Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 5/22/25

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk the latest baseball news with MLB Network's Adnan Virk, plus they discuss the supposed love affair between Vancouver-based sports media and Rick Tocchet. 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.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Duh da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da He's going to hit the line, scores! Skinner! Bramlett shot and off the bar he celebrates and scores! Skinner! He's hooked up and he scores! Skinner! What? What?

He backs up and unloads a three! Oh! That did not happen! It hit the back of the rim! It popped high into the air! And it dropped gently through the net! And boom goes the dynamite. Good morning Vancouver!

6.01 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. It's Halford and his bruv at his sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you.

Good morning. And Lydie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for net help with over 3,000 five star reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid pays the highest prices on scrap metal Northstar metal recycling they recycle you get paid Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver We are coming to you live from the kintex studio kintec footwear and or thought X working together with you in step They got a big show ahead on a Thursday. It's a four guest or on the health room breath show on sports net 650 Beginning at 630. We're gonna go Buffalo. Paul Hamilton's gonna join us. Sabres reporter for WGR Sports Radio 550 in Buffalo.

Buffalo's been in the news of late. Freed said the club is gauging the market interest on Bo Byrom. They recently hired Eric Stahl to help out. Kevin Adams is general manager. Show him where everything is, how to make trades. What's next for our sad club brethren? We'll find out at 6 30 when we talk to Paul Hamilton.

Seven o'clock, Adnan, Virk, MLB Network is gonna join the program. Don't look now, laddie. Jays have won three of four, Jays have won eight of their last 12. What was the score last night? They scored 14 runs last night, did they not? Not only did they score 14,

they pitched a shutout as well. Let's go. 14-nothing. Let's go. We'll talk about that with Adnan. We can also talk about the one Soto drama in New York with the Mets that's at 7 o'clock 730 our good buddy Jim Tooth host of jets at noon and Appropriately the Jim Toath show on CJ OB 680 in Winnipeg players coach and management They all met yesterday the Jets did for end of season media veils after a disappointing loss to Dallas over the weekend What did GM Kevin shovel day off say about the team's future? What's next for Nikolai Ehlers?

We'll talk to Jim about that at 730 8 o'clock. This is kind of cool We're gonna do a little NFL talk and a little Olympics talk to Sean Reed is gonna join a senior writer at the athletic Covering the NFL and the Raiders keep Keep that in mind. Flag football is in the Olympics. NFL players are in flag football at the Olympics. Tashawn has been covering this story over the last few weeks for the athletic. We'll talk to him about that. The very contentious tush push, which was ruled back into the NFL yesterday. And I want to talk a little Raiders with Tashawn. Talk to him about Geno Smith and Pete Carroll. I'm just reading a headline right now and it says, Mets to advise $765 million outfielder Juan Soto on hustle.

He pimped one of his hits yesterday. He thought it was going yard in his defense, but it ended up a single because of the aforementioned lack of hustle. That's what I call a Fred McGriff single Yeah, but Fred McGriff was trying his hardest. It's true You earn that single every single step of it I'm the most like infuriating feeling and you smoke one off the wall and it's like single but then I get what do you tell? The kids should be a double buddy. What do you tell the double doesn't matter what y'all always run right? I don't watch it. Run it.

It's always fun with the kids too when they take that way too hard and they foul one off and start running. You're like, okay, you gotta come back. Yeah, I know your second base forever. Now you're just delaying the game. So anyway, working in reverse on the guest list, 8 o'clock it's Tashon Reed, 730 Jim Toth, 7 o'clock Adnan Virk, 630 Paul Hamilton. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night?

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm moving. We know how messy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you

by the BC construction safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. We will begin with the Stanley Cup playoffs last night, the opener, game one of the Western Conference final between the Oilers and the Stars. And it was the Dallas Stars rallying from a two goal deficit in the third period with five goals, three straight on the power play. And it was the Dallas stars rallying from a two goal deficit in the third period with five goals, three straight on the power play.

And they win six, three to snatch the opener from the Edmonton Oilers at American Airlines Center on Wednesday night. You know, whether you love the Oilers, hate them, whether you're going for them or not, you have to admit that this team is pure entertainment. They are electric. Been watching hockey a long time and they are the one of the most entertaining, I don't know what's going to happen in this game teams I've

ever seen. And it's because they've got that special combination of incredible offense and questionable goal-tending, right? You know, like, questionable and questionable defensive play at times. Although, I think for the most part this year they've been very, very good defensively in the playoffs and when they've wanted to lock it down, when they've, you know, been committed to locking it down, they have been able to lock it down. Just ask the Vegas to locking it down. They have been able to lock it down.

Just ask the Vegas Golden Knights in the last two games against the Edmonton Oilers could not lock it down last night against the Dallas Stars. And I have to admit, I didn't see it coming. I thought that we'd be talking this morning. We'd be like, ah, Dallas, man. I thought they had all the secondary scoring. What about all those guys that they were bragging about? You know, we've got all these 20 goal scorers

Oh, yeah are any of them gonna show up because Tyler Sagan looked the only guy that was dangerous for the first couple of periods and then and then Everyone looked dangerous in the third period It was wild So the headlines that I wrote for today's show in our notes was for the NHL Oilers collapse stars come back to steal game one. And then the commonality, NBA, Knicks collapse, Pacers come back to steal game one.

