Halford & Brough in the Morning - Micah Awe Talks BC Lions + WWL

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

In hour three, guest hosts Jamie Dodd and Dan Riccio are joined by BC Lions Linebacker Micah Awe. Micah talks Lions big win last weekend, his career year, and looking ahead to their next game vs Toronto. Then, the guys tell us what they learned. 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 Halford and Brough, SportsNet 650. It's Jamie Dodd and Dan Riccio here. We are broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics working together with you. In step. Halifton and Brough is brought you by Sands and Associates B.C.'s first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit sands-dastrustee.com. And this hour of howlphan-bruff is brought to you by Campbell & Pound, real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit Campbell-Dash-Pound.com today. 650, 650 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. We've got what we learned coming up at 830. so send your submissions in now. Hashtag WWL, what you've learned in the last 24 hours in sports. But before we do that, we're very pleased right now to be joined on the hotline, powered by Power West Industries.

He's a linebacker for the BC Lions. Micah Awey joins us now. Micah, thanks very much for doing this morning. How are you? I'm good. How are you? We're doing very well. So you guys got the big win against Montreal at home on the weekend.

And what went right for the team in that game? It's just the team. The team went right. It's a team sport. Can't emphasize how much of a team sport football is. Everyone kind of just helped each other out. I mean, that's ultimately it comes down to. You know, we've always been a talented team.

You know, our roster is like extremely talented. But in pro football, you can't just have talent. You have to have a good team. And that's what we did that night. You mentioned the talent on the roster, and we certainly have seen that in flashes this year. It has been a bit of an up and down season, but, you know, two wins in a row. You get back to 500, as you said, team effort, total team effort in the win against Montreal. What's the key for you and your team now as a group to make sure, as you say that it's not just talent,

but that you are playing together as a team. What's the key to making sure that continues going forward this season? Yeah, I mean, the reason why you sometimes be in football or any sports when teams, kind of flashed talent is mainly because they're probably getting wins off of their talent based on their talent. And I feel like earlier this year, some of our wins were just based on just our talent and our roster and how, you know, how it was built. Now, you know, you can't, that's not sustainable.

That's not a sustainable way of winning. And once you get near a playoff, you're not just playing teams that are talented. You're playing teams that are actually teams. so the way you do that is it's literally just a process you know in the beginning of this year we are learning a new defense we're learning new offense we're learning new teammates we're learning how to talk to each other um that's that's really simply all it is you know i have to learn how to talk to ben and josh woods i have to learn how to talk to tamasi in front of me jonah um bets um and as we go through these kind of natural you know pain pain

struggles or growing strong pains, that's what happens. So it sounds like really like, Mike, you know, you're not talking football here. You're talking just like people. Well, football's played with people. And once the people know each other better, then they're able to use their athleticism and their athletic skills to actually get the one-up on another team. The communication is taking some time and it's coming along. And, you know, the defense coming off a strong week, do you feel like it's, it sounds like you feel like it's coming together as a group. And we all know it's better to be stronger at the end

of the season than it is at the beginning. Do you feel like you guys are coming together as a group? Oh, yeah, it's for sure to be better at the end. I mean, what's the use of being the best in the beginning? There really is no use to that. Sports are, even in life in general, you want to keep getting better.

And ultimately, I mean, sometimes the results don't show your progress, especially after a loss. You know, after a loss, people are pretty hard. and this is bad, this is bad. But, like, again, I really wish that, you know, the mainstream media sometimes, they just show the film. I mean, don't just give your opinions out there.

You know, pop up the film, watch the film. Because, again, a lot of times wins or losses, they don't really show exactly if people are getting better or worse. And it kind of takes me back to this one quote that keeps repeating my mind endlessly, rent-free, is, remember my rookie year, we had won a game. And Coach Wally, Bono, came in, and he said, you know, when you win a game, is when you make your cuts. And that just stuck with me because I'm like, as a rookie, I'm like, what does that mean? Like, and it goes against everything you think of as a kid, like, wait, we just won a game and you're making cuts.

