Halford & Brough in the Morning - Randip Janda Talks Canucks + What We Learned

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

In hour three, Mike & Jason discuss the latest Canucks news with analyst Randip Janda (2:35) ahead of tonight's final game of the season, 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.

It's Randipe. Randipe Janda time. It's Randipe Janda. It is Randipe. Randi Janda. It is Randipe. Talking hockey now. Oh.

8.4 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody, Halford Bruff, Sportsnet, 650. Halford, Brub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. They're ready to give you the fight. financial fresh start you deserve with no judgment or upfront fees. Visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are now in our three of the program. Randy Jan is going to join us in just a moment here. Our three of this program is brought you by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody

beats a Duick Deal and why nobody has since 1926. Visit Duke GM on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown. Visit them in Richmond. Visit them online at the duikatogroup.com. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. Apologies to all of you hanging on today's smart decision and the folks of Crow. I forgot to do it earlier. I'm going to do it now. Your smart decision brought to you by Crow comes out of Columbus. So Rick

Bonas and Don Weddell are going to meet with the media today at 2 p.m. local time. According to Aaron Portsline of the athletic, it won't be a surprise if Rick Bonas's contract extension is going to be announced by the team

prior to the gathering. So it sounds like bones will get a chance to go back and change the culture in Columbus, which ultimately, I think, is a smart decision. Right. A poor decision would have been to let him go after he said, I don't know if I'll be back, but if I am, I'm going to change the culture. So good on Don Waddell, good on Rick Bonas. We have a culture problem on our team?

Our team? On our team? And you'd be like, yeah, your coach said it quite loudly and demonstratively earlier. So there's your smart decision brought to you by Crow. You're trusted accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Crow smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at Chromea. Dot's yeah. I am going to be interested to hear what

Rick Bonas has to say now that he's kind of settled down a little bit and is going to meet with the media. That'll be very curious. That's later this afternoon. Now he's not out of breath. Right? And not possibly crying. Who knows? He could be happy about the extension. We'll see. Anyway, let's go. The tears of rage.

Yeah, turn to tears of joy and gratitude. Choking on my own rage. Yeah. So let's go now to the ABLE Auctions. Hallow on our next guest is a presentation of bells and whistles. Randi Bjanda joins us now on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Brandeep. Good morning, boys. How are you?

We're well. We finally made it, buddy. It is the final game of the Vancouver Canucks season. You know, I got to say, for as long and at times tortured as this year has been, hasn't been too bad to close it out. And they got a chance to do a couple things tonight. They could close the year with a four-game winning streak. They could also throw a real wrench into Edmonton's postseason plans if somehow,

somehow they're able to get a win in regulation tonight. So I'm actually really looking forward to this one. I think it should be a pretty interesting game. Your thoughts on tonight's matchup against the Oilers? Yeah, this team clearly embraces the role of spoiler. They don't say it, but they're playing, you know, and battling every

game. They've won three in a row as we've seen guys in. More than anything, they're not going weakly into the off season, right? Look at what's going on in Columbus. Look at what's going on in Detroit. That got absolutely spanked even Toronto. And I understand, you know, those teams were more competitive, especially the first two I mentioned throughout the season.

But there is something about ending off the season, right, having the right vibes, having the right mentality. And obviously, this team is in a different situation. Some of those, those are a little bit more veteran-laden. This is the third youngest team in hockey. So to end off positively really matters to the team. And I think it does present an interesting matchup tonight where Edmondson, you need to win. If you want a whole nice advantage in the Pacific Division, you've got Anna-Hod.

playing national tonight too, which, you know, National has got nothing to play for at this point. So if Anaheim gets the two points there,

you know, if you're Edmonton, you don't want to start off on the road, that should be an entertaining series because defense is optional sometimes for both teams. But I think if you're Edmonton,

no doubt you want to finish it off. So they'll be hungry. And we'll see if Vancouver can match that level of intensity. Well, speaking of the level of intensity, I think it was Jeff Patterson who pointed this out on Twitter.

I apologize for not knowing in the moment. But the Canucks have had six scraps now in their last 11 games. So there's a true fighting spirit behind this team. Now I know someone has to do with getting a guy like Curtis Douglas in the lineup, but it seems as though...

