team again. I think that belief is really important, but we know there are so many other factors. Without that, then I think they're in a lot more trouble, even than what we think,

if the players thought that they didn't have the components to be a good team, and they do. What do you think about the challenge for management and trying to find, I guess, two or three top six forwards for next season in a league where everyone suddenly has cap space and everyone's going to be aggressive this off season? It's, it's like a buying spree. And even, even things like, you know, the Canucks have, let's say they have their first round pick to trade as an asset. Ordinarily you think, okay, you can get back a top six guy for that. This year, where everybody's looking for players because everybody's got

money, it's going to be a challenge. I think they will because of how strongly Jim Rutherford talked about getting a top six centre and it's not going to be cheap, but we have to do it, was essentially his message. I think they will make a trade for a top six centre. And then if they can get another good player in free agency, that's two forwards. I'm not sure that they're gonna get three or four

impact guys, but if they get two, and then you know that this team has been pretty good the last couple of years at finding value, finding a key for Sherwood. value, finding a key for a key for Sherwood. Before that, even Carson Suzy was a good pickup initially. I think that they can make a difference. I think they can move the needle, but it's not going to be easy. It is going to be expensive because we're in this period of historic inflation, maybe not by percentage-wise from the initial years of the cap, certainly in terms of the actual number and how much money teams have to spend.

It's going to be really difficult. I don't doubt Jim Rutherford, based on his track record, that if he says he's going to go out and do something, there's a good chance he'll do it. And I think it was one day when he talked about finding salary cap space when he took over and getting out of some of those contracts. You know, in a flat cap world, that was turned out to be almost impossible. It's not impossible to go out and trade for a top six centre. It's just going to be really costly. But I think if that's what he's determined to do, I think the club will do it.

Ian, before we let you go, I just wanted to say, I know sometimes you go out on the road to cover one story and you end up covering something entirely different. What you did, and you can check it out. Everyone that's listening can check it out at sportsnet.ca at the end of the Jetstar series which again probably started as an assignment writing about hockey and ended with something very different following the passing of Mark Scheifele's dad before game six. I just want to say you did a really great job of that I read both articles that you had up there and I know it must have been challenging to put it mildly but you did a really great job. Well thanks Mike I appreciate that I was actually one story I feel really good about

because it's hard sometimes to write the quality that you'd like with the access that there is in the playoffs, but that was an incredible moment. I felt lucky to be there. I was really lucky to talk to Jamie Ben after the game because I was the only person who spoke with him. And I thought what he had to say given what had happened the previous game was really important. And it was just, it was a great moment for hockey, right? Like regardless of whether you're a Jets fan or a Dallas fan or maybe of neither, it was sometimes when you least expect it, the sport we love so much can deliver us something really meaningful and I thought that was one of those nights.

I agree. Well said Ian, thanks again for doing this. We appreciate it. All right, thanks for having me on. See you guys. See you later. That's Ian McIntyre, iMac here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

We are way up against it for time. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro. From conference rooms to kitchenettes and everything in between, Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected. For a free quote, visit them online at JanPro.ca. You're listening to the Halford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Vic Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger

bets. Weekdays three to four on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. ["It's What We Learn Time"] Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time.

It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show. 832 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday everybody. Halford Brough SportsNet 650. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sans-trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn in time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today.

Good timing on that one. We have three what we learns from our side of the table. We had four. Jason bowed out. I have, I'm the only one with respect for the listeners that sent in what we learned. Oh yeah. Oh, okay. You guys, the listeners weigh in on that. Yeah. And here come the listeners. Oh wait what oh yeah okay you guys have a lot of listeners weighing on that yeah and here come the listeners oh wait they've been muted okay we're gonna start with laddie like I'm gonna yeah I'm on the spot I don't even know what he's doing well I'm really excited to hear it or is there an audio component there's no audio okay let's try it anyway just let me go

sultry voice if you you, what we learned, if you were one of those people that are like, oh man, I wish I knew when Marcus Strowman was on the Vancouver Canadians. Oh man. I was one of those people. I wish I knew when Nate Pearson was on the Vancouver Canadians, I would have gone and watched him.

There's a guy there right now. He just made his first start. He made it in Eugene, so we didn't have a chance to see him in Vancouver, but his name is Trey Yesavage. Great name. Made his debut for the Canadians yesterday. Struck out 10 in four innings. Two runs, two hits, three walks. Seven of his last eight batters in the game went down via the K.

