Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 7/29/24

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

Josh & Jason are joined by Sportsnet's Donnovan Bennet to give an update on Olympic basketball thus far and then CBC's Ben Steiner comes on the show to discuss the breaking news that Soccer Canada has appealed their punishment on the drone scandal and breaks down what comes next for the Women's Olympic Soccer team. 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 & Brough. Welcome back to Halford & Brough 633. This hour of Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Had it, lost it. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. It is Halford and Brough. Josh Elliott-Wool

filling in for Mike Halford. I don't have the reads down yet, but I'll get there by the end of the week. Well, Halford doesn't have the reads down either and he's been doing it for a while. Fair enough. So I will not get it. You're better. Honestly. Keep going. Nowhere to go but up. Let's welcome in our next guest.

It is Donovan Bennett covering the Olympics for CBC and Sportsnet. Thanks for taking the time, Donovan. How are you? I'm great. How are you? Doing very well. And we wanted to get into the basketball game to start yesterday canada beating greece it was kind of by a slim margin though um was was that game more encouraging

for you on based on your expectations of what canada was going to do this tournament or did you have maybe some concerns coming out of that game yeah can i do what i did in university when i didn't know the answer and just select all of the above? Because it was a bit of both, right? So one, like, full stop. It was cool to see our team in the Olympics. Most of your listeners, because your audience is quite young, wasn't alive or wasn't alive and can't remember. 2000 was Steve Nash, a pre-double

MVP, Steve Nash and Rowan Barrett on the court. Todd McCullough, the other NBA player on that team, playing real well but really inspiring a nation and obviously most of your audience probably doesn't remember,

you know, Vince Carter in the Olympics, you know, dumping, dunking over people. And so it was nice as Canadian basketball fans, when we say our national team, we generally are talking about the Raptors,

not our actual national team for them to be there and to be playing on the Olympic stage. We've talked about it for so long. I feel like as soon as Anthony Bennett's name was first overall in the draft in 2015, we started to put together the dots and say, Wiggins is coming and he's, we first overall soon.

And all of a sudden we've got this top end NBA talent. We're going to be a force. That was almost a decade ago. Finally, no contract issues. Relatively, no health issues. Our best players were all playing at the same time that committed, and it was nice to see them on the floor together. Having said that, right before our game was, you know, Australia and Spain,

and we are in the group of death. And some people said Australia upset Spain, and I don't think so at all. When you look at the way those nations were trending, when you look at the amount of NBA players on their rosters right now, obviously the United States team is exclusively NBA All-Stars, never mind NBA players other than, I suppose, Derek White. Canada has 10, and then Australia is right behind them with the second, with the third most amount of NBA players in the tournament.

So I wasn't surprised Australia won. I was surprised they won by 12. And in this tournament, plus minus matters, especially in this group where all four teams consider themselves a medal contender. I was like, all right, we got to win by more than 12, which we didn't do. But at times, it seemed like we might not win, had the lead the entire time, but it was much too close because of the foul issues and just some general sloppiness. So it was a bit of a sweet and sour experience,

but I'm happy we're having the conversation in the first place. So one of the questions that a lot of people have after that game and maybe before that game is what is up with Jamal Murray and what can Canada expect from him at this tournament? It's the question that everybody is wondering, and I think he looks like he's managing himself in a way, and just trying to get through the games rather than trying to impose his will on the game,

which is what Shea Gildress Alexander looked like. He was pretty active defensively, and so if you're totally hampered, you assume you might want to rest defensively, but he just looked generally sluggish. And I do worry about Jamal. I mean, we're thinking short-term right now and how he looks between now and

the end of this tournament in the second week of August. But I actually worry long term. He's multiple years, multiple summers where he's had nagging injuries, specifically knee injuries. And I just fear that we could be going down the road of a Brandon Roy or a Derrick Rose, where bright start to the career, really you look at what the trajectory could be, some amazing moments, but never reach there because you can't reach that level consistently due to injury. It's interesting because when Jamal was coming into the league,

and I remember talking to him as a prep player of who he thought his game would comp to in the NBA, he said, Derek Rose. Their profiles are different. Jamal's obviously not as explosive, but great ability to finish around the basket. So we might just hope that he can be a super sub and the threat of Jamal Murray,

especially late in games, is enough. But yeah, I think to me, this makes Nikhil Alexander's role even bigger because Jamal wasn't himself. So if you're head coach Jordy Fernandez and you saw that three of your players fouled out against Greece, including Lou Dort and Dylan Brooks, what do you tell your guys about defending in this tournament and how to play? Because you want them to be aggressive. You want them to defend aggressively, but you also need them on the court for the entire game. No question.

