Halford & Brough in the Morning - Ryan Rigmaiden Talks BC Lions + What We Learned

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

In hour three, guest hosts Josh Elliott-Wolfe & Randip Janda look ahead to Thursday's BC Lions matchup at Hamilton with Leos General Manager Ryan Rigmaiden (1:25), 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.

Welcome back to Halford & Brough. No Halfer, No Brough. It's Josh Elliott-Wolf. Randeev Janda, Halper-Abruff is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with. With no more interest, visit sands-trustee.com. This hour of Halpertembroft is brought to by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit Campbell-Dashpound.com today. And we're broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics,

working together with you in step, and guests on Sportsnet 650 call into the hotline, powered by PowerWest Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters the most. visit them at powerwest.ca. Today, they keep the lights on. And also the BC Lions Saturday, August 16th, your Lions face the alouettes for the show and shine game featuring over 200 classic and exotic cars.

Get tickets at BCLions.com. That's next weekend, but they do have a game before that. We go to the hotline powered by Power West Industries, and we welcome in BC Lions general manager, Ryan Rigmaiden, Appreciate you taking the time, Ryan. How are you? I'm really good. Good morning. Good morning. And so your team coming off a buy, how beneficial was this buy for the Lions? It was absolutely huge. I think we were the only team in the league that hadn't had a buy up until this point.

Some teams had too. And so the guys needed some rest. Obviously a difficult game last week and got to move on and move forward. Well, you mentioned that tough one against the tie cats, you know, final minute loss. What was the focus during the buy when it comes to that loss and really moving past it? Yeah, I think from a coaching perspective, we needed to analyze how that game got away from us. So we went into that game with three goals. Number one, win the game. Number two, take away Kenny Lawler and the deep ball. And then number three, win the turnover battle and execute, get out front early that game.

That's something that we've been struggling with. So I think we came out of the gate 14 and 3 and led. the entire game until we lost, unfortunately. So every good coaching staff that I've ever been around takes away the opposition's best feature. I think with Hamilton, that's clearly been the passing game with Bo Levi and the ability of Kenny Lawler to get deep and do what he does. And so we did two of those three things and unfortunately we couldn't walk away with the win. Is that a loss that you look at and it's like, you got to scrap it? with the way it ended, or is that, what lessons can you take from that game?

Yeah, you know, you just can't keep, you can't take your foot off the gas. I think for the players, it's something where you have to analyze what went well, what went wrong, what we need to change, and then you've got to flush it because those are emotional losses. I think if you were a casual fan, watch of that game, I think you're entertained and had a good time, but, you know, when you're up 10 points with three minutes left to go, you know, you feel like you should win those games. So it was a devastating loss for the coaches and the players, but, you know, you know,

But they've got really, really good mental toughness, and we'll be able to move on. Well, you heard some of your veterans after the game as well talking about, hey, being mentally locked in for the full game. I know Robert Carter Jr. was very vocal on that. When you hear some of your leaders say that, obviously it doesn't change the result, but you know their mentality and what they need to focus on. And when you hear them say that, is it just a matter of, all right, we got the right guys, it's just you got to execute, you got to make sure you stay mentally locked in? yeah i think so you know when you when you look at a game like that um i think there is a feeling that you let it get away and um again staying mentally locked in is something that that we've had this kind of focus on frankly for before we even hired buck we wanted to hire a coach that had

that kind of mental toughness and the ability to overcome that type of adversity and and that's who buck is so that trickles down to your players you know most teams take on the personality of their head coach and Buck's a strong, tough guy, very resilience. And we need to just play that extra three minutes just a little bit better and execute those final moments. The defensive side has had some struggles over the past couple weeks. What do you think has been the issue? And do you see this coming around and maybe the buy helping things start to turn in the right direction for the defense?

Yeah, I mean, it's never one thing. number one, and nobody likes to blame things on it. But, you know, we've been pretty banged up. And so we are getting some guys healthy again. The defensive line is getting a little bit healthier. We're getting some of our linebackers back. We've got some youth as well. And so this is no different than any of the team.

And I promise you nobody feels sorry for us in that regard. So we have to execute better. I think your coaches are going to look at this game a little bit different, have a little bit different philosophy. And again, at the end of the day, you have to ask you ask yourself, Is it a player problem? Is it a coaching problem? Is it an execution problem?

I think last week, I think there's a little bit of all three. But we feel like we've got a talented team and terrific coaches to get us those wins. Well, you're going to play a familiar team. Bo Levi-Mitchell and the Hamilton Tiger Cats are next on the schedule. You talked about, you know, what he can do through the passing attack. Well, how do you limit what he does in the next matchup here? Yeah, you've got to change things up. I think we were, we found some success early.

with some of the defense's coverages that we were running. Obviously, we saw the interception from Ronald Carter, which was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. And so you take the good with the bad, but when you look at a positive, like what Ronald's been able to do and what Christopooghulu and GP and some of the other DBs have been doing, I think he got to mix things up a little bit more on the back end, and that's been the focus this week in practice.

