Halford & Brough in the Morning - Softy Talks Seattle Sports + What We Learned

Episode Date: July 10, 2024

In hour three, Mike & Jason talk some Mariners, Kraken, and even a bit of Sonics with 99.3 KJR Seattle's Dave "Softy" Mahler (3:00), the boys tell us what they learned (20:00), plus we hear from the humanoids (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.

ស្រូវនប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ 801 on a Wednesday. You're listening to the Halpern and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Oh, this is a jam, right? This isn't a jam. This is a jam. So good. When they told us that we were no longer able to play licensed music and we had to go to this generic unlicensed music, I thought it was going to be a death knell for the show.

It's time for Softie now. Quite the contrary. It's time for Softie now. It's provided us more content than I could ever imagine. It's the basis for most of our songs, really Most of the show I don't even know what that is That can't be an instrument

It's not an instrument It's a synthesizer, man It's a MIDI patch Is it? Yeah What do you think it was? I don't know Josh strumming on his water bottle over there?

It's not an instrument. It's not a sound, but my God, I love it. 802 on a Wednesday. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Dave Softy-Moller is going to join us in just a second here. Let's fire through some business. This show is brought to you by Vancouver Honda.

Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, 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.

And we're coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet. What are you waiting for? Kintec. That's what you're waiting for. To the phone lines we go. Dave Softy Muller joins us now from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle. Good morning, Softy. How are you? I'm good. I'm sorry about yesterday.

I'm glad, though, that I was able to hang on to hear that unbelievable generic music that we have to play as well on our radio station because nobody will pony up for the licenses for this stuff i miss my hollow notes i miss my acdc i miss my rush i miss my led zeppelin and instead i get game show music every segment so yeah we're in the same boat uh one no worries well yesterday we got you on here now all good and two it's nice to know that we're not the same boat. One, no worries about yesterday. We got you on here now. All good.

And two, it's nice to know that we're not the only company that's not ponying up for things. So that's good. Hey. Well, nobody's ponying up for anything. So we're just, hey, look, we're lucky to have jobs, right? It's true. We're on the air, and that is a blessing, especially when we get to play music like that. Okay, let's go back to this weekend. I wanted to talk to you because I know you absolutely hate the annual

invasion of Canadians when the Blue Jays head to Seattle for the annual Mariners trip. So how much did you hate this past weekend? I didn't go. I didn't step one foot into T-Mobile Park. I just stayed in the golf course for three days in a row.

Never left the South End at all. I live in Des Moines, kind of South of Seattle, closer to the airport. So there was construction on the freeways, all that stuff, bunch of Canadians in town coming down and spending their money at our stores and invading T-Mobile Park. And I hate it. I mean, it's brutal, right? Like why not do that on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday series in April, or maybe in September, but we got to do this when school's out. We got to do it in July when the weather's nice. Drives me nuts. And what drives me nuts even more is that the Mariners don't seem to be bothered by it. If I'm John Stanton, if I'm the owner, Chris Larson, the owner,

I'm pissed every single week when these people come down here and just take over the town. It drives me crazy. So, you know, if you can sweep them, great, but you lose two out of three because your offense is miserable. I don't know. It wasn't a fun weekend for me, man. I'll tell you that right now. Thanks for rubbing it in.

I appreciate it. We're off to a great start. I wanted to get the dynamic from a Seattle fan's perspective because we get it from Blue Jays fans perspective and like locals that want to make a trip out of it. And it's all happy and fun. And Hey, look, we were watching the broadcast and there's all the Blue Jays fans waiting outside the gate, all running in.

And obviously the colors and the contrast and everything. But I mean, I'm sure you're not like a vocal minority here. There's gotta be other people that feel the same way you do. That it's like, this sucks, we're pissed, we don't like it. Yeah, no, I'm not the only one. I mean, but what are you going to do, right? I mean, the team, Mariners have made one playoff appearance in 23 years. And, you know, they just don't have the big season ticket base

that they used to have back in the day. And there's a lot of tickets available. And Blue Jay fans will buy them and they'll, and they'll scoop them up. So hopefully one day we can get back to a point. Like I don't remember this being a problem in 2001, 2002, 2003, when the Mariners were winning 90 plus games. I don't remember this many Blue Jay fans coming down to pack the park.

I think this is kind of a, you know, maybe a recent phenomenon in the last decade or so. And I've heard, you guys would know better than me, that of all the northern state ballparks, Detroit, Boston, New York, Minnesota, I guess if you will, Seattle, that more Blue Jay fans come to T-Mobile Park than any other park in the country. Is that accurate? That is accurate. Yeah, yeah. And I got to live here for it.

Maybe I'll just move. Maybe I'll move to, like, Kansas City. Nobody goes to Kansas City or Tampa Bay. There is hope, I suppose, that the Mariners, and I know it hasn't been good. That series was ultimately frustrating if you're a Mariners fan. Like, the amount of runners that were stranded, especially on Sunday in the extra innings loss.

I know you had former GM Jim Bowden on the show, I think it was yesterday, and he said if the Mariners don't make a move at the deadline, they'll finish third in the division. Did you agree with that sentiment? Not necessarily. You know, I understand what he's saying. Rangers are going to get some guys healthy, obviously.

The Astros as well. Mariners just need to have their guys that they have healthy now start hitting the damn ball. And the big one is Julio. And he was 4-for-4 yesterday. Had a great game against the Padres. Cal Raleigh had a couple of bombs. And maybe that's the breakout that Julio needed.

