Halford & Brough in the Morning - It's Grey Cup Weekend In Vancouver

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss McDavid's 1000th point and argue about if he might break Gretzky's points record (3:00), plus they look ahead to Grey Cup weekend with radio commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich (26:11), as there might be some big changes coming for the BC Lions.  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.

702 on a Friday. It's a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. AJ is going to join us in just a moment here

to kick off hour two. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuck from Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at Jason.Mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So what are you waiting for? Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rufy, what are you waiting for? Kintec, to the phone lines we go. Our next guest is the owner and proprietor

of the best pizza place in the world, and he has some announcements for us as well. AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, bud? What is going on? I just want to...

I've been away all week, but I just wanted to give a shout-out to my brother-in-law, Stu, who gave the Hal Bro Show those tickets, which seems to translate into maybe an epic Tuesday night. And even I listened yesterday to that hour three, those 27 minutes are Hall of Fame radio. Hall of Fame. Just like Gretzky just gets put in right yes you

just get that that that was that that was epic he's talking about the the after we were on tv and then we posted the picture to twitter and some oh whenever it was calling us ugly and gross and fat right that was yeah that part was terrible yeah that's not true at all i was saying if you ever want to make those jokes that you can't necessarily make at someone else's expense turn it on yourself and you can make all of them also I astutely pointed out that my appearance that night had nothing nothing to do

with the delicious wholesome healthy pizza at AJ's Pizza on East Broadway nothing to do with it whatsoever anyway thank you to Stu and everyone at AJ's we had a very fun night it was great now to the news at AJ's. We had a very fun night. It was great. Now, to the news at hand.

I'm glad it wasn't last night's game. Yeah, that would have been worse. That's very true. I would have cursed out your brother and locked up. Tell us what you got on tap here, AJ. What's going on? So, yeah. So, obviously, if you look at our Instagram, you know that we've been kind of sneak peeking a new place that we are opening.

It's going to hurt a few people, but I have a second announcement after that. So we are opening an AJ's in Orlando in December in a place called Winter Garden. 77 seats. Awesome place. Awesome location. If you go down to Disney World, it's about a 20 minuteminute drive, so go check it out. But for Vancouverites, we are adding 25 seats in January to our next-door location, so it's a win-win. Amazing. All right, congratulations on the global reach and the expansion to Winter Garden, Florida. I'm on the things to do and attractions on Visit Florida right now. AJ's is there, amazingly.

You're already on the website. Congratulations. That's actually the natural progression of things. You go East Broadway, then Orlando. Yeah. Right. You go the furthest place in North America. And the expansion of you.

And then you fill in the middle part. Right. We'll put one in. We're coming for you, Texas. Fly over country. Yeah. The great announcement locally, of course, is that you guys have the second part of the original shop opening up

with the 25 spots. Yeah, and that will be in January. Yeah. Hopefully we're opening February. February 1st is the goal before Super Bowl. And the goal for us is to have a Halbro Canucks watch party at the spot where we got both sides open and it's jamming and we're having a good time. Yeah, exactly.

Right on. Well, AJ, thanks again. Congratulations on the new spot and the extension of the old spot. Everyone go there this weekend for some pizza and some beer thanks buddy thanks guys have a great day you too thanks that's aj from aj's pizza on east broadway and now winter garden florida and then of course the expansion you know it's funny we've sent so many people to aj's right because we go there a lot and everything and um it's uh it's cozy it's quaint it's tight right and uh they were looking

to expand because i've never gone in there and it's not been busy because it's not the biggest restaurant on the planet. There's always people going. So very cool that they've got some more space opening up. Okay, let's do a few things in this segment. We can go into the Dunbar Lumber text line and read your Ask Us Anythings. And don't forget, there's a $100 gift card to AJ's for the best ask us anything or what we learned into the show today um we do have marty mcsorley is going to join us uh in the final segment so we'll do most of the what we learned and ask us anythings like now in this segment because we've also got moj and dolly joining us so get those in now in this segment because we've also got Moj and Dolly joining us.

So get those in now. In the meantime, let's talk about what else happened in the NHL last night because I think we've talked enough about the Canucks game. And if you want to hear that and you missed it, download the Hour One podcast. Lots of talk about it. Lots of talk and audio about it. He was not a happy man and the Canucks are going to practice today, and we'll see how that goes.

Connor McDavid in Edmonton became the fourth fastest player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points when he scored a goal in the second period in the Edmonton Oilers' eventual 3-2 overtime win against the Nashville Predators on Thursday. Dries Sutter with McDavid, 2-on-1, Dries Sutter-Prosk. What a tire score! 1,000! Only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Mike Bossy got to the 1,000-point plateau faster.

And then, just for good measure, McDavid wasn't done there. He decided to add on to his next 1,000 points by assisting on Darnell Nurse's OT winner. We got the audio here. Darnell Nurse with the overtime winner against the National Predators, who the Canucks will see this weekend at Rogers Arena. Here's dry-sundown. Waiting.

McDavid. Shadow by Forsberg. Shot to three. What a tireless score! Darnell Nurse! Edmonton three! Nashville two! In overtime!

