Halford & Brough in the Morning - How Many Wears?

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

In hour two, guest host Jamie Dodd and Josh Elliott-Wolfe dive into AUA’s and are joined by Alex Gangué-Ruzic to discuss Thomas Muller’s press conference and his expectations ahead of his debut game this weekend.  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.

Welcome back to Howford and Brough, Josh Elliott Wolf, Jamie Dodd, filling in for one more day. Well, Jamie's still here for many more days. Halford & Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn out a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit sands dash trustee.com. This hour of Halford & Brough is for jason. Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

That's jason.com. We are broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step. I let you do it that time. Thank you. You're welcome. I like it. Okay.

So we have a lot of Ask Us Anything so you can keep them coming in, $6.50, 6.50 on the Dumbar Lumber Text line. Throw a pizza emoji on them if you want a chance to win a $100 A.J's pizza gift card. And we will pick the winner by the end of the show. We'll start with, uh, what should we start? Let's start with this one or do you have? I'll go here. from Brandon from T-Town.

I don't know where T-Town is, but... Tinsletown? He lives at the Tinsletown Mall. Yeah, maybe. Wow. We're going to have to hear more about that. Anyways, he says, ask us anything. Given the choice,

would you rather have the Canucks, lions, and caps with local, emotionally invested, and likable owners that attend all games in our present or the billionaire, magnet, celebrity type owners that have deep pockets,

but our ghosts never appear at games or in the community. community. So he frames the first choice there, the kind of emotionally invested, extremely present local owners as, he tends to frame that as a strictly a positive thing. Yeah. But there is a downside to that model, which is, of course, the potential for meddling, right? Hey, I'm so invested in this. I am going to be not just present at games. I'm going to be present at scouting meetings. I'm going to be present at a lot of places where maybe I shouldn't be present. Given that downside, I want the owners out of the picture. Just like, be quiet, write the checks, let the professionals

do their job and let things handle it themselves that way. Now, you look at like a Marr Doman and he has been very front and center. And I think that makes sense because the lions needed his presence. They needed to kind of rebuild trust, rebuild excitement in the market. And getting the owner out front and center helps do that. But I think of kind of the different models of ownership that Brandon is referencing here and you know you can point to somebody like mark cuban when he owned the mavericks that could not be more present could not be more involved you know court side of all the games that was a very successful model they won a championship eventually with him i think there's a lot more examples of it going poorly and like jerry jones is probably the best one yeah he's just

wildly accessible incredibly invested too but i think you look at like the owners for the panthers and the tampa bay lightning and they're pretty outside the picture, right? They write the checks. They make sure everyone has what they need. They hire good people and let them run the show. I think ultimately that is the most successful model for ownership. I would agree. We do, like, so what I would say is I do, I feel like it's different for each of these teams. Like for the Vancouver Knucks, a major four sports league, I would rather them have the, you know, billionaire owner that will spend a bunch of money you know have no problem building a practice facility

and spending the money on that and just getting it done but on the other side for the lines and white caps I do feel like there is a there's an advantage to having local emotionally invested owners who want to keep the teams in the city want to see them grow in the city and yeah maybe they don't have as deep of pockets but they might be willing to spend more on the team

than someone who you know maybe And from here, it cares about the team a little bit less. So I think, again, for the Canucks, go ahead, get the big major owner that's willing to spend whatever it takes and kind of stay out of things. But for the more local teams, I do think there is a, there's an advantage to having locally invested owners. And for me, the key separating factor for ownership groups, it's not, you know, local versus not local. It's not even present in the media, present at games or not present. It's just, are you willing to spend and are you willing to let the people you hire do their job? And if you're doing those two things, I don't care if you're at the game all the time.

I don't care if you're giving lots of media interviews. That's fine. As long as you're doing those other two things, that's the most important thing. And I think often it coincides with, you know, the people who are maybe a little bit more quiet, more reserved, are more likely to do that. This asks us anything, Mike Theorologist from Brockville. what's a thing you know you should do regularly but almost never do for example stretching before and after sports calling your mom maintaining a baseline degree of cleanliness so I think the first one is the one I probably should do more of sure stretching before and after sports because I just I probably lead myself into potential injuries and as I get older I'm sure they'll happen more so I should probably do that more you know what's one for me what like networking and career development oh i am absolutely horrible at that i'm fully in the same which is funny because i've always been terrible at it i hate doing it the one time i ever like put

the bare minimum effort into networking is how i got hired here and i was like wow it works am i immediately paid no i'm absolutely not going to keep doing it i am so bad i'm sure 100% yeah exactly i'm going to retire with a perfect record i'm so bad at like developing maintaining those relationships and probably should because you know eventually i'll get laid off from here that's how it goes in the sports radio business i'll be looking for work it's like oh man i wish i had done some more uh career development there i've thought i've thought the same thing because i'm like man i don't really know anyone outside of sports that 650 dang it if anything happens i'm kind of i'm stuck but that's okay i'm sure it'll all work out in the future that's a future

problem yeah the one time i had i had interned here and i'd worked closely with bick at the time and And then months later, as I was about to graduate from BCIT, I sent, Bick, I think they put Football Central on the air with Bick of the host. And I sent him a text congratulating him. And he was like, oh, man, it's great to hear from you. Hey, you should really reach out to the station. Like, we desperately need people. I was like, all right.

