Halford & Brough in the Morning - Is The NHL Getting Two New Teams?

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the latest baseball news with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (1:18), the boys chat with Fan 590's Sam McKee (27:13) about the latest around the Leafs, who have recently had big ownership changes, plus they discuss some breaking NHL expansion news (40:46). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's time to chat with Adnan It's Adnan Berkey's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball And take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Adnan Yes, Adnan Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the films he's seen. 7.02 on a Thursday.

Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. Oh, yeah, it's my turn to do this. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthodontic provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfie, what are you waiting for? Kintec. So, the Yankees are in. The Brewers are in. The Dodgers and the Phillies soon to be in, I would imagine, as well. It's MLB postseason time.

We're finally getting there after a very long season. Joining us now, as he has every week through this baseball season, MLB Network's Adnan Virk here on the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Adnan. How are you? I'm doing great, Mike. Jason, always good to be with you guys. Rather scary pregnant by Jason. I thought maybe the connection went out for a second, but it was just a good pregnant pause. Keeping the audience in tune.

Excited to talk some baseball with you both. I've read this Kintec read probably a million times. Still have not committed it to memory. Yeah, it's crazy you don't know it yet. It's so crazy. I'm never good with lyrics to songs either. I could not remember them.

I can't. One thing that actually amazes me is people who can remember their lines doing plays. Yeah. Like that's just crazy to me that you can do that. Ruff's up there on Broadway. He's like, line, line. People will say to me, why didn't that yeah roughs up there on broadway's like line line people will say to me like why didn't you want to be an actor i'm like are you kidding me

that's all those lines how the hell do you remember those lines like i never do that that's crazy um so i mentioned the yankees are in they won last night 2-1 over the seattle mariners now yes the story was about the yankees getting to the postseason and popping bottles and everything but the bigger story was the play with Julio Rodriguez in a play that he said all his teammates said had never seen in a baseball game before. It's the 10th inning. Rodriguez is on third. Randy Rosarena is at the plate.

Rosarena swings, misses, bat goes flying, and J-Rod ducks out of the way. And in doing so, goes about, I don't know, 10 feet off the bag. In his mind, it's a dead play because the bat's gone flying. But in the rules of baseball, it is not. He gets tagged out. Another sad, sad moment in what's been a very disappointing season for the Mariners. What did you think when you saw that play unfold, Adnan? Just a bow and head play, Mike.

There's no other way around it. And honestly, Julio should be better than that. He's a terrific young player. I like him a lot. And clearly he's had a rough year this year, particularly in the first half. Second half, he's hoping to bounce back as the better. Just can't happen. You know, there's been back-to-back days

that's happened to them with like non-thinning miscues. Just the dumbest stuff on the play. That played the other day when Robles got thrown out. Are you kidding me? And you could hear the announcer say, that's just not a smart play. 3-0 count, hit her up in a situation like that, trying to steal home.

What are you doing? So I'm all for risky plays and being advantageous, but that's just not smart. And I had the play by Austin Wells, who I think is making a real push for look of the year. As a Yankees catcher, he's hitting cleanup, and he's been, you know, excellent, obviously, being supportive. But the fact he's got Soto and Judge ahead of him,

he's going to face some fastballs, have some runners on. But that's a good defensive play. And he's third right now in framing runs. So heads up play by him. But if you're a Mariners fan, like, you watch that, you just go, own head play, can't happen. You know, you're at home against the Yankees. You've got to win out at this point.

You have to approach it that way. You're only a few games to thees. You've got to win out at this point. You have to approach it that way. You're only a few games to the wild card spot, but the Tigers have made more noise. If you're best player to get picked off a spot like that, inexcusable. So I mentioned, obviously,

the Yankees are in. Hey, they're on the TV right now with the goggles and the champagne and everything. Aaron Boone said, quote, we weren't a great team last year and this team has a chance

to do something special. Do you agree? I do. It's funny. You talk to Yankees fans here in the area and a lot of them are concerned because you know it's been an odd year in baseball that there's been no 100 win team there's been no true juggernaut you have thought start of the year oh dodgers might win 110 yankees might win 100 phillies 100 no it's not gonna happen but yeah phillies might win 98 that'd be the most games yankees and dodgers will probably be 95-win teams, which is excellent, but just not juggernaut

to the past. But I'm with Booney. Obviously, you know, we're old friends from our days at ESPN, and I love the guy. He doesn't get the credit he deserves because the Yankees have so many stars,

but he's a good manager. Every year he's there, they make the playoffs. Last year was the one notable exception. Otherwise, they're always in. The Yankees have made the playoffs eight of the last ten seasons.

Now, I know playoffs isn't good enough for Yankees fans. They want to win a World Series. Haven't won since 2009. I got it. But they've got the best record in the American League. And when it's all said and done, I think for many people, they're going to be the favorite come playoff time. Now, we all know the playoffs are a crapshoot. One bad series, a couple of bad losses, one starting pitcher injury, everything

changes. But there's a reason why he's bullish on this team, and he should be. They're not prohibitive favorites, but they're still the favorite. They're going to be the one seed that's won last series to get tripped up in a wildcard series. They win three in the division series, could face the Astros again, their nemesis in the ALCS,

and who knows from there. But I think for a team that made some moves in the offseason, acquiring Stroman, most notably acquiring Soto, a healthy judge who's had an insane season. Heal and Wells are both going to look at the year conversation. Volpe's got another strong year in the second season. There's been lots of good things. That pilot under the radar is Carlos Rodonca, like 15 wins.

