Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 8/16/24

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

Guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Josh Elliott-Wolfe look back at the previous day in sports, the boys do some Ask Us Anythings, they chat with BC Lions radio commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich ahead of Sunday's tilt versus Winnipeg, plus the boys tell us what they learned. 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. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Called right on the inside corner, the splitter got him looking. Strikeout number six for Bryce Miller. He's retired 12 of 13 as he strolls off the mound, dealing against the Tigers. Here's the stretch and a 2-1 pitch. Swing and a fly ball deep to left field. A Rosarito going back to the warning track to the wall and goodbye baseball.

Javier Baez with a two-run home run here in the bottom of the eighth inning. And the Tigers take the lead 2-1. I love Colin. He's not going to be on the coaching staff set for this year. And he's not going to be playing on the off-street. Good morning. Happy Friday, everybody. We did it. We're here.

It is Friday. It's the final show of the week. It's Halpert and Brough. I'm Jamie Dodd. Josh Elliott-Wolf with me, filling in again for Halpert and Brough. Josh, what's up, man? Good morning. How are you? Last day,

but you're off for two weeks after this. I'm fired up! I am fired up. Yes, my last shift before two weeks of vacation. I'm very excited. I've been two weeks on the morning show. I'm exhausted. Yeah. I desperately need some sleep. I'm just looking at the monitors right now and realizing we're wearing almost identical colors

of blue. That's cute. Shirts here. We're in uniform today. Halford do this once in a while. They come in and they don't realize it until the cameras go on and then they're just almost identical colors of blue. That's cute. Shirts here. We're in uniform today. I'll probably do this once in a while. They come in and they don't realize it until the cameras go on and then they're just like, Oh my God. Yeah, no, I never would have said anything. Now I'm looking at it. I'm like, Uh-oh.

That looks very similar. It's fine. Hey, dog. Good morning. Good morning. And producer Elon stepping in. What's going on, man? Hey, good morning, guys.

Good morning. All right. Halford and Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. And we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet, what are you waiting for?

Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Always enjoy the Friday show because, of course, there's so many reasons you can text in to the inbox today. Not just your What We Learn submissions, as we do every day, which is what you've learned over the last 24 hours in sports. Hashtag WWL.

But also, of course, it is an Ask Us Anything Friday. And unlike What We Learned, which we demand that you do with no incentive whatsoever, at least this week, sometimes there's a prize, but this week, no incentive for what we learned. Today, for Ask Us Anything, the best Ask Us Anything question will win a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway in Vancouver. Make sure you include the pizza emoji in your text when you send it in

if you want to be entered to win that gift card. Pretty simple. It's Ask Us Anything means literally send in a question about anything you want to us. Hashtag A-U-A. We'll read them throughout the course of the show, and then we'll announce the winner at 8.30. Again, $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on the line. For the best Ask Us Anything30. Again, $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on the line. For the best, ask us anything.

Throw a pizza emoji. Throw a pizza emoji in there to make sure that you are entered to win. Big show today coming up as well at 6.30. James Sharman, host of the Footy Prime podcast. Of course, a longtime soccer journalist here in Canada. He'll join us to talk about the beginning of the English Premier League season, which gets going this weekend. Looking forward to that.

At 7 o'clock, AJ of AJ's Pizza will join us for a quick chat. 705, Zach Worden of Sportsnet will join us to chat a little Blue Jays. The Blue Jays right on time playing some of their best baseball of the year. Just in time. They knew when to turn it on. Yeah, exactly. At 7.30,ie wood from vancouver fc joins us to talk a little bit about the team season also the special match they have going on

the weekend it's the uh women and girls in sport game uh for vancouver fc we'll talk to stephanie about that and of course really looking forward to this today uh as i do every week but especially this week the moj bc lions play-by-play voice joins us at 8, and of course, lots to get into with Nathan Rourke returning to the BC Lions and set to play his first game back against the Bombers on Sunday, working in reverse

at 8 o'clock, it's the Moj at 7.30, Stephanie Wood of Vancouver FC, 7.05 Zach Worden of Sportsnet, 7 o'clock is AJ. 6.30, James Sharman from the Footy Prime podcast. But, of course, before we do any of that, let's do What Happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night?

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy 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 bccsa.ca. Very light night in sports. Not even a full slate in Major League Baseball. So quickly, I'll just mention the Eagles beat the Pats 14-13 in preseason NFL action. I have nothing to say about this game. That's deep dive. Do you have anything?