But Heronic was fighting, Blugher was fighting. Right? Like guys you wouldn't necessarily expect to. And I know it's late in the year and some pessimists might point out that they should have been fighting like this earlier, but I do think it's another interesting development that late in the year there's that you know, I hate, pardon the pun, that that fighting spirit

throughout the team, something that I think's been lacking at times this season. It has, and I think the guys that are fighting are important here, too. Jason, you mentioned it. Obviously, you know, Douglas has that role, and he's shown that he can score with his first NHL goal. But, you know, Teddy Bluger, he's got scraps under his name in the NHL, but he's not noted for that. I think he's got scraps because he's played in the, you know, the bottom six over the years, and eventually a fighter two finds you.

But Philip Rodick hasn't fought in six years, guys. His last fight was against Vinny Trocheck in 2020. Like, this guy does not drop the gloves. and when you have a young team, the veterans on this team understand if they get hit, if one of their teammates get hit, it's not only about standing up for the young guys,

which Philip Roanick was for Zeeb Williams on that play, there's also a thought that, you know, we've got a young group now, we've got to teach them how to play, we've got to teach them that there is, you know, you've got to be, you know, there's got to be a selfless attitude on this team where you're standing up to the guy next to you.

So I think more than anything, it's not only standing up for the young players, it's also showing them how to play the game of hockey at the NHL level. And the word culture has been used all across the NHL, obviously in Vancouver over the last couple of seasons, but we heard Rick Bonas talk about it. Todd McClellan indirectly said it, but he said it with his looks more than anything last night. And I think when you see scraps like that guys from guys that typically do not fight, it's a message being sent to the younger group saying,

every now and then you got to step up. And I thought, you know, Philip Rodick, he's not known for chucking him, but the fact that he can stand in there, the fact that Blugher could take Radko Gudis, that sends a message to the team to say, we're going to stand up for you, but also this is our part, this is the part of being a team. You've got to stand up for each other. Hey, Randy, this is just kind of like a fun conversation we were having earlier,

and it's a bit of a what if, but it's a possibility. All right. What would you say to the idea of naming many Malhotra, the head coach, and then if the Canucks pick third, taking his son Caleb in the draft? Ooh, okay. So I'm a classic go-by-your-list best player available. Like, I understand the father's son element here. But, like, if it was my team, the direction I would say is, hey, that's cool.

like welcome to the club understand your kids involved in this and he's going to be a top five pick top six depending on your list but the list is the most important thing this time of the year guys so if you if you feel like if your scouts have a consensus which is rare

let's be honest but if they have a majority saying hey Keaton Verhoff is the guy that you got to go with players on the right side of defense this big this mobile don't come around or chase read or go through that list whoever that number is three player on your list is.

I would still go by that. And I understand the enticement of having father's son, but if you feel like there's a better player out there, you've got to go with that guy. And it doesn't matter if their father, son, nephew, to me it doesn't matter. It's an interesting one because could it happen? Yeah, I guess it could.

Totally. But I'm always best player available when it comes to that. So I'll just, this was going to be what we learned because I just saw it. But hey, we'll just announce it now because we're talking about Caleb Melhotra. So NHL Central Scouting has released its final draft ahead of this June's NHL entry draft. So to nobody's surprise, McKenna's the number one North American skater. Stenberg's the number one European skater. Caleb Malhotra,

according to NHL Central Scouting, is the sixth North American skater. Remember, this isn't overall. They're separated into two distinct camps. So it goes, McKenna 1, Chase Reed 2, Carson Carroll's 3. Keaton Veerhoff 4 Daxon Rudolph 5 Daxon And then Caleb Malhotra 6th So

I know that everyone's got their own lists And everyone's got their own talent You know The SportsNet list has Malhotra number three Right so it just goes to show Maybe that You know him being at three On certain boards would be a reach

Because if you're going to suggest Stenberg's in there It would put Malhotra more on the long lines of a seventh to tenth overall kind of pick. So it's all very interesting. And, you know, just to get back to the conversation, Randy, I love the idea from content creation and marketability and narratives. But I do think ultimately it's fraught with risk. Because, you know, when you enter a rebuild,

something to remember is a lot of times the coach that starts it is not often the guy that finishes it. I know Marty St. Louis had been a great story in Montreal. all. But when you inherit the job in Vancouver next year, assuming that you do, whoever that coach may be, you've got a lot to do because this is a, this has been a difficult job for Adam foot. I know he hasn't been perfect, but it's been a tough job for him this year. Yeah, if you look at the coach turnover rate guys, hockey is no fairy tale, right? Like, I'm going to throw in some soccer here. Diego Cibioni has been managing Athletico Madrid. I think two of his

sons have played for him over the years. Like, you don't get that sort of a rain in hockey here, right? Like you don't get that opportunity where, you know, you're going to have a long leash. And I think overall guys, like, yes, in a sport that has so much turnover, right? When we talk about the most tenured coaches, sometimes we're looking at outside of John Cooper, the window is, what, two, three years at times? Like when we start really, you know, reaching maybe four or five names into the list. So for me, yeah, it's got to be, I think there's that fairy tale there. But as we've known in hockey, not only,