That's crazy. You would have thought this would be a horrible contract after last year, but he's bounced back. And even with Garrett Colby not much of the season, the Yankees have the best record in the American League. Adnan, why does Poppy dislike Otani so much? Well, it's funny. You know, there's always somebody, right?

Whenever there's a good thing, if they start to complain and start to nitpick and say, yeah, but how about this? So last year, I'm watching Otaniani and he gets his 49th stolen base and an advance of third on the air. And I'm with Buck Showalter, four-time manager of the year, Mike Lowell, World Series MVP. And Buck kind of makes a comment about like, oh, God, for God's sakes, Mike could steal 50 bases in today's game.

And I'm like, listen, I get it. It's different. I understand the fact that pitchers are going to hit the room once and disengage once. But it's not like everyone is Vince Coleman. Like, if everybody had 100 stolen bases and Otani was like 25th in stolen bases with 50, I'd be like, okay, fair enough. He still has the second most stolen bases in the National League.

To me, that's mind-boggling considering how big he is. Like, he's 6'5", 230s. He just runs like a gazelle. He's second in stolen bases by Nelly De La Cruz. And the home runs are home runs. You can't tell me dimensions have changed. He doesn't get cheated on in his home runs. He gets moonshots.

So the fact that we're sitting here in the middle of September and saying there's a guy who has 48 home runs and 49 stolen bases and nobody in the history of baseball in 150 years has ever had 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a single season, I don't care if you're Poppy, I don't care if you're Buck Schultz, I don't care who you are. You can poo-poo it and be cynical. I think it's amazing.

Who is a better hitter, Poppy or Otani? Well, it's funny. Poppy in the postseason was incredible. There's no question about it. I was at that 2013 World Series, and he puts the team on his back. I believe he had like 688 in the World Series. I remember looking at those numbers and saying,

that should be a slugging percentage on his batting average. So there's no doubt Papi was amazing in the playoffs, so he definitely laid the ball in the back because Otani's done nothing so far in the postseason because he hasn't been in there yet. But I would think better pure hitter, I would still take Otani. I think Otani, if you took David Ortiz and Otani, like, you know, I won that back,

so to speak, to drive it around, I'd take Otani. I think they've both got great power, they can both make contact, they both make adjustments. I would still take Shawnee because Ortiz, until he was 28, was terrible. Think about that. The twins BFA'd him. They got rid of him. The Red Sox acquired him, and it completely changed his life and changed his career.

Otani, at the age of 30, is about to be a 37 MVP and could win a Cy Young next year. Just even as a pure hitter, I'd take Otani. Who's the best hitter you've ever seen? I'll go with Barry Vaughn still, just because he would get one pitch, Jason. Like, it was insane. Like, he'd get nibbled and nibbled and nibbled, and he'd get one pitch, and he'd get it 470 feet.

You know, that's just insane. And I get it. I'm not saying I put him in the Hall of Fame tomorrow. I understand the whole debate about steroids and cheating, and yes, he absolutely did that. But if you're just telling me as a fan, when I was watching games, who was the best hitter I ever saw? Because he would get on base, and when he

hit that one pitch, it would do damage. It was Barry Bonds. I was feeling really old the other day because I read an article about how good it is now to hit 300, and I still remember the years we'd be halfway through the year and there'd be a conversation like can this guy hit 400 for the first time since ted williams do you remember

though are you old enough for those conversations absolutely tony gwynn in 1994 was hitting 394 and then the strike happened and i'm like that's the last time i remember someone saying like oh you can legitimately make a run at 400 who else would it be but tony gwynn and you're right in the past like i remember thinking okay hit 300 that's about 360 on base 480 sluggish or great numbers and now you're gonna get like nine guys and above 300 that's crazy man that's just i know like if you do the math on that you go hang on it's it's 25, 26-man rosters times 30, but it's 600 players and 10 dudes and they hit 300? Like, that's nuts.

You've got about 30 guys at 300. Like, absolutely. That was a real benchmark. I worked with Sean Casey the other day, and the fact that he can say he was a lifetime 300 hitter and he played 12 seasons like that, to me is an extraordinary accomplishment. I don't believe you're a lifetime 300 hitter. It's awesome. that to me is an extraordinary accomplishment. I don't, like, I cannot believe your life has been

hitter. It's awesome. I know batting average has been diminished and we just focus now on base percentage instead. And of course, blocks are important.

But I'm with you, Jay. That's nuts that we don't have those guys that we're used to. Batting champions, a rise hit at 320 and be a batting champion.

That's nuts. I remember when John Ulrud was flirting with it. And I think he ended up hitting 363 on the season. Alfred, your guy, Wade Boggs, did it a few times. That was always the conversation in Boston.

Wade Boggs did it a bunch. George Bratt used to flirt with it every couple of years. There was a bunch of guys that were in that conversation. Last thing about Wade Boggs, always ate chicken before every game. He was all protein before everybody else was on it. It was his staple. Yeah, he had a bunch of habits. Yeah.

We're speaking to Ed and a bunch of habits. Yeah. We're speaking to Ed and Ed Verk from MLB Network here on the Half and Abrupt Show on Sportsnet 650. I didn't confer with Jason about this

before the show, but I'm going to say it. Our show is going to jump on the Milwaukee Brewers bandwagon for the playoffs. I've decided on behalf of us.

You did this before actually. You got into Christian Yelich for a couple days. Yeah, I'm done with it though. I'm not doing it. You can do it. I did it. into Christian Jelic for a couple days. Yeah, I'm done with it, though. I'm not doing it.

