Halford & Brough in the Morning - The BC Lions Are One Win Away From A Grey Cup Appearance!

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason do some Ask Us Anythings (3:00), plus they preview Saturday's Western Final featuring your BC Lions at the Saskatchewan Roughriders, as 3 Down Nation's JC Abbott (22:51) joins the show.  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.

703 on a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Halford in Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are now in our two of the program. from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. It's going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to by Jason hominock at Jason.orgage.

If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.com. We are coming to live from the Kintech studio, Kintech, footwear and orthotics, working together with you and step. To the phone lines we go. Our next guest is the owner and proprietor of AJ's pizza at 325 and 327 East Broadway. It's AJ,

Halford and Breff Show on SportsNet 650. What up, dude? What's going on? Who was crying? Jacob Dobish, one of the goalies for the Montreal Canadians. Young guy, 24 years old, very upset about what happened. A 4-3 overtime loss, which I don't really think he was on the hook, but he was upset. Yeah, I mean, listen, I'll give Ernie Clement.

He could have cried. Yes. That was a rough one. He's allowed to cry. You're not allowed to cry. You can take your pick of the Blue Jays that were allowed to cry. Laddie was crying. Laddie was crying, de facto crying. I'm glad he was allowed to cry. That was terrible.

We don't need to relive it. I'm glad you brought up the ball game because I was in AJ's last Saturday for the Jay's game and I got to sit on the new side of the restaurant on 327 East Broadway. And I have come to the realization, AJ, that this isn't just a place now to eat pizza and drink beer and watch sports. It's also a place to hold your next event. There was a nine-year-old girl's birthday party going on next to us. What, sir? Yeah.

Oh, really? That was... Were they there for sports? No, but they learned a lot of new words. Those nine-year-old girls are like, let's watch some football. They have a new vocabulary that they went to school with on Monday. A colorful array of words. So if you are looking for somewhere to host your birthday party...

That guy over there is suss. I'm going to run the gamut here. Birthday parties, baby showers, bar mitzvahs, communions, social gatherings, all of it. Three, two, 70. It is a great space. and I highly recommend everyone check it out. But if you're going to go this weekend, AJ, set it up for us because you've got a couple Canucks games

and a very loaded Sunday in the world sports. You got a couple Canucks games, come in, come in before, come in after, and come and watch, and then big Seahawks game, bro. Yeah, that's going to be a good one too. I like them. Me too. It's a big football weekend for me, Lions, Riders.

And then, hey, just remember, too, everybody's off on Tuesday, so if you're strategic, take Monday off and just let it rip. That's why he's the best in the business, folks. Go visit AJ's Pita on. East Broadway this week. And a reminder, if you want to host your event, get a hold of them. Visit them online at AJ's.com. A.J., thanks for doing us today, bud.

Appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend. You too. Yeah, enjoy the weekend. You too. That's AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Reminder. Ask us anything Friday is going on right now. We haven't done one yet. You know that? We haven't done a single ask us anything. So that gives you a chance. Yeah, we did the one about the crying. Yeah. I don't remember that. The last time you guys cry. Oh, yeah, right. I forgot. Maybe I blocked it out. It was a touching moment. You cried last Saturday. No, I do remember now.

Get them in. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650. If you hashtag it at AUA and put a pizza emoji into your text, you might win a $100 gift card day J's pizza on East Broadway. Okay, I'll do one here. Ben, the Gamer Guy, text in. It's a what we learned and it asked us anything.

I like that. It's kind of a loaded question, actually. What I learned is that there's a large contingent of overly sensitive babies who really don't like black being on the team Canada jerseys. Personally, I always really enjoyed the black, accents on the different team Canada jerseys over the years, even told my fiancee last night, Brecker, I think they look smoking hot. Something she promptly informed me. I'd never

called her before. You guys might have already talked about it, but what's your opinion on the color black in on team Canada jerseys? I always dig the black ice look tough as hell. I guess I'm an overly sensitive baby although I'm not going to cry about it I didn't I don't love the I certainly don't like the black on black that looks like it's like worn by like the dark night yeah and I don't like the I don't think I

I like the black maple leaf either I'm a red and white guy I'm I'm I'm old you know I don't mind you're a patriot uh I don't mind that the, I don't mind a couple like, again, black accents, but like, yeah, I want, I want the leaf to be red. All of this taken out of context could get us fired. Yeah, I'm going to plead the fifth. Just move on to the next time.