But I don't think there's one guy out there that's going to save these guys because they're so bad offensively you know I mean Julio's not hitting the ball Polanco's been a complete disaster Hanager's been a complete zero uh Garber hasn't done much at DH Luke Raley hasn't done much Dominic Canzone who they got in the Paul Seawall deal a year ago. Josh Rojas, those guys really haven't done anything. They've got so many problems with their offense that even if they go out and got a Pete Alonzo or a Luis Robert or, you know, a Jazz Chisholm from the Marlins, for example, I just think it's not going to matter unless these guys that are here now

start hitting the ball. So if they did start hitting, it would be like adding a player because right now they just got a bunch of corpses uh in that lineup and yesterday was good to see at least a heartbeat man what has been uh what's been going on with julio because you look at it and like it looked like he was on this big upward trajectory and this year has not been right that is it is it maybe encouraging i, hey, the Mariners are still at the top of the division despite his struggles? Or is that still a big concern? Well, I mean, any other division, they'd be, you know, in second or third place by a large margin, right? I think if they were in the Central, they'd be eight or nine games out.

If they were in the AL East, they'd be seven or eight games out. I don't think they're in the wild card hunt as of now. Obviously, they're not in it because they lead the West by a couple games, but if they were in any other division, they would not be leading or even tied for a wild card spot. So I think the division, you've got to admit the division's terrible, and it's one of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest reason, why the Mariners are where they're at right now.

But, yeah, I mean, the pitching staff has been phenomenal overall. They've been great at home, number one ERA in baseball at home, number one whip at home on the road. They're just kind of average, but they're here because their great pitching staff has carried them all year, and they're here because they play in the worst division maybe in baseball. That's why they're here. So, yeah, they get just a little something out of Julio,

a little something out of Polanco and Hanager and those guys in the final half of the year, and they might have a chance to win 90-plus games and, who knows, find themselves back in the postseason. We're speaking to Dave Softy-Moller from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, Softy, I do want to talk about the Kraken a little bit here and their continual evolution in the market, trying to get into a very crowded sports marketplace.

So eventful last few months, right? Haxtall out, Bilesma in. They get pretty big signings in Brandon Montour, Chandra Stevenson, these big money anyway. They also hired Jessicabell as the first female assistant coach in hl history so all of this collectively has it raised the profile are you guys talking more cracking are you excited for the changes curious to get your thoughts on everything that's happened over the last couple months with the kraken yeah there hasn't been

much talk about the kraken to be honest with you and we're the home of the crack and we carry all the games and there hasn't been a lot of chatter. I was wondering, yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, look, I mean, obviously the names of the guys that the team has brought in over the offseason have been, you know, decent household names. But I still think the average Seattleite isn't as dialed in with those names as, for example, people like you are, you know, up in Canada. I mean, you guys know Ian Furness, our midday show. He's got Canadian blood in him.

He's a big hockey guy, and he does way more hockey on his show than we do. But I just think that they still need to go out and find a difference maker, right? They need to find a star. Got to find a guy that can carry this team, you know, come March and April and come playoff time when they make it. And I don't know if they still have that guy, right? I mean, they're looking for Matty Beneers to step up and kind of take that next step.

I mean, the team had no personality whatsoever with Dave Haxtell as their head coach, but it wasn't surprising to see Haxtell get fired because we said this when the team launched three years ago, that whoever the head coach was going to be was likely not going to be around long enough to see this team eventually start to win. That's how expansion coaches usually work.

I mean, I realize that Vegas was a little bit of a different animal, but go back and look at when the Sonics moved to Oklahoma. P.J. Carlissimo was there for half a year, one year, and he got fired. So not surprising at all to see that move made. Obviously, they still are looking for some stars, and we hope they've maybe found some in free agency. But they have a long way to go, I think,

to get up there on the priority ladder with teams like the Seahawks and the Mariners and Huskies after the year the Huskies just had. Well, I was – Ruff and I were talking about that last week, like the Huskies through – and it's not a wrench, but it just made it a lot more competitive sports market. Is there lack of – like, as you said, they're not high on the priority chart and they kind of lack of personality. Is that, or should that be a concern for the team?

Or are they going with the idea that it'll just take more time? I think it's a concern a little bit because the Sonics are on the way back to Seattle. And there's a lot of people that have not renewed their season tickets for the crack. And, and I'll be honest with you. I'm one of them. You know, I had, I had great seats, second deck, front row, center ice, just phenomenal seats. And I could not find anybody to split them with me. I mean, they're expensive, you know, those are really good seats and, you know, they're 15, $16,000 for the, for the000 for the pair for a season. And you're looking at finding a couple of guys to maybe split them up

and take a few games to pop. And did not have a lot of interest in anybody doing that. And I said to myself, you know what, I could keep them. I could hang on to them, whatever. But decided to just let them go. I felt bad doing it because they're really good seats. And, you know, not likely going to get those types of seats again. I mean, obviously, I've got, you know, access with the media, blah, blah, blah. But you guys, you know,

know me, I'd rather sit in the stands and sit in the stuffy press box for God's sakes, but I'm going to save my money for the NBA when the Sonics return. Right. So I think there's a lot of competition now in this town for the sports dollar. You got the Sounders, you got the rain, you got the Kraken, Husky football, Husky basketball. You know, you've got the Sounders, you've got the Reign, you've got the Kraken, Husky football, Husky basketball. You've got a Seattle University team that is now in the West Coast Conference with Gonzaga, Seahawks, Mariners, the whole thing. So there's a lot of competition, guys, in this town for sports. And if you don't win, you're going to be left behind, for sure.