I think you tell them, be smart and don't get frustrated. Because there's two sides to this issue in conversation which is going to be an ongoing one we saw it in the world championships last year we're going to see it again in this tournament the officiating is inconsistent at best maybe the nicest way i could put it and so some of it's going to be out of your control, so don't get frustrated. Don't lose yourself in that aspect, but be smart in the sense that if you're going to foul,

make it worth it. Don't be fouling 90 feet away from your own basket, picking up someone full court and applying pressure in the backcourt, that isn't necessary. You want them to be aggressive, as you said, because that's our greatest trait, that we've got these pitbulls as wing defenders on both sides with Dylan Brooks and with Lou Dort. I think the aspect is you are both, and the team in general, so athletic.

You don't need to be necessarily that tight all the time. You don't need to press full court when the situation doesn't call for it. So stay aggressive, don't get frustrated, but just be smart so that you are putting yourself in an optimal position to ration those ticky-tack fouls throughout the course of a game. The great thing is they do have depth, so if they have some foul issues, it won't hurt them in the same way as it will some other nations

who don't have the same amount of depth that Canada does. Their next match is against Australia. What is the biggest challenge that Australia presents? Stop Josh Giddey. I think he's looked outstanding both in the lead-up to this tournament and in their first game. I think by and large at this point, given the age of some of the other players on their team,

he's by far and away their best player. I know that FIBA Patty Mills is much better than NBA Patty Mills, so I don't want to disrespect his name, but in a similar fashion, Giddey is the head of the Snakes, so I expect them to see a lot of traps and doubles to get the ball out of his hand. I expect them to see a lot of Dylan Brooks, a lot of Lou Dort,

who's probably guarded him more than anybody in the world, being the fact that they were teammates with OKC. But I don't know if you guys noticed this. I noticed a different, almost snarly, Shea Gildas Alexander, who's normally so cool and calm and collected and unflappable. And I wonder if he takes the challenge to say, listen, I'm by far the best player in this group, in this tournament, and I've played with you a lot, and I'm going to show you

why there's levels to this. The main competition, if they get that far, is obviously going to be the U.S., who played their first game as well. They beat Serbia, and a couple days from now, they obviously going to be the U.S. who played their first game as well. They beat Serbia, and a couple days from now they're going to play South Sudan. It almost feels like there's always this constant pressure on the U.S. not only to win, but to win in convincing fashion. To an extent, do you agree with that? How much pressure do you think is on this team,

and do you think they can handle that pressure? There's so much pressure on them. There's no real good outcome for them. If they win in convincing fashion, they're supposed to. And if they lose, it's a catastrophe, and the players should be embarrassed. And if they win in a small margin, then we need to blow it up and start again.

There are TikToks of Jason Tatum and Tyrese Halliburton just being on the bench, making fun of them, essentially, even though that happens on every team. You're not going to play 12 guys for every game. I understand why there was a bunch of American players over the last decades who was less than interested in playing for their country, because it's in some ways a zero sum game. You can't really feel elated when you win.

You have to feel relief when you win. And the FIBA game is very different than the NBA game. So just because you're good in one doesn't mean you're good in the other they have no real history of camaraderie Joel Embiid never played international basketball never mind played in the USA basketball system so unlike other countries where Dennis Schroeder is playing for Germany every single summer since he was essentially 16 you're asking guys to get together with two weeks notice and play at a high level against a growing level of competition. Yeah, it is tough.

It's more about managing PR and players going to make sure that their shoe sponsors are happy and less so about being able to play at an extremely high level. Having said that, they by far and away should win the tournament. And it's almost like for the other strong nations, it's like a relay race. You want to stay close and hope that the team that's the fastest messes up at the baton at some point. And I actually think Canada sets up at the baton at some point.

