Halford & Brough in the Morning - England Does Not "Bring It Home"

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

In hour two, Mike & guest host Jamie Dodd talk the Euro 2024 final as well as a bit of Copa with soccer analyst James Sharman (3:00), plus they go to Arlington ahead of the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, as MLB Network's Adnan Virk joins the show (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.

701 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. You really had to wait for the payoff on this song, but when it came, what a payoff. I'm in my bag right now. Basketball band in for the ailing Greg Ballack this morning. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Jamie Dodd's also here.

What up, Jamie? Not too much, man. You're saying what's up as if we're starting the show. Hey! Nice to see you this morning. Let's introduce everyone. We've been on for an hour.

You're here. Sir. It was because we talked about 45 minutes of uninterrupted footy this morning. It was quite impressive. I'd say we held our own.

Yeah. Did a pretty good job. James Sharman is going to join us in just a moment here for some more talk. I give him a lot of credit that he wants to do this today because I think he was ready to pack it in after England lost yesterday. And to be fair, a lot of people were. We'll get to James in just a moment here. You are listening to the Halford & Brough show

on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. Hour 2 is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer, meticulously brewed for quality and taste.

Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some at a liquor store near you, or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. And of course, we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for.

To the phone lines we go. The host of the Footy Prime podcast, James Sharman, joins us now on the Half and Breath show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, James. How are you? Oh, I'm great. I'm well used to the emotional turmoil that comes with being an England fan, so no problem. You decided not to

pack it in, which I appreciate, because I saw on Twitter yesterday, you were thinking, I'm going to quit soccer. I forgot about the Copa final when I wrote that. Let's start with England, because we've got you on the line. We kind of positioned it as disappointing, obviously, any time you get to a final.

It's an incredible disappointment when you don't win. Probably not as disappointing as losing on penalties to Italy at Wembley a few years ago, if only because Spain really were the class of this tournament. They showed it in the first match. They showed it throughout. And even though I was pulling hard for England to win yesterday, I did, it's not solace is the right word, but I was okay with the fact that

the best team in a tournament actually won the tournament. There was something fitting about that. Yeah, I agree 100%. I mean, listen, had England have beaten Spain somehow yesterday, I would have taken it, of course. Would it have been truly fair? No, because Spain was by far not just the best team in the tournament,

but played the best style of football in the tournament, brought the best storylines to the tournament. They were just a joy to watch, right? And they're not perfect. They've got some flaws too. But overall, throughout the seven games, they won every game that's never happened before they were the best team and yesterday um it wasn't a classic final by any stretch but they were the best team right they had the chances the best chances despite you know

england coming close late in the game there so um i'm listening am i happy they won of course not i want to see my team finally win but uh this is a very likable Spain team, and they're only going to get better, and they're only going to be competing for World Cups and European Championships for the next decade with some of the youth on that team. From England's perspective, James, they have a lot of young talent as well, and as frustrating as their tournament was for a lot of the time, they still did make it to the final, but I'm very curious about what happens with this England side going forward, and in particular with gareth southgate and harry kane do you think this could be the last we see of them for england in a major for both of those uh individuals at an

england a major tournament for england yeah i think they're two separate issues there um i think it's the last time we'll see gareth southgate as a coach for England at a big tournament. Listen, overall, he's done a really good job. He's redefined the team. He's rebuilt the culture. When he took over, that was a team that just bowed out to the Euros to Iceland, don't forget,

and went through the whole Sam Allardyce scandal when he was found out by a tabloid newspaper who planted some... It was a nasty sort of affair, put it that way. He got fired, in comes Gareth Southgate as an interim manager and did a great job, right? Two finals, three semifinals and four tournaments as bad as I've ever seen in my life.

So he did a good job, but he's taken this team, it seems, as far as they can go. He's still quite an old-fashioned manager in his tactics, his strategy. And I think with his young team they need a more attacking progressive manager. As for Harry Kane, it's interesting. He clearly wasn't fit for this tournament.

There was a back injury late in the campaign for Bayern Munich, but Gareth Southgate should have realized this and probably dropped him at some point during this tournament. You had Oli Watkins there, who looked very good on form, healthy, or Ivan Toney. So I still look at Harry Kane as someone that, if he can stay healthy, he's just 30, right? He's not over the hill just yet.

World Cup is in two years' time. A 32-year-old striker is still not a guy that's over the hill just yet, if he can stay healthy and maybe load manage perhaps the next couple of years to a certain degree. Because to me, he looked not just injured but exhausted, as did many of the players for England. So I've got more hope that Harry Kane can return. We shouldn't forget what a great player he is.

He's maybe England's greatest striker of all time, if not player of all time. He still dominates European football. So he's still very much one of the top number nines in world football, just not for this tournament for some reason. We're speaking to James Sharman from the Footy Prime podcast here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Now that we've had a chance to look back on the tournament in its entirety,

and we did this with Copa America, and there are some criticisms, there are some curious thoughts I'm curious your thoughts on how this tournament played out big picture because there were some very compelling matches, a very worthy winner at the end of it. You can't ask for a more ballyhooed final than England-Spain in a lot of different ways, but it wasn't without

its flaws. I'm curious to get your thoughts on what you thought of the entirety of the tournament now that it's wrapped. Yeah, it wasn't great. It was no classic. I think our memories go back to Qatar and the World Cup, which was a brilliant tournament. But it was also mid-season, right?