How far would making the playoffs consistently go or is it like you mentioned hey trying to find a star player that can put butts in seats is it more about that than being a consistent team that just makes the postseason well i just think i think first of all it's finding someone the town can fall in love with and there's really not one player out there i think that would really be the face of the team. You know, if you went to the average sports fan in Seattle and said, hey, who's the face of the Mariners? Well, it's Julio. Who's the face of the Seahawks?

Well, Geno Smith, Mike McDonald. I mean, it was Russell Wilson, Pete Carroll, guys like that, right? You know, Huskies, Kalen DeBoer, Michael Penix, blah, blah, blah. It was easy. Sounders, Brian Schmetzer, you know, Jordan Morris, right? So you go to a average seattle light and say who's the face of the kraken i don't know well name three players i don't know right i mean grubauer benears right whatever tolvanen i mean they just don't have that guy

they don't have that face they don't have that person that epitomizes kraken hockey and they need to find that guy this season for sure and then this is a fickle town right I mean look making the playoffs I think it would be unbelievable consistently making the playoffs and making deep runs that you know in any town you'd get support for the most part there's certain towns in America where a team can make a run consistently and they don't come out to watch and play go see the Tampa Bay Rays by the way you guys know about that Atlanta Brave fans sometimes aren't the greatest fans in the world either, but I just think they need to have some kind of an identity,

and they don't have that right now. Realistically, what's the timeline for the Sonics' return? I think we're – well, I've been saying that we're going to know by the end of this year, and there's obviously six months left uh i think the the 26 27 season is probably a pretty realistic goal you know the uh the 25 26 season would be next year 26 27 season after that so we're talking two years from now that probably is realistic you know there's been some thought that they want to do Vegas and Seattle together. Sure.

The opposite of what the NHL did when they brought in Vegas first and then Seattle. But I don't know where Vegas is with their arena. I don't know what that timeline looks like. Climate Pledge Arena is sitting there ready, made for the NBA. If you guys haven't been here yet, it's unbelievable. There's an NBA locker room ready to go that's just sitting for the most part vacant uh for those guys when they come back you saw david bonderman who's one of the minority owners of the boston celtics who also owns the majority

of the crack and he he's selling his share uh in in boston and the word is is that he's getting ready to take over majority share potentially of the of the new Sonics. There's been rumors that Jeff Bezos is going to get involved. There's been rumors that maybe Chris Hansen, who was the spark plug for this thing 10 years ago, may find his way to get involved as well, which I think would be phenomenal. But to me, we have reached the point where it's no longer a matter of if, it's only a matter of when. I really firmly believe that now with these guys. I'd be stunned in the next three or four years if they were not here.

Softie, you're the best, man. Thanks a lot for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week and the weekend. We'll do this again soon. All right, next time, just give me a couple options in case I sleep in again. Okay, sounds good.

Thanks, man. That's Dave Softie-Muller from 93.3 KJR FM Sports Talk Radio in Seattle. There's your Softie experience. It was fun. It was good. He's got a lot of energy. How many people here in Vancouver do you think become Sonics fans

when they come back? Yeah, that's a good one, actually. You think so? Yes. There's a burgeoning basketball market here for sure. It's often, you know, a lot of their representatives yell at us here at Sportsnet 650 for our egregious lack of NBA coverage. We don't do a lot of it, plain and simple. And there's a lot of those people that inherently won't cheer for the Raptors because they're from Toronto.

Yeah. Right. That exists. There isn't the Blue Jays connection where they won everyone over. Well, not everyone, but a lot of people over. The Raptors didn't really do that. There's a lot of Raptors fans here. I know that.

I mean, I remember the 2019 run, and I remember watch parties at Shark Club, and there was a lot of jerseys around town. All anecdotal evidence, sure, but still evidence nonetheless. I do think an expansion team, a new team that people can get in ground floor with locally, Pacific Northwest. Again, and all these people should have the understanding that the NBA is not coming back to Vancouver ever. It's not happening. But what if it did? But it's never going to happen.

But if it might, it never will. It's not coming back. It doesn't make any sense. Business-wise, there's not the right buyer. There's not the right arena. It's not going to happen. I think they would love for it to happen, but there's a queue of teams that are ahead of Vancouver,

and it starts with Vegas and Seattle, and then you can go to a few other ones, including I think they would probably go to Mexico City before they would come to Vancouver, if we're being dead honest. That's how far off I think Vancouver is in terms of getting an NBA team back. 26-27 for the Sonics seems so far away. Why wouldn't it be 25-26? Because they would have to have the expansion draft and everything, right?