There was a very, there was a similar trend there and we will get to the NBA story in a sec. But the Knicks collapse was way worse. Way worse. Which says a lot because the Oilers collapse was like, not great. Well, how often do you see a team score three power play goals in the same period? The answer, if you're the Edmonton Oilers, not very often.

The last time the Edmonton Oilers gave up three power play goals in a single period was back in the 1992 playoffs and they did it against your Vancouver Canucks. Everybody. It was a rarity for sure. So there, there's two major talking points coming out of that game last night. Uh, the first, and I was hesitant to make it the first because I thought that the penalty kill in the lack thereof was a big one. But let's be honest. Come on. Biggest story. Stuart Skinner right now. Stuart Skinner in these playoffs. There's no backup either. And I know Lattie loves single game safe percentage

is a stat. That's one of your favorites. Really good. Really. In these playoffs, Stuart Skinner has either had a safe percentage in a single game below 834 or perfect 1,000, 1,000%. It's either shutouts or he gets dinged for at least five goals. I don't know. There's no in between with Stuart Skinner. It is the perfect embodiment of how the Oilers play, right?

Defensively, they're either beautiful, picturesque, play it to a tee or. Or Dry Cytles putting in his own net for the game winner for the other team. Right, now that one I won't hang on Skinner totally. But the rest. Well it wasn't, but it was a big deal the way he like, I mean not, yeah you're right, it wasn't only him,

but it was certainly partially him. Can I give you kind of like a sneaky under the radar take from last night's game? Sure. High skin in his back, man. Yeah, I know. So, he played three games in the last series for Dallas. He played like 14 minutes in the first game.

And everyone was like, oh, okay, well, what's it going to be like? He played a little bit more in the last game. But I thought in the final game of the series against Winnipeg, he played really well. Like that was like. And he played a lot. Yeah. And he played 22 minutes or something like that. That, to me, that game, I was like, Oh, he's back.

Look at him skating. Like he is, he looked really good. Last night, one goal, one assist, 24 minutes, a nice time for Miro Heisken and a guy the stars haven't had for, you know, 24 minutes, a nice time for Miro Heisken. And a guy the stars haven't had for much of this post season in a while. Meanwhile, the Oilers are like, Matthias Ekholm anytime?

Yeah. Anytime, like he's not expected to play, he wasn't expected to play yesterday and he's not expected to play in game two, but like they could use him back. Well, especially now when you look at it, the other big talking point right now, especially out of Edmonton,

is that this penalty kill, which was in large part their MVP as they ran through the West last year, is atrocious. The biggest narrative going into this series that the Dallas Stars talked about a lot and the Edmonton Warriors didn't talk about as much Was that last year Dallas went 0 for 14 on the power play in the entire series against Edmonton Already through one game this year

They have three power play goals and Edmonton's penalty kill has been lousy in this postseason like how good it was last year It was the MVP of their post season last year. They, they absolutely stymied the Canucks in the second round and then went even further than stymied. They completely blanked Dallas in the Western Conference. Stymied the Kings in the first round too. Yeah. It was.

Edmonton's penalty kill right now is at 66.7%. They were operating above 90. It looked, it looked at times like they were going to get it back. Cause I think it was really bad early on against the Kings this year. We got a times like they were going to get it back because I think it was really bad early on against the Kings this year. We got a text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line, three putt Shane, best game last night was the Abbey Canucks.

Let's go. Sealoff's has been looking pretty good. Yeah, and Linus Carlson, Sealoff's was good and the Abbey Canucks beat the Colorado Eagles in overtime, Linus Carlson with the winner. And by the way, I heard something the other day that the Sedenes love working with Linus Carlson. Sure.

Like just. How could you not? Just to throw it out there. That has been one of the guys that they've been really impressed with working down in Abbotsford. And we've talked a little bit about Linus Carlson. And I don't think any of us expect him to be a star, but I expect him to be a consistent

Canuck next season in the bottom six. I think he brings something that the Canucks need and he's a pretty big body out there. Scoring goals in overtime. Before we go on, let's give him and our boy Brandon Astle all a little bit of love. Here is the call of the OT winner. 1847 deep into the first overtime period. Abbotsford three two win over Colorado to take a two one series lead. Here's what it sounded like. Now play with a steel behind the net trying to bring it in front. He's tied up. Puck is loose. Mueller trying to jam it towards a blue paint and the Canucks

score. It's over. They've done it. Let's get out of here. Linus Carlson just called game three. What just happened? Let's get out of here. It's great. Of course, we do have to stay in Colorado for the remainder of the series. Let's get out of here for tonight. Let's get back to the hotel. Let's get out of this specific area.

