Halford & Brough in the Morning - Men In Blazers' Roger Bennett + What We Learned

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with Men In Blazers podcast host Roger Bennett (1:47) ahead of Wrexham's match at BC Place this Saturday versus the Vancouver Whitecaps, 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.

🎵 803 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford and Ruff, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Ruff of the Morning is brought to you by White Rock Honda, Surrey's premier multilingual dealership destination. You can visit them online at whiterockhonda.ca. We are in Hour 3 of the program. Roger Bennett from the Men in Blazers

Media Empire is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 3. Hour 3 is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live

from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sophie, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for.

So Men in Blazers, the largest independent soccer, yes, soccer-focused media company in North America. You've heard their podcast. They are now linked up with the This Week in Wrexham podcast, and that's very befitting because Wrexham will be here over the weekend

to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place with grass on the field, Jason. We're trying to effort someone for BC Place as well to find out more about laying down grass for the match. But joining us now. You know I don't like it when you use radio terms. Just say we're trying to get someone on to talk about the grass at BC Place. We are efforting. Efforting.

Joining us now, Roger Bennett from Men in Blazers joins us here in the Halford & Breff show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Roger. How are you? Oh, Mike and Jason. It is a joy to be with you. It's great to have you on the program. We have so many things that we want to discuss both with your company

and your podcast and also with Wrexham, of course, coming this weekend to play in Vancouver. I did want to start about the origin story of Men in Blazers. At what point did you think, you know what, I'm going to go to America with this fledgling sport, and I'm going to make a media empire out of the entire thing? How did this Men in Blazers thing all start? Well, really, I came here in 1994, right before the United States' World Cup, which was meant to turn America into a, you know, like the rest of the world,

a proper football-loving nation. But instead, it was a bit like a circus that came into town and left. And for the longest time the united states has been like space to captain kirk the final frontier that football could never crack but that's changed world cup to world cup um and what happened for us is i think 2006 espn had the rights to the world cup, and their commentator, I was watching, the commentator straight up, I swear, said, and the world's most famous football player, Charlie Beckham, takes the field.

Yeah. And I screamed at the television. I was like, bloody hell, if only they had human beings who knew what they were talking about, talking about this sport, football would become massive here. And my wife, wife she's like why don't you go and do it love and so that's kind of what happened uh we were able the next world cup to start with a single podcast and that podcasting technology made it cheap and made us have a deep emotional connection with our audience and everything's grown out of that where you know now we have 14 different hosts

uh on our network we cover the women's game we cover uh everything in the champions league the premier league you know jesse marsh the canadian national team manager is one of the regular guests we have all the premier league stars erling harlan pep guardiola um Mikel Arteta come on, and John Oliver, all the football fans in America, Matthew McConaughey, Steve Nash, a great Canadian, Ariel Helwani, another great Canadian, loves to come on.

And this Wrexham story, coming into Vancouver this weekend, to be able to tell their story live on stage, July 25th, at the Hollywood Theatre in your incredible city. I mean, it's just an amazing time before the World Cup comes back to your city and to North America. And we're going to finish the job of making United States and Canada real football loving nations. You know, we've talked about this a lot in really the last few weeks but for a while now

on the show is the increase in knowledge of the north american sports fan when it comes to global football we still call it soccer on this show but we're kind of going back and forth once in a while and we were talking about how by the way i don't give a crap my call whatever you want it's all lovely and i hate that whole debate but go on yeah it's a tiring debate but we were talking about how uh kids in elementary schools now like you see more uh soccer jerseys whether it's messy miami jerseys or you know mbappe psg jerseys going back you know like it's it really had there has been a sea change in the knowledge of the sports fan and you must have seen this firsthand can you compare the knowledge of American sports fans when it came to global soccer to when you first came to the country compared to now? Yeah, it's night and day.

It really is. And the American football fan and the Canadian football fan too. For me, the passion, the intelligence, the knowledge base, they go toe-to-toe with any fan anywhere in the world. We just released a study on this. It was actually on our website. We did a study of 9 000 american football fans um and it is a young person's game like 89 percent of people under the

age of 30 said that uh you know they're heavily interested in football um they are truly madly deeply in love with this sport by the way in no small part because of vancouver's ea sports uh and what was uh the fifa football game now ea fc i mean that has sensitized an entire generation to the star wars cantina of characters and teams who play global football the fact that the internet and streaming has connected us to the teams as closely from Winnipeg as from just a stone's throw from Anfield, if you're a Liverpool fan, you can now connect emotionally and knowledge-wise

to these teams in a way you couldn't when I first moved to North America. But the big difference we found in this study, guys, is that American football fans, they find room because they're not geographically committed. They didn't grow up in Liverpool. So, yeah, they can love Liverpool, but 43% support three teams or more,

which is kind of incredible. The fans here will say, know with no irony i support um liverpool i support um ac milan that's my italian team dortmund and my german team um i support um you know the north carolina courage i'm a women's team and so there's a there's like a a polyglot of teams that they will bring into their hearts. But I do believe the North American football fan can go toe-to-toe knowledge-wise with fans anywhere in the world. And it's been a magnificent transformation to witness.