The players were fresher. To me, it looked like a tournament where certainly the older campaigners, they looked tired. They looked leggy, exhausted. That's why I think some of the youth really shone in this tournament. And that's one thing I take from this Euros, is that it was a tournament for the youngsters, for the kids, to really make a name for themselves.

But overall, there were some great goals. How many great games were there? Not many, I don't think. Very few classics. So it's a bit disappointing, but I think it's just something we must get used to, that they keep adding more and more matches to the calendar. UEFA and FIFA don't seem to care about that.

So by the time June comes around, these players are there, they're knackered. They've got nothing left in the tank. And every summer there's something going on. So it's a big concern for international football. It's been a big concern for a long time. But yeah, it wasn't a classic tournament. Thankfully, the team that did win it won it the right way, right?

They played the attacking football. They brought some real swagger to the party. So that was positive. However, had England won it, we could have said, yeah, well, they won it despite themselves, which would have been kind of fitting for the way this tournament unfolded, perhaps. But in the end, the right team won. But yeah, I went back with too fondly on the quality of football we saw at this year's Euros.

Speaking of big concerns, how big a concern is what happened at Copa America in terms of lack of security, poor organization, scathing remarks from a few of the managers? How big a concern was that for you? Well, you know, at Copa America, it's always a circus, right? I know a lot of people discovered it for the first time this time around. It's always a circus. It's crazy on and off the pitch. That's kind of what brings some of the passion to the party.

But last night was a major concern with the World Cup two years away. It's got to be a wake-up call for organizers. Now, we should remember that CONME Mabal organized most of this tournament, but they do work with local police and security forces who clearly dropped the ball in that match yesterday. Thankfully, we didn't see a tragedy, but at times there was some real concern from people on the ground there that we might just see that.

It was terrifying. And we shouldn't also condone the fans who tried to get in and got in without tickets as well. That is unacceptable too. But it's a big concern. Now, generally speaking, when FIFA organise events, they know what to expect. They take control and it's well run. We can criticise FIFA all we want, but they know how to put on a show.

So that's obviously positive. But from the US standpoint, it's got to be a wake-up call. They've got to take some measures here because that could have gone awry very, very quickly, and it almost did. So very scary scenes yesterday. From an on-the-pitch perspective, James, Canada makes it all the

way to the semifinals, ultimately finishes fourth at their first Copa America, and lots of positives to take away. In particular, what did you think of the job that Jesse Marsh did in his first major tournament as manager? Yeah, we couldn't ask any more, could we? We're all a little bit,

okay, what will he bring? We know he's a star of football. Jesse Marsh brings a club level. He's reputable. He's got a good CV. I liked the hire to begin with, but how would that translate to this team that had really struggled since qualifying for the World Cup?

They'd been a shadow of the team we saw, you know, become kings of CONCACAF. But he reignited that wherever it was in that team. They played really good football. They did not look overwhelmed at all against Argentina twice, against Uruguay. He brought more young faces into the team for that last match, and that was maybe

the best performance I've seen for a Canadian team for a very long time. They were outstanding, with some young players who have barely even dipped their toes into international football. So yeah, we shouldn't be any happier. I mean, it was an incredible performance. It really was, and it bodes really

well for the build-up now to the World Cup. We've got a couple of games coming up later in the year against Mexico and the States. And then we've got the Gold Cup next year, and then, of course, the World Cup. So things are looking really good after a bit of a decline and some issues off the pitch the last year or so. I think right now we should be pretty happy about where we stand right now

under Jesse Marsh. We played the audio earlier, and someone texted in like, I'll run through a wall for this man. And it was the audio of Marsh talking about how proud he was of his Canadian team. And then we also played the audio of a very short but definitive statement that he had no interest in the American job and was fully on board with the Canadiens. What did you make of the way that he answered that question? Because he didn't mince words at all and was very critical of the U.S. and was very complimentary of Canada and what he's seen so far from his team. Yeah, you know, Jesse Morris is a straight talker, right? He'll tell you how it is. He doesn't care who you might upset.

He does not like the U.S. Federation at this point. No, I mean, he was essentially off of the job when they were trying to figure out the whole Greg Berhalter situation. After the World Cup, he was given, essentially, I believe, a handshake agreement on that.

And they, in the end, went against him. New president comes in and they go back to Berhalter. So he's got no love lost for that federation. I'm sure he'd love to coach his home team one day.

But he is all in it seems at Canada the new leadership here have done a great job giving him what he needs, what he wants both financially and potentially resources wise we'll see about that but yeah I think as a Canadian fan we should be really happy and just seeing his antics on the sidelines

the passion he shows he's very very animated he likes to scream. He took on, he didn't care. You know, the way Canada's been treated at tournaments for forever has been disgusting. You ask any player, he's not going to take it. He explains how, you know,

they treat like second-class citizens. I love it. Us against the world, right? And that's what he's doing right now. And I think it's going to really help with this group of players. So with Marsh in charge now and this experience under their belts, two years

until they're one of the host nations for the World Cup, what are you looking for this team to kind of accomplish and do to prepare over the next two years to put their best foot forward at the World Cup? Well, I think what this tournament has shown the world is that they're a relevant team

and that big teams will want to play Canada now in friendlies. And I think as we've seen in this tournament, Canada needs to play top teams to develop, you know, enough with respect to the Panamars and the Costa Ricas, Honduras, who are all good teams. We see them so often, so often. It's time to play, you know, big European teams, big South American teams on a regular basis,

wherever that is. It might not be in Canada. It might not be, but that's okay. That's the biggest takeaway for me is that now we can book those dates with those teams because they'll want to play Canada heading into a North American World Cup. So that's the next step.