And that's how I got hired. I wouldn't have gotten hired otherwise. You sent one text to Bick. That's networking. It doesn't even count his network. I wasn't friends with him at the time. I'd met him for like two weeks. Fair.

That was a cursory text. It's kind of like me sending big attacks now. But that's what networking is. You check in with people, right? Yeah. Keep them. All it is. You keep yourself front of mind for them.

Yeah. And that's what happened. I'm just saying. It worked out for me. They did. It really did. And now look at me. Yeah.

You've made a big time. You have made it. Speaking of maintaining a baseline degree of cleanliness. So I don't know if you noticed. I am wearing the exact same thing I was wearing yesterday. I did not notice, but now that you mentioned it, you could have got away with it. But, yeah, I'm sure lean-in-artist. But as I was putting it on, I was like, okay, here's the question I wanted to pose to all of you that's an ask-us-anything and related.

Depending on article of clothing, how many days of where can you go before washing said article of clothing? So for me, a hoodie is like, I could go, I could go maybe multiple weeks. A hoodie is a long-term relationship. That's a project. It depends how messy of an eater you are as well. Like, T-shirts. I'm discounting any emergency stain washes. T-shirts.

One day, right? One day. I hope it goes without saying that underwear and socks are one day. We can all agree with that. Anything directly touching your skin. Yeah, yes. Pants? There's no telling.

There's truly. I haven't found the upper limit yet. With denim, like, even the companies encourage you to limit the washes. Yeah. Oh, they're doing the right thing. Yeah. So, jeans, I actually go a decent amount without washing. sometimes, sometimes too long, probably.

I would say shorts though, like I'm wearing like Lulu Lemon shorts. Those are probably, I would say a week. I could go a week. You're probably sweating more. How many wears is a week? I would say a week's worth of wears that might be spread out over multiple.

So like three wears? Yeah, like four or five words. I've definitely done. I don't do this so much anymore, but in the past like a pair of jeans, easy 30 straight days. Like easy. For jeans?

Yeah. Yeah. What? The same pair of jeans? I think there's been times of my life where I have like two pairs of pants. One I like, one I don't like that much. I'm like, well, I'm just going to keep wearing the one I like. Fair enough.

I think I've only got like two pairs of jeans and I just rotate them. I am kind of a messy eater. So often I'll have to wash them strictly because of, oh, I spilled. That's on me. Had too much red sauce. Yeah, walk around the mustard. Yeah, no, obviously if it gets dirty, if it gets stained. That's a whole other topic.

Then that's one thing. Or if you're like doing, if you do a physical activity and it gets all sweaty, and stuff then you got to wash it but if it's just like normal wear yeah man pants you can really push the envelope it's a dangerous game okay i'm gonna ask another a leading question to this so with your hoodie you said you're not gonna wash it right away you'll have a few wears yeah do you put it back in your closet or do you fold it in a pile of like these are clothes i've already worn but i'm gonna wear again in the next cold it that's what i do i do the latter one because it always feels wrong to put it back with the truly clean clothes so you just have to have that awkward it's like it's not dirty laundry it's not

clean. It's just in the in-between vile. I put it back with the clean clothes. So, because I just have, like, my hoodies hanging in my closet, so I just put it back on its hanger. I don't really have, like, a lot of space in my flooded condo, especially at the moment, to put stuff.

So I just, I put it back in the closet. Feels more clean. I always, in the fall and winter, just have, like, a pile of sweaters. I'm going to wear again. Yeah, purgatory clothes in my room. That's fair. Yeah. Okay. 650, 650. And ask us anything. again from my the urologist

Reach deep noted a variety of mash-up foods at the P&E which I think starts tomorrow today? Saturday I believe Saturday. Okay. Don't quote me on that but this weekend. It starts sometime Reach deep noted a variety of mash-up foods at the P&E like Kraft Dinner Mac and Cheese corn

apple crumble parogies is Jamie or anyone else eating any of these. So I don't understand what Kraft dinner mac and cheese corn is. Is it like a sauce they put on the corn? Are they just putting the dusting? Yeah. I don't really understand what that means. So I'm probably a no on that. Apple crumble parogis. I'm not a big fan of mixing sweet and savory. I like to keep those separate. Like a lot of people love to put like