And they usually announce it pretty far ahead. I think he's looking at a three-year window just as a sort of generic. He's also thinking they might announce it by the end of this year, but the year is half over. I think he's looking at a three-year window just as a sort of generic. He's also thinking they might announce it by the end of this year, but the year is half over. It might not be announced until 2025, in which case the team might not come into existence until 27, 28. It's all very guesstimate stuff when he's talking about a timeline. So to your original point, though, I think that there would be people that would be intrigued by the idea of latching on to a new team in the pacific northwest that they could grow their fandom with right it's not you're not getting a team back in vancouver but you're getting a team

close um and i'll be dead honest the geographic rivalry i thought that was gonna be developed between the canucks and the kraken is completely non-existent well they just like the Kraken haven't been they haven't been good at the same time right or relevant or relevant the to softy's point about fans not latching on to the Kraken in Seattle it's the same when you're trying to like create a rivalry like there's no one to hate on the kraken they're just guys they're it should work it should be a natural geographic in division rival i told this story last week when jamie was hosting with me when bruff and i started here at 650 and it coincided with like the kraken's debut we were like we need to get a weekly Kraken guest. We need to keep tabs on them consistently and regularly because they're going to be this long-awaited Pacific Northwest

Cascadia rival the Canucks have never had. The Canucks have always existed on an island in this map of the North American teams, and finally they were going to get one. So we just very erroneously, too, assumed that that was going to be a thing. Not only has it not played out the way that we thought, it's almost been the exact opposite.

Like, there's nothing there. Yeah. It's almost like, oh, man, I hope Seattle does good. Yeah, we talk about so many other teams with regularity that aren't the Kraken. I think we talk about the Coyotes or the former Arizona Coyotes more than we did about the Kraken. Definitely. Right.

And it's just one of those things where it's like, is this ever going to take off? Well, that's why I was story there to talk about. I don't, at least the Coyotes have a story. Like some people were getting on softies case in the end basket being like, what a peach this guy is.

He sounds like a real jerk. I think he was being brutally honest and he works for the rights holder for the team they're the team kjr is the one that has the krakens broadcasting rights like he's going full ham on a team that he theoretically should be pulling for and openly positioning as a good thing but he's saying it like i try i bought tickets i couldn't get anyone else interested with them the team doesn't have a hook it doesn't have an angle it doesn't have a personality and it doesn't have a angle. It doesn't have a personality. And it doesn't have a face. Those are problematic

things in a crowded sports market. The thing that would go furthest would be a playoff series. With Vancouver. With Vancouver. That's what they're going to need at this point. Or with anyone at this point. You know what? Even the fan invasion thing hasn't taken off.

I assume that Canucks games at Climate Pledge Arena when they were taking on the Kraken would have that same sort of vibe of Blue Jays fans getting into T-Mobile Park and getting after Mariners fans. I thought that dynamic would exist, but it hasn't. No. It's not even close. And I wonder if it's because you can't rile up a fan base

that isn't even really there. Yeah. They're unrileable. Yeah. They are rileless. I repeat, rileless. Okay. Coming up on this show, we're going to do what we learned on the other side.

I don't know what everybody has in store. I didn't ask. We're going to find out live on the radio. That's the beauty of live radio right there. We get to see everyone crash and burn at the same time, right on the other side of the break. But we're going to do our What We Learns, and then we're going to do Humanoid What We Learns. Get yours in. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650.

Anything you learned over the last 24 hours in sports doesn't even have to be about sports. We can go beyond the scope and talk about current events, news, whatever. But what did you learn over the last 24 hours? Let us know. Hashtag it, WWL. Dunbar-Limmer text line is 650-650. One

final segment to go. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show featuring Josh Elliott-Wolf on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Vic Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or

wherever you get your podcasts 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. 8.30 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda,

North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn time. 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, campbell. Never mind. I tried to get it in before this. Oh, man. campbell-pound.com today. Oh, you missed. I rushed it. it in before this. Oh, man. Campbell-pound.com today. Oh, he got read good. I rushed it.

I messed it up. You've never butchered it that poorly. That was really bad. There was a whole never mind. You just bailed out of it. I wasn't going to make it. Campbell-pound-com.com. He glitched out again.

No, Mr. Halford. No. All right. The song's ruined. The song's ruined. The read is ruined. What we learned is canceled for forever. Oh, no. Way to go, Josh.

Let's go around the table here. We'll begin with Josh Elliott-Wolf. What did you learn over the last 24 hours? What did I learn? I learned that in 2023, the ref reffed the canadian soccer match last night yes between canada and argentina as you recall chilean gentleman yeah yeah piero maza yep he had um personalized yellow cards yes i heard about this for a time briefly used them and they had his name on them and like a drawing of him yeah on the card yeah

a stenciled silhouette yeah it's kind of sick one of the one of the low-key flex going on right there a very good personalized branding exercise i'm not normally a big fan of them but i cannot disrespect the red card just has him with a really stern look on his face. I don't know what the upside is other than just being like, oh, that's the guy that has the personalized cards. What's his name again? Piero Mazza. Right. So you can brandish the personalized yellow card

and then say, you got Mazda'd. Was he the referee that got the six-month ban for taking a bribe? No. That was the guy. Which is wild. Let me get that out of the way first. That's wild that it's a six-month ban for taking a bribe? No. That was the guy. Which is wild. Let me get that out of the way first. That's wild that it's a six-month ban. Yeah.

For taking a bribe. Confirmed. They shake their finger like, Okay, just promise us you won't do it again, though. You gambling scamp. A referee. And then he looks up with that hound dog expression. Let's just buy him a present.

