Halford & Brough in the Morning - Halford Does Not Like Horror Movies

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

In hour two, Mike and guest host Josh Elliott-Wolfe talk the latest baseball and movie news with MLB Network and Cinephile Podcast's Adnan Virk (3:00), plus they go to Vegas with Sporstnet NBA writer Michael Grange, as Team Canada announced it's Olympic men's basketball roster yesterday (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.

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. 7.01 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

Halford, Brough, featuring Josh Elliott-Wolf here on Sportsnet 650. It's my first time hearing the Adnan intro. That was the... You're showing off your singing chops the most on that one, Andy. Yeah.

That took him 12 days to record. Yeah, it did. Fair enough. He's so modest. It paid off. He's so modest when it comes to the jingles.

He's like, yep, I'm just A-Dog doing my job, singing my songs. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough in 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.

Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. As the song suggests, Adnan Virk is going to join us in just a moment here. 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 we're 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, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. To the phone lines we go. Adnan Virk joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Good morning, Adnan. How are you? I'm doing great, Mike. Josh, good to be with you guys. And props to Andy once again. I just saw the trailer for Fly Me to the Moon, which is a new movie starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, and I thought, man, with Andy's crewing, I'd like to hear him sing a little Sinatra, a little Fly Me to the Moon next time is the new movie starring Charlotte Johansson and Channing Tatum. And I thought, man, with Andy's crewing, I'd like to hear him sing a little Sinatra, a little fly me to the moon next time.

We'll see. Good call. Good call. That'd be good. That'd be good. Um, on the baseball field. Well, we'll get into the,

the, the movies later. I think I've got a question for you about Shrek five. So stay tuned for that. I want to ask him about long legs too. Long legs too. We'll get into all of it. We've got this huge queue of questions.

Actually, it's all movies today. But no, I wanted to start with the Jays. They get back in the win column yesterday, but a slew of potential injuries, a couple guys day to day. What have you thought of the Jays recently and how they're shaping up ahead of the deadline? Yeah, the good news is, Josh, they've been playing a little better recently.

Springer in particular was just a disaster the first two months. You go, oh my God, how are we going to get through the rest of this contract? He's virtually unplayable. But thankfully, he caught fire, he's been better. Vlad Jr. obviously got off to a slow start, particularly with regards to power.

He was hitting for average, but then that power stretch came. Would have loved to have seen him, by the way, returning to the home run derby because I did correctly predict he'd win last year, but he's not going to be back there, so all good. The problem is, as you said, ahead of the trade deadline is the only guys who are going to trade are the ones who apparently have expiring contracts.

So you say Kikuchi can be had, and by the way, he's a good pitcher. I think he'll get a couple of nice returns, maybe a young player, a young prospect, whoever it may be. But they're not going to go, like, big game hunting. Now, I don't know if they necessarily should. For example, in the case of Vlad and Bo, as we all know, both are contracts up to the end of next season. I would argue at this point, right now, I would like to sign Vlad Jr.

He's having a good season. He's an all-star. He's clearly your best offensive player. And those guys are not very easy to find, especially at his age. So this offseason, I rolled up the sleeves of that and said, okay, let's try to get this thing done. With regards to Bo, I looked yesterday. He's had the

third biggest drop of any major league player from year to year. Like, he's gone from 306 a year to 223. He's not gotten better. He's still a disaster. Now, a friend of mine argued with me. He goes, this may not be the worst thing in the world. I said, how? He said, well, obviously, you can't trade him because why would you trade Lowe right now?

Why would you just ship him off when you know he's still a good player? But in the offseason, maybe you get a little discount, right? Oh, he's coming out for a bad year. I said, well, you know, the agents work. They'll say, well, look at the body of work. It's just one bad year, blah, blah, blah. But the point is, maybe you can salvage that and get Bo to a more reasonable price. With regard to this trade deadline, though, as I said, they're only going to trade guys with expiring contracts.

They're not going to make the playoffs. We all know that. They're eight and a half teams that have a wildcard spot. They're not going to turn this around all of a sudden. But maybe you can flip a couple guys. What I think is interesting is this, Josh. I throw in a guy like Kevin Goshen. I think he still has a year and a half left on his deal.

And he has not been particularly good this year. But we know when he's elite, he can be a top 10 pitcher in baseball. So if I was the Jays, I'd at least throw his name out there and go, all right, who's out there? We know with the paucity

of starting pitching out there, how many teams would jump on a guy like a Kevin Gossman, even having a so-called down season. I still have Barrios as my ace for years to come. We know that.

You still hope Manoa can figure things out eventually. You know, this is not a year where Toronto's going to go deep. But if I was the Jays personally, I would kind of dangle Gossman's name and see what I could get out there. So it feels like there's been a lot of heat on Ross Atkins specifically this year. And, you know, the lack of moves in the offseason had some people a bit frustrated with him.