Nope. I saw Drake May make one good throw, and I was like, cool. I don't think any of the quarterbacks even threw a touchdown. I saw people were mad at Kenny Pickett online. Yeah. Sounds right. Yeah. So anyways, 14-13, another classic NFL preseason game in the books.

In Major League Baseball. Now, I do want to go a little bit deep on this one, partly because there wasn't a lot else happening last night, but also partly because it's getting really fascinating and kind of comical in a dark way. If you're a Mariners fan, at least at this point, the Mariners lose again. They blow another eighth inning lead to one the final in Detroit. So they get swept by the Tigers. And I do think, again, it's worth going in to a little bit more detail than we sometimes

would with a baseball game result here, because it is just like mariners fans must just have deja vu all the time to feel they must feel like they're watching the same game on repeat at certain points so tigers used an opener which has been a theme recently right where it's a bullpen game for the other team and yet the mariners are incapable of taking advantage of that, of having a good night at the plate. Now, the opener walks the bases loaded and then walks in a run in the first. So no hits for the Mariners, but they still end up getting on the board in the first. Hey, okay, they used an opener. We were able to get a run.

You're feeling pretty good. That was basically it for the Mariners. One hit for the game. Only two base runners after the first inning. And it was Kent Ameda who did the bulk of the pitching. He's been terrible this year. Yeah. And he was excellent.

He was awesome against the Mariners. They could not do anything against him. But despite that, despite their bats going just completely silent once again, they still had the lead late because they got another stellar start. And again, not even from one of their big three starters, from one of their back end starters, another young pitcher doing really well for the Mariners. This time it was Bryce Miller.

Seven shutout innings, nine strikeouts, two hits, no walk. So seven shutout innings, you're clinging to this one run lead. You're looking for something to go your way in this series against the Tigers. Now, on Wednesday, it was Jimmy Garcia who coughed up the lead. This time it was a joint effort. So Jimmy came through them. Jimmy came into the game again, which may be a little bit surprising decision from Scott Service, considering he coughed up the lead the previous day. Get him back out there.

Give him another go. Get right back on the bike, Jimmy. You're going out there, buddy. He puts a man on base. Then Anthony Munoz comes in, and he's like the ace of the bullpen for the Mariners. He's a really, really good pitcher, and he gives up a two-run shot to Javi Baez. And again, one of the themes of this game was Tigers veterans who are having awful years killing the Mariners.

Like, Baez has been truly terrible. He's been so bad for, like, so long now. But, like, this year, awful. Awful this year for the Tigers. He hits the two-run bomb. And that's it. Unsurprisingly, the Mariners' bats remain cold in their chance to tie it up. And they get swept in Detroit.

They only score four runs in three games against the Tigers. And it doesn't get a lot better for them. They go to Pittsburgh now. They get to face Paul Skeens in Pittsburgh tonight. Great. So that should go really, really well for the Mariners. I don't know what to do if you're the Mariners. You can't change anything at this point.

It's just like, please wake up, Bats. Hopefully we can figure this out as the season goes on, because right now it just doesn't look like it's very uninspiring. It's they're just throwing up like uncompetitive lineups on a regular basis. Now you look at the offensive numbers for the guys who are in the lineup and like multiple guys with an on base percentage under 300, you know, tons of batting averages and kind of the low 200s. Like even Cal rally, who's a really good offensive catcher,

you know, has tons of power, but he also strikes out a ton, doesn't hit for a lot of average. So, like, when he's your best hitter, which you could pretty easily say he was last night, that's a problem. Like, you need to get guys on base at a certain point, and they just have so few players with that skill set. You know, Julio Rodriguez was out of the game, of course, as we talked about, because he's kind of battling that ankle a certain point and they just have so few players with that skill set you know julio rodriguez was out of the game of course as we talked about yeah because he's kind of battling that that ankle

injury if it sounds like it's going to maybe keep him in and out for the rest of the year if he was in you're not like betting on him being a difference maker at this not at this point but at least he's like a roughly league average hitter this year which they don't have a lot of seriously like that's a huge improvement to the guys they are rolling out there and you know the trade deadline has passed they go get randy or is arena who as i said at the time like he's not really a difference maker offensively at this point in his career neither is justin turner there's only so many options they have but again like i i kind of went out of my way to seek out some Mariners fans' reactions and everything. And they're at the end of their rope.