On the offensive side, a lot of the headlines obviously revolve around Nathan Roark and what he brings to the team and how he can win a game in any given week. What have you seen from him so far this season? Where his game is at? Obviously, he had to deal with an injury for a bit there too. But where do you think his game is at right now? Yeah, I think it's getting better every week. He's selling into this offense.

Obviously, it's a new offense for not just him, but the rest of the team. So there's a aspect of comfortability that I think these guys are getting into. Nathan's a terrific player he's a terrific athlete he can do anything I'm most proud of his leadership what he's shown this off season and then how he's leading the guys this year

so last year when he came in it was still VA's team and so now it's his team and to watch him take that next step in terms of leadership and accountability it's just been tremendous does it take some growing pains I guess because we looked at last season and yeah

it was coming back from the NFL and it kind of felt like you know you had to get settled back in to the CFL game. And now this season, it felt like a fresh start, but then also at the injuries early. Have we seen Nathan Bork at, you know, 100% what he's able to give on the field yet? I think, you know, the 2022, Nathan Rourke, was so special. I don't know that we've seen him play at that level yet in this offense. I think it's coming.

And I think it's been getting very, very close. And so you see some of the throws he makes, the decisions he makes. his athleticism, his ability to create when things break down. He's just such a special player. I don't know if we've seen that 2022 level yet, but we feel like it's coming. Well, looking at your schedule right now, three and five,

not where you want to be coming out of the by week, I'm sure, but there's still plenty of season left to make an impact and a playoff push. How do you keep the team focused despite an underwhelming start, to be honest? Yeah, again, it just goes back to the mental toughness. You know, these guys are tough guys. guys when you you have to be honest with yourself on why you've lost these games and how you fix those and again I think the coaching staff has done a very very good job of

making those adjustments at the end of the day you know last year we were we were five and one and feeling pretty good but I think from the personnel side of things we knew we had some stuff to clean up you know this year we had a little bit slower of a start a lot of things could be attributed to that but at the same time the guys just have to go in there execute. And, you know, it's not a, it's not a 57-minute game. It's a 60-minute game. And if the guys can do that, we're going to be in really, really good shape. Hey, Ryan, we really appreciate taking the time and best of luck this week. You betcha. Thank you very much. There is Ryan Rig Madden, B.C. Lions, general manager, joining us on the

Halpert & Brough show, Josh Elliott Wolf and Randy Chandan. And yeah, the BC Lions, it's been, you mentioned it, an underwhelming season so far for them, sitting three and five. I think there were a lot of hopes, especially when you, you factor in the, hey, Nathan Rourke, you're going to have a full season of Nathan Rourke and a fresh start, full training camp, all of that. And he hasn't necessarily been bad, dealt with the injury. There's been a lot of good signs from Nathan Rourke, but the team as a whole, you just haven't really seen them perform to the level that you hoped you would see them

perform at. The nice thing about the CFL is there's still a very realistic world where they make the playoffs, very likely world that they make the playoffs and if you can get things going by the end of the season you can do a lot of damage especially when you when you consider that you do have Nathan Rourke who at his best is the most outstanding player in the CFL

yeah there's there's certainly a path right when you're you know three and five is not not the worst record in the league but you still got some work to do but you got to clean up things and being up 33 to 24 in the fourth quarter and ended up losing that game speaks to the defense but speaks to also some coaching decisions

a little bit of everything as Ryan mentioned and you give up two scores to lose that one certainly hurts but from a defensive perspective that last game against the tie cats where even listening to some of the availability from the Hamilton Tiger Cats receivers

they're saying hey we were bunched up on the right hand side and we saw that they had two guys covering all of us and you know that failure in communication and execution You've got to clean that up. So sure, going into this bi-week, it's rough. You have to sit with it for a week.

You're probably fuming and saying, hey, we're better than that. But how do you use that to fuel a bounce back? And they can bounce back against that same Hamilton Tiger Cats team on Thursday night. They've got the matchup coming up here. But you have to make sure that you're mentally locked in, which is something, you know, last couple of weeks. And even going back to the Saskatchewan game where they gave Trevor Harris, what, 395 yards, Bolivia Mitchell went off

against them for 389 and was throwing up touchdowns in the final minute you got to get more pressure on the quarterback like these are two veteran quarterbacks

that are not the fleet as to foot at this point in their careers the defense has to get pressure otherwise you're not in a good situation if you're the lines Yeah and again it's going to be another tough test

because you're facing off against the Thai cats again who are leading the East Division second in the CFL and it's going to be in Hamilton on Thursday. So, yeah, that's what's coming up for the BC lines as they look to get back into the wind column

and get closer to 500. I do think the buy is going to go a long way for them. They were one of, I think, few teams, maybe the only team, I believe, that hasn't had a buy yet so far the season. And so well-timed, hopefully they can come out of it hot against Hamilton on Thursday. 650, 650, Dumbar Lumbertex Line.

the text coming in there. Get your what we learns in as well. Hashtag WW will hit those in just a little bit as the show goes on. But I did want to transition from the CFL to the NFL. Because the Micah Parsons saga, it continues, Randy. Jerry Jones had a quote about Micah Parsons trade request saying you, quote, should not lose sleep over said trade request. I feel like a lot of people in Dallas might be losing sleep about said trade request from Micah Parsons.