He is a first-round pick of the Blue Jays. 20th overall. 20th overall. He's very, very good right handed pitcher. And you can go see him at Nat Bailey for a limited time, because I don't think he's going to be here very long. You guys, he's just been dominant at every level. When is he chucking next? Four days. I have a story that relates to this. Back when I worked for the Vancouver Canadiens many moons ago, the Joe Blanton era, the I watched Joe Blanton pitch at NAP Bailey.

Joe Blanton went to watch Rich Harden pitch. Yeah. But this was so Blanton came in as like one of the premier power pitchers in his draft class. And I remember it very rarely. Can you hear someone pitch? Like you can hear the sizzle because it's the rotation of the stitches on the ball when it's going through, especially when it's hot and it's the summer.

Anyone who's been down on a field knows what you're talking about. But also the pop when it hits the glove. So Joe Bland came in and he just threw fastballs. Like they were like, don't mess around with anything else. You're gonna gas everyone that's here, just throw. And it went pop, pop, pop, done. And then one of the scouts that was working in the press box next to him,

get him out of there. He's like, I hope you enjoyed that because you will never see him pitch. And that was they were short season single at that point. He's like, you will never see him pitch here again. Who's who's the best see ever? Like, I'm not talking about Ron Kittle, Sammy Sosa. I saw so so. Yeah C ever? I'm not talking about Ron Kittle. Sammy Sosa, by the way. I saw Sosa play.

I still wanna say Ron Kittle. Did Donaldson play for the Cs? Troy Donaldson. No, Josh Donaldson. Josh would've come up in the A's system after they had left. Sammy Sosa played for the Cs? Yes.

I didn't know that. The Cs, weren't the Cs affiliated with Oakland at one point? Yeah, but Donaldson came along after that affiliation had ended. Do we have to go by error just the best player to ever play in Vancouver as a Canadian AAA single a what? Yeah, you can play three games or whatever. It's gotta be Sammy Sosa, right? Yeah. Yeah, I remember seeing Sammy Sosa play. I'm like That guy's hair is shiny. Yep, but again Ron Kittle consider the good debate Ron Kittle. Okay, moocow Hey dog, you're up.

Very exciting. Yeah, I'm excited. This is a good one. BC is getting a new area code. So I knew about this. It's coming into effect when? Saturday. It's 257. I can't get down with this. Starting on Saturday, there'll be six area codes in BC. Six! 257-604-250-778-236-672 area codes in BC six two five seven six oh four two five oh seven seven eight two three six six seven two you see the rare six seven two in the wild I don't see them very often I think I've seen a couple two three six eight pictures of it I actually won't answer phones from seven seven eight I don't do the seven seven eight seven seven eight is yeah normal enough I've always normalized no

and I've always hated it problem I got a problem with our society I'm always held a grudge again 7 7 8 because it impeded on the 604 lifestyle. Okay, I've always I just don't answer So I remember when phone numbers were seven digits. Yeah, I do too. What do you call your friends as a kid? You didn't have to dial the area code. This is when I earlier when you in the day Yeah This is a kid you didn't have to dial the area code. This is when I, earlier when you. Back in the day. Yeah. Earlier when you got upset at me and I talked about the evolution as a society and how we might evolve as a fan base

or people covering the sport. So there was two, when we had to go from seven digit to 10 digit to dialing, the outrage. It was crazy. It was alarming that it was, and then. Well clearly we can't, we just shouldn't allow anyone else in Canada

If we don't if we don't have you know the phone numbers for it, then it's not possible We have too many people we need no we will not grow the phone number database one phone per person You get one number. I distinctly remember someone trying to pitch a company that would dial the first three digits for you So you didn't have to do it. It didn't get off the ground Spoiler is my company Dialing company well not everyone had a phone number too like everyone has a phone number now It's true. We had family phone numbers, so I remember my best friend But now it's like it's just a it's not even a thing like no one's one three two seven one

Are we there? 261-3271. Are we there yet? Can we dial it up? Should we call it right now, get them on the air, see if we can pick them up? The normalization, are we there yet with another one, no longer getting grocery bags at the grocery store? Have we all now officially just come to grips

with bringing your own grocery bag to the grocery store? Are you still like, ah? I show up empty handed quite often? I'll get that It's the worst you do what I know you know it really bugs me is like the 25 cents for the paper bag Yeah, it's like a good bag. I can carry it I know what I do is I bring the bags in my car and then I leave them on the seat and then I get Inside the grocery store and I left my bags. Yeah, yeah, yeah every time I put them in the back seat Yeah, and they just get forgotten about forget. I have them, yeah. Every time. I put them in the back seat. And they just get forgotten about.

And I forget I have them. But we're getting close, I think, as a society. Weirdly, we never got there with paper straws, especially in America. We're going right back to plastic. But paper straws are terrible, though. Yeah, I know. That paper goodness.

