Halford & Brough in the Morning - Sat With A Canucks Update + What We Learned

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the latest 'Nucks news with Sportsnet's Canucks Central host Satiar Shah (2:26), 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.

802 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Prep, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, 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, or parts. We are in Hour 3 of the program.

Hour 3 is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google review store feet. What are you waiting for? Kintec.

It's a holiday show, which means, and Jason hates this, by the way. He hates tradition, and he hates people. But I like to do it. And I have the And he hates people. But I like to do it. And I have the microphone right now, so I'm going to do it. Anytime that someone joins us on these vacation journeys where everyone's supposed to be sleeping in and taking advantage of a stat day, I like to acknowledge the people that are working, transiting,

listening to the Halford and Brough show. You know why I hate it? Because you never flag anyone's texts and then it's difficult to do these shout outs. So shout out to Woodrow the Eligible Bachelor, Ian the Abacus in Surrey, Samantha on Manitoulin Island in

Northern Ontario, Juan from Comox, Phillip driving a shuttle bus at YVR, Ed in Kelowna, Dan in healthcare from Nanaimo, 3 Putt Shane, and of course Justin from East Van, who his entire lifeline is this show. I motivated you to do that properly.

Did you even write them down? You wrote them down, didn't you? Yeah, I did. You wouldn't have done that before. I don't think I would have. I think I would have. Joining us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, Satyar Shah here. Right here on our show.

It's very exciting. I don't want to fight with you on a holiday Monday. I'm not fighting with you. I am disengaging. That's what we call it in therapy. Deescalating the situation? What my therapist calls it as ignoring the problem. My therapist has told me to disengage with bruff frequently.

Let's bring Sad into this one. Sad joins us now. What up, dude? Sad's our therapist. What's going on, guys? It's like, you know, when you go to a family dinner to a friend's place and they start getting into this bickering contest, you kind of sit there awkwardly, just like, yeah, you know, I get it. That's the Breaking Bad meme where Jesse's

drinking the glass of water in his hand. Yeah. Let's discuss some of the storylines that we've got uh going right now on the halford and brough show um is there anything to jt miller not playing a pre-season game uh i mean so obviously he's been practicing right he's been a full participant in practice. He scrimmaged. He hasn't missed any on-ice sessions or anything off-ice in terms of his preparation. So whatever is going on, it's clearly not anything significant. It's clearly not anything

that should be holding him back when the season begins. But it is curious, right? Because the longer this takes him to be the only player who hasn't played, it makes you wonder. Now, can we take the coach's word for it and say, hey, they're just load managing and maintenance state? Sure, I mean, you can make that argument. There are also players who are older that they're not doing that with.

But still, you can still do that with JT. I wonder, JT's never a guy who ever admits when he's banged up. I always think back to the North Division season where he was dealing with an injury he played through and he was there from start to the finish. And one of the reasons I heard he played through was he didn't want to leave the guys in a situation where they all have to be away from their families for so much.

He didn't want to leave his guys alone. He was going to go down with the ship that year. That's kind of what I heard about JT. And he never acknowledged any injury that year. And we know how tight-lipped these guys were last year at the press conference, at the end of the season press conference, about their injuries. And Phillip Verona, we all knew he had an injury that year. And we know how tight-lipped these guys were last year at the press conference, at the end of the season press conference, about their injuries.

And Phillip Verona, we all knew he had an injury. He's like, no, I'm good. No issues at all. And him and Jay Pat kind of got into it. But because that came from a place of, we all kind of knew there might be something going on, but nobody wants to admit to it, right? And the only guy who admitted to anything was Pedersen

because that was such a public thing about him having some sort of an ailment. So there seems to be this culture with these guys where they don't want to admit to anything. So is it outside of the realm of possibility that JT either has something he's dealt with over the course of the summer or has something minor that they don't want to acknowledge or talk about? I think that's possible.

But going back to the original theme here, because he's been practicing, because he's a full participant, because there's no restrictions placed on him in terms of what he's been doing on nights outside of playing games, it can't be anything serious. Okay, let's talk about Atu Ratu then.

What is the pathway to him being on the Canucks opening night roster? I think as long as Joshua's out, and do they feel like they can still keep TDG or slide into waivers? Honestly, I think that's where it's at.