Yeah, essentially what Jerry Jones is saying, I'm not trading him because he's the best player, arguably defensive player in the NFL, let alone his team. Second player in NFL history to have 12 sacks in his first four seasons. The other one is Reggie White, a legendary player. So that tells you how good Micah Parsons has been. But this is Jerry Jones doing Jerry Jones things. And every first.

family has this uncle. You know, that just loves the drama. Every family function, maybe he has a couple of drinks, says a couple of off-brand items, and just gets everybody riled up for no reason. Like, Jerry Jones does that every single offseason with one of his stars. C.D. Lamb, Dak Prescott, and now Micah Parsons. It actually goes back to the early 90s. Emmett Smith had a holdout similar to this. Go through a number of players over the years. Des Bryant, whoever. And it's nothing more than an ego flex Because Josh, you're going to end up paying this guy

You're probably going to end up paying him more than you would have With the starting of the saga So why are you doing this is the question I have for Jerry Jones Strictly for the headlines? Is that it? Yeah, I mean, it might be like, hey, like remember who's the boss here And it's me, you're going to bend to my will I'm not going to bend to your will But eventually you are going to bend his will

Because as you mentioned, he's the best defensive player in the NFL And you're throwing your weight around, but you're also losing, like, C.D. Lamb, that whole situation. If they had signed C.D. Lamb earlier, they would have saved the Dallas Cowboys about $12 to $15 million. Yes. And the same thing is going to go with Micah Parsons. They've let this go for so long that at some point it's going to cost Jerry money. He doesn't necessarily benefit from this other than getting in the headlines. Yeah, and so I just really, I don't get it because you mentioned. And so they can look within their division at the Eagles.

And what they do really, really well is they get ahead of their contracts on younger players. By the time those players, you know, reach another level, they are a bargain on the contract. Like, it looks like a very surplus value deal for the Philadelphia Eagles. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are like, you know what we're going to do? We're going to wait until they're at their peak value. We're going to make them super unhappy. And then we're still going to pay them a lot of money. so it's not really going to benefit us.

And the team will not have a lot of depth and will struggle because they are paying a lot of players. They're full market value. And it's the same in hockey. It's the same in football, even though the cap situation works a little bit different, where if you are paying your stars fair market value, that's fine.

But also, you're not going to get, like it's going to be harder to get the depth around them if you're paying full value for your stars. and that's kind of where the Cowboys are at as well, where you're going to end up paying Michael Parsons, but now it's going to be hard to surround these guys on the Cowboys. But Jerry Jones thinks he's actually getting value. I have a quote here from Jerry Jones saying,

let me get this, let me say this just right. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't do it this way. I should be trying to get the most value for the Cowboys. Like in his mind, he thinks he's getting the most value. Yeah. Well, I mean, like at this moment, he might be like holding out to get more value, but the better value would have been to get ahead of this last season

or whenever you know you could have extended Micah Parsons as opposed to waiting until you get to this moment and now it's almost in an untenable situation. Well, and there's also this idea that he's trying to bypass agents because apparently this is not new. Yeah. You go through, you know, this is something that I think the NFL Players Association has kind of known about,

but they haven't really said anything. NFL hasn't really said anything, but anytime you're going, trying to bypass one of the most powerful agents in the NFL, who works for Rock Nation, which has some clout, you're not going to be, it's not going to happen quietly. So this is a Micah Parsons versus Jerry Jones, but it's also a agents versus Jerry Jones too, because he's tried to have these one-on-one negotiations with players over the years, which if you work for a player, it's your job to get him the best deal. Yeah.

It's your job to be a part of those communications, which apparently Jones doesn't want. And in the end, it comes down to if this was a winning organization and you're doing this, it's okay. People look past it. They haven't won a Super Bowl in 29 years. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't help your team when you do stuff like this.

The benefit for the Cowboys is that they are the Cowboys. And the headlines. And look, and teams are, or sorry, players are going to want to win with the Dallas Cowboys if they can. Now, the issue is like, man, if you're, if you're a player in the NFL, do you want to go play for the Dallas Cowboys right now? Do you want to go deal with Jerry Jones being the owner and GM and having a hand in everything and these negotiations being super difficult? Because I don't think that's a, that's a very fun situation to go into. And you mentioned it's like, hey, it's Michael Parsons versus Jerry Jones. It's the agents versus Jerry Jones.

But it's also players, retired and current players, once. to squeeze everything he can out of Jerry Jones as well. And all of a sudden, it's like, hey, now you got, you kind of got the mob against Jerry Jones. Well, you know what it is? It feels like it's actually self-sabotaged from Jerry Jones because you set up a working environment where even though you're signing the paychecks, and this is the most faulty thing that we haven't even mentioned it, he is the GM. Yeah.

