Halford & Brough in the Morning - Ian Furness Talks Seahawks + What We Learned

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

In hour three, guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Israel Fehr talk Seahawks training camp with KJR Seattle's Ian Furness (1:12), the boys tell us what they learned (26:00), plus we hear from the humanoids (34:00). 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.

Welcome back to Halpern and Ruff Sportsnet 650 with Jamie Dodd and Israel Fair. Final hour of the show here. Halpern and Ruff is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of Halpern and Ruff is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit Campbell-Pound.com today.

We are, of course, coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet. What are you waiting for? And, of course, what we learned is coming up at 8.30. So get your submissions in now. 650-650 to the Dunbar-Lumber text line. Hashtag WWL, what you learned in the last 24 hours in the world of sports.

But before we do that, we are very pleased to be joined from KJR Radio in Seattle. He is Ian Furness. Ian, thanks for doing this. How are you? Good. Jamie, Israel, how are you guys today? We're doing really well, and we appreciate you taking the time to chat with us and especially you know i was already excited to talk seahawks but uh then practice yesterday at training camp got pretty spicy five fights mike mcdonald had to

call the team over give him a talk kicked a couple of players out what did you make of everything that went down at seahawks training camp yesterday. It was old school yesterday, man. It was crazy. Yeah, and I think it was closer to six, maybe five and a half. Literally, we kind of, we lost count. And frankly, we had not seen that at a Seahawks training camp in years. I go back to the days of Michael Bennett and Jermaine Affetti and those years, those guys fighting almost every practice, just those two specifically.

Pete Carroll really kind of put the kibosh on that, said no more. And his practices were really not physical the last couple of years. Well, these practices with Mike McDonald have become more physical. They've put the pads on. It feels like more often. And, you know, Pete would a lot of times would have shoulder pads, helmets, and shorts. Mike McDonald goes full pads and it's, you know,

when you're 13, 14 practices in, it gets the same guys every day. You're, you know, and you're seeing the same players every day. You're getting, you know, covered by the same guys or blocked by the same guys every day. At some point it's going to boil over. And yesterday was the day that it boiled over. I think there's a fine line between, you know, same guys or blocked by the same guys every day at some point it's going to boil over and yesterday was the day that it boiled over i think there's a fine line between you know what's positive and okay and what you're good with and when it crosses a line i think yesterday for the most part we just

saw some guys getting after it trey brown was really involved he was involved in two of the skirmishes and you know mcdonald at one point called the team together we're watching and all of a sudden, like the whistles blow and he brings the whole group together. There's a ton of fans. They have fans there sometimes,

but not every day. Yesterday was probably the biggest crowds we've had. And so he brought them all together. We couldn't hear what was being said, but I thought he kind of read them the right act.

Then the problem was there's another fight after that during the one-on-one pass rush drills. But they play the Chargers on Saturday. They need to do so and then they go to tennessee next week and they'll have some joint practices there probably expect more of that stuff but uh yeah boys being boys and uh it's just that time of the year taking over for pete carroll there was

obviously going to be a lot of intrigue as to what mike mcdonald would do differently you outlined a couple of things there uh is there anything else that that you've learned about the way that he's going to be the head coach for this team by how he's run training camp? Yeah, I guess the big thing, guys, is that it's – training camp is one thing, the season is another. Let's just start with OTAs, the off-season workouts and the mini camps, which is basically OTAs are all the same. They do those in May and June. Watching those and then even in the mini camps, which is basically, you know, OTAs are all the same. They do those in May and June.

You know, watching those and then even in the training camp, what we have seen is a guy that is, and his staff, a lot of teaching, a lot of details, some teaching and some elements of drills that we hadn't seen before. You know, his staff is really hands-on. Frankly, it reminds me a little bit of what we saw at Dan Bilesma at rookie camp here for the Kraken, just a whole different approach

and just a lot more just, you know, details. Like, just, you know, like, okay, you didn't step, you know, you had a half a step here where you got to go this way. Let's do it again. Not as punishment. I think that's a, you know, something we need to kind of mention. It's not a definite not a punishment we're going to get this thing right and he's got a really complex defense that relies heavily and

i mean heavily on really good communication and so you know watching that it's you know they're still kind of implementing stuff a brand new offense but i i like how detail orientated he is and and his staff i think that's the first thing we've noticed come game time who knows we haven't seen him coach a game yet he's never been a head coach anywhere so that'll happen on saturday with that focus on on detail and teaching are there specific areas you get the sense that he really wants you know he wants that to transfer to the games and for the team, the way they're playing, to look significantly different as a result of that teaching process than it had in the last couple of years?

Yeah, no, I think, yeah, yeah. Jimmy, I think, here's the thing. Their defense, and it's the Baltimore Ravens' defense from last year, and it's a memory I'd like to wash out of my head, being in Baltimore last year, watching what they did to that Seahawks offense. It was really borderline criminal. But there's a lot of deception, a lot of movement. Show one thing, do another, or show one thing,

and the other team expects you to do another, and you end up kind of hanging out. I mean, they just do a lot of different things, but it's all based on communication. And with a new defense and new coaches, that communication is imperative. But I've really liked what I've seen so far. I think, first of all, there's a lot of talent on this football team.