Because if you look at how he's played in the preseason, based on marriage, he's been fine. But he also brings something this team is lacking, and that is a player can take a right-handed face-off. He's a left-handed shot. He can take a right-handed face-off. He switches his grip and he takes face-offs, and he wins a lot of them. We know that's something this team doesn't have on the roster,

but also because of how hard he plays. When the coach says, this guy plays stiff, you know he's swooning over the guy, right? We know the coach likes how he plays. We know the coach is a fan of his details in his game. So I think in terms of him bringing versatility, him being a player that can maybe allow

them to have a different shape to that line without Dakota Joshua. So far, they've tried Garland and Hoagbender on that line, which honestly, even though it might be small for the playoffs to begin the season, you might be able to get away with that for a few weeks and perhaps catch some teams off guard and play some pretty in-your-face, energetic hockey. So I can see a pathway where there's a real role

for a guy like Atu Ratu, plus he complements the roster with something they're lacking. So I think he's got a decent chance. I don't know what percentage to put at it, but I'd say it's over 50% right now. Are there any significant waiver stories? I mean, you already mentioned Phil DiGiuseppe. Could Nils Amon possibly be placed on waivers

in a related story to Atu Ratu? I think it's possible. Now, Oman has two years left on his contract, so I think it makes it more complicated to claim him. It's one way, I believe, on both years. So whoever's taking him has to feel comfortable about having a contract slot for two years and feeling like he's going to be part of the organization, which makes me skeptical that he will get picked up.

And even PDG, when I look at it at the surface, the guy didn't score a lot of points. He's playing like 10, 11 minutes a game. He's making, you know, league minimum, but he's still making 500,000 if he gets sent down to Abbotsford. We don't see guys that age usually get picked up on the win, but because he's been good on the PK, because he's played well with star players in a complimentary role,

he four checks well, maybe a team of the whole could pick him up. But honestly, I'm not overly concerned about the waiver thing. And I think if they lose one of those guys, they open up a contract spot. But I do think PDG is the guy that the coach values. So if they have any inclination, he might get claimed. Maybe they're a little bit, you know, maybe somewhat reluctant about it.

And the other guy is Linus Carlson, because he also has to go through waivers now. Oh, right. I don't think he's done enough so far in terms of, like, being like, oh, you have to keep this guy off waivers. I'm not sure anybody claims him. But could a team look at him and say, he's young enough, he's got some chops, had 60 points in the AHL last year,

played a couple games in the playoffs. Maybe it's worth taking a look at him. He doesn't have a one-way contract, I believe. So I think it makes it a bit easier for a team to take a flyer on him. That's the guy I'd be more intrigued about getting picked up, but I don't think it's a major concern for the team. Okay, agree or disagree with this prediction? Daniel Sprong will be the guy who starts on a line with Petey and DeBrusque.

I'm going to disagree to start the season. And a big reason for it is we haven't seen him there much now watching, you know, the play and that's who they load up at the beginning of the season. But one of the things that coach said about Daniel Sprong the other night, and he gave some quotes to IMAC about it as well, he made it very clear that working with Sprong is a bit of a project and they're very happy with the things he's done but it's going to take some time and they're working

very closely with him. So if you're trying to build this guy up and get his details to a level where he can be a player who can play a bigger role, do you want to throw him into that position right away or do you want to gradually bring him up to that? So if he's working on his details and gets better and better in a few weeks to a couple months, do you feel better

about putting him in a bigger, featured role that he can handle and not get removed from potentially as opposed to, hey, this is the list of things to work on. Now go play with Pedersen and figure this out at the same time, which might be too much to do in that you're not giving him a chance to perhaps catch up and get to the level that you want. So I can totally see Sprong playing there. I just wonder with how the coach has gone about it, if they're looking for gradual succession to that point

as opposed to throwing it at that point right away. So if not Sprong, who? I think Sherwood is a guy that for the time being makes sense because he forechecks really well. I don't think he brings a lot of offense outside of his shot, but he can be a player who can play off those guys. I think he just gives the team

a little reliability and safety to begin the year and having a little bit of toughness on the he can be a player who can play off those guys. I think it gives the team a little reliability and safety to begin the year and having a little bit of toughness on the wing, having a little bit of forechecking. I think that's something that they can start the season with and feel pretty safe about because they don't have the issues of, is this third guy going to do the things we need? Is he going to skirt his responsibilities? Can he be

reliable defensively? Can he play with energy and retrieve pucks? As good as Strong is, you really put a guy like DeBrus with the position to retrieve pucks? Because as good as Strong is, you really put a guy like DeBrus into a position to retrieve pucks on that line and be like the F1

and dig pucks out because Strong is more of a skill guy to look for a shot and look for angles to create offensively. So I think Sherwood in terms of

a placement at the beginning of the year makes a little bit of sense, but obviously you want somebody of higher caliber once the games get a little bit bigger. Yeah, I have to admit when sherwood was was signed by the canucks i was enthusiastic because i like the way he plays i love his name great name but i wasn't thinking

oh there's the guy that's going to complete the trio of pd dubrask and keifer sherwood i thought he was going to be a fourth line energy guy yeah ultimately, I think that's where he's going to land. And I think part of it is the fact that right now, when we look at who's the best right winger for Elias Pettersson or playing the right-wing spot in the top six, it's not perfect, right? Because we know Garland so far is best running his own line, and we all kind of think, hey, when supporter Joshua's back,

he's going to reunite with Garland. They have their own thing going on. And if you have Besser playing with JT Miller, that leaves either a left-handed player like Hoaglander, it leaves a guy like Sprong with a little bit of a project, or it leaves somebody like a Sherwood. And I think it's just temporary.