And now you look at where the Jays are and and maybe that's justified how much pressure is on Ross Atkins to get this right yeah I think he's on the clock there's no question about it I mean I I've been pleasantly surprised as I said that John Steiner hasn't lost his job it's normally in situations like this where a team has been a massive underachiever you fire the manager and it's easier to do than to fire 25 players. But I like the fact, I think the Jays are smarter to go, this is not on John. Maybe there's been some bullpen issues, okay? Their bullpen's been dreadful. But as you said, generally,

this has been roster construction. So this is on Ross Atkins. The team that he has assembled is not very good, particularly offensively. And as I said, the bullpen's been a real mess. Romano's injury's certainly not helping things. But the point is, it's on the guy who put the team together. So when you get to this offseason,

I personally would be genuinely surprised if Atkins gets another goal run at this. Because if you'll recall, what happened is that they had a very offensive-heavy team, and they made the conscious decision to say, okay, let's sacrifice offense for run prevention. Rather than scoring run prevention, let's go get Kiermaier,

let's go get Dalton Barshow, etc. Let's beef up that defensive part of the game, which has improved. But their offense is lackluster now, right? It's an offense which is pretty porous, aside from Vlad. It's basically just role players. You have to hope that a Davis Schneider can run into a ball. Horowitz, by the way, has been a pleasant surprise. He's been terrific. He actually

has genuinely hit the Jays this year. He's been one of the good stories of the season. But ultimately, their offense isn't very good. So I would think if I was the Blue Jays, again, if I'm Mark Shapiro running the team, I would not give Ross Atkins another chance this offseason. I would look in a different direction, get a different GM and say, okay, let's go back to what we did well. Let's back to scoring

runs. This should be a team that bashes at will, and they haven't been. But whether or not Ross gets that chance again to do it, I don't think he will personally if the season continues. I don't know how you tell this fan base we're gonna go 75 and 87 and we're gonna run it back with the same gm the same players etc to me something's got to give if the season continues the way it is and the the thing about so they they did double down a bit on the hey being defensive first uh this offseason and obviously, again, it hasn't worked out.

How long would this, I guess, retool take to get the Jays back to being passable offensively, I guess? And I'm sure they would have to sacrifice some pitching, some defense to get there, but... Correct. How long is it going to take them now to get back into being a legit contender? So here's the challenge. It's not like you're a team like Baltimore where you've regressed, but you've got process coming. The Jays have the 23rd ranked farm system.

Like that's very concerning because it's like, wait, we don't have a bunch of kids coming up. We're going to save us. I'm like, nope. So this is kind of what you're stuck with. Now, as we know, Rogers is capable of spending money. They can go get raises for God's sake. They're in on Otani. So it's not like they you're stuck with. Now, as we know, Rodgers is capable of spending money. They can go get raises for God's sake. They're in on Otani. So it's not like they're not willing to make the splash.

But as far as making major moves, you know, they didn't do it this offseason. As you said, it was an uninspiring offseason. You go from potentially Otani to Conor Fluff and Justin Turner, like that's it? Now, Conor Fluff has been a really good player for them. He's actually leading them in a war, which is a genuine surprise, again. But he's not exactly moving the needle when it comes to big-time offense. He's actually leading them in war, which is a genuine surprise, again. But he's not exactly moving the needle when it comes to big-time offense. He's versatile defensively, etc. But I think

the retool could be very quick. I think if you went to this offseason and said, all right, we're going to sign some players who can hit. Pete Alonzo's a free agent. We're going to go after some big-time sluggers and we're going to open up the wall. Then, yeah, I think you could fix it. As you said, you might have to sacrifice some pitching and defense if you want to make trades. The easiest way is free agency. The easiest way is to spend

money and go get those guys. But look at a guy like Teoscar Hernandez. The Jays had him. He hit home runs. I know he wasn't great defensively. Great clubhouse guy. They ship him to Seattle for Swanson. And again, you're sacrificing offense for run prevention. Swanson, elite setup guy. But what happens? Now, Swanson hasn't been good

this year. He's hurt. Teoscar ends up leaving Seattle. He's an all-star right now with the Dodgers. He's going to be in the home run derby. Mistakes like that just can't happen. That's where the frustration is for Blue Jays fans. So I think you can retool very quickly. You just got to spend money. Now if you can't lure those free agents, then you're right. Then you have to sacrifice pitching

and make trades and get a little bit more creative. South of the border here, the Mariners sit atop the AL West and their pitching has been great. They've allowed very few runs, but they've also scored very few runs this season. What do they need to add at the deadline, and how many pieces do they need to add to really beef up the lineup? Offense, offense, offense, man, at least a couple of that.

I mean, God, I looked at their offense the other day, and of course OPS is now the measure we all use on baseball slugging. The league average in the American League, by the way, is down in the chutes right around 700. And I looked at that Marin's offense, and all I saw was 620, 640, 647. I go, this is awful. They're entirely – nobody hits. It's shocking.

Like, I couldn't believe how porous their offense has been, and it's a testament to how elite that starting staff is that they're a first-place team right now. Because Houston has certainly come on strong recently after a terrible start to their year. They've been beat up by injuries to their starting staff. But, like, give props. Gilbert's an all-star.

Castillo's an ace. I love George Kirby. You know, Miller's really good. Wu's been good. So, like, those guys have carried them. But their offense is bad. No question about it. And they've got to make some moves, man.

If Jerry DiPoto, who's a guy who's never made a trade he's not afraid to make, he has to look at that team and go, okay, again, this is an example where exactly he just said, you have to sacrifice pitching for some offense. You've got to give up one of those arms and go back and get a potent bat. I don't think Alonzo's available now at the Mets, but that's a guy that I would have said for sure.