They were 9-8 last year. I think sometimes you make coaching changes and the thought is, wow, they really needed to do something. They were 9-8 playoffs by half a game on a tiebreaker on the last day of the year. So there's talent there but you look at some of the numbers statistically their defense was abysmal the second half of the season and and offensively they've got a ton of talent but it never really seemed to come to fruition i i see an offensive coordinator ryan grubb that's going to wait for it get dk mech to ask the ball more often i mean that's just it's

it's it's one of those things you kind of pound your head against the wall. I see a defense that has a really, really good secondary, like an elite secondary, deep secondary, and a really good front. They have some marks at linebacker, but they're pretty talented. And the question is, can this coaching staff and this head coach put it all together?

What's a realistic expectation to put on the performance of the defense then? If there's wholesale changes, there are some good players there, but the last couple of years, as you said, for the most part, the numbers allowing way too many rushing yards, not getting downs and getting teams off the field on third down. Where's the bar for where the season starts, what this defense needs to, where the bar needs to be set?

As really, here's the thing. Last year, this team was, you know, some of the numbers you mentioned, they were on the bottom four, bottom five of the league in some of those categories. If they're just average this year with that offense and the talent they have on offense, they're going to be a really good football team if they're just averaged defensively. And they didn't hire Mike McDonald to be averaged defensively,

but it might take a year or two. But again, the cover's not fair. I mean, Witherspoon, Wolin, Trey Brown, Michael Jackson, Artie Burns. I mean, they got dudes playing cornerback. I think they're far better at safety this year than they were last year. Julian loves a pro bowler, and he only played about, you know, 60% of the snap class season before they figured out he was better then, and Jamal Adams got hurt again.

And Quandre Diggs basically gave up on the season. So, Kishon Jenkins is a far better player there. So, they're good. They have talent, and I think if they just improve, you know, halfway up the ladder in terms of the statistical rankings, they're going to be a really tough out. So they start their preseason schedule on Saturday, and it's always tough to take too many things away from preseason NFL football

from the exhibition season. But what are some of the biggest questions you have about this team that you're hoping to get more information on in the preseason games and throughout the rest of training camp? Number one, first and foremost, the offensive line guy has to be it. I mean, it's the big boys up front. You only go as far as they go, and they're going to have a new starter at left guard, a new starter at center, a new starter possibly at right guard

depending on who you want to call the right guard. They're still waiting on right tackle Abe Lucas. He's on the physically unable to perform list, which means he's not practicing, and it gives him some flexibility roster-wise at the cut-down day if he's not ready to go. He's coming off off-season knee surgery. But George Fant they brought back. He's a veteran.

He'll be fine at right tackle filling in in the meantime if need be. But they've got to figure out who the right guard is. Is it Anthony Bradford? Is it Christian Haynes, who was a fourth-round draft pick or a third-round draft pick? So they'll look at those two guys um at right guard the center situation is interesting we all expected to be Olu Olu with Timmy who was uh the top center in college football two years ago he was hurt in training camp last season spent the entire season backing up Evan Brown thought he'd be the guy and uh whatever, along the way, there's something they haven't liked with him.

And the backup, Nick Harris, is about 5'1". So they decided they went out and signed Connor Williams from Miami. He tore his ACL last December. But a lot of the metrics had him as one of the highest-ranked centers in the NFL. And they spent about upwards of $6 million on him for his contract. So he's going to be the starter whenever he's up to speed and healthy and ready to go. So they've got to figure out, we assume Williams is the center.

Once he gets going, who's the right guard, who's the right tackle? But I think they'll be a lot better up front than they have been. You'll see people rank them as one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL, and until proven otherwise, I get it. But I'm going to tell you right now, that offensive line is going to be far better than it was a year ago. Always a focus on first-round picks when they're making their camp debut for the Seahawks.

Byron Murphy, a guy that I think fans are pretty excited about what he can do in the long term. But how has he looked as a rookie at camp? You know, long ago, this is, what is this, camp number 15 and 16, 17, I think I've covered here. I've kind of, I've tried to temper the enthusiasm over the years. I mean, we have a lot of training camp, all Americans every year.

It's like, wow, this guy's unbelievable. And then, you know, cut down day comes and it's like, where, where'd that dude go? And, but obviously you're going to cut a first round pick, but you know, so you try to temper some enthusiasm at times i'm telling you this guy is a dude man he is an absolute dude it's i hate the comparison is awful because this guy's a first ballot you know no brainer hall of famer but there are aaron donald traits in him and you know how you know in terms of size in terms of the you know how he's built how he

plays the explosiveness the inside pass rush he just looks the part I can't wait to watch him play in the regular season I'm assuming he'll play a little bit on Saturday we never know again it's you know with three nowadays with just three of these of these preseason games it's always hard to tell who's going to play and what it's going to look like in that regard. But we assume he might play a little bit, so it'll be kind of fun to watch him play, but I can't wait for the regular season because I think this guy's going to be a big-time impact player this year.

