Halford & Brough in the Morning - JC Abbott Talks BC Lions + What We Learned

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

In hour three, guest hosts Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Randip Janda chat with 3 Down Nation's JC Abbott (1:39) about a big BC Lions OT win at Hamilton last night, plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Welcome back to Alford and Brough, Josh Ellie, Wolf, for Andy Jandah filling in for Halford and Brough this week. You're not off next week. You're on afternoons next week. I'm on afternoons. I'm changing my sleep schedule. I'm happy for you. I will still be here with Jamie Dodd. That's too bad. Which part? The morning part. or the Jamie part? Jamie, I don't know about Jamie in the mornings. Is he in a good mood?

Usually during the day, he's in a good mood. I think he likes the morning show. Dog gets rave reviews in the inbox. He does have a morning show vibe to him. So I think it's a, it'll be fine. Rough loves him because he does all the reads on time. Fair enough. Okay.

Maybe it's because he has kids so he's up at like 5 a.m. anyways, so he's ready to go. Speaking of reads, Halfen and Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit sands dash trustee.com. This hour of Halpert & Brough is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound

visit Campbell dash pound.com today. And we're broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. And guests on Sportsnet 650 call in the hotline powered by PowerWest Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters the most. Visit them at powerwest.ca today, and they keep the lights on. We go to that hotline now powered by Power West Industries, and we welcome in J.C. Abbott, writer for Three Down Nation into the show.

Appreciate you taking the time, J.C., how are you? I'm great, guys. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, no worries. And we wanted to get into this BC Lions win. Kind of a weird game, I guess, last night. A lot of special teams aspects to it. What were your main takeaways from the Lions win against the Tiger Cats last night? Well, I think the two big things. well, that was a fantastic football game

to watch. It was a treat for fans of both teams, regardless of how you felt about the result to be able to see that sort of shoot out at the end and the overtime finish. And then I thought it was a gutsy win from the BC Lions, right? There's a lot to cling

up there. I don't necessarily think either side of the ball will come away perfectly happy with their performances, but they got the job done when they need to, and that hasn't always been the case this season. I think that's a massive positive for the team. I think it's a big step forward and it showed some of the progress that they made over the bi-week self-scouting

and assessing where they needed to improve that they put those things into action on the field. One of the huge talking points heading into this game was the defense and how they did not have a great game last time out, obviously some big breakdowns late in that game. You mentioned it, not a perfect, not a Picasso of a game, but they did step up. What did you make of their approach heading into this game and the way they executed it? I was very impressed. And you can nitpick about that third quarter especially and some of the yardage they gave up in the second half.

But you come out and you could see that Mike Benavigieg's had an entirely different philosophy than what he had two weeks ago in the first game against Hamilton. He was willing to send pressure. It was disrupting Bolivine Mitchell. I think it was the first four drives. You forced punts. Three of those are two and outs. Just really impressive stuff from the defense,

especially early on. And then late in the game, yes, Hamilton was able to score points, but they're held the field goal attempts four times in that fourth quarter. And that game very easily could have gotten away from the BC lines. They didn't allow that to happen.

And then you step up with that. forced fumble in overtime, which again comes because Benny sent pressure with Patrice Renee in overtime when the chips were down. That leads to a tip pass, which sort of throws the timing of everything off on that Tim White catch. People have time to rally, rally to the football and force the sagging fumble. So a massive improvement from the defense. People talk about just how soft they were at the end of the last game and how much space they gave Hamilton to operate. That wasn't the case when the chips were down in this one,

and that is huge for this team. Can you look at it as kind of like a first step coming out of the buy for the defense? Like, hey, yeah, maybe there were some issues, but there were also a lot of good signs and something that they can definitely build on moving forward? Absolutely. And I think it was a first look at a different combination again.

We saw a reshuffled secondary. We saw a little bit of a different look from the linebacking core as well because Ben Halatic was forced to miss this game because he had a child born in the morning and wasn't able to make the flight. So Josh Woods got a lot more playing time. People were playing in different spots. Mike Benadabee is talking to me this week about his desire, to put guys in spots where he felt that they were more comfortable.

He didn't think he was using his personnel correctly over the first part of the season. He's now adjusted that. We'll see how it goes, but the early returns, I thought they looked more comfortable where they were playing in this game, and that's heartening. We've talked a lot about how the buy week was used maybe just to kind of, you know, step away from the situation, but get work done. And it feels like the defense, particularly the coaches, there was a lot of looking in the mirror and saying,

how do we fix this? And it wasn't simply down to the players not executing. The coaches clearly made some changes here. You mentioned Benavides. Like, that's a very important thing to do at this point of the season where, you know, heading into this matchup, you were three and five, and there were some questions started to be asked in this market

to be, are they a playoff team or not? I think some soul searching was required and it seems like, as of right now, they've, you know, checked it off and got the job done. But, like, that takes a little bit of, you know, you've got to be humble. and look in the mirror a little bit as coaches as well. You absolutely do, and that's what good coaches do.

