Halford & Brough in the Morning - Laine Cleared to Play + WWL
Episode Date: July 29, 2024In hour three, Josh & Jason are joined The Athletic's Aaron Portzline to discuss what comes next for Patrik Laine now that he's cleared to play (2:00), plus the guys tell us what they learned (25:00).... 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.
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welcome back to halford and brough i'm josh halliwell filling in for
mike halford it's 802 on a rainy it's raining outside
vancouver morning i'm old now so i think i say things like
we needed this rain.
I thought that immediately
when I drove outside. Am I old?
I hope not.
Ben said that when he came in, too.
You've got an old soul.
Ben probably said it for golf reasons.
The greens are too hard right now.
That was my second thought.
Soften them up.
Alfred and Brock, brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers.
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Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today.
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You're getting better.
Thank you. You're getting better. Thank you.
You're getting better.
We're coming to you live from the Kintec studio.
Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider,
powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews.
So, Rafi, what are you waiting for?
Let's bring in our next guest.
It is Aaron Portsline covering the Columbus Blue Jackets for The Athletic.
Thanks for taking the time, Aaron.
How are you?
Doing very well, thanks.
Good morning. How are you guys? We are? Doing very well, thanks. Good morning.
How are you guys?
We are doing well.
Are you big into the Summer Olympics, or are you just checked out of that?
You know what?
I usually am really into it.
This year I've been away, and we've had a lot going on,
so I haven't really dialed in.
I watched a bit of the opening ceremony
but haven't really thrown myself full into them just yet but usually I am yet.
Well tell us about the work that you are doing on the Patrick Laine front. What is the latest
with Laine? Well the good news is and this is good news on many levels, is he's been cleared from the NHL, NHLPA Players Assistance Program.
Of course, the first level is that's an indication that whatever care Patrick needed
for what he described as mental health issues,
he's been deemed better by doctors within the program.
So now he is able to resume his duties as a player.
That's the best part, the first part.
And the second part is that it now opens up other clubs
to speak directly with Line A.
The Blue Jackets general manager, Don Waddell,
has given permission to his agent to have all of those conversations.
They're trying to trade him.
He has asked for a trade.
I think it's important to say that it's a mutual decision at this point, too, that I think the Blue Jackets are fully on board with that and new direction for both sides.
So, yeah, it can proceed now.
I'm not sure how long it takes.
It's probably a little more difficult at this point in the summer than it would have been before the draft,
before free agency played itself almost out.
But they proceed.
And Don Waddell has said that teams have continually expressed interest
and wondered when he was going to be approved.
So perhaps there is a market that they can take steps forward to trading.
So are the Jackets, I guess you're answering that question while I'm asking it,
but are the Jackets fairly confident that they can get a deal done here?
Because there are some impediments to getting this done uh
including you know something you mentioned in in your article he's got a cap hit of 8.7 million
per season which is sizable two years left on that deal he's got a limited no trade clause
in which he can select 10 nhl clubs to which he cannot be traded.
And also just the timing of this,
there's a lot of teams that have already committed a lot of cap space through free agency.
Absolutely.
And I think another aspect of this,
since we're so far along, almost in August now,
is the Blue Jackets say they want to make a hockey trade.
Well, of course they do.
They'd love to move line A for a significant roster player
and some picks and what have you.
I think it's pretty clear to most that they're going to have to take
some money back or a significant amount of money back.
I think if teams out there believe that Patrick Laine could get
back to his 44 goal
self or 40 goal
self even, I don't
think 8.7 is too much
to pay.
But there's only like
six teams that have that
much cap space that
could acquire Laine without
either sending something back to Columbus
or taking on or making other moves to facilitate line A. So they're going to have to take a
significant contract back. I think what it comes down to is, is that significant contract
a player that Columbus believes has some value to them as well.
I think they'd rather do that than just eat half of line A's salary to get it done.
So I would think there's a lot of moving parts,
and probably what they discuss will be different with all of the teams in its own way
because everyone's got their own sort of setup and their needs and their their extras if you will is don waddell going to be
waiting for the kind of return that if maybe a team values him as an elite goal scorer still
or is it going to be more of a situation where hey a team is willing to take on all the money
and give you something back and and you jump at that opportunity?
It's a good question.
I think the latter probably would be preferred.
I think if you look at their lineup now,
certainly they've got a lot of growth that's going to be necessary before they're competitive.
But they can fill up a lineup card pretty easily right now
with more help on the way.
So if the season started today, even without line,
they've got a lineup that I think they feel like they can be competitive with.
But if you get a veteran player back,
I almost feel like the signing of Monahan and Jack Johnson on defense,
we're not sure what Johnson's going to give them this year based on what they need,
but Monahan's going to be a significant player for them or should be.