I can just tell you this, he's never missed leg day. He's never missed leg day. The way this dude's put together is crazy ian if you were trying to slow the hype train down man i don't think you did it that was pretty exciting you're no i know i'm getting pretty hyped to watch this guy now they i'll say this they've done a really nice job that you know john schneider who you know they fired pete carroll they kept john schneider the gm that's the decision they made that jody allen and ownership made and to keep john and ownership made to keep John.

And, you know, John just, he put together, I mean, he was the architect of the great teams in 2012, 13, 14, 15, you know, even 16 to a point. He was the architect of those teams and came a lot of it from great drafting, you know, guys like, like Richard Sherman and Cam Chancellor that were not high draft picks. And then others like Bobby Wagner, who was a second round pick and Russ was a third round pick, you know,

but they really haven't had a ton of impact first round picks over the years. Earl Thomas and Russell Coon, maybe the first draft in 2010 were, but since then a lot of their first round picks just haven't fizzled. It just has fizzled out. Well, last year they drafted Devin Witherspoon. And I'm going to tell you, there's not going to be many days that Devin Witherspoon steps on a football field in the NFL where he isn't the best football

player. It doesn't mean he's the best quarterbacks and all that, but he's special. Jackson Smith and Jigba, we saw it at the end of the season last year, he's a wide receiver, that he's a staller. They had two first-round picks last year, and now Murphy this year. I think Schneider's got his mojo back as far as drafting is concerned.

I think, as we all know, Canucks fans, I'm talking to you, drafting in any sport is the backbone and the most important thing you can do, and Schneider seems to have gotten his swagger back. I wanted to ask you a little bit about the Mariners as well. They lose third in a row last night. They're now a half game out of the division lead behind the Houston Astros. Lots of baseball left to play. Obviously only a half game out, but are there jobs on the line, whether it's Scott Service or in the front office, depending on whether the

Mariners make the playoffs or not this year? Yeah. Yes. I think making the playoffs as a wild card is going to be hard. That's the problem they're going to run into. They're playing in a bad division. And so right now it feels almost, I mean, this is weird to say, but it almost feels like it's division or bust because they're a half game behind Houston,

but they're four and a half games out of the last wildcard spot. And let's just say, you know, now here's the difference. Seattle's three games above 500 at one point. They're 15 and 25 in their last 40 games. That comes on the heels of leading the division by 10 games. And no team in the modern era of baseball with a 10-game lead in June or later has ever not won the ALS or won a division. And Seattle is putting itself in a position to be that team.

So they're trying not to. But if they don't catch Houston, win the division, or I guess worst-case scenario, get to at least a wild-card spot, I think it's pretty hard to keep this baseball operations staff intact, especially when you had a 10-game lead at one point and then you said history. I kind of think they're going to hold on. They're playing without Julio

and they're playing without J.P. Crawford right now. They're an awful hitting baseball team. Offensively, they're just abysmal. But their pitching staff is elite. Or at least their starters are. This is a team, if it gets in the playoffs, guys, it's built for the playoffs. Baseball playoffs, most of the time,

it's a three-man rotation. There's no better one, two, three in baseball than they have with Castillo, Kirby, and Gilbert. And their next two guys, Miller and Brian Wu, would be coming out of the bullpen. And with high leverage situations, I mean, they're built for the playoffs. The question is, can they score any runs, like ever ever because the answer right now seems to be still no even after

the trade deadline the mariners historically have had a number of you know really good players hall of fame players all-star players over the years but as you said this rotation right now and those three guys at the top in particular kirby gilbert and Castillo, are about as good as it gets in the league. How much of a waste does it feel like if the Mariners ultimately don't make the playoffs that they would have those three guys and the guys at the back end of the rotation and miss the playoffs two years in a row with just such a phenomenal rotation? I can't even fathom it. I mean, we're talking about 48 years of history here.

So, like, it's not like we haven't been used to being disappointed by these guys over the years. But, yeah, I don't know, man. If they don't make it with that group, it feels like a massive waste, really a massive waste. I just can't fathom that not making it, but, you know, they've blown a 10-game lead. You know, I mean, that's hard to do.

You know, their playoff odds right now, according to the metrics, are 47.4% to make the postseason, 2.1% to win the World Series. But, you know, it could change. They win tonight. I think, I don't think detroit plays tonight so or houston rather doesn't play i know yeah houston doesn't play tonight so if seattle wins tonight then they're tied for the division uh heading into the weekend they've got the mets here boston's got houston so both both teams have tough games and tough series coming up but it feels right now like

it's a two-team race texas has dropped out but it would be a yeah it'd be a big waste and it'd be disappointing because i think everybody wants to see this rotation. We saw it in the playoffs two years ago, and they were good enough pitching-wise. That was never an issue. It was the fact they went 18 innings at a home game and couldn't score a run. So it's just the same problem over and over again. They went out and got Justin Turner from the Jays, and they picked up Randy Rosarena from the Devil Rays.