So Sean texts in with an Ask Us Anything, and he says McDavid has 1,000 points. 1,001. Does he become the second player to hit 2,000? He is 27. Insane. 1,750 career points feels like a George Girvin finger roll. So the debate really, when it comes down to it is the last 250 points in his age 335 plus seasons i say he does it easily what say you uh i haven't done the math like apparently sean has i was told there would be no math um i think i think every it all depends on health it all depends on health like mario lemieux should have done it he He really should have. Here's the thing. Mario had, hold on a second.

Hold on. Mario only got to play 915 games in his NHL career. Yeah. And he had 1,723 points. If he had played as many as Gretzky, which was almost 1,500 games, he easily gets to 2,000 points. Mario and Connor McDavid's point totals on a point per game are not exactly comparable

because Mario was at 1.88 and Connor McDavid is 1.52, Gretzky 1.92, but I still and Connor McDavid is 1.52. Gretzky, 1.92. But I still think if McDavid stays healthy and he stays motivated, I think he gets to 2,000 points, yes. I mean, Lemieux almost needs to be in a conversation on his own in this because his career arc and the way that it went was so unique. I don't think they'll ever – there will never be another player that takes off three years, comes back,

and is still able to play it well above a point of game play. I mean, look at what he did when he left in 97 and came back in 2000. He came back after that lengthy layoff and had 76 points in 43 games. Like, no one's going to be able to do that ever again. So, put him aside.

With McDavid and Gretzky, which is the chase, right? If what we're seeing from Crosby and Ovechkin can be applied to McDavid, and that's the ability to produce at a high level into your late 30s, which is the real key, McDavid's going to own every record, every scoring record there is in the National Hockey League. He might have a harder time getting the goals, Mark, but at this point, I'm not really...

He's not going to break Gretzky's. He can break everything. 2,857? I think that is... What happens if he plays another decade? Because he hasn't played a decade yet. Technically, he's in year 10. He'd have to get better in his second decade.

I think that's very unlikely. I think everything's on the table. I think everything's on the table. I think he can play until he's 40 at this stage. Was he going to be producing like he does now at age 40? I don't know. We said the same thing about Ovechkin and Crosby. Yeah.

I mean, I never thought that Ove was going to – when Ove was at McDavid's point in his career, I never thought he'd break Gretzky's record. But 1.92 points per game for Wayne Gretzky. And he played a long time. He played almost 1500 games. The most games I think anyone's ever played was Patrick Marlowe. And he was around 1800 games. Yep. I don't know. I mean, listen, I guess it's possible. We never know where the game is going to.

Like one of the things that's allowed McDavid to set these gaudy point totals and allowed Alex Ovechkin to threaten Wayne Gretzky's goal record is that the game has opened up. The save percentage, the save percentage, the average save percentage for goalies has gone way down. Yeah. There's more goals in the NHL. I never thought we'd get to this point

where we talk about this stuff because remember where the NHL was when Ovi kind of tailed off, even when he was in his late 20s and he was scoring like 30 goals a season. He wasn't, he was in his late 20s, and he was scoring like 30 goals a season. He wasn't, like, and the most goals in a season was like, I don't know, 40 or something like that. It was crazy.

But since then, offense has taken off in the NHL. Can it continue taking off? Well, here's the question. Like, when you're saying anything is possible, I push even further on that and say, I think it's more than possible because in what world do you envision where the NHL goes backwards on these things

that starts to allow more clutching and grabbing and more physicality and more devastating hits and more goons and more guys to slow down the game? Why? Well, okay, look. I don't think that the increase in scoring necessarily has as much to do with the clutching and grabbing as you think it does because they did cut down on that and it didn't happen right away. What I think has happened is the focus more on other types of players,

more offensive types of players and strategies which create goals and also players using the new technology to essentially shoot better, learning how to shoot better. I think that's a big reason for it. I think we are going to see a push back the other way in terms of the types of players that teams add to their teams, more defensive players. Like you're seeing it in the teams that win Stanley Cups. They bring in these big lumbering defensemen that cut down chances. You know, I think there is going to be a bit of a course correction in this.

I don't think – I think, like, the chances of McDavid breaking Gretzky's point total, career point total, is 1%. It's just funny because – 1%. I think it's very, very, very unlikely. It's just funny because everything is trending in the offense in the way of increased offense. We didn't mention the goaltending.

The goaltending is trending towards, say, percentages that are below 900 becoming more and more prevalent. And the league's not going to do anything to remedy that. They're going to be like, hey, go get bigger equipment, goalies. None of that's going to happen. If anything, they're going to streamline it, making the Nats bigger. They want to pick on the goalies. They're not picking equipment, goalies. None of that's going to happen. If anything, they're going to streamline it, make it that's bigger. I'm going to pick on the goalies. I'm not picking on the goalies.

They are, but the goalies aren't. The NHL did not like it when goalies had 930 save percentages. It wasn't good for anybody aside from the guys in net. I like it. But I don't think they'll ever get to the point where they were in the 80s when Gretzky was piling up 200-point seasons. Well, they might if they go to 34 or 36 teams. You watch the clips.