raisins in savory dishes or whatever. It's like no. I like to keep my sweet and my savory separate. I think that's where a lot of my issue with the mashup foods comes from. So apple crumble parogies. I love parogies, but I would so much rather just have a delicious plate of parogis and then apple crumble for dessert. Why do we need to put them together? Just separate them, keep them in their lane, and that would be

so much better. I did have people, actually, I think it was Mike, on Twitter, texting me an example of somebody what was I? I think it was like apple pie a la mode Oreos. And it's like, that's fine because it's sweet and sweet together. That I have no issue with whatsoever. It's when you

start bringing like dinner. and dessert together and mashing it up? I don't need that. Just keep them separate. Keep the sweet and the savory apart. I found the mac and cheese corn on the P&E website. It's a playful creation that takes the creamy cheesy goodness of everyone's favorite boxed mac and cheese

and slathers it onto fire roasted corn. The result? A velvety tangy coating that melts into the kernels with that unmistakable neon orange cheddar kick. Topped with a sprinkle of extra cheese powder for a boost of cheesy flavor. It's a nostalgic, boost.

What a friggin boost. It's a nostalgic, messy, and totally addictive twist on corn. You didn't know you needed it. You're going to be addicted to corn. They are correct that I did not know I needed it. And still, do not know that in fact I needed it. What's wrong with corn?

Corn with butter and salt? Dude. Why are we trying to improve on this? When my family moved to Chilliwack when I was 12, we moved at the start of a corn season. And I think we had corn on the cob maybe every day for three months. Now I kind of hate corn.

Yeah, you might, we're talking to like a corn expert. You come from. I knew multiple people who like, whose family's own, everybody has like opinions on where to get the best corn. I live four years in Agassi, too. Yeah. I've seen my share of corn.

I backed on to a cornfield growing up. Wow. Yeah, I was a, I was, right in the thick of it. Yeah, you just grab a field of dream. Just grab an ear and. any baseball players ever walk out of there not that I noticed I was a joiner

corn guy but there's also sparks corn out there I don't even know what are you talking about these are the farms these the families okay I thought are like are these like the strands of corn there are the strains I should say peaches and cream would be one of well of course yeah the classic and then others

and then also there's some other ones this one comes in ask anything. How satisfied will you be if Talkett struggles in Philly or am I just being petty? Well, you're definitely being petty, but there's multiple things can be true at once. I, so

I've seen this sentiment a lot from fans, right? That it's going to be a disaster for Talkett in Philly and he's going to drive Mitchcove out of town. He's going to suck all the creativity out of Matt Veim Mitchcoff's game and there is that that video going around of Mitchcoff being like what? What's dump and chase? What are you guys

talking about? That's crazy. I personally don't care. I am not rooting for the downfall of Rick Tocket in Philly. Having said that, I don't hold it against Canucks fans who are because the manner of Rick Tockett leaving. And whether you think everything that went wrong last season was Rick Tockett's fault and he personally just had a spite caused Elias Pedersen to have this disastrous season or whether you take a more balanced view of it, it was still a watch. wild way that he left. You know what I mean? Like, it's still so rare to see a team desperate to retain a coach and be willing to pay them an awful lot of money and keep them here and for the coach to spurn that team and walk away. So I think it would be naive for me to sit here

and say, oh, no, no, no, no Canucks fan should have anything against Rick Tocky. No, they should be rooting for him to succeed in Philly. Like, that's not how sports work. That's not how, that's not how fandom works. He left the team. He left the team. He chose another location. Canucks fans are going to be upset about that. So I understand rooting against him. I don't know, but it's going to be like the grand disaster that people have kind of built it up to be in their minds. We'll see.

We'll see how it works out. I think there's lots of questions about that Philly team. But I get it. You're being petty, but sometimes sports is all about being petty. So it's okay. Embrace the pettiness. I'm fully okay with it. I don't, yeah, I personally don't know if I'm pulling any satisfaction from it,

especially because like if Philly is bad, it's easy to just. be like, well, they're bad, you know? Like, I'm not going to be like, Rick Tockett is the reason they're bad. No. He might be, but I wouldn't bet on it. Like, they might just have a bad roster. So I personally, again, I think I agree with you. I don't blame anyone who would find it satisfying.

I just don't personally find it satisfying. By the way, multiple people texted in making the pun, cornucores, calling either you or me or both of us or everyone, corniceurs. So how do we get multiple of us? We got a lot, I was not expecting it either, but multiple people landed on the same thing. We got texts coming in about the Rick Tocket thing, though, as well. Jora texts in, I got ticks for the Philly game, can't wait to chant, talk, quit. So, Jora, I will say, you're going to want to think of a better chat, because it's going to sound like you're chanting Talket on the air.