That's what veteran coaches do, is they're not too, they don't have too big of an ego to self-reflect and make changes. To be entirely frank, I don't want this to come across as a criticism of somebody like Jordan-X-Semitic, but I think in the past couple of years, the lines have been too regimented in certain aspects, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, not making changes

when there have been problems that have consistently cropped up. I think this group has done a good job, at least in this one instance, of making the adjustments, not only defensively, but also offensively, right? The last three weeks, Justin McKinnis has been basically a non-factor.

The lines come out of the buy, and they said, hey, we're going to get this guy to the ball no matter what. We'll throw him the first pass. That's what they did. did, and they kept going back to him throughout the game, he schemed him open, and he has 150-some yards, is making the key third and 12 catch at the end of the game

to keep them alive in the fourth quarter and put them up late, which eventually forces overtime. Those sorts of tweaks and changes and self-reflections are a good indication of where this coaching staff's headed at. So you mentioned Justin McKinness there, How do you get him and Keon Hatcher going at the same time, though? Because you mentioned this last game he steps up and gets the job done, but Hatcher is a little bit more quiet.

Yeah, I don't, the answer to that question, certainly it's one that Buck Pierce is going to have to spend a lot of time thinking about. I don't think this was necessarily a bad game from Keon Hatcher. It just seemed like there was a struggle between him and Rourke, to find their rhythm, right? There's two passes there that I felt were on Hatcher that he should have had that hit him in the hands and they weren't outright drops

because there was a defender in the vicinity and it was a contested catch, but he should have had those balls. I think the other ones, and he had 10 targets in the game, only caught three. It looked like Rourke was a little bit off target on those, right? There's some passes in the turf,

some overthrowes. I don't think he's going to be happy with all of those passes. So there's blame to go around. I think we've seen from Hatcher through this season that he can be a consistent weapon. This was just an off night.

I don't know that it's going to be a trend until it happens a few more times. What did you think of Nathan Merck's performance in that game? I was a little bit I don't know what the word it was impressive in some regards extremely tough and resilient

he kept battling the plays when he needed to and they were a sensational place I mean the way he escaped and extended plays there's nobody else who has the ability that he does but I didn't think it was his strongest performance I think of 408 yards that he finished with flattered him somewhat.

I didn't think he was as a fit as we've become. Hey, J.C., sorry, we're going to have to let you go when you're dropping out there. We'll try to get him back on. But, yeah, talking about Nathan Bork. And also mentioned the receivers, Justin McKinness, Keon-Hatcher. I do wonder, to an extent, at times, I feel like in football, sometimes you just have one guy that just has a great game

and you don't necessarily need both of them to be going, but it would be nice if they could get both going at the same time. Well, they're both, you know, talented. So it's having that defense to make a decision, right? Like, it's ideally, especially later on in the year when you're going to be playing, you know, against good teams and hopefully making the playoffs, having that dual threat of both of those guys,

you have confidence. And I think J.C. also mentioned the fact that there are a couple of drops. Like, your moment's going to come. You got to make sure that you put your best foot forward, whether you're clicking or not, you're going to be called upon. You've got to make those catches. We go back to the hotline powered by Power West Industries, and we bring back in, J.C. Abbott, from Three Down Nation.

You were talking about Nathan Mork when we lost you there. Sorry there, guys. I thought Nathan's performance was positive in some regards, right? He's a battler, kept fighting in that game. There's some tremendous plays, some nice throws at the end. and his escapability is second to none, but I felt that the... Hey, J.C., sorry, we're losing you again.

We'll let you go this time. Not a great connection, but good stuff from J.C. Abbott, while we had him on the Halford & Brough show and the BC Lions, they get the win, and I'm pretty sure he was going to say Nathan Rourke had a good game. Could be better, though. Could be better.

But there were positive signs. Just like the connection. We had a good run. There was a good run. Could be better. Could be better. And we know that he has more in him moving forward. But yeah, that's okay.

We'll connect with J.C. Abbott in the future. So they got the Alouettes next week. The show and shine game. Yes. We've been talking about that on the 16th. So back-to-back nights at BC Place are going to be pretty action-packed. Didn't think about that. It's going to be a big weekend next weekend at BC Place.

Montreal's got some injuries on defense. So if you're talking about maybe just refining, like you get the W against Hamilton, which is great. But just tweaking that offense. Like you've got an opportunity against Montreal here that their defense is not looking good. So an opportunity to maybe get right with that offense. And I think what you want to see from the defense too

is you want to see them taking steps week to week because we talked a lot about it going into the buy of like, okay, you know what, they're definitely not where they want to be. And that's kind of been the issue for the line so far of the season. coming out of the buy. We talked to Moge yesterday about the changes they were making and we saw it implemented yesterday, but at the same time, they still gave up 38 points. And again, there were special teams aspects to it, but there's also defensive aspects to it that they can continue to get better with. And if they keep taking these steps as the season goes on, if Nathan Bork continues to, you know, progress and show what he can do, you get all that going by by playoff time. And yes, it's a, hey, if everything goes right kind of situation. for the lines but if you do get everything going by playoff time

that's what can make a dangerous team is if you kind of get hot at the right time for sure and you know next week is going to be particularly important because they can get back