Organize meaningful friendlies and start building that way because these kids, they're young players as there's a young team Jonathan Nazario I believe will be the oldest player by the World Cup 34 around there but apart from that there's kids just cutting their teeth international football, they need to play more of these types of games in those environments

so that's going to be key I know you're up against it for time, we're up against it for time so I got to let you go, but I did just want to ask you real quick about the job that Ismail Kone did against Uruguay on Saturday. I've seen a lot of people talk about that in the most glowing of terms, like one of the best performances they've ever seen from a Canadian player on international soil.

And I don't think that's hyperbole. I think it might be legitimate. I'm just curious to get your thoughts on what you saw on Saturday from Kone. Yeah, to me, he's arrived now, right? That was it. That was the game where he said, listen, guys, I can carry this team a little bit on my back. He took that Atiba Hutchinson role just with a better team around him.

He was absolutely brilliant. He just bossed that midfield. He scored the goal, which was incredible. I wish he'd thrown himself to the ground when he did it because that would have made even more highlights. It was kind of a half bicyclebicycle kick type thing. Incredible athleticism, but what a goal it was. He was absolutely brilliant.

He took control. And Uruguay didn't want any piece of him whatsoever. He's now moved to Marseille for this year. He actually moved to that club during Copa America. That's a great move for him. It's a big club, a famous club in a very, very high-level league. He'll just get better. He might be, you know, I think Fonzie will still be the best player by,

you know, 2026, but Coney could well be, you know, the next best player on that team and maybe the most important player given where he plays in that midfield. So he was brilliant. Ali Ahmed was brilliant as well, by the way. I really enjoyed his play. Big fan of Ali. He was outstanding, too. The future is very bright. James, I want

to thank you, not just for today, but all the hits you've done over the last few weeks. It's been a lot of fun this hot footy summer that we've had here. We've loved having you aboard. Enjoy a little bit of downtime, and then the Premier League starts up real soon. It does. Thanks, guys. I really enjoyed it. Give me a bell anytime. Great you james we

appreciate this james sharman the host of the footy prime podcast here on the halbert and brussels featuring jamie dodd on sportsnet 650 so let's dive back and back to it so uh prior to break we were talking about a question submitted by one of our listeners as it pertained to Trevor Linden's legacy. Now, this is a what if. What if, C-S-W-C-A-N-D asks, what if the Canucks win the Stanley Cup in 94? How does the league view Trevor Linden if he has a ring? I kind of went down the road of what it meant for Linden on an individual level. I didn't do the whole butterfly effect thing, but a lot of people astutely pointed out in the dumb bar lumber text message in

basket the trade tree jamie yeah and that's one of the funny things is as much as it's looked at as this great mistake and all he was pushed out and there's such a tragedy it also set the team up for some of their most successful years right the trade itself uh bringing back todd bertuzzi and brian mccabe and then of course McCabe part of the machinations that landed both Sedins in Vancouver. And then Bertuzzi turns into Roberto Luongo, right? So

it's Bertuzzi for the West Coast Express era, and then for far and away the team's most successful stretch in franchise history, it's the Sedins and Roberto Luongo coming really as a direct result of that Trevor Linden trade. And so I get what people are saying is like, do you even want to, well, look, obviously you want them to win the cup. And then if they win the cup, it's like, well,

whatever. Okay. We missed out on these players down the road. That's fine because you won the Stanley cup. But if you're just talking about kind of Trevor Linden's legacy, I mean, he came back. Right. So that's a huge part of it. It's not as if the relationship was severed forever. He went away, but he came back. He ended his career as a Canuck. Yeah.

The, the severing of way later. Oh, don't worry. We'll get to that. Yeah, no, it's,

it's a good point because it wasn't just the next iteration of the Canucks. It was that next iteration after that as well. Because I'm going to be dead. We were talking about this at the break. The West Coast Express has always been a problematic era for the Canucks for me on a personal level. Feel free to have your own opinions. That's what we're here for. Everyone's got one.

My thoughts on it are it ended so poorly that I have a hard time looking back on it in loving, glowing terms. There was a lack of playoff success, there was the batusi more incident and that those are the two things that i align it with more often than not for two i mean the the straight swap where i mean all due respect to mccabe but a lot of people think of it as linden out batusi in uh era altering and yet he provided some unbelievable highs but he's such a problematic figure. Again, my perspective only. Some people might have a totally different version on this, and that's fair. But it was such a problematic individual that led the charge, because while it's Naslin's rafter in the numbers and it's. It is.

Let's try that one again. What did I say? It's Naslin's rafter. Oh, number of the raft. Damn. I almost got through a first hourlin's rafter in the numbers. Oh, number in the rafters. Damn, I almost got through a first hour and a half of the program. Naslin's number in the rafters. Bingo. I'm glad you caught that because I would have just kept going.

And it's Morrison, who's the beloved local boy. I often think of Bertuzzi as being the poster boy for the West Coast Express because of all that he encaptured. Well, if you're talking about the kind of the bittersweet nature of that era, then he does sum it up, right? Where it's like the highs, but also the lows. But you know what else it was, is that he was the unicorn of the three. Like he was so unique.

And you had the thought that he was the one that had the most dominant game-breaking, game-changing ability because of the total package. And there was always maybe something left on the table. Like with Nazan, I think he felt like he reached his potential and everything that he became as a player was what he was destined to become as a player. Bertuzzi always felt like there was something left on the table.