Yeah. The blue arena, by the way, it blew itself. The blue arena. That's what that's what they play in Colorado. The Colorado Avalanche are ball arena. Yes. And their H blew itself the blue arena. That's what that's what I'm playing colorado avalanche or ball arena Yes, and their a HL team is blue arena jokes right themselves sometimes. Are you really really is it really it's called blue arena Yeah, L. You blue arena. Yeah, lew and ball or that's what the Eagles coach always goes I think you want to be playing in the blue arena Your whole careers or you want to go up to the balls So that's funny because I think it's just ball coach. Yeah, you know, speaking of the Colorado Avalanche and their minor league affiliate, that's so back when Bob Hartley used to coach the Colorado Avalanche,

their A.H.L. affiliate was in Hershey and he used to skate around the ice threatening guys and he'd be like, I smelled chocolate fumes. and you'd be like I smelled chocolate fumes To smell when you smell a hockey player that's what they do it So for the the Colorado avalanche now when a guy's getting sent down they play blue by Eiffel 65 And that's where you're gonna be going anyway, okay, so your original point Carlson. Yeah, yeah beans all that stuff I I really like leonis Carlson, and I wonder if he's gonna be my new Guy that I really like who plays in the bottom six sure like I started with the end

Yeah, and it can't send you were the first on that train Tyler Mott. Yeah, I'm a modder. Yeah, remember that I was like I was like I was like this guy's good after every connects when XE He's good just picks a play that Carlson did really well and just throws it into the intro. Well, I honestly do. Like, I obviously like hearing about guys that are working hard. And I think all Canucks fans want that from the players, these young guys.

And Carlson is still young. And he just wants to get better. And then Sedines love to work with guys that want to work better. The other guy I heard about was Nils Hoeglinder. And as much as he had a bit of a rough season, I think, I don't think anyone's ever questioned his work ethic. He came into camp last season, he was really in good shape and it just didn't go for him. But I think there's bounce back potential in Nils Hoaglander for sure. So good for Linus Carlsen getting the goal last night.

I hope he's a fixture on the Canucks last season. I remember when he got sent down last season at one point, I'm like, why? Yeah. And I'm like, wait, he's a pretty good player. And then they brought him back up and it showed like he should have been back up. So the biggest thing with the Abbotsford run right now is we want to see. And it's much more intriguing for us if the guys that are actually going to translate to NHL players are doing the business like all due respect to Jujar

Kyra and Sammy Blay and some of the older guys that are down there. Phil DeGisette. But those aren't guys that you're really interested for. For the NHL club. This is no disrespect for what they're doing on their way to a potential culture cup. But so last night you look at who's doing the business for really interested for, for the NHL club. This has meant there's no disrespect for what they're doing on their way to a potential Calder Cup. But so last night you look at who's doing the business for Abbotsford, Linus Carlson gets the winner in overtime. Mancini scored again. Mancini has been unbelievable on this playoff run

for Abbotsford, which is a huge thing for the Canucks because if you want to talk about young defensemen that have made a leap, now you've got DPT and Mancini. Lechromachy had two assists last night, which is huge. And Arti Silas had 35 saves, including after they fell behind, he stopped all 17 shots he faced during the third period in overtime. Yeah, it was good to see Lekromacky get a couple of points too, because the reviews on him hadn't been all that good.

He also hit the crossbar, so he nearly scored a goal last night too. I want to get to a few other items. Uh, let's turn to two stories for basketball. We'll quickly talk about the Knicks blowing that lead against the Indiana Pacers. And even though the Knicks are back in the conference finals and everyone's really excited about them in New York, they're still the Knicks.

What happened last night at Madison Square Garden? And everyone's really excited about them in New York. They're still the Knicks. What happened last night at Madison Square Garden? Well, in regulation, it was Tyrese Halliburton scoring what he thought and many thought was a game winner at the buzzer. We heard the call in the intro, Halliburton drove for two, stepped back for three, looked like he had won the game. Only his toe was on the line and it was a two and it sent it to overtime.

And then the. I think you're underselling that basket though. It's not like he just won the game. Only his toe was on the line and it was a two and it sent it to overtime. And then the- I think you're underselling that basket though. It's not like he just hit a three. He hit the back of the rim. It bounced, let's say 500 feet in the air. And then just dropped into the net. Do we have to- I've never seen a buzzer beater like that.

And I know ultimately it wasn't a three, although we thought it was. And all the next fans thought it was, that was incredible. That was an incredible bounce. The whole thing was incredible because with six minutes and 46 seconds left in regulation, the Knicks led by 17 points with two minutes and 40 seconds left in regulation. The Knicks led by 17 points. With two minutes and 40 seconds left in regulation, the Knicks led by 14 points. And with 52 seconds left in regulation, the Knicks still led by nine points.

According to Positive Residual, which is a sports analytics company, the Knicks had a 99.1% win probability when they were up nine with 52 seconds left to blow a lead of that magnitude was an absolute rarity. Although the Indiana Pacers have made a habit of this in this postseason, they had a huge comeback against Milwaukee in the first round. They had another crazy one from Cleveland. They were behind seven with 46 seconds left against Cleveland. Do you have the audio of the Halliburton shot at the end of regulation?

Because unfortunately the audio doesn't really do it justice, but we'll play it anyway to give you an idea of just how bizarre and crazy this entire game was leading up to the final play of regulation. Here's Tyrese Halliburton at the buzzer. Halliburton driving, he's in the lane, he nearly lost it, he backs up and unloads a three. Oh, that did not happen!

It hit the back of the rim! It popped high into the air and it dropped gently through the net. So when his voice is going down at the end, that's the realization of an announcer that that might not be a three. That's what was exactly happening right there. And he made the famous choke sign too.