We're speaking to Roger Bennett from the Men in Blazers podcast here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Roger, it's funny you mentioned the 94 World Cup because I remember it really fondly as the one that I was right at that age, too, where the games were on it like, quote unquote, normal times. And I was really heavily invested in it. And England was so good in it. Right. Unforgettable performance.

Didn't lose a match. They were really good. Now, here's what I really. OK, so a couple of weeks ago, I was at a buddy's house to give an idea of my social life at this point. He threw on the opening ceremony from the 94 World Cup. He's like, have you ever seen this before? Why are their jerseys so baggy? It was hosted by Oprah.

Diana Ross ran the length of the field singing a song and then tried to take a penalty and missed. Was it in Chicago? Yeah. And then Bill Clinton was just sitting in the crowd. No secret service around her. He was just sitting there hanging out. I'm like, here's the old Soldier Field. To give you an idea, Bill Clinton was just sitting in the crowd. No secret service around him. He was just sitting there hanging out. I'm like, here's the president.

And then John Ciccata was the... To give an idea, it was so comically 90s, but also very Americanized. And it was hilarious to look back on. But I did wonder at the time, I'm like, I wonder if there were any particular reasons why 94 failed to launch the sport like you were suggesting. Do you know why? Have you guys ever discussed that on the podcast? By the way, it's so worth for your viewers.

I mean, I hope all your listeners come and see us at the Hollywood Theatre Thursday night with all the stars of the Wrexham football team. But after that, go and Google the 94 World Cup opening ceremony. If only to see Diana Roth iconically take a penalty from about two yards out. It wasn't even from the... This is about two yards out. Somehow, in a symbol of American football at the time, she skewed the shot wide, missed, but the goalposts had been rigged with pyrotechnics

and they still exploded with joy as if she'd hit it, which made the whole thing even more painful and traumatic to witness it was exquisite that was foreshadowing for baggio though yes oh my god you are deep i think one of the players john cicada one of the singers as he broke his shoulder bone trying to come out of a trap door that didn't open properly it was just a magnificent crap show um but it didn't take i mean by the way economically commercially is still the best attended world cup of all time even though there's now more games like america loved the world cup but it was a big event that you took your kids to like a circus and then it left town and what's changed since then, and the Wrexham story is like a great example of that, is that, you know, again, I said earlier, the internet.

When I first came to America in 94, my team, Everton, were in the FA Cup semi-final. I had 373 channels on the television, not one of them broadcast it live. I had to call my dad in Liverpool and and he held the food uh alongside the the local radio commentary now everything's available uh in canada everything's available in the united states on cable the internet allows us to follow every single room i mean really soccer is the perfect internet era sport ea sports who i talked about earlier that Vancouver uh jewel really did sensitize an entire um nation of frat houses and college kids um you know they learned how to control Messi how it's different than controlling Ronaldo what the Champions League is all that literacy really did

come through that game so there's been a confluence of things that have happened since. And the only thing I'd say is the World Cup was meant to make the United States and Canada fall in love with football. It was meant to happen overnight like a yo-yo or a pogo stick. Instead, it's happened slowly and surely, truly, madly, deeply, World Cup to World Cup. I actually prefer the way it's happened because it's not a fad it's not an overnight thing um it's so bloody real and so authentic and now this fan base and rexham are touring up the west coast from uh is it santa barbara to vancouver weather coming on

saturday you know the fact that so many human beings across North America live and die with the storyline of a now third tier British football team, it's just a delirious symbol of how much room the North American fan has and how much appetite they have for football. In your case, thanks to a son of Vancouver, Ryan Reynolds. How far can Wrexham go?