Vancouver across the league. Hockey's out of fairy tale. This aspect is that if you can get a player at number three that you feel like could be a much better player, you got to take that every single day of the weekend. To your point,

Central Scouting has their own list. The International Skaters list I see, I guess, Stenberg and maybe Albert Smiths are the only other two ones that you could potentially say have top six or top seven potential. So, yeah, you're looking in that range. But you know, Caleb Mojotra has done a heck of a job this year

and in the playoffs. He's been fantastic for Brantford guys, but like, you know, at that point, number three, is such an important decision for this team. You got to go with the best possible player at any position, whether that's wing or or center. We're speaking to Canucks' analysts, Randy Janda here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Just jumping around here. I do want to dive back into the current day,

Canucks and the team's most exciting player, the Pavel Burry Award winner, Zee, Booiam. We had Drans on the show yesterday, and he had an extended response slash thought that if they're going to truly maximize value with Booiam, he needs to be more of a focal point of the power play, I guess a PP1 guy.

Wanted to get your thoughts on that watching the Canucks on a nightly basis. Is that an important thing for the organization to set as a goal to get him more reps, more minutes, and maybe more of a presence on the power play? Yeah, so if we look at minutes, last game he played 25 because of the Philip Rodic fight. You can say he got a little bit more, which was a taste of, hey, this is what this guy could do.

But so, you know, absolutely, you know, he's got a trend in that direction a little bit more over the next season for sure. Powerplay one, that is a natural next step, guys. Now, in this iteration of the power play, what has the work for the Vancouver Canucks? It's been, you know, quick puck movement. There's a mobile five-man unit, essentially. and the puck's moving quickly, but also there's a lot of interchangeability. I think with what we saw with the Queen Hughes experiment was, there's a lot of one individuals hanging on to the puck, right?

And then the shot threat was there at times and it wasn't. I think with Steve Blumen, there's got to be a couple of things. There's got to be, yes, you can hang on to the puck, but you've got to also, I think his goal against L.A. was a signal of, can you attack the middle more? Can you be mobile? And, you know, can you change with the switch with your teammates as well? and just be more of a goal threat.

And I think a traditional quarterback, you know, they sit at the point and they'll direct traffic. I think William has the ability to do more than that, but obviously you have to have confidence in the rest of your power play as well. So I think there's a growth potentially there for him in that regard. And the other thing, guys, is if you want to be a powerplay threat, that shot, as of right now, he's a young player, he's got to develop it. I remember Quinn Hughes, it took him time to develop a shot over the years as well.

he made it to focus, but for his eve, I think that's another step you have to take. Of course, handling the puck, distributing the puck, I think is something that he can do well. He can skate. He can create room for himself, maybe even attack the middle, as we've seen pretty, you know, I would say we've seen a fair bit, maybe not as much on five on five because he have left space. But, you know, if you can develop a shot over the next year or two guys, I think he can very much be that power play one quarterback. And at the very least with where this team is at,

if he's not fully there yet, I still want to see him given that opportunity. It's trial by error, right? Like you want to get him out there kind of what we've heard from a five-on-five perspective from Adam Foote and Kevin Dean, get out there, make mistakes, learn from them. Power play is very much the same thing. We'll see what this roster looks like next year, but I'd like to see him at least build some of some of his teammates. So to me, he's got all the tools what he needs right now with the reps. Speaking of the power play, can we just take a moment here and talk about how truly remarkable it is

what Jake Debrusk has done in this wildly forgettable season, where it's been bereft of a lot of things. If Debrus scores on the power play tonight, that's going to give them 20 on the year. Yeah. There are, that's like, I score on the power play and at three on three. That's it. I do two things out here.

There would only be three players in the NHL with 20 power play goals this year. It'd be Wyatt Johnson, Pavel Dorofeuf, and Jake DeBrus. So whatever, that's not the most illustrious company. But if you go back and you look in the history of the entire 50 plus years of Vancouver Canucks hockey, there are only four players all time who have scored 20 plus power play goals in a season. And it's Pavel Burry, Todd Bertuzzi, Marcus Naslin, and Tony Tanti.