You can do it. I did it. And then I got bored with it. Well, here, I'm going to try and pique your interest again. Okay. So one, Bob Uecker. Love him. That was very cool that they brought him out yesterday

for the celebrations. He's 90 years old. He looks fantastic. Okay, I'll do it for Uecker. Uecker's great. The Brewers, despite being this really small market team, this is their sixth postseason appearance in seven years, which is great. Of course, they've never won a World Series. We know this.

I did not realize the amount of departures that they had from last season to this season, including the manager, Craig Council. I knew about that. He went to Chicago, one of their bitter rivals, but they lost a lot of talent off this roster, yet still managed to go back to the dance. Now, my question for you, Adnan, is all this energy going to be wasted? Do the Brewers have a shot here? Or am I going to be supporting a team for like five games this postseason? Honestly, Mike, I will back you up with this insane statement.

And we're all proven right. We can play this back. I think there's a better chance of a Guardians Brewers World Series for the Yankees and the Dodgers. And I'll tell you why. Because the Guardians have an elite bullpen. And come playoff baseball, it's all about off days and how you can manipulate your roster and your bullpen. You don't even really

need, it feels like two starters. And you can figure things out. And Kloss is the best closer in the game. Our boy Josh Naylor, 30 home runs, 104 RBI, career season. Ramirez is also a 30-30 guy. Stephen Kwan makes contact. They don't strike out a ton. They've got more slugging. I'm kind of a big Guardian sneaky pick

against the World Series, and as we all know, they never won. So I haven't won Tuesday since 1948. The Brewers, similar to Cleveland, don't have much starting pitching. Peralta's awesome. After that, gets a little lean. But they've got an elite bullpen. Willie Adamas is your 30 home run, 109 RBI guy. That's their Josh

Naylor. William Contreras might be the best catcher in baseball. He's awesome. And they don't strike out a ton, and they play outstanding defense. So both those teams are very reminiscent of the 2015 Royals. Again, not great starters, but good back-to-ball guys and great bullpens. Whereas the Dodgers currently have

one-and-a-half pitchers. Like, Jack Flaherty's been amazing since the trade. Yellow Motors had two starts where he went four innings and backed in. And Bobby Miller went to AAA. And Glassman was done. And Kershaw's hurt. And Gonsal's on the mix. And I'm like, oh my god, like, I love their offense, and they can bash. Maybe Mookie Betts

will just hit home runs and Freddie Freeman and O'Tonnie and all the rest of it. But the Dodgers have some concerns. Now, the Yankees, I like a little more. But, again, they've got worries with regard to their bullpen. So, for Milwaukee, their biggest challenge will be not a lot of starting pitching. And they've never done it before. As you said, they've never won a World Series. Even the last few years, this is their third Central Division title in four years,

yet nothing ever happens. Like last year, it was kind of my pick. I'm like, oh, here go the Brewers. And then Arizona swept them. So, I hope it happens, man. My sister-in-law is from Wisconsin. I would love to see it happen with the people of Milwaukee in honor of Robin Yeltsin, Paul Moller, and all the rest of it.

But they'll be chasing some ghosts for sure. Have you had time to read the report in The Athletic on the Chicago White Sox and what happened this season and target on Jerry Reinstorf, the owner? I haven't, but I'm sure it's a good read and I'll get to it. It was interesting. I was looking at it yesterday. I go through all the games of the day on MLB Network and I said, White Sox Angels. What poor soul has

to watch White Sox Angels yesterday? I try to think of some interesting storylines. Among the people we can blame, I looked at Ioan Mankata's numbers. He signed a five-year, $70 million contract. He spent like 25 games this season. It's absolutely useless. And he's got like a $20 million

option, which will not get picked up for next year. And I'm like, it's just another one of the many catastrophic decisions that they made that just have not worked out. But it's... We're seeing history, boys. It's funny because now it's obviously going to happen, but even in July, it felt inevitable.

It's like, oh, well, if they can just go a 10-5 streak, they haven't done 10-5 in years. It's not going to happen. And Brady's size will wear it as will Patriots' or full, but they're going to obliterate the record. If you're going to lose 120 games, you might as well lose 125. That's right. Yeah, it's an interesting read, actually,

and it basically suggests that, not surprisingly, considering how the White Sox are doing this year and decisions like hiring Tony La Russa, the 88-year-old Jerry Reinsdorf, the fact he brought back Tony LaRusso, and again, it's not Tony's fault that things did not work out, but it's pretty nuts that it was like, yeah, I'm going to go back to my, it's like a scene out of a notebook. He's like, I'm going to rekindle this lost love and figure out what went wrong. I'm like, oh, Tony LaRusso was gone. It was the 80s. He got rid of him. He went and had other success.

They figured it out. But eventually, it's a young man's game. And there's some owners who just let their people do it, and there's other owners who are more meddlesome, I would say. I get it. It's your money. You can do what you want. It's your team.

But it's a shame what's happened. It really is. I don't see it getting any better anytime soon. It's a disaster. Adnan, this was great as always, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

The weekend, we'll do this again next Thursday. All right, Mike. Thanks, Jay. Go Brewers. Thanks buddy. Appreciate it. Adnan Virk here from MLB network on the health and breath show on sports net six 50.