to 500 right like that is going to be important for this team they've got the talent but can you find that consistency and defensively yeah you got to get

pressure on the quarterback right like this is something that hasn't happened for this Lions team over the last couple weeks a little bit better yesterday but can you make that happen consistently. Otherwise, you know, this league, as we saw with Harris and both Levi-Mitchell,

like you give quarterback's time, they will shred you. They got to continually improve on that. It is Halford-Dembrough. It is a Friday. Josh Haleo Wolf, Randy, Janet filling in, but we are still doing Ask Us Anything Friday. So text those in, 650, 650. On the Dunbar Lumber text line, we got this one, Ryan from Chilliwack, great place, great city, great town. Ryan from Chilliwack. What would you guys think considering the Canucks have so many good defensemen? Why not try Quinn Hughes as a centerman? Sorry, who was that again? Ryan from Chilliwack. Okay, all right.

Don't besmirch the location. No, no. Just you can, you can critique his opinion. What do they have in that corn out there, dude? Um, okay, so the answer to that is no. Yeah. I mean, we can float the idea. Hey, I'm not going to ask Adam foot about that. But if somebody else wants to say, have you considered this? Just bring Jackie in instead. So there's certain players in the NHL that could probably play every position

outside of goaltender. Quinn Hughes is one of those guys. He could play a forward position, but I just don't want to see that experiment. Yeah, nor do I. 650, 650, this one from C.Dog, ask us anything. If you took, this is going to be such a divisive question.

Maybe it won't be. If you took the best CFL team and put it in the NFL, what would their record be and also the reverse the worst NFL team in the CFL I'm saying right now

the worst NFL team is winning every game the best CFL team is Oh man Every game Okay come on Maybe they maybe they lose a couple But I think they're clearly

The best team What rules are we using though Is it going to be three down football Four down football? I think it is three down football Okay I still think a lot Because a lot of it is like

Americans that come up north And adjust to the CFL game And I just feel like even the worst NFL team, even with an adjustment period, there is a disparity in talent level. Yeah, there's a gold standard in football. And we know the NFL is that. And this isn't to say they're not running the schedule, though. So, yeah, I would say the worst team right now. Like if we had to project, would it be the Titans?

Would it be the Browns? We'll say either the Titans or the Browns. Okay. So like even on the worst NFL team, you have Miles Garrett. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. There's a crazy amount of talent. They might not have a quarterback.

Yeah. Well, they actually have seven of them. They have seven of them. But, like, okay, you have Joe Flacco and Miles Garrett. Yeah. Still talent, whatever you think of Joe Flacco. What's that? Okay, if it's, how many game schedule are we talking about?

I'm going to pick a record here. We'll say, we'll go 18 games schedule. 18? I'm going to say 14 and 4. Okay. I think there's like, there's going to be losses on that schedule. I would say 16 and 2. And then I do think that the best

CFL team go to the NFL and it's just a, it wouldn't be good for the best CFL team in the NFL. So you're like the reverse? I would say the reverse. I might go, well that, yeah, I, yeah, they might win one. I don't even know if they win one. I'm giving them a little bit more

respect. I'm going the other way. I'm not obviously, you know, there is like I said, the gold standard, but like I give them three wins. Like it's a long season, man. Yeah, I guess. There's some terrible teams in the NFL certain points of the season. This isn't to say, like, I'm not trying to discredit anybody in the CFL. I think there's a lot of talented football players.

I just think on balance, the, like, there's a reason every football player wants to play in the NFL is because that's the gold standard of where you want to be. And even, like, the best quarterbacks in the CFL, we see Nathan Rourke go down. And it's like, well, he's not even really on the roster. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough. I doubt even the CFL players would disagree with you, though. I mean, like, come on.

It's a much, much, much, much, much, much, much better league in terms of overall skill. I mean, an NFL team might lose a game in the CFL, but they're probably winning the bulk of them. And a CFL team in the NFL might get lucky and win a couple, but come on. I mean, it's not really that cool. It's not a hot take to say the NFL is the best league in the planet. Call me crazy, come on. But like for every Cam Wake and Jeff Garcia and Doug Flutie that went to the NFL and were really good, like Pro Bowl level players, There are players that, to your point, go to the practice roster, and then they have to make a decision to come back.

So there is a disparity in talent, but yeah, I still think there's like two or three wins out there. I think so. I don't know. I would lean closer to they lose every game than they win three. Vicki and Boko just winning a tournament at 18, and you're telling me, legit, Advo and I guess theoretically you get a coach out there that could come up with a system that would somehow shut down. a high-flying NFL team. Maybe. Maybe the system wins you a couple games. But you're saying like a CFL team goes down. They got to go up against the Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah, they're getting smoked in that one. But like, the Carolina Panthers might give them a chance.