We can't soccer. How will we ever find another referee? Anyway, he was not, not good last night in the Argentina Canada match, but for those that didn't watch the rest of Copa America, pretty much on par for the officiating. Kudos to Jesse Marsh though, in the post-match media availability,

he was asked about the refereeing and he refused to go down that road. Didn't even entertain the notion of, I'm not talking about the officials. There's no point. It's a thankless task and a winless game. It's like arguing with people on the internet. There is no winner. He took the Rick Talkin approach. Well, the Rick Talkin approach is that you

praise the referees when they do a bad job. It's a real hard job. They got the real hardest job in the world out there. It's like an underhanded comment. Those guys do a great job. They're like, look, they got the hardest job. They got the real hardest job in the world. But it's more of like an underhanded comment. Those guys do a great job. They're on to them. They know that the more he praises them, the more he actually hates them now. I really thought the refs were great.

Did you just drop a, I'm a big ref guy? Yeah, I'm a big ref guy. Big ref guy, yeah. That's when you know he's really upset with the refs. Mook, how about that? I assume that we're all familiar with the concentrated tetra juice pack capri sun everyone's familiar with these yeah you pronounce it capri sun which is weird because I imagine you especially have drank a million capri suns over your life I do every morning okay on the

way to work if we down on them if we can crowdsource we're of more of a Kool-Aid jammer kind of guy. Stop. If we can crowdsource enough money, the four of us can become a minority shareholder, stakeholder in Capri Sun. They announced yesterday that they are selling a minority stake in the company for a cool 500 million. We can become part owners of Capri,

or as you call it, Capri. And let me be clear, no one else calls it that. I'll do it if they let me change the pronunciation of that. It's the Capri Sun. Now, here's the issue with investing in these. I don't know if any of you are familiar, but the juice box game for children has changed dramatically over the last decade or two decades. I'm not familiar, but explain.

My kid just finished grade seven. I think in the seven years that he spent in elementary school, he had a grand total of five to ten juice boxes, period. They're not kosher. They're not landfill. They're garbage.

You get bullied. Maybe by the parents. You can recycle juice boxes, can't you? But it's added waste as opposed to a water bottle, which is the choice. So the kids just not drink juice? They just drink water? Yeah, and the sugary drink aspect of it, too. I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but Capri Sun, not all that healthy. Get out of here.

Get out of here. It says there's fruit in it. I'm going to change that perception once I buy into the company. So it's twofold. It's the leftover garbage at the end of it, which, yes, you can't recycle, but it's still waste and periods. And if you don't recycle it, which I'm not sure you're aware of or not, but all kids don't often throw everything in the proper receptacle. It's also the juice aspect that you don't send your kid to school with a sugary drink. Remember those plastic juice?

I think it was Kool-A and it was like completely see-through and it was all plastic and you had to like rip the top off and it was like the cool i think that's what laddie was talking about no the kool-aid jammers are essentially a capri sun knockoff but was it the same so it was sorry was it the same straw you poke it into the side very difficult to puncture it because you had to push the angle yeah you couldn't push directly down you had to kind of do it on an angle you don't want to poke through the back of it. And I know the ones you're talking about. They came in the colors of the French food dyes that are now illegal. Ah, Squeeze-Its.

That's what they're called. Oh, man, I love Squeeze-Its. That's not good. Anything that resembles the colors, you'd see it like Benjamin Moore. They're not healthy for me. Oh, yeah. It's literally the only ingredient that said food dye. There's nothing else.

There's no other ingredients. In 27 countries. The flavors I'm seeing of Squeeze It are Chuckling Cherry. Yep. Very red. Apple. Oh man, Squeeze It was so good. Apple's a fruit. Anyway. Why'd it go from Chuckling Cherry to just Apple? Just plain old Apple.

Y'all huck me a Squeeze It Apple, bud. I'm trying to get my fruit intake up. Please throw me one of those squeeze-it apples, as opposed to a real apple. They were just impossible to open to. So while I thought it was a great investment idea at the start, I am now thinking maybe not so much.

Moo, count me. Ladrick, you're up. What we learned, it's the time of year where we're getting kind of down. We're a long way away from the new hockey season. We're down we're down bad big time that was a good one thanks uh people starting to you know get a little bit starved for hockey right they want some content well i got news for you the beauty league is back oh god the beauty league is back how much i hate the beauty i know i was trying to tell him there will be he't listening. I know how much he hates it. That's why I'm doing this.

I hate saying it. I hate watching it. There are two Canucks taking part, my friends. Derek Forbert will be the captain for Team Element, while Teddy Bluger is on Team Walser. Remember Teddy Bluger came on our show right after he signed his deal. Did we ask him about beauty league? I forget.

No, because I hate it. Starting it up, Halford. I don't like saying, duh, Beauty League, first off. Duh, Beauty League. It sounds dumb. It's just a summer skate. It's not anything. It's not a-

You can work up over this. It's on YouTube. Okay. Yeah, and people are like, did you see Besser's sick goal in the Beauty League? I'm like, I didn't, because I'm a grown up. The goalie's flying out 30 feet doing a push-up that you've never seen. Dude, we legit had one guy in the Beauty League? I'm like, I didn't because I'm a grown-up. The goalie's flying out 30 feet doing a punch-up that you've never seen. We legit had one guy in the inbox last year,

I remember, complaining because we weren't covering it. He'd be like, tell me the Beauty League scores. Yeah, it's a bunch of guys that spend the entire summer crushing beers on the lake, and then they go for a skate at night. That's all it is. So if Derek Forbert scores a hat-trick in the Beauty League, you're not going to expect him to have a great offensive year?