How far up the leagues could they go? So that's a question that we'll ask on Thursday night. We've been able to cover this story for the past two years. It's a story, I think a very special sports story, partially because of Ryan, who's handled it with Rob McElhenney so beautifully, humbly, in a really thoughtful, intelligent, emotionally intelligent way, in part because Wrexham, the town, I grew up really close to there in Liverpool you know Wrexham

was just and Liverpool itself they were both forgotten areas that were kind of in the Thatcher era left to rot economically while the south became a banking power the north the industrial north kind of was really left to rot and so to see these guys come into Wrexham, to come into North Wales, and now if you go to Wrexham on match day, there's pubs coming in, there's restaurants opening, there's a new energy about the whole city.

It's a really, in our quite chaotic time, and the world feels ever more chaotic. It feels ever more challenged. The Wrexham story, it's just one of the most beautiful football's at its best when it transcends football um and the rexham story i think is like a bolt of light a bolt of joy um that's a story that we'll tell on thursday uh at the hollywood theater in vancouver with the manager uh the players um the the entire staff

it's going to be magnificent they've gotten from non-league fifth tier they're now third tier they've had promotion back to back which kind of if you're a baseball fan it kind of the equivalent of moving from single A they're kind of triple A

at the moment or they were probably independent league and they're double A at the moment um or they were probably independent league and their double a at the moment it's probably more accurate um look they're doing it very smartly i really admire the strategy that they've employed both on the field and the and the the messaging off it there's no doubt it gets harder and harder every level you go up. The money that they have is less of an advantage now than it was when they began. They're developing the stadium so more fans can go. And the question is really how quickly they can build the additional infrastructure.

They need a youth academy so they can start to develop their own young players. They need to make it almost like a flower opening in one of those nature films in super fast motion. They need to catch up with the rest of these teams, some of whom were in the Premier League and are competing against not so long ago. But I do believe they're super smart. They're super intelligent and the players that they have brought together, many of whom will be on the stage at the Hollywood Theatre on Thursday night, they've got a no assholes policy

I don't know if I'm allowed to say that word on your show I just did it, go for it but I will say it's rare to find such a collective mission in a club football team where everybody's pulling, everybody feels like that collective self-interest. And it's going to be bloody difficult this season, there is no doubt. But we said that this time last season, to be honest, and the journey,

which feels like an epic Greek poem playing out in real time, episode to episode is kind of humanly magnificent to witness. So the mean thing to say right now is maybe Wrexham will one day be playing in the same league as Everton, if Everton. No, that's such a deaf question. I was very worried because Everton are perpetually, Everton, if you don't know who they are, they're just, if you watch House of the Dragons,

they're like Harrenhal. They're a team that is utterly falling apart, almost cursed. And I'm almost worried that Wrexham and Everton will miss each other because one team is so clearly on the way up and the other is so clearly on the way down. But you had to go there.

I did. Thank you for making me had to go there. I did. Thank you for making me feel great about myself. I was more just curious about, you grew up in Liverpool. How do people decide on who to support? You supported Everton and chose poorly, but others would have supported Liverpool. Yeah. So this is a great... My father, who unfortunately just passed away on July the 4th,

he was... He grew up in the days when you went to see Everton and Liverpool. Like, it was a working-class sport. There was nothing else going on on a Saturday. And it's kind of hilarious for me. When he was eight, he'd go in. I always imagine them as like a Dickensian gang of street kids they'd all go and watch Everton one week and

Liverpool the next and the way he tells it is um you know he's finally decided to commit to one team and he went to the news agents the newsstand to buy you know a rosette a badge. In those days, that's what you'd buy to show which team you supported. And he said he went to buy a Liverpool badge. And the guy who ran the shop said, sorry, mate, we've run out of those. And being an eight-year-old kid, he wanted instant gratification.

So he's like, the guy goes, we've got a lot of blue ones left, little lad. So we brought one. And I had him on my show. There's an episode of my show where I interviewed him about this. I said, Dad, do you often think about how different our lives would be if you brought a bloody red, you know, a Liverpool pin? And he's like, oh.

He said, we would have been happy. We would have won things. He said, but we'd be arseholes. We'd be awful. And he did. He believed. He said, he doesn'd be assholes. We'd be awful. And he did. He believed. He said he doesn't call it losing. He called it not winning.

He said having a lifetime of not winning teaches you how to handle life, which is that life is difficult. It's full of challenges. It's full of pain. But a few moments of happiness when your team does win, when you score a wonder goal he says ultimately that's what life is about you don't waste a second and celebrate all of them as if you're dancing at your own kid's wedding and ultimately i'm very happy that i'm an evertonian i'm very glad that

i'm uh you know connected to a a nation of blues fans who only know trauma. And I think there's something beautiful about that. The Wrexham story, again, they've suffered. Oh, my God. Before Ryan and Rob brought the team, before this journey, for decades, they have suffered. They've known only... I interviewed to prepare for the show at the Hollywood Theatre on Thursday night.