It's not really going to come across. You're probably, or you got to put a really big space in the middle. Everybody, enunciate. Okay, guys, let's really try to be clear this time. Talk, quit. maybe talk you quit something like that to break it up a little bit in there but I think if you're going to want to voice your displeasure probably just stick to the booze the classic booze for Rick Talk I don't know that talk quit is going to come

across is he gonna like he'll get like a video do 100% he'll get a video yes 100% he well what is a what is a coach video entail that that shot of him the one high five it's pointing and yelling him probably accepting the Jack Adams writing on the white yeah so can we get like a move your feet super cut him telling players to move their feet it's just him in practice blowing a whistle for like 30 seconds I would love that I would love the no he said that a lot in scrums yeah talking about guys moving their feet I'd love that super cut and also

super cut of him describing himself either as a big blank guy or not a big guy all the things that he was a guy of or not a guy in a commercial break that's true It would be way too long. It would be great, though. Honestly, I'm surprised nobody's put that together yet. I guess maybe if you stayed longer, we would have more time to do it.

Also, maybe that would be like something for media professionals to put together or fans out there. Yeah, fans can do it. Yeah. Somebody suggests a Kurt Engel style You Quit chant. That one's, that's probably more clear.

Hard to get the whole arena or enough to really, make it count, but I like the creativity there at least. Well, the thing about Canucks fans, most of the time, is that it does have to be four syllables. Sure. Yeah. We're probably going to have to figure something out with that. That helps

a lot. Rockett and Langley says my theory on Rick Tocket leaving. I think it was either he was leaving or EP 40 was leaving when they decided to keep EP 40. Talk said, I can't do this anymore. I don't think you're crazy off base. Like, I don't know, but

it certainly didn't seem like a relationship that was working well. Let's put it that way. And I can understand why one or both parties would be like, this isn't really working out. I'm not interested in continuing it. And also, if you're Kinnock's management, you made the right choice.

Like, I would never pick a, I think it'd be crazy for almost any team to pick a coach over a player that you at least hope will be a number one center for you that's in their primaries. Like, that would be an insane decision to make. And I know people are frustrated, with Elias Pedersen, but if you chose a coach over your star player,

coaches have a shelf life. It would have been a bad decision. Ask us anything from Dalveir. How big should a hypothetical new White Caps Stadium be in terms of seats? Rogers Arena seats about 19,000. Is that too many or too little for the white caps? 19,000? That sounds about right.

Now there's going to be games where, you know, for playoff games where it's like, oh, man, I wish we had more capacity. But you drive the ticket price up. Yeah, or, I mean, you can just use BC place for playoff games. Yeah, I think you want the atmosphere. You think so? I think so. So my thought when I first read this is like you could go somewhere between 15 to 20,000 capacity.

And then for, you know, a messy game or for a playoff game or anything like that. You can use BC Place for the bigger events because that's what some teams around the league are doing. The average MLS stadium seats 22,500. Yeah. Yeah, so I think if you're in around 20,000, that's totally fine. Yeah, you're probably... Look, if you're playing an MLS Cup final or whatever, you need to move it to BC Place, I guess you can do that.

I know some people were sending us screenshots of the soccer team in Detroit, which is not an MLS team, but they play in the USL championship. They built a new soccer-specific stadium. It looks really nice. It has a 15,000 seat capacity. I think you want to go more than that for the white caps, but yeah, I don't think it needs to be huge. I think 20,000 is just fine. Yeah, I think that's really nice.

would be fine too. And again, I just feel like what else are they going to do at BC plays? Surely they can host some playoff games there. Would you not want that upper limit though, just in case you have that big star that comes, like you don't have to make the switch? I feel like 30,000 would be... No, because then you're going to be playing in a two-thirds

full stadium for most of your games. I think you just got to bite the bullet and say, we're going to invest in the atmosphere and the vibes. And yeah, there's going to be a handful of games where we wish we could sell more tickets. But that'll like scarcity help steams, right?

Where it's like, oh my gosh, we've got to get these tickets because it's only 20,000 of them. And I think you just have to lean into that and deal with the potential missed opportunities as they come. Keep the text coming in, 650, 650 on the Dunbar Lumbertext line. A lot of Ask Us Anythings, we still have time for us. So text them in 650, 650, and we'll try to hit more as the show goes on.

On the other side, we're going to speak to Alex Gangay-Rizek from one soccer. and a few other outlets as well about Thomas Mueller's introductory press conference and what to expect from the White Caps moving forward. It is Halford & Brough, Josh Elliott Wolf, Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet, 650. Welcome back to Halford and Brough, Joshelette, Josh Ellis, Elliot Wolf, Jamie Dodd, here with you. Howford & Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free. In just two weeks, visit sands-dustee.com. And this hour of Halpernabruff is for Jason. Mortgage, if you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's jason. Dot mortgage. Fridays are my favorite theme day.

It's the one that I resonate the most with. Your big fiesta guy? I think so. A lot of fiestas at the Elliott Wolf house. Josh Fiesta Elliott Wolf, they call him. That's what they call me in the streets. Josh Fiesta. Okay.