Okay, so first things first, I feel as though it's a little too, uh, maple leaf heavy in the center. It's big. The maple leaf is large. Now, this isn't to say, this isn't an anti-patriety. thing like the maple leaf needs to be shrunk it's just huge it's just and i and i'm one so that's your problem with it it's the just the leaf is too large okay the leaf has like uh the leaf is i wasn't done yet that was i was i said that was my first problem was it it feels like it's the logo and the leaf and everything is too big it takes up too much on the leaf okay isn't it

kind of like brutalist you know and it's like it's do you know what i mean like it's it's it's kind of like sharp, good design jargon. Yeah, I saw the movie. Yeah. Okay. Nice. Now, with regards to the color scheme, unfortunately, the reason that the texter likes it is part of the larger, like,

aesthetic theme and trend that's going on with a lot of the sports uniforms is like, what if we did a black version because of what he called tough, right? He's like, it's tough. And then a lot of other people think it's like dark and. And nasty, and it gives you that brooding sort of like, here comes the evil empire or whatever. Wasn't there a study done that seems that wear darker black uniforms got more penalties? Yeah, that study was like decades old. And I don't even know if it was, I don't even know if it was true.

Like this, I mean, you say this is recent. This is going all the way back to when like the L.A. kings changed their jerseys to. I mean, the lions did it at one point. They were like, we're going black and silver. I'm like, the lions? Yeah, I know. Because the thing is, is like, the black jerseys, if you go back in the lower, in the history of the Raiders, right?

The Raiders are the, and the reason that they wore them was because they wanted that identity. They wanted to be literally like the Raider or the pirate that was on the side of the helmet. They wanted to wear black and they wanted to be the evil empire. And now it's kind of been co-opted where everyone's got one. Like the, you know, the Jay's City Connects are black and I've seen like countless teams have them in their arsenal and it just kind of feels like it's been overdone. Like everyone's got one. So what really makes it special if everybody's doing it?

that being said, I find Jersey aesthetics talk like nauseating like at the end of like who cares who cares right and I know that it's a cottage industry for a lot of people who like obsess about this stuff and that's great but we work in a medium where no one can no one's even looking at it right now

we're just describing what something looks like I'm usually with you on this but I really don't like the the all black black on black agreed like I I saw that and normally I'm kind of like yeah, whatever. Okay, well, let's use this. Let's use this as a jumping-off. But that looks like, that looks like,

I mean, have you even seen the dark night? Do you know any of this stuff? It's the Batman's. Yeah, yeah. Don't you think it looks like those. It does very much look like that. It's like those oilers jerseys when they had the dark blue with the weird logo on the front.

I just never liked the look of it. Now, you can have a glossy black or a matte black because Matt black I think was kind of cool there for a while. And you can kind of like vary it up with the different like shades, I guess that you're going or the tint or the tone. But at the end of the day, it just kind of seems repetitive and dull at this point. I'm just, I'm a red and white man. Ryan on the road, did you guys talk about the Vancouver goldenized jerseys yet?

Those are awesome. So glad they didn't just go blue and green. Here we go. That's red. Actually, I like the name. I like the name. The color scheme seems quite oilish. It's good of ice.

You know who's going to be dropping there. The inaugural first puck It's Pierce Brosnan That's a tough get But we're gonna try Look at the old Cootney Ice jerseys though It's the exact same scheme as the Cootney Ice Yeah okay

But yeah I mean there's Listen there's only so many color schemes Most of the time you come out with the color scheme You're like that's You're not bothered with like the James Bond like comparison But that's not what they named it after I know But why would I be bothered by that

James Bond is awesome Yeah but then you'll always think about That one movie from 1995 starring Pierce Brosnan or a very popular video game for the Nintendo 64. That's where my mind. Great game. Yeah. One of the two.

You didn't play it. No. There are countless people in our age group. I was reading books at that time or watching James Bond. Actually, more important. Probably that. I read Golden Eye. By books, he means TV guide.

When is GoldenEye on? There's countless, although they might not be awake right now, but there's countless people our age who in their 20s or maybe even a little bit earlier. I don't know, because you're younger, a little bit younger than I am. Yeah, that GoldenEye was the party game for teenagers of my era. Yeah, in my group of friends, I stunk at it. So I got... Is that way you guys, you said, this is our party game. Yeah.

You're not getting invited to the actual parties? Yeah, exactly. Since there are no girls here, we will play Golden Night. Someone said, do you mean an in lieu of party game? And they all went, yeah. I'd rather go to the Golden Night Party, to be honest with... Yeah, to be honest. Way more fun.

A Golden Eye is a duck. Yes. It's a diving duck, apparently. But I'm good with... Some of them don't dive. they don't like to get their hair wet. I'm good. The dumps is like, no.

No. I'm good with the name. I'm good with the logo. I'm glad they've got a name now. Are they going to lean into the James Bond stuff though? Again, no. No, they're not. Because, I mean, it's right there.