The Tennessee Titans, they might get a chance. Dude, I think the, I think the Panthers are like, like Bryce Young is throwing for like 450 yards. He's getting pulled in the third quarter because they're up so big. That's like saying the worst NHL team, even if they were to go down to the HAL would probably win most every game. Yeah. You know what I mean? I mean, like, that is true. They might lose a few because there are some, you know, hockey is random. Yeah, Abby Canucks might take a few against the Buffalo Sabres

or whoever the worst team will end up being next year. But, I mean, come on, it's not going to be close. I didn't say they would run the schedule. I'd say there's got to be a couple of wins out there, guys. Like we, as talented as those teams are, if we're talking about the season, like a lot happens in the season, guys get injured. Like, there's got to be a couple of wins out there. These are professional athletes.

You guys are nuts, Aidan Vancouver says. The practice roster of an NFL team would steamroll any CFL team. See, if you made it just the practice roster, I think that would be more interesting. I still think, like, I still don't think they're, like, I think the practice roster of an NFL team comes up and they're the best team in the CFL still, but it's just, I don't know. But, okay, the question, one of the questions was, best CFL versus worst NFL. Yes. I think it's a closer matchup than, like.

It's not, like, if there's any wins, it's got to be that one. It's got to be one or two teams. It would be that one, but I also still think the NFL team. Like, imagine if there's a Colorado Rockies type of season in the NFL for one of the teams this year. You put the Colorado Rockies up against, like, the Vancouver Canadians. Yeah, but that's a different lake. Yeah.

I think it'd be closer if the CFO is like the Farm League of the NFL and you actually had a lot of NFLers that weren't quite able to make the NFL but are still really good players playing in the CFL. Like, there are a lot of really good NHLers that play in the H. that aren't quite able to make the rosters necessarily because of the depth of the teams, right? So, like, if that was the scenario, maybe then it would be a little bit closer.

But, like, how many, like, NFL-ready players are in the CFL right now? Are there even five? Yeah, not many. There might be a few guys that could go down and, like, be on the practice roster or be a backup or whatever. But generally, like, there aren't any

that would go down and be a starter in the NFL. Yeah, exactly. Whereas there might be, you can make an argument. There might be a few HL teams out there. Let's say if they were to switch up their allegiance with another NHL team, those players might make the cut just because the teams are weaker up there. There's always the best player that's not in the NHL.

Remember the best goaltender that was not in the NFL, Jacob Markstrom. There's always a prospect that stands out that's not there. We do get a question related to it. Would the Abbey Canucks get a win in the NHL? And then they follow up with a, would they get a 10, 62, and 10 record in the NHL? Hockey is so much more of a random sport that I do think you can pull out 10 wins. if you're an HL team. Sure.

It would still be really bad. You would be a bad team. Yeah, but you'd get some bounces going your way for a few nights. 10 seems like a stretch though. I think you could get like, you're not saying. Maybe a couple of times even like the goalie is winning you five games.

If you have a decent, the best HL team. But here's a classic example of Archer she loves and Lattie, you can jump in in this one because this is your file. He was a very different goal tender in the HL versus the NHL, right? Like that's a classic example of the hockey in the NHL. is cerebral. Like, we saw

already have a tough time in the NHL and then he was running the show in the HL. Like, 10 wins. I get it. Like, there's a lot of randomization, but the game is different. Very different, right? I could see the argument for like somewhere between 5 and 10.

Okay, could the Abby Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks five times? The Sharks being the worst team in the league last year. Abby Canucks obviously winning it all. Could they Abby Canucks with their goal ending, although Sheelavs obviously struggled. I don't know if you caught the Sano's Aitchard. But it's a different game, like Randeep said.

Like, the goal is I talked to, the goalies I talked to say that it's so disorganized down at the AHL level. It's almost easier, in a sense, at the NHL level, in terms of predictability. Because everything is kind of like a yard sale in the HL a lot of the times, which some goalies excel at, and I think Shilov is one of those. Sure. He's good in those kind of scramble scenarios. When it becomes more structured and gets to the NHL level, things change.

And I don't, 10 wins would be. hard to do, I think, for an HL team. And that's the Shilov's kind of side of things. And then you start getting to the depth, right? Like a third or fourth liner in the NHL is...

That's the first liner in the A. If the Abby Kinnucks played the Blackhawks five times, Sheelovs obviously had their number. So that would be the matchup to do. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, maybe it's not quite 10 wins, but I do think they get at least a few

just based on hockey, just sometimes you get the bounces, sometimes you get a goalie performance, whatever it is. Okay, keep the Ask Us, anything's coming in, keep the what we learn's coming in as well. We'll hit those on the other side in the final segment of the week. That's coming up next. It's Alfred and Brough, Josh L.A.

Wolf, Randy Chandon, Sportsnet, 650. Welcome to Kelowna, Farnia. West Coast. Yeah. Colona, baby. Best place in the world right here. Cologne, I found you, a phone ya, Cologne back to Halford and Brough, no, brough, Josh Elie Wolde, Randy Pjanda.

I was more confident. I tried this, I tried the hay thing a couple weeks ago, and I just didn't nail it. but today I felt like I did okay. That was good. Thank you. I thought Halford was in the building. Wow. He wasn't.

It was me. Josh Ellie Wolf. Alfred and Brough is brought to you by... You're not a good liar about like that was not Alpert-esque at all, but okay. I'm just trying to give him some cards. You know, he's Randy. It was better than I've done in the past.