That's it. That's the list. That's the tweet. DeBrusk, again, in a year where it's been really bad offensively at times, he hasn't done anything at five on five. He has a chance to have a really. unforgettable season almost exclusively on the power play. Yeah, and it's, it's been very impressive because, you know, five on five, I think Jake would be the first one to talk about how he wants to do better and he's been disappointed that the puck star and just followed him. I think there's a couple of things here, guys.

Five on four, you know, Jake has talked about in the past where he gets his cookies in front of the net, like he doesn't, he's not shy about that, right? Five on four, you're just getting more opportunities to battle in Titan. And as we've seen, he's very good at that, right? You talked about the numbers within the Canucks and the NHL. I got another one for you, right? He's top three in the NHL when it comes to inner slot shots. Tomashe Hurtle and Wyatt Johnson are the only ones that have more on the power play than he does,

which is, you know, Hurdle is one of the best net front guys in the NHL in a top five powerplay. And Wyatt Johnson has the most power play goals in the NHL doing the exact same thing on that Dallas team. So, you know, Jake is in that conversation. So, you know, I think five on four, he's found that. confidence. They found that rhythm. And more than anything, like, they've got a power play goal in 11 of the last 15 games. He scored a three on three goal last

game, but prior to that, he'd scored all eight of his last goals had been on the power play. Like, the numbers are unbelievable. I think more than anything for Jake, especially about halfway through the season, you could see he was really lacking confidence, right? Like, this was a guy, even in his media availability, he's having conversations

with them, you can see and feel that he was searching for confidence. And the power play he's given him that. Like even the responses after he's scoring the sellies that he's got. Like there's a smile on his face and he's feeling good about himself. That's important for him, right? Whether he's a Vancouver Canuck next October or he's on another team,

goal scores need to score goals to feel good about themselves. And I think with Jake mentally, this has been a huge boost for him, even though the season has been a difficult one, you want a player like that to say, all right, I'm at the 20 goal threshold, I surpassed it.

This went right for me on the power play, at least you have something to build off of. Okay, Randi, before we let you go, tell us about the good folks at bells and whistles. All right, I was there yesterday watching Arsenal scrape by sporting, Lisbon, not exactly the most, but I'm not going to lie, I was half keeping an eye on the Real Madrid-Byrn game, what I thought was. And awesome vibes at bells and whistles as well. The best place to watch live sports in the city, hockey, football, soccer, whatever you

want to watch, they got it on their screens. And I will tell you this as well, this is also going to be the best of the best of the best. best place to watch the World Cup in June and July. They're taking reservations right now. I'm sorry, bells and whistles. Yvr.com. Again, bells and whistles. Yvr.com. 3296 Fraser Street right in the Fraser Hood.

It's also a great place to go for a nap if you're watching Arsenal. I was going to ask. I was going to ask. I know you're an Arsenal supporter, but especially yesterday, juxtaposed against this, like, classic, multi-balls right off the bat. They couldn't have been played out in a more perfect way because you've got the snoozer between Arsenal sporting

and then this unbelievably unforgettable match between Byron and Ray. so I'm glad you were able to keep an eye on both. I guess what Bell's Missiles has to offer. Well, it's got the multiple screens, boys, but I'm not going to, okay, as we know, Champions League is a marathon, you know, Arsenal got it at the front end. Hopefully they pick it up here. They're in the semi-final against Athletical Madrid,

but it's a long race, boys. it's a long race. Randy, thanks for doing this, bud. We appreciate it. Cheers, boys. Randy Jann, a Canucks analyst here on the Halford & Broth show on Sportsnet 650. A win's a win.

You got to do whatever you got to do, right? You never apologize for a victory. You never apologize for a victory. I mean, the pressure's on for them to not, I mean, this sounds weird, but not just win the league. Well, that's not guaranteed.

They had that really, really sour loss against Bournemouth over the weekend, and then City picked up points. So, Randip, is going to Arsenal's final match of the season. It's actually at Crystal Palace. Yeah. It's palace away.

It's, as they would say. So I asked him, that's a London Derby. Right. So I asked him, yes, it is, Halford. Yes. So I asked him, do you want them to clinch before that? Or do you want them to make this interesting so they, like, have to win that game or at least get a result?

And he was, he said, I want them to win as soon as possible. Oh, man. That's an interesting one. I would want that game to mean something. I would too, but it's also final match of the year. There is the coronation. So you're part of the celebration too, which is a unique thing. I would love it.

It's been a long time since we've had that like dramatic. You know, and we're talking almost a decade ago now. City, end of season, Aguero, like right down. It's such an unusual thing. The celebration of the league in European soccer because it can happen on like with four games left. in the season and you could be away somewhere and all of a sudden you're like, wait, we just clenched.