And I get it. Again, as I said, there's this feeling of deja vu where, okay, we're going to get an incredible starting pitching performance. And it's not going to matter. Our bats are going to go cold. Our bullpen is going to screw it up. The team just feels incapable of capitalizing on good moments right now. And look, they just had a four game winning streak not that long ago they can still turn it around but they're also at you know

fangraphs has them at a 32 and a half chance to make the playoffs that's their lowest number of the season after being 10 games up in the division it feels like they're kind of on the precipice right now like the season is on the verge of slipping away and it's just so hard to see where that spark is going to come from given the personnel they're rolling out there every day yeah that's the biggest thing is you're getting to a point where your play is so uninspiring that you're kind of sliding out of the playoff picture and now there's gonna there's gonna be a panic i'd assume maybe not from the players but to an extent from the team of like oh man you gotta get back into this and you have to get back into it right now because you look at the standings

and again, now you're three games back of the Astros for the division lead, three and a half games back of the wild card, but you still have the Red Sox to jump as well if you're going to get into the wild card. And now all of a sudden it's like, man, you really, not only do you have to have a break go your way to get into the wild card and now all of a sudden it's like man you really not only do you have to have a break go your way to get into the playoffs you need to have multiple breaks go

your way to get into the playoffs and for a team that isn't creating their own breaks that can be very very difficult and it's it's hard to see right now if i was like just a neutral observer trying to pick playoff teams i don't think I would have the Mariners in there right now. Pirates have lost 10 in a row. They've got to sweep the series here. Yeah, but I mean like Paul Skeen's pitching. It's the Mariners. Which offense is going to be worse is what it is.

Okay, yeah, the Pirates are pretty bad. The Pirates are really bad, as you mentioned, 10 in a row. But at the same time, I will say, you look at the Pirates' overall body of work, they're not that bad. 10 in a row is awful, obviously. You lose 10 in a row. But at the same time, I will say like you look at the pirates overall body of work. They're not that bad. 10 in a row is awful. Obviously you lose 10 in a row. It kind of sounds like they're due for a win,

but they're not like a true bottom feeder. Yeah. Right. And it's like, Oh, well, cause you know, pirates fans are sitting there like,

okay, we've got skeins going against the Mariners. We're going to win. You know what I mean? It's like, just have to get two runs. That's right. One,

maybe just Mariners are underdogs tonight on the betting line. Yeah, that feels right. Against a team that's lost 10 in a row. And a huge asterisk there because it's one of the best pitchers in the league for the Pirates going up. But that pretty much says all you need to know. A team with playoff aspirations, underdogs against a team who have lost 10 straight. And, you know, at this point, I think it's also worth noting,

I mean, the Mariners are only a couple of games above 500. Yeah. You know, there's been a long stretches in baseball where that was not even like enough to get you close to the playoff discussion. Now, their division is not great this year, right? So it's that it's partly the wild card. But this is starting to look like just kind of a mediocre team. Again, there's time for them to turn it around.

But the frustration I'm seeing out there from Mariners fans is very, very understandable because it's been a tough product to watch at different points this year and especially recently. Now, speaking of offensive struggles in baseball, I wanted to get into this a little bit as well. Because as much as we focus on the Mariners, I don't think it's any secret that the product in major league baseball is not necessarily in the best place right there's a lot

of strikeouts yeah there's a lot of home runs but there's not there's a lot of like solo home runs right yes it's still like strikeout home run walk yeah strikeout home run walk not a lot of uh infield action like ball in play action uh espPN's Jesse Rogers had a really interesting piece yesterday at ESPN about the league apparently considering, now not imminently or anything like this, but apparently considering a new rule to try to change this, a six-inning minimum for starting pitchers. So if you're the first pitcher in the game,

you have to throw six innings. Now, there's some caveats there, right? Like, if you get to 100 pitches first, they can take you out. If you're getting shelled, if you give up, like, I think four or five earned runs, then they can take you out. But it can't be a situation where it's like, hey, it's the fifth inning and you've let the first runners on. We're going to the bullpen. You got to stay in there and try to finish that inning out. Again, this is not official.

This is not even, not even being officially proposed. It's just something that's being talked about behind the scenes. And again, obviously this is an attempt or would be an attempt by the league to shift things in favor of the hitters a little bit. Like tried banning the shift. Remember that? Remember all the shift discourse? Yes.

Has it made what one percent of difference i think it has i don't think so i think there's been like times where like i'm watching a game and my thought process has been like oh that's a ground ball through the middle that definitely would have been an out had the shift still been a thing i think the issue with the shift before and the jays were one of the worst teams with it. They employed it on basically every play. Charlie Montoya was like, you know what? Everyone in right field. It's going to be my thing.