He was taking clappers from the blue line right along the ice and they were beating the goalies. Gretzky's big move was sliding the puck along the ice when the goalies would be off balance. Kick at it. Because they would overplay things. And he'd be like, alright, I'm just just going to slide it into their side of the net.

The net looked way bigger when in that era, because the goalies made it look way bigger. They didn't cover as much of the net. Darren Pang was there. They're also tiny. It was still in the, in the age of, uh, put the smallest guy in there. They're quick. They're low to the ice. Yeah.

They're quick. You know, I, I just don't see it happening. But you know what? I love your optimism. Yeah. Like, I mean, whatever. I'm not going to lose any sleep if he doesn't hit the mark.

Like, I'll probably be dead by then. But, you know, if it happens, it's great. If it doesn't, it's not the end of the world. It's just a hypothetical. Bort texts in from Courtney with what we learned. More like Bortney. Hashtag WWL, what we learned. I find it kind of funny that both players,

who you guys made subtle jokes regarding their skill and contracts, were both a big factor in last night's win, Engvall and Mayfield. In fact, Engvall was named player of the game by Dave Tomlinson. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Bort, you know what Engvall and Mayfield both did last night? Scored their first goals of the season. Yeah. Islanders fans found that funny too.

Engvall was on waivers. I'm not saying – It was funny. Like, it was funny. We spent the entire day talking about the Islanders and kind of like, ah, where is this team going? We had Andrew Gross on from Newsday. It's like, ah, what are they? Like, what? They just like, ah, where is this team going? We had Andrew Gross on from Newsday. It's like, ah, what are they?

Like what? They just like, ah, you know, criticizing them and then they dismantled the Canucks. That is funny. Wasn't even making a subtle joke. Neither of them are very good. They're not. Now don't get defensive with the listeners

because people disagree with your. I'm not, I read. Where McDavid and Gretzky. Yeah, but you read it a little defensively. What are we talking about with McDavid and Gretzky. Yeah, but you read it a little defensively. What are we talking about with McDavid and Gretzky? Well, you're getting maybe a little defensive, because people don't think, don't agree with you. Well, that's fine.

People don't agree with me. I'm not saying... I'm not being defensive. You're being defensive. Yeah, you're being defensive. I mean, I'm not saying that he's going to break the record, but I'm not going to bet against Conor McDavid on anything. I'm like Leon Dreisaitl, who looks like Laddie.

You said it last night. I will bet against Conor McDavid when he's up against Wayne Gretzky in the 80s. That's who I'll bet against. I don't know. McDavid in that case. Like Gretzky. Is McDavid going to the 80s? What's going on right now?

No, no, no. Like Gretzky in the 80s. Yeah. Put up point totals in single seasons that McDavid yes 192 points will he was over that

he was over that he was over 200 points yeah he'll never be able to do that he'll never get that no and Gretzky stayed in the league a long time

he did yeah I think McDavid would have to play 2,000 games to break Gretzky's record possibly and he's not going to do that he might oh my god

he might play 3,000. What else happened in the NHL last night? So we had that. Oh, we will give some goalie love to Greg. Andre Vasilevsky became the fastest goalie to 300 NHL wins. Maybe he'll set the wins record. See, McDavid, the fastest to something. Yeah, not the fourth.

Not the third or the fourth. And more impressively, the Tampa Bay Lightning actually handed the Winnipeg Jets a loss, just their second of the season. No Hellebuck, though. 4-1, and Emily Arena, you're right, it wasn't Connor Hellebuck in net. It was Eric Comrie, Vasilevsky, the 40th goalie to hit the milestone.

So they were running down his resume yesterday. So he's got the fastest of 300 wins, a Vezna, two Stanley Cups, and a Conn Smythe. He's good. That's Hall of Fame caliber, I would suppose, yeah. On the track. He had a bit of a hiccup last year, but he had some injuries. I mean, he's not getting any younger, right?

He's on the wrong. That would be the only thing, would be the injuries slowing him down. Yeah, and it was a big win for the Lightning, who had hit the skids a little bit recently. They were 0-3, won their last four. They hadn't played in a week, anyway. We need to talk about the Bruins loss. We do need to talk about the Boston Bruins,

who lost 7-2 to the Dallas Stars in a game that had a lot of fireworks. There was a big hit by Jamie Benn on Brandon Carlo. And who was it that jumped to Brandon Carlo's defense? It was Nikita Zdorov. Jumping in there. Big scrap against Jamie Benn. Knocked him out. And that might have been a highlight for the Boston Bruins

because it was a tough loss. Although Dallas has run roughshod early on this eastern swing that they're on. They beat the crap out of the Penguins the other night. And then they did so to the Bruins as well. Dallas is a very good team. I watched some extended highlights of that one last night. They were scoring some really nice goals. And I think Matthew Shane's leading the team in goals right now.

But the focus really is on the Boston Bruins. And I don't know if Jim Montgomery has usurped Mike Sullivan as the coach on the hottest seat right now. Let's just say they're in a group of a few that are there with Greg Cronin as well. Don't forget Greg Cronin. The personal indictment of Greg Cronin. Things don't go well for people when I, you know, like look at Shane Wright in Seattle right now.