Like he could have been the premier dominant power forward, maybe not even of his era, but like an all-timer because of the way that he could do things. And then it was also the self-destructive nature of it yep you know it's like well he was his own greatest enemy at the end of the day because he derailed his own career and i think you're right that ultimately with the west coast express era as much as there are really fun memories and really positive memories and incredible individual performances it does feel like they're leaving something on the table as a group right bertuz individually, but also as a group that they should have accomplished more together.

Yeah. And some of it was outside. I mean, the lockout was a killer, obviously for the West coast express. It was, I mean, it full year interruption with the Bertuzzi more incident hanging over all

of them too. And I remember very distinctly when they came back and how it just felt off and wrong and awkward. And there was very much a group that was trying to recapture Pascal Leroy that clearly had passed them by between the mental scarring and also a year removed from playing. And it was all really unfortunate. So that, I mean, to me, it's almost like the Linden passing the torch to that era, the way that it ended, it almost makes you wonder in a good way what it would have been like if Linden had stuck around, right? Yeah. But as people pointed out that you could make the argument that it worked out the trade ultimately for the team.

There is a very interesting and, you know, one day we'll go through it in greater detail but the way that the trades um because very often and i think more in the modern game you don't see it as often that what a trade of these magnitudes sets you up for the next generation i mean nowadays the modern style is get bad draft develop be good and then do the whole thing over again right very rarely does someone very rarely does someone have that like you know franchise altering trade where you jump from one generation to the next via trade, and for a multitude of reasons, cap included, right? Okay, we are going to circle back on a little bit

of BC Lions talk here. It is time now for the CFL Report, brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. We talked about it earlier. We will reiterate, the biggest game for the CFL on the weekend happened at BC Place. It was the previously undefeated Saskatchewan Rough Riders coming to BC to take on the Lions.

The Lions handled their business, 35-20 victory, to knock Saskatchewan from the ranks of the undefeated. And BC moves to 5-1. Jamie mentioned earlier in the show it was a big win for the Lions on a variety of fronts, but including playoff jockeying as we get further down the earlier in the show, it was a big win for the Lions on a variety of fronts, but including playoff jockeying as we get further down the road in the West. An interesting game from Vernon Adams Jr., who had 451 yards passing,

but also threw a couple of picks. He ran in a touchdown. He threw for a touchdown. We got to talk about our guy here, Sean White, the official kicker of the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet. Six 57 field goals on Saturday. So he ties a franchise record and his consecutive field goal streak now at 39 continues to roll on.

So it was very good times for the Lions on the weekend in their first, probably their biggest test of the season. Definitely their biggest test since losing that opener into Toronto. There's your CFL report. The CFL report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. Coming up, we're going to go down to Arlington, Texas, the site of the MLB All-Star Game.

Adnan Virk, our MLB insider from MLB Network, is going to join us. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's time to chat with Adnan.

It's Adnan Berkey's on the show. We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Adnan. Yes, Adnan Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the films he's seen. 7.31 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody.

It's the Halpern and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650 featuring Jamie Dodd. Adnan Berk, as the music suggests, is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of the second half of Hour 2. Hour 2 of this show is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime is full flavor without compromise. You can get some at a liquor store near you, or you can visit the brewery to see how it's made. This whole show, the whole shebang, it is brought to you by Pacific Honda. Pacific Honda is North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. To the phone lines we go. Adnan Virk joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morten, Adnan, how are you? I'm doing great, Mike. Jamie, how are you guys doing? We're good. Have you landed safely in Arlington? Are you in Texas?

Where in your travels are you right now? I am indeed, Mike. A great sports day, by the way, yesterday. I took the early flight out, which unfortunately meant I had to miss Wimbledon. And as a Federer guy, I was elated to see Alcaraz completely dust at Djokovic. So Roger still has the record for the most Wimbledon singles men's titles of eight. I landed, dropped my bag off i immediately went to nearby sports parks i want to watch england uh my mom grew up in england so

i'm obviously sure for the english and i got a bunch of cousins though they're all losing their minds uh it was a great match fun to watch in uh in arlington texas as unfortunately spade does win too long but england hung in there i mean never won euro blah blah blah it happened somebody was making a comparison of the maple leaf says He said, hey, listen, at least England's made the last two Euro finals. Last time I checked, the Leafs haven't made a telecast final since 1967. That night went and saw Long Legs last

night. I think it's a clock in a movie, which, by the way, is a really good serial killer horror movie. We'll see them in a report at the end. And then on my way back, a ton of people at the sports part, I'm laughing at myself. I go, the MLB draft can't be this exciting. And, of course, it was Copa. A ton of people at the sports bar, and I'm laughing at myself. I go, the MLB draft can't be this exciting. And, of course, it was Copa. A ton of people watching Argentina last night.

So it was a good time here in Texas. And most importantly, at the movie theater I went to, it's one of these, like, you know, new school theaters. You can actually have, like, a real meal, which was great. So I thought I could have, like, a proper dinner. Fellas, three brisket sliders went down awfully smooth. Brisket in Texas. Fantastic. That's perfect. What an experience at the movies there.

Alright, of course, you're in Texas for the All-Star Game festivities for Major League Baseball. Gets going tonight really with the home run derby. Who are you picking as the winner going into tonight? I'm glad we're starting with this, Jimmy. If I may brag, because I never go through these things.