And again, it's still one of those things that I think about every day, but it kind of makes sense is that, you know, you want to keep improving no matter of. what, win, loss, indifference. It's all about watching the film and seeing if you're getting better. What's the message from head coach Buck Pierce been like over the course of this season? Obviously his first year as head coach and as you said, when it's new players, there's going to be growing pains and certainly I'm sure for a new coach coming in. What has he been focusing on and emphasizing with with the team? Yeah, I mean, number one, he believes in us. full conviction and not just the coach saying hey i believe in y'all throughout every single game again wins or loss he believes that we're a great team

and that's where it all starts i mean honestly if if your head coach doesn't believe if the top doesn't believe then how do you expect anyone else to believe and then you know by him saying that it's it's kind of just trickle as a trickle down effect of you know if he believes in us then he has a reason to believe in us we we might honest will show out and do what we need to do. So at the end of the day, his leadership kind of just gives us kind of that even kill. You know, again, yeah, we won, we beat Montreal, but, you know, we're on to the Argonauts now. Like, last week is last week.

It has nothing to do it this week. So our whole goal is just to do what we do every week. Every week is a new week. You've got to be fast, physical, and execute your plays, and it's just a new week to do that. So that's the best thing coach has given us. It's just kind of that, that aura of just staying even killed, but knowing that the next week you've got to dominate again, again, again, and again. In conversation with BC Lions linebacker, Micah Aweigh,

here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650, as you mentioned, Micah, next game in Toronto against the Argos on Saturday. Then you got a bive and you got another game out east against Ottawa as well. But focusing on the Argos, which I'm sure is your focus in practice this week, of course. What's going to be the key for the defense, for the team as a whole, to go and get a result in Toronto? I mean, the key in the key in all of football is always to be more fast, more physical, and execute more than another team. That's kind of what I've been learning during my eighth year is that the schemes, they'll change, the players, they'll change. But ultimately, the winning formula is playing fast, physical, and executing your plays.

So with them, I think they have a great offense. I think Arbuckle is doing a great job with that offense. So it's one of those things where I'm like, this is just another challenge. It's another challenge for me to run to the ball. It's another challenge for our defense to kind of do our job. And, again, it's another opportunity for us to get out there and get better. Because, you know, the way I see it, all these games are kind of stepping stones

to if we have opportunity to go play in the playoffs, to if we have opportunity to be playing in a great game. Cup is that we're, there's probably a lesson in there somewhere, and we got to make sure we learn from it, regardless of when lost. So that's what it comes down to for us. Yeah, you know, you've been emphasizing, of course, the team nature of football and certainly with the BC lines. It was the team that went right on the weekend. But I want to give you a little bit of shine as an individual here, Micah. You're having a fantastic season. You know, you talk about playing with speed and playing with physicality. You've certainly

been doing that this year. The tackles per game, Mark, you're on right now. You're going to challenge for the league record for tackles in a season. Again, I know it's not about the individual numbers and the individual accomplishments, but how do you feel about your game right now in the season you're having? Yeah, I mean, thank you. I've learned later on about, like, I've always been kind of

obviously humble and trying not to, like, oh, no, no, but like, no, thank you. I'll say thank you first off for that. But I'll also say this. You know, when people think about Michael Jordan, And, you know, they might think of like Michael Jordan, but there's also Scotty Fippkins and his rest of the teammates. And to me, the position I'm in is kind of like, hey, I have a shot and I have to make it.

You know, even though I'm giving all these opportunities to take shots, I still have to make it. So my teammates, D-Line does a great job of, you know, taking on guys. They're so physical that it's hard to just focus on me as a linebacker. And then I have D-Ds and other linebackers, you know, a linebacker who are always setting the edge for me. So for me, I just feel the responsibility that if I'm going to have all these opportunities to make a tackle, I need to take them.

I need to, I didn't make them. So, again, it's a team sport. I've been on defenses where, you know, I wasn't in the opportunity to make all these tackles. So I'm going to take full advantage of this and take my shots every time and try to drain them. So that's the analogy I give because it's the truth. Again, I'm giving this opportunity to go do it.

So I'm going to do it because it doesn't always. come to you like this. Well, and you've taken the opportunity an awful lot this year. It's been fun to watch, Micah. Thank you so much for doing this. Love the Insight and best of luck in Toronto on the weekend. Yeah, thank you all for an opportunity. That is Mike Hawaway, BC Lions linebacker

with some really insightful and interesting thoughts on his team season. I love that. He's like, yeah, man, I love being in a position to make all these tackles. It doesn't happen all the time. But if it's happening for me, I'm going to go out there and do it. He's definitely taking the most of the opportunity. going to challenge Solomon Eliminians record of 144.

So, you know, hey, he's doing it. Lions defense got to rally around Micah Allway and keep going through the second half. How could you know? I want to rally around that guy now. He could be a motivational speaker.