And I actually think Canada sets up well to be able to do that if and when they meet up with the U.S. in this tournament. How do you think Jason Tatum felt being on the bench the whole game? Here's a guy that just won the NBA Finals as the best player on the Celtics and not good enough to play any minutes in the first game for the Americans. I think he felt like he had to do the thing at award shows where you start clapping for the other person that won because you know the camera's on you. Essentially because, yeah, this is why, quite frankly, Jalen Brown isn't there, is because he probably wouldn't have

dealt with it in a understanding way, but that is life in current international basketball, where the U.S. can't just run two teams of five

and win by 50. They have to actually be locked in, and there's some surplus requirements. For me, even though Jason Tatum was the best player in the finals, despite the fact that Brown got the award, Kevin Durant and LeBron James and Anthony Edwards are better at the needed skill that they have at getting buckets,

uh, you know, at, in the backcourt. And so, um, it's a long tournament. He might find himself back in the rotation,

but, um, awkward for sure. Uh, for those players. Is there anything about the American roster that you can look at and say, um, that might be a problem? Like, besides the whole, you know, if jealousy tears this team apart

or anything like that, you know, you look at the Canadian roster and you say, okay, well, you know, the lack of an elite big might cost them in the end. Is there anything about the American roster that looks vulnerable? Joel Embiid, who doesn't seem in shape or in rhythm. If they were to decide, we're just not going to play Joel Embiid and we're only going to play Ben Adebayo and Anthony Davis, who looks outstanding, I think they would be much better. But again, egos come into this. And when someone who is walking from the hotel,

because the American team's not staying in the Olympic Village, to the sprinter van or the charter bus, and every time there's people screaming at him to give back his passport because he essentially just cherry-picked and jumped on the USA team like it's an AAU team. I get why they feel like, oh, man, we kind of got to play this dude. But at the same time, he's not the best option and puts them in some bad situations

and gives them some awkward spacing. So I think if Steve Kerr, you know, gets a little bit more ruthless with his rotation, I think they'd actually be better off. But that is, you know, literally nitpicking. The roster's bounce got great shooting with Durant, who looks healthy, and Devin Booker and Steph Curry. And then ultimately, watching LeBron,

and I've watched him up close in playoff games, and it is bizarre, and we've seen it in this tournament. It's like he's the older kid on the playground who is managing how hard they try, and then when they decide they're going to take it over, there's just nothing you can do. And that's what he's doing in the Olympics. So, yeah, they should be you know barring injury or barring you know uh an episode of succession

where the family fights each other and they should win no question it's like the old guys are are in charge of that american team and they're deservedly in charge. Who's going to be the young guy on that American team that runs with LeBron and KD? I think it'll be Anthony Edwards, because Anthony Edwards has no idea that he should actually take a backseat to the old guys. He was telling some of the members of the media that he is the guy who should be taking the last shot on the team,

and that LeBron is kind of old and past his prime. I'm like, are you wild? One, LeBron is currently your teammate, and two, you have not won an MVP or a championship or an Olympic medal, and you have a bunch of teammates who have. But the irrational confidence I think is why he's such a great player and why

he's willing to not only take big shots but make big shots. So I think he's going to be that connective tissue for this team from these games in France to the LA games in four years. And I think he's going to have a huge role on this team. Hey, Donovan, thanks for joining us this

morning. Always enjoy chatting basketball with you. Hopefully we can chat maybe even later this week as Canada progresses at this tournament. Enjoy the rest of your day. Would love to. Ladies playing today, guys off to a good start what a time to be alive thanks donovan have a good one that was donovan bennett talking a little basketball um what do you think of uh what he had to say about um the american team and the fact that it's gonna be pretty tough to beat these guys. It's just like, it's impossible. Unless they have this.

It's not impossible. It's not impossible. It could be a one game. Yeah, but it's so. One game. But you have to like make it. Canada doesn't have to do it. Sure.

Some other team. Some team could. I don't. Impossible. South Sudan nearly beat them. Give it a percent chance. Like 12. You think if this team plays the USA 100 times, Canada would win 12?

Yeah. What do you think? One. One? Really? Maybe. What about other teams? Maybe two.

Who's most likely to beat the Americans? I give it five, then, if you take the field. Right. Honestly, you play the field. Right. I just like, honestly, you play this team a hundred times, like everything. The Americans are going to beat South Sudan by like 70, aren't they? Exactly. After that scare? They're like, you shouldn't have done that.