It's pretty clear that Don Waddell wanted to bring more veterans in the room.
I think there's always space for that guy, preferably a highly competitive one, but I'm also not naive to think
if this is a highly competitive veteran
player who's productive, those guys,
I'm not sure why a team would make that move.
There's a lot of question marks around line. He played 18 games last year,
did a lot of entries, has line. He played 18 games last year, did a lot of entries,
has not been the goal scorer.
He was early in his career with Winnebago now.
Is that because of who he's had around him?
Quite possibly.
He has not worked with Johnny Gaudreau.
It just has not clicked.
They've played a lot together on the line.
They've played a lot together on the power play.
And in two years,
Gaudreau has exactly six primary assists on line angles.
Six out of 28.
Yeah.
Just hasn't gelled.
So it's time, I think, both sides agreed to move on.
What have you seen from him when he's healthy in Columbus?
Because his point totals aren't bad in the two seasons.
Granted, he only played 56 and 55 games respectively,
but he was pretty much a point-of-game player.
Was he a good player or was he a liability defensively?
Tell us a bit about him because this is what these teams are going to be scouting.
Sure.
Yeah, well, there was really only one stretch, and it wasn't last year, it was the year before,
where he went on a goal scoring like he was known for early in his career.
I think he's been a more well-rounded player at his best than he was early in his career,
not just a goal scorer.
His assists have picked up big time if you look at the early parts of his career.
And there are times when he's engaged.
This has not been a very good club at all defensively.
He certainly owns part of that.
I think the frustrating thing, and maybe one of the reasons it is seen to no longer work here,
he's a big guy.
And, yeah, you know what?
The guy scoring 44 goals, it's not an issue.
If he's not, you kind of want that 6'5 guy to use his size a little bit.
I'm not saying Patrick Lining should become a third-line checker by any stretch,
but you'd like to see him win more board battles.
You'd like to see him be more of a physical presence.
He's a big guy, but that's just not part of the makeup.
So I think that's been a frustration.
But the biggest frustration has just been his availability at his best.
His two best seasons in Columbus, he's missed about a third of the games.
And I'll say this, too, in his favor.
He really, last season, tried to go in a different direction,
to become a leader.
And it was really apparent during training camp,
he's the one, not Goudreau, not Jenner,
not some of the other guys that jump off the page
when you look at the Columbus roster.
It was Laine who took Adam Fantilli under his wing
and tried to be a big brother to him, which was really a step that I didn't
expect from Patrick.
I don't think a lot of guys in the room did.
You could tell he was trying to forge a different path.
I think he really sensed that this is going to work.
He's got to come here.
And he threw himself fully into it.
And then he got hurt.
And it was back to the same stuff again.
Broke his collarbone,
had a setback in his recovery,
and then we didn't see him again because he
entered the program.
I think there's just a lot of frustration.
And I think, honestly, I don't think
he has anything against the city of Columbus.
He seemed to like it here a lot.
I don't think it's even the players in the room.
I think it's seen
as part of his new outlook on life, as part of his recovery plan, really, to have a fresh start
somewhere. So I certainly hope it works out for him. When was the last time you got to chat with
Patrick Laine? Because I imagine the teams that are thinking of acquiring him are going to want to chat with him
just to see where his head is at.
Yeah, for sure.
And they've been given clearance to do that.
The last time I talked to him, I certainly wouldn't know the date,
but it was probably shortly before he got injured.
I remember writing a story early last season about he and Doudreau
and how it just hasn't worked and why it
hasn't worked.
Line A pushed back a little bit
on that, said
maybe if lines stayed together
we could actually develop some chemistry.
Gaudreau said, yeah, you're right.
I think it's because we both want the puck.
And it just
hasn't worked. I'm not sure why it hasn't worked.
I'm not smart enough to know why it hasn't worked. I'm not sure why it hasn't worked. I'm not smart enough to know why it hasn't worked.
And Laine was sort of coming at it from a different place.
But that's the last time I remember talking to him.
He's an interesting guy.
He is, you know, as critical as anybody can be on Patrick Laine.
Nobody is more critical on Patrick Lining than Patrick
Lining. You think you've
given his play a hard critique and then
you talk to him and he goes at it
and really buries himself in a way
that, jeez, if you ever wrote that as a writer,
people would be like, oh my God,
how do you come back from this?
He just killed himself, verbally, of course,
just buried himself in his play.
And he did that more than a few times in Columbus.
He did it in Winnipeg too.
Yeah.
That's part of his makeup.
I just wanted to ask you one final question
about the Blue Jackets.
It's a local angle.
Kent Johnson signed a three-year contract extension.
What are expectations for him?
I know he dealt with some injuries,
but it's been kind of up and down for him in Columbus.