And, you know, they've got two guys coming in that seem to help the lineup, but really it hasn't helped the lineup. They got an initial boost. Every now and then they'll put a crooked number up there, but consistently they're still one of the bottom two or three teams in most categories in offense in the league. Ian, you mentioned Dan Bilesma and the Kraken. Of course, he's taken over behind the bench,

and then they go out and they do some big spending in free agency as well with Brandon Montour and Chandler Stevenson. What are the expectations for the team? I mean, going into year four now, how much do they need to just get significantly better on the ice to kind of solidify their spot in the Seattle sports marketplace? Well, yeah, the business side of it, that goes without saying. I mean, new market, they still, well, you know,

they've sold out every game for the first three years. I know they've got to actually, quote, sell tickets this year, which they haven't had to do since day one. And, you know, they've been aggressive and really some good things they've done in terms of marketing with some ticket packages and plans. But it does come down to that. You've got to win, right? I mean, it doesn't matter.

It's pro sports. You've got to win. I love what they did in the offseason. Now, listen, will Chandler Stevenson and Brandon Montour be worth the money? Well, probably not for all seven years they won't be. That's probably a given, right, with their ages. But you asked about the Mariners would they make changes here's the difference with our teams in this market the

Seahawks they don't you know they don't accept being you know they said Mike Holmgren set a standard here when he came in and ran a franchise in the early 2000s and then they just some goofy stuff happened they kind of forced him out jim mark coaches one year and they fire him at great expense to ownership bring in pete and they win when pete ran out of gas and that thing didn't work anymore a super bowl winning coach make no mistake they say whatever the step he got fired they and they go out there's a salary cap so they they have that the kraken and the mariners the Mariners just keep going on with Jerry DiPoto. 54% winning total, that's fine, what have you.

There's always been a big... Now, is perception reality? I don't know, but it sure seems like that. The baseball team does not get aggressive. Winning doesn't always seem to be a massive priority for them. Making money is kind of how the fans perceive. That's how they do it. The Kraken are more Seahawk-like.

Everything they do is first class. Everything they do is never a concern about how much is it going to cost. Let's just go out and do it. They, and, you know, Dave Axel hadn't even had his contract extension kick in yet. And they fired him. I mean, that costs ownership a lot of money. The same owners who are going out and buying an NBA team here in the next couple of years. But they didn't care.

They said, we've got to make a change. We're not going to stand pat. We're not going to be complacent. Our fans are better. And then they went out and got aggressive and free agency. So, you know, I love what they've done. Will it work out? We'll find out.

But I love what they've done. I love when sports franchises at the professional level act like it's pro sports. And it's not about putting money in the owner's pocketbooks. It's about putting butts in the seats. And the way you do that is you invest, you spend and you get aggressive in how you do all that. That's what the Kraken did in the off season. And,

and if nothing else, guys, Dan Biles was going to bring a different style of play. Oh, I mean, it was, it was hard to watch guys. It was hard to watch at times.

And they didn't have the guys to do it. They didn't have the guys that could go in and cycle and forecheck like he wanted to do. They had an elite defense. They've got really good goaltending. But offensively, they kind of depended everything on what they were going to do with basically just forcing a turnover and cycling and banging you down low. And it just never seemed to work with these guys

except in the playoffs that one year. Well, you mentioned earlier, right, the draft, the most important thing in every sport for building your team. The first ever pick for the Seattle Kraken, Matty Beneers, at second overall, took a big step backwards last year. Still an RFA needs a new contract. But, I mean, it does feel like for as much as you can criticize other elements,

as you said, do they necessarily have the talent to play in a different way? It feels like a lot of this comes down to, you know, they kind of need Matty Beneers to be a second overall type player, a top of the lineup type player if they're going to take those big steps forward. You need Matty Beneers to look like Matthew Barzell. That's what

he needs, and that's who he is. Barzell's is a better finisher probably but that's the kind of player when you watch Beniers at his best that's how he is he'll he'll find the open ice he'll slow it down he'll well kind of like I'm comparing him to a guy that's Norris Winter but you know how Quinn plays you know when he carries the play like guys that have the ability to have it on a tape and it feels like that they always have space to operate and that creates opportunities for other people and and that's what Matty has to do great vision all those things but he just that wasn't him last year I don't know what the hell happened to him but it was I mean that's a really talented hockey player that felt like he was in a system or a situation that just he wasn't comfortable with. Now, you know, I joke on other shows up there a lot about the hit by Tyler Myers.

I still go. I'll still say that I don't think he's been the same since. And it's not because of concussions. I just think that he's kind of played with his head on a swivel. They had no pushback last season. They had nobody on that team that would step up besides 5'10", 190, Ty Cartier. You don't need Matthew Rempe or Reeves or guys like that, but you need something. And I think he just played with his head on a swivel all last year. They signed John Hayden. They brought him back, and I think he's going to be on this roster.