Wherever Pete Alonzo goes, he's going to hit home runs. Even in the very difficult at home runs, Pacific Northwest, he'll do it. Now, the Mets are only a game and a half out of a wild card, Brian. They've been the best team in baseball since June 2nd, so they're not going to be selling. But the Mariners desperately need some bats. There is no way this team will win the division with this offense as presently constituted.

And I'm a huge Julio Rodriguez fan, but he's had a terrible year. Now, he's had a good week. Yesterday, Canada threw a guy out at the plate. It was great. You know, had a 4-4-4 day earlier this week, so that's a good sign. But he's got an OPS around 620. That can't happen. Your best player, you'd think is going to be a perennial

all-star. He's been a dud, unfortunately, so far this year. Now, last year again, Julio had that great second half. Hopefully it happens again. But they need at least two bats for this team to win a division title. We're speaking to Adnan Virk from MLB Network and the Cinephile podcast here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Hey, Adnan, you mentioned Pete Alonso and hitting home runs. He will be in the Derby on Monday. The field is now locked in. Is he the favorite to win this thing just because he's gone? I think it's five straight Derbys for him, and he's won it three times. And I guess the rest of the field maybe leads me to believe that Alonzo will be the favorite going in? I think so, Mike.

I mean, I'm going to be flying down to Dallas on Sunday. So I'll be there doing the pre-show of the Home Run Derby. I'll be with Harold Reynolds and Albert Pools, Adam Wainwright. So I can't wait. I've got a front row seat, as a matter of fact. My assignment is to interview the winner after the game. so I might as well be Pete Alonso and me talking on the field

when the game ends here at MLB Network. So I hope it is. I think he's a great guy. He's great for the sport. He loves hitting home runs. I love the fact unlike, let's say, an Aaron Judge or a Vlad Jr., you know, those guys are bashers that don't want to do it again. They have no interest in Juan Soto, for example. I like the fact Alonso goes, nope, I'm a premier slugger. I enjoy

the event. I don't believe this nonsense is going to mess up my swing for the second half. I'm going to get tired. Like, no, I'll pace myself. I'm going to crush it. So I love the pride and enthusiasm he has for it. Other options, you know, Yonder Alonso's with last night. He said Bobby Witt. And I said, really?

He's from the Texas area. He'll be fired up hometown fans. I said, okay. I would have loved to have seen Josh Naylor in there, by the way. Speaking of Canadians, Mrs is all Ontario's own. Naylor's one of those guys that always swings for the fences, and he's a real fan favorite. I would have liked to see him in it as well.

I think Jose Ramirez is a pretty good shot. I think he can crush home runs at will. Gunnar Henderson's obviously in the field as well. But honestly, Mike, you're right. If you just said to me, Pete Alonso in the field, I'd probably say Pete Alonso, only because he has a track record of winning four. And it should be fun. Like I said,

the Oscars and the Home Run Derby as well. Some good personalities. It should be a fun night on Monday. It's Adoles Garcia representing the hometown Rangers. I went back and looked. Two Texas Rangers have won the Home Run Derby. You got Juan

Gonzalez in 93. There's a name I haven't thought about in a bit. Another one that I haven't thought about in a bit Ruben Sierra in 1989 Ruben Sierra Ruben showed that great leg kick From the left side he was fun to watch And Juan gone back to back MVP He would have thought he was going to be a future Hall of Famer

But he had two great all time Rangers Josh and Andy As we turn our attention to the movies part of this interview, Josh has one about a lighter film, and then Andy has one about a darker film. Josh, you start. We'll start with the light. So I didn't know about these sequels until like a week ago, but what's a more justified fifth movie in a children's series?

Toy Story 5 or Shrek 5? God, if I had to choose, Josh, I'd? Toy Story 5 or Shrek 5? God, if I had to choose, Josh, I'd go Toy Story 5. But God, I have no interest in quintuples when it comes to movies. I mean, it's a long term practice. Yeah, listen, generally, when you get to sequels,

already it's too much, right? You should never even have a second film. But there's exceptions, of course, The Godfather 2, Back to the Future 2, obviously has been, Terminator 2 is a great sequel mad max fury road's a great sequel it happens but generally speaking the more you go the less originality less invention inside out too currently in theaters speaking of kids movies

they're good but generally when you get to like beverly hills cop axel f currently on netflix i'm like what do we do like it's it's a serviceable retread i get it i love eddie murphy of course but i'm like we don't really need a 63-year-old Axl Fuller going around there. It generally feels like a cash grab. So if I hear Shrek 5, I go, oh my God,

I don't know how I'm going to take it. And Toy Story 5, again, Toy Story 3, by the way, I would argue, is the best of them all. It's great, brilliant ending where he's like, you think about it,

what are you doing with toys? Toy Story 4, I don't think was necessary. I don't think a fifth one is necessary. But these movies make a ton, man. You know, the way the movie cycle works now

when it comes to theatrical releases, the only movies that make big money are Marvel movies, kids' movies, and Christopher Nolan. Those are the only movies that actually make still big money at the box office. So as long as there's an after, they'll do it. But God help me if I have to go watch Shrek 5 in a theater. I just had to take my kids to see Despicable Me 4.

