Halford & Brough in the Morning - Ranking Fictitious Jake Guentzel Sightings

Episode Date: June 20, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk some baseball and a bit of Stanley Cup Finals with MLB & NHL Network's Adnan Virk (3:00), they head to Atlanta to chat with Ben Steiner, ahead of Canada's matchup versus Messi & Argentina this evening at the Copa America (27:00), plus they chat about Jake Guentzel potentially becoming a Vancouver Canuck (40:00). 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 time to chat with Adnan, it's Adnan Berkey's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Red Nant. Yes, and then Fergie joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he's seen.

Ortiz in the deep right field. Back is Sheffield. We'll see you later tonight. 7-0-2 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, Brough, Sportsnet 650. The production value on this show is just off the charts right now.

I'm so thoroughly impressed with the dogs. You like that? I do. That was all Laddie. I did nothing. But I will take credit. He did the singing. He did the singing. Before was all Laddie. I did nothing. But I will take credit. He did the singing. He did the singing.

Beforehand. Okay. Laddie did the magic. Adnan Virk's going to join us in just a moment here. So we went from the Adnan Virk intro to an unforgettable highlight from the 2004, not World Series, ALCS between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Why are we bringing that up? It was 20 years ago. Well, 20 years later. God, It was 20 years ago. Well, 20 years later.

God, it was 20 years ago? 2004. We are getting on. Seems like yesterday. We sure are, friend. Aaron Boone's home run the year before seems like it was four years ago. Stuff that happened in 1974. There was an article in the local paper.

Now I'm really talking about the provincial champions for soccer they had a reunion and they were the 1974 provincial champions and i'm like that's not that long ago yeah i was born in 79 then i'm like it was 50 years ago damn yeah that's probably why they had the anniversary yeah that's exactly why they had the anniversary. Yeah, that's exactly why they had it. Very sobering moment for yours, truly. I'm going to skip all of the reads. We'll do them on the other side. We're patiently waiting for our next guest. Adnan Virk from MLB Network joins us now on the Halford & Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650.

Good morning, Adnan. How are you? I'm doing great, Mike. Jason, a pleasure as always. I'm still very flattered by that theme song. I really feel like a part of the family now, so I very much appreciate that. And shout out to you, Mike, born in 79. I was born in 78, so shout out to late 70s birthdays.

That's us, brother. 76 here. Mid-70s. Mid-70s. Let's make that very clear. And so I wanted to bring you on and just ask you about your memories of that Red Sox comeback in 2004 because as you know in the Stanley Cup finals the Edmonton Oilers are attempting to do the same thing to the Florida Panthers

yeah it was pretty amazing Jason and you're right I was thinking the same thing I'm like you know little by little momentum builds and all of a sudden you go we got something here I think you know with a six gamegame series, that's legit. When a team is now 3-0-0 in one game, as we saw in the NBA Finals, even though the Mavericks dusted the Celtics, there was no doubt Boston would take care of business and they did. In this instance,

I was working with three-time Stanley Cup champion Ken Danico on Sunday, Father's Day. And this was after, obviously, I had won in convincing fashion. And I was saying, you know, well, you know, when Florida goes home, look at these numbers. Bobrovsky on two days or more rest. He's virtually unbeatable. Home crowd, etc.

And Dan O'Sullivan, he's like, nah, I've got a weird feeling that's wrong. I think Edmonton wins this. I think they're going to win game six, too. It's like, oh my god. Seven of us will do the job. And you're right to draw the parallels to the Red Sox and the Yankees. I vaguely remember it. I was working at the Sports Television Network in Toronto, of course, National Sports Network, a feeder system for so many of us,

Elliot Friedman, Cabby, McAuliffe, Sarah, all the rest of us, and I remember watching that series in full, Jason, and it went from such a certainty that the series would be over because not only was Boston trying to beat the 2004 Yankees, but trying to beat 86 years of history. And when it was 3-0, particularly that game three, the Yankees clobbered them 19-8 like Gary Sheffield and company. Come on down.

They looked unstoppable. And then little by little, the Red Sox win. And, of course, there's that great clip of my colleague and friend Kevin Millar when he basically pointed out why it was almost a certainty the Red Sox would win. Like, he's on the field at Fenway going, like, yeah, we win five. And also we got Petey and Schill. And then, you know, don't push us from that point. Like, one win at a time.

Like, how do we not win? And one of the weirdest stories of that entire series is before Game 7, Tom Perducci reported in his book, The Yankee Years with Joe Torre, there was Yankee players already congratulating Red Sox players in the field before Game seven. Like they, they, they knew it was over.

And part of the reason why is that Kevin Brown pitching, nobody had any faith in him. They're like, Hey man, good luck to you guys. Congratulations. Oh my God. Like that,

that was the attitude going into seven. And then Johnny Damon hit two home runs, played great. And again, it was a laugher. It wasn't even close. The Red Sox is hammered the Yankees. And it,

it felt in some ways anticlimactic as the game wasn't good, but the first time ever in baseball history a team to come down 0-3, and it's the Red Sox doing it against their mortal rival, the Yankees. And of course, Schilling and the buddy Sock game and all the rest of it, it was incredible. And I asked Pedro

Martinez, actually, I worked with him last week, and I said favorite memory, because last weekend, of course, was the Red Sox and the Yankees. He said, well, of course, it was that series, when we finally got them. And he's like, I worked with him last week, and I said, favorite memory, because last weekend, of course, was the Red Sox and Yankees. He said, well, of course, it was that series, when we finally got them. And he's like, I think the next year he was telling me Rudy Giuliani was there. He was like, you know, basically talking smack to Rudy Giuliani. That's like the Pages' favorite memory. But there's no question there's parallels with the Oilers and the Panthers,

simply in that Edmonton, you thought it going in, right? Panthers are the favorite, but not an overwhelming favorite. So we shouldn't be surprised it's going six. And if I said to you the series had been, you know, suppose Edmonton had won games three and games four. Well, then it doesn't feel like as big a deal as if Edmonton wins game six. It's only the fact they're a down 0-3 that they're in this position that is surprising. So I think you're right to bring up that parallel. And, God, I hope we get a game seven.