Might be on his way to the American League. Well, he should be. He's playing 10 minutes a night. He's got two points in 17 games. But back to the Bruins. Ruff got a voodoo doll of Shane Wright at home. Yeah, I guess. All coming together.

Okay, so Jim Montgomery in Boston. It's been an issue from the start of the season, and they did have some excuses baked into the recipe. Brad Marchand underwent 18 surgeries in the offseason and didn't get a proper training camp. They had the Jeremy Swayman holdout. They were trying to implement some new guys in the lineup, including Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm.

So you thought that there might be reasons, at the very least, for a slow start. But Montgomery took a pretty bold approach here, and that was going bullseye right in between the eyes of Brad Marchand and David Pasternak, calling them

out publicly, benching them, and it hasn't really worked because the team hasn't responded, and the losses are starting to pile up a little bit. What's the one stat that I look at when I'm trying to look at the quality of a team? Goal differential. Goal differential. Boring. The Boston Bruins goal differential in 18 games is minus 16. They've still got a record that's 8-8-2, so it's not the end of the world, but minus 16 suggests to me that this is right now a bad team in Boston.

When they lose, they lose big. And if I'm one of those teams like the Ottawa Senators, and I guess we can talk a bit about the Sens because they had a frustrating loss last night or the Buffalo Sabres or the Detroit Red Wings, I'm looking at the Boston Bruins as the team that I need to beat out in order to finally get back into the playoffs. It's still going to be tough because the Panthers, the Leafs and Lightning are still there in that division.

And you got the Devils, the Hurricanes, the Rangers, the Capitals, and maybe we'll throw the Islanders in there as well. But the Boston Bruins, to me, in the East, if you're talking about the most vulnerable teams that were in the playoffs last season, it's them, which is crazy because I thought it would be the Capitals. The Capitals look pretty good. Yeah.

A couple of people are texting in. Did you see, say, Big Z beat the crap out of Jamie? Yeah, yeah. Did people miss this last night or are they shocked that it happened? I didn't see it. Or did you get the name wrong? No.

Nikita Zdorov, right? That's the guy formerly of the Vancouver Canucks now with the Boston Bruins. There was a bad hit on Brandon Carlo by Jamie Benn because the Stars played the Bruins last night.

And Zdorov was the guy that jumped to his defense. And then maybe they're arguing with my assessment of beating, but he knocked him down to the ice at the end with a good shot. And everyone was very happy. So I'm confused. This is confusing more than my assessment.

You're having a tough segment. Why am I having a tough segment? What do you mean? Everyone disagrees with your take. Not everyone. I got lots of people in here. Nobody agrees. I got right here. That McDavid can beat Gretz of people in here. Nobody agrees. I got right here.

That McDavid can beat Gretzky's point total. Nobody. Greg, there's absolutely nobody. Greg and Ladd-Wasson, they are still making rule changes for more goals. Look at the average state percentage. Okay, one texter agreed with you. And his name's Greg as well.

I wasn't even reading the inbox. One texter allows that maybe. Yeah. Okay. It's okay. It's all right. I don't... We're having a...

We're like the Canucks. We're very disconnected right now. I think one of us is disconnected right now. I just... There. Jordan and the Ridge. I stand with Mike. First thing, I don't care.

Jordan and the... I stand with Mike. Stay with Mike. Solidary. There are dozens of us. I'm not like... I'm throwing it out there like I think it could happen like I think anything could happen. It's

just a thing. I didn't realize it was a polarizing debate. David could break Gretzky's point record. Aliens may invade the Earth. Who knows what could happen? I might go to Blue Sky. Who knows? It's just that Gretzky's point total is considered if there's one famous record in the NHL that is considered unbreakable.

They used to say that about the goal record. Well, no, they didn't. They said it about the point totals record and the goal record. Which is the one you're talking about. Yeah. Lincoln and Suri ask us anything. Do you think the Canucks can realistically

upgrade their defense? Not only are they not defending well enough, besides Hughes, they also don't have, they also don't help the forwards break out very well. Well, Lincoln, that is the challenge for management. And it's also a question of timing because the longer the wait, the more cap space they have,

but also the longer they wait, the more you might have games like last night. Moj is coming up next on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. WWL, what we learned. I find it kind of funny. I find it kind of sad. The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance.

Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's the Moj. I did not eat four burgers. Yes, it's the Moj. I don't want to go to Winnipeg. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food.

It's the Moj. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. Jamalania. Yes, it's the Moj. Halpert's fine, but, you know, Bruff is just grumpy all the time. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. Halpert's fine, but, you know, Brumf is just grumpy all the time. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Moat. Alfred and Brough in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. Can I tell you something I did at the break?

You're not going to like it. Sure. I went to chat GPT and I asked, what are some NHL records that are considered unbreakable? First one that came up, Wayne Gretzky's records, most career points, 2,857. Some other ones, though. Well, Chad GPT says so. You know what? I've changed my mind.

You know what? I'm having one of my classic Halford turns a coat, and he's not going to break it. It's never going to be broken. It's an interesting topic though. Glenn Hall, consecutive games played by a goaltender, 502. Consecutive? Glenn Hall played every game and goal for more than seven seasons without a mask.