I interviewed a bunch of fans from Wrexham, and one of them came up with this beautiful line, guys. He said, you know, for years I wore my Wrexham shirt as a symbol of defiance. Now I wear my Wrexham shirt as a symbol of pride and ecstasy. And it's very beautiful. I wish it to every sports fan who's listening to your show. I wish them the latter rather than the former. But they're both quite fun at the end of the day.

Well, Roger, first of all, I wanted to offer condolences for your father. Thank you. But I also wanted to thank you for taking the time to join us today. It was really fun to chat with you. And are there still any tickets available for the show on Thursday at the Hollywood Theatre? Because I imagine some people listening might want to show up and see that. You're a beautiful human being. They are available at the Hollywood Theatre box office on meninblazers.com via the social there.

Come and be with us i do think it's one of the most joyous stories in sports this rexham story to be able to live it out on stage with the players who've made it happen is something i don't take for granted come and be with us it'd be great to meet you guys but also to be in be in your city, I've got to say, to come to Vancouver, it's gorgeous, beautiful, incredible city. I couldn't be more excited. So to everyone who's out there, come and raise a pipe with us. And thanks for having me on, guys.

Thanks for coming on, Roger. We really appreciate it. Enjoy Vancouver. Enjoy Thursday and the match on Saturday. Thanks, guys. Courage. Roger Bennett from the Men in Blazers podcast and Media Empire here on the Halpern and Buff Show on Sportsnet 650.

That was so good. Yeah. I can see why his podcast is popular. Yeah. He's a personality. You're good at this. Yeah. Are you good at this job?

Yeah. Why? You think I look awful? They were, Men in Blazers were at NBC when we were there. So it was really interesting because at that time, that was just when NBC got the Premier League rights. Yeah. And it was this explosion. And it took the Peacock people, a bit by surprise, I remember,

they knew that there were pockets of... They were quickly like, forget about this hockey thing that we got. We're out. Get out of here. Do you know anything about soccer? It was interesting to watch it happen in front of our very eyes because the men in blazers thing got huge, huge right away because they understood that you needed that.

They needed to somehow bridge the gap between what North American sports looked and sounded like and how you approach the audience, but also retaining some of the inherent, let's just call it Englishness of football and soccer. English charm. Even that divide though, like it's soccer here, it's football there. And I think a big part of it honestly is the way that Roger sounds like he's very English and, but he's able, But he understands enough about American culture

that he was able to sort of marry the two. And what you're seeing now, weirdly enough, is it's going the other way because you've got all these American interests in very small clubs, right? Wrexham was incredibly tiny before Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhinney took over. Like Birmingham before Tom Brady got on board,

it was a club that everyone kind of knew it existed, but it had nowhere near the profile that it does now. My club, Leeds United, the takeover 49er Enterprises is now complete. They own 100% of the club. So there's real American stakes in all of the – it's almost gone the other way where America's now infiltrated a lot of the English clubs, and it's that sort of seamlessness between the two. Big reason why the sport's so popular right now

in North America. Well, the brands of those clubs are so valuable. Right. And Americans know value when they see it and they're willing to invest in it. Yeah. And there's a copycat element too, right? When you see the success that Wrexham has become,

you're just going to- You can create content. Yeah. It's a content creator. has become, you're just going to create content. Yeah. It's a content creator. Yeah. And you're just going to have people glomming onto the idea. It's like, well, they're doing it. Like, why can't we do this? I don't think it was.

I mean, Tom Brady was like, I need a championship level club as well. And now. Are you going to go to the Wrexham game? I am leaving. So my last day is Friday. Oh, so you might not be in town. I won't be in town for the Wrexham match, but I am very intrigued on going on Thursday to the Hollywood theater.

Reminder, go to hollywoodtheater.ca. That's the URL. You can go buy tickets. Uh, men in blazers. Uh, Rexham is Thursday,

July 25th and tickets are available now. Okay. Get your, what we learned in and be sure to include the ticket emoji. If you want to be entered into the contest to, uh, for best, what we learned and, uh, and be sure to include the ticket emoji if you want to be entered into the contest for Best What We Learned. And Billy Idol and Platinum Blonde tickets are on the line at Rogers Arena.

Is it, what's the date again? Sorry. July 30th. July 30th. Don't, don't, don't, don't look upset at me. I just, I'm an old man. I'm confused. I forget things sometimes.