Bilesman likes him. I think they need to get a little bit more rugged, but Bilesma is going to play a little different style, and hopefully it fits Matty, and they need Berakovsky to come back and actually play like the guy that they signed from Colorado, and I think he will under Bilesma, but

yeah, Matty's got to be good. Matty's got to be good. I don't think we want to have to wait until Berkeley Captain gets here this year's first-round pick, because he's about two or three years away although i love that pick guys oh i love that pick that was i love that pick a cat we already saw him in the juniors uh camp right like he's really really special so um but that he's a couple years away yeah maybe one day we'll get this canucks crack and rivalry finally started in uh and really appreciate it taking the time thanks for doing this man anytime fellows have, fellas. Have a great day.

Thanks, Ian. That is Ian Furness from KJR Radio in Seattle, weighing in Seahawks, Mariners, Kraken. He can do it all. So shout out to Ian for joining the show today. Get ready for the ultimate sports fan trip to Michigan from September 27th to October 1st. Experience games at the Big House, Comerica Park, and Ford Field.

Contact Neil Chark at neilc at uniglobecarefree.ca for details. Big What We Learn segment coming up to finish the show. Still time to get your text in. 650-650 to the Dunbar Lumber text line. Final segment here on Halford & Brough. Sportsnet, 650.

Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God. This is always dead. It's what we learn, time. It's what we learn, time.

It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show. Welcome back to Half and a Brough Sportsnet 650. Jamie Dodd, Israel Fair, filling in here. Half and a Brough brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of Half an abrupt is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers.

Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit Campbell-Pound.com today. 650 is the dumbar lumber text line the bridge street dumbar lumber in ladner has moved to progress way in tilbury's industrial park more room more product more awesome details at dumbar lumber.com it is uh what we learned time we've got a couple to get through i've got two at least whoa big day i know so i'll start with a bit of a promotional one right now at 8 30 in the morning everyone i think on the show is a dog does a dog have one oh do i ever okay so everyone on the show is currently uh feasting on uh blizzards from dairy queen because because it is Miracle Treat Day, which

is the 22nd year of Dairy Queen doing this. And it's if you buy a blizzard today at participating DQ locations in Vancouver, all of the proceeds, net proceeds, will be donated to the BC Children's Hospital Foundation. So if you're looking for an excuse to

spoil yourself, to treat yourself a little bit, this is a fantastic day to go get yourself a Blizzard. I was able to scoop the cookie dough Blizzard. I actually took it from the big bag they dropped off here at the station, and I took it out of the bag earlier today, and I hid it behind a frozen meal in the freezer. So I didn't want any of it. There's only one cookie dough.

Cookie dough is my Blizzard flavor, so I wanted to make sure nobody else got it, and I'm enjoying it now. I'm really glad I did it. There's only one cookie dough. Cookie dough is my Blizzard flavor. So I wanted to make sure nobody else got it. And I'm enjoying it now. I'm really glad I did it. Real team player over here, Jamie. You got to look out for number one. I got even better. I think I won up to you, though.

I got the Smarties cookie collision, which has Smarties and cookie dough in it. Jamie Dodd, you missed out on that one. What do you got, Izzy? Izzy's got it in. Izzy just took a big mouthful as you asked him that i will say i went i got i went up to go to the fridge in the break and i walked in with a blizzard and laddie did the like you know the simone miles like locking to attention meme that's going around right now he did that he like was evan dunphy speedwalked and then he was like did they just hand those out and i was like like, yeah. And he like sprinted out of the control

room directly to the fridge. He was like, oh my goodness. Got out, ran, made a beeline to the blizzards. What flavor do you have? Yeah, I swallowed my piece of cheesecake. It's cheesecake. I think I top all you guys. Reese's Pieces Blizzard. Yeah, that's up there for me. Reese's Pieces. I don't know if it gets much

better than that. See, I always go and when I'm in line, I'm looking at all the options and I'm like, you know, all the candy ones and like Rolo and all, and they all sound really good and then I'm like, I know what I like. I want cookie dough. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I typically go heavy chocolate, so if it's got like

chocolate fudge or chocolate brownie or anything heavy chocolate, that's usually my go-to, but if not that, Reese's Pieces or maybe like Cookies and Cream. Can't go wrong with the Oreo Blizzards. They're great too. You're spoiled for choice there, really. They're all good.

I mean, it's a Blizzard. You can't go wrong. You can't get a bad one. It's incredible. They're all so good. Love a Blizzard. And as I said, it is Miracle Treat Day from Dairy Queen. So if you go get a Blizzard at participating locations in Vancouver,

the net proceeds are going to an amazing, amazing cause. I don't think I need to tell people what a great cause the BC Children's Hospital is. So there you go. You can have an amazing treat and you can do some good work as well. Give us a moo cow on that. All right. I'm going to step in. I'm going to do another one here.

Go for it. We had a big conversation about Sidney Crosby yesterday on the show, right? It's his birthday. It's, you know, August 7th. So it's the seventh day of the eighth month, 8-7, his number.

We've talked about how obsessed he is with that number. He was also born in 1987. His contract, all of that. We said, hey, maybe this will be the day he signs an extension.