The relay race thing, I think that Donovan brought up, I got on your guys' ear, it's a great analogy, because everything has to go right for you to have a chance, and then everything has to go wrong for them to have a chance and then everything has to go wrong for them and then it could be like maybe the americans could could fight with each other and be jealous and you know have all these problems which we're not saying they do have but they could and they could still win the tournament the americans could easily their

b team with guys that aren't at the olymp now and they would win silver. How do you guys think Jason Tatum felt? I mean, here's a guy that is coming off an NBA title and obviously played well and now he can't get a minute. And he's watching his two teammates and Drew Holiday starts for the Americans and Derek White got 14 minutes of play. I think it just comes down to roles, and the fact that Holiday and White play such fantastic defense, they're very prolific three-point shooters,

and when you're building a team, and you have guys like Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Steph Curry, you need guys that can kind of do the other things too. I think Steve Kerr, the head coach, after the game said, like, that's embarrassing that I wasn't able to find some. I feel like an idiot. I feel like an idiot that I didn't get Jason Tatum any time. You know, when it comes to a lot of people would compare it to the Canadian Olympic hockey team where, you know, it's well known that some really great players have to take different roles.

And you got guys that are number one centers on their teams playing you know fourth line crash and bang with the canadians but at least they get into the game the difference is you know in basketball you're so openly on the bench yeah and everyone's looking at you and and you know donovan mentioned that there are, right? And the social media, you know, guys are probably looking at social media after and going, everyone's making fun of me because I'm not playing. That will be tough. But, you know, the hope, I guess, the dream for

Canadian sports fans is that, you know, hard feelings tear this American team apart. But I think they're just so good regardless that they could have issues behind the scenes and they could still win this thing yeah definitely and like they've done it before it can happen again it is halford and brough coming up next we're going to talk to perdita felician about the opening ceremonies some of the other olympic events going on including Summer McIntosh's excellent start, and we'll see if she continues it later today. It is Halford & Brough on Sportsnet 650.

You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and brough 731 josh halliwell filling in for mike halford jason brough is still here barely barely uh halford and brough is brought to you by the delari family of honda dealers experience the delari difference today visit your nearest delari honda dealer today in this hour of halford and brough it's brought to you by bridge brewing meticulously brewed for quality and taste primetime craft beers full flavor without compromise at a liquor store near you or visit the brewery to see how it is made wow i did it we're back on track you did it now i'm not gonna screw up because of your screw-ups yeah so it's clear sailing from here don't bring up ben steiner's big hurdles incident so yeah

let's bring in our next guest ben steiner covering the olympics for cbc sports did you have any super embarrassing things you wanted to uh talk about from your career before we uh fully get into the interview to to give you the context behind this we oh good we're gonna tell the story awesome sorry well i brought it up and now i have to say we accidentally uh brought up perdita felician's uh hurdles mishap i guess guess, at the 2004 Olympics. To her. To her. To her. I asked a direct question. Have you ever had a big screw-up in the hurdles?

Did you know about that, Ben? I certainly didn't know about that one. But for mine, it probably has to be back in my ski racing days when I was so hyped to get right out of the gate and chase a good time, and I missed the first gate because i wasn't quite focused um and i was a bit too hyped up so that's definitely got to be uh my most embarrassing sports moment not quite the olympics though uh so what's the latest tell tell everyone about your your setup and your your job during these olympics basically you're just watching every event in the olymp essentially. Are you sleeping at all?

I slept about two hours last night and then got up to watch Summer McIntosh from her preliminary 400-meter IM. It's pretty hectic hours, but, you know, managed to get out for a run yesterday and keeping things fairly balanced to an extent. But I work until midnight at the CBC Broadcast Centre here in Toronto, and then I'm up pretty early as well doing some other stuff on the Olympic beat and covering everything Canadian sports. You bring me on at the seemingly perfect time you arranged this interview because Canada Soccer just announced that they're appealing to the Court of Arbitration for support against the punishment that was laid down on them by FIFA. Yeah, I wanted to ask about that. So just minutes ago... They don't even need to, though. They're good. Yeah, I wanted to ask about that. So just minutes ago...