Exactly, right? If he's getting up and talking in the locker room, let's go. Might have a future as an analyst. Absolutely. All right, it is Alfred and Brough here on Sportsnet 650. We'll go to the listeners, listener what we learned in about 15 minutes at 830 still time to send those in however we can

start off with with some of ours right now and i know reach that you're what we learned involved some audio that you've just been on the edge of your seat waiting to play all show the whole show has really just been a prelude to playing this audio and i'll let you tee it up honestly it uh it ran through my x timeline last night and i was like man I cannot wait until we have fun with this on tomorrow's show. It is classic, classic morning show radio content. And I mean, I didn't know this, but apparently while the Seattle Mariners were getting their teeth kicked in by the Philadelphia Phillies, the play-by-play team had some extra time to discuss maybe some of the deeper questions in life. like, how do you tell time without a clock or a watch?

So you know how I think of things when I have free time and I shouldn't? Yep. So I was wondering, the person who invented the clock. Yeah, which one? The digital or the hand? The first clock ever. How did that person know what time it was? That's a really good question.

Bounce her back toward the middle, doubled up by a young, one hopper. And bone is safe. You know, there is that sundial they might have used. Is that accurate, though? Oh, I guess as accurate as it can be. I don't know if Young would have made a good throw here. He would have got Alec.

Yeah, he probably would have, but what did they call that? E4. Yeah, yeah, good throw would have had him. Lucky, it wasn't a big collision there. So when you were contemplating the clock things, did you come up with any answers yourself? No, no, I thought I'd ask you. I would think sundial. I would think sundial.

That's probably the answer. I would think that. I just love it. There's a game going on in the middle of all that. Because usually often the play-by-play guy is like, all right, my analyst is, he's going off the rails a little bit here. I'm going to, oh, hey, there's a play. play we can talk about and didn't get the

out, let's focus on that, but instead the play by play guy's like, back to the clocks, what did you when you were thinking about this, John? What did you, what did you land on? Nothing. No, no solutions. You had this pressing question to decide to maybe like,

I don't know, use the internet to help you to figure this out. And I understand like time is a human construct. Sure. Did we just pull it out of thin air? No. There is a reason we came to this conclusion of this time. I don't know. Maybe looking at the stars

is a way of telling time, you know? I gotta say people on social media were being really mean to him about this. Like, you idiot, it's called a sundial. I think it's a more interesting question than that. I don't know. I'm kind of on his side. Like, I get it, but the, but

you're on the side of like, who decided what time is? But it's also, it's not like every day in Vancouver, the sun is at the very peak of the sky at 12 noon. It depends on the season and all of that and where you are in the world. So time change.

I think, well, okay. I think there's a little more to it. That is definitely a construct. I think there's some interesting philosophical ramifications to what he's asking. I'm on John's side here. It's all I'm said. You can track the North Star.

Locate the big dipper. I guess he's not a big like outdoorsy guy. No. Camping and remote places. I mean, I guess if you're in a city, you probably have a tough time seeing the stars at night. but you know wasn't there the Seinfeld episode where Kramer's I don't care

I don't wear a watch I just look at the sun in the sky I guess what time it is him and John Craig yeah he's got a sundial to figure it out I guess maybe like like they built Stonehenge and that was like all timed like you know what I mean that's lined up with the solstice or whatever so

we've been ever been to Chichenita in Mexico no no it's pretty fast same thing same thing well they they figured out everything through the summer solstice and the the winter solstice just by looking at the stars. Yeah. Wow. No clock?

Without a clock? No digital clock to tell us what time is? Or any kind of a calendar. They figured out what the summer solstice was. And they built their pyramids to match it, which, I mean, how the heck did they do this? But truly. I mean, they didn't, they didn't need a clock to figure it all that. I do.

I always, oh, I'm not going to go down this. How the heck did they do it? I don't know. I have no insight to offer on this. Aliens, man, don't you know this? It's like with Stonehenge, how they get those big rocks there, man? It's taken forever. That sounds miserable.

The mysteries of life. How do that, like, I would be the guy on the crew being like, why are we dragging this rock so far, man? What are we doing here? This sucks. Is there a reason we're building these pyramids? That is the beauty of baseball, though, but the game. Some might call it boring. I say it has space to breathe so that the announcers can dive into these kind of important

important philosophical questions on a regular basis. Like Jamie. Yeah, that's what I like to do as well. How did they like the first person to invent a clock? How did they know what time it was? That is what it's all about right there.

All right, give us a moo cow there. West Van Clots said it sounds like the morning show. That's why we love it. And I like the number of morning sports radio shows across North America who played that clip. It's like approaching 100% of them. Everyone was like, all right, we got some audio. We're going to play today.