But here's the bigger question, I think. If Sprong can't be the answer as the year goes on, and if Sherwood is better suited for bottom six line, which I do think he will be, and could be a really good player in that position, ultimately, do you need another forward to play in your top six? And I think that's going to be part of the thing they have to figure out over the course of these next few months, right?

Could it be Lester Mackey in a few months? Can he be ready for it? Do you have something internal that can happen? But for the time being, I think Sherwood's kind of the safe guy who can play in that spot. But I think for sure, whether it's an internal option emerging or getting somebody externally, that can't be the case once you head into the playoffs.

Don't you think that's a great argument for sending Lekker Maki to Abbotsford and just get him up to speed, play him a ton, get him used to a North American game. Hopefully he goes down and scores a bunch of goals and then maybe around the new year, you consider whether or not you either bring Lekker Mackey up or you have to make an addition before the trade deadline. I think you nailed it. I think absolutely that's the best way to go about it. I think it's the most pragmatic way too. And if you're looking

at it in terms of building a player up and getting to a level where he can sustain it, I think starting him off there, left for Mackey, getting his fitness better, getting him stronger, getting him experience, not having the crazy NHL schedule during the week where he can't really work on anything. If you do that for half the season, you give

yourself a chance to get the best version of that player in the second half of the year. And that's what this year is all about. They all need to get off to a good start they can't get off to a bad start we all know that but you're not trying to be a playoff team day one you're not trying to win the stanley cup day one it's about building and gradually get into a point by the trade deadline we feel good about your team and because i think there's a level of confidence that this front office will address needs or at least do their best to address needs i think giving it some time to let the season play

out and see if you have internal options is the right way to go about as opposed to trying to fix all your issues today and i think something that they you know made mistakes about in the past was being so focused on getting these guys at the lineup right away and getting an immediate impact they even think about the big picture not just two or three years down the road but just what about the second half of this year i think that's something they have to consider this season. So at the risk of getting way ahead of myself at the trade deadline, what are ways for the Canucks to create as much possible cap space as possible for that deadline, whether it's for a scoring winger or another defenseman, whatever?

I mean, the Canucks seem to be working very hard, especially the way they negotiated with Lankanen, in making sure that they don't start the season in LTI. So that's one way, but I don't know how much cap space that's actually going to accrue as the season goes on. What are some other ways that, just in the back of your mind, that you're keeping for the Canucks to have cap space to be players at the deadline or even before the deadline? Because we saw Jim Rutherford make a bunch of moves last season before the deadline.

Well, and then I think that's that you're right in terms of how much cap space can they accrue. Like if they if they go in with one hundred thousand in cap space and are able to keep that off their books until the trade deadline, that turns out to being about $500,000, $600,000. So I mean, we're not talking about $100,000 turning out to being a million or $2 million. We're talking about $500,000 or $600,000. But what you can do is you can get to that number, then you can go to LTIs, you can turn $100,000 and $2.5 into about $3 million in cap cash. So that's how that gives you a little bit of flexibility. And then if you move a player off your roster, even a guy making league minimum, you can get up to about 4 million.

So I've always thought in my head that without having to do anything significant by the trade deadline, the Canucks might be able to add a player making anywhere from 3 to 4 million on total cash. So if you find a way to retain, that means you might be able to acquire a seven, $8 million player. So I think that possibility exists without them having to cut out a bigger name out of their roster.

So that's like a league minimum guy or a guy making a million that you can flip, and now you can add a player that's making upwards of $8 million on the salary to get the salary to retain. And then if it comes down to salary players, you don't have a lot of guys on the team that you look at right now, right? And say, this is a contract. This contract is a problem.

We know the Tucker Pullman one is, and that's the thing I wonder about too, guys. It's like, for all this talk about, hey, what do you do with Hoaglander? What happens with Garland? And we can just assume they'll be here, because what if they end up trading Tucker Pullman a couple months into the season where more of the

money is paid off? Does it cost as much to get him off your books. And can you get creative with the team to take the contract on that's even league minimum, but you can stash. So you make the monetary requirements for a team taking Pullman off your hand, not being as big as it is doing it today. And I wonder if you do that and then you do it even a half, if you do it even say a month or two down the road,

can you turn that a hundred thousand of accruing cap space into two that $100,000 of accruing cap space into two and a half of accruing cap space? And by the deadline, you might be able to turn that out without getting too boring on the numbers to maybe about $8 million. So I think there are ways here that they can get creative and perhaps move Tucker Pullman's contract after more money gets paid off.

Sad, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. Looking forward to doing this throughout the season. Enjoy the rest of the week and we get through the final two preseason games. We'll do this again soon. Anytime, boys.