I had a perfect bracket last year. All right. Wow. I'm very proud of myself. Now, this year, it's changed. The first round is no longer a bracket. It's just eight guys all hitting as many as they can, and then the second round becomes a bracket.

So, unfortunately, I had the last perfect bracket ever in home run derby history where I predicted who I had to win. I think it's going to be a ton of fun, man. I went to this park last year for the World Series, obviously the Rangers won, so thank God it's air-conditioned because it's a good plus-36 outside with the humidity, but Pete Alonzo is a two-time champion. This is

his fifth time in the Derby. I don't know how he's not the favorite to win. It's so refreshing because you hear so many guys who don't want to do it, right? It's too tiring. It's going to mess up my swing. It's going to screw up my second half, so Aaron Judge ain't going to do it. Shohei Otani's not going to do it. Alonzo's sitting there going, I'll do it.

I don't care. I want to be known as the greatest home-duty champion ever. I love that Polar Pete's involved. I'm a huge fan of Gunnar Henderson. I feel like I might pick him to win, though, because it's tough to be a three-time champion like Alonzo. I think Gunnar's had a great year for the Orioles. He's hit 27, 28 home runs, I believe, with the All-Star break.

One of my colleagues said Bobby Witt, I don't like like that pick at all because he's a line drive hitter. His thinking was he's from Texas. He'll be amped up, but I'm like, I don't see that. Jose Ramirez to me is apparently underrated. Maybe he can make a push. Marcelo Zuna, definitely lots of good options, but to me, I'm thinking Gunnar or Alonzo, and it should be a really fun night. So you mentioned guys might be tired, and part of the reason is that they were playing games right up until yesterday. Quick turnaround between the last day of regular season games and then the home run derby.

That game between the Yankees and the Orioles, I only caught the highlights in the aftermath, and then Verdugo having to face the media afterwards. But what a crazy game to go into the break, because I know that they're both jockeying for first in the AL East, and that was a really crazy finish. Obviously, the Orioles winning 6-5, but just a crazy game, crazy finish between the Yanks and the Orioles. And a crazy series overall, Mike, because going in, you know,

the Yankees, as well documented, have been the worst baseball team in baseball since June 15th, worse than the Rockies. And thank God they got off to an incredible start and had a 700 winning percentage, so they've got that buffer. You know, they're not going to not be a playoff team. But it was really alarming. Now, what people hadn't been paying as much attention to was that Baltimore had been particularly good. And they've just been swept by the Cubs.

So going into that series, I kept saying, I'm like, man, could you imagine if the Yankees sweep this series? After all the consternation, they're going in two games down, and they could be leading at the All-Star break. You know, everything's fine. And they almost pulled it off. Like, Garrett Cole, he has to start the opener. He was Garrett, vintage Garrett Cole. After a couple of starts where he's been okay, he looked great. It took care of business.

Saturday's game, again, pitch well offense. And then Brandon Hyde losing his mind. I always didn't see that. Heston Kearson got hit in the head, and Hyde went out there, said the coaches were jawing at him. He throws a helmet, the bench is empty. Like, oh, my God. Yankees win the game, they're now tied for the

top spot, and as you mentioned yesterday's game, very close, you know, dramatic finish from Baltimore, they're able to win it. It was a great, you know, series you don't normally get in July, and you feel like it's going to be Baltimore-New York going down to the wire, and again, if I'm a Yankees fan, I'd say, wait, we're only a game

out after all this hang-wringing over the last three weeks, and you know, Brian Cashman will make moves to go beef up this lineup because LeMay has been very good, and obviously with Stanton being out there, it hurt them. And I think if you're an Orioles fan, you feel great as well. You go, hey, man, we're still the young team on the block. Maybe some people don't take us seriously. We're a first-place team for good reasons.

So, Yankees and O's, when it's all said and done, I was looking at, you know, what potential teams to make the World Series. I know Cleveland's in first place. They've been a great story. Seattle, a one-game lead, which feels like that will evaporate tomorrow. It feels like Houston is going to catch them sooner rather than later, and that's it because Seattle's offense is terrible. But ultimately, getting way, way ahead of ourselves,

it feels like it could be Baltimore-New York end up in the World Series, which would be a ton of fun. And with the Blue Jays at end, they win their last game before the All-Star break yesterday in Arizona. But boy, did they make it interesting getting out to the 7-0 lead. Then Yusei Kikuchi implodes. And Kikuchi is probably the most interesting takeaway for the Blue Jays from that game.

Of course, he's probably going to be dealt at the deadline. He's probably their best chance to get a really meaningful return at the deadline but he's not the type of established ace where you know teams will pay whatever for him just because he's usei kikuchi like he needs to be kind of in form and playing well for them to maximize their return how concerned are you about a disappointing performance from usei kikuchi yesterday very concerned you nailed it on the head, man. There are eight games in their 500, Jamie. They're not going anywhere.

They're nine and a half years of a playoff spot. The Jays are going anywhere. So they're going to deal guys whose deals are expiring. And as you said, Kikuchi is the best guy out there. What are you going to get for Justin Turner on a one-year contract? Yes, you can flip him. But Kikuchi, no. Starting pitching is always at a need. There's always a premium on it at the all-star break.

And because seemingly everybody in the National League is still a playoff spot, aside from the Rockies and the Marlins, there's only going to be so many guys available. So if Garrett Crochet is going to be the top starter available, the White Sox, he's an absolute stud. Luis Robert Pai, the top position player available. But after that, you're going to need guys like Kikuchi who can be B, B+. You can get a good return for him.