My what we learned is announced this morning, the Detroit Red Wings are retiring Sergei Fedorov's number. And I don't think I'm alone in reacting to this as what? It wasn't retired already? They're going to hang it up in January. Number 91 retired officially for Sergey Federov in Detroit. in Detroit. And I was just stunned. Now, I understand maybe there was some beef between Fedorov in the team or

some point. He wasn't a career Red Wing, but he played like over 900 games. He won a heart trophy, three-time cup winner. Of course, a Selky trophy winner as well. I mean, he was just a phenomenal player at his peak with the Red Wings. Individual awards. Team success. Long tenured in Detroit. I get it. They're an original six team. They've had a lot of phenomenal players. They, of course, went through a stretch where they went a ton of Stanley Cups. So there's a lot of numbers to retire there. And does he, you know, he's not Nick Lidstrom or Eiserman or Gordy Howe or anything like that.

But still, I was stunned to learn that Sergey Fedorov's number was not already retired. One of the coolest players of the 90s. Oh, put aside all of the greatness. The white Nike skates, man. One of if not the coolest player of the 1990s as well. The white Nike skates were a vibe. from Sergei Fedoroff. He wasn't always

like he had some big point seasons but he wasn't always that guy. He was incredible. Could have played defense if he wanted to. Sometimes he did play defense. I was incredibly gifted two-way forward similar to Pavel Datzouk of more recent fame.

But I think I don't remember the story to a T but I do remember Red Wings fans booing Federoff when he returned as an Anaheim duck in the early 2000. thousands. He was offered a big contract by the Red Wings, rejected it, and moved to Anaheim. And I think that's essentially where the beef between Red Wings ownership and Sergey Fedorov stemmed from and lasted 20 years before they figured it out. Time heals all wounds. And Federoff's going to get his number

retired. That's pretty thin for a beef. Well, he signed for a different team. But like, did he did he take shots? Did he do something bad on his way out? That happens. Free agency is a thing. And it's not like he left at the peak of his career or anything or torpedoed a dynasty. It's just like he just decided to go somewhere else. Like he wasn't good with Columbus those years in Washington. No.

Like he was not, he was not really a relevant NHL player after that. His, yeah, link up with Alex Ovechkin didn't have the desired outcome in the late 2000s. Like at least with the Knox and Ryan Kessler, it's like, well, he forced his way out and he, you know, limited the trade with what they could get in return. This is just, yeah, I signed up. I think it was a constant thing, though, because he also signed an offer sheet with Carolina in the late 90s. So I think it was just like one of those ongoing things where everybody else kind of towed the line in Detroit and Federoff didn't necessarily. And that was part of the beef between club and player, which never should have happened. I mean, these always seems so silly when you look back.

back in time, like a lot of beefs in life that you might have. But it's, it is one of these crazy things that one of the greatest players of the 90s and the team you most remember him with hasn't had their number retired. It's absolutely wild. And before we hit the moo cow, so he spurns the red wings and goes signs the big deal of Anaheim was Sergei Federer of the original, I want to wear flip flops to the rink guy. Because now it's everyone, oh, it's so great. You wear your flip-flops to the rank is like, is that the most important thing in your life?

It seems to be the number one priority for a lot of these guys. Maybe it all started with Sergey Fedorov. All right, give us a moo cow there. Laddie? No, big shake of the head. All right. Elon, you got to what we learned. Some big quarterback answers this morning.

All right. The Colts have named Daniel Jones as a starting quarterback for their opener versus the dolphins. And yesterday, 40-year-old Joe Flacco. My God. I don't know how he's still doing it. He was named starter versus we. Eke Juan versus the Bengals. I love Joe Flacco.

Like to me, he's the new, he's the modern day Vinny Testa Verde. Oh, man. That purely a take just so you can say testa Verde. It's like, he's not from Italy. He's American. That's not how he says his name. My dad used to call, uh, used to call Vinny, my cousin Vinny. And I legit for a lot of years thought he was our actual cousin.

Well, you definitely have, you've mentioned a few times. Like we've seen someone in the sports broadcasting business with an Italian name on TV. And you're like, oh, that's my cousin. Yeah. Well, Sam, Sam Costantino is true. He is Qigji, Sam Cossentino. But Joe Flacco is the modern day Vinitesta Verte. And really, he is the best option for the Cleveland Browns.