By consecutive, you mean in a row? And the other one, and I can't remember who the listener is, but someone texted in and chat GPT agrees. Tiger Williams, his total penalty minutes, 3,966. Yeah, I don't think that's getting broken. There'd have to be someone that's like, man, I got to stop tripping, guys. You fight twice every game. And even then, it's going to take a while.

So, yeah, just for the harmony of the show, whatever I said last segment, just forget it. All of you are right. I was on crack. Can we save this and rerun this every show? I was on crack. I was drinking. He's never going to break it.

He's never going to break it. Let's go to the phone lines now and talk to Moj about the Grey Cup, which is this weekend right here. He could break it. I don't think so. Rob's like, I actually know what's turning around on me now. I think he might break it.

So you're saying there's a chance. Bob the Moj Marjanovic joins us now on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Moj? You know, I've been listening. I can't believe the amount of bullying that's taken place on Halford. Halford's a great guy. He's a good guy. And you guys are

just like running roughshod over him for some of his takes. Halford's a great guy. He's a good guy. And you guys are just running roughshod over him for some of his takes. If there's one takeaway here, Bo, it's the one we've always known. Bullying works. It's totally unprofessional. I'm uncalled for. Halford, I got your back. Thanks, man. I appreciate that.

Okay, let's start with the Grey Cup this weekend. It's going to be Ryan, don't call me Fatty Arbuckle, a quarterback for the the Grey Cup this weekend. It's going to be, Ryan, don't call me fatty, Arbuckle, a quarterback for the Toronto Argonauts, Chad Kelly. Actually, it's Nick Arbuckle. Nick Arbuckle, whatever. How does Toronto win this game

with a backup quarterback going into its biggest contest of the season? Well, Toronto's defense is good enough to compete with Winnipeg, and compete we've seen during the course of the year. I think they had double-digit sacks, if I'm not mistaken, in the two games combined. Toronto's defensive line and defensive front is a force.

So if they can neutralize Winnipeg's offense and keep them, say, in the 20s or low 20s, high teens, Toronto definitely has a chance. I mean, they're going to have to get a big play out of Janarian Grant on special teams. That's a given. And then Arbuckle has to play a clean game. He can't turn the football over.

He can't give the Bombers a short field. You know, I was thinking about this. Someone was talking about tennis the other day, and we're talking about football. I mean, when you have a turnover in football, it's like breaking serve in tennis, right? And they cannot, Toronto, can ill afford to turn over the football two or three times if they win the turnover battle um and they get a player two at a generic graph they'll probably be in this

football game they might even win it okay all due respect to the gray cup which is an institution and it's here locally and it's a big deal um I'm going to move past it now. We got one question out of the way. I want to focus on the BC Lions. There were a lot of emojis put out there yesterday. There was a lot of smoke out there yesterday. You had the eyeball emoji on Twitter. Dollywall had some stuff out there. It seems like there's a lot of rumblings around the future

of the British Columbia Lions, Moj. What are you able to tell us? Well, changes will happen. Status quo can't remain. And, you know, we always talk about sports being results. You know, your performance, you have to perform.

It's a results-orientated business, and the Lions this year didn't. They regressed. They went back to a 9-9 record. I will say this, there will be changes, and they can't go with status quo. Now, some of those changes in terms of the coaching staff, there will probably be some changes there. I don't know at what level those changes will occur.

The one thing that is certain, and you can just read between the lines and read the tea leaves as they say, is that the Edmonton Elks asked for permission to talk to Ryan Rigmaid, the Lions assistant GM and director of U.S. scouting. Rigmaid declined. So if he's declining an opportunity to be interviewed for the Edmonton Elks GM position, that tells you he's getting a bump. So that'll probably be one of the things that we're going to see is Ryan Rick Mayden having an extended role in the front office. Where it goes from there and, of course, the decision-making process,

we're going to find out in the next week or two. Yeah, so there's some big-picture stuff, obviously, in the front office and probably maybe on the sideline as well, as everyone alluded to. Based on what you saw this season on the field, if there was one key personnel change or one key position that needed to be addressed, what would it be? Well, I mean, I think they're probably four or five players short.

Maybe a lineman here, a lineman there. Definitely a playmaker on defense. He'll get one back in linebacker Josh Woods. That, I think, was kind of something that flew under the radar. He was set to have a big year moving inside. And, you know, I think Josh is a terrific player,

and losing him really hurt. But I think what they need to do is they need more of a change of attitude. We talked to General Manager Neil McAvoy during our Grey Cup coverage, and even Neil agreed with this. They've got to get a couple, two or three nasty pieces of business. They've just got to get a couple of guys that have that swagger, that edge, that nastiness to them. You know, and I use the examples back in the day of a guy like, you know, the old offensive lineman, like Rob Murphy and Jason, him and his guys that are just nasty pieces of business that

will bring other players in the fight. So I think that's what they have to do as well as kind of change the overall character of the team a little bit by adding a couple of those pieces. Hey, Moj, I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit here. Randy Ambroji won't be the commissioner for much longer. He'll still be the commissioner until they find the next one. But with the new commissioner, what is the most important job for that commissioner?