I can't tell you this enough. They should have, they should have third jerseys where they're tuxedos. Yeah, exactly. There you go. I mean, they made it abundantly clear by the color scheme and the countless references to the duck that they are not leaning into the pure. is Brozden film of 1995. I'm just saying.

But I will say, can you cue up that music again? This would be epic skate out of the tunnel. Oh, yeah. Totally. It's great. Yeah. So for those that don't know what that is, that's the pause music from the video game. Title Golden Eye.

Such a banger. An absolute banger, which is like a throwaway project for someone that was working on the video game. Came up with a great track. Yeah. Play that over and over and over. Yogi and Burnaby ask us anything if by magic you became a multi-billionaire and you became

the new owner of the Canucks how would you improve the team on and off the ice do we want to say the obvious thing here I mean don't tell Bick but I'd rebuild I didn't see this clip yet Bick was apparently going on

and saying it's like everyone's just saying rebuild to be part of the conversation I'm like I don't think we're saying it to be part of the conversation he called it a corporate buzzword It's like, dude, I was saying this word 11 years ago. I don't think he knows what a rebuild or a corporate buzzword is at that point. Like, I remember all the way back

right after the Kentucky got bounced by San Jose in 2013. All the way back then, I was like, I think it's time to rebuild. And it never happened. It is the hot topic of the day. Drance has hit yesterday in our show got a lot of social media plus with the way he went about it.

I would look at everything. From, honestly, from the branding to the game presentation you know Dodd said the other day the team's a bit stale I kind of agree with that like the team just the everything

yeah the organization I'm not even kidding I think I think I'm buying a new team I'm just I'm going to make changes right like I'm not just going to be like a passive owner you know like I'll probably be on the power play but sure you know

I'm not even kidding as far as in game presentation goes which I do think is generally quite good at Rogers Arena to be honest I'd bring back the organ. They got to get that organ back in there. A hockey arena without an actual organ playing bangers. That's your day one thing.

Yeah, number one. I don't hate that. I don't hate that. Forget the practice facility. I don't hate that. Practice facility is a very distant second. That was going to be my answer. I was getting that organ back in there.

I was surprised at almost at practice facility right away. It took like five minutes into the conversation. I thought that was going to be number one. But the organ is good. Well, because that just seems so obvious. Like that's like the clear number. Obviously, that's number one. Well, no rebuilding could be number one.

I would like to walk into that office and be like, there's going to be a lot of changes. You there. A lot of changes. Here's another one, kind of similar. David and North Van, ask us anything, if you could trade the Canucks' entire roster, and I imagine he includes like prospects in that.

For any other roster in the NHL, are there any teams you wouldn't trade for? I can only think of the flames and maybe the Rangers, and that's depressing. There's probably some other teams. I wouldn't trade for. I think,

all the Islanders have Schaefer. Yep. So much of it... And you get Bo Horvett back. That's fun. So much of it depends on, you know, like what is Queen Hughes going to do?

But I think most of us are assuming at this point, at this point, that he's... I got one for you. We'll take a dramatic pause. I got one for you guys. Would you trade straight up

the Vancouver Canucks roster for the National Predators roster? No. That's another one I wouldn't do. Yes. That vaults right to the top of the... knows.

Oh no. Yeah, especially when Ryan O'Reilly. The guys only had one good year in his career. According to Ryan O'Reilly. Yeah. Yeah, that's a bad one. I actually watched that. I got another one.

A bit of that Flyers Preds game and halfway through, I was like, why am I watching this? I got another one for you. Would you trade the Vancouver Canucks roster for the Seattle Crackens roster? Oh, that's another one I wouldn't do, just out of spite. They got a couple of good prospects. They do. Berkeley Caton, a huge fan of him.

Sure? Mm-hmm. yeah I just can't do it Here's another one This is a fun game Would you trade the Vancouver Canucks roster for The Toronto Maple Leafs roster On the downward slope

Right That's another good one Yeah that is quite a few Yeah yeah that's a good one Yeah keep your hat up Vancouver Canucks I wouldn't trade you for everyone Would you trade them for the Leafs Because I think right now you get a better product

End of sentence I don't know man They don't not look very good and Austin. They're still 8.5 and 1. So, like, I think this year, you probably have a better year. This year. Can you get the lease roster with Demko in that?

Can't do that. Can't do it. Can't do it. It's a great little, uh, great little thought exercise here. How quickly could you tear down this Canucks roster? Um, well, I mean, if you were systematic about it, you could do it in the span of a year and thorough and, and if you were wrong, as if you did what the, uh, New York Rangers and Montreal Canadians did, which is send a,

letter, put the guy's names in the letter, get on the group chat, you like, the following players are up for sale. But so many guys have no move clauses. Like, you look at PD. You can work around those. Well, I don't know. That's a whole separate idea. You trade all your best players for picks and prospects and hope you land Gavin McKinna. I mean, if there was a year

to do it, this is the year. Bessor's got a no move. You plan your rebuild around the superstar prospect. Bessers got a no move. DeBrusk has a no move. Horonix got a no move. Marcus Petterson's got a no move. Tyler Myers has a no move. Yeah, the way around it is you trade what you can.