It still wasn't good. Progress. Yes. Randibe just that. You know what? Tough judge. Randy, Randy,

Randy's like final segment. I'm going to burn every bridge. It's fine. He's out of here. Alfred and Bruff is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit sands-trustee.com. This hour of Harvard & Brough is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers.

Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit Campbell-dash-pound.com today. Okay, so it's what we learned time. It's also asked us anything time. What we learned is brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. You've got to try this bar pie, 14 inches of cracker. thin crust topped with tomato sauce tomato sauce

matza and cheddar only at a j's pizza online at a jays dot pizza and we do have a $100 gift card to give away and I think the one that got the most reaction from the text box it came in early from Adam the former bath guy it was ask us anything

who is on the Mount Rushmore of most disliked Canucks in history anyone within the organization, not just players. And so Adam, congratulations. A lot of answers. A lot of answers. Some fighting in the text inbox. Some people advocating why they hate certain people

with the history of the Vancouver Canucks. So Adam, congratulations. You are the winner. Justified reasons to hate some certain players as well. Keep the text coming in. We got a bunch of questions to get to, but we'll start with some what we learned from our side. Randeefe, what do you got?

All right. I learned that Paul Skeens had one of the worst starts of his career. He allowed a career worst, seven hits. He's wide. But he still struck out eight and blanked the red seven nothing. This guy is so elite that he had a career worst start giving up seven hits, still pitched a shutout, and his elite skill is wasting away on the Pittsburgh Pirates right now. He reminds me of a Jake DeGrom with the Mets when they couldn't score.

He'd give up, like, one run and lose one-nothing. Like, that's Paul Skeens. That's unfortunate. It's tough. It's tough. I wonder how long the Paul Schoen's ride is going to last in Pittsburgh. Honestly, for the pirate's sake, I do hope they figure it out. And he can actually, like, do something there.

But it does feel inevitable that eventually he's just going to leave. We've got the Maddox. I think a complete game giving up one run and losing. I think that's the Felix Hernandez. Yes. That's what they call that. Yes. Felix, poor guy.

DeGrom had that run. and now it feels like the torch has been passed to Paulskin's tough break mucal that laddie do you have one yeah so there's going to be a little bit of history on the station on the airwaves tonight let me first preface this by playing a clip from Vince Scholey from September 7th 2008 now see if you can hear why that's relevant well supposedly we were going to have two veterans a 44 year old Randy Johnson he'll be 45 next week with all

of his victories to 94. 42-year-old Greg Maddox with 354 victories. But under the headline and heading of the best laid plans of mice and men, we have a 24-year-old Scherzer with no wins and a 20-year-old Kirchard with three. What a difference a day makes.

Vince Scully is awesome. Oh, yeah. So fans went to that game expecting Maddox against Johnson. Yeah. And they got a couple of rookie no-names in Max Scherzer and Clayton Kirschild. What a tough blow. What a tough blow.

Well, we know now those guys are pretty good, and they're going to face off again tonight in L.A. as the Blue Jays are playing the Dodgers. So it is a couple of records that are going to be set here. I think it's the first time a duo in MLB history start against each other as rookies and then play again later with 3,000 or more strikeouts. So that's pretty incredible. It's a good baseball stat.

And then another good one is it's a very baseball stat. And then another good one is it's the first matchup of 3,000 plus strikeout pitchers since 1985 when Nolan Ryan played Steve Carlton. Ryan pitched a complete game nine strikeout win. So tonight's Jay's game, right back at it, Kershaw. And as Scully said in the club, Max Scherzzer on the mound. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited to watch that because, yeah, you're right, it's historic, but it also shows you how life moves so fast. because now we're all getting old

and like that is the classic like Randy Johnson I remember when he pitched and now is like he is beyond washed and also a good lesson of it might think your cards might look terrible dealt to you at the time those fans that went to that game going man we could have had two legends on the mound

and then they still got two legends on the mound so that's a pretty good story I think definitely and yeah excited to see what happens tonight that game is at 7 by the way I love a 7 o'clock Blue J start. Gets me all fired up. You're going to be yawning at 8 o'clock. Yeah, I'm definitely going to be asleep before the end of the game.

It's Friday. You can sleep in tomorrow. Yeah, that's okay. True, true. True. I just having an espresso like I did yesterday at 7 p.m. Good call. I'll do that. But yeah, you can hear the call for that here on SportsNet 650. Muckow that.

My what we learned for today, what we learned, multiple Seattle famous athletes are getting into Photography in retirement. So Ken Griffey Jr., we were aware of this. He's been into photography for a while. He was even at the Masters. He was taking pictures there, right? So he's taken off.

He's had a great photographic career post-retirement from Major League Baseball. But now there is a new one. Marshawn Lynch was on the sidelines, taking pictures in the full photographer outfit at the Seahawks game last night. And he had to stiff off. arm the Seahawks running back to protect his camera in the end zone. Marshawn would be the most aggressive paparazzi ever. Could you imagine like him running after you to get a pick?