They don't even need to, though. They're good. Yeah, they're just going to win. They're good. They're going to win the whole thing. But yeah, tell us about this appeal and what it means, what it could mean for Canada at the tournament. Yeah, so the Court of Arbitration for Sport is where you go when you don't agree with

the governing party uh punishing you or you know a doping scandal and and stuff of of that ilk uh so canada soccer has gone to the ad hoc division which is set up to quickly review things at paris 2024 and you know given the speed of the women's soccer tournament at the olympics it has to be a quick decision so they made this quick decision to you know appeal the points deduction as well as the suspensions to the Canadian soccer staff that were suspended for a year. And if it's approved, they will find out hours before their game against Colombia whether there is less of a points deduction. You know, if they even get it to minus three instead of minus six, they're already through to the next round.

And if they win, they're through not even as a third-place team, but as one of the top two. And if they get the points deduction reduced, they could even conceivably win the group as well, which when you consider everything the last week has had in Canadian soccer would be quite surprising. Do you think the punishment was justified? Could you see this being reduced or was it kind of fair for the crime? I think the punishment of a points deduction is fair.

I don't think, you know, Canada should have gotten anything out of that New Zealand game in particular when this was really all coming out and was breaking news about you know this whole drone gate thing um but i do think that six points was maybe a little bit too much and that's something where there could be a successful appeal that's sort of what i see being the most successful potential of this i don't see the suspensions uh to the coaches being lifted um because at the end of the day they still broke broke FIFA and Olympic policy. And then I don't necessarily see all the points being awarded back because then what really is the punishment?

And it's still something that should probably be punished. So bringing it to minus three and just having one game a loop seems possible. And given the way that Canada played against France, if they can continue to play with that that vigor that anger you know place a bet on them to win a medal at this point. So apologies if you already mentioned this like what is the timing in all this going to be when's there going to be a decision when's the game against Colombia and I suppose if they do get a positive decision and like the punishment has changed 6-3, that would do what?

That would affect their matchups in the quarterfinals? So, I mean, it really depends on what Canada needs from that last game. As things stand, Canada needs to win. There's no other option. If they get it reduced, which they would find out midday in Paris on the day of the game, so hours before their 9 p.m. local kickoff, which is certainly going to be stressful. And, you know, everyone saw Vanessa Gilles' interview

after the game yesterday. And, you know, this Canadian team is probably going to be stressed waiting for that release from the Court of Arbitration for Sport. And even if it's, you know, the, the three points, then Canada's already through, uh, and they can get a fantastic top seed in the group as well. Um,

so it's going to be interesting to see how this, uh, all unfolds. Um, but Canada might already be through, um, at this point with the performances they put in. What have the,

what have the players been saying about this? What has been the emotion that has been, has it been sadness? Has it been anger? What have you gotten across from them? I think it's a mix of everything. I mean, we heard from Vanessa Gilles after the match yesterday, and I don't think I've seen a more emotional interview in Canadian sport she was saying that you know the team has been struggling to eat they've been crying

some players punched walls they and probably the the best quote was we're not cheaters we're damn good players a damn good team and we proved that today and she said it while crying so I think they use this as a bit of a rallying cry and if you watch the game yesterday you know they played angry but it was a like an iconic anger that they played with uh and one that got them a massive win that keeps them alive and and potentially puts them in a good good position to uh to chase a medal here um so what is summer mcintosh's day look like today? What has already happened? What is going to happen?

Well, it was bright and early for Summer McIntosh. She had the day off yesterday. Didn't swim the women's 200 free yesterday, but today it's her marquee event. It's the one that she has the world record in, and that world record she broke in May at the Canadian Olympic trials, and the previous world record was also hers. This is her event by far.

It's the 400 meter individual medley. And she finished third in the heat this morning at 5 a.m. Eastern. And that was certainly an early one to be up for and watch. And at 1130 Pacific, she'll be racing the final in the 400 meter IM. And it's the gold medal favorite there would be her second medal after winning silver on the first day of the games and would be Kenda's first gold medal of the

games should be able should she be able to get that done. So third in the heats to was she just taking it easy? She looked very composed she has a lot left in the tank for for later today all you have to do in the heats is qualify. It is more advantageous to be in the middle two lanes of the pool. That's where the water is a little bit calmer and you have a little bit more time to go fast. So she's not in four and five, which are the two middle lanes of the pool. She is in lane six. And so she's right there.