Sorry, who is this for?
Kent Johnson?
Kent Johnson, yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I like that contract a lot because I think Johnson's going to be
in some really prime positions here.
Had a really good rookie season, as you know, 16 goals and 40 assists.
Back pedaled last year as a sophomore, sophomore slump,
classic version of that.
Injured.
You know, the push has been on from the club for him to bulk up
a little bit. He's never going to be
a big player, a physical
player, but boy is he lanky still.
Part of that's just going to
come with his growth, but he is
a sublime playmaker.
He sees the ice incredibly well.
And I think he could be
in a situation this year
where he plays with Fantilli,
perhaps on the opposite side
of Boone Jenner
on the other wing.
He's a power play guy.
They think he's a big part
of this in the future.
That contract surprised me
a little bit.
I think the club was expecting
him to go just one year,
kind of a proven contract,
because they think big things are ahead for him.
Well, Aaron, I want to thank you for taking the time
during these summer months to chat with us about the hockey,
and perhaps we'll chat again
once the Patrick Laine situation resolves itself.
Yeah, maybe it'll be a canup. Who knows?
I look at the cap space I don't think so
maybe maybe we'll see
alright Aaron take care
cheers that's Aaron
Portsline from the Athletic one of the best
beat reporters in the NHL
on the Patrick Laine situation
where do you think he'll end up
Chicago?
Chicago makes sense we got a
text that said hey LA might be a good fit
because they obviously need scoring.
But again, I feel like that's a similar situation to Vancouver
where it's like he just might not buy into what they're selling.
You have to win board battles if you want to play for talk.
Honestly, you got to win board battles everywhere.
Yeah, any competitive team.
Yeah, and I think that's the concern with Liney. honestly, they got to win board battles everywhere. Yeah. Any competitive team. Yeah.
And I think that's the concern with Lainey.
There are times when he just doesn't look particularly competitive and maybe that's because
he beats himself up so much, you know, maybe,
you know, mentally.
And I know, I don't want to compare what he went
into the program for just to typical, like the mental side of sports, you know, but like, you know, maybe that's connected.
And if you, if you have a competitive team and you have playoff expectations, if not Stanley cup expectations, adding a player like Patrick line is a huge risk because what was one of the keys for the Canucks this
season? Everyone was buying in. Everyone bought into the system. And the guys that didn't,
think of a guy like Kuzmenko, not on the team. Not on the team anymore. You ship a player like
that out. You can't just do things your own way. Unless, of course, you're scoring a ton of goals.
Yeah. And maybe that's the bet a team wants to make is that he're scoring a ton of goals yeah and maybe that's unless that's the bet
a team wants to make is that he can score a bunch of goals and you just put him with someone who's
going to set him up for said bunch of goals and it'll just work out and you'll be fine with the
offense he provides but to me i look at it and it just feels like the obvious fit is to go to a team
where there's not a lot of pressure you can try to get your game back to where you think it should be.
And hopefully, either when your contract is up or if that team gets competitive, whatever,
then you're ready to go and ready to be a contributing piece on a competitive team.
Because right now, I just don't think he is that.
And I don't think a competitive team would make that bet.
What about reuniting with Winnipeg?
There was a report earlier this week in the Winnipeg Free Press
about McGroarty, the prospect they have who isn't looking like
he's going to sign with Winnipeg.
I won't say a problem for a problem, but it's a guy they're familiar with
in Winnipeg.
They might be willing to take him back in.
Could be a scenario.
I feel like Jets fans would hate that, would they not?
They need the offense, right?
They need the offense.
I thought there was some ill will.
Well, new coaching staff, right?
It's a different crew there.
Potentially.
I don't think it would.
I don't know, man.
Doesn't Winnipeg kind of hang its hat on playing defensively?
Yeah.
That's what they're all about?
I don't know.
You still need to score at the end of the day.
You need somebody to put the puck in there.
I think there's a possibility they won't be able to trade him.
To be perfectly honest with you.
That's kind of what I was wondering is like,
can you go into the season with him on your roster?
And like, maybe it works out.
Maybe.
Maybe.
We'll see.
Let's do some what we learned.
I've got a quick what we learned.
Manchester United is working on plans to build
a new 100,000 seat stadium and that would
replace Old Trafford, which is already one of
the biggest stadiums in England.
And they do have a new owner there, Sir Jim
Ratcliffe, who you're buddies with, aren't you?
Yeah, no, we go way back.
And it's his preference to
build a stadium from scratch
a new stadium maybe they would call it
New Trafford
Yeah do you do the Yankee Stadium thing where you're
just like that's the old one
this is just Trafford
It's just Trafford? Yeah it's just Trafford
They could maybe do that
but there's two options theyord? Yeah, it's just Trafford. They could maybe do that. But there's two options.