Always a lot of fun. Thank you, buddy. Thanks, Sad. That's Satyar Shah, Canuck Central host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So Sherwood on a line with PD and DeBrusque is certainly nothing that I predicted

when Sherwood was signed and Dabrowski was signed. But maybe it makes sense to start the season because the one thing you know you're going to get with Sherwood is a guy that wants to skate and he wants to push the pace. And that's what Rick Tockett has said he wants out of Petey. He needs to push the pace more. So maybe you add that energy to the line. I just don't know if he has enough offensive capabilities to really make the most of that line. Who wouldn't be anything new for a Pedersen winger. But I guess we don't have to solve it by game one of the regular season.

No. That's the one thing. Okay. Get your what we learns into the Dunbar Lumber text line. We'll do some what we learns of our own because it is a holiday Monday. So there aren't a ton coming into the Dunbar Lumber text line. That's fine. But there is an opportunity to get your text read if you want to text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. 650. What I learned over the weekend, and this is what I watched the most of this weekend,

was that the Americans did win the President's Cup. And they deserve to. And at the end of the day, it was a convincing win for the Americans, but it was still a really fun weekend of golf watching. And I can't say I agreed with all of Mike Weir's decisions, especially on Saturday when for the first time in President's Cup history, a captain chose to play the exact same pairings twice in the same day, leaving guys like Jason Day and Minwoo Lee on the bench all day. The internationals did seem to run out of gas as the long day wore on and there was no real break between the morning session and the afternoon session because the morning session was delayed by fog.

And you do have to wonder if some fresh blood would have helped, especially late in those matches. But here's my house of positivity take on the weekend in Montreal. The Americans went into this as huge favorites. They won the first day 5-0. And on this show, we were all like, this thing's over. I'm not even going to watch the President's Cup this weekend. And yet, the internationals still made

it really interesting. They still made it fun. Friday was incredible with the internationals fighting back to tie the match with five victories of their own. I couldn't believe what I was watching. And it was so much fun as a fan. I don't think, for me personally, I love golf, and I don't think there's anything better than international team golf when you get a game or a match like Friday's when the momentum is just swinging so crazily one way. And the Americans were rattled. They lost their composure. And I don't know if they thought after Thursday's matches,

we were like, this is going to be easy. Let's go out tonight and let's have a night. I don't know what happened to them, but the internationals, all credit to them. They came back and they played really well and they tied the match. I don't think anyone saw that coming. Certainly we didn't.

Saturday's matches also had some great moments and it looked like everyone in Montreal had a really good time cheering on the three Canadians and the Kim boys from Korea. Even though the day did end in disappointment for the home fans, I do get the criticism for Weir. I get it. I even agree with some of it. I would not have sat Jason Day on Saturday, but I think Weir tried to do two things with his lineup on Saturday. First, he tried to ride the momentum from Friday, which is smart. Second, he felt he needed to shorten his bench. That's what underdogs have to do. Sometimes you got to shorten your bench. But really, when you look at it, the Americans not only had the better players at the top of the lineup, they had more depth. And that's why they won. But I think it was still a very entertaining President's Cup, one that started out looking like it wasn't going to be. And then it did get fun and interesting. So I was thinking, I was like, why is Breff's really into this? And I was trying to think why. And I think I maybe, and not to put words

in your mouth, but we can discuss this. I do not get, when it comes to golf, international team golf, I love it. I love team golf. I love the dynamics of it. I love the momentum swings. I've said that one of the most enjoyable sports days I've

ever had watching tv was the rider cup of medina back in 2012 when the europeans stormed back on american soil and it was guys like ian poulter and justin rose making big pots i mean it's it's incredible drama and that's why i'm into it and to have canadians partaking in it and it being in canada that's why i was into it yeah golf needs it maybe now more than ever given the sort of plight of what's going on with pga and live they need events like this where guys are there and there's emotion and there's winning and there's more at stake the winning than just like this big pot of money at the end of it which seems like what's driving the pga and live right now i just think a lot of people might

look at this from the outside looking in and be like, oh, the Americans won another President's Cup. This tournament or this event is useless. It's always the Americans winning it. And I get it. I understand it. But you had to watch it. There was a time when I was thinking,

the internationals might pull this off. And they ran out of gas at the end of Saturday, and then Sunday, the hill was just too far for them to climb, and they didn't win the day anyway. But anyway, maybe I was into it more than others, but that was my what we learned. Mukau? We are going to go to break with some very sad news uh Dikembe Mutombo the hall of fame

finger wagging center who was a great ambassador for the sport of basketball especially in Africa and his native Congo has died of brain cancer at the age of 58 the NBA made the announcement a short while ago this Monday morning uh those most of you probably know Mutombo from his exploits on the court, one of the greatest defensive players in NBA history. His work off the court was unparalleled in terms of humanitarian efforts and what he did for basketball and away from the court for what he did for the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The news broke, as I mentioned this morning.