Yeah, everything. And it's like, oh God, when it was, when it was determined that it was a two, he was probably like, we got to win this game. He's done. Halliburton said in the aftermath, he's like, I couldn't waste an all time celly. So we had to go out and win it in overtime and they did 138 to 135. So look, the sports last night were fantastic. They delivered on all fronts. The sports were indeed going crazy last night, but there is another big story and that is Shay Gildjus Alexander winning the NBA MVP.

I don't know if you saw the breakdown of the voting or not, but by a fairly comfortable margin over Nicola Jokic to become just the second Canadian player of all time to win the NBA MVP. I never thought Canada would produce two NBA MVPs in my lifetime and Nash did it twice. And not to mention all the other successful Canadian players in the league now. I remember Alfred, you talking about Steve Nash and how it meant so much to see a Canadian do what he did in the best league

in the world. And SGA said the same thing. He said of Nash, he set the foundation. He was the first Canadian basketball, basketball player I knew of. And without seeing guys go to the NBA from Canada, it wouldn't have been as much of a dream as it was for us as kids growing up. When I was growing up,

it was J. Triano. I was thinking you were going to say James Naismith. Triano never even played in the NBA, but he was he, I mean, he was, he was a, he was a huge figure. He was Canada basketball. He was a generation. Yeah. I mean, he liked basketball. Yeah.

Um, you had guys like Bill Wennington on the Chicago Bulls and he was on Michael Jordan's team and every time like Wennington would sub in, you'd be like, he's Canadian. It's amazing. Uh, you know, I remember hearing about Nash when I was in high school, He played against some of my buddies. I think he is like, he's only a year or two older than I am.

And I remember when he transferred to St. Mike's in his grade 11 year, he wasn't allowed to play in the BC championship. That was a big deal. And everyone else was like, good. And then the next year he was able to play and they easily won it. But it's funny because he was also really good at soccer at St. Mike's. He was also really good at rugby.

He was good at everything. He was an unbelievable athlete in BC and everyone was like, wow, you got an NCAA scholarship down to Santa Clara. You know, it's not Duke or Kentucky or Kansas, but we all thought that was pretty cool. And there were a few guys from BC who got scholarships down south. I actually went to elementary school with one of them, Jordy McTavish, who ended up playing for Rick Majeris in Utah. It didn't go particularly well for him at Utah, but he made a career in basketball.

But none of us figured Nash would actually make the NBA, let alone become the two-time MVP. And I think it opened a lot of eyes in Canada. It wasn't just Nash, but when that sort of stuff happens, you know, it lets kids know that it's possible. Sure. It gets more kids into the sport and that draws resources and investment into the sport. Some from well-meaning people and other people

are from like basketball is hot, let's make some money off parents. Let's start an academy. I think the Raptors were a big factor too. I'm sure they were a big factor in SGA's life. They've been in Toronto since 1995 now and the NBA saw Canada and they were like, let's market to this.

The internet, especially YouTube, dedicated kids are going to watch instructional videos on YouTube. The content can be fun and they learn at the same time. I'm not advocating for kids to be on YouTube all day, but you have to allow a certain element of self-discovery for the kids on YouTube and they're gonna find out

what they like and hopefully it's something good and not something bad. But, you know, and it all came together for SGA. His parents were both athletes and his mom was an Olympic sprinter. His dad was a basketball player. And he says his mom was very influential in his life and always kept him humble,

would text his basketball coaches and be like, don't let my son get too big ahead. You gotta keep him humble and everything. But I think the overall explosion in Canadian basketball talent that we see in the NBA right now to the point where we're like, could we win a gold in Olympic basketball? And wouldn't that be fun with the Olympics down in Los Angeles in 2028? I think it's a similar story with soccer. When we were growing up, there were Canadian stars in Canada,

in North America that we looked at. I think my guy was like John Catliff and there was Dominic Mobilio. But there were no Canadians that I can think of at least, that were like, he's the best left back in the world or whatever. You know, like, yeah, there's nothing like Davies and that, and that same sort of thing, like the exposure to global stars through the internet. Like we didn't, we didn't have that.

And we've joked about that a few times. Like we had one, we had soccer Saturday and we were like, I didn't pick up much there. I just learned like goals are scored in England, right? Sure. And not so much in Scotland. Yeah, exactly. So I think it's a, I think it's an unbelievably cool story that this country, which for way too long has just been known for like, yeah, we're the hockey country.

You know, we've got a, we've got a sock, a men the hockey country. You know, we've got a men's soccer team, I mean the women's soccer team has been good for a while. We've got a men's soccer team now that gets respect. And you know, I think the basketball team is at even a higher level with the amount of talent. Well, you're looking at Canada now and going like, that's one of the best basketball countries in the world. I don't think anyone's looking at the Canadian men's

soccer team and going, that's one of the best soccer countries in the world. They're top 30 now. I know, I know. And that is a big thing globally, because the sports played so many different places. True, true. It's not the same as basketball though.