He was waiting until August 7th to do it. Didn't happen. Jay Onright, of course, who works works for tsn tweeted this out yesterday a picture i know i don't know the sourcing on this but it seems to be a picture uh taken from a post from facebook or something a gas station in nova scotia of course where sydney crosby is from and they they had this to say it's no secret that sydney crosby spent some of his off-season time in his home province in Nova Scotia. And it says it seems he's also spending some of that time in the Wallace Fox Harbor area.

And they have a receipt of what they say is Sidney Crosby filling up at their station. And the total he spent there, I guess, pre-tax, $87.87. And they said that's his calling card. That's what Jay Onright said. Sidney Crosby left his calling card by spending exactly $87. He's like the Joker? That's what I mean. I was like, okay, first of all, I can't verify that this was actually Sidney Crosby doing this on purpose or whatever.

I'm just passing this along. Sid was here. Most people don't have, like, calling cards is a criminal thing. Or like a super villain thing. Yeah, like the Joker is a criminal thing or like 87. Yeah. Like the Joker has a calling card. Is he a cat burglar? The wet bandits have a calling card.

Normally just like people in their everyday lives don't have calling cards that they leave little Easter egg clues to let everyone know that they were here. But apparently, and again, I can't vouch for the truth of this. This was actually Crosby or anything like this. It's a post from a gas station in Nova Scotia. They're saying it was him. I'm just saying. Someone needs to get Batman on the scene to investigate this.

What is Crosby trying to tell us here? He has a calling card now filling up $87.87 at the pump. I just wanted to pass that along based on our discussion yesterday. And again, I've never known a non-super villain. That's somehow less reckless

than our conversation about Sidney Crosby joining the Canucks from yesterday. The reporting is more sound. That was extremely, extremely responsible of us yesterday. All right, give us another, give us another moo cow there.

Anyone else? We got what we learned? Yeah, I'll go. No, he's too busy chowing down on the blizzard. This is a short one, though. There's not that much to dig into, but I did find it interesting. What we learned, the Cleveland Browns are pushing for $2.4 billion so they can build a domed stadium outside of the city.

We were talking a little bit yesterday about the chicago bears their poor play at quarterback over the years a text came in that hey you can't completely blame them they play in a you know a bad weather city obviously soldier field outside we did mention cleveland's had some issues with quarterback play they also have played outside so this might be a way to try to mitigate that problem in the modern NFL. Go for a dome. It does sound like, based on the reporting here, that the city of Cleveland is prepared to offer them just under $500 million.

And they hope that the Browns would match and that they could have a $1 billion stadium in Cleveland. But the team is now pushing pushing and they sent their season ticket holders some mock-ups of what that stadium might look like in a suburb outside of Cleveland in Brook Park, but they want $2.4 billion to build these stadiums. So this is going to be an ongoing conversation with the Browns. We're going to be running out of true, awful weather stadiums soon. I mean, I guess who knows when the Packers are ever going to leave Lambeau, right?

So that one seems like it's going to last for a while. But aren't the Bills trying to get a new stadium going? And the Bears, I believe, as well. I'm going to miss it. If we run out of northern outdoor stadiums, right, where you get those games in November and December and January, and it's freezing and the crowd January, and it's freezing, and the crowd looks miserable, and it's snowing.

That's a huge part of NFL football. That's going to be a bummer. I don't know about you, Jamie, but for me, whenever it snowed in Vancouver as a kid, that was time to play football. It was get out there and throw the pigskin, because that's just the first thought that you get with the snow, even though you don't actually get all that many snow games in the NFL

or even the CFL. You get a handful, but that is immediately where my mind goes with football is that's something that should be played in the snow. Well, and if you get enough snow on the ground, you can play like full tackle without pads because you've got the soft landing and you're not moving that fast running around in the snow. It's fantastic to get out there. This one comes in.

Bill's new stadium won't have a roof, though. Apparently, Bill's fans are upset that it won't. I get why they're upset, but I want to see them suffer in the cold. So I'm glad to hear that the Bill's new stadium won't have a roof. Give us a moo cow there, laddie. All right, let's go into the inbox, print out some listener submissions here. And of course, we got to play the fire plan drop. Oh my God, we're having a fire plan.

Nailed it. All right, 650, 650. Let's get to some of your What We Learned submissions. Hashtag WWL. What you've learned in the last 24 hours in sports. Justin in East Van with an interesting one here. He says, what we learned, the NHL Network will reveal their top 10 goalies list later today. Thatcher Demko ranked 10th last year.

Will he rank higher this year or will he drop off the list? He was the Vesna finalist, so he's going to be higher than number 10. He's got to be top five. Now, I am curious. Yeah, you would think top five. Laddie, do you have kind of an off-the-top-of-your-head, top three, top five current goalies in the NHL ranking? Well, Saros was my number one coming into the year,

but I think I might have to go back to my old, you know, classic pick of Conor Hellebuck after his Vesna win. It's hard to go against a guy like that. I think the clear three, Shosturkin, Hellebuck, Saros, can't go wrong with any of those guys. But Demko's in the conversation. He's right there as well. Injuries will probably help his case a little bit,

but he's top five firmly in my eyes. Hurt his case, you mean? Injure his case, maybe. Yes. What did I say? You said help his case. Oh, no, it won't help his case. No, yeah, absolutely.