Here now is ESPN's Stephen A. Smith reacting to the news and to what a great man Mutombo was. We will leave you with this audio going to break sad news from the world of sport. Dikembe Mutombo passing away due to brain cancer at the age of 58. Dikembe Mutombo, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, seven times he finished in the top three for Defensive Player of the Year awards and obviously winning four. Like I just said, no matter what you know about him as a basketball player, he was an even better human being. Always was about giving, always was about helping the Dominican Republic of Congo along with being a humanitarian for the world. His heart was just huge.

It was big. One of the most beautiful, beautiful human beings I've ever known. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks Talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. Now for my favorite part of the show. What'd I say? Talk to the audience.

Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show. 8.32 on a Monday. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for

the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, 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, or parts. We are in hour three of the program. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit

them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. I was a little early on that one. I went too fast. You finished a little early on that one. I went too fast. Yeah, you finished a little early. Not usually a problem. Except every time. It's not normally like that. I swear.

All right. Let's focus here. Bruf did his while we learned. I'm going to go fast here, actually. I'm going to try and do my four big takeaways from Sunday in football. I will miss some things that you consider big. That's my disclaimer there, so don't freak out, okay? Number one, the Baltimore Ravens blasted the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night football.

Derek Henry, one yard away from 200 on the ground for the day. 199 rushing yards. He started it off with a casual 87 yard touchdown romp in which case I watched it and I'm like, he's going to have a big day. They beat the wheels, beat the brakes off the Bills. Huge win. Beat the Bills off the

Bills. 35-10 on Sunday Night Football. Very big statement victory. Can I cut you off just for a sec here? Sure. Can you make sense of the NFL this season? Cannot. Cannot. The only team I can make sense of... I've got so many questions. Is Aaron Rodgers good? Is he back?

Because he seemed to fall apart in the rain. The only team I can make sense of are the Minnesota Vikings who nobody expected to be good. And they're the best team in the NFL. And they nearly blew it yesterday. Yeah, but they didn't. But they didn't. Do you know how many minutes the Vikings have trailed for this season? I don't know, none. Three and a half. Yeah. It's unbelievable. They looked so good early in that game. They were great. They were just, Sam Darnold had all day to make throws, and their defense is legit. Now, the Packers

showed something. They needed to show something, and they made a legit. Now the Packers showed something. They needed to show something, and they made a game of it at the end of the day. But the Vikings' first half, it was just too good to overcome for the Packers. So here's the good news for the Vikings. Their 4-0 is their best start in eight years. 2016, they started 5-0.

So their best start in eight years since 2016. That's good. Do you know what's bad? In 2016, they started 5-0. They finished 8-8. I'm not saying that's going to happen to this team. Vikings fans always have a bit of, in the back of their mind, when is this going to fall apart?

Josh Elliott-Wolfe is a Vikings fan. He is. Yeah, and he isn't quite convinced of this team yet. That's fair. in the back of their mind, when is this going to fall apart? Josh Elliott Wolfe is a Vikings fan. He is. Yeah, and he isn't quite convinced of this team yet. That's fair. I mean, here's the thing. They've beaten good teams. Winning that game in Green Bay on the weekend, that was a good win.

Here's a question, another question I got for you. Are the Washington Commanders good? Yeah, that is a really good offense. And speaking of things not making sense it's led by cliff kingsbury remember him he got fired in arizona then he went to thailand for a while went to a moon party took some mdma figured out how to like coach an offense it's amazing that offense is very very dynamic jayden daniels really good. Yep. Okay, so a big weekend for Jaden Daniels and Caleb Williams. They both won games. Caleb Williams, pretty good, actually.

The numbers don't jump off the page. He still only had 157 passing yards, but he was almost perfect in the second half. He only missed one pass. And the Bears got to win. The Bears are 2-2. And it's really interesting to see the first two overall picks both kind of thriving as opposed to last year

where it's the exact opposite. One, C.J. Stroud playing great. Good comeback win for him over the Jags yesterday. And Bryce Young backing up Andy Dalton right now. We had a Joe Flacco appearance. Yeah, we sure did. Anthony Richardson got hurt yesterday. Joe Flacco.

First of all, what's the story for Richardson? Because he got hurt last year. Okay. Yeah. But I would be worried because of the way the guy plays. And it's a shoulder thing. Keep an eye on that one. Anyway, Flacco goes in.

He gets a win over the previously undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers. And then in the postgame interview, it was great. I wish I clipped the audio, but we didn't. He was asked about his relationship with Anthony Richardson, who was much younger than him. And he said, Richardson told me that I am only eight days younger than his mom. Speaking of audio, Greg, do we have the Tom Brady, Baker Mayfield stuff from the notes? You guys know each other?

Yeah. And Flacco's like, I'm not cool. Don't make jokes. Don't make jokes. I threw this in as one of the stories just because the audio is so great so I'm gonna set this up for you Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield they got they got things back on track on the weekend they beat the Eagles 33 to 16 he had a nice game but after the game nobody was talking about the win. Everybody was talking about what happened between him and Tom Brady. So I'll set this up chronologically.