I'm sorry that I anointed us a brewer show without asking you first, but I feel like it was a kindred spirit thing with you. Well, yeah, I'm okay with it, but I'm also curious about the Padres. So one of the Padres are sad club to one of my best buddies is a Padres fan. And it's funny because so Padres are a sad club, too. One of my best buddies is a Padres fan. And it's funny because Padres fans are in this.

They've spent huge, huge for this lineup. Right? Can we sneak in? Yep. And it's just, you know, it's a maddening team to watch. Because with the talent that they have, they should be winning ballgames hand over fist. They should have been in the playoffs already. But they're kind of scratching and clawing and squeaking their way.

And it's not unlike the Mariners. Some boneheaded mistakes at bonehead times. Although no one, no one has made more catastrophic errors on the base paths this year than the Mariners. Remember when that was the Blue Jays thing where they were terrible base runners? Well, yeah. Not this year because they didn't even get in enough advantageous positions to make the mistakes. If we never get on base, we can't make those mistakes.

This year, the Mariners are terrible, a terrible base running team. Terrible. So the Brewers are the team that you would like to break the World Series drought the most. So Cleveland has the longest drought for World Series at 75 years, which is a while, but at least they've won one. And the Brewers have never won one. In 1948. The Brewers.

1948, a few years after the war ended. Yeah. And then you've got a group of three that have really long droughts. The Brewers, Padres, and Mariners. And not only do they have droughts, they've never won them. And the Mariners kind of stand alone because they've never even been to a World Series. Right. So the Brewers have.

And so have the Padres. But it was the Brewers. Now, it's a little bit of an asterisk because the Brewers, remember when they were in the American League? They were in American League too. Yeah, yeah. That was when Robin Yount was there. Yeah. That's when they made it.

They used to kill the Blue Jays down the stretch, not because the Brewers would be, they would just be on the Blue Jays schedule. Yep. And the Blue Jays would get them and get swept by them and then choke down the stretch. That would happen all the time. So since the Brewers have gone to the National League.

I was like, God, they're going to County Stadium again. That place is a nightmare. You can't deal with Robin Yount. He's unstoppable. Actually, him and Paul Molitor mentioned it. Well, I used to like the Brewers because the C's were the farm team for the Brewers for a number of years in the PCL. Yeah, I think that's

why Dale's fame was here. Yeah, yeah. It was. Yeah, that's right. We're digging deep in the archives here. God, we're old. Any idea what we're talking about? Remember when they nearly hit 400? Arash, do you have any idea what we're talking about? Remember when they nearly hit 400? Arash, do you have any idea what we're talking about right now? I'm trying. I'm trying. Hey,

baseball's fun. Baseball is fun. Thank you. That's good. Okay, let's dive back into the Dunbar-Lemmer text message in basket here. 650-650. Training camp kicks off officially today. So the big news off the ice is that Thatcher Demko is going to meet with the media.

We've talked a lot about what to expect on the ice. If you want to weigh in, if you have questions, conversations, you want us to dive into anything again, text in Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650. I'll also use this moment to remind you to send in your,

what we learned. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know if you want anything across the NHL as all 32 teams are ready to kick off training camps. We didn't mention that the Vancouver Whitecaps got another result yesterday, a 1-1 draw down in Houston against the Dynamo. That's a good result.

Did they play well? Nope. No. Actually, okay. They were very poor in the first half, and they conceded a late penalty. Actually, Pedro Vitae was on a yellow and then had a slide tackle in the box

and everyone was like, well, here comes your second yellow, but the referee never produced it. So they got very lucky, very lucky there. And then shout out to Brian White, who's been out for about six weeks with concussion protocol. He came back yesterday off the bench as a substitute. In his return, got back on the score sheet, 13th goal of the year. So he evened it up, and they got a draw 1-1 in Houston.

I just want them to do something in the playoffs. Canadian Championships a week yesterday. Yeah, we've won that. Got to win it again. Honestly, I'm over the Canadian Championship. No offense, I went to both the games. Great. It was great to see them win something.

What a lack of patriotism. Why do you hate your country? That's my question. Because there's three MLS teams in this country, and the Whitecaps usually get to the final by beating none of them. Someone's got to win it. Someone has to be the best team in Canada. Why not us?

And then they always host it, which seems advantageous. I'm getting tickets. I'm excited to go. I see what you're saying. No, but they need to go into the playoffs and do something. Yeah. Did you see the El Trafico the other day? That was a pretty entertaining game.

I did. It was crazy. It looks like a totally different level of both soccer and excitement. I'm glad you're bringing this up. Okay. So I watched. All the other listeners are like, I wish he wasn't bringing this up. Well, we're almost going to go to commercial.

So just hold tight. Just wait. Just wait through this soccer talk. We'll get to some commercials soon. Don't worry. That league, I was texting. We got some real good commercials coming up, I swear. They're more exciting than soccer. There is a level right now where I'm not going to say MLS is like a high-end league.

We're not going to go there. We know what MLS is. But the higher-end teams that are spending like crazy have put together some pretty good talent. Like, there's a lot of fodder in the league still. There's a lot of all-Sorans. And the San Jose Earthquakes are one of the worst teams I think I've ever seen at a professional.

They're awful. However, like, last night I was watching the Galaxy play, and they've got, like, Marco Reus, who is just playing for Germany and is one of the most decorated German internationals of all time. Ricky Puge. They've got like really good players.

LAFC has Giroux and Boanga and they've got like really high end players. And maybe it doesn't all come together on the regular. Maybe MLS still kind of looks like second rate soccer to some, but you know, there is, I see where the league is going, and they've got so much money, and they've got the ability to buy players. I don't know if you're aware of this or not, everyone, but there's a lot of European leagues that are struggling to pay players, and players looking to get paid are either going to Saudi or they're going to MLS.