No, you change the grammar. No, move. No, I think you would, at that point, you would go, just be like, hey, man, we don't want you on the team anymore. And they're like, oh, fine. And if you stay, we're going to create the most toxic environment imaginable. And then they were like, change the locks. And then they'd be like, didn't you already?

Yeah. Like, wait a minute. Yeah, Bessar would be like, I'm used to it, man. I can deal with this. How hell have we been doing before this? Do we have to do one to watch here? Because I want to read and ask us anything. I had another would you trade roster question too.

Okay. You want to do one more? Fine. Right now, would you trade the Vancouver Canucks roster for the Pittsburgh Penguins roster? Who are their prospects? Nobody. Ben Kindle. Archer Cilovs.

Ben Kindle. Actually, no, you know what. Kindle might tilt the scales. I know. I mean, no, probably not. Would you get she loves? back. I'd have

Crosby on my team for one for five minutes or whatever. Would it be worth it to have Crosby for a year? I'd say yes.

I think I'd say yes. Yeah. It's an interesting thought exercise. Anyway, do the one you wanted to do. Yeah, wouldn't have to do

the whole roster breakdown and go all these no moves too, right? Yeah. Be easier. Okay, go. Colin and Twasson

ask us anything. I've been asked to play tonight in a high school alumni basketball tournament after not having played basketball

for over 20 years, man, be careful. Can you use your powers to help me out and make me the limitless AV one to watch? I need all the help I can get tonight. Colin and Tuasson is a great listener, great texter, so. Lousy basketball player. I love how this is what the one to watch has become. Just like this blessing you put upon people. Every night again, you use your powers for good. So it worked for Atu-Ratu. Correct. It worked last night for Cutter Go. because he scored again for the Anaheim Ducks. They score a lot of goals.

They're the high-scoring team in the NHL, right? Yeah, they set it right. They've had these seven-plus goals in four of their first 13 games. I think it worked for Trey Yassavage. I was going to work. It's worked a few times. So Colin and Tawson, listen closely, and those attending this alumni basketball game,

also known as the Torrent Achilles Open. I will tell you right now, congratulations, Colin. You are tonight's one to watch. Brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audio visual integration experts specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid

workspaces, book your personalized tour of their experience center today, visit them online at limitlessavit.c.a. Now, Colin, you do have to follow up on Monday with some proof of the pudding, right? Like, we need to know how this went. Yeah. We need an update. He's like, I'm in the hospital.

Right. If it does end up being the torn Achilles open for you, I'm sorry. Can you imagine if he was like, I dunked for the first time in my life? That's right. Could you imagine? I am truly limitless. I did not play basketball for 20 years.

And I dunked on a guy. Well, we'll see what happens. Anyway, Colin, best of luck with tonight. Don't get hurt and go out and earn the one to watch the mantra there. That should be a lot of fun. Okay, we got to go to break. We've got a lot more to get to on the program, though. Coming up on the other side of the break,

we're going to do a BC Lions. Western final preview. They are in Saskatchewan to take on the Rough Riders. Tomorrow, it's a big game. It's a chance for the Lions to go to their first Grey Cup since 2011. J.C. Abbott from Three Down Nation

is going to join the program to talk about what's at stake for the Lions. The Lions were also up for a bunch of individual awards. Nathan Roark got nominated for the most outstanding player in the Canadian Football League yesterday so we can talk to them about that as well. At 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program as per usual.

are Canucks Insider from Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. Although Dolly wants to talk white caps today instead of Vancouver. Oh, he's got some stuff on the Canucks too. It's a sea change. It's going to start with the white C. It's a sea change here in the world of sports in Vancouver. Our sports industry is changing right in front of our very eyes. So we'll talk to Rick at 8.

And then at 830, we're going to do ask us and what we learned. A reminder, coming up at the break, right, A dog, we're going to give away a pair. I wish we had a dog game. I wish we had a dog game. for the absolute blankness of the stare. That was so good. The Manson lamps, nothing going on there. Just staring at me.

Cold dead eyes. The name was said, not good. Just staring right at me. Like, what is he talking about? Where is he going to go with this? Cut to like inside my head. We're giving away a pair of tickets to see, to see the Vancouver Giants play on Monday, November 10th,

at the Langley Events Center. Everett Silver Tips, Vancouver Giants. Caller number five, at 7.30 this morning. 604-280-0-650. That number again, 604-280-0-650. B caller number five at 7.30 this morning to see the Giants and the Tips. Monday, November 10th, 7 p.m.