They got to fix it up.
It is not up to par with some of the new stadiums in the Premier League.
You think about Arsenal Stadium, which is not super new, but it's new-ish.
Tottenham has a beautiful new stadium and there's other stadiums planned.
And so they need to build a stadium.
And because it's Manchester United,
they need to do something really special
and they need to make it big.
And I think Sir Jim Ratcliffe was thinking,
okay, well, I could renovate Old Trafford.
But when you're renovating a stadium during play,
first of all, you're limiting capacity and it's just kind of awkward
to do it.
So it is possible that Manchester United could
have a 100,000 seat stadium in the near future.
Is this not like sacrilege though?
Some people will say that.
Yeah, because for me though, like I equate it to
baseball almost where it's like, man, if the Red Sox were playing at not Fenway Park
or the Cubs were not at Wrigley Field, that would feel wrong.
Yeah.
But I guess like the Yankees did it.
I mean, I've been to Old Trafford.
It's bad.
It's not bad.
It's cool with the history, but it's old.
They put it right in the name.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, exactly. It it right in the name. Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly.
It's right in the name.
I mean, the only match I've ever been to in England was at Arsenal's old ground at Highbury,
and that had history, but it had to go.
There was too many problems, and now I don't think many Arsenal fans would complain about the new stadium there.
Maybe ticket prices are too high, but maybe it's too corporate now,
but that's the way things are going.
Give me a moocow on that.
So I have a couple what we learned.
Would we rather hear about a 58-year-old at the Olympics
or a movie starring Timu Solani and Brett Hull?
Both of them. You're doing both of them.
Okay, I'm doing both of them.
We're going to start with the 58-year-old.
There is a 58-year-old at the Olympics.
I might butcher the name.
I've been reading things wrong all day.
Brof, there's still time.
So it's fine.
That was the joke I was going to do.
You blew it.
Jenji Ying was playing in women's table tennis.
Oh.
58?
58.
So I say was because she lost on Saturday, so she's out okay she got beat by a
46 year old oh my god lebanese woman um but so i thought for sure she'd be an equestrian
no like the horse was doing the work that would be like okay i'm not even going to mention that
because it's the horse um but she represents that is awesome yeah she represents chile she played for
the chinese national team for 40 years but i guess she's lived in chile for a while so she can
play for the wise citizen yeah so she uh i was reading about her after she said she wants to
continue playing but she doesn't think she'll be able to make the next olympics because she'll be 62 but yeah physically
as you get older the travel becomes hard it's a long trip but 58 gotta watch matlock in the evening
yeah i just uh i don't know how old are you i'm 26 so i have 32 years. You're Laine's age. Yeah. Well, yeah.
You look better than Laine.
Thank you.
I didn't do the hair thing that he did.
Yeah.
Hope you're not going to Winnipeg either.
Yeah, hopefully.
Well, we'll see.
All right.
Mukau that one.
And congratulations to the 58-year-old in the Olympics.
What was the second one?
Oh, the second one.
So this just came across my
timeline so i don't have all the information on it but there is a uh a movie called minor
leaguer movie which is going to be available minor leaguer movie it's going to be available
on august 1st so a few days from now okay and it stars is it a theater release or this is going
going straight to vhs This is straight to VHS.
This might just be a Betamax thing.
It stars Timu Solani and Brett Hall.
This is how they are marketing it.
And from what I've seen, I've seen one trailer without audio.
And you didn't need it?
No, no, no, no.
It looks bad.
What's the storyline?
Essentially, it seems like there's this one guy who is not Timur Solani and Brett Hull,
who's trying to make a team or whatever.
But also, he knows Timur Solani and Brett Hull, and they are rivals.
Solani and Hull do not like each other.
Okay.
And I guess they butt heads.
Hijinks ensues.
Why is he putting a team together?
Like in the NHL?
No, I don't think it's NHL related at all, if I'm being honest.
What's this movie called?
It's called Minor Leaguer. If you go to at Minor Leaguer move, M-O-P, on Twitter, you can watch the trailer.
Their account has 77 followers.
Okay.
I feel like you need to prep this What We Learn more.
Yeah, no.
If you thought I was unprepared for the earlier interview, yeah.
Yeah, there was a little less pressure.
A minor league hockey player struggles with the massive ego of his team's new owner,
a hockey legend who was once his childhood hero.
Okay.
That's the premise on Rotten Tomatoes.
So there we go.
All right.
I probably won't
watch that one no i wouldn't recommend watching it you know what i'm watching right now presumed
innocent with jake gyllenhaal oh on apple very good yeah timo salani not in it no that's probably
the highlight brett hall is in it spoiler he's the killer what wow but he was presumed innocent. No, he just
showed up on the
last episode and
he was like,
yeah, I did it.