But yeah, I think he's, as you said, because of the durability questions, right? And so you've never had that one from beginning to end incredible season. There's always been that kind of question mark. It keeps him out probably the top three, but I don't see how you're taking him out of the top five, right? Whether it's four, whether it's five, he's got to be in that mix. And it will be interesting to see. It's going to be interesting to see in general when different outlets start rolling these types of lists out.

Like, I think Quinn Hughes is going to be at worst number two if you're doing a best defenseman list right now behind Kale McCarr. Yep. Like, how do they handle Elias Patterson? How do they handle JT Miller, right, who's had an incredible two-way season last year? A guy like Brock Besser where does he rank yeah I think Elias Pedersen will be a lot higher on these lists and maybe

some Canucks fans would think still because he still has that reputation uh around the league but you're gonna you know I know this has been the case for a while but if you are you're paying attention to these lists going into the season they're going to be a lot of Canucks ranked very very highly at these different positional rankings going into the year yeah definitely i mean hughes is is probably it's gonna it takes a lot to unseat macar so he was just coming off an unreal year but i do think two there and yeah even with like my instinct was that demko's injuries would hold him back but you look around the league, there were a couple of other high-performing goalies

like Sorokin who didn't have a great year, so you're imagining those guys are going to drop off. It does seem like the top five is some version of Hellebuck, Shosturkin, Soros, but Brovsky is going to get some love because he was a Vezina finalist. He just won the Cup, and these lists, that tends to matter. That might be a little over-inflating what his impact is these days, but he's going to be there.

And I think Demko is right on that cusp too. Yeah, the Pedersen thing will be fascinating because these lists do try to do a mix of what we've seen and a little bit of projection. It's not just firmly like these were the best 10 guys at the position last season there is a little bit of hey we know that this player is is on the upswing but petterson's coming off a bunch of rough months and i do think that that's probably gonna ding him a bit all right sasha in darkest north vancouver he texted this one in very early what we learned it's the 40th year since synchronized now renamed artistic swimming was added

to the Olympics. Canada placed 6th this year. Also, it was 100 years ago that the first North American synchronized swimming championship was held in Montreal. The champion was Canadian Peg Seller who became the first lady

of synchronized swimming. She's in both the Canada Sports Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. That's from Sasha in Darkest North Vancouver. I do have a question, though. How could the champion of the synchronized swimming championships be a one person, be Peg Seller? Like it's synchronized swimming. You have to do it as part of a team anyone can be synchronized by themselves in the pool that's just swimming

inherently you were synchronized with yourself self-synchronized you can't just do one person synchronized swimming so there must have been somebody she's the first lady of synchronized swimming but she must have had a team around her sasha if you're listening still sasha and darkest north vancouver this raised more questions from even answers i don't understand how you could signal one person out as the champion of synchronized swimming it's it's inherently a team event captain they get all the glory they get all the glory they get all she said these other girls they didn't do anything it was all me i'm talking about my lead that's

right they were following me i'm the real great here i'm the first lady of synchronized swimming but shout out to peg for doing it a hundred years ago a hundred years a hundred years of synchronized swimming 650 650 in the dumb bar lumber text line still chance to get your what we learn submissions in this one from robin surrey what i've learned is that it's really rich listening to blue jays fanboys on this station criticize the mariners when the blue jays are in last place and just blew up their team yet the mariners are a half game out of the division lead hashtag blue jays suck that's from robin surrey that's it you guys i'm a mariners fan so that that's squarely at you

too apologists rob when was the last time you heard me Apollo like making apologies for the blue jays no one no one is harder on the blue jays right now than blue jays fans hashtag blue jays suck yeah no kidding what have we been complaining about for months on end that the blue jays are absolutely terrible no one's ducking that no one's denying that we're all well aware of how bad the blue jays are no version tactics here no one's trying to make make apologies or hold on they're not out of it yet there's still lots of season left but you know who is making excuses is robin surrey for his team oh the the mariners the plucky mariners they're just a half game out of a playoff spot you had a 10 game division lead you're one of the worst hitting

teams in baseball you're on the verge of missing the playoffs and by the way you're only even in the playoff race because you're in a terrible mediocre division if you were in a good division it'd be an afterthought you're three games over 500 so look there is enough hate and disgust and contempt to go around all both baseball teams the jays and the mariners whether you're a jays fan whether you're a mariners fan guess what everyone has very very good reason to be disgusted with their team to be extremely extremely frustrated with their team i will say obviously the Jays are worse, right? We all know that. The Jays are a worse team than the Mariners.