Well, I think number one is raising the revenue of the league, whichever way that can occur, right? I mean, their TV contract is going to be up in a couple of years. And it was interesting, we had Solomon El-Amin on yesterday talking to him. And of course, he's the president of the CFLPA, and he talked about that. I wouldn't be surprised if they split the TV rights moving forward. I don't know if that's the case, but it wouldn't surprise me. I think the big thing is getting a 10th franchise as well. I mean, they've talked about it for decades now,

but they have to get a 10th franchise, not only for revenue, increased revenue stream, but also the fact that it's going to make scheduling so much easier. You're not going to have these two games in four days or one game in 17 days. If they can get a 10th team, it'll just make the scheduling so much easier. And like I said, increased revenue. So if I had to say there's one thing for the new commissioner, one focus,

it'll probably be to get that 10th franchise. Where do you see an area where they can increase revenue? Randy Ambroji saw it in international TV, which didn't exactly pan out. Yeah, it didn't. And, you know, in i thought it was it was a good plan but the problem is and we talked about this with sully is that it's great to have this concept that hey we're going to bring these international players in and these guys are going to be big stars back home and people are going to talk about the cfl or watch it well moji was such a dumb idea i'm sorry it was so dumb and it was no not in theory it was so far-fetched it was so stupid i cannot believe it like in theory i'll disagree

with you in theory but here's the thing you're bringing in punters it's not like it's not moving the needle right if you're bringing in a quarterback from wherever great but here's the thing they've done nothing to develop those players in those countries it's okay to say i mean you're gonna have to start what do you think they bring in a quarterback from mexico even if he's good do you think it's going to result in a hundred million dollar tv deal in mexico nobody cares about the cfl in mexico the only people that care about the cfl are in Canada. Well, here's the thing. If you look at some of the leagues around the world, they are gaining in popularity, right? I mean, you look over in Europe and how big some of those leagues are getting.

Yeah, you're trying to develop your game to the point where you're going to get interest all over the world. That's the key, right? Do you honestly see that ever happening? Given the talent level, no. And that's the big thing. You that ever happening given the talent level no and that's the big thing you just don't have the talent to move the needle right i mean that's where they have to if they're gonna ever do this and this isn't gonna be a million bucks from the americans they got a million bucks a season from cbs it's not gonna be a a situation where you're gonna

have this like you know in oh hey in two we're going to have all these stars coming in from all over the, no. This is something that's going to take like probably a generation if you can get it at that point, right? You're talking about a 10, 15, 20-year project. So to me, it's something that, you know, it's a ways away, a long ways away in terms of making this more of a global game. So, Moj, I'm getting a little fired up because

you are fired up i am i apologize you don't have to apologize i am worried alfred i am worried about the cfl for the first time in my life i'm worried about the future of the cfl and i'm wondering if it's going to be around in 10 or 20 years i'm not worried about it and i'll tell you why it's because of the ownership right now. I think they probably have some of the strongest ownership groups in the league. You see what DeMar Dolman's doing in Vancouver, right? And he continues to try to make the Lions more relevant, put them on the map. The guy in Montreal is obviously doing the same thing.

Keith Pelley in Toronto is, you know, he's a big fan of the CFL. He wants to turn that ship around and slowly but surely they're a big fan of the CFL. He wants to turn that ship around and slowly but surely they're getting increased numbers of the CFL. Is it going to be what it was in the 70s and the 80s when they were getting 50,000 people to games? No, but if they can get say up to 25, 30

on a regular basis with most of these franchises, they'll be in good shape. I think the bigger issue too is you look at some of the facilities of the league if they can get better stadiums in calgary um say even in edmonton something maybe a little bit smaller that'll kind of help things as well to improve the game day experience but i'm not that worried about the league and it's its future per se um what else we got for mojo you? You didn't watch a Canucks game last night, did you, Moj? I was at the CFL Awards.

Yeah, how'd it go? Amar Doman got recognized with the Commissioner's Award for obviously what he's done in BC. It was cool to see Carolyn Cody from the Lions, who's one of their VPs of marketing. She is a rock star, and to see her get recognized last night with the Jane Mabry Award for her contributions was really cool, too. So it was nice to see a couple of Lions, well, people from the Lions organization get recognized last night with the Jane Mabry Award for her contributions was really cool too. So it was nice to see a couple of Lions, well, people

from the Lions organization get recognized. But I did read some of the quotes. Rick Tockett, not a happy camper after that game. You know, he would tell the fans that, you know, they didn't deserve to see what they saw. And I think he was even talking about refunds or something. So from what I heard, it was a rather ugly affair. It was.

And we played a bunch of Tockett's Audio in Hour One of the show. By the way, everyone, if you're listening, download the Hour One podcast, Apple, Google, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. Very frustrated, very frustrated. And there was a couple different undertones in his remarks. One was he kept saying that the team was playing a little light, playing a little, didn't have the sort of tenacity and grit and grind, but he was choosing his words very carefully. Another one, he right away after the game told the assembled media, I am not going to take any questions about individual players tonight, which I think was a smart thing because there was probably a lot of individual criticisms to go around.