And I gotta tell you, man, if there's gonna be a fifth one, I'm gonna be just in a murderous rage. No more, please. We are speaking to Adnan Virg of MLB Network and the Cinephile podcast. Important, the Cinephile podcast. We've got a lot of movie questions in the queue here. Andy's up next. I'm really excited about this double feature because in one sitting,

you could watch Shrek 5 and Long Legs. I'm really happy they're doing this together. They are not doing that together, by the way. Adnan, what have you heard about Long Legs? It's like the most anticipated horror movie together. They are not doing that together, by the way. And then what have you heard about Long Legs? It's like the most anticipated horror movie, I think, since Hereditary, which I loved. I'm not a big horror guy, admittedly. I don't watch a ton of horror movies. This one is getting great early reviews.

Nicolas Cage in it. It's sort of being called like a cross between Silence of the Lambs, Seven, and Rosemary's Baby. What do you know about Long Legs? You nailed it, Andy. You're reading my mind, man. I'm watching Wimbledon earlier today, and I was making my itinerary for when I get to Texas, and I said, Sunday, I've got the day off.

I'm going to go to the movies. I check where I'm going to be staying, the hotel in Arlington, about a mile away from the movie theater. I said, my choice is either Fly Me to the Moon, the aforementioned Channing Tatum, Charlotte Johansson movie, which is about space and NASA, or long legs. And like you, I'm not a big horror movie guy. I'm probably going to be wary

of long legs. But then the two things that sold me, Nicolas Cage, who I love, and 91% Rotten Tomatoes. Wow, it's getting rave reviews. So I just watched the trailer before I hopped on with you guys, and it's fascinating. It's exactly what you just said. The first blurb says the scariest film since Silence of the Lambs, and the trailer's great.

I mean, the trailer alone hooked me. I watched two minutes ago. Okay, I'm in. This looks like Jodie Foster 1991. There's no glimpse, by the way, of Nicolas Cage in the limbs. And the trailer's great. I mean, the trailer alone hooked me. I watched two minutes ago. Okay, I'm in. This looks like Jodie Foster, 1991. There is no glimpse, by the way, of Nicolas Cage in the trailer. Which I love.

Great call. Right. I'm like, I cannot wait until what he looks like in this movie because I'm sure he's going to be

just gone so insane. So I will be checking out Long Legs Sunday Night. I promise I'll give you a review next week. Thank you. Like you said, it looks,

I get it. A horror movie, I'm with you. I get the heebie-jeebies, man. I'm not crazy about them, but a great serial killer drama with these kind of reviews and Nicolas Cage, it's an offer I can't refuse. I look forward to seeing it. Adnan, this was great, man.

Thanks for taking the time to do it. Enjoy Texas and Arlington and all that stuff. We'll do this again next week. Yeah, plus 37 with a human X. It should be totally fine. Thankfully, air-conditioned at Globe Life. Thank you, boys. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks, Adnan.

Appreciate it. That's Adnan Virk from MLB Network and the Cinephile podcast here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Long Legs filmed in Vancouver, if I'm not mistaken. I was not aware of that. Yeah, I think I saw a tweet yesterday. I didn't even know that. Scary.

Our city should not be the site of such scary films. You missed it earlier in the week when I was in here on Tuesday. My boomer take of the day was uh cell phones are too loud uh and movies are too scary now they're gone are too scary they've gone it's not even horror movies just movies he is worried about trek 5 despicable me 4 it's stuck it it stuck with me yeah no heavy flick i've the horror movies yeah you really need to work on your pronunciation say horror better andy yeah and you said it like three times or you gotta say horror you gotta really enunciate yeah stretch out those syllables um no my my theory was that the horror movies have gotten too messed up they're too scary i don't know what they i don't like watching a movie and just being jarred mentally by it for

hours after i love that i don't like it i don't care for it and i always go back to the one that i saw where i was like okay that's it i'm out itidsommar. It was just too much. Great movie. Too much. It's a delightful romp. It's not. It's a delightful romp. It was just too much. And I understand that people want to go to those depths of depravity and really have their world rocked and they're thinking about it afterwards. Getting nuts. I understand that they're-

Halver's like, I'll stick to my sports documentaries. Thank you very much. Draft Day for the 50th time. No. Draft Day is a horrible movie. It should be thrown into the pits of hell. Draft Day is fine. It's not.

No, it's really not. It's okay. It's not okay. Halver's got opinions on Draft Day. My take on sports movies, almost all of them, is that they're all just fine. Most of them are bad. There's good... Sandlot, hello. Moneyball is the best sports movie.

Friday Night Lights is probably the best sports movie. Wow. One of them has Brad Pitt. The first Mighty Ducks? No. Come on. That falls in the okay category. You shut up, you child.