I think it'd be a heck of a story. Okay, I'm with you because there's a lot of people in vancouver that don't want to see the edmonton oilers have any joy any success one because they're canadian rival and two because they eliminated the vancouver canucks along the way this year but i say as a fan of sport if you are a fan of sport you absolutely want to see a game seven here because it's never happened in the history, the post-war history of the big four North American major sports where a championship best of seven final goes three nothing and then gets forced to a game seven. Like we're on the verge of history here and the kind of history that I want to see,

even at the risk of Edmonton potentially pulling this thing off, which would be amazing. It would be painful, but it would be amazing. Yeah, I think you're right, Mike. It's funny. You're right. As Canucks fans, you can never really cheer for the Oilers. It just doesn't feel right. But if you can kind of step back and step outside of yourself and say,

I just want to see history. I do think years from now, if my kids and grandkids are sportsmen, they will say, hey, what was that like in 2004 when the Red Sox came back from the Yankees? That must have been crazy. Like, 86 years of history, and they finally exorcised the demons. Did you ever think that would happen? And similarly, even if the Oilers push it to a Game 7,

like, as you said, that's something you've never seen before. As a sports fan, I always want to see something I've never seen before because in 40 years of fandom, I've seen a lot. So a lot of times, I'm like, I've been there, done that, not interested. So anytime I can see something new, I'm all for it. And I think there's a pathway that it can happen. You know, as I'm

visualizing Game 6 as it happens, as we know, Rock is proud of all the rest of the blah, blah, blah. But that second period, when Edmonton got their jets going, like when McDavid had that great individual play, the stick handling, setting up the goal, I could totally foresee a way in which the Oilers win this game. I don't think they win a 2-1 game,

but I think they can win a 5-4 game. I think their offense gets going, and they can pepper Bob again. One of the surprises, guys, is that if you ask me before game four, Bob Roxy wins the cons fight. If you ask me before game five, I say Bob Roxy wins the cons fight. Now before game six, I'm not totally sure.

He's had a couple of shaky performances. I know he's been great overall. Of course, you need to have great goaltending. But it kind of reminds you of the scene in Rocky IV, right? He's cut. He's cut. The Russian's been cut. Now this is the moment where Drago has shown that he's human.

Clearly, but Roxy does not have that veneer of intimidation anymore. Having said all that, maybe he pitches a shutout and wins game six because I'm an idiot. But I do think there's a pathway in which Edmonton

wins the game. I think no matter whoever wins, it's going to be a close game. I don't expect another game four blowout. But I would love to see

a game seven, Mike, and I hear you. As a Canucks fan, it would be tough to see. But how about this? Just push it to seven and Florida still wins. You don't have to

actually see the Oilers win. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. In overtime. Right. In overtime. Yeah, I imagine. Exactly right.

So then you can stick some pain to Oilers fans and still be enjoying the hockey event. I like it. Good shot. And as Canucks fans, we'd be like, yeah, it does hurt to lose in game seven in the Stanley Cup final, doesn't it? And it hurts to have other people laugh at you. So watch this.

I'm going to laugh at you. Where does Connor McDavid rank in terms of the greatest players you've ever seen? other people laugh at you so watch this i'm gonna laugh at you um where does connor mcdavid rank in terms of the greatest players you've ever seen it's amazing i think he's mount rushmore for me i would still go gretzky lemieux but that might be it mcdavid might be third for me i mean in my life again as we just discussed since we're all mid-70s to late 70s guys i did not see not see Bobby Orr in his prime, so my hockey memories are like, you know, 85 on, and so it was the Gretzky run, the Lemieux run, 91-92,

and as great as Crosby and Ovechkin are, I think McDavid's better than them. I know the resume isn't quite there yet. I know that Ovechkin will go down as probably the greatest goal scorer ever, but I think what McDavid can do in nine seasons, I mean, a three-time Hart Trophy winner, and I don't see any signs of him slowing down.

It's remarkable. And, you know, the guys in the Levitator show are having fun calling him Mick overrated and all the rest of it. And there's certainly speculation, it's kind of about that he's not 100% healthy. That's why he hasn't scored as many goals, even while setting a record with the number of assists

he's had beating Gretzky's record. But anytime I see a graphic, Jason, and it says the only guys who have done this are Gretzky and Lemieux, then I just automatically say to myself, well, I guess he's the best ever compared to Gretsky and Lemieux. Like 40 plus points in the playoffs is amazing. So I've got him already in my Mount Rushmore third ahead of Krojko, ahead of Ovechkin. At least of guys I've seen in my life, and that's how incredible he's been. Yeah, that's an interesting way to put it, your lifetime Mount Rushmore, because I never saw

Bobby Orr play either. And I think my lifetime Mount Rushmore would probably be similar to yours. My fourth pick would be Sid, I think. But what McDavid needed to do, whether it's fair or not to him, was he needed to, first of all, play in a big game, because he'd never really done that,

and then show up and have big moments in a big game. Gretzky and Lemieux got to play internationally at the Canada Cup, and those things meant a big deal. Sid, of course, got to play at the Olympics and scored a rather big goal in 2010. What we hadn't seen out of McDavid was those moments. And what I'm talking about is the moment like he had on that goal. He didn't even score, but Corey Perry scored it.