That's huge. And then the rest of the games are what? A coronation. A celebration. Yeah. It's kind of what it's a very unique. It's just a different dynamic. Yeah.

It's like asking people here to care about the president's trophy. Right? People just don't. Do you remember? Do you remember back in 2011 and 2012 after the Canucks had lost to the Bruins? And then there was this kind of sad push. by some of the bloggers to make the president's trophy more important.

Like it should count for more and we should, we should celebrate the president's trophy more. It was just like the most that we didn't have that word, but it was the most cope of thing of all times. It was the first public prescription of copium that I can remember. It was a lot of people were doing it. They had actually just legalized copium. Yeah.

Everyone was trying it. You know, sometimes you took too much and you wrote articles and you were like, I regret this later. But you did it. Was that actually a thing? Yes. We got to make it a bigger deal. It was just like it should count for more.

There were a lot of illusions to look what they do in European soccer. That's what I'm thinking that. They're trying to draw that comparison. But we don't do that here. No. Like no one gets sent down at the end of the NHL campaign because they were too bad. Like it's just not the same thing. It doesn't matter.

Anyway, okay, we got to go to break. When we come back, it's what we learn time. We'll do ours. You'll do yours. It's your chance to be on the radio. A reminder. Text them in. Dunbar Lumber text message.

basket is 650, 650. Tell us, what did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? It's your chance to be on the radio, and it's coming up next on the Halford and Breath Show on SportsNet 650. The tears of rage. Yeah, but turn to tears of joy and gratitude. Choking on my own rage here. Three hits, 23 giveaways.

Oh, you. Oh, God. Choking on my own rage here. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on SportsNet 650, wherever you get your podcasts. Alpha, my favorite part of the show.

What is they 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.

833 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, Brough. Sportsnet, 650. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Got debt? Reach out to Sands and Associates during regular business hours, and they'll get back to you within 20 minutes.

Visit them at Sands-Trustee.com. We are an hour three of the program. It is what we learned time. Hour three is brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal. Visit them on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown. Visit them in Richmond.

Visit them online at the duikatogroup.com. Not bad. Not bad. I got to what we learned. I learned that Thomas Mueller wants you, the listeners, and everybody else in this city and this province to start showing up at BC Place.

Yesterday, Thomas Mueller met with the media after White Caps training. White Caps will play Friday night, that's tomorrow night, 7.30 BC Place against sporting KC. And Mueller said, we need more butts in seats. He didn't say it quite like that. He said, quote, and I'm not going to do an accent for a multitude of reasons.

If I have a wish, Thomas Mueller said, I don't know how we can get it done, but it would be nice if the lower bowl is in every home game full, not only almost full. I want to have the feeling that it's packed. So there's an interesting dynamic at play here. On the surface, nobody's complaining about Whitecaps attendance this year. They've been averaging around 25,000 fans.

is one of the best attendance marks in MLS right now. I believe they hit 25K in their last match as well. They've had good attendance figures by MLS standards. But Thomas Mueller, during his time of Bayer Munich, played at Alianz Arena,

and it held Czech's computer, 75,000, and it almost always played to capacity. Right. So 25, for you, athletes out there, is one-third of 75, and to Mueller, it's like, is a nice number, but we could do more.

Now, there's another part of this. And Mueller goes on to talk about the way the team is playing at home, the results that they've gotten, the way that they've gotten those results. And there is a sense of, what more do you want us to do on the pitch?

We're winning relentlessly and aggressively at home. Like, they are winning a lot of matches at home. They score a lot of goals. They play an attractive style. And even when they trail, like we saw on that, uh, heroic match against, I think it was Portland two weeks ago with the Burrhalter

winner in the 94th, which was followed by an equalizer penalty from Mueller in the 90th. They make it entertaining and exciting. So Mueller's response is more people show up and we'll give you a show. Yeah. I mean, they have been getting good crowds. Right. But

I appreciate that he's striving for more. Now here's another interesting little tidbit. During that same media availability, Thomas Mueller was asked whether he has been approached about buying into the Vancouver Whitecaps in an ownership stake. And Mueller declined to comment and answer the question. Ooh, interesting.