So that was absolutely a terrible sign for the Jays to see they need Kikuchi to pitch like he's Sandy Kovacs for the next three or four starts and then trade him and get him out of town and try to get a meaningful return for him because it's been an awfully disappointing season for the Blue Jays. We all know that they're not going to make a major trade at the deadline. I don't believe they're going to trade Vlad.

I don't believe they're going to trade Poe. I'm going to try to probably re-sign both guys in the offseason or at least try to re-sign one of them, Vada particularly, because he's playing an all-star and he really is the cornerstone player that this franchise is. But, yeah, they're going to have to coochie pitch well, man. That was not good. Yeah, it was worrisome.

Just another thing going wrong for the Blue Jays this year. All right, looking to the all-star game itself tomorrow, Paul Skeen's rookie phenom. He's really taken the league by storm, I think it's fair to say. You know, only 11 career games now with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he's starting the All-Star game for the National League tomorrow. Is that what you're most excited to see?

Just Skeens on the big stage, going up against some of the best hitters in the game on the American League side? Without question, man. I honestly, if you looked in the National League, it could have been a case for Chris Sale certainly starting his eighth All-Star game. He's been an awesome story. For years, Sale has

been hurt and ineffective. He goes to Atlanta and all of a sudden he's back to being who he once was. It's awesome, but he pitched on Sunday, so it doesn't make sense. Obviously, he's not going to pitch in the All-Star game. Zach Wheeler, another great option, one of my favorite pitchers, two-time All-Star, a guy who's always in the silent conversation, but his back's been hurting him a little bit, so the Phillies said, hey, he's not going to participate in the All-Star game. Zach Wheeler, another great option, one of my favorite pitchers, two-time All-Star, a guy who's always in the silent conversation, but his back's been hurting him a little bit, so the Phillies said, hey, he's not going to participate in the All-Star game, give him a few

days off. And the next logical option is schemes. You go, this guy has a 1.90 ERA, he's got 80-plus strikeouts and 66 in the third innings. He has been that D-Dom pitcher that we're all hoping for. He's already made history as the first pitcher to be playing in the All-Star game the year after being drafted. He went number one overall to LSU a season ago. And he's must-see TV. There's no question about it. I looked at the list of, like, pitchers going back to 1913,

since ERA became an official stat over 100-plus years, for a guy to have a sub-two ERA and that many strikeouts, there's, like, two people on that list. And one of them is Fernando Valenzuela, who of course is a great story way back in 81. You know, Doc Gooden, Steven Strasburg. These are the names you think of when you think of rookie pitchers who came up and absolutely dominated.

And to your point, it's one thing to be in the All-Star Game, but to actually start it, there's a general level of distinction that makes that feel even more special. And just think about, I haven't checked the lineup yet, I don't know if they're posted, but that first inning, Skeens versus Judge, Skeens versus Soto, like who's turning that off? That's going to be awesome. And, you know, in past years,

the home run derby has probably overtaken the All-Star game in terms of popularity and, you know, maybe not ratings wise. And people obviously want to see the home run derby in the game. If it doesn't matter, what's the difference? Even the All-Star game doesn't matter as much because in the past, it was unique to seeing the league's best. Now you see Italy play every day. So it's not unusual to see best of NL, best of AL,

except to say Skeens versus those guys is still going to be special. So at least if you're a casual baseball fan, I'd recommend watching the first two or three innings just to watch Paul Skeens throw 100 because there's nothing he doesn't have in his tool belt. He throws 100 with ease. He's got great curveball. He throws a splitter slash slinker, he calls it.

And of course, off the field, he's winning as well, getting Libby done. He's living his best life right now. We're speaking to Adnan Virk from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So on the subject of the Pirates, it's worth noting that they go into the break at 48-48,

and I think it's a game and a half back of the wild card. Now, there's a bunch of teams that they'd have to leapfrog, but Bruff and I did this last year where we really got into the Cincinnati Reds and their sort of magical story with Eli De La Cruz coming on the scene and the Joey Votto swan song. We're like, this could be an interesting long-suffering team that we could get behind and make a playoff push. I'm just looking at a Pittsburgh team team a little bit of a different dynamic because it's you know skeens

reynolds and then o'neill cruz is more youth oriented but is there something there in the second half of the season or is it going to be a hill too high for the pirates to climb to get into wildcard contention for real i love that you don't brought up looking at cinderella stories like yeah i was looking earlier, like, potential World Series. And as I said earlier, American League, I feel like it's going to be Baltimore, New York. But even I was telling myself, if it's Cleveland, although people would not say, that's a lot of fun going to Cleveland in late October. I'm like, hey, Guardians have never won a World Series.

So I'm like, that would still be a great story to see a team try to do something which they've never done before. You know, obviously Seattle, same thing. Never won a World Series before. If they can make a World Series, it's a cool story. Houston, Boston, we left them as far as playoff teams. In the National League, I looked, and everyone feels like it's going to be the Phillies, including myself.