But, you know, if the Oilers go on to win the Stanley Cup, and that's still a big if, I realize that. And maybe even if they don't, that goal will be remembered as one of the greatest goals in Stanley Cup finals history. And those are the types of moments that truly build your legacy. A thousand percent. And that's all I keep thinking of is that goal. That to me, if I'm an Oilers fan, I just keep thinking of that goal and say,

that is capable of happening at any moment in time. That's how good this guy is. Whenever a trade happens, the logic is always, whoever gets the best player wins. So the guy who believes in all this right now says, we still got the best player. You can see what you want about Sasha Barkov and the collective talent of the Panthers and the depth and all the rest of it. Hey, we got the best guy. It's McDavid.

And if he does what he did on that play, that's Dick Henry. He literally goes to the entire team and then gives it to Corey Perry. I mean, that's insane. And that can happen at any moment. And that's part of the greatness of McDavid. You know, certain players, you can see them rev up at certain times. Maybe they're kind of floating on certain shifts. But McDavid at any moment

can pounce, get cobra, and give you that ooh-ah factor, which is just so rare and so special to see. So I'm with you. Edmonton may very well lose, but I wouldn't be surprised if McDavid puts that team on his back. And you're right about those memories being important. When I hear Mario Lemieux, all I think of

is 91 and that goal on John Casey. Like, he has so many other memories. As you said, I should be thinking of the 87th Canada Cup and Greg Lemieux and our man Larry Murphy, but I always think of that goal on John Casey. Big time moment, breakaway, that reach was incredible. And of course, Bob Cole's immortal call. Like, as Lemieux fist bumps, he's like,

what a goal! What a move! Oh, baby! And that's what is a moral call. Like, as Lemieux fist bumps, he's like, what are you all? What are you? Oh, baby. And that's what makes a sport special. I think of Brexie, and I think of so many memories from his career, those winless Stanley Cups, that's it, et cetera. So you're right that McDavid needed that signature moment, and win or lose, he now has that moment. And here's, by the way, what's so special about guys like him

is when they talk about stuff that you do in a warm-up. Like, whenever you talk about a ball player, you go, hey, man, have you ever seen Ken Griffith Jr. take batting practice? Like, that's when you know it's special about guys like him, is when they talk about stuff that you do in a warm-up. Like, whenever you talk about a ball player, and you go, hey, man, have you ever seen Ken Griffith Jr. take batting practice? Like, that's when you know it's special, because you go, who cares? It's batting practice. But when people talk about McDavid

and those stick handling drills he does in a warm-up, that's when you know a guy has a gift that you just really never see. Yeah, his edge work is just incredible. I could just watch him skate. It is absolutely incredible. And by the way, Larry Murphy thanks you for including

him in that play. Because I think even Larry Murphy was skating up the ice on that and being like, I'm probably not getting the puck right now, so I'm just going to pretend that I might and when Mario gets it, we'll all have a big celebration. Just imagine that story

would have changed. Grretzky to Murphy! He's gone! Oh my God! He misses the net by three feet. Well, that was quite a decision by Gretzky

to give it to Larry Murphy in that situation. We're speaking to Adnan Berg from MLB Network here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

A lot of people have no idea what we're talking about by the way. That's sad. We're old. There are some deep cuts going on on the show right now but I respect it because we are all I have no idea what we're talking about, by the way. That's sad. We're old. We're old. Devin Halford's kind of like, ah, I kind of know the play,

but there are some deep cuts going on on the show right now, but I respect it because we are all children. Was it Dale Howarchuk pulling the greatest interference on the back check, too? Was it Howarchuk? It might have been. Oh, yeah. That's next level. He was like tackling guys back there.

He's like, it's allowed. It's the 80s. Hey, Adnan, I have an actual MLB question for you. How much attention and how seriously are you paying attention to the Grimace-era New York Mets? Well, purple is my favorite color. So every time I get involved with purple, I get excited, whether it's the anniversary of Purple Rain, which is Prince's album.

They did that recently at a Twins game. And, of course, the movie If, which features just a giant purple guy, which I enjoy, John Krasinski's film, Steve Carell, et cetera. But, yeah, it's kind of funny, man. And it speaks to, sadly, the mediocrity of the National League right now. There's only four teams above 500. The current five and six playoff seeds have more losses than wins, which, as I told you guys before, drives me bananas.

I know we're only halfway through the season. Things will change. It's so mind-numbing when that happens. But having said that, the Mets were expected to be done. That's it. Bad start. Injuries again. Here we go. And then all of a sudden, Grimace shows up, and they rip off a seven-game winning streak. It would have been an eight-game winning streak

if they won last night. The longest since 2019, where they won 86 games, which is clearly enough to make the playoffs. He'd be the second wild card with 86 wins this year. So it's been funny to see, and I really think it's an odd situation now for the Mets. David Stearns, their president and general manager, he clearly wants to rebuild what he did with the Brewers.

Let's build a team, and I'll get Steve Cohen's money and spend it. But Steve Cohen didn't get to be a gazillionaire by just being patient. He wants to win now. And you know he's like, I don't care if it's grimace. I don't care what's leading this winning streak. We're in this thing again. We can get that playoff seat and get some playoff money. So they're not grimacing.