This is a serious conversation we're having. No, okay. I've gone comically over the top in my hatred of draft day um part of the reason that it's infuriating is that it's not so much a script as it is like the the characters explain football to you yeah throughout the movie right and it's like no one would ever talk like this and then there's like a friendly reminder of like what the draft is every 10 or 15 minutes and and what happens if they don't make a pick right i love it i did that that's it's less of a plot as it is the explanation of how football front offices they think that they work and that was very annoying to me so i will never watch it

again i will hate it for the rest of time. Fair enough. I do think, I don't know. I'm not a, I'm not a big scary movie guy either, but long legs has me intrigued, but then I'm going to watch it. I just like, I really love,

I mean, silence and lambs is probably one of my top three movies of all time. And I love seven as well. I don't even know if I consider either of them like horror movies per se, horror movies per se. That was good. Keep going. I mean, they have horror elements to them, but I consider them more

like crime thrillers. Nevertheless, if it falls in that category with the satanic ritual stuff, which I also love like Exorcist, it's right in my wheelhouse of the style of horror movies that I enjoy. You liked Hereditary. It was fantastic. He's a big satanic rituals guy. Hereditary was amazing. Hereditary. It was fantastic. That to me is... He's a big satanic rituals guy.

Hereditary was... Hereditary is super messed up. You gotta understand though, I'm a big like... Here's the thing. Hold on. Just let me explain to you. I'm a big film guy as well

in terms of like how movies are made just from my acting days, working on film sets. Sure. I love how movies are constructed. If a movie is filmed very well and made very artfully and the craft is at top

form, I really enjoy it just from that aesthetic alone. So just from that perspective of it, Hereditary was incredible. It's an amazingly filmed movie. With that said, it's incredibly messed up and it really gets under your skin. And I remember the first time I saw it, I was like, what the hell did I just watch?

I like this. It's messed up watch I like this it's messed up man but it's it's a great horror movie it's like I would put it right up there with like the shining exorcist like it's it's up there in that tier of exceptional horror movies I guess the thing is that you took some enjoyment out of it and that's the enjoyment is the wrong

word well no because I took not I was like I didn't enjoy enjoyment is the wrong word but I appreciated the craft and it was very well done. And very well acted, too. Okay. Sorry you're a wuss, Halford. It's not that I watched it. The whole time, I'm like, I'm not enjoying any of this.

Really? No, not even the acting. But also, I'm like, oh. It was so awful. These very, very painstaking moments where I'm like, ah, this is awful. Yeah, it's a tough watch. Designed to stick with you, right? Of course.

And to, like, wake up in a panic. The genre is not for everyone. And I will admit, like, I'm not, like, I don't watch a ton of them. So, it's, you know, there's some people that love, like, the slasher films or, like, the torture porn films films, like Terrorfire and stuff like that, Hostel. I can't do those ones. Just violence for the sake of violence with no other purpose doesn't do much for me, like Human Centipede and all those. Special effects.

Human Centipede. How did that get a name drop? Those are genre people. There are people out there, that's the genre to them, that they like those style of movies. For me, I was like, that's too much for me. That's too much. You know what?

Way to draw a line. Yeah, that's the line in the sand i gotta stop there you know who i feel bad for the people that haven't heard of human centipede and they're now looking up man human centipede honestly the first time i think of it is actually the south park episode that's my association with it more than the actual movie dear listeners the public service address for mike alvin If you don't know what the human centipede is, don't bother looking it up. Just leave it alone. You're gonna look it up and you're gonna be like, yep, that is

definitely a human centipede. Okay, we gotta go to break. When we come back, we're gonna... From the makers of Shrek 5. The human Shrekipede. Eddie Murphy's like, I didn't do this. Had some script changes along the way. Eddie didn't sign up on this. Director problems.

Okay, we're going to talk to Michael Grange coming up next. A little basketball talk from Vegas. Canada, U.S. in... Sorry, what'd you say there? Are you yelling in my ear?

Oh, okay. We'll do it on the other side. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the vancouver canucks

listen 12 to 2 p.m on sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts 731 on a Thursday you're listening to the Halpern and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halpern and Brough in 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. 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. Josh, tell them where we are broadcasting from today, please.

We are broadcasting from the Kintec studio. We're coming to you live from said 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. We're going to get to Michael Grange in just a moment here. Before we do that, we need to do the CFL report, the Canadian football report brought to you by security in Canada,

the official life insurance partner of the CFL. All due respect to the rest of the Canadian football league, but we are focusing exclusively on the big game of the weekend. It is the undefeated Saskatchewan Roughriders coming to BC to take on the 4-1 BC Lions. It's not just the game, though, which kicks off at 4 o'clock on Saturday. It's the event of the summer,

the BC Lions Watermelon Smash. This is the annual rite of passage where all the Riders fans invade BC Place and they have a big party, the BC Lions Backyard Bash. Everything will be going. It starts at 1130 in the morning,

so you can get well lubricated with watermelon juice or another beverage of your choosing before you get in the doors at 4 o'clock. It is the ultimate showdown between Lions and Riders fans. There is going to be a watermelon eating contest. They're really leaning in heavy to this rivalry. We had Rick Campbell on the show earlier in the week and he confirmed that they're going to have the upper bowl

open for the game. So they're expecting a pretty big crowd, pretty great weather and an early kickoff, the four o'clock kickoff. So everyone will be able to enjoy it, kids and adults alike. So make sure you go to BCLions.com for more to check out tickets. That is the CFL report brought to you by Securian Canada,

the official life insurance partner of the CFL. From the CFL, we go now to international hoops. Joining us live from Vegas, Michael Grange, NBA and Raptors writer for Sportsnet here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Michael. How are you? Morning. How are you doing? We're good.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. So a very glitzy and star-studded affair last night. Both teams loaded with NBA talent. Barack Obama was in the house to take it all in. Were there any significant takeaways, though, Michael, from a game which was an exhibition and wasn't friendly and did see the Americans beat the Canadians down in Vegas? Yeah, I think the main takeaway was Team USA is really, really good.