As the owner as the GM is terrible, first of all, like. a bad idea. Like I said, no other GM would be on the job for 29 years if you didn't win a Super Bowl with the brand. Like that tells you something is gone awry. The other thing is, if we question whether Pete Carroll at the age of 74 can coach an NFL team, why are we allowing a GM at the age of 82 to like just basically say, oh, of course he's a GM and owner. He can make the football decisions. Yeah. Like we should be questioning that. I understand he owns the team and he answers to no one except himself. but if we're asking questions about Pete Carroll coaching at that age Jerry Jones those questions got to be asked at 82 like do you know what you're doing anymore yeah and I mean to me it's like hey just got to get another guy in get the buffer guy in well the buffer guy apparently is the son

yeah which is just that's not a good buffer no no uh man so yeah the Cowboys remain a mess and we'll see how long the Straggs out the the Micah Parsons saga it does continue elsewhere in the NFL. So the most intriguing prospect, the most intriguing drafted player in a while based on what he might be able to do at the NFL level is Travis Hunter.

And all the official projections of rosters and stuff come out in the depth charts and all of that. And for the Jaguars, Travis Hunter is listed as the starting receiver and a backup cornerback. Do you think he actually plays both at the NFL level? Normally I would say no because it's like usually hype, right? Like at some point you're going to pick a lane and you're going to go heavily on that.

It seems like wide receiver would be that lane. But the fact that he's listed as a backup cornerback, there's a path. But listening to the Rich Eisen Show over the weekend, Liam Cohen, who's the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Duval, that guy. Yes, that guy, he said that he thinks it's possible that Travis Hunter would be or could be considered for the offensive rookie and defensive rookie of the year this year. This is a guy that's calling the shots.

Yeah. I mean, I will say, like, NFL coaches are known for trying to hype their guys up as much as possible. I get that, but usually they'll play, like, you know, cards close to the chest type of thing. Oh, we'll see, we'll see how it plays out. the fact that Hunter is this motivated to actually make this happen I'm intrigued by this I don't know if he's gonna like 80%

of the snaps on offense I think is probably safe what's that percentage on the defensive side? Yeah. Is it like 20? 30 40? I kind of I just I wonder if it's something they go into the season being like oh yeah he can do this and then he get

into the season and maybe he has some hiccups as a rookie does but maybe he has some hiccups defensively or on one side of the ball And by the halfway point of the season, they're like, you know what? We kind of just want you to focus on, you know, being a receiver for now. And you can revisit the, you know, playing both sides of the ball as he develops at the, at the NFL level. Because I do, there's two sides to it, right?

Where it's like, hey, you're a young player. You have the legs. You have the energy. Maybe this is the best time to be playing both sides of the ball. But the other side is like, you, this is you're a rookie. And you got to figure out both sides. of the NFL game and it might be a lot to ask. So I can see the benefit to having him try to take on both of those right now.

But I can also see the benefit of like, hey, maybe you wait a year or two and kind of ease him in slowly to the point of where he's obviously never going to play all snaps on both sides of the ball, but playing to a similar level, I guess, of what he was doing in college on both sides of the ball. I do wonder at the beginning of the year, though, Do you say, hey, we're going to have you mostly as a wide receiver, but how much of this is going to be scripted by how the Jags do?

Yeah. Because if they're not great and you've got a bunch of garbage time and you're saying, hey, you know what? Why not? Give it a little bit more. Play a little bit more on the defensive side of things. Essentially what I'm saying is if the Jags are not very good, are they going to go San Jose Sharks, Eric Carlson?

Yeah. Just do what you want, buddy. Take the puck, do what you want, get close to whatever, 80 points, be a point per game player because our team stinks. Maybe, but like I'm with you. I think early on in the season, though, you have to pick a lane to a certain extent. Six games in, seven games in,

if we see that this team's not very good, maybe they change it then. I do kind of feel like, and maybe I'm just always hopeful about Trevor Lawrence, but I am kind of a, I have the Jags as a sneaky pick to win their division, depending on what the Texans are. Because I just feel like you have,

Travis Hunter now you have a second receiving option. Brian Thomas Jr. I think is really good. Trevor Lawrence, I just keep hoping he's going to have a full breakout that hasn't really happened yet. And then you have a new head coach and Liam Cohen and that can change a lot of things. I'm hopeful for what the Jaguars could be this season. There's going to be a lot of discussion about Travis Hunter this year, but this season for me is about Trevor Lawrence. Yeah. Where you had the comparisons during his college days and hey, he's got the raw talent. He's the best prospect since Andrew Luck coming out of college. Like, that was what we heard, right?

We haven't seen it translate at the NFL level. Sure, there was the Urban Meyer experience that didn't help either, which was pretty ugly. But this year, the Texans, yep, like, they have potential to be good. They have potential to be kind of mediocre. We'll see what they become. The Colts, Anthony Richardson has been absolutely... I've got no hope for the Colts. Yeah, I feel sorry for Richardson because he was rushed, but, like, they're kind of hooped.