They're smiling right now in Queens. And if it has to be a big purple guy they can thank, they're all for it. Before we let you go, the intersection of sport and film on the Cinephile podcast. You were talking about Roger Federer's 12 final days. I've only really heard about this anecdotally. I don't really know a lot about it. I know you guys discussed it. Can you let me and the listeners know about the Roger Federer documentary,

12 final days? Yeah. He's one of my all-time favorite athletes. I love playing tennis, and Federer's one of my guys. What I love about him is that, much like Gretzky, he's that rare superstar who actually has humility, which is not to say he doesn't have an ego. Everyone's got an ego to be a player of that ilk.

But when you think of a Federer or a Gretzky, you always think of their elegance, their modesty, their charm. And Federer has all that in spades. And this documentary is literally his last little stretch after he knows that he's going to be retiring. He hasn't told many people, just his friends in the circle. They release the news. You see the documentary. He's going to play the Labor Cup he knows that he's going to be retiring. Hasn't told many people, just his friends in the circle. They released the news. You see the documentaries.

They're going to play the Labor Cup, which is just a glorified exhibition. He's not really healthy enough to keep going. It was a knee injury that fell to four different surges to his knee. But it's a wonderful behind-the-scenes look. You see him with Rafael Nadal. You see him with Novak Djokovic. You see him with Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver. And, of course, his wife and his four kids.

And it's a superstar reflecting on his impending retirement and what the game has meant to him in his great moments and i thought one of the really cool parts of it was he talks to the fact people always praise him for being so effortless right that was you always heard about federer just and you hear john macklin say the most beautiful tennis player i ever saw so effortless and he's like it's as if i didn't get credit because i wasn't grunting and shouting like i wasn't like losing mind like Nadal and Djokovic. I wanted to win just as much as those guys. In my heart, I'm churning the whole time. You'd see Federer show emotion sometimes on a big shot

or certainly when he lost, you'd see him start crying and how much the loss would affect him. What I thought was illuminating was that he cares just as much as everybody else. Just because a guy who's not wearing his heart on his sleeve doesn't mean he doesn't have the heart of a champion. It's a really cool documentary. Hour 40, just look at Federer in his final days and what's going through his mind. And, again, I just think the world of him as a guy.

He's just such a charmer and so great for the sport. And that's what I argue. People say, well, he's not the GOAT. Joe Kutz has more majors. Adele has more majors. I'm like, that's just one way in which you can classify someone as a GOAT. Similarly in hockey, right? You still have guys that say, no, Bobby Orr is the greatest.

It doesn't matter that Fred gives all the records or change the game, transformed it. In many ways, Federer took tennis to a different level of popularity and ushered in this era of the big three and his popularity alone. I mean, joke that you may argue has the most majors. Nadal has a great following. But Roger Federer is the most popular tennis player of our lifetime. Like you ask anybody who follows tennis, the crowds

and the appreciation for Federer has always been awesome. So I encourage people to check out the doc. It's available on Amazon Prime. Adnan, very well done. Thanks for joining us today. Great as always. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next week.

Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Jason. We'll talk Hamburglar next week. Sounds good. Thanks, buddy. That's Adnan Virk from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Can I tell you how much I love this Met story with Grimace? It's pretty great.

And I love that there are sports radio hosts in New York that are getting frustrated with the Grimace line, and you brought this up. I can't remember who it was. I think it was a guy from WFAN, if I'm not mistaken. But they were getting very upset. Sal Licata? Yeah, he was getting very upset that fans were saying

that Grimace was the inspiration behind it. So the Mets won 7-0 and they lost last night. Right, but I love how they've brought in everything purple. I love how Purple Rain is now the official song of the New York Mets. Yep. A-Dog. Yes. We were having a conversation about Prince the other day.

Yeah. And how, I don't want to say he was underrated because there were a lot of big Prince fans, but did you ever watch that live video of the live concert of Prince performing Purple Rain? Like, this was back in the 80s, and I think it was in Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. I do remember. Yes, I have seen it. It's been a while, but I do.

Yes. I sent it to you to watch. Yeah, I watched it. Did you? Did you watch it? Bits and pieces of it. See, that's- It was very long.

Yeah, exactly. I know. Well, I watched snippets of it, but I mean, I've seen it. I've seen it in its entirety before. I wanted you to get cozy in your new Kintec shoes, go home, and just take the time to watch that performance one of these days out of my twitter account or x account i think i'm just gonna have a string of like jason's eclectic music series that's just gonna be like you gotta watch this video

and it's usually gonna be a live performance from back in the day, Prince as a performer was incredible. And I feel like people didn't respect how good he was as a performer, as a singer, but you brought this up also as a guitarist. Well, yeah, I mean, I sent you a video. He did this cover of Wow My Guitar Gently Weeps with Tom Petty and three other... The other names are escaping me off the top of my head. Oh, and George Harrison's son was on guitar as well. And it's honestly one of the greatest guitar solos I've ever seen in my life.

Just Google, just a YouTube Prince guitar gently weeps. You'll see the video. A lot of listeners have probably already watched it. It's very famous. It always makes the rounds on Twitter. But it's one of those ones that it's so infamous because he didn't even say he was going to be doing it. He just sort of, as he often does, he just mysteriously appears on stage with his guitar

and just absolutely shreds this incredible solo. It's incredible. And then as you saw, throws it up in the air at the end, rock star style. Who knows where the guitar goes? Somewhere into the ether. But, oh, man, I think the thing about Prince that sets him apart from a lot of his ilk

of that generation especially is he was multi-instrumental. So he played pretty much every instrument on his albums. He'd do drums, bass. Oh, I didn't know that. He would do it all. I didn't know that. Oh, he played everything.