I never want to hear that sentence on the show again derrick forbort hat trick beauty league none of it i don't want it but thank you for bringing it to my attention now that i know that it's on i can ignore it in its entirety mook out uh a dog you're up yeah another movie one another beauty the beauty league yeah they're making a movie out of the beauty league it's going straight to video. Releasing on VHS for some reason and no other format. I'm actually surprised about this because I didn't realize there was a third and fourth of this film franchise. They just announced yesterday Shrek 5 is coming out.

Come on. Shrek 5. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz reuniting for a new Shrek film. I'm not going to lie. I completely forgot there was a Shrek 3 and 4. I remember liking the first two when they came out, although I haven't seen them since they came out, but I remember liking the first two. I did not

know there was a third or fourth Shrek. But when you say forget, that means you knew of their existence in the first place. I must have at one point. I did not. I thought Shrek stopped at one, and then Josh quickly said, no, Shrek 2 is the best. No, 2 is very funny. Shrek 2 is the best. Actually, I think I like 2 more than 1. 2 is...

I don't remember. It's been so long since I've seen it. Shrek the 3rd, I believe, has Justin Timberlake in it. Never saw that. If I'm not wrong. You've got the right title and everything. Yeah. No, Shrek the 3rd.

Well, I'm looking at it right now. What came out before he was born? He was born into the Shrek franchise. What year were you born? 98. Right. So Shrek 2 came out in 2004. I was six.

Right in your wheelhouse. Yeah, there we go. The greatest movie you've ever seen. He's giving it a chef's kiss. He's like, this thing should win Oscars. The way the green man. Single tear. He's like, I love this.

Apparently, it's coming out the same day as Toy Story 5. And that's another one. I mean, I know about Toy Story 4. I saw it. I think I liked it. But I usually just think of the first three Toy Story. Four was good. That's another one. I mean, I know about Toy Story 4. I saw it, and I think I liked it, but I usually just think of the first three Toy Stories. Four was good. Four got good reviews.

Yeah, I think I remember enjoying it. I just don't remember much about it. I watched it yesterday. As a parent, because there's so much. The first two Toy Stories are amazing, by the way. They're just still hysterical. We actually watched the first one last night just randomly. Apropos of nothing?

Yeah, seriously. I know. The first two Toy Stories are very, very, very funny, and I watched the first one last night. Just randomly. Apropos of nothing? Yeah, seriously. I know, the first two Toy Stories are very, very, very funny. And I think the third one's good, but I can't remember. Wait, so you guys both watched Toy Story last night?

You watched it too? I watched Toy Story 4 yesterday. Oh, okay. But he's got an excuse. Yeah, he is. He's babysitting. Yours is much more confusing. So what do you got on the docket

for Tuesday night, bud? Well... Josh was babysitting a young child. Andy was at home. This is much more confusing. So what do you got on the docket for Tuesday night, bud? Well. Josh was babysitting a young child. Andy was at home. Andy is a young child. Eating a bowl of cereal. Eating a bowl of cereal, watching Toy Story. Actually, that's exactly what happened. So if you have children, or in this case, are Andy,

you know that there's a lot of options in terms of like youth, children's programming, specifically animated flicks. So your kids usually gravitate to one or two, and they'll watch it over and over and over again. You've got to show them Finding Nemo. That's the best one. Yeah, I know. I've seen them all, but my kid was really into the Cars series.

See, that's one I never saw. I don't think I've seen any of those. Well, it looks like someone's got plans for tonight. Exactly, going to binge them. Okay, mook out that. Fire up the dot matrix. Give them the gift fire plan. Oh my God.

We're having a fire plan. Okay. What we learned, humanoid edition. A lot of content coming through on Josh Elliott Wolfe's egregiously large water. And again, it's not egregious. Dude,fe's egregiously large water. And again, it's not egregious. Dude,

that's a big ass water bottle. I'm hydrated. I don't know what to tell you guys. Don't look at that thing and tell me that isn't humongous. It's big. Okay. Don't put that in context. We're talking about the water bottle still,

of course. Woodrow, the eligible bachelor, hashtag WWL. What we learned, the only thing more dangerous than a Dan Riccio water bottle spill is getting crushed by Josh's outrageously large canteen of water. If you want to see the clip

in which Josh's egregiously large water bottle comes out of scene, out of shot, and then into the screen, and then I look over in amazement at its size. It's available now at Sportsnet 650. There's a Hydrofest over there. I've never... I'm always

living a Hydrofest. Buy your own on Amazon, by the way. That's why I got this one. Are you hawking gigantically large water bottles right now? I'm sponsored by Hydrofest. You got a big competition with Stanley going on right now. Everyone knows about Hydrofest. I didn't until this very moment.

Now I can't unsee it because it takes up two thirds of the screen. But what do we got? Let's start firing off some more. Sounds like a water park themed music festival.

Hydrofest. Now you got an idea that I can't. I wanted to poke a hole in it. Welcome to Hydrofest. With the Euro Trash Wednesdays music. Yeah, there you go. You know what?

We need to read some of these humanoid submissions. I want to circle back on this later, though. Why? Hydrofesco, brr. Dayman, Defender of the Nightman, hashtag WWO, what we learned.