At the Langley Events Center. That's all coming up. You're listening to the Halford-Inbuff Show on Sportsnet, 650. I guess I'm an overly sensitive baby. Oh, my Lord. Stupid babies need the most attention. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance.

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. 732 on a Friday. It's a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour two of the program.

We are working on getting J.C. Abbott on the phone. Three-down nation. We're going to do a little Lions Rough Riders preview for the weekend. And hour two of this program is brought to by Jason Hominock and Jason Dow Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason Dow Mortgage. To the phone lines we go from Three Down Nation, BC Lions reporter, J.C. Abbott joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, JC. How are you?

I'm doing great, guys. Thanks for having me on. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate you taking the time. So not to redirect people away from Three Down Nation, but I'm going to spoil. the predictions part of the website and who you picked for this weekend. In a game where the Lions are three-point dogs in Saskatchewan, you have chosen straight up the Rough Riders to win, but you've got the Lions covering the spread.

Walk us through it and walk the listeners through it, J.C. What do you see here? Well, I'm hedging my bets a little bit here because as I say in my explanation for the picks, I think it's a fool's errand to pick against Nathan Rourke at this point, right? He's been playing football at an incredible level through the latter half of the season. He's the best QB in the CFL, by far, in my opinion. And he has the potential here to take over this game.

I think there is no doubt in my mind that he's going to make this close. But when I look at the matchup overall, the lions are really in tough here, right? Saskatchewan is an incredibly deep team. I think they're very deep in the trenches where the lions have. struggled the last few weeks, particularly along the offensive line, where they have not been able to give Nathan a lot of protection, and they have not been able to establish a run game. And I think those are two things that you need to be able to do to win a playoff game in November outdoors in Saskatchewan. And I don't necessarily see the signs from the Lions that

they're ready to turn that around. Like James Butler is banged up right now. I was at practice on Wednesday. He essentially only took a walk-through reps, nothing in the main practice period. And there's a little bit of a as my father would say, a hitching is getting up, right? He's walking around with a little bit of a limp. And that concerns

me with how important he's going to have to be if they want to win this playoff game. So for all of those reasons and how strong the Saskatchewan defense is, how deep they are and that home field advantage, I have to go with Saskatchewan, but

there's always a little part of me that thinks, well, if Nathan Rourke pulls a miracle and he is fully capable of doing it, that the lines can get this done. The lines have lost four straight trips to the West Final since winning the Grey Cup in 2011. What's the weather going to be like in Saskatchewan? I haven't checked today. Last I saw it was going to be about minus six, minus seven. with clear skies a kickoff, which isn't terrible,

but certainly different conditions than the lions are used to practicing outdoors in Surrey. Tell us about why the rough riders have been successful this year. Well, I think they are incredibly deep, on one hand. They've suffered almost as many injuries as anybody else in the CFL. I believe they're third in the overall injury rankings only. Autoline Calgary were, had more man games lost this season than they did. And a lot of it was at key positions. They've been banged up at receiver.

They've been banged up along the offensive line. They've banged up in the defensive backfield as of late. But it doesn't seem to matter who they put in the lineup. They get excellent performance from them. And the lines know this firsthand because in the regular season finale, the riders were resting a lot of people. And they pushed them right to the brink throughout that football game with a lot of backups in starting positions. They are as good as anybody when it comes to the back half of their roster.

And then I think Corey Mace, right, a BC guy has imbued this team with a culture and a mentality that just simply doesn't give up. I think he's got this group feeling incredibly confident. I think he has made them in his mirror image of toughness and grit. And when you see things like, you know, they clinch first place and he's stiff-arming the Gagorade shower because he thinks the work is not done yet, you know, it's not hard to see why this team has rallied around him. Is a sellout expected in Regina for the game? I think they're creeping in that direction. Last I heard it was over 30,000.

So there's a few more seats to sell, but certainly it's going to be a robust crowd despite the chilly conditions in Regina. So are you, I mean, is your prediction basically like Nathan Rourke needs to be BC's superhero for them to win this game? I think so. And superhero may not be for the entire game, but at some point he has to put on the cape, right? I think we saw that a little bit last week. but the lines got it done against the Calgary team that, you know,

I don't think is as deep as Saskatchewan is now. They weren't the better team in that matchup. And the offense did not play well, right? Nathan didn't play poorly, but he wasn't given a ton of opportunities. But when he did get his shot at the end of the game, he was as good as ever. I think you're going to have to see that moment from Nathan Rourke, because unless they get an incredible, incredible performance from another aspect of the team.