I'm not sure that's all that big a surprise, but especially when you saw their second unit and it's Jason Tatum and Anthony Davis and Anthony Edwards, that's formidable. And I think as good as Canada is, it just sort of demonstrated that it's going to be a gold medal for the Canadian team. It's going to require a significant upset somewhere along the line. And I think that it's kind of good to get that experience against Team USA and sort of hammer home that, you know,

what they're trying to do is very, very difficult. One of the things that's been talked about as a weakness for the Canadians has been the lack of size. Was that evident last night? And how big of a problem could that be for uh for canada in paris yeah i mean a little bit um but i think you know i think certainly if you look at the matchup between dwayne powell and joe on beat on paper it's you know there shouldn't be any there shouldn't be a matchup at all but but uh dwayne powell i thought that are actually a fantastic job

just being really physical and and forceful with mb and mb you know played very poorly i thought um in his first international experience mind you he's you know he's clearly pretty rusty and and and a lot of a lot of players who play look pretty rusty and a lot of players look pretty rusty, frankly. But I thought where it was in some ways more evident was, you know, as Canada was trying to attack offensively, you know, going against a much bigger team, you know, they had a hard time scoring at the rim. And I think, you know, Team USA had nine blocks. I'm not sure what Canada shot at the rim or

in the paint but I don't think it was very good and um you know so I think that's where it jumped out to me and I think on the flip side team USA especially then when Anthony Davis was on the floor and to a lesser extent Bam Adebayo um they were much more effective on the offensive glass and scoring at the rim and in the paint. So before they have an opportunity to try and tackle this behemoth of an American team at the Olympics, Canada is going to have to deal with an incredibly tough group and just getting out of it. It's going to be Spain, it's going to be Australia, and it's going to be Greece. What are Jordi Fernandez and the coaching staff saying about the challenge that awaits this Canadian team in the group stage of the Olympics?

I think it's important to know that one of the reasons that group is so tough is Canada is in it. They're the favorite in that group. What we saw last night in Vegas isn't really going to happen again against any other team. In other words, we're almost every matchup, except perhaps with whoever was guarding Shea, Gilgis, Alexander, Canada was either break-even or was maybe a little bit on the wrong side of that matchup.

And that's just Team USA. They're an aberration um you know but but so I think as we'll see as they kind of leave for I think they've already just left for France as we speak and um you know as they they have a few more tune-up games and as they get into games against really good national teams as you say uh but teams that aren't laden with all-stars, one through 12, basically, Canada's talent will shine. But I think what they're going to have to do is, each of those teams you mentioned presents a different problem, but they're going to have to take what they didn't do very well

last night against Team USA. They didn't attack switches. They didn't get two feet in the paint. They didn't generate a lot of quality looks from three, and they certainly didn't shoot very well from three. I mean, those are all things that they're going to have to do at a high level to emerge from that group. But, I mean, they're certainly capable of it,

and they'll face less resistance doing it against teams that are, as you say, really, really good national basketball teams international teams but not you know as a significant step down from what they were facing last night the talk last night was that this was a potential gold medal match preview is that a fair expectation for canada i mean you look at the talent and theoretically like they should be the second best team there but they also you know haven, haven't been to the Olympics in over 20 years, though they did get the third place in the World Cup last year. Like what's, is silver a fair expectation for this group? Oh, I think so. Yeah. I mean, they certainly have that expectation of themselves

and I wouldn't say they expect silver. I mean, they expect gold. They expect to be in a gold medal final. They expect to, you know, win there, you know, have that one magical game where you can knock off a team like T-MUSA if someone else hasn't done it first. So, yeah, I mean, you know, Canada is – it's hard to imagine Canada having a better team than they have now, even though, you know, like it looks like Canada's well-positioned to be a really good national team for many years. But you've got arguably one of the top three or five players in the world,

and Shea Gilles is Alexander. You have Jamal Murray making effectively a senior team national debut. He did play at the Phantom Games as a teenager. So right there you have outside something on par with anything Team USA can put on the floor and are after that probably the best backcourt in the world and then tremendous depth, tremendous

quality perimeter defending. So yeah, that's a totally reasonable expectation. But in saying that, they're not playing seven game series against each of these opponents in the group stage or anywhere else it's uh it's sure they're short games 40 minutes the three-point line is a little closer that means more players on the floor

typically threats um and just anything can go wrong in a single game elimination format and uh you know so we can have all the expectations we want. We can be as excited as we want to be. But, you know, they still got to get it done. We're speaking to Sportsnet NBA writer Michael Grange here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. The morning after Canada lost to the U.S. in a pre-Olympic friendly down in Las Vegas. I think the thing, well, I know the thing that I was most interested in, but the thing that most are interested in with Canada,

all due respect to all the guys on the roster, is the Gilgis Alexander, Jamal Murray backcourt, them playing together and playing off one another. How did that look last night? I know everyone was on a minutes restriction, so they didn't get a ton of burn together, but how did it look and how are they going to play off each other but they already strategized how they're going to do that when it comes time for the real thing yeah i mean it did look great um

a little bit to be expected i mean i mean there is definitely a matter of of getting into game shape and and all of that and and so i think, you know, this team, those guys have been together now two weeks. I think the first week was really just getting them close to game shape. And then, you know, they've only really started working together as a backcourt, I think, the last week or so in practice. You know, I think the idea was early on just to get them, get their own individual reps. I think combined they had

maybe i don't think jamal murray had any assists i think she might have had three neither of them shot the ball very well so it was you know it was there was no like little moments of magic i think that's going to have to develop um and it's really important for this team that those two guys elevate each other. If it's just going to be Shea's turn, Jamal's turn, Shea's turn, Jamal's turn, that's not going to be good enough. That said, I think they are a nice complement to each other. I think starting possessions with Shea, Shea is the primary creator.