We go to the hotline now. Powered by Power West Industries. And we welcome in Alex Gange-Rzeek from one soccer, third sub, and the Northern Football podcast. Appreciate it taking the time, Alex. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys?

We were doing very well. And we wanted to dive into the Thomas Mueller introductory press conference. What were your main takeaways from Mueller speaking to media yesterday? Yeah, I think the first one, I think one I expected, but it was still always quite interesting to see in person, was just how charismatic he is. At Bayern Munich, you obviously had a bit of history for being a bit of a jokester. He always shows a bit of a fun side on social.

media there's some always some great clips from press conferences and he absolutely lived up to that just so many little one-liners even little things just you know when you're making an answer he's you know the way he'd he'd smile the way he'd look at people down but you know in a good way and just really controlled the stage it's just kind of funny because with a lot of athletes you can kind of tell that something like speaking to the media isn't always the most comfortable thing to do and for for him it came just so naturally and he something that he was enjoying and really just you know made made the most of but then of course in terms of what he was saying he said a lot of the right things he obviously you know wants to come here for one thing mainly and that's to

win this is why he's chosen the vancouver white caps he wants to win he likes the team he likes the coach the project so that's that's a big one obviously it's a bonus that he's coming to a great one that he's heard a lot about. He had Alfonso Davies to talk to when it came to, okay, what's Vancouver like? What should I expect? So overall, it was just a, you know, great from Thomas Mueller.

And it was just overall a great event well done by the white caps to really, you know, kind of lean in to the grandeur to the size of it all and, you know, invite some of the local chiefs as well from some of the First Nations. That was a great touch. So, yeah, it was just a first. all a great event. Yeah, and I think you're 100% right, Alex, that my takeaway

too is just how comfortable he seems and how engaging and when an interesting personality he has, and I think that's going to do wonders for the Whitecaps and marketing and all of that, but we'll get to what he can do on the pitch and how he'll fit in there, but I also can't help but think for the rest of the White Caps squad now, the

opportunity to be around a player of his stature who is so comfortable in his own skin, right? Who does seem to be coming here with the mentality you would want in a player like him. I mean, this has to be just a tremendous opportunity for them to kind of soak up his professionalism, how he trains, all of that from a player who seems locked in and ready to go. Yeah, absolutely. I think Esther Sorensen actually had a great quote on that. He was kind of, you know,

asked about about Mueller and what he can bring. And he's like, look, you know, before we even start talking about his footballing IQ, what his skills, what he brings immediately, what stood Rtha Sorensen is his character, just obviously from meeting him, but also from, from references, from anyone who's worked with him at Bayern Munich, they will always speak of a hugely positive locker room, influence, someone who's, you know, just a great personality, like mentioned, Alfonso Davies is such a great example, because so the guy coming in, an 18-year-old, new country, new language, it's very intimidating for a young Canadian like himself to be dropped into that as an 18 year old seven years ago and who's one of the first faces there

to really make him comfortable to Thomas Muller and then as Davies kind of broke into the star he became you know Muller was always there kind of cheerleading him kind of pushing him everyone remembers the the meat jokes and he's man Alfonso guy is fast and you know something small like that but that kind of helped him endear him to Bayern fans like yeah the roadrunner Let's like this Canadian kid, because Thomas kind of likes him. And Esper Sorensen kind of talked about how important that can be for this young group that, you know, they're getting a great character, one that's going to push them, one that's going to have fun, you know, and bring a bit of a light mood, but also, of course, when it comes down to the pitch, comes down to training, has won it all.

Works extremely hard and is going to want to keep doing that even as he pushes into his 30s because that's what he's here to do, to work hard and win. How encouraging is it for White Caps fans when it comes to Yesper Sorensen, who's still pretty new in his white Caps tenure, but supposedly him and Mueller had a decent amount of conversations, and Mueller liked a lot of what he heard from Yesper Sorensen. How good of a sign of that is that for Sorensen and what he's doing with the White Caps? His soccer speaks for itself, really. I think that's what it's continuing to show that what he put in on the field,

played a big role. Mueller is what's interesting. You can kind of tell he's a bit of a, you know, also just a bit of a nerd for the game, I guess you can say. Like he obviously spoke with good knowledge of, okay, he's watched the team.