You know, they did not show the ability to stop Trevor Harris when he took reps against them in the regular season finale. The defense really has to step up there. And I think they're going to struggle with the protection up front. This is an exceptional Saskatchewan defensive line. And they're going to give this team many of the same problems that Calgary gave them last week. So if you're going to be under pressure and the defense,

is going to allow, you know, some points, then you're going to need your quarterback to be that guy. And to me, this matchup hinges on whether Rourke can do that at the biggest stage. Does this game determine whether the Lions had a successful season or not? I wouldn't go that far. I think they have certainly met, if not exceeded expectations for the first year under Buck Pierce, right? I know that there was, you know, dissatisfaction with simply making the playoffs last year. I think having a home playoff game and winning that home playoff game has satisfied a lot of that itch.

And I think we've seen a team on the rise, a team that peaked at the right time, a lot of positive signs. You know, they fixed a lot of their defensive problems that they had early in the year. Nathan has come as advertised. I think Buck Pierce has proven that he is what everybody thought he was in terms of an offensive genius who could get the most out of a talented quarterback. So all those boxes are checked. I don't think that it becomes a failed season if you're not able to get past the number one seed in the West Final on the road.

Now, if you get multiple years of that under the same coaching staff, that's when that starts to become a problem. But I think the lines are playing with a little bit of house money considering this is Pierce's first year at the helm, and they've already made an improvement from last season. I guess maybe I'm just thinking that when you have a quarterback like Nathan Rourke, there's a lot of responsibility on everyone to make sure you take advantage of that. Yeah, I don't think that's incorrect, right?

And the reality is, you know, it's tough to build a consistent contender when you're paying Nathan the money that he's deserved, right? And he took a little bit of a haircut as he restructured his deal going into the season. He's still the highest paid quarterback and player in the CFL, and he should be, right? Like, he's proven he is that guy. I think he's going to win the MOP when it's all said and done. but there's guys up for contract extensions that are going to be asking for big money and the question is can you pay a guy like Keon Hatcher

going into next year knowing what you're paying Rourke and Betts and McKinnis and all those guys already it becomes difficult so every time you have an opportunity like this it's imperative that you take advantage but it is a nine-team league and ultimately this is year one of a new organizational structure,

a new head coach, a new general manager, although he was there before, but in a new role in Ryan Rig Maiden. And I think you have to take those positives as well when you're looking at the whole of the season. We're speaking to J.C. Abbott from Three Down Nation here on the Halford and Brough show on Sports Net 650.

I do want to focus on Buck for a minute here. It is for, I think the biggest game that he's could, you know, grant his first year on the job, so this is obviously going to be the biggest game he's had as a head coach. But in reading a bunch of the previews, I think there's an interesting dynamic here where, you know, his strengths are in, the creative play callingness, and challenging defenses horizontally, they play with pace. They can be unpredictable on offense, and that's what makes them a dangerous offensive unit.

How much pressure is there on Buck 2 keep that going this weekend, but also not being too risky? Because part of winning on the road is keeping the football game as close as you can for as long as you can and trying to stay in it and not playing. your way out of it. Yeah, I think he's going to have a difficult challenge in front of him because the other element is he's going to want to try and establish that run game against a very good run defense and with his team struggling them in that department right now and where you find that balance of, you know, trying to establish it versus giving up and handing the keys to Nathan.

Quite frankly, I thought in the West Semmy, he stuck with the run game a little bit too long and that cost them offensively. those two and outs, you know, weren't on Rourke's shoulders. They were on the play calling. And I think if you look back at Buck Pierce's career, certainly with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, yes, he went to a ton of great cops and had a lot of success that way. But the bomber's offense in the playoffs, the last couple of years, has not looked the same as it has in the regular season. It has struggled at times. And I think it was noteworthy that the Lions offense suffered that same sort of setback in the West semi-final.

I do think Buck Pierce has a little bit of a label he has to shake as a guy who clams up maybe with that creator play calling in those bigger games gets a little bit more conservative. And I think if he wants to truly excel as a head coach and get this team to a Grey Cup and win a Grey Cup, he's going to have to sort of loosen up a bit and really unleash the full potential of his playbook because when he's at his best and his most creative, you know, I don't think there's a defensive coordinator out there who can out scheme Buck Pierce, but I don't think we necessarily saw that against Calgary.

We didn't see that in a lot of Winnipeg's playoff games, even their victories. And I hope we see it this week in Saskatchewan because the Lions are going to need. Well, I hope that house money mentality that you talked about might seep in in that regard, whereas I just don't leave any bullets in the chamber. You've got Rourke, and you're not expected, at least by the odds makers, to win this game. So give your best player every opportunity to win the game for you. And yet, I mean, don't be conservative in this moment. Like, it might blow up spectacularly, right?