And the third thing that we had to take away was he seems to know exactly what his team is and is not doing on the ice. The perplexing thing is why they're not doing it. And that seems to be where a lot of the frustration comes from. You know, I think it's becoming a story with the Canucks, is this inconsistency, right? I mean, they get trounced by the doubles. They go on the road.

They play three great games, including the last one, which is probably one of their best games, if not arguably their best game of the season. And now you come home and you've played a couple of duds already, right? So it's interesting in the sense that this consistency issue is really coming to the forefront for the Canucks. And like you said, you're wondering why this is happening because there's some nights this team looks really good

and like last night from what I'm hearing, it was ugly. Do you have a prediction for the Grey Cup this weekend? Winnipeg 31, Toronto 20. Brady Oliveira going to clean sweep everything?

Get MVP of the Grey Cup? He could. I don't want to talk about Winnipeg anymore. I like Brady clean sweep everything? Get MVP of the Great Cup? He could. If it does, he'll just make McPhew control Winnipeg. I don't want to talk about Winnipeg anymore. I like Brady Oliveira, though. The Canadian guy

winning MLB. He goes and he's big into animal rescue and everything. He seems like a nice guy. Brady. Yeah, okay.

That's all good. Rescue in Winnipeg. All right, Moj. Thanks for doing this today, buddy. Hey, hey, hey, hey. What's going on? What about Ashby anything Friday? What's the highlight of my week?

Do you think Conor McDavid will break Wayne Gretzky's overall points record? No. No. I heard you guys talking about that. Tiger Williams, untouchable. Gretzky's career numbers. No.

Glenn Hall, maybe. No. I'm not even sure he read it right when he said it. It was 502 consecutive games? Yeah. We're riding the hot hand here. Yeah, what if something happens along the way? You know what?

There's a ton of baseball records, too. If you're talking about records, it'll never be broken. Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. And some of the numbers, you see some of those guys with the complete games and innings pitched in the season. Like, no one's ever even going to – like, I mean, you know, you look at the stats for, like, the 70s and the 80s, pitchers are throwing, like, 270. Some guys have 300 innings, right?

Now if you pitch, like, 200 innings, you're, like, quote, a horse, right? So some of those records I don't think are ever going to be touched as well just given the evolution of the game. If you go outside the other sports, like Will Chamberlain's 100-point game, for the longest time was thought that it was never going to be touched because it was just virtually impossible to do. I'm like, dare to dream. Guys have come reasonably close, flaring with the 70s.

Kobe had the 81 against the Raptors that one time. So maybe it'll happen. But you're right. In certain eras, we just think it's too hard to imagine some of these being broken because the totals are so big, right? Cal Ripken's consecutive game streak, when's that ever going to happen again? So, I mean, it brings up

a good point, but hey, dare to dream, Moj. Dare to dream. Maybe some of these records will fall. Did we lose him? I think we lost him. Alright, fellas. Moj, dare to dream. Maybe some of these records will fall. Did we lose him? I think we lost him. All right, fellas. All right.

He's back. I didn't hear you. You were just talking again. Okay, no worries. We'll talk to you next week, Moj. Thanks for doing this, bud. Enjoy the great time. Hey, quick question. Here's one for you.

Ask Dolly Wall about his extended Molson Indy coverage and the frying pan massage. Extended Molson Indy coverage and frying pan massage. Got it. Thanks, bud. Later. Bye. Bob, bud. Got it. Later. Bye.

Bob, the Moj Marjanovic here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I thought he glitched out there like Brough for a second. He did, I guess. Yeah, I guess. Sorry, what? Hello. Did you ask a rhetorical question or something? Do you think there's a figure in sports that triggers me more than Randy Ambrosio did?

I made you yell at Moj. Poor Moj. Well, because Moj was supporting his, like, in theory, it was a good idea. No, it wasn't. In any theory, it wasn't a good idea. He's still going on about it. He's still going on about it. There could be a great CFL.

Ambrose, I mean, not Moj. There could be a great CFL quarterback currently residing in Tahiti that we don't know about. Yeah, but the whole idea was, was that, and all it would have taken was Randy Ambrose on a first-class ticket to Tahiti. It's like that meme where they're digging and they're just like an inch away

and they stop. Yeah. They were so close to that Tahiti quarterback. Could you imagine? But do you know the idea around it was like they would develop, say a player in Japan. Yes, I know.

And come to the cfl and then that would translate into some sort of tv contract in japan for the cfl it was just so far-fetched because not a lot of japanese people play football i don't think that's the issue i think you brought up a good point. It's like, who really is invested in this particular unique brand of football that's very regional outside of the regions?

And do you have the ability to go out and make those deals happen? I saw that Randy Ambrosio said that the CFL hired a media rights consultant because the media rights are coming up for the CFL soon. And, you know, everyone knows that the deal that the CFL has got with TSN is not keeping the league afloat, but it's a big reason why the CFL is still going. And, you know, to be fair, the TV viewership numbers are quite strong.

But I worry, listen, I've been in businesses that have a problematic demographic, okay? Okay. Newspapers, radio, and the CFL. They all have aging demographics. And it's a problem. Newspapers are nowhere close to what they used to be. And a lot of them have gone out of business.