So part of this, obviously, never mind the buying into the team part, although that is a very interesting dynamic and something that has been floated from the moment he came aboard. They are doing, and this is a second consecutive year of really great, attractive football, and a lot of great results. fun team to get behind. Almost in the face of all the uncertainty at the ownership level and the stadium level,

things that, you know, the off-field distractions that might sink some teams, they've just kind of gone about their business and are grinding away at giving, you know, fans, great entertainment. And they are the best team in MLS right now. They lead the supporter shield standings right now. And they've got a chance to further,

you know, increase that gap atop the standings on Friday against a very, very, very, very bad sporting KC team. I don't want to say it's three points in the bag. But anyway, the moral of the story, listen to Thomas Mueller. Go and support your white caps. Muckabee. Okay.

I learned that according to Elliott Friedman, and we've already mentioned this per Aaron Portsline in Columbus, but Elliott reports that Rick Bonas and Don Waddell are meeting the media at 2 o'clock Eastern time. So that's in a couple of hours here. Elliot says expect an extension announcement for Rick bonus. He will return as head coach of the Blue Jackets. I love an a.m. press conference, our time.

Okay. So I'll be curious to see if Rick has like calm down at all. He's going to have to walk it back. I'm choking on my own happiness here. He's going to have to walk it back a little bit because they interviewed. Yeah, because they interviewed all the players yesterday. And there was some pushback. especially when he's like these guys don't care.

Right. They're like, please don't do that. He's like, I still hate them all. Every single one of them. I don't like, don't care for any of them. I don't know what. He's going to have to walk some of it back because he was obviously a bit. He should be asked to name names.

Who are you talking about? Yeah. Is it Connor Garland? I think, I think what you, what you have to do here. Connor G. What you have to do is acknowledge that you were very emotional after the game, which he was. And you probably flew off the handle. Like, let's get this.

Let's not get this twisted. He kind of went. overboard. You know, I know he probably meant most of what he said, but when you go overboard. When you start, when you start saying like, these guys don't care about losing, you're really attacking a guy's professionalism at that point. And I think the players are obviously going to push back and be like, come on, man. Like, we fought and we fell short of the playoffs and we no-showed in our last game.

I don't think that suggests that we don't care about losing. So I think he's going to have to walk some of it back. The real interesting part now is if, don't. Don Waddell takes what I think the most important thing Rick Bonas said was, if I'm back, we're changing things. Yeah. Well, and Don Waddell must be somewhat on board with that. Right? You have to be.

Okay. Give us a mou cal on that as well. You guys, dogs are good. Are you got a second one? I have one quick one. I just wanted to follow up on some of the stuff we were talking about yesterday because live golf just continues to be a hilarious. Soap opera. So what's the latest now?

Well, there are all sorts of reports yesterday that Live might be going under and that the Saudi Arabia and backers, which is just Saudi Arabia. Yeah. Might be ready to pull the plug. Well, their CEO, Scott O'Neill told staff in an email yesterday that the season will go on, quote, as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle. he said, I want to be crystal clear. Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted, full throttle,

which is hilarious way for LiveGolf to put it. It's like, we're going to be playing music, guys are going to be wearing shorts, it's a shotgun start. One of our teams is called full throttle. Probably is. And of course, everyone,

I mean, the Masters was one thing, right? But we all know that the Masters is really just the warm-up event for LiveGolf Mexico City, which starts today. One of the most popular stops on the tour. In Mexico City. Yep.

And, you know, with the elevation there, you can just bomb the ball. I definitely knew that they were playing in Mexico before you said it right now. Well, I mean, then you get into May where it's LiveGolf, Virginia, and LiveGolf Korea. And, I mean, these are huge tournaments, right? They've got a stop later on coming up at one of Trump's courses. I should have if I'm not mistaken. Live golf New York. Yeah, there you go.

Is it Trump National Golf Club. And I mean, I know that you are looking forward to live golf Indianapolis. I love. Which is an actual thing. Anyway, they're going to continue on the season or so they say. But who knows with this story. Give us, okay. Just one more thing.

Sure. I don't really follow golf all that closely, but this story is intrigued me for a multitude of reasons. So I was doing some research yesterday. I think the biggest condemnation and nothing probably crystallizes live better. Taylor Gooch. Taylor Gooch, by the way. He's made so much money.

Do you know how much? 50 million? Higher. And that's just winnings, right? It's not even signing bonuses. It's just career prize money from LiveGolf. $68.7 million. Well, Wachey Neiman has made more than that.

Like, if you were to say, it's crazy. Like the purse for every LiveGolf tournament is $30 million. And some of these guys are looking around and it's be like, this guy wouldn't be and be on the PGA tour and he's my competition.

Like, if you told me that LiveGolf had a video game in career mode, where they had to make up golfers along the way. I would have been like, yeah, Taylor Gooch and Joachin Neiman are definitely like Sim characters from LiveGolf, the video game. Two Karina players.