Copa America officiating is just as bad as Vintage Gold Cup officiating. I would push back a little bit that in some of these matches with the way that the south american game is played at a fever pitch they're incredibly difficult incredibly difficult to officiate because you have like several teams their sole purpose unfortunately is to try and get one over on the official. It was that cynicism in approaching the game that I talked about earlier.

It's very prevalent, right? And call it the dark arts or the craftiness or some people will say having that guile, that cunning. Whatever the case, it's very difficult to officiate a 90-minute match where throughout the 90 minutes, everyone's looking to get one over on you. That's all I'll say. I didn't think the referee did a good job last night at all.

I think he missed a very egregious foul in the lead-up to the first Argentinian goal. But I watched the entirety of the Copa America, all the Canadian matches. The officiating was sketchy at best. You call it the dark arts, and I mentioned it in the break. Why does a team, top-ranked team like Argentina, need to delve into the dark arts to beat lowly Canada in a tournament like that? Isn't that embarrassing?

Is that below them? Just kind of how they play, though. I know, but like... It's part of the package. To have to do that, to beat a team like Canada, you have to do that? They don't have to. It's part of how they play.

It's so frustrating to watch. The kicker at the end of it is like, well, we won. So whatever we did, however we did it end of it is like well we won so whatever we did however we did it doesn't matter because we won and if winning is the only canada playing japan at the olympics and hockey and like parking the bus after going up one nothing and like why you don't need to play that way if the ultimate goal is winning and you don't care about aesthetics i guess i care about looking pathetic while doing it i guess i'm not me, that's what it seems like. I'm not trying to defend it. I'm trying to maybe relay the way that the game is thought about

in different parts of the game. I would not be stoked about that way you won if I was an Argentina fan. That's the only way. But I just think they look at it and they're like, we won! And it's fine. And they dust their hands off and they move on to the final. That's about it. You got one. You got one. You got one.

What we learned is humanoid edition. Yeah. In basket. Go ahead. This one, Sasha in darkest North Vancouver. Frequent texter. Very good texter. Two of Canada's Olympic skateboarding group are BC's Matt Berger. He's from Kamloops.

And Ryan DiCenzo from Delta. The third, Faye DeFazio-Iber, won Canada's first gold medal in skateboarding at the 2023 Pan Am Games and is likely one of the youngest athletes at the Paris Olympic. She's only 14. So we've got two BC-born skateboarders going. Andy, you're trying to chase, if I'm not mistaken, right? You're trying to track down some... Via skateboard.

He cannot... They want to come on our show? Do you trying to track down some... The escape board. He cannot... They want to come on our show? Do you... Do a kickflip? They are way faster. Do you want to tell everyone what happened when we tried to get a breakdancing guest?

I don't want to throw him under the bus. Why not? He's preparing for the largest tournament of his life. A competition. He declined. Yeah, he declined. So we tried to get the...

Philip Kim, yeah. Philip Kim, we tried to get the Canadian contingent for the breakdancing competition. He heard 10 minutes of our show and was like, uh, no. We had him on Canuck Central. What?

At an event one time. Oh. Oh, he was at an event. He was at it. Yeah, he's trying to focus on the Olympics. Right. He can't pop and or lock with efficiency if he's talking to us.

So I get that. How much of his day do you think is dedicated to practicing? I bet a lot. All of it. All day he's walking down the street, popping his pockets. The whole thing? Do you just dance all day?

Do you dance like nobody's watching or are a lot of people watching? I have so many questions that are now going to go unanswered because you won't come on our show. I got one here from Marcus and Gibson's hashtag WW what we learned. I learned that Ilya Mikheyev would fit nicely on the Canadian soccer team because he has no finish either. Yeah, it was. There weren't as many chances in previous matches of the glaring variety

that Canada missed yesterday. It was more half chances, although at the end, the header that just whisked achingly wide, and then Martinez did have to make a nice save. Canada missed more glorious chances in this tournament, and when it's done, because I'll remind you that Canada is playing a third place match on Saturday, so it's not quite done yet.

But when it's done, they're going to look back on the entirety of this tournament and say, okay, the number one thing we need to work on is figuring out how we turn all of this chance creation into finish and execution. Because the finishing was pretty dreadful. And as you saw

yesterday the class teams like argentina don't need a lot of looks on net to convert right they didn't they didn't create a ton of chances yesterday but when they got them they were pretty ruthless and clinical and efficient in their finishing so yeah that's something that jesse marsh is going to need to work on after this tournament is done. Yeah. It's like, is that Jonathan David? Wasn't a great tournament for him. Yeah. Wasn't good. Kyle Lahren, really poor.

There was a tweet saying he had his cement boots on. Which is weird because if you look at his form playing for Lille in Ligue 1, I'm getting all my pronunciation in here, he scores with regularity. Yeah. Now, granted granted different style, different setup,

different service. It just seems internationally that you can't do it. I scored a lot of goals. Just they needed them in clutch moments in this term and they didn't happen. Basketball, Phil hashtag WW what we learned. No Kawhi Leonard for team USA in Paris. Not surprising when you look at his injury history.