He's the best paint touch guy in the NBA, arguably. And Jamal Murray certainly knows how to move out without the ball, as he's shown playing with Nikola Jokic all these years. And he's certainly one of the most lethal shooters in the world. So on paper, they should be a really – and he can make plays for himself and others as well. So on paper, I think it should work really well, but they're going to have to get on the same page really quickly.

And the biggest thing is each individual has got to play a bit better than they did last night. So I believe everything gets underway on Saturday, July 27th. Canada will open Olympic play against Greece, so that's 16 days away. So what lies ahead, Michael, before we let you go for Canada between now and the 27th when they face Greece in the group phase opener in Group A? Yeah, I mean, as I said, they're en route to France as we speak.

They have a couple of days there to acclimatize, and then they have three exhibition games, and I think a controlled scrimmage. I think they play France. They play Puerto Rico. I'm not sure who the other opponent is. It might be either Serbia or Germany. But don't quote me on that.

And, you know, it's just going to be this is it. Like, you know, I think playing last night was the end of phase one of training camp. They should be, as I said, close to game ready and fit. And now it's really about just kind of elevating, polishing, and all those kinds of things. I think going over early gives them a good chance just to kind of build that additional chemistry and all that. And as good as this team is, it's going to be that

that's going to put them over the top. They've just got to be a group that sacrifices for each other, that is better than some of their parts, as good as those parts are. You know, and if they can pull that off, they can make some noise. And, you know, they're going to get tested right out of the gate. You know, you only get one chance to figure out how to stop Giannis Antetokounmpo. And, you know, they're going to have to do it on the fly. So it should be a really exciting tournament.

Michael, this was great. Thanks for taking the time to do it. It should be a really fun summer of basketball. So enjoy it all. Let's try and do summer of basketball. So enjoy it all. Let's try and do this again soon. Thank you. Thanks. That's Michael Grange, Sportsnet NBA writer here

on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Sun farmer. Sun farmer. Yeah, I just said Rass Hawkins. Rass Hawkins. It's going to be a sun farmer for Rass Hawkins. I don't know why. I mean, other than the fact that I'm not very good at this and I don't

pay attention to what I'm saying. I don't know why it happens with such regularity where you do that little mix up. I know. It warmed my heart when you dropped the Rass Atkins earlier in the show because I was like, yes, that's something I do. It happens all the time. Josh is me. Me is Josh. It's called spoonerism.

When you flip the initial syllables of the words. Really? Yeah, there's a term for it. I was not aware of that. Spoonerized it. We're spooning. Oh. Sorry. I think you gotta add the last part of the word. Spoonering. Yeah. I like the way he put it. You definitely wouldn't

with your other co-host. If you're wondering what you're listening to right now, it's kind of professional radio. It's the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Josh Elliott-Wolf is in for Brough. For the remainder of this week, his European vacation continues and rolls on. Something that we've been doing throughout the week here

is addressing a lot of the things that you guys have put forth, your submissions to our Canucks questions. Now, by that, I mean I threw out a call earlier in the week saying, hey, send in your what ifs, your Mount Rushmores, your bar debates, hypotheticals, superlatives, alternate realities, lists, power rankings, whatever. Send them in. If they're good and they're intriguing and they're thought-provoking and they can incite conversation, we will address them. We've done a few throughout

the show. We had one before you started this week about if you could add one coach in his prime to the current Canucks roster, who would it be? Prime Rick Talkett or Prime Adam Foote? That was a good one. That's the kind of thing we're looking for here, right? So, someone

sent one in wanting to know a Mount Rushmore of Canucks cult heroes. And, you know, so I compiled a bunch of names, and then it got us on a very interesting debate topic. So the obvious ones are like Jeff Cowan and Bra Barian when they chuck the bra on the ice. And, you know, real ones, diehard Canucks fans will know that that's the sort of embodiment of what a cult hero is. It's that you have to really be deep into the cult to know who these guys are and what

they signify. And sometimes you don't have to explain it. Like, vote for Rory. Rory Fitzpatrick. That was great. That was a great one. Gino is very much a cult hero in this market. If you know who Jason King is and you remember the mattress line,

you qualify for this conversation. If you were into goalies like Troy Gamble and Chris Levesque and you know their stories, you're in this. So there's one guy that someone threw at me when I was putting this out to a couple friends of mine and they came back with him and it got me thinking and then it got Josh thinking. Where are we now on Bruce Boudreaux?