He's an incredibly talented musician and just one of those rare guys that... I don't know if there's ever been another rock musician quite like him, especially as a showman, but also as a soloist. Great vocalist. The guy, he could do it all. And I'm not even like the most diehard Prince fan out there, but I just, as a musician, I just respect him so much because of how incredible and unique he is. Like there's just, there's never been anyone else like him. Here's Halford's brain right now. Who's your favorite guitarist ever?

Oh man, that's tough. It is tough. I don't know if I have one. Yeah. It goes in kind of like you get obsessed with one guy and then you're like onto the next one. I've been watching a lot of Mark Knopfler. Oh yeah.

Lately. Dire Straits. Yeah. Anything to add, Helford? It's time now for the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the Canadian Football League.

We've talked a lot about this game throughout the week, and we may as well continue on the narrative because your British Columbia Lions are on their way to Winnipeg to take on the suddenly slumping Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I know that we usually focus on the Lions, but the Bombers here are 0-2 to start the season. There's panic in Winnipeg right now.

Huge panic in Winnipeg. We ran through the headlines from the local rags a couple days ago. Winnipeg's 0-2, not 2016 have the Blue Bombers, who by the way in case you forgot, have reached a great cup in four consecutive seasons, have been two games below.500. So this is very rare territory for this team. Especially with Zach

Caleros and Brady Oliveira. Now Brady Oliveira's hurt. I didn't even realize this until the other day. He played in the opener. He didn't play in the second game. So there's an issue there. There's an issue with Caleros, the two-time CFL MVP, who is not putting up the kind of points like we've seen in previous years. So last season, the Bombers were the best offense in the CFL. They averaged a CFL high, 31.7 points per game.

They failed to crack 20. Do you remember they got off to a bit of a shaky start last season, highlighted by the BC Lions going there and absolutely dominating them. And we were watching that game and going, wow, this BC Lions defense is amazing. And then as the season progressed, the BC Lions defense got less amazing. Yeah, it really did. So it's early. It's early, right? Now, the Lions had a bit of a banana peel game in the opening week in Toronto

where they probably should have emerged from a victory over the Chad Kelly-less Argos, but they did not. They righted the ship a little bit in week two. They beat Calgary at home. This is a tough challenge because you're going to say Winnipeg's going to be super desperate to get a win. They don't want to fall to 0-3 on the season. I think everyone's wondering what the power rankings are in the West right now.

Agreed. Because usually you look atop the last stand. Yeah. You know, Winnipeg and then all the other guys kind of fighting for that second spot.

And lest we forget. Fighting for the right to go to Winnipeg for the West final to lose. Which BC has done the last two seasons, right? So there's a lot on the line here on Friday

when the Lions go to Winnipeg to take on the winless Bombers. So that is your Canadian Football Report for the day, brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. We're going to go to break. When we come back, we've got a lot more to get into.

Don't forget Thomas Trance is going to join us at 8 o'clock as we continue on with some more Vancouver Canucks talk. On the other side, Ben Steiner from CBC Sports is going to join us. Huge match for the Canadian men's national soccer team tonight as they go to Atlanta to take on Argentina in the opening match of the 2024 Copa America. It's a huge match for Canada. Huge match for the new gaffer, Jesse Marsh.

We'll talk to Ben Steiner about that coming up next on the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What do you want? What do you want to do? Oh, baby. 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 or wherever you get your podcasts. 7.33 on a Thursday. I have no idea what's going on here.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service. Four parts. It's a remix of the William Tell overture. Video game style.

Dubstep remix. Yeah. It's on APM. We can use it. Oh, good. It's unlicensed. How could it be unlicensed? Who's licensing this crap?

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You know what else I've been waiting for? Canada, the take on Argentina, The 2024 Copa America. After they qualified, beating Trinidad and Tobago to get into the tournament. I'm sorry. I'm just listening to this. This was like. It's a horrific song. It's truly bad.

This is from the video game version of A Clockwork Orange. Yeah. It's okay. It's one of the worst things I've ever heard. Wasn't the William Tell Overture in? Yeah. It's the video game version. Tell Overture in? Yeah, yeah It was the video game version Yeah It didn't sell well

Alfred, have you seen The Clockwork Orange? Yep He's read it He's like I'm not gonna Expand on this But yes, I've seen it

It's a guy He wears a clock He's all dressed in orange That was the Public Enemy Documentary, wasn't it? Less orange More clock But point taken

They hold his eyeball open. Do you like oranges? Albert loves the ultraviolence. Do you like oranges? I remember when I first watched that. I didn't really know what it was about. I was like, 10 minutes in, I'm like, ooh, this is dark. Yes.

It's very dark. It's not a happy film. What was that life advice? Anyone with that as their favorite movie, you should probably- Totally. I love A Clockwork Orange. I watch it every day i'm gonna leave now sit down and watch it with me canada will play argentina later today in this day of

football and this eclectic sporting day that we got going here on the halford and breff show uh who better to preview the game than our buddy ben steiner from cbc sports he joins us now on the halford and breough Show on Sports at 650. Good morning, Ben. How are you? Doing well. Thanks, guys, for having me on. It's really an exciting day. It's already started. So many big games today.