He's pushing through bodyguards. It's like, yeah, it'd be frightening. That'd be kind of good for him. Like he does a lot of, Marshawn Lynch is one of those people that you think is super intimidating, which he is. Like, you know, he's a beast. He is the beast. But he's also one of the nicest guys, like what he does for his community in Oakland

and like every Thanksgiving and all that. So I love, like, the side quest that Marshawn's on. Like, he just does his own thing. It's cool when these guys do that and, like, power to them. But it just makes me think of how, like, how expensive has the photography profession gotten when only, like, multi-millionaire retired guys can afford to do it? Like, it's just wild. I do, I do think it is an expensive hobby. But I also do wonder if they're like, oh, we could just get Marchion to take pictures for fun.

And we'll have actual, like, professional photographers also be taking pictures with him, too. Yeah, it's a, you do it kind of for the clout. And you're just saying, hey, yeah, snap a couple and we'll, like, profile one or two. But, yeah, like, Joe with the actual camera is going to be our team photographer, right? That's going to be the guy that gets the big pictures. Okay, Mucal that.

We'll print out the humanoid submissions. We'll start with what we learned, Justin and East fan. Alex Ovechkin is partnering with a Russian company to make a movie about his career. And then, so that's what we learned. and then and ask us anything with it if Netflix would get it yeah like Russian Netflix I got it I made a Halbro biopic which actors would play Mike and Jason

I'm so bad with like celebrity lookalikes I just don't know who looks like anyone so I'll I'll take submissions on the 650 650 Dunbar Lumber text line because for me I have I have no idea so he's also sent in a photo of Johnny Knoxville as Jason Brough okay And who's this other guy? Is that, what's his name? I'm drawing a blank here.

I have no idea who that is. Whoever that is in the picture. It does look like Mike Alford. It does. I'll give him that. Johnny Knoxville is a good shout for Jason Brough. I didn't realize until I saw this picture. That's what's his name?

Jamie, something from, he was in the screen movies. Okay. So Jamie from the screen movies. Ah, okay, okay. I know who you're talking about. Jamie Kennedy. Yeah, that's the great. Okay. There we go. We did it. Good job, team. Okay. And the, what we learned.

So that would be a terrible movie is what you're saying, though, because if those two guys are involved, it's not going to be an Oscar winning movie. No, but that feels on brand. It'd be okay. I think Jamie Kennedy's due for that Oscar. I don't know. He's going to have a Brendan Fraser resurgence-esque resurgence. Okay, ask us anything. This one from Derek in Brentwood with the P&E coming soon. As a kid, what was your favorite ride? Ooh, okay, so I worked at the P&E in the rides department. Okay. I was, uh, so you have experience. From 15 years of age to 21.

And the favorite one I used to like working on was the music express because you could also play DJ and you could play your music. That was the circle one. Yes, and it was kind of the cool ride because you could, you felt like you were on the radio. Maybe it had something to do with me being involved in radio. Whoa. It comes full circle. So like working there was that one. Um, favorite ride overall.

Looking back at it I have a nostalgic kind of feels about the wild most The one that like You had whiplash Oh yeah yeah That one was Nothing beats a ride

Where you could almost die It was Looking at like The photos of the wild mouse If you haven't seen it Like Google it Oh I remember it I went out all the time

It looks like Like it looks like a mind bending ride Like it looks complex And so maybe that one So I had never gone on that But I did see pictures I feel like Lena and I were talking about it

on Knox brunch for some reason a few months ago. But I think it's very similar to one in Disneyland that I have been on where it feels like you're about to go off the edge every time, right? And then you just take out, you take out like a sharp left. There's a lot of like sharp turns and stops and starts. And so it's very like jarring. Yeah. And there's no like real flow to it.

And it was, yeah, very painful. All right. I'm a, I would say the first roller coaster I ever went on because I was very afraid of roller coasters as a kid was the wooden roller coasters. So for me that... Oh, the coaster is my favorite as well. Yeah. It's like my fair... Still to this day is my favorite ride of the playland.

Yeah. I love the coaster. It never gets old. It holds a special place in my heart. So any time it would have like a maintenance issue and they had to do test runs. Guess who would go? Are you? Employees.

Including myself. So like, all right, go on there and let's see if this thing is all right. Hope it works. It was all good. Did you have to like sign a waiver first? No, I think at that time I can't speak to now what the situation was. We had five failures in a row. But we feel like this one's going to wait.

Get in there, Randy. Randy, you're up. Also shout out to the log ride as well. I do love the log ride. Do you remember the big one that went up and down and it was like the giant couch with like the rainbow on one side? It was called the rainbow. Yeah, is this still there?

No, it's gone. Okay, because I remember the going on that in high school and there was a malfunction with the, not the seat belts, but like the big giant bar. Yeah. So it didn't come down on my group all the way. Uh-oh. And we were like literally, we had to like hold on for dear life. They realized within like 10 seconds of us screaming that they had to stop it and bring us.

There was a whole scene involved. It was quite an ordeal, but I remember, like, at that point, I was like, I'm never doing this again. I didn't work on that one, thankfully. But the one that always was kind of dicey was the pirate ship. Oh, yeah, I remember that. I like the pirate chip. It was a good one, but there was also, like, a high volume of pukers on that ride.