Damn.
Just owned up to it.
All right.
What a plot twist.
All right.
Get your what we
learns.
We have time for
yours on the other
side if you got a
laddie.
Text in to the
Dunbar Lumber text
line 650-650 with
your what we
learns and I
anticipate quite a few mean ones about me,
and I deserve it for my blunder earlier in the show.
You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.
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Join us for Halford & Brough in the morning weekdays
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Or on demand anytime through your favorite podcast app.
Now for my favorite part of the show.
What'd I say?
Talk to the audience.
Oh, God, this is always dead.
It's what we Oh, God. This is always dead. It's what
we learn time.
It's what
we learn time.
It's what we
learn time.
Oh, does he keep
doing this? On the show.
Josh.
Josh. And
834 on a Monday.
Oh, right.
He does that thing.
It just comes in same the time, right?
And you have to do it excruciatingly loud.
You cut A-Dog off.
Yeah.
So I misremembered this intro.
I thought he just kept saying it's what we learned in time.
It faded out slowly.
It did not.
I don't want to be nitpicky, but you also forgot to say Kintec after the last Kintec read.
Did I?
You just moved right on to the next thing.
Wow.
A few people noticed in the text inbox.
You know what?
It's Monday.
We have a routine here.
Yeah.
No, I'm figuring that out.
You're doing a great job following the routine of screwing up the reads that Halford has already said.
Thank you.
And I'm doing a great job following the routine of asking terrible questions anyway this how this hour of halford
and brough is brought to you by campbell and bound real estate appraisers trust the expertise
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Didn't mess those ones up.
It is what we learned in time.
Laddie, you had one?
I have a quirky one, yeah.
I love quirky baseball stuff, right?
Korean League?
This is not Korean.
This is MLB.
This is staying in North America.
As we know, Danny Jansen got traded to the Boston Red Sox
from the Toronto Blue Jays.
That was the big deal over the weekend.
There is a game between the Jays and the Red Sox
that needs to be made up on August 26th.
Danny Jansen was the batter when the game was postponed
for the Blue Jays.
There is a possibility, you guys.
He won't be the first ever player to be traded
while a game was suspended,
but he could be the first player to play
for both teams in the same game, technically,
because it's being played at a later date,
and he might be catching in the at-bat
that he started as a hitter with the Blue Jays.
So wrap your head around that one.
I'm so confused by that.
So he was batting.
So they start the game over though, right?
No.
They pick up with a 1-0 count.
A 1-0 count to Danny Jansen is when it was postponed.
Well, they started at the 1-0 count too.
I thought they at least like restarted the at-bat.
No, they started right where it left off.
So what do they do then?
They just play on.
Danny Jansen will be on the Red Sox
and you're allowed to have a different lineup. Danny Jansen will be on the Red Sox and you're allowed to have
a different lineup. Danny Jansen should be on the Blue Jays.
They should make him strap on
Just for that one game. That would be
amazing. So it's happened before
This is easily the most interesting thing
left in the Blue Jays season. Correct.
It'll be interesting to see what they do.
August 26th is the date. And this has
never happened before? Like no players ever
It's happened where a player had been traded away from their team so they're no longer involved in the makeup game. And this has never happened before? Like no players ever? It's happened where a player
had been traded away from their team
so they're no longer involved
in the makeup game.
But they've never been traded
to the team that they were playing
and going to play in the game
that's going to be made up.
So that's really out there for...
If the Red Sox don't play him in that game,
they hate fun.
And they shouldn't be allowed
to be a team anymore.
Or if they DH him or something boring.
Yeah. He better be catching
That'd be great because you go from at the plate
To now you're behind the plate
That was cool
You know what that's more than quirky
That's interesting
Wow
Good job
That's the most well earned moo cow I've ever gotten
Yeah now we fire up the dot matrix, right?
Right?
Right?
What did Helfer call it?
Organized chaos?
Yeah, I don't know.
He's got some phrase for it.
Oh, it's administrative nonsense.
There it is.
Yeah.
I think Justin and Ysvan came up with that phrase.
Yeah.
What we learned, this one calling into us,
and Paris's rainy opening
ceremonies to their best vancouver impression i half expected to see xenodane zedan jump into a
pickup truck with the torch um i was uh remembering vancouver's opening ceremony while i was watching
this and remembering how nervous I was.
And I don't know if any Parisians were nervous
that something would go wrong.
And a few things did go wrong.
I think there was a mix-up between North Korea and South Korea.
That's a tough mix-up.
The arm didn't come down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But do you remember in Canada, was it up or down?
I think the arm was supposed to go.
The arm didn't go up.
Yeah.
So there were like four arms or something like that.