And I do think that there's something afoot here where the league might end up being a lot better in a hurry than I think a lot of people are expecting it to. That's all I'm saying. But are there going to be some teams that get left behind? Yes, the ones that can't spend. Like maybe the one locally. Yeah.

Okay, we got to go to break. Oh, I got to do the CFL report. Can you filibuster for one sec while I bring this up? Okay. I was just waiting for the entire soccer thing to end, and I'm like, okay, where do I find my gap? I got to find my gap. Coming up next, we will talk with Sam McKee out of Toronto.

We'll talk about the, well, we'll talk a bit about the Leafs, but more importantly, we'll talk about the news that Rodgers is the new majority owner of MLSE and what that is going to mean for the teams in Toronto. Could it mean maybe one day down the line that the NFL comes to Toronto? Are they going to be interested in TFC? Are they going to be interested in still owning the Argos? And then 8 o'clock, we'll talk to Thomas Drance, head of Canucks training camp. Have I said enough words?

Thank you very much. That was very good. It is time now for the Canadian Football Report, brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. BC Lions not in action this week, but they will be keeping an eye on Saturday's game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Edmonton Elks. Winnipeg 7-6-0, Lions 7-7-0.

So they've got a chance to claim top spot in the West with a victory. Edmonton will look to keep from that going. Now, the big game in the CFL this week is in the East. Now, all these ties are making things very confusing. It is the 10-2-1 Montreal Alouettes taking on the 8-4-1 Ottawa Red Blacks for Supremacy in the East. Other games this weekend, Toronto, who we saw last week, take care of business in BC.

They will take on Greg Ballack's Hamilton Tiger Cats. And finally, a game that doesn't really matter that much, but they're still going to play it. It's the Rough Riders and the Stamps from Calgary in the West. That's a Friday night affair. That is your Canadian Football Report brought to you by Security in Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. 7.33. What is this? I like this a lot. All I'm thinking is... I really like this. This is a sitcom theme song. 80s family sitcom. Yes.

Yeah. Like I said, they've either got like a butler or a robot daughter. Robot daughter? Yeah. Small Wonder. Oh, yeah. Was that 80s though? Yes.

Or was that 90s? Was it? They were not doing that in the 90s. As long as we have each other kids. That's right. Look up Small Wonder. It was a very definitive 80s show. Yeah, you're right. 85. I never watched it. What was the one? There was

one. The dude was a sort of like rotund basketball coach and he had like 10 kids or 8 or something. Oh, yeah. He might have been called. Yeah, anyway. What was that called? Ten was in it. Just the Ten of Us or something like that? I don't know. Just the Ten

of Us. The music's perfect for it. I know. I don't know. And that was the thing, is that when you made a new sitcom, you had to outdo the previous one, so you just had... One of the tropes was just more kids.

Oh my God, I got it right. Just the 10 of us. Oh really? I thought you were making that up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then there's one, it's like we need more kids. And then the show's called Baker's Dozen, right?

Like you need more. You just keep going. From the makers of Just the 10 of Us and I Can't Believe We Have 11 Kids. Stand-up comedian Bill Kirkenbauer played Coke, Coke, Coke, Coke. Yeah,kenbauer played Coach Graham Lubbock, a teacher and the head of a large Catholic family with eight children living in Eureka, California. That was a show.

Wow. Yeah. We used to make television. You guys are Catholic? How many seasons? Yeah. Yeah. We are.

Yeah. Help me. We do have a guest on hold, by the way. Yeah, it's Sam. I didn't even know he was going to be on the show. It's all right. Sam McKee is going to join us in just a moment here from Fan 590 in Toronto. Before we get to Sam, I need to tell you that, one, you're listening to a real radio show.

Two, it's called Halford & Brough. Three, Halford & Brough in the morning. We've got sponsors and everything. It's brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for,

sales, financing, service, or parts. What's going on in Toronto with the Maple Leafs? Let's go now to Fan 590 in Toronto. Sam McKee joins us here on the Halford & Ruff Show

on Sportsnet 650. What up, Sam? How you doing? I'm good, fellas. I was doing some Googling of just the 10 of us while you guys were talking about it there. You had me uh on hold uh it was lasted one full season in

1988 the year i was born but it did win a primetime emmy award for the most outstanding lighting direction in a comedy series so i do remember the lighting being really in that show was spectacular boys i just I remember watching that season when I was a baby being like, God, this lighting. They're crushing it. It was actually a spinoff of Growing Pains, believe it or not. Oh, my God. Wow, there you go.

I did not know that. I think he coached, I don't know, Kirk Cameron or something. He coached Boner in basketball? He might have. Yeah. It's the bone. Anyway, Sam, let's start with the big corporate news with MLSE. And we'll try not to get going from growing pains to the big corporate news.

Here we go now. We'll try not to get fired as we talk about this. I personally think it was a tremendous deal. What are people talking about in Toronto? What impact could it possibly make? I am too dumb to know really what it means I think but like I mean my group chats with all my buddies are like wow congrats on owning the lease now but I know you already own

the Jays now you own the lease so I got a lot of that in my life but I I don't know I was all men talking on this call that worked for Rogers I can't picture it being a bad thing or maybe they spent all our money on the on the MLSC and we're all done but i don't know i'm not smart enough to know but it feels like a good thing is that a sufficient answer well i just wonder if it'll clear the way for some things because i think when you had mlsc and it was owned by rogers and it was owned by bell and larry tannenbaum had a piece of it. To make decisions was tough because you had to come to a consensus on decisions. And I just wonder if, for example, Rodgers still wants to own the Argos or even if Rodgers, does Rodgers still want to own TFC?