And she's the outright favorite in this event and it's probably going to be Canada's first gold medal at the Games but there's still a race to swim. Do you think her experience at the Tokyo Olympics and of course that was three years ago, not four years ago when she was just 14 years old, has that helped her? Has she talked about that at all? I think that helped but I think a lot of what's helped as well is, you know, the world championships in Budapest and Fukuoka have been in front of big

crowds. They've been, you know, against the best swimmers in the world. And she's prevailed in this event at both of them. She's the two-time defending world champion at Fukuoka and in Budapest. So I think those are probably ringing a little bit more true. That's the only time she's kind of swam a program that's as grueling as the one that she's taking on at Paris. But it's certainly one where, you know, she was 14 at her first Olympics. You learn a lot from that, even if it was a COVID Games. And she's still 17, know you know but she's built different um I know that is a mantra you know praised by a lot of athletes that build different

and and stuff like that but I think when you look at Summer McIntosh in the way that she just you know happy to swim she enjoys the sport um and she's pretty darn good at it as well. Women's Rugby Sevens. What's the latest on the women's team? Because they went into this tournament with medal expectations as well. They're through to the quarterfinals. They beat China this morning. New Zealand playing Fiji right now and New Zealand is blowing Fiji out of the water.

I've got it on right in front of me and they're up 21-0 on Fiji. So it looks as though it's going to be Canada and New Zealand moving on from their group in preliminary play to the quarterfinals. And off the top of my head, I believe the quarterfinals begin later this afternoon. What else are you keeping an eye on today? I know there's Canadian women in judo right now in the semifinal. What else should people keep an eye on in terms of medal hopes for the day?

Yeah, Krista Degucci is certainly one to keep an eye on in the women's 57-kilogram judo. She is ranked number one in the world and is pretty well the outright gold medal favorite in this event. And Canada had some success in judo at Tokyo a few years ago and actually won a bronze medal in this event but the woman who won that one isn't at this year and has the potential of missing these games apologies my alarm clock is going off there but yeah Krista Degucci is certainly one to watch at these games and she's potential for a gold

medal she's in the semi-final right now as we speak hey ben really appreciate you taking the time and uh hope to do this again soon awesome certainly an exciting day there is ben steiner covering the olympics for cbc sports only a couple hours of sleep he's a trooper how do you this is weird question how do you watch the olympics and keep track of everything? There's just so much stuff going on. I think I find I turn the TV on and I'm like, wait a minute, is this recorded?

Is this a big moment? What's going on here? I do think you get used to, you adjust to the time schedule pretty quick. For us, we'll always know that in the morning, it's always going to be live um in terms of like following it i will say like the the networks here if you're only in it for canada i feel like they do a pretty good job of like hey this is someone who's competing for a medal like they they keep you pretty locked into canadians who

actually have a chance as opposed to you know like there are some guys that you're in the event and you're competing and it's awesome to be at the Olympics, but it's not a Canadian event that they're going to have a strong chance. But you just have to kind of just be watching it all day. Yeah. Because all of a sudden, like, wait a minute, we've got a bronze in fencing? Yeah, exactly. Do they just cut to that?

I guess so. Yeah. Like yesterday, I think it was um well the other thing is they have for fencing for example you you do you have all the the matches leading up to it right so eventually you know that they're going to be competing in a certain whether it be for bronze or whatever and then you have a couple hours until they lead into that so so someone texted in there's's an Olympics app, Jason. I'm not that old.

Have you heard of apps? I've got the Olympics app, but I still find there's just so much information to parse through. And I know you can filter it based on the Canadian team, but there's a lot going on. There is. It's still, I don't know. I do find the easiest way is like turn on a tv and you will get the information um but also like that like if i was doing the job of ben steiner right

i don't know if i could do that where you're you have to know a decent amount about every sport because i could just turn it on and be like oh canada's good at judo now that's fun yeah whereas he's like oh i know canada's good at judo now that's fun yeah whereas he's like oh i know canada's good at judo this is this person you have to know the backstory and everything yeah um but in terms of just following it from a very casual fans point of view i do think it's it's relatively easy um because i kind of force feed it to you i've reported at the olympics, but I was just covered. I was just covering hockey. That's it. So there was a lot to cover.