I wonder if he's the only one, perhaps Durant who isn't playing tonight, versus Canada in the friendly in Vegas. Yeah, Canada's going to take on the U.S., and apparently both teams are going to be really guarded about showing each other anything. Yeah, there's minute restrictions on guys, and I think they both have this acknowledgement

that they could be meeting each other in the gold medal match, so they don't want to give away any trade secrets tonight, but they are going to play a friendly. Very bold of Canada to survive. I guess hold on to whatever cards you got. Yeah, you don't need to. I mean, it's just a game to get some reps together. You don't need to show anything here, but

yeah, Kawhi out. I think Kawhi was going to be at the end of the bench anyway, so I don't think this is a huge loss for their rotation. The replacement is Derek White. Oh, they named a replacement already? I didn't even know that. huge loss for their rotation. I heard them. Their replacement is Derek White. Oh, they named a replacement already? Yeah. I didn't even know that.

The reports are that it's going to be Derek White. Okay, good to know. As opposed to, it feels like a weird pick. Donovan Mitchell is still available. Kyrie Irving is still available. Derek White. You know what? It's actually not that crazy when you think about bringing in a guy

that might be at the end of the bench. You want to add Kyrie Irving to that mix? Yeah, I guess. Come, join the team. You're never going to play until we're blowing out South Sudan or whoever else is in their group. Here's one from Dan. Hashtag WWL, what we learned.

The Kraken feel is important in the NHL as much as Columbus does. If we were to power rank the least influential, least relevant Coyotes are gone now, so it's open season. Utah is very engaging and intriguing now because they're new. The Anaheim Ducks would be on my list for sure. The Columbus Blue Jackets would be on.

The Anaheim Ducks with their off-season. It's off-season where Pat Verbeek forgot to set his watch. The biggest thing they did was change their uniforms. That's it. Forgot about free agency day. They changed their uniforms and traded for Robbie Fabry. And then they're like, good job, guys. Our gear is done.

Let's go to the cottage. Who else would you put on the list? Is San Jose too bad? They impact in like a... They just tank. They got Celebrity playing now. They're going to have attention. We had Shang Peng on the show earlier this week from San Jose, NBC sports,

California. And he was saying that there's a real vibe, not just because they're so desperate for it, but the, the ties with his dad and the Golden State Warriors in the Bay area. And the fact that Will Smith is coming along too, like there's actual energy for the first time. The actor.

Yeah. Right. After smacking Chris Rock, everyone's really interested in watching him play hockey. He's there to be a protector. I mean, it would be a draw. It would be, 100%. So who is the least interesting team?

Who do you decide on? I do always default to Columbus, to be honest. Okay, so we got Columbus, Anaheim, Seattle's in that mix, I would say, which is crazy because they're only a year removed. They're going to be better next year. You hope, for their sake. Columbus doesn't have a coach yet, right? No, they're still waiting.

Yeah, so that makes me slightly interested. I would say probably Anaheim. Ottawa's probably in there, too. But they made some moves this offseason. They got Olmark. They're just greeners behind the bench there now. New ownership, new coach. Very excited about that.

I'm intrigued by Ottawa. We have Ian Mendez on all the time, right? Yeah. Is there any other team that jumps to mind right away? No, not to me. I think we did it. Maybe Montreal Ian Mendez out all the time, right? Yeah. Is there any other team that jumps to mind right away? No, not to me. I think we did it. Maybe Montreal, but they're still on the rise. The Canadian teams are always just like there's a level of interest in them anyway.

Maybe Minnesota is always just boring. It's going to be tough for them to shed that boring label. It is. Right? Even when they got Kaprizov in it, it looked like it might be exciting. New Jersey hasn't even shed that label. They haven't had Jacques Lemaire behind the bench in like 20 years they still get that label uh does anybody have another what we learned at the ready we flagged a bunch in the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket eight years in you got two minutes left

uh this one John the lawyer I just learned that there is a world cup of ball hockey and team Canada won gold in double overtime against Czechia there's Boomer Halford and his computer running what was that that was your computer I know but And Team Canada won gold in double overtime against Czechia. Sportsnet 650 inbox. There's Boomer Halford and his computer running. What was that? That was your computer. That was you. I know, but why did it say that? Sportsnet 650 inbox.

Why did it say that? I didn't make it say that. I didn't push a talk button. There are buttons on your computer that weren't pressed. But what button is like, I'm going to read what's on your screen right now? I don't know. That weird is it not you're all laughing but I think that's very strange the voice said sports

that 650 inbox the voice said wait I'm gonna talk back to it hello you clearly did something to make it play that clearly but I don't know what it wasn't intentional oh my god all the things that you could read please read the title page of one of the websites. Wow.

I've never seen that happen before. I was also trying to look up the Ball Hockey World Cup. See, what you can do is your computers there, both of them, have volume controls, and you can turn the volume all the way down on both of them. I know I have the volume up, but the question is, what did I press to make it say that? Because now I want to hear it again.

Anyway, Team Canada beat Czechia in double overtime in a thrilling match. That's good. They did. but the question is what did I press to make it say that because now I want to hear it again anyway team Canada beat Czechia in double overtime in a thrilling match that's good they did it's on YouTube it was in Switzerland

that's right so Canada first Czech Republic second USA third congratulations to all the ball hockey teams it's been a fun day Josh great work today

bud I'm very excited to work the rest of the week with you I can only imagine the sentiment is the same yeah I'm pumped please bring that water bottle back tomorrow.

I bring it every day. We got to get out of here for today, but we will be back. Bring it to Hydrofest. Signing off, I have been Mike Halford. He's been Josh Elliott-Wolfe. He's been A-Dog. He's been Laddie. This has been the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet. 6.50.