Like against a very good defense in suboptimal weather, trying to throw the ball around and get a really risky and creative could blow up in your face. but I'd almost prefer that to having the what if at the end of it, if you play a really conservative close to the vest and you lose that way. Yeah, I agree with you, right? We've seen this story before where the lines under different administrations have gone into a West file and they've lost because they couldn't run the ball in the cold weather or they were perceived as this dome team.

You know, if you're going to lose in this game, lose doing what you do. Right. Right. Which is, you know, put the ball in Nathan's. And if you're not confident in that run game right now, and I'm certainly not, then, you know, give Nathan every opportunity. And if he can't deliver on this particular occasion, right, that's something that I'm sure he'll deal with over the off season. But at least you went down doing what you do best. Like, let the best player in the CFL be the best player in the CFL in this moment.

J.C., very well said, bud, thanks for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. Enjoy the games on Saturday. It should be a lot of fun. We'll get you on again to do a Grey Cup preview. Sounds great, guys. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, that's too, thanks.

J.C. Abbott. From Three Down Nation, BC Lions reporter here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. I'd really like them to get over the hump and get to a Grey Cup. That'd be fun. Yeah. Could you imagine? Yeah, the Lions in a Grey Cup and the White Caps looking at a sellout for their playoff game?

Could you imagine? Just work with me here. Jay's having already gone to the World Series. Lions going all the way to the Grey Cup White Cap's going all the way to the MLS Cup final It's possible right now It's very possible right now One thing that I wanted to talk about

Because I feel like we didn't really get a chance To talk about it After the Canucks game Because we were so focused on the Canucks But Connor Bedard looked so much better out there Yep I still remember Watching him at the end of last season

and the Blackhawks came into Vancouver and they just, they look dreadful. And the Canucks took care of them easily. They beat them six to. Badard was frustrated. I guess that was the same game that Heidel got hurt by Jason Dickinson as well. So there are a few things to take away from that game.

But, you know, we had talked about, well, were the expectations too high for Bard? And I do think they were. I think people expected him to come into this league and be a star right away. And I was always kind of like, oh, you know, like he's still pretty small and he's still got to get a lot stronger. And he's not just going to be able to rely on a shot for everything in the NHL. And, you know, he won the rookie of the year in his first year. It's not like he was, it's not like he was bad or anything.

But I don't think, I really don't think he reached the level of hype that was provided for him. the hype was crazy. It was insane. It also coincided with the NHL going to ESPN and ESPN was like, give me your young star basically. We're going to go nuts with this but it also in Canada, you know, he had a great World Junior's performance. So, you know, all of a sudden we're seeing this guy at commercials and a lot of commercials too. And it was tough for him over the first two years in Chicago and I don't think the Blackhawks

have arrived by by any means. But, you know, I was reading a lot about Connor Boudard in these last few days, and there was a couple of articles that I read that really stood out, either in the athletic or the Chicago Sun-Times. A few were on his skating, and he was like, he went into this off-season, and he was like, listen, I need to start creating separation, because that's what you need to do in the NHL.

You need to, you know, like, if this guy's going to check me, this is a great analysis here. But if this guy's going to check me, it'd be great if I could get far away from, from him. That is good analysis. It's very important. Um, so he worked on his first few steps. He worked on his explosiveness. And some of the quotes he said were just really interesting. He said, like, I need to learn my body. I need to, I need to understand, understand how my body works. Sure. I mean, he was 18 when he broke into the NHO. He's a young guy. And a lot of the

times, you're just, you're just kind of at that point, you're like, you're working on your instincts. You're like, yeah, I know how to do this. Like, I have God-given talent. But you have to go beyond that sometimes you'd be like yeah how can i get even better the other thing that really really this quote stuck with me too and it was an article in the chicago sun times and it said how did connor badard find his voice by realizing it doesn't matter what people think and he said and this was an article from last month i think he said when you first get into the nchl you're not paranoid but you don't want to say something that might rub people the wrong way or make me look bad.

And he said, obviously, I don't want to look bad, but I don't really care too much about what some people think. And I think it's good for the fans if we can show a little bit of who we are in some ways. And I think that is the maturation of a superstar that is going to realize like, hey, man, I'm going to get criticized sometimes. My team is going to get criticized and I either accept that or I go crazy. Yeah. And I think we've seen that in a positive way in a few Vancouver athletes.