I was doing the men's and the women's hockey. And, you know, I had to know when they were practicing, when there's going to be media avails, and that was hard enough. But then there were these reporters that were doing everything. And the planning that goes into that is just ridiculous because you also have to plan your transportation because you have to get from venue to venue. And it is one of the toughest things to do as a reporter.

Covering something like the Stanley Cup Finals or a Super Bowl, that's easy. You just show up and they tell you where to go. And then they bring you the players and they talk to you and you go write your stories. But the Olympics is just so widespread. It's just such a massive operation. Have you ever done anything like that? Have you ever done any actual reporting?

No, I have not done any actual reporting. I've only worked here. Okay, all right. And they don't send us places. You guys brought up the fencing. I watched a little bit of it and then there was that clip that went viral. I don't know if you guys saw. One of the guys was just jumping

repeatedly. And I guess it's sort of like a new strategy. It reminds me of playing Mortal Kombat when you want to piss off your buddy and you're just jumping constantly. It's essentially what it was, but it was at the Olympics. He's jumping with his fencing sword. The guy couldn't get him.

Andy would have done that for sure. Andy would have done that. Yeah. He would have got tired, though, with the jump. Yeah. It was a lot of jumping. Yeah. This is the thing I love about the Olympics.

What's your favorite sport to watch in the Olympics that you normally don't follow? For me, I will always get into a volleyball game. Really? Yeah. So, like, beach volleyball is on, right? Very easy to get into it. Less beach volleyball, more I watch the men's team lose to, I think, Estonia. Right.

Yesterday. Classical Estonia. What's that? Was it Slovenia or Estonia? Doesn't really matter. The men's is almost less exciting, though, because they're too strong. Their serves are too strong. Their spikes are too strong.

It's so hard to return. They had some good. They didn't break their fingers blocking and stuff. But their hops are unbelievable. Like they are. I mean, I found that they actually had some good, do you call them rallies in volleyball? Rallies?

Like they had some good rallies. But like I know what you're saying. It's kind of like sometimes you watch men's tennis and if a guy's just known for a serve it's like all right well this is pretty boring it's you know ace or ace or or winner or or whatever um but i think volleyball for me is the one sport that I'd be like, I can maybe get into this full time. Really? But, well, I don't know. How are you going to pursue this? How am I going to pursue it, right?

What do I watch? The two-on-two stuff's fun because then you can really get rallies going and you're saving, you're diving everywhere. It seems kind of crowded in men's volleyball. There's not a lot of space. Yeah. That's why I tend to prefer beach volleyball to the regular volleyball

just because it's, I don't know, it feels more, you get more rallies and it just, I don't know, feels more fun to watch. In terms of what I tend to watch that I won't in my spare time is swimming I find I really get into. Like anytime there's a swimming event on,

I am watching it. And I know nothing about it. What do you like about it? And I hate to come out from the negative because when I watch swimming, I'm like, I realize they're going fast in the water. Yeah. But they're not going that fast. They can go faster online.

No, I said it last week and I said it very tongue-in-cheek and some people took it too seriously. I'm like, I could run faster than they're swimming and I don't run very fast. Yeah, it's still like crazy impressive. Maybe it's because I'm not a good swimmer. It is crazy impressive, yes. And that's the biggest thing. Yes.

And you're still like, I don't know. I could drive faster than people run, but I'm still interested in people running. It wasn't the best analogy. I didn't say it was the best analogy. It was just something that, in some ways, it can be more exciting because they are going so slow. So you're like, you've only got that much to make up? Come on, can't you do it? And so there's a French swimmer who's like the new Michael Phelps.

Leon Marchand, I believe is his name. And the crowd obviously is super into him. But he is, I forget what event it was yesterday. It might have been the 400. It was the men's 400 individual medley that Summer McIntosh is going to be in the women's side today. And he was ahead by half a pool by the end of it. So stuff like that where it's just someone dominating, I find. Is there a way to, you know,

sometimes you'll high step into the end zone or in track and field, you'll raise your fist for the last, if you're way ahead, is there something you can do in swimming? No, i think you would just stop and then you start splashing the other can you imagine you stop just look behind you that would be amazing but i think most of them when they're that far ahead are like oh man i could get a world record or an olympic record right now right i love seeing the line in the pool yes and they're chasing that line that is cool yeah and i'm like that is cool that's michael phelps's

record he's going after it. Exactly. Like Leon Marchand yesterday, they had his own world record ahead of him. And it's like, man, he's just racing against himself right now. That's really cool. Okay, we're going to have some hockey talk coming up with Aaron Portsline from The Athletic. He covers the Columbus Blue Jackets.