And one of the massive mechanical arms didn't go up.
And I remember watching that at, I think it was like one of those Molson Canadian beer halls or whatever.
And like just my heart sinking.
I'm like, oh my God, this is going to be a disaster. Like there's, but I think there was like this
almost like inferiority complex, you know,
still, cause I've grown, I've been born and
raised in Vancouver and I've gone from us being
like a city that most people hadn't heard of
to being like a global city that most people
have heard of.
Yeah.
And so I've still got that like, oh, you know,
being called a village in the 1979 soccer
bowl or whatever it was.
Um, and, uh, and I remember just being really
nervous about that.
And then to make matters worse, they put Wayne
Gretzky in the back of a pickup truck.
I was so nervous for that.
And I'm like, he should be bolted in somehow.
Cause he looked nervous.
He looked nervous.
He looked cold and it looked like if he was, uh, if they took a
wrong turn, like that surprised him, he was
going to like catapult right off that thing.
And you know what?
I think they probably would have had to cancel
the Olympics if that happened.
Um, but, uh, I watched a bit of the, uh, opening
ceremony and then I flipped around, I watched
a movie and then I came back to it and it was still on. And then I flipped around. I watched a movie, and then I came back to it, and it was still on.
And then I flipped around and watched a four-hour movie, and it was still on.
It was long.
It was long.
It was long.
I liked the way they did it, though, with all sorts of street performers that seemed to anger up the blood of the American populace.
That'll happen.
That'll happen.
Yeah, every time I see an opening ceremony, my first thought is, oh, hey, remember when Vancouver didn't have an arm go up? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was happen. That'll happen. Yeah, every time I see an opening ceremonies, my first thought is,
oh, hey, remember when Vancouver didn't have an arm go up?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was fun.
But I always liked them.
That was way too long.
The speeches are always what's too long for me.
Right.
They're over the top.
Why are there speeches?
I don't know.
Just have music and presentations.
We get it.
So I didn't watch it this far.
How did they light the torch?
They had-
Just like a Bic lighter.
That's the French way.
They were like, we spent the budget, guys.
A cigarette.
Just put it in there.
Just throw a flick of cigarette in there.
How did they light it?
So they had two torchbearers go up, and then it was like a hot air balloon looking thing.
Okay.
And then it lit a ring of fire around the hot air balloon.
A burning ring of fire.
A burning ring of fire.
And then it went up and was suspended in the air.
I don't know if it stays in the air.
I assume it does.
Was it cool?
It was cool.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was neat.
Will anything beat the archery?
No.
That was incredible.
That was incredible.
You want to talk about pressure.
Yeah, yeah.
And your heart beating. Can you imagine if you get the. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And their heart beating.
Can you imagine if you get the yips doing that?
Oh my God.
And it's bad.
The arrow goes into the crowd.
The wind.
It was windy.
Wide left, wide left.
There's so much pressure.
More!
We should have him as a guest coming on.
Oh my God.
There's a King of the Hill episode where Hank drops the torch and it extinguishes.
Oh, right.
But no one's around to see it.
I've seen more Snoop Dogg
than I thought I would
at these Olympics.
Okay, the one thing
I didn't like
about these opening ceremonies
is they just had like
Rafa Nadal there.
I'm like, he's from Spain.
They had Serena Williams there
like holding the torch
near the end.
And they kind of counted them
as French heroes
because they did well at the French Open?
I still don't.
Like, to me, if the Olympics were back in Vancouver
and they were like, here's Patrick Kane,
I'd be like, no, we're not doing this.
What if they had Sidney Crosby?
That's fine because he's Canadian.
Right.
Well, if they did it in France, though,
if they had Crosby, would you have been upset?
Yeah, that would have been dumb.
Like, you shouldn't have people from other countries
that are, like, noteworthy Americans or whatever
in your opening ceremonies.
One of the things I like about opening ceremonies
is that it's all, like, local flair.
They have their own athletes,
and they're paying homage to that country.
Right.
But when you're bringing in like people from around the world and having them do the important parts, I don't know.
I didn't love that part.
Buddy and Suri, what we learned, the people will roast Jason not because he deserves it, but because they like low hanging fruit.
Thank you, Buddy and Suri.
I do deserve to be.
Also, he does.
Also, the deserving.
Todd has bad takes.
What we learned, if you can get past the shame stage,
it is incredibly satisfying to sprawl in front of the TV,
gorging on unhealthy snacks while watching incredibly fit,
incredibly driven athletes give their all for our country.
And that is what makes it so fun to be hyper critical
of these athletes yeah again going back to gymnastics yeah hey you went out of bounds
you're bad but also you're doing incredible things that i would never be able to do or think so we
were talking about like secondhand embarrassment yeah and when i watch gymnastics or diving
it's i feel like i'm waiting for them to mess up. Yeah.