They're the best team in baseball. We all know the playoffs can be a crapshoot, but they really do look loaded and ready for bear. And after that, I go, well, Milwaukee would be a nice story. They've never won a World Series. They're winning the Central right now. Dodgers are so beat up, but I would love to go to Los Angeles. And then as far as go, well, Milwaukee would be a nice story. They're going to win a World Series. They're winning the Central right now. Dodgers are so beat up, but I would love to go to Los Angeles. And then as

far as the Cinderella stories, you're right. Pittsburgh's right there. You go, who wouldn't want to see a Pittsburgh Pirates team of Paul Steens and Jared Jones, another great young pitcher, and Mitch Keller, who was actually their starter on opening day. They've got three great starters. Who wouldn't want to see the Pirates make a Cinderella run to the

World Series, just as Arizona did a year ago winning 84 wins? The problem is this. I cannot see Pittsburgh adding anything at the deadline. In order to make a push, their offense isn't good enough right now. They'd have to go and get at least one or two bats. I don't think they're in a position to do that. There's only so much you can expect. Brian Reynolds has had an excellent season.

Rowdy Tellez is one of those role players. They're really good, of course, for Blue Jay. Andrew McCutcheon still has veteran presence. So they need a couple of bats. And Pittsburgh just historically has not been a franchise that's looking to spend and make moves right now. And those three guys that I mentioned, the pitchers, Keller, Skeens, and Jones, are all going to be coming up on

innings limits. So it's not like this is a team where they're like, all right, let's push the pedal to the metal because we're only two games out. If anything, they're going to go, all right, we're kind of hanging around here, but hopefully we can fall back a little bit, and then we can rest these guys and give schemes a week off here and there, and Jones limited innings, etc. So I'm with

you. I think it'd be a special story. I'd love to see it. Having said that, maybe in the offseason they might say, okay, you know what? We've got a three- or four-year window here of schemes, Jones, and Keller. Let's go out and help these guys in supplement. That, I think, is a better chance of actually happening than making it to move in the offseason. But I hope I'm wrong.

Hopefully they can be in Cinderella. I'm with you guys, man. I'd love to see PNC Park in October if you say. Adnan, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this so early in the week. Enjoy the home run derby tonight. Enjoy the All-Star game. We'll do this again next week.

Mike, Jamie, thanks so much. Just a quick thought on long legs. Oh, yeah, right. If you like the serial killer dramas, if you like a South of the Lamb Simpsons 37, it's not quite as good as those great movies of the 90s, but it was pretty good. It's creepy and atmospheric, and I'm generally not a horror movie guy, so there's a

handful of jump scares in the theater. It's always fun to watch in a movie theater with similarly terrified people. Just a quick thought on Nicolas Cage. He's in it maybe, I'm going to say 12 minutes. It's kind of like Kevin Spacey in Seven. He barely shows up, but it's gone to Nicolas Cage. He's unforgettable. He's creepy. He's strange.

And a surprise hit at the box office. Despicable Me 4 opened, still has huge money. The new Channing Tatum Fly Me to the Moon, Scarlett Johansson, we did not do well. But Long Legs was expected to open around $10 or $11 million. $22 million in the box office. That's huge for an independent movie.

Proving that word of mouth and a crazy Nicolas Cage goes a long way. Excellent recap. And I'm glad you managed to work the brisket in there. It's funny you mentioned Silence of the Lambs because Anthony Hopkins famously was only in that movie for 16 minutes and he still won the Oscar for it. Yeah. I wonder if that's... That's a great point. Somebody said to me, Cage Oscar nomination. I go,

it's a little early for that. He's not quite as good as Daphne Hopkins, but he's pretty nuts. And you're right. That's actually one of my bones to pick with the Academy, Jamie. As great as Hopkins was, and I love that movie, he should have won for Supporting Actor. That way, Best Actor could have been Kevin Costner, JFK. He could have given it to Warren Beatty for

Bugsy, but yeah, there's no doubt Hannibal Lecter all time. Adnan, thanks for this, man. Appreciate it. Thanks, boys. Take care. Yep, have a good one. That's Adnan Virg from MLB Network and the Cinephile podcast here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

I want to talk more about the Pittsburgh Pirates. Okay. Which I know all of our listeners are absolutely like, guys, don't stop the Pirates talk. It's fine because we did an unprecedented amount of Cincinnati Reds talk on Vancouver sports talk radio last summer so but go off you so you mentioned okay could they be this kind of dark horse team and long-suffering fan base exciting player with Paul Skeens and O'Neill Cruz of course as well like could this be a really good story and in some ways it could but the thing

with the Pittsburgh Pirates is now with Alex Morello out of sports, with Dan Snyder selling the Washington team, Bob Nutting, who owns the team, very much in the running for most hated owner in sports. You should have Gentile on sometime to talk to him about he's a Pittsburgh guy. He hates Bob Nutting, the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, as most people in Pittsburgh do, because he's so cheap, because he's so unwilling to actually invest in the team, go out and make big moves that might put them over the top. And I was just Googling this, and there's actually a report issued

by the Pennsylvania government about how much the Pirates underperforming is actually a drag on the economy of Pittsburgh because when they've been good in the past, they've generated all this revenue and it's been really good for the city. And his unwillingness to spend is actually like negatively harming the economy of Pittsburgh. Two state reps from Pennsylvania wrote a letter being like, please, we're begging you help our economy spend some money. That's how bad it is. The government of Pennsylvania is begging him to invest in the team. The line that made the rounds earlier this year,

when I think it was Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic had the article, it was that he was described as, by one fellow executive, as comfortable being mediocre. That they love just being this very average, run-of-the-mill team that didn't invest a lot of money because nutting kept making his, kept getting his nut as it was. What? What? Never mind.