I don't even like the feeling of, like, I don't, okay. Who thought that was a good idea? Let's make this thing that could get soggy, wet. I'm gonna get clipped here, but like when you insert the straw into the plastic top, you know what I mean? It's got that like, eww, feeling. I don't like it, I don't care for it.

You know what, honestly, how I drink drinks now, if I go to McDonald's or whatever, I don't get a straw at all, I just take the lid off and I drink it. So you destroyed the planet over plastic. Yeah, I didn't like the feeling of the straw though, when it went in the paper. Bruff just raw dogs to drink?

Yeah, no I do. Raw dog and I drink. I do, yeah. Okay. I don't like, I don't like. Let's end it there. Well, why not? Why not?

Why not? Are you so, are you a child and you're spilling drinks all over the place? Would you like a straw sir? No. No, I handed it back. What am I, a child? They give me a straw and I'm like, I won't need this, thank you very muchilling drinks all over the place. Would you like a straw sir? No. No, I handed him out. They give me a straw and I'm like, I won't need this.

Thank you very much. I'm better than you. The hope will be one day that the McDonald's cashier will say straw or raw dog. Boo cow. Real quick, we were supposed to mention this early in the show, but we didn't. The Whitecaps drew 2 two to with Canadian Premier League side Valor FC out of Winnipeg yesterday. Another very, very disappointing result for the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Their third in a row now. Not great form going into a couple of MLS matches. And then, of course, the big June 1st match against Cruz Azul in the Conca Caff Cup Championship. It was a match where they had heavy squad rotation. There was a bunch of bench players playing. I watched it. It wasn't great. Jesper Sorensen was not happy after the match. He actually carved the guys said they were dribbling too much and he doesn't

understand what the point of all their pointless dribbling was. His words, not too much dribbling, too much. Here's an interesting one as it pertains to Canadian soccer off the white caps. And Canada has announced its roster for, you know, that little mini tournament that they're going to Canadian soccer off the whitecaps thing is Canada has announced its roster for you know that little mini tournament that they're gonna have coming up the June friendlies I can't remember the name of the tournament where they're gonna play Ukraine Ivory Coast and a couple others They've called up out of nowhere an under 18 striker that plays for Manchester United's An under 18 striker that plays for Manchester United's u18s and had previously been capped by the Welsh national team

Named Gabriele Bianchetti. I don't know anything about him. Sounds Welsh. Yeah, that's right first thing I'm like, are we sure he played for Wales? But he has the he has the opportunity to play For Wales, I think he was born there. Mm was born there and he grew up in Wales. So he's already been identified by their national team. As the name suggests, he's also eligible to play for Italy by way of his father. His mother is Canadian

and I guess Jesse Marsh and company are really trying to recruit more dual nationals going into the World Cup. I don't know if you saw this over the weekend, though, they're recruiting not even a dual national, but an actual, legitimate, 100% purebred American

in Tristan Blackman. Right, yeah, yeah. Because Blackman's played in Canada's purebred American. Purebred American. USA, all the way. So they were, they're having exploratory talks with Tristan Blackman who will potentially playing for Canada.

But Marsh was asked about it, and he actually said, he's kinda hesitant to go down this road who were potentially playing for Canada. But Marsh was asked about it and he actually said, he's kind of hesitant to go down this road because he doesn't want guys that have no affiliation or let's just say it like interest or pride playing for Canada. Yeah. And he said part of it was like,

I get that, I get that. He said, he's like, black man's a great player, but he has no Canadian blood at all. Right. He's lived here for three years and they would try and fast track the process. So I'm glad that he- How do we Canadianize them?

Will we like monitor his spelling and that sort of thing? Possibly. Can you put an OU in Black Moon? I don't know. Like I don't know what you would do to Canadianize someone because you either You either have it or you don't right? Like you can't just force it you get foisted on a guy You just go to him as you go like I'm to show you a clip and you tell me whether or not this is goalie interference. Yeah, right. And if you don't know you're Canadian. I don't know. It's interesting though, right? Like part of you wants Canada to be as good as

possible going into the world cup. Yeah. Yeah. But do you want it with that kind of player? I want it with people with ties to Canada. Right. I'm kind of the same way. Like I like Blackburn and he's having a great year Yeah, we're not gonna win the World Cup. No Do you know what I mean? But you could have a better I mean you want to get out of the group Yeah, yeah, of course. Imagine what if we did? Oh, man. Let's just stop it right there. Anyway, there's your Canadian soccer update for today That's what we learned Moo County And now we fire up the dot matrix.