But Taylor Gooch has made nearly $70 million just playing on live. That, like, if you're, if you're Saudi Arabia, like, why are we paying Taylor Gooch so much money? What is Gooch bringing us? Please stop saying Taylor Cooch. What is Gooch? Mr. Gooch is my father. Is there Gooch?

He's the kind of guy who's like, Gooch. Guch is making so much money. The Gooch man. I would wear a jersey. Jersey or the Goochmeister. That's what Gooch calls a jersey. It would have Gooch 69 on the back because he's made $68.7 million.

So it would be fitting. You think he refers to himself in third person? Yes. Gooch is getting upset. You don't call it Gooch Marketability. You call it Goochability? All these things. The big dogs, too, like John Rom and

Bryson DeCampo. Remember Cameron Smith? Yeah. Like there's a guy that looked like he was going to be a star on the PGA tour and win all sorts of tournaments. He's made a ton of money. But like he's a non-factor now at majors. Cameron Smith is what happens if you cross Joe Dirt with Crocodile Dundee. That's actually pretty close.

That's pretty close. Pretty good, right? He has his career earnings, $50 million. And again, this is tournament winnings. This is nothing to do with the signing bonuses they get. John Rom has made $87 million. Live hasn't even been around that long. And this is, again, tournament earnings.

Yeah, got to get that Gooch money. Okay, Moogh out again. Saudi Arabia would get involved in sports radio. Yeah, no kidding. Give me some of that Taylor Gooch money. All right, let's fire the dot matrix. Humanoid submissions for what we learned brought to you, as always by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

From corporate events to special events, there's no order too large. Order online at AJ's dot pizza. Okay. You see, you never, I did the last two, what we learned. Could we do the summer night concert series that Justin Nese fans submitted? What do we got?

Is it, they announced it today? Yeah, there's a graphic that just came up. Oh my God, drum roll, please. Blue Rodeo, the Guess Who? Classic. The beaches. Nelly. Zed.

Okay, Nelly, that's his thing now, right? Yeah. I'm pretty sure Nellie did a concert in Nanaimo not too long ago.

Zed, Mountain Joy, Cynthia Arriva with the VSO. Hey, cool. Punjabi Versa, train, bare naked ladies,

Weird Al Yankovic. Oh! Yeah, Weird Al. Weird Al's coming. Earthwind and fire. Nice. Pierce the veil.

That's kind of neat. I played with them. Sarah McLaughlin. Boy, George. in the culture club. Culture club. Culture club. Yeah.

Nice. Boy George and culture club. I break up. Please Google how old boy George is. And the rest of culture club. Weird Al is a, that's a big one. 64 years old. Wow.

Okay. Still rocking. Would I go to see? Would I go to see Weird Al? Yes, he would. Yes, I would. What are you? Really?

Asking that? Yeah. See, Weird Al should be playing with the VSO. That should be the concert. You know what I respect about Weird Al? Everything? No one's been able to replicate it. No, no one.

He is the best. He's one of one. He's a singular entity. Yeah, you can't possibly top him, so why even try? Is he making new music? Did he ever make new music? You know what? I own three Big Al records,

and he actually does write his own music. I think half of it is... I'm asking you, is he making new music? Yeah, I think so. Let me check. People are like, I don't want to hear the new stuff. Play fat. I think it's white and nerdy.

See, everyone knows the catalog. It's great. Play onish paradise. Is that his most famous one? Maybe. Or is it? Edith. Fad is pretty good.

Edith. Eid. Gump said. I forgot it. I forgot it was called Edd. I thought it was called Fatt. He's got two. He's got fat and Eidt.

The last album was called Fatt is based off bad. And Eid is based off Beat It. It was two different songs. He's got, he's really, Digging into the food puns. Also, side question, when did Boy George get face tats? He did. He just looked him up here.

He's got a face tats. His manager went to him. He was like, listen, man. We got to appeal to the younger armaged. You're a mumble rapper now. What is that? He looks a jelly roll. Weird Al's recent album was

Pokemonia in 2024. Big and Cheboygan. His last big record was mandatory fun all the way back in 2014. It actually debuted in the top 50, which was a landmark, first comedy album ever to do so. Okay.

So is this part of the FIFA World Cup fan fest, too? I think this is a separate. That's separate because that's the August concert series. Yeah, that's got like Motley Crew and stuff and that's a different thing. By the way, a wildly underrated weird owl song is Addicted to Spuds, which is from Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love.