They got Daniel Jones as a backup there. the Titans are going to stink. They're going to be one of the probably the worst team in the NFL, if not one of the worst. So it comes down to the drags or the Texans. So there is a path there, but it's going to be all Trevor Lawrence. Can he do it? Can he take that step or dare I say it, is he a bust at that level? Yeah, I do think it is.

It's time for him. It's kind of a put up or shut up year for Trevor Lawrence. Before we go, the BC Lions, Saturday, August 16th, your Lions face the alouettes for the show and shine game featuring over 200 classic and exotic cards. Cars, not cards. They are vehicles. They are not playing cards. Automobiles. Automobiles. A deck of 52 cards? No. No, they're cars. There's going to be 200 playing cards laid out on the ground outside BC place. It's your job to pick them up. I know. It's featuring over 200 classic and exotic cars. Get tickets at BCLions.com. It is Halford and Brough. No, Halford. No Brough. Josh Elliott-Wolf. Brandeep Chand on Sportsnet 650 Now for my favorite part of the show

What's that 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. Welcome back to

Halford and Brough. No, Halford, no Brough. Josh L.A. Wolf. Randy Janda here with you. Coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. Howford and Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit sands-dustee.com. This hour of Halpert and Brough is brought to by Camel and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Camel and Pound.

visit Campbell dash pound.com today. Yeah, I can do it too, guys. I can do it too. We're sending that to Halford. Yeah, that was a good one. I thought it, but I didn't actually really know where it was, and then I felt it coming. I felt the aura of the whatever that instrument is.

Which guest host was it that could never nail it? Brooke Ward. Oh, it was Brooke. It would talk over it all the time. Yeah, that sounds right. Didn't Dodd have issues with it? Yeah. Hey, you know what?

It takes a steady hand. to navigate these waters. It is what we learned time, by the way. And what we learned is brought to by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, our favorite AJ's sauce pie, an upside down version of the bar pie with fresh mozzarella and basil. Only at AJ's pizza online at AJ's dot pizza.

So Randeep and I have what we learned. Laddie has a what we learned. Andy does not, but that's okay. Hey dog's bowing out. That's fine. some on the 650, 650, Dunbar Lumbertex line, keep them coming in.

I won't try to hit them as the segment rolls on. Randeep, do you want to start? I'm going to start. What we learned. We learned that College Park, Georgia, police don't mess around. They have charged 23-year-old

Delbert Carver with counts of disorderly conduct, public indecency, indecent exposure, and criminal trespass after allegedly he threw a lime green adult toy during a WNBA game last week.

Now, I have questions after this. A what? A lime green adult toy. I'm going to leave it at that. All right. I have questions, as one would naturally in the situation. Yeah, a lot of them. How do you bring a device like that into the building while being discreet?

And second, do we want to get into this conversation? Yeah, that's not a... I didn't say they have to be answered. It's a tough question. I have ideas, but I don't think we need to explore them. I know one way. Yeah. The second question, now, is how did he trespass?

I assumed he had a ticket But if you say he trespassed Was this like some sort of conspiracy theory Would somebody let him in? Man, how deep does this go? Does this air? Okay, sorry. I do.

I didn't mean it like that. Could there be multiple charges here? Because did he have help getting into the building If he's trespassing? Well, maybe he realized that after inserting his object, he might not be able to get past security So he had to sort of do

Mission Impossible style wall scale. A wall scaling of sorts? Or somebody in security did not... Scan them? Probe further. Yeah. Good call. Good call.

I mean, would the metal detectors pick it up? It's not metal. No. Yeah. So I think you're in the clear as long as you get through. All right. We didn't take this through, did we? So...

I think they need to update the metal detectors to, like, pick up these objects. Yeah. It's clearly a problem. We need a full body scan. There's two incidents in the league last week, by the way. Yes. One in Chicago as well. Yeah.

Wow. So this has become an epidemic of sorts. Yeah. It has. It is. It really is. Okay, so Mucal that. Okay, I got one, not related. So I was watching the Jays game last night,

and this is maybe less of what we learned and more of a personal observation. But generally, in years past, a 15-1 game, you'd be like, that game went like four and a half hours because baseball takes a long time. This game still finished in under three hours. The Jays had 25 hits, which is tied for.

the most by one team in a game this season in major league baseball they scored 15 runs there were quite a few pitching changes for the rockies and still it was under three hours that is impressive i don't know if i like it though were the jes all first pitch hacking or what yeah the first pitch of the game was a double guy yeah i mean yes yes they were um i yeah i didn't dive into it further to get the reasoning. It was just like, it ended at 835 and it was a 540 first pitch. You know what it is, though? It's the