And you might be asking, why are you guys talking about the Columbus Blue Jackets? Well, they're the most exciting team in hockey. They are. I know a lot of people in Vancouver, they're everyone's number two team. First it's the Canucks and then it's the Blue Jackets. Got my Rick Nash jersey at home. The reason we're going to talk to Aaron is that Patrick Laine is, and good for him, he is out of the NHLPA program that he was in for mental health reasons.

So the doctors have cleared him to leave that program. And by the way, you go into that voluntarily, but only the doctors can clear you to leave it. So now the Blue Jackets are going to try and trade him in part because Patrick Laine said he wants a fresh start somewhere else and who can blame him after spending time with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The questions that the Blue Jackets have are, are they going to be able to trade this guy? He's got a big cap hit. I think he's got two years left on his deal.

His cap hit is sizable, $8 or $9 million. And people don't even know if he's going to be that good a player. And also, here's another challenge. Even if the Canucks wanted him, how would they do that? Everyone's spent their free agent money. Even if the Canucks wanted him, how would they do that? Yeah. Everyone's spent their free agent money. There's a lot of teams that are up against the cap. So we're going to talk to Aaron Portsline about what makes sense for Patrick Laine, what went wrong in Columbus, what he needs.

Can you think of a team off the top of your head that makes sense for Patrick Laine? I kind of just think of the teams near the bottom of the standings, you know, where it's like, you can go, there's not a lot of pressure. They're going to have the cap space to take you on. Maybe it's like a Chicago or whatever, where it's like, hey, you're playing with Conor Bedard.

Hopefully it works. If it doesn't, you're gone in two years. Maybe they retain half your salary and flip you next year. I know there's a lot of Montreal Canadiens fans who are curious about the idea of Patrick Laine.

I'm not going to lie. If the Canucks had the cap space available to do it, I would be pretty interested. Really? At that cap, even if they retained,

even if they retained 50%. I would be into it. But at 8.7, which is his full cap hit, I would not be. No, not even close. I don't even know if I'd be into it. But at 8.7, which is his full cap hit, I would not be. No, not even close. I don't even know if I'd be interested in – that's a lot of cap space, even $4 million,

to spend on a player that you just don't know. Can the Canucks afford to take a risk like that? It's a big bet. It would be a big bet. But if it hits, that's your Elias Pettersson winger. If it hits, it solves one of the main problems they had in the entire postseason.

You need goal scoring. Yeah. And I can see a world... But is he the right player to play under a guy like Taka or would Taka go crazy with him? I mean, it would either really work or it would blow up

in your face immediately. It would either be Kuzmenko again, maybe to a more dramatic extent, or it would just work and maybe he buys into what rick talk is selling but again like canucks have sixteen thousand dollars in cap space they can't really make it work unless they flip someone and i can't see anyone on the roster who they'd be willing to part with to take a risk like that. It is half an abrupt. Before we go, CFL report. I got to do that. So it's time now for the Canadian Football Report

brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. So over the weekend, BC Lions were not in action. It was their bye week. Every Eastern team in the cfl was playing a western team and every eastern team won yeah that's good that's good that's really good that's good for the bc line so they stay atop the west division they're going to be taking on the winnipeg blue bombers in winnipeg this week.

So things going well for the Lions, even on their bye week. But to run through the games, Montreal beat the Rough Riders. Ottawa beat the Stampeders. The Toronto Argonauts. Slim victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. And the Hamilton Tiger Cats beat the Edmonton Elks. Yeah, yeah. God, the Elks are terrible.

They are so bad. They are so, so bad. They are very bad at football. What can they do? 0-7. 0-7. Just impressively bad.

Hamilton's now 2-5. Yes. Good for Hamilton. Big win for the Balecks. That was the Canadian Football Report brought to you by Securing

Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. Aaron Portsline is going to join us on the other side. It is Halford and Brough on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.