Let's move on. But there was also this kind of scandal where I think he went on radio or at least was talking to a newspaper or something, something in the media where he said, oh, yeah, we're willing to increase payroll ahead of the deadline. He said that publicly. And team executives were like, that's not what you've told us. And they were furious that he was basically setting this expectation out there for fans like, yeah, we'll absolutely spend while internally he's telling the GM, no, no, no, you're not allowed to spend. Yeah, it's pretty remarkable now because, as mentioned, a 500-ball club you're not getting all that excited about.

But with the incredible young talent, and Skeens really is a generational – at this moment, generational. There hasn't been a rookie to start an All-Star game pitching since 95. The Pirates haven't had a starting pitcher since 75 start an All-Star game. So this is fairly unprecedented. The organization's had good young talents come along before, but nothing like this to kind of take Major League Baseball by storm. And let's be honest, we cover baseball,

but we really just cover the Jays and the Mariners here. The fact that I know this much about Skeens kind of is, it kind of emphasizes how quickly he's been shot out of the can and how big a deal he is across major league baseball so yeah i'll be curious to see how it plays out unfortunately i tend to agree with that and then like nutting's probably just going to let this season play its course with the guys that they have and isn't going to add it's gonna be like great we're we're getting all this attention without me spending money perfect i don't have to do anything else uh on the uh subject

of acquisitions so we mentioned earlier in the show we've been taking these Canucks related ask us anything's and what if superlatives hypotheticals bar debates Mount Rushmore's all that stuff we had one come in last week from Chris key I'm hope but pronouncing

that right KRI SKY Chris key I'm gonna go with that here we're relitigating another infamous trade in Canucks history this one more recent Chris key wants to know what if in Canucks history. This one more recent. Chris key wants to know what if the Canucks did not trade for Keith Ballard and instead re-signed Willie Mitchell during the 2010 off season

that 2011 team would have had a big, tough defenseman in Mitchell who went on to win two cups. They would have also had a first round pick to trade or draft. And then Grabner who was thrown into the trade sort of, could then have stayed with the Canucks and scored on a relatively cheap contract. The most obvious answer to this is that the Keith Ballard trade was the single biggest, most definitive blunder of the Gillis era, right? Yeah, especially with how it played out, right?

But the hip checks. I was just going to say that. The hip checks were so fun. As Chriskey points out, it's not just that you're subbing in Willie Mitchell for Keith Ballard, who ultimately didn't work out. You also have a first-round pick to do something with at the trade deadline if you want, right? You have another weapon in your arsenal to go improve that team.

And you just think about it. If they had signed Willie Mitchell, then your blue line would have been another weapon in your arsenal to go improve that team. And you just think about it. If they had signed Willie Mitchell, then your blue line would have been Alex Adler and Christian Erihoff. Yeah. Dan Ham, Houston, Kevin BX,

and Willie Mitchell and Sammy Salo is your third pair. That is unreal. Yeah. That's a tremendous, tremendous six man unit. And really what ended up happening is I get the idea behind the Keith Ballard trade, but it was a disaster with Alain Vigneault. And that's what did it, right? And Vigneault never trusted him to the point where Aaron Rome

and Andrew Alberts were playing ahead of him in the playoffs. And just lacking that reliable option on the third pair was a huge, huge part of the reason why the team eventually lost i remember when he came aboard and i started watching him like three things became blindingly apparent yeah one was that he oh this guy's injury prone like he gets hurt all the time and that was he had the hip surgery i think it was prior to playing first game in vancouver uh two he was left-handed and just could not like fundamentally play on the right side. And they're like, well, we kind of need you to do that.

Cause the left side is pretty full. It was like, it was what you're saying. Edler, Amhuis, and then Garrison. I mean, they ended. Yeah. Garrison later, they ended up moving air off to the right side, but he was a left shot guy too. Cause he could do it.

And then the third thing was, as you pointed out, Alain Vigneault, like he had no use for Ballard whatsoever. And those three things were apparent real quick. And I think when I was trying to, we're going back and litigating it, like 11.30 last night, which is really what you want to do that late on a Sunday, is look back on a 13-year-old trade.

It wasn't like, not like it chopped the team off at the knees or hamstrung them to that degree because they still were a very good team. But it was almost like the biggest blunder in that management's regime at the most important time. It wasn't like, oh, they had a big blunder, but the stakes were low.

Or they had a little blunder when the stakes were really high. It was the biggest gaffe that they made at a time where the margins were thin because you were trying to compete for a Stanley Cup, and it's so difficult to win one. Yeah, and again, for me, it's the opportunity cost more than anything. Even if you had let Willie Mitchell walk and used those assets for a different trade, because it made perfect sense to, okay, we're going to take a young player.

We're going to take our first-round pick. We're going to push. We're going to go all in with this team and look for that finishing piece. It's just Keith Ballard was not the right one at all, right? And you're moving him down the line up into a different role, and it did not work. If you retain Willie Mitchell, if you use those assets on a different deal and let Willie Mitchell walk even,

that easily could have been the difference between winning and losing for that team. Okay. A lot more to get into on the program as we pivot to the final hour of the program. John Catliff, Vancouver 86ers legend, Canadian men's national soccer team legend is going to join us next. We'll talk about what Canada did over the weekend and over the course of the

Copa America. We'll also talk to John about what's coming up for the white caps on Wednesday. It's 80s night for the white caps as as they host Sporting Kansas City at BC Place. It's a 7.30 kickoff, so we'll talk to him about that as the Whitecaps continue to honor their past on 80s night. Of course, John Catliff was a key player for the 86ers back in the 80s. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.