Colorado Rockies efficiently sucking. Yeah. Like, they know they have to like... Let's get out of here, early boys. They're giving up like, you know, three and outs basically every inning they're batting. And then also the pitch clock, like they're going probably faster than the pitch clock. It's like that South Park episode

where they get really, really good at losing on purpose. And then they meet up against a bunch of teams that are also really good at losing. But it's honestly, you know you're losing 15 to 1. Do you want to be there for four hours or do you want to be there for two hours and 15 minutes? Yeah, fair enough. Do you want to make it 15 to 5 or do you just want to get out of there a few minutes early? The pep talk in the room is boys, the sooner we get this over and done with the sooner of the season's over. Yes. Keep throwing those pitches. So what I will say, we've, we've, A dog, have you been to like major league

baseball games? Just Jay's games. Okay. So we've all been to, we've all been to major league baseball games. And one thing that I like the pitch clock when I'm watching on TV, but when I go to a game I kind of want it to take longer, you know? Like I want it to be a four hour game. I hear that. Because I paid for the ticket.

I want the experience to kind of drive. I like being at the ballpark. It's a fun time, especially if it's a, if the day game or whatever and the sun's out, it's a nice vibe around the ballpark. If you're the kind that shows up early to the games, watch you know, a little batting practice. Yeah. I like the whole experience. So I, I

I kind of prefer when it takes longer when I'm at a game. Though when I do watch on TV, I'm like, you know what? This doesn't need to drag out to four hours. I'm an over-consumer at the ballpark. So when I go, I always need to have drinks. I need to have food. So it's like the longer a game goes, I generally spend more money, which I'm not a fan of. Right.

So give me the quicker games. Fair enough. Otherwise, I don't want to be in jet when I leave there. Yeah. It's like, come on. We do get texts about your what we learned. Not going to dive into it too much. But the trade, they say the.

trespassing is about the object being thrown onto the court, not about the person getting into the building. But that rarely happens, though, right? Because people throw beers occasionally or whatever. So I guess they've taken an umbrage. There might be more leeway with a beer than the object that was down. The lime green object. Okay, moving on.

So mook how that. Laddie, you got one. Yeah, what we learned, we may soon talk to the next generation of people, baseball fans coming up, and tell them, that pitchers used to hit and they will go, huh? And not just because MLB doesn't do it anymore,

but the last official professional league that allowed pitchers to bat, the Central League, which is part of the NPB, the Japanese Professional League, is now officially after next season, going to the DH. It means no DH anywhere professionally in baseball anymore.

It's the end of an era. End of an era. It's sad. Do you miss it? I remember growing up watching Greg Mastard, try to hit a ball, and it made me feel human. I'm like, this guy stinks at this, so do I. It's nice to see athletes occasionally fail, miserable.

But not every single game. Not in the playoffs. I wish it was like, in the playoffs when it comes down to like, okay, this is a nail-biting moment, and they're going to pinch it for some guys. Yeah, it's probably more a nostalgia thing than actual quality baseball. Yeah, because the few times, the highs were really high. Like, if you had a pitcher, like Bartolo Colon hit a whole...

That guy hits home run. It's like, wow, what a time. This is awesome. But there were so many more lows. And I don't know if the pros outweighed the cons. Yeah, everyone always points to the one example. Like, oh, well, you're losing moments like this. But they happened so infrequently.

Yeah. The reason they were moments was because they never happened. Exactly. And like the Japanese league that's outlawing them now, like Masahiro Tanaka took abats this year for the team. Yeah. Are you clamoring to see Masahiro Tanaka take his hacks? And guess what? You went 0 for 2 with two strikeouts.

What a shot. Like, that's the kind of stuff you're getting rid of. And I don't know why this league hung on to it for so long, to be quite honest. Yeah, there are guys that were just like, no, we want to keep it honest. No, I agree. Like, it's not something that you want to watch consistently enough. But it was also embarrassing for the pitcher that gave up the home run or a single or a double or whatever. Like, maybe the pitchers are like, we're, anyway, the pitcher ends up losing, whether they're hitting or their pitchers.

Right. If I was pitching and I gave up a hit to it or a home run to a pitcher, give me out. I'm done. It's over. You got to pull me right now, Coach. Okay, so Mucow that. We go to the text line. We print out the listener submissions.

Humanoids. Humanoids are what it's called. I have to remember so many like lingo terms on the show. We call it the administrative nonsense. It's not easy. And I feel like I'm almost there. Hey, you're good. I've gotten there.

You've got most of the small print down. I'm completely able. Olivia says. As a former guest on this show, regular guest. I'm just like in a new world, boys. That's right. By next summer, I will forget everything again and start a new. We'll start with this one from basketball, Phil. What we learned, poor sat, Saty R. Shaw. The Browns add another quarterback to their heated competition. Tyler Huntley has joined the competition with Snoop Huntley. Snoop Huntley. with Joe Flacko, Kenny Pickett, Dylan Gabriel, and Shadour Sanders.