But basketball, the amount of progress we've made is truly incredible. Right now, Canada produces the second most NBA players in the world, if you wanna look at it as like the straight goods and the straight facts. And you have the high end elite talent, like Shea Gilder's Alexander, I'd put Jamal Murray in that conversation right now as well,

and you could put a handful of other guys if you like. SGA sort of stands alone as the flag bearer for the elite Canadian talent But there's a lot of guys and then if you go down these rosters There's a lot of guys that are playing very important minutes Andrew Nimbard yesterday for the Anna Pacers Like there's a lot of guys that are playing big Significant roles on NBA teams to the point where you can make the you don't have to make the case It's just clear as day the

Canada's is the number two Exporter when it comes it's the US and then it's Canada in terms of NBA talent I know we got to go to break but will they ever catch up to the states you think in the same way that the States has caught up to Canada and hockey. I know there's a population Difference no, but do you think it'll ever be competitive? I think it'll bull it is competitive I mean competitive to the point where Canada could actually win. Basketball has this really. Basketball has this great untapped opportunity globally in terms of global

competition because it's never been anything other than first it was the U.S. dominant and then there was a handful of other teams being able to catch up. Now a handful of the really elite countries have caught up and are competitive. But you're starting to see like six and seven and eight countries be able to play internationally and compete. They're not going to get to like the World Cup level and they may never get to the, I don't know, they could probably get to the same level where hockey's at in terms of bonafide, genuine, competitive countries and have those kinds of tournaments.

If I'm the States, I'm like, I'm not like super worried. You know, it's not like Canada should be super worried about, um, like, well, we're not good at, you know, hockey anymore. Yeah, we are. And the Americans are still the best country at basketball, but the NBA has focused so much on global and other countries have developed so many stars that, I mean, who are the top stars right now in the NBA? We got SGA,

you know, Jokic. When's the last time an American player won MVP, right? Well, when was it? I think it's about six or seven years ago now, because you had Janis, you had Joel Embiid, you had Jokic, you had SGA. Like it's truly. Like Doncic was the biggest story in the NBA.

Yeah. And then like Dallas was rioting pretty much when they traded him. Um, who is, who's going to take over for that era of, uh, LeBron and, and Curry and KD. Like I, you know, there are some candidates, but you know, I don't think super, super obvious ones. Yeah. When you look at the evolution of the league, the interesting thing now is that

there is no dominant force anymore. There's no dominant team. We're talking about, yesterday we talked about there's going to be a seventh different NBA champion in seven years, and you look at the MVP and yes, there are multiple winners, but year over year, it's going all over the place and another first time winner this year with SGA. Evan in Aldergrove says Anthony Edwards is going to be the best player of this generation. Yeah, we'll see. I wouldn't write that yet.

Yeah, we'll see. I like his nickname, Ant. It's a good nickname, pretty simple. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Redman. Yesen and Ferg, he joins us now. We'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the films he's seen. 702 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halperduv sportsnet 650 Donnie loves this song by the way Don Taylor It's stuck in his head. I hope he's listening right now. That's the goal of every jingle

He would be an earworm for the rest of the day. He's wearing his Oklahoma City Thunder jersey driving into work Maybe he heard us lead with the NBA today We did and Donnie don't worry It is a 702 On a Thursday you are listening to the Halferd and brough show on sportsnet 650 halferd and brough for the morning is brought to By sans and associates BC's first and trusted choice for that help with over three thousand five star reviews visit them online at sans Dust trustee calm we are in our to the program at Nanberg from Emily Network.com. We are in hour two of the program. Adnan Virk from MLB network is gonna join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two.

Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominoch at Jason Dobb 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 him online at Jason Dobb Mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together

with you in step. Let's go to the hotline powered by Power West Industries. Adnan Virk from MLB network joins us now on the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. What up Adnan, how are you? I'm doing great, Mike, doing great, Jay. Love the shout out to Don Taylor, broadcasting legend. I just dropped off my son in Philadelphia, his eighth grade field trips. They're going to go do a bunch of stuff in Philly, Liberty Bell, Constitution Hall,

and I dropped them off at the Rocky Steps. So I'm telling them, hey, this is a really famous movie, you know, everyone talks about Rocky. You know, I think I've heard of this box music app, and I couldn't resist saying, that's kind of over-ranged though. He's like, what? I'm like, well, it's absurd that it lost

to Taxi Driver for Best Picture, and I realized it completely lost, and I should've just shut up and said, enjoy Rocky, enjoy Philadelphia. That's where we're at, boys. Couldn't help myself. So, Brough and I did the same trip around Philadelphia when we were there and we went to the Rocky Steps

and everything. And I came to the realization while walking back, approximately 9,000 miles back to the hotel, that generationally, that we're now entering an entire age and group of kids that are gonna have no pop culture relevance with like Rocky movies like you'll mention it and they won't get any of it right they won't remember the Drago the training scene yeah they won't

remember any I'll go to Philadelphia and be like yeah I think this guy lived in Philly a while ago he's like Ben Franklin or something they'll know Apollo Creed more because of the Creed movies than they will with Rocky and that makes me sad as a 46 year old male. We're living in a different time now, Adnan. No, same age, right? I'm 46 as well and you're right. That's a great point.