I wasn't, I was about to tell you. Alfred beat me to it. You went over to your mic with a bit of an eye roll I should have heard the scoff that he let out oh my god I got men in blazers

on Thursday again men in blazers on Thursday the 25th Roger might have mentioned it once or twice during the hit the 27th

see he's a real pro so Billy Idol is at Hollywood Theater on Thursday Roger Bennett hosting an event Roger's going to be a bunch of platinum blonde fans showing up to the Hollywood Theater. All wearing blazers for some reason.

I assume you have this info correct. Get you what we learned soon to the Dunbar Lumber text line 650-650. We'll read them on the other side of the Alfred and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time.

It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show 834 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough in the morning is brought to you by White Rock Honda, Surrey's premier multilingual dealership destination. You can visit them online at whiterockhonda.com.

We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. Okay. A little friendly reminder here. Giving away tickets to see Billy Idol, Platinum Blonde,

on July 30th at Rogers Arena. A pair of tickets to the best of what we learned. Get them in. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Hashtag it WWL. Put a ticket emoji into your text and make it a good text. Make it a good what we learned. You could win the tickets to see Billy Idol and Platinum Blonde.

It's time for us to do our What We Learns. Jason, do you have one? I do. Okay. I learned that the NFL might be going to an 18-game regular season schedule. That's a lot of games, Jason. Yeah. The NFLPA and the NFL have had discussions at a, quote-unquote,

very high level, according to the Washington Post. Actually, the NFLPA executive director, Lloyd Howell, my favorite Lloyd, told the Washington Post. Howell told the Post that talks between the union and the league have not reached the stage of formal negotiations, but he acknowledged that he plans to discuss the issue with players in the near future. And this is always

the conversation when it comes to adding more games. Is it healthy for the players? Probably not. Can we make more money? Yes. Cha-ching! Every year they're just going to keep adding another game Can we make more money? Yes. Cha-ching. Yeah. Every year they're just going to keep adding another game and another game and another game. Just keep challenging these players.

What are you, wimps? Can't do one more game? It's always adorable when people text in and say they should shorten the NHL season. Like, yeah, they should. I don't think anyone would complain if they shortened it to 70 games and made the playoffs better and everyone was healthy. But money.

I'm going to give one guy a little complaint. Actually, it's funny that you brought that one up. We didn't even plan this. This is how good the chemistry is on the Halford and Brough show. So this morning, I have Foot Mob on my phone. Foot Mob? Yeah, F-O-T-M-O-B. It's the greatest soccer app I've ever seen in my life. Okay. F-O-T-M-O-B? F-O-T-M-O-B. It's the greatest soccer app I've ever seen in my life.

Okay. Foot Mob? Foot Mob. Foot Mob. Is it F-O-T? Yeah, you pronounce it differently, okay? Just go along. Fruit Mob?

Fruit Mob. There's two dots over the O. Okay. There's not. Fruit Mob. So European leagues and the players union in Europe are actually suing FIFA over their international calendar because they say they're neglecting their responsibilities to players with a saturated and unsustainable international calendar. Translation, we're playing too many games. There's too much. It has been a complaint, and it was actually one of the major theories

as to why the quality of play at Euro and Copa this summer was kind of down. Yeah. That there's just too much. There's too much soccer. Well, someone texted into the Dunbar-Lumber text line earlier. They were like, why is the Olympic soccer for the men just an under-23 tournament?

It's like, they're busy. They can't. They need some time off. They just wrapped up Copa. They just wrapped up the Euros. They're not going to play in the Olympics. So the money where you're making the hand gestures, the greed is rampant, obviously.

FIFA's had some issues with greed. Have they? Yeah, in the past. Oh, okay. The issue now is every major international competition gets such crazy numbers and the viewership numbers and all the monetary value of them.

And everyone's looking at it like, well, how do we make more money? And they're like, what if the tournament was bigger and longer? What if there were more matches? What if the groups were larger and longer what if there were more matches what if there were like the groups were larger we invited more countries what about the television rights that imagine instead of selling the rights to a country that wasn't participating what if they were participating and it goes on and on and on like this and it's great for the viewer who just wants the soccer

on all the time there's really no break now no right even now if you think about it like when do the whitecaps not play when is their off season honestly when's when's the whitecaps december and january really that's about it maybe some summer league yeah it's a summer league that goes basically march to november and it's always crazy when they go to training camp and i'm like didn't they just finish they start when the weather is crappy and they finish when the weather is crappy that's how you know they start it's raining in march and then it's raining in november they just play the whole time through so their season is crazy long um the premier league starts the second week of august a bunch of the premier league players just finished playing in yeah cop, and they get maybe four or five weeks off.