Yeah, we've got... Okay, a spoiler alert to all of our Slovenian and or Serbian listeners or anyone PVRing the game. Quick update from the first match at Euros this morning. Serbia's tournament could be coming to a quick close here. They are down 1-0 to the Slovenians in the 78th minute. We'll keep tabs on that as we move forward. But let's look ahead, Ben, to tonight's

match. 5 o'clock kickoff. It is a much ballyhooed match because it's the start of Copa America. It's Messi. It's Argentina. And for the first time ever, it's Canada that will be the opponent. Just how big a challenge is this going to be for Jesse Marsh and the Canadians tonight in this opponent, this match, this backdrop, this setting,

and this level of competition in this tournament? It's massive. I mean, you can look at the history of Canadian men's soccer, and this would be maybe a top three game that they've ever played. You have to go back all the way to 2001 for the last time that they played against the top team in the world, and that was Brazil at the Confederations Cup. They managed to get a draw then. Certainly a possibility tonight to get a result.

Of course, you know, last week they drew France 0-0. That was a friendly. Mbappe played only 15 minutes. Messi is going to play today. They've laid down grass at Mercedes-Benz. Not that he skipped bc place because of the turf but he's here the fans are outside the hotel it's chaos i mean i'm in atlanta and i've never seen anything like this it's the closest you could get would be you know 2011 in vancouver but yeah this is another level of sports fandom uh so from the the Canadian side of things, I suppose the biggest decision that Jesse Marsh had prior to the match

was anointing a captain. So he went with, if I've got the chronology right, he went with Alphonso Davies as the captain against the Netherlands. He went with Eustachio as the captain against France. And now for the tournament, it's going to be Alphonso Davies wearing the armband. Is this a significant decision and choice, or is this kind of much ado about nothing? It's a mix of both, to be Alphonso Davies wearing the armband. Is this a significant decision and choice, or is this kind of much ado about nothing? It's a mix of both, to be honest.

I think when you look at the captaincy in any sport, you can look at the Canucks situation, and it's not necessarily the leader of the team. That's necessarily the captain. Davies is the best player, and I think when you look at him, it's going to elevate his performance, and he's needed that with the Canadian national team. But it's not going to change who are the true leaders in the room,

whether that's Maxime Crapo, Stefan Estakio, who is the vice captain of this team, for however much value you want to put into that. But it will be Alphonso Davies taking that coin toss before the match, exchanging banners with none other than Leo Messi in front of what's going to be probably around 80,000 people in the stadium. I'd imagine 78,000 of them cheering for Argentina. And it's another level.

And if there's one player that's used to that level on the Canadian team, it's Davies. And I think he's really come into his own in terms of a leadership perspective. He wasn't dodging the media yesterday as he's done in the past and been accused of in the past. But he was being very honest, being straightforward. I think he's really coming to his own as a leader. And that's important for this Canadian team, right? Because at the end of the day, he's the most important player. The rise of Canadian soccer on the men's side has coincided with his career over the last eight years.

What's the ideal scenario for how this match plays out for Canada? You know, like, obviously, if they can manage to win, that would be an ideal scenario. But like, how does the match go? How do they want this match to go against Argentina? A draw is possible. It's not probable by any means. I mean, every team is an underdog against the defending World Cup champions, world number one Copa America defending champions. They're defending everything, right? But it's possible

and we saw that Canada can come out and play very well for 25, 30 minutes against some of the world's top teams. We saw it against the Netherlands, we saw it against France, of course. Against the Netherlands it went pear-shaped pretty quickly in the second half. But if Canada can come out in the first 25, 30 minutes

with that Jesse Marsh intensity, he's been pushing these guys so much in training this week. It's bloody hot in Atlanta. And he's been pushing them to the absolute maximum, so much so that Alphonso Davies was talking about it yesterday, and he says he hasn't gone through training sessions necessarily like this in a Canadian camp before. So Canada can come out with exceptional pace,

exceptional just driven mentality in those first 30 minutes, not be taken by the awe of the crowd or the awe of Messi or Di Maria or some of the players they're going to be playing against and get a goal in those first 30 minutes, then they can get a draw. I could see a 1-1 draw as a very possible score. I could also see 4-0. I do think Canada gets a goal, though. If I had to put a prediction on the line, it's 3-1,

but Canada does have weapons in Davies, in Buchanan, in Jonathan David and Kyle Lahren, who, if they get going, they can score goals against some of the world's best teams. Canada has a fighting chance in this. We've seen in tournament soccer before, and let's be honest, I know they're in a tournament right now, it's the Copa America, but this is all prep for the World Cup in a couple years' time. We've seen in tournament football that the teams that often get to the final or even win the thing are the ones that can keep a clean sheet, win these 1-0 games.

Is Canada built to do that? I think they are. When you look at Jesse Marsh's approach in those first two friendlies against the Netherlands and France, you can take three halves of that and be very happy with Canada's performance. In the second half against the Netherlands, Canada was subbing on their B players and the Netherlands their Air players, and that's where things went wrong. But you look at the France game, and all of their players, basically except Mbappe, played the majority of the game. And yes, they're going to deal with Messi for probably at least an hour tonight.

And there's only so much you can do about Messi, right? Like, you're not going to deal with Messi for probably at least an hour tonight. And there's only so much you can do about Messi, right? Like, you're not going to be defending Messi. Is it even worth wasting time, spending time how to defend him? Because he's just that incredible. And, you know, we talked about that when he was supposed to come to Vancouver and how the Whitecaps were going to deal with it. But when you look at this Canadian team, Crapo and that most likely, he can stand on its

head. You look at the back line, Moise Bombido and Derek Cornelius, slightly untested, but you're looking at one of the fastest players in MLS and Bombido and Cornelius has been standing out in Sweden as well. And then you have Davies on the left and Johnston on the right of that back line. It's a solid team. They can really defend. And we saw that against France. There's no reason they can't do it against Argentina, other than Messi. Jesse Marsh said he wants fearless football against Argentina, and that is great to want out of your squad.