During the week, Mayfield goes on a podcast with Corey Kluber. He's not even a football player. He's a baseball player. Yeah, I don't know. Anyway. He has a podcast? He does. It's a baseball player. Yeah, I don't know. Anyway. He has a podcast? He does. It's called Casa de Club, but I think it's supposed to be Casa de Klub

because it's Corey Kluber. Right. Let's move past that. Baker Mayfield goes on it. And kind of playfully, I listened to it. I don't have the audio here, but kind of playfully takes a shot at Tom Brady during his time with the Bucs. He said, the building was a little different with Tom in there.

Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everyone dialed in high-strung, so I think everyone was pretty stressed out. Then they wanted me to come in and be myself, bring the joy back to football. Right. How did he say it playfully? Was he just kind of like joking, you know how Tom is, he's a pretty serious guy? Yeah, kind of. That was the impression I got.

Even if you were to say that that was a dig at Tom Brady, it was a pretty innocuous dig. Because everyone knows that Tom Brady went there and in this high-stressed environment, he won the Super Bowl. He delivered the franchise wins. Oh man, that guy worked so hard. What a dig. Tom Brady, during the broadcast on Sunday, took it personally. Yes, he took that. Michael Jordan meme took that personally.

I'm just going to play the audio now. So Kevin Burkhardt's the guy that's in the booth with him. And I'm just going to let this thing breathe because it was, yeah, it's not quite Tupac hit him up, but man, he took it personally. They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football for guys who weren't having as much fun. It's funny because you've made this environment for me very stressful up here in the booth. So I understand where he's coming from. Do you feel it?

No. I was going to say, I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings. So, there was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn't daycare. If I wanted to have fun, I was going to go to Disneyland with my kids. Yeah, so,

as you were saying, go ahead. I feel like there's more in there to say. There's a way to approach this game, and it's that with the right mindset and try to push each other outside of our comfort zone, and great teammates do that. You come in, I have someone like Gronkowski, I have someone like Evans. There's high expectations for us.

We've got to make sure we go out there and deliver. The competitive juice is still flowing. It's still in there. No apologies. Kevin Burkhardt was like, why don't you lighten up for five seconds, Tom? It was so, the video, go watch the video. It's so awkward because Kevin Burkhardt's like, damn. To be fair, though, I mean, I kind of agree with Brady.

He won the Super Bowl, so what can you say to that? Sorry it was stressful, but we won you a Super Bowl. I would take stress 100 times out of 100 if it won me a championship. I think everyone agrees with that. Including Baker Mayfield, but he was telling his story. Because teams are

ebbs and flows, right? Sometimes you can go, even if you have great success, that sometimes runs its course. And it may not be fun. Counterpoint, one, Tom Brady's not playing anymore. He's done. He retired.

He's calling games. So I don't know if the whole competitive juices are still flowing thing. It feels, it felt like he was punching down a little bit everyone knows that tom brady is up here and baker mayfield's somewhere below that maybe a couple rungs like no one needs to put like of all people tom brady to put baker mayfield in his place right and so anyway they go out and have mayfield took it well though well after the game he had to. Well, after the game, he was just like, yeah, he was laughing along at what Brady said. I don't know if he was laughing along. I think he knew that he had to shut that down pretty good.

He also had a good game. He played great. Is Nick Sirianni on the hot seat? We don't often see NFL coaches fired midway through the season. I know the Eagles are 2-2, but I know the fans are not very happy with him. Well, I'll pivot to the guy that I'm pretty sure is going to get fired soon.

That's Doug Peterson in Jacksonville. Oh, yeah. There's no way. I mean, they had another opportunity to finally get a win against Houston, who didn't play great, but managed to squeak it out at the end. So if you're going to go hot seat rankings,

I'd go Peterson won. Sirianni's tough because they they're going backwards as an organization that went to the super bowl with them and then they remember that yeah embarrassing loss in the playoffs last year and now they're a 500 team but they're not quite bottomed out yet and i i know what you're saying like you really need to bottom out to get fired mid-season in the nfl anyway mook out all that guys got anything? I got a quick one. All right. What I learned now that the Blue Jays season has thankfully come to an end,

they are officially, perfectly, literally the definition of mid. I saw this. In their last 1,000 games, the Blue Jays are 500 and 500. That is incredible. It is an incredible stat. A literal definition. How far does that go back? Is that nine years?

And this was the promising era. This was the one that people were hyping up as going to be like, this is it. The Blue Jays are ready to rock. The era's not over yet. People on the air realizing, listening to me on the air realizing

I can do math and reality. How many years is that? A thousand divided by 162. Yeah, well, I was realize, listening to me on the air, realizing I can't do math. How many years is that? A thousand divided by 162. Yeah, well, I was like, it was like 10. I'm like, that's like 1600. That's a lot more. It's like five or six years.