And then their preseason tours are on now. Leeds are playing preseason exhibition matches now. Some of the senior guys don't have to go on those, do they? Right. But when it's time to play matches in mid-August, it's go time. You're playing, right? And I think what we're seeing with the NFL is something very similar. At what point do you just stop adding games?

Well, you have to at some point. But maybe they won't. The NFL probably looks at it and they're like, why are we off from February to September? Why don't we play as many games as they do in MLB? We can do it. Yeah. 162 games.

Come on. We can do it. Let's tough it out. Let's go. Think of all the money to be made here. We could make more money. Any sport that doesn't play 162 games is not doing it right. Yeah, exactly. That's how you gotta do it.

Okay, Mook, how about that? I learned that LeBron James is going to be very front and center at these Olympics. So not only is he dragging this very bizarre U.S. team into the tournament. I don't know how much you and Jamie talked about.

Are they going to choke? I don't know. LeBron is single-handedly keeping it from happening right now. LeBron James. So in addition to the last second layup against South Sudan over the weekend. Did you guys talk about that at all yesterday? A little bit, yeah.

Would have been the biggest upset in basketball history. I said it's why Biden dropped out. He's like, I can't be seen with this country anymore. They played Germany on Monday night. LeBron, again, they were in a dog

fight with another international team that was taking them down to the wire. LeBron scored the final 11 points. They hold off and beat world champions Germany 92 to 88. LeBron is also going to be the flag bearer for the U.S. Olympic team at the opening ceremony. So this is really going to be like the Olympics of LeBron, the Olympics, if you will, because it's, he's kind of become,

there was always this question about who was going to be the alpha on the team like anthony edwards is like i want it to be me and steph was like i'm the best shooter on the planet and then everyone quickly realized that it's like no it's lebron's yeah when it comes down to the clutch or whatever they need plays to be made it's still going to be lebron even though he's the oldest guy on the team um it kind of feels like he's ready to make this his, I don't want to say coronation because he's already King. Yeah. Yeah. But it's probably gonna be his last international event.

I think apparently, and I was reading about this last night when Germany won the world cup, the U S were like, that's our Michael Jordan. And I took that personally motivation. Like that was what they were going to do at these Olympics was reclaim the crown and all that. And it seems like LeBron's going to be the guy. The question though is great.

It's that they haven't looked very good outside of a sort of comprehensive win over Serbia. They don't shoot the ball really well. They shoot it really badly actually. So in these last two games they've been outscored from three by a large margin.

I think both games against Steph Curry, not a solution. I think it's the ball. The ball looks funny. Yeah. It's too many colors. I think that's it. Like what is Harlem Globetrotters? It is a smaller court.

So I wonder if being off by a fraction is actually messing them up because there's such creatures of routine. Who's being wasted more by their pro teams, LeBron with lakers or sid with the penguins oh great question well lebron's whole thing changed now because he's got like parental like obligations with the lakers because yeah so it's like it's almost like he's kind of locked into them now yep right depending on unless him and brani decide they want to go somewhere else it hasn't signed yet right he hasn't signed the extension yet no when you wasn't there a report about like there's been

talks yeah we were on vacation and we tried to get rob rossi who uh wrote a piece for the athletic about it and then it just couldn't went quiet yeah yeah and um that's kind of in the tone of the conversations is like anything you're getting out of the dubious slash penguins i want him to go into the season with no extension amazing i need that in fact yeah it sounds like it's gonna get done no let's cheer against i think that you know what i realize what they're waiting for now they're waiting for august 7th because that'll be the eighth month right and the seventh day you calling it now yeah that's my hot take on that one. Is that it's going to be 8-7 when Monday comes through. I want Dubas to

royally mess this up. Meanwhile. Oh, I knew we got something. Okay, so boot cow all that. Kevin's mom on the airplane in Home Alone right as the season starts. Ah, Sid! I forgot

to sign him. What do you got? Do you think eventually the authorities went after her? Oh, yeah. Child protection. There were probably some legal issues behind the scene for sure.

I mean, they had money, though. I'm sure they were fine. Are you a drinker? Maybe they didn't openly admit to people. I know you did it once, but twice? That's ridiculous.

Like, what is going on with this family? By the way, on that subject, my brother found, it must have been one of those. I thought you is going on with this family? By the way, on that subject, my brother found, it must have been one of those... I thought you were going to say he left his kid home on vacation. When they went to France. It was quite comical at the time.