Is there a way that Ed Rogers, I know there are different rules about who can own NFL teams, but could the NFL possibly one day come to Toronto? Yeah, I've been looking for a team for a long time, boys. That'd be pretty exciting for me. I think it is, you know, I think a lot of it is just being one of the biggest, being able to say you're one of the biggest sports entities on planet earth now right like i think there's no quibbling with that that

with all that's underneath this rogers umbrella now that it's one of the biggest in the world i'm sure for all the rich guys that that seems and feels pretty good so i'm sure that was a big part of it as well but yeah i mean nfl in can in Canada, I mean, we tried it, I think, once in Toronto. It was the Seahawks and the Bills, I'm pretty sure. I don't think it went great. A story about that, I think you guys have J.D. Bunkus on your show once in a while, right? His government name is Giannis.

So I won't totally sewer him here, but he was on the sidelines and he was doing like a sideline. He was like an intern at this point. And they offered him this job as, like, a sideline guy for, like, the weekend or whatever. And they're like, we now go down to Janice Bunkett. He's a Seahawks fan, too.

Oh, he's a diehard Seahawks fan. He loves the Hawks. So I always, once in a while, like to call him Janice, just for a quick reminder, just to keep his head on his straight but uh yeah that's my bills in toronto story but it would be so sick to have an nfl team in canada i'm sure you know the people out in vancouver be like well why don't we get it if toronto gets it i know you guys like to talk like that you know i don't want to have the too big of the you know the little brother syndrome or whatever but i would love a trial nfl team in toronto and then i could actually care about one. I could actually care about one.

We're the little brother, but we're more handsome. That's no question. You are definitely more handsome than us. What is more likely? This is a tough question for you. Maybe it's not. What is more likely to happen in the future, an NFL team in Toronto or a second NHL team in Toronto?

I think what's more likely, I would probably say the second hockey team. No? Like, it just feels like such a pipe dream. The NFL is so American. And I guess we would have said that about the NBA, too, before they got the Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies, RIP. But I don't know.

It just feels like such a more American thing and that the pushback like are you going to move a team is it going to be expansion i i have a hard time picturing it kipper's theory on our show for a long time last year when we were talking about the we always like to talk about the second team thing you know when there's nothing else to talk about that's a fun conversation that we like to have and his theory was that maybe that the least would be the rogers team and that bell maybe would have a separate team in toronto yeah his theory was that maybe that the Leafs would be the Rogers team and that Bell maybe would have a separate team in Toronto. That's what I was wondering.

Yeah, his theory was that forever. And then when they bought up MLSC, it was like, oh, is he on to something here? But I'm not sure what actually happened. But I think the second team in Toronto, maybe if it was part of this deal, maybe down the road that they wouldn't be able to block it, that would be part of it. I would love it so much. Like there's, you know, there's nothing I would love more than to hate that team with all my heart.

That would be one of my passions and to just crapple over all the people that switched. I've talked about that forever. And it would be the best thing ever just to be able to, you know, make fun of them for being traitors. So I think that's more likely, but I got to tell you, I think neither are very likely at all. I find a hard time believing either happens. Well, the Leafs will always maintain that they can block it. And with the lack of any sort of momentum to actually, you know,

add a second team in Toronto, you got to imagine that people – Is it really going to hurt the bottom line? Is it really going to hurt the Leafs? No, no, no. But there's got to be a price for everything. Yeah. Right? Like if you go up to now Rogers,ech. No, no, no. But there's got to be a price for everything. Yeah. Right? Like if you were to go up to now

Rogers, MLSC, and say we'll give you $4 billion to allow us into your market. Yep. You know, is that anyway? I don't know. They probably would do that. I would imagine if they could make, you know, they, listen, Rogers, a great company, they like to make money. I'm sure if someone

offered them $4 billion for anything, they'd consider it. So, what a great company, fellas. Love it. Let's talk a little bit of Toronto Maple Leafs. They are a terrific company. Just a wonderful company. Just amazing. And you can quote me on that. Put that in my file, please. Can you talk about the big questions that are going around with the Toronto Maple Leafs? I have heard about William Nylander getting another shot at playing center. I think I read something about Mitch Marner should be the 2C, but is it going to be

Tavares until further notice? We all know that Austin Matthews is the 1C, but is that the pressing question around Toronto right now? I think the pressing question is, will this last longer than 10 minutes of the first like preseason practice thing that they do because last year keith said it on the first availability

he's like yeah we're gonna try willie at center and then it disintegrated within 10 minutes i don't remember one memory of him at center they have never really given it a run and he's clearly good enough to play center willie and for me, that is something that can really open up this team. Talking about the center depth after Matthews and Tavares and they're searching for something. If Willie can play it capably, not only will his contract start to look better, it really opens up things for this team.