And you didn't want to be caught. It went projectile puke like hitting you in the face. Wasn't the big puker ride, the one that went around, like, it was like a washing? The Tiltow whirl. Oh, man. Well, no, there was one that was like a washing machine. almost and it just spin you around inside and it was like that you like kind of get stuck to the yeah what was that one called the crazy beach party okay yeah like was it oh yeah oh yeah trust me

this is my file man i had a buddy that worked i was a supervisor at p and e for a play line for a few years i had a buddy that work there at one point he said that was the ride that by far people threw up on the most yeah i could that one the tilt a roll which was like the the smaller like you know purplish ride a lot of pukers i never did the i was too afraid of the tilts world any any Anything that had me go upside down? I was just like, no. Yeah, that's true. So you weren't a hell's gay guy either.

Except for the red roller coaster, which is that still like how you remember? The red one, the... I feel like they just replaced it with a new one. I think so. But you would go upside down on that one, and actually I didn't have a problem with that. The corkscrew. Yeah, corkscrew, thank you. That's what it was.

That one I was fine with just because you were strapped in so tight that I was like, I feel safe, even though you were going upside down. But the tilt world, looking at that one, I was like, oh, man, I don't think so. Okay, we got another one here. Brendan and Burner be coming in with the Enterprise. That was the one that went upside down, but it went in a circle first and kind of raised. Oh, okay. That one, I actually enjoyed that one.

But, yeah, there was definitely pukers on that one, too. Oh, I imagine. I love the arcade as a kid. That was one of my favorites. That's my favorite ride, the arcade. Oh, dude, I love the arcade. There's so much time there. Such a good arcade.

Such a good arcade. And they had, like, a Nintendo section where it was just all, like, N64 games. Oh. Oh, my God. I remember it vividly. All right. Yeah, I guess I would say I've never done the, um, the elevator. I thought you were going to say your favorite was a mini golf.

Yeah. Minigolf is fun. I love the elevator, yeah, yeah. I've never done that. Or what's the purple and yellow one that you shoot up and then spin around and like swings? I hate that. Like the idea of that, I'm just super out of. I got to say playland at night, far superior to playlanders.

I would agree. So you mentioned the elevator. I used to work on the elevator for a long time. And I would watch people just say, you know when you're like, they eased? Like they're kind of tense. And then they kind of ease. And that's when you'd kind of, you'd ring the bell and you just wait. and just to like freak out

people even a little bit more because they're just like why it wasn't that going out boom you hit them yeah yeah so that was that jerk I'm sorry that was all Randip all your trauma

comes back to Randip Janda I will say any I prefer any amusement park at night like I've been to Disneyland a couple times when I was younger and it's just

it's a better vibe at nighttime and not as hot too Friday nights is great too yeah it's just not as hot especially if you're going in the summer obviously and then just kind of The lights make it, it's a different vibe.

I don't know if you know this about Dan Riccio, though, but he didn't grow up here. He grew up on the East Coast, but Wonderland in Toronto is a theme park. Canada's Wonderland. Canada's Wonderland. Sorry, Mr. Hamilton. And he was like a gremlin at their version of Fright Nights. Like, he met his wife. He was an actor.

He met his wife. Well, I think they went to high school together. You didn't know this lore. They were both gremlins or zombies or whatever they have. Richio dressed up as a gremlin? Yes. Are there pictures? It kind of fits, doesn't it?

Actually, now that you've been it? I thought you just meant like he was a gremlin, like he's just always there. He's there alive. I don't want to type cast the poor guy, but I mean, he was a literal gremlin. This is the role you were born to play. He was, he was an actor there being a Halloween gremlin. Fair enough. He's not going to appreciate the fact that you told us on.

I don't worry. I'm hosting with him next week. He'll get to tell you on air. Justin and Yisvan, you know what to do with your photo. job skills. Please help Richel to release the photos. The Grimmon files. Release the Grimmon files. Have you seen the Charo photo? He looks like a

Grimlin in that photo. Yeah, so it would fit great. Okay, ask us anything. This one is fair related. So we'll keep the P&E talk going, I guess. Since Moch isn't available, here's a food, ask us anything for you guys. What would be your go-to handheld food choice at a fair? Tim throws in some options, loaded

burger, loaded hot dog, loaded souvlaki wrap, loaded, they're all loaded. Or a loaded, loaded, grilled sub or sandwich. Laddy and I were talking about this off air. And, like, of the five options, the burgers, my first choice, kind of love burgers. However, you've got to think what is the least messy thing to eat while you're walking around.

Yeah. I think it would probably have to be a loaded... I either said burrito or suvlocchi, but Laddie talked me out of the burrito just because they can get super messy. Yeah, you got a fork and knife at most... So maybe it would be suvlocky or hot dog, But I don't know, even a loaded hot dog, that's tough to eat on the go because there's so much stuff on it. I think the suvlocki would be the one because it would trap the food inside.

Yeah. That'd probably be the one I'd pick. And you might be walking around. You don't want to be dealing with like, you know. The spillage. Yeah. Spillage. Like, you know, there's a bunch of stuff.