Some burglars came by. There were a lot of traps and hijinks. It got less funny as it went along. He found a Kenosha Kickers satin jacket. Oh, cool. Who are the Kenosha Kickers? John Candy's band. John Candy's band.

Oh, really? Yeah. That's amazing. The bright mustard yellow. Yeah, yeah. The Polka King of the Midwest. Where were they big? Sheboygan?

Sheboygan, yeah. Oh, okay. They love us in Sheboygan. There's a whole 600 copies there. He was so good in that movie, man. All right, give us a mook out. We got to go into the dump truck. It'll be quick. I right, give us a mook out. We've got to go into the Dumbbell on the Text Line. It'll be quick.

I mean, it's cool. The BC Lions announced that Fred Penner is going to be playing at their FanFest game on August the 18th. Oh, Justin and his fan texted this in as to what we learned. It was his as well. Yes, I'm stealing Justin's. Thank you, Justin, for doing my job for me. Fred Penner is going to be the halftime performer at

the August 18th BC Lions game for Fam Fest. He'll be covering only 50 Cent songs. No censors. Yeah, no censors either. It's going to be wild. Here's Fred Penner with

Indiglobe. Yeah. I don't know how it's going to go over, but he's making a choice. They're also going to give away 5,000 BC Lions gibbets. What's a gibbet?

I think those are the things you put in your Crocs. Yeah. I was like, oh, I thought that was like in a bird. Oh, yeah. Don't eat that at Thanksgiving. Yeah. That's how they digest things. That's the tricky gibbet over there.

Don't eat that. It's supposed to go in your shoes. It's supposed to go in your Crocs. Yeah. Your Crocs stink. Do you guys have Crocs? No. No. No. Your Crocs stink. Do you guys have Crocs? No. No.

No, I'm an adult. Do you? Wait, wait. No, I don't have them. Oh, I thought you were going to say you do. Do you remember we were laughing at, when we were curtain bloggers during the 2011 Stanley Cup final, and we were laughing at Patrice Bergeron's Crocs? He had Crocs.

Yeah. Bright yellow Crocs. Super yellow Crocs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The only- Back then we were still in a good mood because we were like we're winning the game

are they even comfy because they don't look comfy they are I don't know I would never they look like uncomfy slippers I understand

so all the when I used to work at the hotel all the chefs used to wear them because the idea is I guess if you ever need to

back away from either like a hot element or if you spill something, you need shoes where you can literally jump out of them as I do it like live on the air. Right. So you want, you want backless shoes so you can just evacuate right away.

You spill something. Wouldn't, why would you want a shoe with holes in it? I think the understanding is like if your shoes either stick to the ground or someone was saying it's, if you like, would you just back away with your shoes on though? No,

I don't know. They, they want, they said it's, I think it was, if you, if I'm wrong, don't know. They said it's... I think it was if you... If I'm wrong, don't yell at me. If I'm wrong, don't yell at me. What, your shoes get stuck to the ground or something?

Yes, yes. I think that's what it was. And I think it was if you're dealing with either super hot liquid or something spilled. Alfred knows a lot about grip because he's got those grip socks. I'm a big grip guy. I love a good grip.

I like this text, Zen. God, I love our listeners. They didn't leave Kevin in home alone, too. He was lost in New York. Trump found him. How did he get lost, though? I don't know. It was a parental neglect.

I love the John Mulaney bit. How do you get lost in New York? The streets are numbered. Yeah, it's a grid. It's a grid system. Okay, Moo Cow. Fire of the Dawn Matrix. Give me some get fire plan.

Oh my God! We're having a fire plan! The winner of the tickets to go see Billy Idol and Platinum Blonde is Kyle in Chilliwack. What we learned, being a Canucks fan, despite all the quote-unquote not winning, is actually practicing to not be an asshole. Funny how it's always kind of seemed the opposite of that.

That is, of course, on the heels of our interview with Roger Bennett, who told a story about how he became an Everton supporter as opposed to a Liverpool supporter. And he said that supporting Everton as opposed to Liverpool has made him less of an asshole than he would have been if he was a Liverpool supporter. Apparently we're just saying that on the air now. We're just saying that now.

What was Roger started at? You're allowed to, it's okay. I don't know if you are. You are. I don't know. You are. There's no kids going to school right now. You don't want to overdo it, but I mean, it's not like an F-bomb or something.