He studied them. He studied the club, too, not just the team. He had some great quotes about just the club at large and seemed to be well aware of the history of the place he's joining, which isn't always evident for new players. But for Sorensen that he's built this

fun system, the one that that really fits a player like Mueller. And for Sorenson as well, it's just since day one, he's been a straight shooter. That's one thing that's really, you know, stuck out to me since the first time. At least I heard from him and he, you know, he talked to him throughout the year. He's just an honest guy really believes in his philosophies and knows what, how he sees the game, how he wants the game to be played, how to get the most out of young players, how to get the most out of all players and I mean it's been shown on the field this year like they play great soccer

most guys if not all of them have been having career years obviously make the run to Concaf the fact that he was able to sit down with a guy like Mueller who had one priority, the football on the field how it's played and was able to convince him that this is

the right project just tells you everything that that Swords had been about kind of all came together for that yeah and we have heard a lot about those conversations and how much Sorensen was able to impress Mueller and earn his respect and, you know, earn his confidence to come here and try to help the white caps win this year and next at least. And given that, you know, we'll see how many minutes he plays on Sunday and kind of what the ramp up process is for Mueller. But how would you expect Sorensen to use immediately

the shiny new toy in Thomas Mueller? Yeah, I think the big one is he looks like someone who probably come in and play a bit more centrally. I think that's probably, that makes most sense when you look at the clubs lost Pedro Vite, that they're you know, they've been without Ryan Gald. So those are two kind of big pieces

centrally that they've been missing because obviously out wide they have Jaden Nelson. They have Emmanuel Sabi. Ali Ahmed's been back in training and, you know, should be back within the next week or so. That's another wide reinforcement. Because of course,

Mueller can play kind of anywhere. He's the space interpreter. Whatever you put him, he'll find the space to do his things to help the team. And I think Sorensen, they didn't really want to dive too much into the fit. And, you know, Mueller kind of joked that, you know, he wants to go out there, just see the field, meet the guys, and, you know, not impose himself, not to already have a position or anything to sort. But I think Sorensen and him will kind of be eyeing one of those central roles,

the one that should be open right now with those affirmation. and departures and injuries. Formation-wise, recently against Kansas, they kind of already played a bit of a 4-2-3-1. They kept that up in San Jose. It's kind of almost written perfectly for a guy like J.C. and Gando. Maybe he'll start the game again as he has for a few games in a row. But then a guy like Mueller comes in right into that number 10 spot

and then starts to build in that role as he goes forward. So with the White Caps as a whole moving forward and now with Mueller, where do they kind of sit in, Major League Soccer, and what are the chances of going on a run now? Well, already they were one of the favorites, which was impressive, obviously, considering the injuries they've had and dealt with, they had most of the pieces that you need to be an MLS contender. They obviously have a striker that can score goals.

That helps a lot. They're very strong defensively, even though the injury to Rankle Vesselovich challenges that. And I think you kind of saw that this week. with the Canadian championship, some of the struggles they were having at centerback, that's something maybe to watch, but otherwise, I mean, they've got class midfielder, Andrews Kubas,

Sebastian Berthelter, that gives them two engines in the midfield out wide. They've got guys who can create. This just adds another layer to their attack, someone who can score goals, because beyond Brian White, there is a bit of, you know, lack of scoring depth, so to speak, not a huge way, but, you know,

Brian White's the top score, 17 goals, I think, now after that goal against Forge, but after that, Emmanuel Sabby was the next one, about 10 goals behind them. Ideally, Mueller can kind of step up and fill in that role. So for Mueller, I think this pushes them already. It felt like they've been one of the top, the top five MLS teams right now, and this just adds to that. And I think they can kind of go up against anyone. and now really the loan thing

they really need to address in this window and it sounds like they continue to push for it is a centerback and they do that and yeah, they're really they're one of the favorites but probably top three if they want they get the center back sorted. Yeah, still a little bit of time left in the transfer window to take care of that

and it feels like with the acquisition of Mueller and his arrival, it's even more important to shore that up, right? Because you don't want a leaky centerback position to be the thing that prevents you from going on this great run with Thomas Mueller. in the fold. Yeah, and it's just, yeah, I told you what a whirlwind of a year it is, that they had that centerback. Rankovych was incredible this year, him and Tristan Blackman, forming this

incredible partnership, and then you lose Veselinovich to a major knee injury. But man, that's not sometimes just Vancouver sporting luck. You can't, you can't buy yourself bounces where Gould's been missing all year. Vescelinovich now gets injured, but this has kind of been, you know, become an all-in year, and the white caps are up. writing like that. It was in trust near Axel Schuster kind of hint that, no, this is just the beginning. They're not just signing Mueller, sitting back, feet up, letting it

play out. The Mueller is just the start of more, and that starts with this transfer window with what they still want to do, and then, of course, goes into the transfer window next year. Because with Mueller signed to a full deal, they also want to contend next year and make sure this isn't just some flash in the pen three months that

down the road, in 18 months you're forgetting about it. Remember that white white caps run in 2025? They all also want to be very good in 2026. Thomas Mueller, expected to make his debut on Sunday. How many minutes should we expect from him on Sunday against Houston? Yeah, well, I feel like he'll play. I feel like that's probably, you know, about the one guarantee you'll get.

But, of course, he won't start. I'd be really shocked to see him start, I guess, although you'd never say never, he is fit, which is nice. He's been training with Bayern Munich and training, like, training, not just individually training, running around. He's been participating in sessions. His contract expired July 31st, but they were still keeping him in sessions up until this week when he left.