So I think that's one of the big questions. I think the biggest question is the goaltending. And, you know, you guys are dealing with that out there too. We all know the story out there with Demko and all the the doubts surrounding him so you guys know full well i mean i'm really bullish on joseph wall's potential as a goaltender no question but i think his career high is 24 25 starts here fellas and you know we're one uh we're one knee tweak away from anthony stolar's matt murray combination for four months so that's a little bit terrifying when it comes to the leafs knee tweak away from Anthony Stolarz and Matt Murray combination for four months. So that's a little bit

terrifying when it comes to the Leafs. But the biggest question for me is the lack of questions. Like, sure, Mack is patch ready. Maybe he'll make his way into the four. Where's Nick Robinson? But they're just all the same questions we've been asking for five, six, seven years here. So I think it's, you know, having

a new coach, new captain, they tried to make it as different as possible. But I think the biggest question is the lack of questions. How's that? Well, especially when Mitch Marner won't answer them too, right? Like he immediately shuts that down. What are we expecting to say? I never know what we want these guys to say about their contracts. They always say the exact same thing, right?

Like, well, I'm not talking about this. We're not going to talk about this. Like, I love Toronto. I just, I was off yesterday, fellas. I didn't watch one minute of them. I couldn't bring myself to listen to the same thing. I listened to this same press conference with these guys saying the same thing. Like, if I heard, hear Tavares say that they're learning one more time,

I'm just like, I might have to move to a cabin in the woods. I can't learn anymore. So this actually brings up a fairly good point. Is the fan base getting tired of this team? I think it's a fun thing to talk about, but push comes to shove. People watch every night and people cheer for them. And when the regular season, when the going's good, they're all the best guys in the world. It's it's a yearly it's a rotation it's like fall and

spring baby the fall we're all you know well there's no contract for Marner but the season starts and he's lighting it up and then they probably sign him to a contract and everybody's loving Marner again and he's looking great oh maybe it is different this year wow he looks really great and then the playoffs start he stinks stinks. Oh, they got to trade him. And then the summer goes by, everybody kind of dulls the edges and then we go into the fall and do the exact same thing. But ultimately, I think Leaf fans are just going to be

there's certain sections of Leaf fans that can't stand the team. And I have buddies in my life that are like, I don't know if I'm going to watch 30 games. And I have buddies in my life that are like, oh, our Leafs, this is their year. So it's a very interesting fan base with the levels of pessimism. There are always going to be pessimistic fans. There's always going to be happy fans.

But I think generally people are pretty excited for the season and their defense is better and they have some great players on the team. But there's obviously some pessimism because of the same guys over and over. But, like, you know, I lived lived my 20s boys was 2010 like 2010 on some bad teams here like it could be a hell of a lot worse so i i think there is some pessimism but i think people will move on from it pretty quickly once the leafs start and they look pretty good again yeah it's not like you're trying to talk yourself into a top line of like tyler bozak and jane van reensteig anymore like it's a different team right the conversations i had

about drabowski macarthur coolaman, boy, I had some combos, fellas. Oh, my God. I remember chatting with a Leafs fan here in Toronto, and I'm like, Bozak's not a real 1C. He's like, he is, he is. I'm like, okay. I had some Peter Holland takes back in the day. I had some takes here, boys.

And they weren't crypto takes. They were hockey takes. We're speaking to Sam McKee from fan 590 in Toronto here on the Halford and Ruff show on Sportsnet 650. Sam, here's one for you. No, one's going to shed any tears for a guy making $11 million a year,

but as John Tavares kind of become a little bit of a sympathetic figure. I actually do feel like that. And I feel like them taking the sea off of his crest or off his Jersey or whatever, really, really changed the perception of him and did turn him into a sympathetic, a sympathetic figure. I think you're bang on with that,

that the amount of conversations I had with the same people where they were like, this guy, he's no good. He can't make an 11 million bucks. He shouldn't be the captain. And then like the fact that when they actually did it, they're like, whoa, I don't know if they actually should have done that.

He's only got one year left on his contract. The perception flip for Tavares and the seeming move down the lineup and the less responsibility I think could be awesome for him. Where Matthews now is the guy that's got to talk after every single game. He has to be the first guy out there like Tavares was for seven years did it like no one has ever done it more professionally than him like he never said one notable thing after all these gut-wrenching losses like he never ever got into it ever with like I can't believe how professional he was

like robotic and he's so boring when he talks. He could sell just him talking about the Leafs as a sleep aid. We had him on a real Kip Rimborn, I don't know, maybe when he played his 1,000th game, was that last year, the season before, whenever he played his 1,000th game, we had him on. And I just was trying my best to be like what is going to be the notable clip from this like what are we going to pull from this and my eyes were crossing boys i'm like i

this is i can't there's nothing i it's amazing and he talks for so long and he never says anything so i'm just i'm impressed with how much of a professional he was for that long here and you know the media here everybody gets on and over being so mean or whatever and he never says anything. So I'm just, I'm impressed with how much of a professional he was for that long here. And you know, the media here, everybody gets on and over being so mean or whatever, and he never got into it. And now I think he has a chance that he doesn't have to talk after every game where there's a chance where he can just kind of slide away,

be the third line center and the expectation shift on him and the change of perception. I think you're bang on with that. I really think it's going to be a good year for him where it's just less responsibility flat out. Sam, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. I really think it's going to be a good year for him where it's just less responsibility flat out. Sam, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it.

My pleasure. Yeah, was it me and the 10 of us or just the 10 of us? Just the 10 of us. That's all the people listening. Just the 10 of us. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, buddy.

Sam McKee. Talk to you. 5.90 in Toronto here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet. 6.50. 10 might be overshooting it by a few.

Andy Strickland out of St. Louis just passed along a bit of a breaking news tweet. He said that NHL owners will be meeting soon to approve the expansion opening. I don't know if that's the right way to put it, but just the opening of accepting expansion bids. And he says that the leading candidates are believed to be Tillman Fertitta in Houston. And I believe his name is Vernon Krause in Atlanta. Atlanta. Atlanta.