It's okay. It's fine. What's the F-bomb? What are you talking about? Say the word. I will not. I need my job. That was a very funny one because I was actually going to, we ran out of time, but I was actually going to push back on Roger

because, you know, the Canucks have done a lot of not winning in their long history in the NHL. And I wouldn't call Canucks fans, like, happy-go-lucky. No. It'd be funny if you just spent a day with a Canucks fan and he just becomes miserable. Completely changes his opinion on the whole thing. Yeah.

He starts supporting Liverpool. You know what? I like red anyway. It was interesting to hear him talk about it in those terms though where it's like when you've got that much sadness and despair it actually does make you embrace the happier

moments more than if you were part of like a New England sports base team or Boston or wherever where you just won all the more than if you were part of like, I don't know, a New England sports base or Boston or wherever where you just won all the time. It would lose its effect. So I appreciated Roger bringing that to you. By the way, Thursday, July 25th, Hollywood Theater. You can get tickets to the Men in Blazers and Wrexham mashup. Don in Penticton, what we learned, thanks to Raj B,

I can introduce a rare lingual addition to my oral repertoire, and that is the word polyglot. It's sort of the center of your – Polyglot. Well, he spelled it polyglot. Is it polyglot or polyglot? Why is the internet giving me two options here? It means someone who knows more than one language, right?

Yeah, polyglot. Knowing or using several languages. Poly. Polygot. A term used for someone who worshipped an entire pantheon instead of having... I think that's it. I hear it on the wrong page. Don't think that's the one.

It's right here. No, no. I know. I know that's a word. I just don't think that's what he was meaning. Yeah. A polyglot is someone who knows multiple languages. Yeah. So, like, I am not a polyglot. No, I'm not. that's a word. I just don't think that's what he was meaning. Yeah. A polyglot is someone who knows multiple languages. Yeah.

So like I am not a polyglot. No, I'm not. I barely know one. I felt like a real, what are they, a uniglot? Is that something? Monoglot? A monoglot? Check out this monoglot over here.

Where they all speak, not just, a lot of them speak like three languages. On that note, you know Roy Hodgson, former England manager? He speaks five languages fluently. I didn't know that. People like that astound me. I watched a mashup of him. Roy Hodgson, for those who don't know, is like the most English person alive. Yeah.

Quite honestly. He looks English. He sounds English. He speaks English, obviously. Swedish, Italian, French. english is actually his worst language he brought he broke into into swedish no problem like we're just conversing very casually with it with a swedish reporter i'm like my god that's impressive they eat italian italian french and german it's really impressive did you see jesse marsh he's a polyglot, isn't he? Well, he's got, so he coached one year in Montreal.

Okay. And he learned. And he lives in Italy, doesn't he? Yeah, he learned a little bit of French. So God bless him, he tries, right? But it's also like when he tried to answer some questions en français. Yeah. He's like, tu parlais.

Jem Apple Jesse. Yeah, right? Like he was trying, to parlay. Jim Apple, Jesse. Yeah. Right. Like he was struck. And you know what? I appreciated the hell of it. I don't mean to make fun of it because he was trying.

Right. And I think a lot of the French speaking media appreciated it as well, because it was a Ken Hughes level of cringe, a little bit better, a little bit better. Like he could understand the questions and then it was a rough answer and he had to revert to English sometimes. But there's also a hilarious one of him

doing a, when he was coaching at, I want to say Leipzig, and it was like a hybrid of German and English with a lot of American swear words at the same time, addressing his troops at halftime. It's funny to watch, because you know he's got enough grasp of the language to do it in the native tongue but he's also so i hope he screwed up a word like we're gonna go out and get those pineapples yeah what

right now um and then when he but when he got fired up he reverted to english right right especially with the f-bombs it's pretty great if you get a chance to go look it up, go look it up. What we learned, Carrie and Langley. We get a lot of these. What I learned, I'm getting old. I saw both Billy Idol and Platinum Blonde in 1986 when I was in grade 12. Billy Idol at the Pacific Coliseum and Platinum Blonde at the Expo Bowl. Oh, yeah. Expo 86.

If I could turn back time, wait, please, no share tickets. Yeah. All right. Well, it's been an interesting show. We know we did a lot today. It was good. I only have three days left until vacation. Not that I'm counting it down.

I will be back tomorrow, though. That's a Wednesday. Then it's a Thursday. And then it's a Friday. The good news is you couldn't really check out any more than you usually do. That's true. Well, tune in tomorrow to find out. We'll see now that that challenge has been issued.

Signing off for today, though, I have been Mike Halpert. He's been Jason Ruff. He's been A-Dog. He's been Laddie. This has been the Alfred and Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650.