Very good song. Just about his love of potatoes. He just loves potatoes? Yeah, addicted to Spuds. Just like all the different ones. ways that you can eat potatoes or your greasy hands, your salty lips, looks like you just found the chips.

It's a good song. Potatoes are good. Also, the record you talk about mandatory fun. That's the one that has tacky on it, which is the based off happy, the Farrell song, tacky. So he is still doing it. That was the big hit. I think we should move on guys. We should probably move on.

What we learned unsigned, Earth Day just got a boost this year. Kauai will be available to plant a few more trees after getting bounced by Steph and the Warriors in the plan. Did you watch a game? I did. It was, it was, I mean, Steph went on some runs that were pretty impressive. So at the end, I wanted to watch because there's this, there's rumblings across the NBA that as soon as the clipper season is over, the punishment is coming down for the court. There's actually a ceremonial hammer that came down on the court at Intuit arena. So I was watching. I was watching at the end to see that because, and Taron Liu had this smirk on his face.

and it was like, well, it was fun. No one knows what's going to happen. Are they going to cancel the franchise? How stiff at the penalty is going to be? Well, Kauai Leonard ever played basketball again? Is Bulmer going to be like, you know, ostracized from like all these things? And Lou went over and shook Steve Kerr's hand. And I was just trying to gauge what the look meant because it was...

Steve Kerr was like, run. Seriously. Start running right now. Yeah, like disassociate yourself from this altogether. so you can get another job. So the Warriors advance. They will now take on the sons, right? And the last chance, the last dance to get in to the playoffs is the eight seed.

So they can be quickly dismissed. Jenny from the West End, what we learned with all the Jenny from the block. With all the talk of Major League Baseball coming to Vancouver, I'm learning that nobody is bringing up that the NBA would be easier and more successful. I would push back a bit on easier because I do think if Vancouver ever was in the running for an NBA team you'd have to build a new arena

and that arena would have to be unless it's the Aquilini family that would bring the NBA and listen I'm not their accountant but I don't know if they can afford that I don't think that's like is that like shameful in the billionaire community like, I'm a billionaire, but I can't afford an NBA team, right? It's very expensive and nobody is going to own an NBA team,

especially an expansion team where you're starting right from the get-co and be like, okay, I'll be a tenant at an arena. So I think to get an NBA team, you'd have to build your own arena and control it. I mean, we just talked about the Clippers, right? Yeah. I mean, the scene in L.A. used to be that there used to be three teams that, what's it called, crypto now?

I still think of it as Staples. Yep. It was the Kings, the Lakers, and the Clippers, and the Clippers were kind of the afterthought there. And they realized, like, we need to control our own stuff. And they went to build an incredible arena,

which I haven't been to yet, but I guess it's in the same area as SOFI. Yeah. And where the old, the form was. Englewood. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was up to know good. Right.

They also... He is always up to no good. They were able to put a lot of extra amenities into that stadium because they saved so much money on Kauai's contract. It is a cool stadium because they've got that in the end zones. They've got that... The supporters wall, they call it...

Those supporters wall, like they took that from... What's the German team that has that? Yeah, there are a bunch of NBA teams that share buildings, though. Like, let's not... Right? I'm just saying that Rogers Arena is not new. No, no, no, no. It's not ideal.

think you would need to build a new arena. So I don't think it would be as easy as you might think. Because, you know, what do you need? You need the market. You need the owner. And you need the building, right? I think the market would be good for the NBA in Vancouver. I would say more successful when Jenny says it would be more successful.

I tend to agree with that. Like, I do wonder, even if, you know, the miracle happened that you can. could bring together an owner that can afford a major league baseball team and an owner that can afford to build a stadium and the stadium actually gets built. I do wonder if Vancouver has it in it to support a baseball team 81 home games a year. And also the revenue. Greg is nodding along there. The revenue that you need, I mean, one of the biggest issues that the white caps have is the last. of corporate sponsorship available in the city of Vancouver,

which does not have many corporate home bases. Yeah, it's tough. Like it is ground corporations, yes, but they're not out like spending wild money. You know, the Canucks have done a good job of expanding their sponsorships to, you know, outside the local market. Yeah.

And that's what you would have to really do. They need Gooch money. Yeah. They need to, yeah, they need to be like, Seriously. This inning is sponsored by Taylor Gooch. Inning, never mind. Call it the Gooch Stadium.

All right. We got to get out of here. It's been a fun show. Thank you all for listening and thank you all for contributing. We got to get out of here for today, but we will be back tomorrow. Signing up. I have been Mike Halford. He's been Jason Brough.

He's been A-Dog. He's been Laddie. This has been the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.