Whereas when I watch track and field or swimming, I'm like, go, go faster.
Except the hurdles.
I'll never watch the hurdles again.
I'll tell you that much.
But I'm so scared every time they do a flip or those beams or whatever.
I'm like, you're going to fall and smack your face on the ground.
Yeah.
There was a huge bale that I saw on the bars.
Oh.
And.
They missed? Just a miss miss and like smack down yeah yeah that's
that's a tough one that's a bad feeling you reach out there nothing yeah we're falling the surfing
guy did you guys see that no what happened i hit my big wave and uh it's pants fell down
broadcast oh yes like this is my biggest moment yeah and that is how i go wrong Got hit by a big wave and his pants fell down. Actually? Yes.
He's like, this is my biggest moment.
Yeah.
And that is how you.
What could possibly go wrong?
Like, that is just the worst.
The guy's built his whole life up to that moment,
and that is what he'll be remembered for.
What we learned on Sine Text,
Brough is a distraught without Halford.
Nah, I'm not.
I've wanted to work with Josh.
I went to Canberra, and I said, this rookie. And it's paid off greatly, day one. Yeah. And now I'm. I went to Canberra and I said, this rookie.
And it's paid off greatly, day one.
Yeah.
And now I'm going to go into Canberra.
I'm never working.
He's like, don't stick me alone with Laddie.
We're supposed to host another week together later in the summer.
And all of a sudden, I will be off the schedule for that week.
Cam's going to be like, you want another week off?
I think so.
Really?
I think so.
Oh, okay.
He's like, oh.
I've got some
more wiggle room with my vacation that I
might have to switch around no it's
going great I'm looking forward to it
Justin and East Van what we learned with
the addition of Josh Elliott Wolfe and
basketball Ben the average age of the
Halbro show has dropped from 41 and a
half down to 33.5 brough is set up to
lead this young core
to success.
So you're like LeBron?
You're LeBron. Aye aye, Captain.
Yeah.
You're Jason Day and I'm sitting on the bench.
I was going to say, Halford is. I'm playing.
No, Halford's
off the team. Make the team.
Halford is Jalen Brown.
Okay, I want to read this one.
I want to get your guys' take.
Josh and Laddie,
I know you guys
are big baseball fans.
Chet and Burnaby,
what we learned.
I learned that baseball
has the most underwhelming trades
of the four major American sports.
Yes, I agree.
I agree.
Well, no, yeah, I agree. The agree um the deadline the deadline big names are involved
though but it's always like i think the the underwhelming part is more of the return
just because there's so many prospects and most people don't know any of these prospects we're
as in hockey you're like oh matthew savoie got traded that's neat because
i remember being invested in that guy ahead of the draft or whatever whereas in baseball like
most people until they're in your organization and have played a bit don't know these prospects
and i don't think a lot of mlb teams are massively overhauling their teams at the deadline a lot of
it's just like oh we need a bullpen arm or, oh, we're, you know, we're short in this backup third baseman.
Like we need another infielder.
Who did the crazy overhaul?
Was it Atlanta?
Did the crazy overhaul?
Was that before the deadline?
They were sort of middling though, right?
They were about 500 and then they got into the playoffs and then did well.
So they knew they had to make changes.
Most teams that are in the playoff race right now like their team.
I'm pretty sure.
And like I said, there's just a few areas that they like to bolster,
which is what you see at the Reds.
So what have the Jays done so far?
They have traded Danny Jansen, Nate Pearson to the Cubs,
and Jimmy Garcia to the Mariners.
And what have they gotten?
They got some things back.
They got some things.
Kikuchi's still going to be traded.
There's rumors flying this morning that he's out the door.
But, like, as a Jays fan, how are you feeling about it?
It feels like the thing about every baseball trade is like,
here's a lottery ticket and hope it works out.
A swath of prospects, you hope one pans out.
Especially when you're not trading.
When Juan Soto got traded, it's like, okay,
you're going to get the other team's top prospect or whatever
or a couple of them whereas this is like
you get the 8th best prospect
in their system or the 12th or whatever it is
and you're supposed to be pumped about it
and I just can't really get pumped about it
as a Jays fan specifically I think this deadline's a little
bit questionable because of the
people running behind it I don't know
if the player acquisition side of things have been
their greatest part of
their tenure, we'll put it that way. The trading
aspect, they made some good signings,
they brought in some good players, but
the trades specifically, if you look back over the
tenure, hit and miss.
Can you trade draft picks? You can't, right?
I think you can now. They made
a change in the latest CBA. You can trade...
I feel like we would have seen draft picks traded, though.
But they're not often enough that it's worth it.
Right.