First of all, what Thomas Miller has brought to the Vancouver Whitecaps, being comfortable in your own skin is a very attractive trait. You know, when you see someone who is either putting on an act or clearly uncomfortable in their own skin, you're like, you know, people see that. Right? Like it's very difficult to hide. Some people can be fooled. But for the most part, it's pretty obvious, right? You can be, you know, the other guy that, without getting too much into that,

but with the other guy that I think we've seen mature is Nathan Rourke. Yeah. You know, he's just come out and said like, he said some pretty controversial stuff, whether it was about, you know, what he thought of his NFL experience. And he went down there and he said,

yeah, I think a lot of those guys are just into the lifestyle, which is, you know, could be taken as sour grapes, but he said it anyway. Yeah. And then he said some things about the CFL rule changes, where he basically said, like, I think what the commissioner is doing is wrong. The commissioner, he spoke out against.

And then he came on our show and said, and we asked him, did you talk to the commissioner? He was like, yeah. And we were like, well, how did that go? And, you know, we thought the answer would be like, you know, we came to an agreement that we'll work together. And he actually said, you know what, honestly? like I think we're further apart than I initially thought.

Yeah. And this is a guy that's, you know, learning how it might not be perfect, but he's learning that he's got opinions. He's going to say them. Yeah. And I think, you know, with these athletes, there's a difference between speaking your voice and then just trying to get attention. Sure.

You know, the attention getters can be annoying, right? And a lot of those times, those guys are actually insecure. or they're uncomfortable in their own skin. But leaders like Nathan Rourke and Thomas Mueller, that's what we want from our athletes. We want these strong personalities who have confidence in themselves. And I think it was interesting when Bardard came to town, just the difference in the player.

You know, he did an interview. I think he did one with Murph after the game. And man, he just, he looks so much more mature. Well, the big thing that all three of those guys have in common right now, Bedard, Mueller, and Rourke is that they're enjoying personal success right now. It is easier when things are going well to be personable and affable and outgoing and outspoken

because, you know, at the end of the day, like people like winners and people like, you know, well, he's a successful guy. I'm going to listen to what he has to say more and more. And, you know, I don't want to tie it back to the Canucks. But, I mean, right now the Canucks are in a, a valley i would say of where the players you can tell that they feel that you know it's a their perception is that it's a difficult market to play in and that they want to say less

and want to have themselves out there maybe less than ever before right they want to get through their media obligations as quickly as possible the organization wants to keep everybody at an arm's distance and that's a prerogative from the highest reaches which is like we just want these guys to focus on hockey. And if they're going to do any public facing stuff, we're controlling it. And that is a way to approach it. I understand the idea behind it, the ethos of it, insulate these guys as much as possible and just let them play hockey.

And okay, that's great. But what you see from a consumer perspective, from a fan perspective, supporters, people that are just getting interested in it, there is value in having these guys out there speaking, engaging, embracing, saying what's on their mind and dealing with whatever comes from that, good, bad or otherwise,

because that is a connection, right? I will admit, we talk about this often, is that a lot of people do see the sports team they follow, or sports in general, as a sort of like attachment like an unattached soap opera that's going on like I watch it

I'm intrigued by it it has no bearing on my actual life but I'm very interested in the characters and the narratives and the arcs of all of it right? Yeah. Being a Canucks fan is all about like the highs and the lows of it

and when you try and mute those and get rid of the peaks and valleys yeah you make it a safer space and a more comfortable environment for your players but it's a lot less interest it's a lot less interesting yeah right what muller's doing right now this one man crusade

to make soccer relevant in the lower mainland is quite endearing because he's going everywhere NBA exhibition games Vancouver rise games Canucks games he's out in the community and he's like I want to see what this whole thing is about and it's a curiosity for sure

whereas I think with a lot of guys that have been here for a while it's old hat and it's not all that interesting to get out and go see what else is going on in Vancouver. Yeah. Right? You maybe want to be more insulated. Maybe it's more difficult to go out.

But I don't always think it needs to be a one or the other kind of dynamic. But I do think that you can learn from how other people are doing it. And in that regard, I think there's something to be learned by what Nathan Rourke has done this year, for example. I think he's been shockingly outspoken. Yeah. I didn't even know. Honestly, I didn't even know he had it in him. When I heard him talk before, I was like, there's a guy that's thought a lot about what

wants to say before he said it so that nothing interesting comes out of his mouth. Can you imagine if he wasn't? I was like, I thought I was being interesting. Yeah, and he wasn't. And now all of a sudden he's, and like you said, a lot of things go into it. Maybe he's a little more comfortable in his own skin, what have you. But it is an interesting point that you've brought up. We can explore more in the final hour of the program, ACDC tickets. We're giving them away right now as everyone is yelling in my ear. Caller number five at 8 a.m. this morning is going to win our final pair of giveaway tickets to see

ACDC next summer, August 2026 at BC Place. 604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-0-650. Call her number 5 at 8 a.m. on the button will win the final pair of tickets we have this week to see ACDC next summer at BC Place. Coming up on the other side of the break,

Rick Dollywell is going to join us. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.