Or everyone in left field. And it was frustrating to watch because it just, I don't know. It didn't, and maybe this is the same idea with the six inning thing for starting pitchers. It didn't really feel like baseball anymore. It kind of just felt like you were right rightfully trying to game the system yeah and that's justifiable because you're trying to get every advantage you can but at a certain point it's just not fun to watch and i understand that but the theory behind banning the shift it wasn't just that okay some of those

ground balls up the middle are going to turn into hits. It was because of the shift, guys are trying to hit home runs, right? Because it's so hard to get a hit with a ball in play. So if we ban the shift, they'll stop only trying to hit home runs, and they'll put the ball in play more. That hasn't happened. And the reason it hasn't happened is because pitchers are just too good, right? They throw too hard. There's too much spin, too much break on the ball.

Batters don't have a ton of options. Like, their best option is to try to square one up and hit a home run. Because if you're trying to just like string a bunch of hits together, it's going to be very, very difficult against today's pitchers. And I think the fact that we're even talking and that Major League Baseball is even talking about an even more extreme rule, like a six-inning minimum for starting pitchers, tells you that the shift has not had anywhere near its desired effect.

I think the other part of it, too, is when was the last time you looked at a pitching matchup and you were like, oh, man, these are two heavyweights going up against each other. This is going to be amazing. And we just haven't seen that. And that used to happen where it's like, okay, the expectation is both of these guys are going to be throwing into the seventh or eighth inning and it's going to be awesome and it's just even for the best pitchers now how often do they go past the seventh inning yeah very rarely do they get to this yeah and so i understand it and the theory again is that okay

not only would you have these pitchers maybe struggling a little bit in the fifth and the sixth innings when they can't be pulled yet that juices offense the theory is also that the starters would have to kind of dial their velocity down a little bit just to reduce the impact on their arms make sure they have the impact uh make sure they have enough gas in the tank to last six innings i'm a little skeptical that it would be that straightforward i would say in general i don't like restricting the tactical decisions that that teams can make. And this is an example of that. So is the shift. I also understand that they need to do something. Pitchers are just so far ahead of hitters right now.

I wonder about, and it's such a delicate balance, right? Because the one thing hitters can do well is hit home runs. So any advantage you give back to the hitters, are you going to see this insane spike in home runs? I'd be interested in lowering the mound before this rule right but is that going to make things way too easy for the hitters all of a sudden i don't care i want dingers man it's if you're baseball you're like man let's just make things better for if you were to make things better for one side you want more offense yeah but you want offense in a specific way like they have ding you have dingers

right yeah but you get more like if you there can always specific way. Like, you have dingers right now. Yeah, but you can get more. Like, if you... There can always be more dingers. There can always be more dingers. That's true. But I think it would just improve overall hitting as well. So, yes, you might see an increase in home runs, but I think you would also see an increase in, like,

regular base hits and all that. I will say, like, I miss the days of you would watch baseball and be like, like, the most exciting thing in baseball to me is a sustained rally. Yeah. Or like and you think about like, you know, runners on first and second and a double to the gap. Right. And it's like there's action in play. Is the guy from first going to get home?

It's exciting. The rally continues. That play has started to diminish in baseball and in favor of solo home runs. Right. Or a home run with one guy on base. And look, home runs are awesome. There's no doubt.

Don't get me wrong. Everybody loves home runs, but you want to have, it reminds me a little bit of the NBA where it's like the pendulum has swung so far to the three pointers and like three pointers can be really cool, but you want to have some diversity in how teams score. And it's the same thing in baseball i love a home run you want there to be other avenues to score brandon from t-town says you guys are dead on uh with your summation of major league baseball remember the days of paul molitor robbie almar john old route all hitting

well over 300 i miss those days nobody hits for average anymore and again their players are just kind of responding to the incentives given to them. I look, if this brought back batting average in a big way, I think I would end up getting on board. I'm a little skeptical, but I also understand.

I get why major league baseball is thinking bold. I think there's an element here too, where as much as I'm saying the shift didn't do anything, the other change they made at that time was the pitch clock. And that was an incredible success. Pitch clock was amazing. So I think Rob Manfred is probably emboldened here a little bit. I did the pitch clock, and everyone loves that.

Everyone said they were going to hate it, and then I did it, and it was amazing. Let's think bigger and bolder and come up with some things, which leagues should do that. Leagues should be willing to have these bold ideas if the product is not in the right spot. If the product is not as entertaining as it could be, I have no problem with leagues thinking big, thinking bold. On that point, I'll throw out an ask us anything here of my own to get everyone started. If the context of Major League Baseball, potentially considering the six inning minimum rule for starters, what's been the best rule change in a pro league in your lifetime?