Of course, he was at the Club World Cup, so that keeps him in a bit of a different fitness for a European player in August than in other years where he wouldn't have played his last game in May. You can at least look, okay, I've played games in July leading it into this. So my guess is, depending on, on the game state, depending on how things are going, depending on his first few sessions,

the minimum feels five. There's no world where he's getting less than five, but I think realistically it's going to be 30 to 45. I think what will determine that is how the white caps are playing, how the match is going, but the one I get at least a 30 to 45

in them so that going forward they can really start to ramp them up and build them into being a starter pretty soon. Alex, appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for this. awesome thanks guys looking forward to sunday us too there is alex gangay rizik from uh one soccer third sub and the northern football podcast as well and yeah that debut coming on sunday for thomas muller i'd be pumped if he played 30 to 45 minutes 40 minutes man that would be awesome right to get almost

a whole half out of him in the debut because so often you see the debut is you know bring them on at the the 83rd minute or something right just get them a taste but it sounds like with his fitness and the fact that he was training and has played recently that they're uh they're looking for more than that yeah the fitness part really helps obviously because he can come in in game shape uh essentially and ready to go uh for the white cap so we'll see i i hope it is around that many minutes uh for muller in his debut one thing we were talking about because it is and ask us anything friday here on the halford and bruff show you could text them in 650 650 throw a pizza emoji on them if you want the chance to win a $100

a J's pizza gift card. But we were talking about a potential soccer specific stadium for the white caps moving forward and what the capacity might be, what it would look like. And so we did get a few texts about that as well. Yeah. And this one comes in quite a few. One, how do you pay big stars if you only have a 20,000 seat capacity? Well, I mean, they're paying Thomas Mueller and it's not as if they are regularly getting way more than 20,000. I don't know what the exact capacity of the lower bowl is.

It's more than 20,000. Yeah. So, okay, that's not that big a difference. And again, part of the allure of the soccer specific stadium is, you know, I don't know if you've noticed, not exactly the best atmosphere in BC place. It's not a super appealing stadium or venue necessarily. The hope is that if you build a soccer specific stadium, there's more demand right people want to go to the games more so maybe you're able to charge a little bit more but I think the you know this all kind of goes back to Patrick Johnson's reporting and post media talking to the white cap's ownership group and them saying you know maybe we don't need to sell maybe we're just we'll just look to bring in a partner who can bring some extra financial muscle and

help us build a stadium I think part of that if you go read PJ's piece it's not just about building the stadium it's about bringing someone who can help finance more moves like the Thomas Mueller move. Not exactly in that ilk necessarily, but more spending on player personnel. So I think the thought is let's bring in a partner who can help us with both. Help us with the stadium and help us with the player acquisitions. So I don't see a limited capacity or a relatively limited capacity as being a big stumbling block

to being able to attract top talent in the future. And the other part is the white caps are generally around. If you look at the actual attendance, it averages around 20,000. for most seasons of their MLS history aside from last season and that was partly in it partly due to messy playing here in Vancouver and that kind of raised it for a game but yeah generally around 20,000 if you bump it up a little bit more you get to around 25,000 you're going to have no issue with filling out that stadium and it is going to be a better vibe as well this one from Jay weather would be an issue for MLS playoffs with an outdoor stadium um Potentially. Like, you could still put a roof on a soccer specific stadium. Right? You could. I don't think you want to, though. Unless it's like one of them where it's like... I'm just thinking the one that goes across, but it's not enclosed. The sides are open. I could see that. I don't know. Just make them play out in the rain. You can cover the seats. Yeah.

Honestly, they better cover the seats. But I think most stadiums in the United States are open air. Right. And some places that's a problem. Like Toronto has an outdoor stadium. And they've, They've gone on MLS Cup runs, and that's into the winter in Toronto. It's not the same rain issue as we have here, but it's temperature. It's potential for snow, all of that. So I don't know. I think that's just, that's life, man. You're a professional soccer player. It might rain while you're playing.

You're going to have to deal with it. I'll be cozy and warm and undercover in the seats while you're out there playing in the mud and the rain. Grinding it out. This is what you're getting paid to do, Thomas. That's right. Deal with it. I'm sure Mueller wouldn't have an issue with it.

And I think also, you know, we have somebody else texted in who says, as Kevin and Surrey, you need to be building for the future as well. I would suggest 30,000 seat capacity with some sort of limited upper bowl that is only open for bigger games. I think you really have to be so careful about going too big for this because so much of what you're going for is the atmosphere and the feeling in the stadium. And that is always going to be best if it is smaller, if it is more intimate. And there's a balance to be struck. I'm not saying build a 10,000 seat stadium or anything like that. You want it to feel...