But the Mariners are mid, as the kids would say. Well, they're also painful to watch. There's three games above 500! Because they can't hit. Being a team that can't hit has to be one of the most frustrating things, especially because you feel like you're letting your pitchers down. They have such a good rotation. But every game feels like,

or the ones they lose at least, feels like a huge disappointment and just an opportunity missed if you're a Mariners fan. And as Adnan was saying earlier, like, would you rather lose every game 2-1 or lose a bunch of games 10-8? Right. At least you're seeing some homers. You're having some fun. You're seeing some dingers, you know? Like, I get it's still frustrating to blow leads

and feel like your bullpen can't get out and all of those things but man like i like first of all i find the whole like comparing the blue jays and the mariners thing kind of tiresome anyways because it's like they're not rivals they play in different divisions there's a fan rivalry here in vancouver but they're not real expansion buddies but like no one can no one can be getting one over on the other team at least not in this moment if the mirrors make a playoffs, make a run, you know, go to the ALCS, that's a completely different story.

But no one is superior in this moment. They're all equally disappointing. Let's get that clear here. Yeah, there's no argument there. That's true. That's the beauty of baseball. You get to be angry for six months every day. Yeah, absolutely.

You get to be absolutely furious all the time. By the way, I was saying, how can you be? How can you have one person be the synchronized swimming champion? Somebody text in fact check the swimmer. And I know I appreciate this. I'm learning. This is what we learned is all about is about helping us learn things. This one texted in the swimmers are synchronized with the music not necessarily with each other that is why you

can have solo synchronized swimming i didn't realize that i don't think i've ever seen solo synchronized swimming but it makes a good point it's almost like uh you know like a figure skating routine where you're doing different tricks you're doing different maneuvers synchronized to the music it's always been my best sport there you go yeah i tried to make a career of it i got pretty close but not quite olympic close What went wrong in your opinion I can't dance Or swim either It turns out you need to be able to dance, have rhythm and swim at the same time

It's very hard to do You're 0 for 3 This close to making a career of it By the way You know I can't go a What we learned segment without getting to one From our guy Mike the urologist from Brockville. And he texted in earlier.

What we learned, the Olympics have been a great opportunity for kids to watch tons of different sports. My nine-year-old is inexplicably in love with watching diving. What fringe Olympic sport would you want your kids to get into? It's an interesting question because you don't want one that, I mean, you probably want one where they can like have success. And, you know, I think some, like, I don't know, gymnastics seems like a very intense sport to me.

I don't know if I would want that. Yeah, break dancing, that's an interesting one. Skateboarding. Yeah. They seem to be having a fun time out there. I think diving is a good one. Diving looks cool.

I don't know. For these games, it would have been surfing. A trip to Tahiti. Youiti to go to tahiti um my daughter's really into rock climbing too now we were watching the sport climbing earlier the only thing is like it's an incredible feat don't get me wrong these athletes are amazing but as a spectator sport they're up there under five seconds it's like 4.75 seconds it's over before the sprint it's way it's like half the half the length it is right the hundred's supposed to be the you know the fastest sporting event ever and this is it's half the time but i what i want i want the context of how long it would take an average person to do

the speed club well that's all that's the that's the case with all of these sports, right? And I've even seen people say... This one specifically, because someone that's able-bodied and in a decent shape, they're not running the 100 in 25 seconds, right? You're probably getting there in 15, 16 seconds. Well, that's why we need an average person's Olympics. We need an average person's Olympics.

I think the climb would be harder. Whoever's going to do the speed climb is going to be worse at the speed climb than they would be relative to the 100. Right. How fun would it be to watch just a bunch of random people try the speed climb? Well, I know prior training. The Sportsnet 650 Olympics, you guys signing up? Yeah, exactly.

Something like that. I think what you really need is not just a separate Olympics for average people, but like a designated average person at each event. Yeah. You know what I mean? So in the early heats in the 100 meter. Yeah. I just got an idea.

You know how like in NFL they have the line for the first down? Have like an average person line following the athletes being like, here's what the average person will be like, and then watch it gradually get further and further behind. Laddie, that's a good idea. I like it. I like that. But then there'd be ones where it's like, it would be like legitimately dangerous to

have an average person and like swimming and stuff. Or like weightlifting. Speed skating in the Winter Olympics. You get lapped probably. But you're right. Because again, it's not, I'm not disputing the skill of the sport climbers. Obviously, it's incredible what they're doing. But it's just like, you sit down, you get hyped for it, and it's like, oh, and it's over. And I don't know.

They're going head-to-head. I don't know if the format of the competition, if the loser in the head-to-head is eliminated. But if that's the case, your Olympics is over in less than five seconds. That's an incredibly brutal experience. I don't know. I think a lot of people can relate to that, Jamie. You know, remember the show... A few more than they would be willing to admit. Remember the show American Gladiators? Yeah.

That needs to be an Olympic sport. That would be... Like an obstacle course. Fantastic. Alright, thanks for listening. Big Ask Us Anything Friday tomorrow, so start thinking about those. Always look forward to an Ask Us Anything Friday. We'll be back tomorrow. More Half and Abrupt Sportsnet 650.