It can also go badly. If you go out there and say, we're going to try and take these guys on, and we're not going to be scared of Argentina. In some ways, you to be scared of Argentina. You know, in some ways, you should be scared of Argentina. How does Jesse Marsh walk that fine line between wanting a fearless performance, but also not wanting a reckless, irresponsible performance? I think these players have to go into the match and realize that they are somewhat equals, right?

When they walk onto the field, they're all going to be holding, you know, little kid mascot hands and they'll all take in the field, they're all going to be holding little kid mascot hands and they'll all take in the anthem. Sure, the crowd might be different. Sure, the resumes on the two teams might be world different, but you can't be scared of who you're playing. The second that you think you're not equal on the pitch, you're going to be behind in the game already.

Everybody knows that Lionel Messi is the best player of all time, the best player to come onto that pitch, and it's not even close, right? Di Maria is close to that. Davies is as close as the Canadian team can get to that. But if they come out not wanting to go in to challenge Messi, they're not going to. You can't pay him any special respect

because from a player's perspective, you have to go into this game thinking you can win the Copa America. Sure, they all know they probably can't. But if you don't have that mentality, why are you even coming into this game? We're speaking to CBC Sports Soccer Analyst Ben Steiner here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, Ben, what did you make of Marsh publicly announcing and anointing Jonathan David as the penalty taker ahead of this tournament. I thought that was a clever little bit of gamesmanship from him and maybe doing something that his predecessor didn't necessarily do. Yeah, I mean, I think you can look back at the John Herdman era

in a lot of different ways. When Canada had the penalty against Belgium at the World Cup, and that's saved by Courtois, the very easy penalty from Alphonso Davies sticks out in everyone's memory. But you can look at that and remember that Alphonso Davies just took the ball. He took that responsibility on himself, and I don't blame him. He's the biggest player on the team. He was trying to be a leader. And maybe it was a little bit early for him to do that.

It probably should have been Jonathan David taking that penalty. But David was supposed to take penalties under John Herman as well. He was tipped as the penalty taker then, as he should be, with the record that he scored out with Lille. It's not necessarily something new with Jesse Marsh, but I do appreciate him coming out and quieting Twitter on all the doubts that he might have had should Cammy get a penalty in this tournament.

Finally, before we let you go, lineup decisions, I know they're still to come, but are we assuming that Max Kripo is going to be in net? I'm assuming that. I think a lot of other analysts are also assuming that. We basically know that the 10 field players, I don't think I've seen another prediction other than the 10 field players

that started against France and the Netherlands. But the one doubt that Jesse Marsh put in when asked was he doesn't know who is going to start in net. He wouldn't disclose that to the media yesterday. He said he's happy with both. I would tend to say that Maxime Crapo is the kind of keeper that can get Canada a result against Argentina if everything goes well. But Dane Sinclair is also a solid goalkeeper and has been doing better in MLS this year with Minnesota United. So it's going to be a toss-up.

I do think we see Crapo at the end of the day. I'll be genuinely surprised if Dane Sinclair is out there to start, but I would have confidence in both in terms of getting at least solid goalkeeping. But if you have to rely too much on the goalkeeping, Messi's going to finish one or two. Are you traveling to and fro here for the next little bit? I forget where the other locations of the games are.

I know you're in Atlanta right now, but what does the future have in store for covering Copa America for you? Yeah, in Atlanta right now, I'll have coverage over across CBC, Major League Soccer's website, a whole bunch of different places. But I'm just in Atlanta for this one. I didn't want to miss Canada against Argentina with the crowd and the craziness that's here. But Canada is heading off to Kansas City and then back down to Orlando

to take on Chilean Peru to wrap up action in Group A, which they have a very good chance of advancing from. Ben, thanks for doing this. Let's get caught up again as this tourney progresses. Thanks for doing this today. Have fun at the game. Awesome. Thanks so much. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Thanks. That's Ben Steiner, CBC Sports Soccer Analyst here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So, we're not a serious journalistic show, right? Can we all agree with that? Speak for yourself. No way. That can't be right. We're able to

have fun with various rumors, et cetera, and people are like, that was only on the Halford and Brough show, right? Right. It's true. Like how Halford tried to start the Brady Kachuk. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then it worked. Have you noticed the, have you been following Canucks Twitter with all the Jake Gensel sightings around Vancouver? Yeah. I heard that he was talking to a realtor about buying a place in North Van. That was an allusion

to Mary Gabbard. That joke, that meme. But you think it's just a joke? No. Oh, like him looking at housing? Well, that's a joke. Well, how do you know? Him coming to Vancouver, I don't think so.

How do you know it's a joke? That's a reference to the old Mary Gabbard bit. Yeah. I know. But it could be. He hasn't been here yet. Well, he could. Well, here's the thing.

Okay. More serious than bringing up random Canucks acquiring Jake Gensel in a sign and trade with the Carolina Hurricanes. Correct. Right? Yeah. So if that's possible, wouldn't he come to town and take a look at stuff?

Well, it sounds like he's, we're the Canuck, the Canucks are the front runner. So it stands to reason. Well, Sat said yesterday on our show that better than 50% chance? Yeah. That the Canucks could land Jake Gansel. I'm just wondering.