The question is, like, how many games does he get before Dylan Gabriel or or should do or Sanis take over? Well, you already know week one, he's going to have like 350 two TDs and a win. Yeah. And then there's fall off against the Bengals. Yeah. For Jerry Judy and whoever else is catching passes in Cleveland, they're probably happiest that Joe Flacco is their guy. I did see also that the Bengals also opened their season against Joe Flacko as the starting quarterback in 2008.

So he's been around. Yeah, he's been around. He loves the NFC North as well or the AFC North. And the Daniel Jones one is interesting too because, I mean, that's got to be it for the Anthony Richardson's only 23. But he's got to be done in Indianapolis, right? Baffling decision. The idea that Daniel Jones is your stabilizing option at quarterback.

Erich must be so bad. Yes. I'm like laughably bad. Even in the preseason snaps he's taken, it's a lot of the same where he'll miss some very easy throws and like throws that any guy should be, any guy at that level should be able to. make, but then he'll make a ridiculous throw.

And you're like, 70 yard bomb. Yeah, you're like, who the hell is this guy? And you want to see more of it. But I don't know. If I'm the Colts, I get it. And I knew that Daniel Jones would probably start some games there. But if I'm Shane Steichen and the Colts, I probably want Anthony Richardson at least getting some snaps under center at some point this year. It just feels like that it's over for him there. If you're not beating no Daniel Jones. Yeah. I think they're going to move on at some point. sooner rather than later there in Indianapolis. All right. Give us

a moo cow there. Still time. You have to be pretty bad to lose to Daniel Jones. Yes, you really do. Still time to send in your what we learn. We will dive into that next year. Final segment of the show on Halford & Brough, Sportsnet

650. Now for my favorite part of the show. What is a? 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. It sure is. Welcome back to Halford-embruff Sportsnet 615. It's Jamie Dodd and Dan Riccio. It's the final segment of the show on a Tuesday. Halford and Brough is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit Campbell-Bound.com today.

This hour of the show is brought to you. Excuse me. This hour of the show is brought to you by Campbell and Pound. Halford and Brough as a whole 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-Trustee. dot com and of course we are live from the kintech studio 650 650 is the dumbar lumber text line metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years visit them

at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dumbar lumber dot com all right it is what we learn time so let's go into the inbox and print out some listener submissions And what we learned, of course, is brought to you by AJ's pizza on East Broadway, our favorite, the white Vesuvio, featuring roasted mushrooms, housemade Italian sausage, and extra creamy ricotta only at AJ's pizza online at AJ's dot pizza. That would be Vesuvio. Sure. Great. That's great. You can do the read next time.

I've got Italian words in it. Reach. All right. We go into the inbox here. Ernie the operator texts in what I learned. Bobby Webster steps in for Masayu Jiri for the Toronto Raptors. Yeah, this was announced yesterday by the raps. Of course, with Messiah Ujiri, who is running the show not on a day-to-day level,

but truly as the president of the franchise and the organization for a long time. He's out. Bobby Webster, who has been the GM, getting the title slash responsibility bump and taking over as president. Sounds like he'll operate in both roles for the Raptors as GM and president. And very young, I think only 40 years old for, Bobby Webster to be a president of a, of an NBA team. And you know, the wraps, I don't really know what to make of them as a franchise post

the 2019 championship post-Kauai Leonard. You look at it, there's some interesting pieces, but it's also really hard to see, like they feel like kind of a mushy middle team to use the NHL parlance now. They, uh, it's weird because they've kind of tried to tank, but they haven't been bad enough to really get one of these top draft picks. Scotty Barnes was their best. one and he's looked okay. It's just

they kind of feel like they've lost relevance a little bit. And I know we're not in the thick of it in the big smoke, but certainly people jumped on the bandwagon here in Vancouver when they were making their title run just hasn't felt the same

ever since. There's not really a ton of buzz. They don't really feel like a team on the cusp of being great. So I'm not sure where they're headed. And Bobby Webster has been a part of this group. He's been the GM for a while. And now he's going to have basically full grasp of everything for the Raptors. And we'll see where it goes. Yeah. And it's, you know, the NBA, this is a cliche take, but it's still a true take, which is it's such a star-driven

league. It's a superstar driven league. And even in the era of parody, you still need to have that bona fide superstar. You know, it's not about building the super team as much anymore, but you need the anchor. You need the foundation piece to build around and since losing Kawhi Leonard the Raptors aren't the only team that struggle. If this, it's tough if you don't luck out in the draft, but you know, you look at the roster now and like