Humanoid, what we learned is brought to you as always by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. There's two AJ's pizzas now, 325 and 327 East Broadway. Our favorite pie, the white Vesuvio featuring roasted mushrooms, housemade Italian sausage and extra Cuminacotta. Only at AJ's Pizza, order online at ajs.pizza. David from Surrey. What we learned, I learned that someone from

Vancouver was on Jeopardy last night. Yeah. We had a few people text in about this, uh, Brendan Liao, a recent UBC graduate. Um, and he won. Yep. And it was, uh, was one, but everyone lost. Everyone got final Jeopardy wrong.

Oh, so what was his final? Was in the negative One like $1,200 Ode them the least amount of money He had to pay Ken Jennings back has that ever happened that everyone's fit anywhere in So the final jeopardy question yesterday soon nailed it in the break alright You didn't even let me get the question out or the answer. I suppose. I don't know the answer was Which NFL?

Market is in a state with the lowest population density. Yeah, I think I got that right mm-hmm someone guessed Colorado for the Denver Broncos that was a pretty good I think I would have probably guessed Green Bay, but that's Silly because Milwaukee's there and and then the winner was or I guess the right question was Las Vegas the Raiders because Nevada has the lowest population density of any of the states that have an NFL team So they got it right at the break In case you didn't hear that laddiedie was the only one that got it right. Well, it always feels extra special

when no one on the show gets it right. And you do. Right. You feel like the greatest genius in the history of the world. You truly are. Yeah, that'd be amazing on Jeopardy. Like, what are you guys, all idiots?

Yeah. That was an easy one. And congratulations to Greg, who got his first and only question right. It's the only time I've gotten it right. I hope Jeopardy, yeah. I'll hit the penis, might ya? It was a sports question.

Justin with what we learned, NFL players will be permitted to play flag football at the 2028 Summer Olympics. I kind of caught a little bit of this. Is it one player from each team is allowed to go? Let me double check. It'd be awesome if like an offensive lineman stepped up and was like, I want to play.

It's like, I don't think you're needed here. I think it's one player from each team is allowed to go. Yeah, so limited one player per NFL team on each national team participating. I'm kind of curious to see flag football. I'll be honest with you, I don't know if it's an Olympic sport, but. I mean, break dancing made it.

Break dancing gave us some moments though, didn't it? I was off last August, so I didn't get a chance to weigh in. I know you guys, I think you guys touched on it and I'm not going to do it now because I feel like the Australian breakdancing take might be a tad late, but they may as well. Guy doesn't want to talk about Elias Pedersen, but

he wants to talk about Australian breakdancing from a year ago. I just said I didn't want to talk about it. Why are you talking about it? What I was saying was, is at the end of the day, just try it. It's the Olympics. You may as well just give it a shot.

And if it doesn't work out, you can just rip the sport out of the programming anyway. I've 100% changed my mind to agreeing with that. I used to be like, skateboarding at the Olympics. And now I'm just like, whatever, darts? Yeah, that'd be cool. Hell yeah. That's awesome. Darts should move to the front of the darts? Yeah, give me a shot. That'd be cool. Hell yeah.

That's awesome. Darts should move to the front of the line. I think darts would be electric. That'd be great. Can you imagine that? Yes. Just the guys walking in to the... Why not?

You think about it. There's probably enough. They're allowed to drink during the performance. Even the curlers would be like, these guys are not in good shape. Yeah. That guy's breathing heavily. You know he's gonna win. He's like, God, how far is this parade? I'm very tired. Can we end it?

The closing ceremonies were excellent except the darts players did not participate. And also, he lights the torch by flicking his cigarette in. Fire up the gas. Hans over here is just about to finish his heater. I would have pushed this into reality. How could we make this happen? Oh my God. They just had the Olympics in London too. Yeah, it would have been great.

God, they missed an opportunity there. Yeah, basketball Phil with a basketball. Well, we did a lot of basketball on the show today. Hashtag WWL what we learned. If OKC finishes this and gets the title, it will be awfully salty in Seattle. They hate the thunder so much that they are currently cheering for the Alex Rodriguez own Timberwolves right now.

MVP announcement today, as she is expected, when, yeah, they're going to announce the MVP at four o'clock and then the game is at five. Brough's very much in the salty ex supersonics fan base. And I look, I don't know how many people that listen to this show really understand how much of a gut punch losing the Sonics was. It was way more of a injustice than the Grizzlies. Yeah, it was, I mean, it was.

I mean, the Grizzlies living was an injustice the way it went down, but. But there was nowhere near the history. No. And there was nowhere near the history. No. And there was nowhere near the love for the team. People liked the Grizzlies here, but I stress liked. They're like, yeah, they're kinda neat. Well, they never won anything.