I'm having fun, but also wondering legitimately about the timing of all this. Because go back to the Horonix situation. What did I say? They got to figure this out before July 1st, even though he is an RFA and they do have rights for him. They can't let that drag into the offseason because if they don't have him signed by the draft or July 1st, then they're kind of sitting there going, well, we don't even know if we're going to have you for next season. And so how do we deal with this at the draft and at free agency? Do we need a replacement for you or do we not need a replacement for you?

I would say it's a similar storyline with Jake Gensel. It's weird because free agency doesn't open until July 1st, but in a way, the Canucks need to know before July 1st whether or not they're going to get Jake Gensel because this is the hierarchy thing that we're talking about you got to get Heronic done that was maybe job number one certainly on the blue line it was job number one and then you fill out the rest um as best you you can um up front what's the number one goal the number one goal is to bring in a difference maker another difference maker in the top six possibly a winger to play with pd yep meanwhile they've got all these other unrestricted free agents some of whom they want to keep and they don't want to

uh run out of time right well the time crunch real. We played the audio earlier in the show. By the way, download the Hour One podcast, Apple, Google, Spotify. You can hear the remarks from Flames Journal manager Craig Conroy talking about how the reason that they made the Markstrom deal was because they were getting deadlines

and timelines put on them from other clubs where they were like, okay, we need to do this now because, I mean, look at the calendar. A week today, it's round one of the NHL draft. Yeah. Right?

It's happening. The awards are next week. The draft is next week. July 1, free agency is 11 days away. So all this stuff needs to happen now. Teams are done waiting for the Stanley Cup final to end. They're just making their moves. We saw Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jacob Markstrom get traded yesterday.

We saw the Philip Hironik deal go down the day before. So there's a time crunch that has hit the point where they just can't wait anymore. And there are reports of some of the Canucks unrestricted free agents getting a little bit antsy, right? Like, are we going to talk contract or not? Because then I might have to have a conversation with my family about moving somewhere else. We want to be here. They can't talk contract until they land Gensel. Well, that's the thing, right?

That's the thing. Sat on Gensel on Halford and Brough. This is the source. He was on the Halford and Brough show yesterday saying- I've heard good things about that show. Yeah. When you ask people outside of Vancouver, there is a belief Vancouver is currently the favorite to land it.

That doesn't mean they're going to get him. Another team could swoop in with more money, but Vancouver is at this point. I'm just glad we're out. I'm paraphrasing the front runner. I'm just glad we're having nice weather for Jake Gensel's visit to Vancouver to look at houses, according to Canucks Twitter. Unconfirmed source here, but it is into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket. I saw Jake Gensel arguing for extra burrito sauce at Sal y Limon, which is a great local taqueria. Sources, trust me, bro.

Oh, man. I love that. I love that. He's showing some compete level there. Yeah. And he's not going to like a chain restaurant or fast food place. He's going right. And I don't want someone.

One of the more underrated Mexican cantinas in the city. And I don't want someone who would just accept being unhappy with a small amount of burrito sauce. No. I want someone who goes out there and says, no. You got to go all in. And you got to go get it. Yeah. Right?

It's like the four check. Yeah. You got to want that burrito sauce. Where's my burrito? You know what? Where's my burrito? You got to, it's got to be more than wanting the burrito sauce. There has to be an action part of it.

You could sit there and want burrito sauce, but the key is to actually ask for it. I've seen something on the TV. Oh my. This is what happens when there's life scores on the show. Fifth minute of added time. 90 plus 5. Serbia

draws level to salvage their tournament potentially with the goal he pulled up for a corner. They convert. They have drawn 1-1 now. Unless something even more dramatic happens. I bet it was someone with the last name that ends with

Itch. Jovic. The AC Milan man. Do you know what that means? Itch. Is that when you gotta scratch something? No, no, no. At the end of a name. It means son of. Like when, you know, like it's... Is it when you got a scratch on it? No, no, no. At the end of a name. It means son of. Oh, really?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a suffix for a certain... Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't know that. It's kind of son of or like the little one of. Son of Sam. Yeah. It's not even what we learned.

Like it's like Moj is Mojavich. Right. It's actually Marjanovich. Marjanovich. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Son of a Marjon. So, A-Dog... I didn't know that. I didn't know that. It's actually Marjanovic. Marjanovic. Instead of a Marjon. So, a dog. I didn't know that.

I didn't know that. That's a good one we learned. You would be a Dogovic. Okay. Yep. And Laddy, you would be Ladrovic. Or Ladovich. Rigorovic.

No, I like Ladrovic. That sounds better. What would you guys be? Bruvvich. I'd be Bruff. No, you got to have an itch at the end there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bruvvich?

Bruvvich. Brufevich. I like that. Halfordovich? Yeah. Yeah. Well, now that we're all Serbian, we can celebrate the fact that we have drawn one. Now that we're all Serbian,

I just want to hit something. Yeah, we can celebrate with the fact that we've now drawn one. Oh, it's over. And there's Slovenians littered on the pitch as they are upset having lost their 1-0 lead very late in the match. By the way, the last four or five matches

of Euro have been high-level drama across the board. Really close matches. Lots of crazy finishes. Lots of goals at the end. And this just adds to it, which sets the stage nicely because today, two big matches. England plays Denmark at 9 and then Italy plays Spain at noon. Very excited

for all of it. And then, of course, Canada-Argentina at 5 o'clock tonight. Final hour of the show. You're not going to get any exercise today, are you, Alfred? I think I'm going to try and do some later. Try being the operative word there. You could exercise while you watch TV. Just get like an elliptical or something going.

Speaking of not doing any exercise, Thomas Drance is going to join us next on the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.