The Creed they will know because of Michael B. Jordan. It's funny, my eldest son is turning 17 Saturday so a year ago I said we got to watch Rocky 4. He's like, what? I go, I promise buddy, you're at the eighth. Now you're going to like it. And he didn't do it. As much as I was thrilled. I said, it's so bad. It's great. So hopefully kids are still watching Rocky four. What was, you mentioned taxi watched, I rewatched the end of Apocalypse Now the other day. And I don't know why I was feeling crazy or

insane or something. Um, the deer hunter was on TV the other day and I watched that a bit and I'm like, what the hell was going on in the seventies when everyone wanted to make these movies that were so dark and depressing and long? Frankly, it was just this, I have a theory about Apocalypse Now that, cause I watched the ending and I was like,

I don't think I've ever really dialed in to the ending because by the end of Apocalypse Now, you are mentally exhausted by the movie. So the first answer what was going on a whole lot of drugs Jay. Easy Riders Raging Bulls is one of the greatest books I've ever read by Peter Biskind and he talks about just the excess and clearly there's everyone's doing coke all over the place and quail eggs and pot etc but they were truly inspired filmmakers and of course my favorite Scorsese,

which you've got Spielberg and Coppola and Lucas, and you know, some of these great Bogdanovich were making these movies. What happened was they were making movies truly from their own personal movies, but they were very successful. Like it's one thing to have movies that are, you know, independently minded, critically acclaimed,

but these were like box office hits. The Copy Driver was a hit. Like Scorsese couldn't believe it. Opening weekend, the line down the street, people dressed up like Travis Bickle after a couple of showings. People really love those movies. But you're right. What went with it. And again, I love those films. Dog Brother 1 and 2, Dog the Afternoon, Super Goat. I mean, a lot of those films are my favorites. But you're right. Dark, cynical. Some say it was because around that Nixon era. So I guess they were responding to a very cynical political climate at that time.

Vietnam, of course, is very negative, so negative films are being made. But your point on Apocalypse Now, you do get these great movies, and there's great sequences. Like Apocalypse Now, I always resist the temptation to call it a great movie, because to your point, it's just too long and too unfocused.

But other great moments, absolutely. Like that helicopter assault, Ride of the Volcanoes is like a top 50 seen all time I think Duvall is unbelievable as Gilgore funding Brando is just mumbling his way into the ether Dennis Hopper's clearly high as a kite There's a lot of what the hell's going on in this movie All right, well we're talking about baseball. What's going on with what's going on with on with Juan Soto? I read a funny headline earlier in the show and it was something along the lines of the Mets will have a talk with their $765 million player

about hustle. You think for almost a billion dollars you get some hustle out of the guy. It's pretty funny man. Imagine the average Canadian makes what $50,000, $55,000 a year, imagine their boss is a pole to the side. Hey listen, I really need you to have a little bit of a better work ethic, please be on time, please hustle to get to the bathroom, hustle to get to meetings, you know, don't just be dilly dally like this is the situation that we're in right now. Juan Salas is a nice guy, I've interviewed him before, he's a great athlete obviously, but he's not enjoying himself right now

and the stories are coming out but he's got buyers remorse michael kate is the voice of the eighties so perhaps the body but i've always like michael hopefully there is a reason to exaggerate he says both of some friends of people closest so that they said he wanted to be a key because quite frankly what the matter of the day to push him uh... family because the is a family plus Boris means

no, I should've stayed with the Yankees. Of course the offer was competitive as we all know. The Yankees offered 16 for 760 if I'm not mistaken. Met's went 15, 765, so one less year, five million more. But apparently the family gripe was a part of it. And you know, now these stories are coming out that Soto's not exactly the most upbeat guy. He can be a little bit moody.

It's crazy to think for a player that talented, that young, he's now in his fourth team, like Nationals, Podgers, Yankees, Betts. And this version of him right now, Jay, resembles what he was in the Podgers that first year. He'll take his walks, but he's not slugging the ball to any sort of authority. And what was funny, specifically the incident you mentioned, he clearly doesn't punch in the box, but those of the manager politely says yes we'll talk about it but so that was hilarious in his response to keep you say

yeah that's on me with a no i'm also dot you guys thought out there like what you're talking about but it's a different day we're watching the deal so last night he struck out three straight times fellows on nine pictures and he didn't take the bat off the shoulder what's Thank God his final at bat, he got a sack fly. He must be getting a huge relief because he looked terrible against Garret Crochet. He's been a disappointment so far. He will turn around. He's a great player, but he went from Juan Soto to Juan Soso.

And it's a New York post. And after he didn't get to the box, he's Juan no show. We're speaking to Adnan Burke from MLB network. God bless the New York post. That's a good one. Actually. We're speaking to Adnan Burke from MLB network. God bless the New York post. That's a good one actually. We're speaking to Adnan Burke from MLB network here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. I want to jump around to a couple different stories here Adnan.

So later in the show, we're going to have to Sean Reed on from the athletic to talk about NFLers going to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to participate in flag football. Now in the wake of that news, there has been a lot of talk, especially from the LA organizing committee about getting major league baseball players, finding a way for them to join the 2028 Olympics. What's the likelihood? Where's Rob Manfred on all of this?

Do you think it's a possibility or do you think there's not going to be enough time to get things lined up for MLB participation in the 20, 28 Olympics in LA. Well, I surely hope so. Mike, I think, you know, all these leagues are copycat league. They see what happens with other leagues now popular the Olympics is. And we all know what happened with foreign nations, what it boost that gave to Canada and us here in America. Although I looked at the numbers the other day, by the way,

25% ratings are down right now on ESPN and TNT. It's around 885,000. Canada ratings up north of 45%, 2.2 million. Crazy to think about. A country of 35 million, we're getting 2.2 million watching a hockey game. At 330 million, it's 880,000. Adnan, this was great buddy.