RJ Barrett's not going to be that. It's hard to find a star in the NBA. Yeah. They were lucky enough. They got Brandon Ingram for pretty cheap. I mean, they're going to pay him a crazy amount. But he's not going to be that. He's not going to be best player in a championship team. You know what I mean? Like he's a nice player and it looked like could Scotty Barnes develop

into that maybe for a little bit there? And you know, He's still young, so I don't want to shut the door. Yeah, but you're always going to be searching for that guy. And until you find that guy that makes everything else makes sense, you're just going to be kind of in purgatory. You got to kind of get yourself into a spot where you're good enough to be able to put yourself in position to make that next Kauai transaction, right? Like, the Raptors are never going to attract somebody in free agency. It's hard enough to attract players in free agency in the NBA. with the way the Super Max works

and all these kinds of things and usually when guys want to trade if they are star players they pick their spot right we've seen that a lot we're all baffled by what happened with Luca Donchich last year go to the Lakers and how that was just like sort of snuck under the radar by the Dallas Mavericks like yeah we're just going to trade them

and didn't tell anybody else around the league that they were shopping Luca Donchich around that's not going to happen all the time But the Raptors for years were in position. They had Lowry. They had DeRosen. They had a good team. Couldn't get over the hump of the playoffs. But when the opportunity to get Kauai Leonard came up,

they were in a perfect position to make that move. Are they in that position now? I haven't seen it. But we'll see where things go this year once they get Ingram integrated into the team. Luke Texan, what we learned, Tommy Pham is the worst personality in baseball. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if that was We needed to see the events of yesterday to confirm that Of course, he had the bizarre fantasy football

Inspired fight with Jock Peterson years ago. I'm not worried about Tommy Fam's opinion about anything. But yeah, Tommy Fan is He's a weird guy. Don't really get what's going on with him. We talked about it just briefly on the top of the show. You know, he flips his bat after taking a walk And kind of is baffled.

A bat flip after a walk. It's nuts. It's truly not. On a team that's 20 games under 500. I'm usually pro bat flip, you know. But that was a situation where I was like, what in God's name is happening? And then he's turning around and he's jawing at Heideman. And Heinemann's like, after the game, he's like, I don't even know the guy.

I don't know what he's doing. They pulled off a double steel right after. And the guy at third, who was ahead of Pham, kind of turned to Pham and was going to give him like a good job. Like we did it. Pham would not even look at him. He was staring straight at Heineman, the entire. He wanted to score so badly that he could say something to an imaginary foe that he made up in his head. Just bizarre stuff.

So I saw it all go down to the game last night. I was like, man, this is so weird Tommy fan. What a weird guy? I didn't see after the game. And Laddie, you brought this to my attention that, of course, what you do, you have beef with the Blue Jays on the field for some reason. Right after the game, you get on your phone and you find some Blue Jays fans to chirp at. You name search yourself and you start picking fights with the other team's fans. That's the natural thing to do, right?

Of course. That's what everyone does. pro athletes name searching themselves. And maybe throw some unfounded accusations against fellow major league players out there as well. He accused Addison Barger of taking steroids. And this is where it takes an even crazier turn. So apparently if you Google Barger and steroids,

Google AI gets confused. And there was a Jay's minor leaguer that got popped for a steroid suspension. It confuses Barger with that player. So I don't know if Fam just Googled Barger's steroids and was like, yeah, okay, I knew he was on the steroids and kind of went on these rants on Twitter, and then took them all down once he realized that none of that was true at all. Wait a second.

You know, I know we're kind of like in the stage where like when I was going through school, it was like, don't trust Wikipedia. Now it's like don't trust the AI. Don't trust, especially with sports. Like the sports AI, whether it's Chad GPT or Google AI, way off.

And the freaking Google results now, it's right there at the top. And you're like, okay, and you're in a hurry so you want to trust and you're like, wait a second. I don't know about that And sometimes you see Like they list the source website And sometimes it's just like

The most random Bizarr website Like why is this the source It'll just be like Reddit It'll just say Reddit Yeah Like oh okay yeah Somewhere on Reddit said it

So there you go It's take it to the bank A Wikipedia Looks like The best source in the world Now Pretanica at this point Compared to what we're dealing with

I wanted to dive back in I'll do an extra What We learned here of my own Which is a bonus what we're That's right I mentioned really quickly before we went to break at 8 o'clock that Dranser dropping some Canucks reporting and specifically that maybe the Jack Rosavik signing that we all kind of wondered. Is that just, are they just waiting to get back from the cottage to make that official? He's saying they've, they've cooled off a little bit on that as the solution to their serious needs at center.