You're embarrassing yourself. I mean, they're all great options. It's not kidding ourselves. Yeah, I'd go for the suvlochy, like, you know, falafel wrap kind of same idea. Yeah, yeah. No doubt. That's a slam dunk for me. I will say I'm more of a,

like I like the sweet stuff when I go to a fair. Like, well, one of my favorite... Cotton candy. Cotton candy, I don't mind, but one... Deep-fried Mars bars. Yeah, like the deep-fried random candy stuff. I mean, deep-fried anything is a good call.

It's so good. My favorite thing, my favorite sweet thing I've ever gotten at the P&E, and every time I go back and it's there, I get it, is they have deep-fried coffee, and it's like coffee balls, which are, I don't know, they're almost like timbits that are coffee-flavored.

They're awesome. and then there's like a coffee crisp flavor where they put like drizzle on top it's not a handheld thing it's a it's a fork thing but it is amazing if you have a sweet tooth it's like my favorite thing i haven't been to the peony and probably since covid it's been a while yeah i used to go every year religiously and yeah you're the guy that used to puke on the tilter world i remember the last time i went was pre-covid it's been a while i was uh because i was working promo when i first started here in the building and so we would always go to the peony like multiple times a year to work just like promote the stations. Yeah, it was always super fun. Yeah, yeah. I would just go get

random deep fried stuff every time. Reasonably priced too, which is hard to find in the city these days. I'm the opposite guys. I didn't go to the P&E for like 10 years after I stopped working there. I mean, that's fair. That's fair. If you worked there, it's a different story. It's awesome. Like, it was a great place to work, but I was just like, I can't do this. I've spent way too much time here. Oh, for sure. Yeah. If you work at a place, it's a different story. We get to text, Luke, coffee rules, but coffee flavored stuff is garbage. I would generally agree, except for coffee crisp. Coffee crisp is like

my favorite. I don't know, man. Coffee ice cream. I do like coffee. I have the complete opposite opinion. I don't drink coffee, but I'll eat anything coffee flavor. Yeah, I think coffee flavored makes it great, anything. Yeah, and I will say it like a nice bourbon barrel coffee stout in the wintertime. All right. I'll take your word for it. Delicious. I walk somewhere, it's a Friday. Yeah. I will say this deep fried coffee, though, if you go to the peony and it's there, I forget what it's called. But if you see deep fried coffee, you got to try it because it is unreal. I love it.

I'm keeping it simple, boys. The mini donuts. Yes. Like those are... That's a statement. Those are elite, man. Yeah. Mike Theorologist text that into mini donuts, obviously. That is a good one. Brendan and Burnaby, what about a deep fried turkey leg?

Hard to get right, but when it is right, it hits. I think, and maybe this goes to the... You have to get a right part. I find sometimes it's too dry, and that would be the issue. So, if you get it right, though, and then it can be a good option. 650, 650 Dumbar Lumbertex line We have time for potentially

One more Ask Us Anything This one, Sasha and North Van What's the most unexpected delay To happen to you? For example, New Zealand's Leeroy Carter gets called up to the rugby team

All Blacks And then Carter finds out His dog ate his passport So that hasn't happened to me I was trying I was racking my brain trying to think of delays. I honestly don't think I've had any like unexpected ones, but have you had any?

I've, I've had one, but it was caused by me. So when I mentioned earlier, I was in Spain and February, getting off the plane after I got, I can't stop talking about it. This one's actually relevant to the conversation. I like the previous one. On my most recent Spain trip. Yeah. I've been there a couple of times.

Get a good double down. Okay. When I got there in February, I was grabbing my lunch. and I forgot my passport on the plane. The door is closed and I had to wait like three and a half, four hours at the airport. I was like Tom Hanks in the terminal, just hanging out. Yeah. Wondering if my passport would ever, ever show up and like, am I going to live at the airport?

So it was unexpected because I was an idiot and I left my passport on the plane. Right. By the way, Randy, sorry, going back to the P&E for second, everyone's texting in. It's called the Gravitron is the one I was thinking up. Okay, so that one, yeah, the crazy beach party came later on. The Gravitron I never went on. That one is like. Yeah, we've had like seven texts now

Like Gravitron is the one that everybody puked I think it's labeled Starship 3,000 or something That's what it is now But it's the gravity. When I was a kid, like I'm looking at a picture of it now When I was a kid going, it was definitely called the Gravitron And that was just like, puke Central Yeah, yeah, I was like, yeah, I will never go on that

Just seeing people getting off and puking, I'm like, I'm good Yeah, yeah Not for me I, uh, okay, that's gonna do it for the show Appreciate everyone texting in 650, 650, appreciate everyone listening as well. Thank you to A-Dog Enjoy your vacation.

You'll be off for two weeks. A couple weeks, yeah. A couple weeks. Back on August 25th when Halbro is back as well, so the whole band will be back. All right. Together on August 25th. Lattie, you will be here next week.

I'm sticking around. What Jamie and I, thank you to you. Thank you to Randy Janda for co-hosting the morning shows. Enjoy your sleep next week. I have been Josh L.A. Wolf. This has been Halperdonabruff on SportsNet 650.