So some of them are dealing with injuries right now, minor injuries. So maybe it's just a, hey, get a body in for training camp and all that. But regardless, they've just got five dudes who are playing quarterback for them. Yeah, what a list. Flacco, Pickett, Gabriel, Sanders, and now Snoop Huntley. Yeah. In that absolute rushmore of elite quarterback conversation. I remember I mentioned

the Titans are going to be one of the worst teams in the NFL Yeah I'm doing the Browns in that conversation Yeah I mean unless one of these Great lottery tickets work out They got five of them I wouldn't put it past Joe Flacco

To do something And like he always has that one year We're like wow this guy's better than we thought We thought he was done Yeah They're gonna suck Uh yeah probably Rob and Surrey what we learned

I would say So we were talking about earlier Would you trade essentially boil down to would you trade a Canada gold medal at the Olympics for Elias Pedersen being elite and Robin Surrey says I would say at the absolute highest it's one to five percent that would be happy if Olias Pedersen played well but Canada lost that's Robin Surrey I feel like it would be higher than that I think it might be closer to 50 50 maybe I'm too much of an Elias Pedersen

I'm too hopeful on Olius Pedersen. Yeah. I've got too much stock in Olius Pedersen. Well, there's a difference between would you rather see Canada or Sweden with powered by Elias Pedersen? I think the majority of people saying, if Canada does not win, what's the next best scenario? Like, I still think it's going to be closer to 50-50. Sports is tribal.

You back your city usually sometimes, maybe even more than your national team, sometimes. But I don't know. No, no. I think, like, remember, Elias Pedersen being good, not only has an impact on him and the Vancouver Canucks, it may also have an impact on Quinn Hughes and his future here. Like, there's a lot tied to Elias Pedersen. It would have a huge impact, I think. If Elias Pedersen can show that he is, at least he doesn't even have to be like 100 points and Selky caliber player. But if he's a point per game, Selky or at least two-way capable player like he has been, I think that would go a long way in trying to give. convince Quinn Hughes to stay in Vancouver long term. On the low end, I think it's a 25% of the fan base would feel. Well, I feel like it's a lot higher

than that, but on the low end, I feel like a quarter of Canucks fans would say that. I would agree. Okay, Justin and East Van, what we learned, the Seattle Crackens mascot Bowie the Sea Troll recently had a close call with a bear while fly fishing with the team at Alaska's Catmai

National Park. So, there's a video of this. There is a bear legitimately chasing the Seattle Cracking mascot and it it's a it's frightening but B it's it's funny because he didn't get caught

it is it's an enjoyable video and it's like it's closer than you might think like I can see the reasoning for if you are and I'm going to unveil something here for some listeners if you are the person in the mascot costume the mascots aren't real

there there's people in there if you are the person in the I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Kids going to their summer camp right now or just heard that and you just ruin the experience for them. Well done, Josh. Way to go, Josh. But if you were the person in that costume,

I can see why you would be panicking, freaking out, questioning why they had to take a mascot to the fly fishing trip in Alaska? Why are you in the water? That's how I'm going to die in a mascot suit. In a mascot suit in Alaska because of a bear. I am watching that video right now. Yeah.

And that is, way too close for comfort. It's so close. And that's a big boy, too. That's like a grizzly. I don't know what it is. It's a big bear. It's in Alaska. And I just, I don't, like, obviously the bear is going to be like, well, that's not a human. I'm going to go get it. To me, I just, that was a dangerous game.

I don't know. If you really are a true mascot, dying for your art might be one of the highest compliments. Like the most of the greatest thing. Dying for your art. Yeah. I mean, you're going to leave it. You're going to leave a legacy and impact forever. Dude, we'll never forget you. Andy, you do have a point, though.

That was the mascot that was killed by the bear. You'll always be remembered. You do have a point, though, because if you do represent the Krakken, which is a sea creature, I feel like the mascot has lost a lot of street cred after this interaction. Should he have fought the bear then? Like, puff out the chest at the very least and say you're, I don't know if that's the right call. Right? Like, look bigger than you are.

Apparently bears. I'm with Randy. Well, it depends on the bear. It's a brown bear, right? It's brown. I called it a grizzly bear in the tree. Yeah, a grizzly slash brown bear. I'm just supposed to lie down or...

Yeah, with black bears, you could spook them. With grizzlies, you just got to get the hell out. Black bears are just like over-glorified, like, dogs. Yeah, I wouldn't... I wouldn't say that in America. I wouldn't test that theory, but they are more docile. They're more easy to... Nodian to scare off. Fuller bears are the worst.

Growing up in Lynn Valley, walking my dog numerous occasions, there'd be a black bear walking around where I grew up. And as soon as they see you, they book it. They're very, very timid. Grizzly bear is not so much. And this was a grizzly bear. The right call was made. Do they have to retire Bowie as a mascot if the worst happened?

That's what I was thinking. I was thinking that. Yeah, yeah. I thought you were going to say because he's a coward. Not because he's a coward. But if the worst had happened, yes. You can't like bring that mascot back. You might even go a couple of years without a mascot.