you don't say and he says you know when they initially made the Dakota Joshua trade Drance reported that the team didn't view what remained including Jack Rosovic as the answer necessarily

to their significant needs down in the middle of their forward group and he says what was true in mid-July remains true today and now he says they're still looking still kicking tires but the more likely scenario is that we're looking at a trade

and he does point out the Canucks have a history of making that kind of early season trade of one sort or another, specifically under this management group. He goes through the list here, Drancer, in his piece at the athletic, Jason Dickinson in 2022 around Thanksgiving, Sam Lafferty, and then Tucker Pullman to Colorado that brought back Eric Brandstrom as well to get out of LTII, LTI last year. So that's a habit of them, right? There's a kind of a pressure point there where teams are making their final cuts, trying to get their roster set, and there's some movement around the league.

My question is, you know, I go through that list there. They traded away Jason Dickinson. They acquired Sam Lafferty. And they traded away Tucker Pullman to get out of LTI. Those are not significant moves. Those are kind of cap related moves in the case of Dickinson and Pullman. Sam Lafferty is just kind of a flyer. I will take a chance on this guy, but he's a bottom six player.

So it's true. You can make moves around that time of the calendar. But is there all of a sudden going to be a credible even forget even top six like top six with 50 point potential center but like a credible middle six extra center option is that player going to be out there around Canadian Thanksgiving I don't know the players that are out there right now are the same ones we've been talking about all summer long and they're restricted free agents their teams own all the leverage in the situation they don't have to trade these players and are likely just going to get them at a deal that makes

sense because they have that sort of leverage and it's Minnesota with Marco Rossi and it's Anaheim with Mason McTavish. Those are the two names. We all know them. There's been interest, a ton of interest probably in Mason McTavish. Not sure the incentive, the motivation for Anaheim to actually move the player. It doesn't make any sense to me. And with Marco Rossi, again, Minnesota's looked at the situation and they've been like, yeah, like we're not thrilled to give this player a ton of money, but we can just kind of ride this out, force them into signing a contract that we're comfortable with because we're not getting something back in trade that's going to help us right now.

When the Canucks offered the 15th overall pick for Marco Rossi, Minnesota was like, yeah, we don't want this because it doesn't help our team right now. And so when they hold that kind of leverage, it's very hard to make these kinds of deals. I'm not sure those are the two names the Canucks would be keying in on right now, even if they've interest in the past, but this is one of those similar to last year where you're going into the season hoping to add on defense, you're going into the season this year, hoping to add a centerman to your roster. Yeah, that is the question, right? And Drancer also in his piece says, you know, the team is comfortable betting on the centers they have, especially Heidel and

Ratu going into the season. If the Canucks have to wait until November to land the center upgrade this lineup craves, it seems they are comfortable enough with their options. to be patient and that's all well and good but we saw how the well let's wait until later in the season to upgrade our blue line

worked out last year I know there was other things going on and that was in a situation where you know you still had JT Miller up front you still had Rick Talkett's coach who had authored this incredible defensive turnaround

so there was I think a lot of reason to say hey maybe he can get more out of Vinnie DeHarnay out of Noah Julesen right maybe we can kind of do just enough to make this group work before we're able to find that addition. Didn't work out like that. I think it's a lot riskier even than it was last year to just say, well, you know,

we'll roll a Philippeal and Atiratu. I can see upside with both players, but I think we all know what the downside is there as well, not to even mention Elias Pedersen. And a big part of this dynamic, as you said, it's Marco Rossi is one of the biggest names out there. They don't want futures back. That's why the 15th overall pick wasn't enough to make any sort of, gain any sort of traction on a deal. The other big part of this dynamic is half the league is looking for a

second line center. Yes. So even if a player does become available midway through October or into November, even early December, which is no guarantee, are the Canucks going to be best positioned to win the bidding for that player? It's, I look, I get what they're saying here that, okay, hey, we might just have to be comfortable. But I also think back to Jim Rutherford talking about how painful it would be not to go out and make serious additions at forward at his year-end press conference. I look at the dynamics that really haven't changed in the last, what, four or five months of it's a seller's market and the Canucks are not the best position to go out and add someone. And I don't see what's going to shift in those dynamics between now and let's say,

you know, November or December. It's, uh, it's tough for the Canucks. They don't have a ton of prospect capital to move off of that gains that gets people interested you know Minnesota they were like yeah we don't really care for the 15th overall pick maybe we'd listen on Marco Rossi if you involve Tom Vlander that's essentially how the conversation went and the connoisse were like yeah we're not doing that yeah hang up move on um Vlander the upside of Vlander is quite big I think it it matters to this team to have that stay-at-home right-shot D-Man

in their pocket. Wollander may not be a huge point-getter, but there's a lot to like about his game moving forward. Elias Pedersen. I know Drans has mentioned this that I don't know if untouchable is the right word, but he's kind of close.