Five or six. Five or six years. Just, it's an amazing number. You can't even call it futility because it's perfectly even. It embodies everything the Jays are about. It's like, are we bad?

No. Are we good? Also no. Well, I saw Red Sox fans were laughing because they finished the season at 81-81, but Blue Jays take it even further than that. It'll last a thousand games. Okay, so the Jays

season is over. Thank God. And then now it's going to be an off season of pretty big decisions to make around Guerrero and Bichette and maybe management. Well, it sounds like the management has already been decided because both Shapiro and Atkins are both meeting with the media on Wednesday. Okay.

The two of them. What about John Schneider, the bench boss? Yeah, he might be the most at risk. He has the least leverage out of any of these guys. I think he's the least at fault out of all those guys. Atkins and Shapiro are like, what if we fired another guy? Yeah, and bring in Don Mattingly. My hot take would come true, finally, a year and a half later.

I hope not. Okay, so. Hold on, hold on. But the Jays season is over, but I did want to mention that there's two baseball games today. Can you explain what's going on with the Mets and the Braves? Well, it's the classic doubleheader right before the end of the season. When the playoffs start tomorrow. So they have to get these games in.

So this probably was not scheduled. No, well, they have to put it in the schedule because they need to get the result, right? They need to find out who is ahead in the standings because there's another situation where they just kind of punted on the final game of the year. I think one team finished with 161 games this season. So these guys can't

do that because there's still something on the line. The playoff matchups haven't been decided yet. So the way it breaks down, the Braves and the Mets, if they split this doubleheader, they both go on happy to the playoffs. Because they're both currently tied for the wild cards, plural, right now. Right. So if they split this doubleheader today, everything stays the same,

and the D-backs are screwed. However, if one team sweeps this doubleheader, then that team that lost is out, and the D-backs are in. I can never remember a situation like this. I'm sure it hasn't happened. The fact that they could play a double header and then a wild card and then the first game of the next round within a three-day stretch is unheard of.

You better have a deep pitching staff because... Yes, I don't know what you do. I honestly don't... Whoever wins the first game is nice and throws the second game. Well, but here's the thing. You might... I know you might be half joking,

but if you win the first game... There's nothing in it for you to win the second game. There's zero incentive. Nothing. Your incentive is to save your bullpen and save your arms. Right, you know you've got a playoff game the next day where you need arms. You may as well put position players on the mound.

But you can't. But you can't until you're down by nine. Eight. Eight or something. You can send a starter out of there and make sure we have an eight run deficit. Could you imagine? Start lobbing 68 mile per hour.

The poor Diamondbacks are watching this and they're like, this is collusion. He's using a freaking ladder. Yeah, this is no good. So I don't know what's going to happen. I'm moderately, you know what? Here's the thing. I'm moderately excited for the playoffs.

It's a fascinating betting scenario. I want to see what the line is on the second game after the first game. But I kind of want them to fast forward right to the NLCS and the ALCS. It's going to be the Dodgers. I know. Here's the thing. This is the most front-runner comment of all time. I kind of just want the Dodgers and Yankees to play in the World Series.

Gross. The Dodgers are as much success as they are. They're underachievers, though. I don't care. I want to see Otani. No, no, no. Just from the spectacle. But someone texted into the show last week,

and we never got to read the text, but they're kind of the Atlanta Braves of, you know, the 1990s atlanta braves who kept on winning their division but ended up with one world series title yeah that's what the dodgers are at right now right in this current string they won one world series remember yeah not even a real not even yeah so like 2022 astros it was astros phPhillies, right? That was good. There's been a couple that have been okay. The matchups last year, like Texas-Arizona last year.

Remember how much that fell off a cliff? I forgot that Arizona was there. There were like three games over 500 and they snuck in. Gross. Baseball just needs it this year. What Otani has done is so amazing. He needs to be center stage. Just get him to the World Series. Dodgers-Yankees would be incredible.

I'm okay with Yankees. Even I'd watch that. Yeah, right? Even Adolph would watch it. That's how excited I would be. Okay, let's print off some submissions into the Dunbar-Lumber tech fund. First of all, we didn't move Caldwell,

but that's fine. And Fireplan. Oh my God! We're having a Fire a fire any other buttons i need to press here are we good jayrock in the okanagan damn i love sports in october so many on tonight it's we're right in this the next couple of weeks folks it's the like mecca there's so much happening once the nhl season starts it just goes hype because you've got MLB playoffs. I remember those nights where you're just like flipping back and forth. And there's like bottom of the ninth in an MLB playoff game.

And then you're going and there's like eight hockey games on. It's Thursday night football. And if you want to watch some college football, it's sprinkled in there. Once the NBA starts to creep its way in, just start working on that couch. The only thing that can ruin it is your family. It's true. Well, I'm solidly a baseball hockey guy, so this time of year is, like, brilliant.