As always, thank you for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. Enjoy all the games this week and for the remainder of the week, we'll do this again next Thursday. All right. Thanks so much, boys. Go enjoy Rocky for for me. We'll do. I always do, buddy. I had never from MLB network here on the Halferd and Brough show on SportsNet 650.

Yeah, that trip to Philadelphia, we were there for the draft, I want to say. And we walked approximately 30 miles that day to go to the Rocky Steps. And all due respect to Philadelphia, which is a cool city, and I loved a lot of it, the Rocky Steps were wildly, wildly underwhelming. Wildly underwhelming.

They were steps. Did you hear that the Vancouver media is crowdfunding to build a statue of Rick Taukett here in Vancouver? Because he went to Philly and we're like, Philly's got the Rocky statue and we all know the Vancouver media just loves Rick Taukett so they're going to build a statue and the fans are pleased about that. I'll never forget those two years. Rick deserves that statue.

That's a media thing. I'm going to start. It's just a media thing. I'm going to start leaning into that more just to troll, the kids call it trolling, troll all the fans that cannot stand the love affair that the Vancouver media had with Rick Tocquett. I'm just going to be like, next year, it's going to

be like, man, I wonder what Tauke would have done in that situation. I will never understand the visceral reaction that some people had to the Tauket era. But if the Canucks were horrible, horrible and won 15 games and were blown out with regularity and were the bottom in every statistical category, I could say, yeah, I understand some blowback on the coach.

For sure, right? There've been bad coaches in the NHL. There's been bad coaches in Vancouver. So I understand it. But in the two years on the job, nothing that he did can adequately explain some of the vitriol that's been thrown his way. Nothing that he did can adequately explain some of the vitriol that's been thrown his way. Hey, don't get me wrong, vitriol for a head coach,

I got time for it. I love dumping on a head coach. I love second guessing. I've been doing it with Jim Hiller and they've been eliminated for two weeks. I'm still got Jim Hiller jokes, I'm for forever. But I don't get this. I think part of it is a lot of the Connex social media accounts,

the prominent ones that drive narratives are inherently contrarian. I think being the opposite is a badge of honor for some people. And that's fine. It feels disingenuous, but it's fine if that's what you want to do. I think the other part of it is there is some currency in dumping all over everything all the time. It doesn't matter what, but being consistently negative on everything across the board. It's weird. It's not sarcasm and it's not caustic and it's not tongue in cheek. Why don't you just for a second give them the benefit of the doubt that that's just

their honest opinion, that they didn't like the style of hockey and that they thought that Rick Taukett wasn't the best guy for some of the players on the team. That's fine, but even that doesn't equate the, like calling him a dinosaur is crazy. I think I did. I found none of his approaches to the game, especially with his players

in a Jurassic in nature. I would always defer to what the players had to say. Yeah. And look, you could say, well, of course, the players are going to say that publicly. And now he's gone. Not when he's gone. There's saying I like my coach or I think he does a good job. And then there's the effusive praise.

Right. You don't do that just to fill some reporters notebook. You don't. And I think that if the players, the ultimate litmus test of whether a coach is good or not is do the players like him, do the players respect him and do they play hard for him? And I'll say this I never once questioned the majority of the Vancouver Canucks maybe with a few exceptions But the majority of the Vancouver Canucks playing hard for talk it almost every night. Mm-hmm. I mean I even look at that Completely unnecessary comeback they had against Dallas late in the season remember that one when they scored three times in the final minute completely unnecessary comeback they had against Dallas late in the season. Remember that one when they scored three times in the final minute? Completely unnecessary. It was totally unnecessary.

It did nothing for either team other than set an NHL record. But that was a team that was playing hard for its head coach in my estimation. I don't understand how anyone could look at that and say, you guys are carrying water for a coach that was reviled by so many of us in the fan base. Yet carrying water for what? Like why? I don't know. I just, I thought he was a pretty good coach and I liked the way that he handled his

business. That was it. It's that simple, bro. Yeah. As you like to say on the internet, right? It's just that simple, bro. I mean, but I understand, understand the desire to be like, hey, he's gone now.

And I even understand the like, you came in here and you were talking about embrace the heart and meet pressure with pressure. And then you left. Like, I don't agree with that, but I understand it. And I think in some ways that's how people support the team. All right? You're no longer with us, I'm not gonna say nice things with it about you.

You wanna leave, fine, you're the enemy now. And that's kind of what I was getting at yesterday when I was talking about talking on with Donnie and Dolly, he's like, yeah, I got that. Like, I watch sports, I know what we sign up for. Oh, I have no problem with it now. Yeah, yeah. Once he's gone, you're gone, right?

Once you've left, especially the way that he left. Well, I don't, but I don't see it that way. But I don't, but I understand fans that do. Sure, that's more where I'm going at with this. It's like now I can understand being scorned, right? And I also understand, you know, if you've got a favorite player on the team, no names mentioned, you really like this player and you really want this player

to succeed, to try and find reasons for his lack of success. And, um, you know, I, I've taken a real, you know, it's happened to me with a coach before I was all over Tortorella when he was in Vancouver. Sure. Um, so, you know, the idea that the media would never criticize a coach or anything, I think that's totally wrong. Cause Tortorella got a lot of criticism and he

was fired after a year and he deserved to be. His heart was never going to end in Vancouver. Um, I didn't think he'd ever get a job in the NHL again after that. And I was wrong about that. And he's gone on to do honestly, a pretty good job. I, I think there'd ever get a job in the NHL again after that, and I was wrong about that. And he's gone on to do honestly a pretty good job. I think there's something to be said for Torz going to a young team and impressionable team.