They love the guy. So that kind of makes you think they're not moving one of those defensemen, and it only leaves Jonathan Lekromackie. And realistically, how much does an undersized winger prospect, is that really going to move the needle? If you're looking for a centerman, probably not. You're going to have to add in more to that conversation.

So that's why the Canucks have been stuck. There's not a lot of options for them to move in a big time trade for a center. And so you have to let the market play out and let the market come to you. What does that mean? Does that mean Mason McTavish? Does that mean Marco Rossi? not necessarily. Look at other options. Who's going to be a UFA next summer? Who's going to be an RFA next summer? One name I've circled is Shane Pinto. Could that be a name that Ottawa eventually moves off of after everything that's happened with him and the senators over the last couple of years? I tend to think why would Ottawa be motivated to move that player given he's cost controlled right now and still an RFA moving forward, even if they've got Dylan Cousins and Tim Stutzlow a top there, you know, in their number one and two spots.

It just, that's always the sticking point is, what is motivating this team to move that player? And when you have quality centermen, you need a lot to motivate you to move that player off your role. And that's why I always felt that Marka Rossi made so much sense, despite his flaws, because it was the one situation I could see

where it felt like the team was motivated to do something as well. And I still think Minnesota has mishandled this situation. I think they, like if you were that down on the player, that you're bumping him from basically a top line role to a fourth line role in the playoffs because you don't think you can help you win in the playoffs. Like, yes, but again, their issues,

they don't have any other sentiment. Yeah, okay, but you can't have your cake and eat it too, right? Like, do you like the guy or not? And you sent a loud and clear message to the league that you are not high on the player. Yes, I get the, oh, well, we need players that can help us win now. Take the 15th overall and see what you can do with it. See how you can fix the solution in another way,

rather than land yourself in this ridiculous situation where you haven't talked to the agent in like three months. I think there's a difference. not high on the player. Look, Minnesota isn't like in love with Marco Ross. They would have given him the contract he's looking for. But if they were completely convinced that he is a top six center with a bullet for them for a lot of years that they can win with. But that's the sticking point is they don't think he's ready or they don't think he's shown enough to give him a Matt Boldie type of contract. And I think that's somewhat fair.

So there's a high ask from the player because he doesn't trust that they believe in him fully. So he either wants a short-term deal or he wants a move if he's not getting that long-term deal. And that's where this negotiation has really stumbled. And Minnesota, knowing their leverage in the situation, they can just drag this out into training camp. He's not going to hold out. He's not going to miss hockey games in the season. Yeah, probably not. I don't know.

Eventually, he's just going to sign and cave to whatever Minnesota's, you know, willingness is to sign him to a contract. I don't know. I just feel like even then, if you're Minnesota, it's like, okay, we got to keep this player who you don't like and don't think can help you win in the playoffs. So it just feels like they've mishandled this situation pretty significantly to me now. The Canucks weren't able to benefit, at least not yet. By acquiring the player, we'll see if anything transpires on that front.

I don't think Marco Rossi has as much fight in him as the Air Canada. at a flight attendant state. Are you willing to risk jail time to get the contract you want? He's going to rip up a contract from, from Bill Garen, how old of the press conference? It would be brilliant. It would be brilliant.

This was the offer they made. I'm ripping it up. I don't care. Trade me to Vancouver. Hurry up. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we'll see. Usually doesn't work that way.

No, it doesn't. For NFL RFAs. Bob and Burn if he floats Marty Natchez's name. I've heard him in connection to the Canucks. we'll see. I don't know. It doesn't feel like he's asked for a lot of money. Yeah, he sure has. I don't know. I don't know if Marty Naches is

going to be out there. We'll see what transpires, though, with the Colorado Avalanche. All right, that does it for the show today. Thank you to everyone for listening. Thank you to our guests. Thanks for texting in. Of course, we will be back tomorrow for more Halford & Brough. It's Jamie. Dan Richo. Shout out to producer Elon. Shout out to Laddie. We're back tomorrow here on Sportsnet.

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