They never did anything. No, and the Sonics did. But they'll get their team back soon enough. Although they really are dragging their feet on that. I think it'll be during the Oklahoma City championship parade. That would be good. And man, what a scene that's going to be through the four blocks of Oklahoma City. And I think they'll just be like, yeah, yeah, okay, Seattle, Vegas.

Tens of people showed up to watch OKC, Poiz del Lario, Brian Trophy. I'm surprised we haven't had one person that texts us and they're like, actually Oklahoma City is quite a bustling metropolis. I don't know a single person that likes the Thunder. I know enough guys that like basketball or die hard like Hoops fans. None of them have like glommed onto the Thunder. Well, there must be fans in Canada

that like them just because of SGA. Yeah, but they all live in Ontario. Yeah. They all went to high school with Lionel. They're all Hamiltonians. Right, right. Oh yeah, basketball Phil also brought up the Tush push. That was the other NFL story.

That's what I wanted to get to after the flag football thing. Sean texted in what we learned just in, the Tush push lives on. Yeah. Owners voted 22 to 10 in favor of keeping this beautiful play. As a lifelong Eagles fan, I couldn't be happier.

Jason Kelsey flew to the meetings to lobby on behalf of the Tush Bush. Because he was the guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I know. He was the Tush. He's retired though, isn't he? He's done. But he loves it so much. Yeah, yeah.

Imagine that being your Hilton. One text would like the Olympic closing ceremony ceremony all the darts players are on mobility Funny but they've all got oxygen tanks Why do you need the tank you're not even walking Why do you need the tank? You're not even walking. They gotta bring darts into the location. Oh man, it'd be awesome. That would be so incredible. Not just the spectacle of the European darts, but all the countries are really well represented.

It is actually fun to watch too. I'm not even kidding. You're like, this is strangely captivating. But it's a European thing. It's not just the UK and like the, you know what I mean? But there's some Canadians that have done well. Yes, that's what I'm saying. Like you, the more I think about it. They were sent away early to the darts academy.

You have to learn. Dartmouth? They said, they said, Oh, come on. I mean, it wasn't the worst joke that we've had on the show. The bar is low, but you're stealing laddies, dad jokes, right over under them. You're stealing my bet.

Tatiana and Langley, what we learned, Vancouver and Seattle are rumored to be picking two and three in the PWHL entry draft. Add that to the favorable expansion draft process. A lot of outrage. And it's looking like we're gonna have a very competitive team Right away. What's the outrage? The outrage is the the rules for the expansion draft all the other teams are quite upset that it's it's too too

Easy for Vancouver and Seattle to have a great well I think there are some players on those teams too that are like yeah, but we need this I don't want to go to Vancouver Seattle. They don't want to repeat the Grizzlies situation. Yeah, literally Yeah, if you want to go back in time the the draft rules around the Vancouver Grizzlies were some of the stupidest Most restrictive rules it killed the franchise it killed expansion. It made it Incredibly difficult to get good. I mean if we've learned anything the draft pick penalties to me, especially Yeah, what were they thinking with that not being able to pick in the I think it was the top four top five I can't remember off the top of my head. Ridiculous. But here's like,

it was the antithesis of what the draft is supposed to be. Like the draft is designed so that bad teams get good players. I think they didn't want to punish the teams that were actually in the league. The best of being the worst. They're like, we earn this. Right? No, you didn't. I know. I understand I'm not Good point of view, but I think there was also a sense back in the day

When times were tougher and there was elastic bag there was like the expansion teams You will like you will suffer. Yes, pay your dues Right, but then your franchise dies Pay your dues. Pay your dues. Right? But then your franchise dies, so well done. Yeah, it was terrible. Pay your dues. It was a terrible idea.

Yeah, yeah. And I think part of the reason why the NHL had such favorable expansion rules was in light of that. Of course. Yeah, like you don't. Look at how long some of the teams took. Like Florida, I know they went to the cup final in 95 and then they missed the playoffs for like 20 straight years Columbus has never gotten off the ground

good we still remember Minnesota as you know if it's unfair or not because they got a guy like Capri's off now but we still we still remember Minnesota's like oh yeah they're the boring team that's walls team yeah yeah yeah they know they trapped it up yeah Yeah, and that's been Their brand has been suffering ever since Yes, the expansion of the house they beat the connects. They sure did derby Hendrickson, too Okay, we got to get out of here for today, but we will be back tomorrow Thank you all for listening and thank you all for contributing signing off for today. I have been Mike Alfred. He's been Jason breath He's been a dog and he's been laddie. This has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet at 6.50.