It's going to be real intimate. You want it to feel big time. But, you know, somebody pointed out, like, that was one of the great things about Empire Stadium, is it had that kind of classic soccer feel where the fans are so close to the action. You have to retain that. And I think if you're building these kind of seating areas

that are designed to be mostly empty, but maybe open them for a big match, you're going to lose that feel of kind of a classic soccer stadium feel where you do have that intimacy. And that's why I say, like, if you do have a really big match, You have a superstar coming in or it's a MLS Cup, whatever. You can go to BC.

If you want to be there. If you want to get, if you want to fill out a bigger stadium, that does bring up the secondary question that comes up for me when we talk about MLS specific state or soccer specific stadium. Sorry, like what happens to BC Place? Like, obviously you're not going to tear it down or anything. Just a lot of boat shows. Just a lot of boat shows. We got concerts. We got boat shows.

We've got convention. Monster jam. Yeah. I don't know. I feel like my... The motocross that bumped to the white caps. Now they've got the pick of it. They've got the run of the place now.

Well, they already did. They already did. The white caps. Just set up whatever you want. I don't know. I got to be honest. I'm not concerned about the BC place usage. Oh, okay.

They'll figure it out. I don't care. My dream, and this is just to lead into to my ideal that I think I've brought up on the show before is eventually you get to a point where you can renovate it and make it baseball friendly. You know? because to me that would be the logical like the only way you're ever getting a major league baseball team

and maybe it never happens but the only way you're ever getting a major league baseball team is if you have somewhere they can legitimately play and the most ideal location would be I just don't think I don't think major league baseball

like put aside all of the any other potential stumbling blocks for an MLB team coming here even a heavily renovated BC place I don't think is passing muster for major league baseball like I think you're talking from the ground up new venue to attract Major League Baseball. Do it from the ground up. I have no problem with that, depending on the financing and everything.

But it is tricky, though, because you want a big stadium like BC place. Like, I mean, we're hosting the World Cup. Like, there's massive concerts that come through. You need a venue like that for the city. It just doesn't really work for soccer. I'm sure the Lions would have some interest in a different facility as well at some point. I think you just have to deal with it It's going to sit empty for a lot of the time

But that's all right MLB has mentioned Vancouver's name Rob Benford has dropped the name Vancouver So it's not like it's totally out of the realm It's fully a possibility I've long standing My longstanding opinion has been that Vancouver could support an MLB team

But the big hang-up Is it always just been where are they going to play Yeah that too It is a big hangout Who's going to own the team And you know what that's probably a A couple of big big hurdles to get over worry about it dude

But the fan support argument I don't get behind that I feel like Vancouver could support easily. I would agree. And you know what? If you did in this theoretical world where it's probably never going to happen, if you did tear down BC Place and essentially rebuild it from the ground up and made it baseball friendly, you can still have the big concerts there.

Like baseball stadiums are large, but then obviously for events like the World Cup or anything that is more oval designed or rectangle design. All of the oval sports, yeah. And in all of the rectangle. The liberal sports? Yes. Those ones would be an issue. And it would be a big sacrifice. So maybe it's not something that Vancouver as a whole or BC as a whole would want to get on board with. But, man, real estate is just so, so constricted here in Vancouver. My new question now when I meet a sports fan is, are you an oval sports fan or a rectangle sports fan?

I'm a diamond guy. Whoa. The big loss, I mean, obviously I'd be thrilled if we got a major league baseball team in the city. But it would be tough for us. and a lot of our texters, we would no longer be able to argue about which team is truly Vancouver's baseball team. We know the answer. We wouldn't be able to pit Jay's fans and Mariners fans against each other anymore.

We did have a question come in. It was an ask us anything. I think I was hosting with Halford. And the question was if you could pick any of the sports, aside from really like, so I guess, okay, if you could pick MLB or MBA, because NFL, you're, I think everyone's going to pick because it's just the biggest league.

NFL or sorry MLB or MBA Which would you pick To Vancouver Assuming that nothing is an issue Stadium-wise or ownership I would pick the NBA Yeah? Yeah

I don't know Honestly for me This is so like simple But I already have a favorite baseball team That I'm really connected to I don't have a favorite NBA team I would if they if one came to Vancouver Would you be a Seattle NBA fan

No they got one? Okay No nothing against them It's just it's not that close Nah Yeah I've never felt a massive draw to Seattle teams. Like, I've been an extraordinarily casual Seahawks fan

at different points of my life, but even that, it's like, it doesn't really stick. I can't, like, trick myself into really being emotionally invested. So I don't think their NBA team's going to do it. Yeah, I always have a soft spot for them, but I'm never like, oh, yeah, this is my team. Okay, before we go, the BC Lions Saturday, August 16th, that's tomorrow.

Your Lions face the aloets for the show and shine game, featuring over 200 classic and exotic cars. Get tickets at BCLions.com. We're going to speak about the BC Lions with the Moge on the other side. It is Alfred and Brough, Josh Elliott Wolf, Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet, 650.