Radio is nowhere close to what it used to be. And a lot of stations have gone out of business. If you have an aging demographic, it is very problematic and randy ambrosia should have been spending way more time on that in canada like ammar dolman has been doing in bc going out to the schools talking about the cfl getting young people out to games that's good that's what he should have been doing not trying to cultivate an international tv market that was never going to happen it was a waste of years he went down the road with the xfl and what the hell was that all about what are you going to combine the cfl and xfl what are you going to take some of their rules and some of the cfl rules

yeah it was all lunacy and they need to find a better commissioner because that guy was not it. Jordan in the Ridge just texted in, CFL TikTok, let's go. That might be it. That might be what ails the Canadian football league. You are bringing up some good points. I know you're fired up. I apologize. I honestly yelled at Moj, but you brought up some good points.

I mean, on the text thread last night, I'm sending these articles, and I'm like, am I taking crazy pills here? No. I'm telling you, this Grey Cup this weekend is the worst possible matchup for the promotion of the Grey Cup. Go to Ticketmasters. Look at all the empty seats. The upper deck, the expensive seats around the 30, 40, 50 yard line, going to be a lot of empty seats there because it's a bad matchup for the Lions. It's been such a disappointing season.

You know, you've got Toronto. I don't know how well their fans travel. You've got the Bombers, and there is some fatigue. Like, even if you're in Winnipeg, you're like, I don't know if I want to go to another Grey Cup, right? Like, this is getting expensive to go to all these Grey Cups. And, you know, I think you're going to see the secondary market

flooded with tickets. And if you wait long enough and you want to go to the game, you can probably get in there for 50 bucks eventually. Mike, the urologist from Brockville, points out the CFL just has to set up a blue sky account. It's true. There are ways. There are ways. Tons of engagement over there. Tons of engagement.

Okay. I'm sorry I lost my temper. You don't have to apologize. But I do worry about the league. I know. I worry about the league's future. And someone texted in and said, you know, I've been hearing about the death of the CFL since the 70s. That doesn't mean that it will never die. Just because you heard

about it, the league has gone through some really tumultuous times and it has survived. But that tumultuous times and it has survived but that doesn't mean just because it has survived tough times before doesn't mean that it will always survive i'll push back on the texture but the difference between then and now is that in the 70s and the 80s when you're oh it's gonna die is they always successfully found ways to gravitate to new to new generations like they moved from generation to generation to generation and now it's stopped. There is no

moving forward. It's been stopped for a while. In the 70s and 80s and the 90s there's at least still growth because you'd be getting in new fans and they haven't done that for quite a while. There was legitimate star power in the CFL back then too. I can't think of name me

a player in the CFL that's like, wow, that guy's a big star. Well, name someone in the States. If someone in the States could name a player in the CFL, who would they name from the league? Chad Kelly. Maybe. Maybe?

Maybe. How many football fans really know? Not many. And of course, they didn't have the NFL to contend with back then as well, which was another huge part of it. The NFL has grown leaps and bounds. In the 90s, they didn't have to worry to contend with back then as well, which was another huge part of it. The NFL has grown leaps and bounds. In the 90s, they didn't have to worry about it nearly as much as they do now, obviously. Look at the – I mean, the Grey Cup this weekend is in a tough spot,

not just because of the matchup, but if you look ahead to Sunday, a lot of people locally are going to be focused on the Canucks game, which is 7 o'clock against the Predators that evening, and a lot more are going to be tuning into the afternoon affair, which is Chiefs-Bills, which kicks off at 125. Like, there's going to be, I mean, if you want to talk about two football matchups that are going on, I'm sorry, but Toronto and Winnipeg in the Grey Cup,

you know, aside from the Toronto fan bases and the Winnipeg fan bases, there's going to be a lot of people that it's like, if I'm watching football on Sunday, it very well might be Chiefs and Bills, which is a fantastic matchup and has that slot in the afternoon. And, you know, someone takes it in. Bruff's mad because he cares. That's an important thing to point out here.

There's probably too few people that have that level of passion about it and probably too many people like me that, and I know it sounds like callous and as rough likes to say too cool for school. I'm like, this is the most I've ever cared about the CFL. This season was the most I've ever cared about it. Yeah,

this was, and it was because, um, I, there was a personal investment in the fact that I wanted to see them succeed. I was a hundred percent behind Amar Doman and the work that he's done. I like. I was 100% behind Amar Dolman and the work that he's done.

I like the vision. And if you want to talk about what that vision is, he understood that this game and this sport can matter to smaller communities. And that's what grassroots is, is it's reaching out to Victoria and Kamloops and everywhere else and making it- Tokyo.

Tokyo. Mexico City. That's right. NASA on the Bahamas, Brussels, all of them. Was there all those small networks of communities that you need to bring together?

Anyway, uh, there was a, there was a lot that we did in that segment. That a lot in that hour. As a matter of fact, Taja blueberry guy loved it. A final hour of the program.

We have two guests on tap. Rick Dollywall is going to join us at 8. Marty McSorley is going to join us at 8.30. We will try and get to a few more of your What We Learns and Ask Us Anythings. And at the end of the show, we will give away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway to the best Ask Us Anything or What We Learned. All you got to do is put a pizza emoji into the text and text it into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. You are listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.