And you can trade slot value.
There's a whole bunch.
The MLB draft is totally different than the other four.
You can trade cash and stuff, too.
Rich with what we learned.
How can Brough lead these young guys to success
when there are too many hurdles in his way?
Oh, hurdles.
We also got a text saying that.
You never know what's going to end your career, you know?
You think that was it?
Perdita?
Felicia?
That's a one. It happens.
Fair enough. We also got a text
saying that we should just blame Brett Hall
for everything that happened. He can be our
Tibor? Yeah.
I kind of like that. Yeah, well, he was the
killer and presumed innocent. Yeah, exactly.
It's crazy. I didn't see it coming.
If he never played hockey, I doubt you would have made that hurdles reference.
It would have been fine.
That's true.
What we learned, the Mariners went from worst offense to best offense after one trade.
Okay, they played the White Sox.
The White Sox are so bad.
I think Josh's softball team.
The White Sox at the deadline.
Might beat the Chicago White Sox.
One out of three at least.
We got a chance.
We had some softball drama this weekend.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
So you were in a softball tournament?
I was in a softball tournament in Chilliwack.
We play in the worst division in the worst league.
Is that like, is it co-ed?
It's co-ed.
It's slow pitch.
Is sliding allowed?
So sliding is allowed. Have you ever had like a bad slide?
Oh, yeah.
That I can think of.
I tore my leg.
Actually, the worst memory of my life.
When you tripped on that hurdle.
Okay, tell us about the softball drama.
So, and people that play softball can probably relate to this,
but it's the playoffs was this tournament.
And one of the teams in the division
and again this is that we are the worst division and we got a lot of bad players um one of the
teams all of a sudden had been bad throughout the season all of a sudden they were really really
good had a few new players picked up had a had a few new players so we had to we checked the
rosters and like there were three or four original players
during the season,
and a bunch of really, really good players.
And you can tell in warm-up, too,
they had this one lady who was like
windmilling softballs across the field.
You've done it before.
We're done.
So Dirty Dave and the boys really got to us.
What were the roster rules rules and they won so
you're not allowed to bring in ringers like you have to have played a certain amount of games
during the season any league has that three yeah three or four games during the season and then
you can play um they did not but also because we are the worst division the powers that be were
like whatever it's fine oh really yeah really yeah
you should appeal we tried we tried to appeal again appeal the lack of appeal yeah so we're
probably not going to do that okay you're just not going to come back next year we might join
a different league yeah it's not a good it's not a good look for the league no i know unsigned what
we learned what we learned one year of being good and the fans who supported the team during
the Benning era get priced out.
Uh, yeah, I guess this was a fairly big story.
Uh, well, in terms of Canucks news lately, uh,
the Canucks revealed their single game ticket
prices and they're not cheap.
Um, I just wanted to read one part of this.
So we all know that dynamic pricing exists now.
Pretty much every team does it, but.
Dynamic gouging?
Dynamic gouging.
The Canucks have six categories and they adjust the price accordingly.
There's regular. there's regular plus.
Okay.
There's premium and there's premium plus.
What?
They make a good cracker.
These are just gas types.
There's marquee and then there's marquee plus.
Now, apparently, correct me if I'm wrong here,
there's only one Marquee Plus game this year
and that is when the Toronto Maple Leafs
come to town.
And this is courtesy Daily Hive.
The cheapest ticket,
and I'm just going to read the article here,
that we saw to watch that Leafs game
at Rogers Arena, February 8th,
$277 for the ticket.
We're talking nosebleeds.
That will get you into section 301, which is
in the upper bowl in the corner behind the net,
the Canucks defend twice.
So typically if you're in the end zone, you
want to see the Canucks shooting twice.
Yeah.
I mean, this just goes to overall ticket prices to see everything these days is crazy.
And, you know, it just gets harder and harder in this city to do anything, let alone pay for groceries.
Back in your day, tickets only cost like a quarter each,
I'm pretty sure.
You joke, you joke, and by the way,
I'm going to get you during this week.
The cheapest ticket that I can remember
when I was first going to Canucks games
was the Upper Blues at the Coliseum, $8.
Dang.
$8 to get in.
And I remember my dad being very upset having to pay $20 once
to buy some tickets off a friend of mine.
Now the cheapest for Game Against the Leafs.
What was it, $277?
$277.
Right.
Anyway, appreciate everyone texting in today, everyone listening.
Thanks to Basketball Ben.
Thanks to Laddie.
Thanks to Jason Brough for sticking with me through those reads.
I'll do better tomorrow, I promise.
I will do better as well.
I will research every guest thoroughly.
It would be hilarious if it happened again, though.
We have a different hurdles person up.
Anyway, this has been Halpern and Brough
on Sportsnet 650.