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. You're like, you might never have one. Okay, so I just watched this video, randomly actually came up. Deonti Wilder, former boxing heavyweight champion. He was on a morning show in the United States, and he, I guess, forgot that there's humans in the mascot suit. And he punches the mascot, like, right in where the face would be of the human.

And the mascot goes down like a ton of bricks. And even the host, the morning show host, are like grabbing their faces like, no, what are you doing? You're going to kill our guy. And it's like, I think people sometimes forget there's a human back there. This is why I'm trying to remind people. Except Gritty. Except Gritty.

There's nobody in the Gritty costume. There was a baseball player. That is just an entity. That does feel true. Randall Simon. Like a decade ago, Randall Simon was the sausage race in Milwaukee. They were running around and he swung his back. Oh, yeah.

And he smoked one. And he actually got charged, I think, because the person was hurt. I don't know if he just didn't realize there was a person in there. But hey, you swing a bat at them? Yeah, it's going to toss him. I also just wonder if maybe people think there's more padding in there than there is. There's zero pat. Regardless, I am not.

I personally. would not swing at a mascot, but... And if I was in a mascot suit and they said, hey, go over there near that grizzly bear, I would be like, no, I will not do that thing. You do not pay me enough money to go near an animal that could pretty easily kill me. I also, again, I just don't know if you need the mascot there

for fishing videos. Why? Yeah, like, that's... Or like, be on a boat or something. He was all dressed up with the cute little fishing... Well, to be fair, on this show, Halbro does often criticize the Cracken of being the most boring team in the NHL, so this would make them more excited. I mean, if their mascot was attacked by a grizzly.

Maybe they're just trying to get people to pay attention. They're making off-season headlines. Unsigned texture brings up a good point. Do we ever know what happened to the Gris, who's the mascot for the Grizzlies? Maybe that's him in Alaska. I envy you. You have a team. I had to retire to Alaska.

Do you think they let him keep the suit after they folded? I wonder where the suit is. Someone's got to happen. I doubt it. You don't think they let the mascot just be like, just take it. They're like, you don't take it, but you can't live in Vancouver. You've got to move. If we're giving this suit if you go somewhere else.

You'd have to sign a waiver to say you will not wear this in public. Someone has to have it, I think. Or it's at like a, it's got to be somewhere. Yeah. Oh, they're not going to send a hell of fame. Can we get to the bottom of where the dress? Is there a mask on Hall of Fame? There should be.

Yeah. If there isn't. I don't think so. I feel like our listeners would know where that suit is. There's got to be somebody connected. Maybe even Tom Manick. Was he an executive with the Vancouver Grizzly? Someone texted in.

Somebody's got to let us know where that sue went. Where the suit is and if we can have it. Please. Okay, well, end with this what we learn from Justin and East Van. The New York Jets and the Winnipeg Jets formed a social media alliance yesterday, which similarly named professional sports teams would create the ultimate fan-based alliance. So I think the San Francisco Giants and the New York Giants also did something. They did, and that stemmed from Mike Francesca's show.

There was somebody that called in and asked if the Giants of New York and the San Francisco Giants ever got together, and he was like, this is the most bizarre thing I've ever heard. Flash forward to a couple years later, they actually did it because the Giants were in New York, and they got together with Eli Manning. Well, it makes sense, right.

They also moved the Giants to California after the New York Giants. They did. They were formerly part of New York. Exactly. So here are the options for teams that have the same name in the four professional major sports leagues in North America. So they're the Jets and the Giants, There are the Cardinals, Arizona, St. Louis.

They're the Rangers, the New York Rangers, and the Texas Rangers. The Panthers, Carolina, Florida, the King, Sacramento, and L.A. Those are the options. I got a couple other ones. Okay. International. San Antonio Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur. Oh, right.

So if you want to go international, that's probably a better combination, more elite combination. You got at least your branding would go a little further. What, the Sacramento Kings, L.A. Kings? Is it moving the dial for you? Yeah, it's tough. I think the best of the North American ones would be the Rangers, I guess, or the Panthers. The Carolina Panthers suck.

Yeah, they stink. But the New York Rangers and Texas Rangers. And like the Texas Rangers, they're maybe not like a top four brand, but they're still like they got deep pockets. They're relevant. And the Rangers. Kind of like the New York Rangers.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Maybe you could have like Alex Rodriguez. Tim from South Surrey says, BC Lions. Detroit Lions.

Oh, yeah. How did you forget that? Yeah. You know the local football squad who's GM we just had on after our goal? Yeah, sorry, I didn't. I know of the BC lines. I just didn't think of the Detroit Lions.

And then throw in the Swiss League Zurich lines for good measure. There you go. We got three teams. And surely there are other lines out there too. The NHL needs to get a young boys team. Then we could have two young boys. Yeah.

You're the young boys. All right. Appreciate everyone texting in 650, 650, everyone listening as well. Thank you to DA Doc. Thank you to Lattie. Thank you to my co-host, Randeep Chandah. I've been Josh Elliott-Wolf. This has been out for Nebraska on SportsNet 650.