I think he was totally the wrong coach for the Vancouver Canucks though. That being said, I thought, you know, like, here's another thing, like there are times when coaches, they're good coaches, but they don't do a good job. Do you know what I mean? Like sure bad situation, wrong fit or just, or just they do a bad job. I know the, maybe the fit isn't right or they haven't prepped. Like the thing with torts is I feel like he came into that job and he's like,

you guys don't know how to win. You know, I'm going to tell you how to win. Like this team doesn't know how to win. I was like. He did a bad job. It was a bad approach. Three years ago, they went to the Stanley Cup final and a lot of the players are still there. I think they know how to win.

They want two straight president's trophies. I think they know how to win. So that, that for me was like a guy that didn't coach to his lineup. And, but you know, at the same time, the Sedines have always said that they had a So that for me was like a guy that didn't coach to his lineup. And, but you know, at the same time, the Sedin's have always said that they had a lot of respect for torts. So I don't know. I'm not in the room at all, but I do find this

dynamic interesting with Tocket because it's hard to find a member of the media. And I understand this. It's hard to find a member of the media, and I understand this, it's hard to find a member of the media that has a lot of bad things to say about Rick Tocket. It's easy to find a fan that has some bad things to say about Rick Tocket. So there is that, that divide that I don't think

exists all the time. There, you know, sometimes the media will be divided on a topic, for sure, and the fan base will be divided on the topic, but the media is fairly unanimously on the side of Rick Toggett. Agreed? Yeah, now I will push back on one thing here.

A couple people are texting in saying, "'Guys, they offered him five million and he walked. "'Come on, guys, he's scoring the team.'" maybe we didn't do a great job of breaking this down there's a there's a lot of people who think that Rick Tocket isn't a good a head coach and didn't do a good job and was too archaic and Jurassic during his time in Vancouver after he left I would say take the gloves off and start throwing because if you are staunchly behind the argument that he Was like embrace the hard and meet pressure with pressure and then the moment that it got hard and there was a lot of pressure

He bolted I got time for that. I Think that his messaging in the aftermath rings a little hollow Especially given where he left to go. I wish could you blame him based on how the season was like I totally I was not Sure shocked in the slightest. I mean, I understand why people might be between upset by it, but it's just like no I get it right but shock and upset are two totally different emotions and two totally different experiences Yeah, but surely you must be able to understand his reasoning based on how the season went. Yeah, but some fans don't think of it that way. They're like, you're either with us or you're against us. What team are they watching then?

Like it's- But no, you're either with us or against it. Some fans- Yeah. So many fans just have a different approach. When I was a kid and I used to listen to Dan Russell, I was like, why is he so mean about the Canucks? Right?

I liked the Canucks and they were horrible. Yeah.ucks? I like the Canucks and they were horrible. This was the 80s Canucks and they were horrible. And I'm not saying that's a childlike way to approach a team because some people still feel that way. They're just like, I like the Canucks. It's blind devotion. But there's something endearing about it. I'll cheer for the team through thick and thin.

And this is my team. And any way they're going to go. Now that you're no longer coaching, you're the enemy. You're the enemy. You quit on us. And I think. I guess. But I mean, this is what happened this year, though.

I mean, you've got to think a little critically for a second. You have to understand the reasoning. Like, obviously, it makes sense that he left. Why? Because of all the drama that went on this year. Guy probably lost ten years of his life coaching the team this year. But they fixed the drama. Like if he had hair it would be great. They did not fix the drama. They fixed the drama. They trained J.T. Miller and everything's gonna be great.

It'd be like the Obama before and after White House picture. That's how he looked at the end of the year. Like just so completely drained. And I completely understand it. This whole thing just started with a little joke that I was trying to make. And then, and then Halfer got serious about it. I think it'd be funny if the Vancouver media got together and like put up a statue of Rick Tocque and it was like the greatest coach that ever lived. I don't know how you can actually embrace heart and statue form, but if we could have him embracing the heart, I think that would be great.

By the way, it's also a lesson to Adam Foot. Say nice things about us. Yeah. Just play the game, Adam. We are easily swayed. Just be nice to us. Complete reversal, the fans love Foot. All the media hate him.

Yeah, cause he's mean to us. Yeah, exactly. That's part of it too, right? Yeah, he kept giving us good questions. Good question. The fans love it when the coaches battle with the media. And you know what, you know what? Another thing is that I would, I was thinking about this the other day,

and I know I got to go to break, but, um, you know what I would say if I was a coach and I had a player that was upset with the media coverage, I'd be like, buddy, you're a player. They will love you if you play well and hate the media. Like the default setting, love the player, hate the media. And the players have to know that. They should know that because I think that helps them. You know what I mean?

Like if you, if you're a player, does that mean, does this make sense? Like if you're, if you're a player and you're like, man, the media coverage is really getting me down. Just always keep in the back of your mind that the fans want to love the players. And frankly, some of them want to hate the media. And that's what we've taken on and we get it.

We, we understand that. So, um, I think it's just, we're always important to keep that in mind. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.