Because if you're talking about a cult hero, he ticks many boxes. A lot of boxes. Some would say all the boxes. It's like a short amount of time and it was,

there was a lot of highs for him directly related to him. Yeah. But not really on the ice. And dude had chance even while he was. See, that's the thing. Like a lot of these guys didn't have their own chant. No.

And Bruce had one with regularity. And like he's a coach. Coaches don't get chance. I know. I want to ask the listeners, now that some time has passed and the team is on an upward trajectory and it was a good year last year

and the vibes were high, immaculate, some would say, where are we memory-wise, nostalgia-wise, history-wise on Bruce Boudreaux? How do you feel about the Bruce, there it is, era? Was it because it ended badly? Like, let's just get that out of the way.

Yeah. It was sad. They made an old man cry. In front of thousands of people. It was sad. But Josh is dying right now. It was sad. It was sad.

Yeah, fair enough. It was sad. It might be the last time he coaches in the NHL. Yeah. It was sad. Yeah, fair enough. It was sad. It might be the last time he coaches in the NHL. Yeah. It was sad. But I think everyone understood that at least in terms of icing a competitive team, it was a necessary evil. So when we look back now, do you look back on it with fondness?

Do you kind of still have that same sort of like lovable grandfatherly feels for Bruce Boudreaux? Is he the quintessential Canucks cult hero, even though it ended badly? So I think he falls into cult hero territory for sure. When I think of the Boudreaux era, it's not a, I don't know. I think of the hockey as exciting, I guess, for a stretch, and then bad. But Boudreaux as a coach and a dude, I think of him fondly, and I do feel bad for him.

But him as a coach in Vancouver, I definitely remember as a good time. A lot of people are texting in right now here for a good time not a long time and that would I would almost put him on the Mount Rushmore at that point I would put him alongside Cowan and put him alongside Rory Fitzpatrick maybe even Gino right I mean Gino had a chance as well if you want. If you want to make that the metric by which guys are chosen. If you get bras thrown on the ice or chance or a slogan, you're on the Mount Rushmore. Peter and Cloverdale.

The Bruce era made everyone happy because that was the end of the old regime. He was a great rebound relationship. Oh, what a great way to put that. That's kind of perfect. It's like, okay, we know this isn't going to last, but it's going to be fun. And then we'll get the more serious guy, and he'll settle things down, and it'll be fine.

If you had to guess off the top of your head, I'll go around the table here. How many games did Bruce Boudreaux coach for the Vancouver Canucks? 87. Laddie? Less than 100, like 90, 95. I was going to say, I want to say 92. 103.

Just cracked the 100. 103 with a 549 winning percentage, a chant, and some good vibes. We talked to a bunch of different players after he was gone, and it never failed to amaze me how much players loved Bruce Boudreaux. Probably because he just was like, again, the lovable grandfather type. He was a good dude.

Do what you want, friend. Yeah. We're going to play structureless. I repeat, structureless. And then Ruff came in. I'm not going to pin this all on Ruff because I kind of nodded along when he was saying it.

He said, by the end, it felt like there was a real substitute teacher vibe with him. It's like when you get Mr. Boogerstrom. Yeah, we don't actually have to try because the sub's in here. I don't have to play with any structure. What's he going to do? And there's one guy on Twitter. I can't remember his name.

I think it's Ron. He loses his mind every time that this comes up. He's a big Boudreaux guy. And he calls for our jobs to be on the line, which I feel is like an overstep, but whatever. He's entitled to his opinion. And he thinks it's the most disrespectful thing anyone could ever say about Bruce Boudreaux.

But the sentiment is there. The vibe is there. That being said, I will take note of the fact that, and Boudreaux said this on our show after he came on over a thousand games coached in the NHL which is difficult to do and a 626 winning percentage

like in terms of just pure raw numbers wins in the regular season winning percentage getting your teams to the playoff Boudreaux is in a very rarefied air his style is great for some teams it just wasn't good for that Canucks team at that specific time.

Yeah. Both things are true. But it's funny because— He's an excellent coach with a great record. He's had lots of success, but not with the Canucks. What's that noise? What's your pushback? The success part.

Playoff time, that's the success that you look for, and he doesn't have any of it. Right. I don't know how you can tout him as a coach with a lot of success. Because he's had a lot of success in the regular in the regular season right yeah you got to say that yes you can't just say that's why he was the rebound guy because it was like hey have a good regular season i guess the point i'm trying to make is this is that when something ends as ugly as it ended with boudreaux there wouldn't be a lot of good vibes and like fun like fun

memories left to be like oh it ended badly it was ugly and you wouldn't remember it with fondness but he does enter the territories called hero because a lot of people are texting in right now and saying, yeah, it was a fun time. It was a good time. It wasn't a long time. A lot of people saying the rebound relationship type thing.

So I'm, I'm, I'm not quite ready to etch his face in stone on Mount Rushmore yet of the cult heroes, but I think it's close. We got one final hour to go on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. On the other side of the break,, but I think it's close. We got one final hour to go on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. On the other side of the break,

very excited for this. Peter Drury is scheduled to join the program. For many of you, the voice of this 2024 European Championship in Germany. He was on the call yesterday

for England's dramatic victory over the Netherlands. He's been on the call for many dramatic moments. Sky Sports, NBC Sports, you've heard his voice. He will hopefully join us next. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.