This time it'll work. Third time's the charm. They still need to build an arena atlanta and if you're interested in this sort of thing uh scott burnside actually has an article up on sportsnet.ca and the headline is why new why the new arena is complex critical component to atlanta's nhl return i think they've got a couple of potential sites there and And I will just throw this question out. Has any city in North America been through more stadiums or arenas than Atlanta? Yep.

Now I got another guy waiting. It's crazy, man. How many stadiums have the Braves played in? 30? It's less. And the Falcons have had a few too. Because the Falcons in my lifetime played at Fulton County where they shared with the Braves and then they went to the Georgia Dome, which they had for the Olympics in 96.

And then when the Georgia Dome was not old, they build that fancy one that they've got right now is the Mercedes-Benz. Is that what it's called? Atlanta Fulton County Stadium to the Georgia Dome to Mercedes-Benz. And then the Braves went from Fulton County Stadium to, I think they moved into the Olympic Stadium, right? I will tell you.

I think that's what they used. They retrofitted the Olympic Stadium, because the Georgia Dome actually had like gymnastics in it. Okay. People at the top deck were like, I can't see anything. They went from Fulton County Stadium to Turner Field. Which was the Olympic Stadium, I think. And now it's called Truist Park. Truist.

Truist. Which is in the suburbs, I think. Question, what has changed since the Thrashers that they think there would be enough people in the city of Atlanta that would be interested in a hockey game? They'll put the arena in the right place. Put the arena in the right place. Is that all they think? So is this like the Phoenix thing? Like, if it's in the right place, they'll come.

Like, is that all it is? There's TNT. I mean, there's something to it. There's something to it. It's one of the biggest markets that they're not in. Tell me three things about Atlanta, A-Dog. I have no idea. Well, there's a show called Atlanta. It's pretty good. Nice. That counts. I get it, though. I get the skepticism. You know, you go there

twice, it doesn't work out. Third time's the charm. I mean... It just seems like a big gamble. That's all I guess. But know, you go there twice, it doesn't work out. Third time's the charm. I mean... It just seems like a big gamble, that's all I guess. But where would you go? Where would be less of a gamble? Don't say Quebec. Nordiques, Nordiques. I mean, we'd all like to see the Nordiques back. Of course. I mean, yeah, Nordiques would be awesome.

I mean, Houston is usually the first one I think of as the most obvious choice, but... With the long history of hockey in Houston. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I don't know. I'm not saying they should get a hockey team. I'm just saying, like, of as the most obvious choice. With the long history of hockey in Houston. Yeah, absolutely. I don't know. I'm not saying they should get a hockey team. I'm just saying like of all the cities. I wish they didn't do expansion at all.

We got enough teams, man. We do have enough teams. It's hard enough for the Canucks to win the cup with 32 teams. Now we got 34? Very rarely do I. Come on, man. Very rarely do I. Knock it off. There's too many damn teams.

Very rarely do I agree with stuff that comes down from up high from the head of the NHL, like Batman and Daly, although we're trying to get Daly on the show. You're very pro-expansion, Mike. No, he astutely pointed out, he's like, yes, we have 32 teams, but seven of them are Canadian-based, which is unlike any other North American professional sports league, meaning there are a bunch of markets in the U.S. that they haven't gone into yet. If you want to know why they're going into Atlanta, and I hate sounding like Pratt,

but follow the money. Obviously, that they haven't gone into yet. If you want to know why they're going into Atlanta, and I hate sounding like Pratt, but follow the money. Like, it's, they've got- Obviously, yeah, it's a huge market. I get that. But it's a huge hockey market. That's almost secondary because there's so much money and they can charge so much expansion fees and everyone gets rich. Isn't Phoenix a huge market?

Phoenix would work, man. Phoenix would have worked if they had a real owner with real money. And the arena, I mean, you've never, I've been to that arena. It is just, and I'm talking about the Glendale Arena. I wouldn't go. Yeah. There's no way. They've got to figure something out in Ottawa, too.

Yeah. It was a brutal location. Isn't Ottawa getting a new stadium? I thought they were downtown somewhere. Well, LaBreton Flats is back on the do the docket but they still got to strike the deals because there's there's multiple parts to that deal labretton flats is federal land but they also got to probably work with the mayor of toronto of ottawa and they got to come up with who's going to pay for all this now eugene melnick was terrific at striking deals and then absolutely

scuttling them yep through his. So hopefully the new ownership group there is better at it, but they need a new arena. So a few arena situations to keep an eye on in addition to potential expansion. They're going to expand. There's too much money coming into the ownership groups right now to say no to it, but as a fan, I don't want it. There's too many teams. I need to see the Canucks win the Stanley Cup at some point,

and the more teams there are, the harder it is. Lots more to get to on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up in the 8 o'clock hour, we are going to do what we learned. That's going to be at 8.30. At 8 o'clock, we're going to talk to Thomas Drance from The Athletic Vancouver. He lives up in Bendicton now. We'll talk to him as training camp is set to get underway for real today. That's all in the 8 o'clock hour.

Before we go to break and turn it over to the 8 o'clock hour, I need to tell you about JanPro, the leaders in commercial cleaning and janitorial. If your workplace demands a clean environment, contact JanPro for a free no-obligation quote. Visit them online at janpro.ca. Thomas Drantz coming up, and then what we learned is also coming up in the final hour of the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.