It's the best time. It is great. Unsigned, what we learned. What I learned is I'm getting 80s vibes with the Lions. In my late teens and early 20s, the Lions were it. Swerve and Mervin, Roy DeWalt, great teams, but always seemed to not pull through when necessary. Played a great game here in victoria

hopefully they get to the west final because i will definitely make the trip to watch that game hopefully make the playoffs at this point i i i mean i was in my not my teens i was i was a little bit younger when the lions were it in the 80s Those teams were way better than what the Lions are right now. Those teams were legit. They would win the division. Yeah, they went to the 83 Grey Cup and they lost to the Argos, but they did eventually get it done in 85. They were also really exciting to watch.

Roy DeWalt and then they brought in Matt Dunnigan as quarterback. They were fun and BC Place was rocking. I see right now just a BC Lions team that is completely in disarray. Your best hope for the Lions right now are that they get into the playoffs and then something magical happens. That's about it. Yeah, Juan

from Colmox, what I learned, I feel like I got catfished by Halford. He was hyping up the Sunday Nighter all week. That was a garbage of... I like this. That was a garbage of... I like this. That was a garbage of a game. A garbage of a game. A garbage of a game. What do you want me to do?

It was Bills-Ravens on Sunday Night Football. The Bills looked incredible. The Ravens have this great offense. The Ravens just punched him in the mouth. It didn't help that it started with an 87-yard touchdown run. Kind of set the tone. Rick from Burnaby. What we learned.

Never assume that the Lions will win with a good lead. I found out yesterday that they lost. I actually do wonder how many people woke up on Saturday. Because it's a bit of a late start. I didn't go out. How many people were like, wait a minute, they lost? I made the responsible decision not to go out on Friday night, so I was sitting at home, and I actually fell asleep on the couch while the Lions game was on.

And then I woke up. I was like, is this a replay? What's going on here? Why are they losing? I saw a tweet about one of the best sports naps, and of course, it was American, so it was called American Baseball. One guy was like, oh, it's a college football sports nap, but the most popular one was the Masters sports nap. Masters sports nap is elite.

Is that the best Sports Nap, would you say? The Masters is elite because the music will put you to sleep too. Doesn't it coincide with Father's Day? No, that's the US Open. That's the US Open. US Open's a better one. Did you see Augusta, by the way?

It got crushed by the hurricane. Oh, really? Yeah. Like there's trees down all over the course. And I guarantee in a week, it will be back to normal. Right. Like they're so quick there, but you know, Magnolia Lane? Yes.

And they have Magnolia trees there. That makes sense. On Magnolia Lane. That story checks out. Yeah, it was like there were branches broken off. Yeah. And here comes the hurricane as it enters Augusta National and a tree falls

and another tree has fallen and the grounds crew is going to have a lot of work to do over the next coming weeks. Yeah. See, it's a good nap. I could have a sports nap right now.

But the college football nap is also very good. It's underrated. It's too loud. Because you wake up. What's happening? What's that marching band doing? But, but it's,

I think it's these, these fall days where you can have the window open and there's a bit of a, it's nice out, but there's a nice, nice little breeze, cool breeze coming in. And bit of a, it's nice out, but there's a nice, nice little breeze, cool breeze coming in. And all of a sudden, the sound brough,

all of a sudden, not a sound effect. That's Jason Brough doing wind. You're like that dude from police Academy. What was his name? I don't know. Hey, great,

great line in space balls too. He's got the beeps, creeps and the sweeps. What was his name? I don't know Sound guy Great line in Spaceballs too He's got the peeps The creeps and the sweeps You know what? There's a lot of What we learned About Atu Ratu

Hey Atu Ratu Michael Winslow? Yes Yeah There you go I just googled it He has nothing to do With Atu Ratu

But that's No no He also made the Canucks Who's gonna play with Petey and DeBrusk? Michael Winslow. Justin and East Van, what we learned. With how he's been deployed this preseason, Atu Ratu looks like he'll center the third line on opening night

with Garland and Hoaglander. Are you confident with this new third line until Dakota Joshua and Teddy Bluger return to the lineup? I can only live with one third line. The third line. They will forever be the third line until Dakota Joshua and Teddy Bluger return to the lineup. I can only live with one third line. The third line. They will forever be the third line. Any other third line is just an imposter line. But when Elias Lindholm took over

as center for the third line, was that like Sammy Hagar taking over for David Lee Roth? It's kind of okay. It's okay, but a lot of people don't like it. No. The third line is always going to be the third line until otherwise. But Atu Ratu has a chance. You know what he could do?

He could make the fourth line, like capital V fourth line, and that would be pretty cool. Okay, the music means we've got to get out of here for today. Thank you all for listening, and thank you all for contributing. A lot of what we learn is on a holiday Monday, which is nice. We'll be back tomorrow. Be sure to join us. Signing off for now, though, I have been Mike Halford.

He's been Jason Brough. He's been A-Dog, and he's been Laddie. This has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.