And I throw out in your lifetime there. So we're not talking like the forward pass in football or anything like that. What an idea. If we're just talking rule changes, like that's got to be number one. That was a really good rule change. They cooked with that one. They absolutely cooked in that one. But what has been the best rule change,

the rule change you've enjoyed the most in a pro league in your lifetime? Pitch clock is up there for me, right? Something I never would have thought of growing up and just had a night and day impact on what it's like to sit down and watch a baseball game. Three-on-three overtime in hockey. Still, you would say that. You're still on board. People are getting over it for

some reason. I still love it. I still think it's great. It can be boring. It just depends on the teams, but generally speaking, it's very entertaining. I like... You remember when skate in the crease was a thing? Can't do that? Yep. Now, what were we doing?

Getting rid of that. Yeah, getting rid of that. Yeah, that was a tough one getting rid of that yeah getting rid of that yeah that was a tough one i would also say um getting rid of the two-line pass rule in hockey that one blows my mind every time i think about it it's weird why were we doing this what was like what was the goal what were we trying to accomplish did anyone really think it would make the sport better why were we doing that were we trying to like limit goals? I don't understand. I don't get it. I'm going to go getting rid of the tuck rule in the NFL. Oh, terrible rule. Yes, that's a good one.

That's a good one. And not just because it helped the bats, but also because it helped the bats. That's a good one. Getting rid of the tuck rule. I would say in general and probably a lot of NFL purists would football purists would be annoyed with me at this one, but the NFL has made things so much easier for quarterbacks and receivers in an effort to juice offense, and it's like, yeah, it's pretty great. Watching Patrick Mahomes do his thing is awesome. You were right. I like it.

Are we talking about bad rule changes too? You can throw it in there if you want. Okay, instigator rule in the NHL is dumb as hell. I don't mind it. You're the third guy in. I never liked it. You're the instigator. See, I think the instigator is one of those big red herrings.

What do you think taking it away would do in the NHL? I just think it's – I have to compose my thoughts on why I don't like it. It's too early in the morning. It would be a long rant. I don't like the way... I don't like the way it is currently, but give me more time. I love it. I just don't like the instigator rule.

We'll come back to you later on in the show. 650-650. This one, I think they meant it as a bad one. The trapezoid behind the goalie net. That's a bad one. I don't care. Because you might be too young to remember Marty Turco out there every time there was a jump in.

It was like, really? You were like, yes! Yeah, that's why they had to do it because he's like a D-man pretty much. Okay, we got to stop this. I love when the goalie's out there just doing stuff. I don't know. All right, fair enough, Josh.

You're the only person I've ever heard who's been like, that was cool. I love seeing the goalie handle the puck. Greg Ballick, Kevin Woodley. I just think it's like, I don't know. I just think it's unnecessary at this point. It's been in place long enough. I can kind of see that.

The other one I'll throw out that I think a lot of people maybe forget, an underrated one, is the NBA tweaking their rules to allow more zone defense. There still are rules around it. But if you grew up watching basketball in the 90s, the early 2000s, there was so much isolation basketball, right? Where it's just like, give the ball to your two guard or your small forward. Everyone goes stands on the other side of the court, and he goes to work. And it was not very exciting to watch. And the reason they could do that is because these zone defense rules were so strict.

You couldn't bring it was really hard to bring a double team over to the other side of the court. And it's actually an interesting thing where they tweaked the rules to give the defense more options. And what it ended up doing was force the offenses to be way more innovative and way more creative. And then you actually had a time where it's like, OK, we actually have to run plays now. We have to move the ball. We have to try these different things in a way that you didn't see in the late 90s, in the early 2000s. So that

one, I think, is really underrated and made a huge difference in the NBA. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Matt and Suri. Hey, guys. Would you rather only be able to have fast food so McDonald's, Wendy's, whatever.

Thank you, Matt, for explaining what fast food is. Oh, McDonald's. Or Ron's as the kids call it. Although apparently I learned that not that I'm doing what we learned here but Zach, producer

Zach, who's even younger than Josh, if you can believe it. Elon is younger than me too, by the way. Okay, okay. Apparently, but Zach, I'm sure is younger than Elon. Yeah. Zach's the youngest guy at the station. He's 14. Yeah. Apparently he calls McDonald's D's, which is a made-up thing. So he's been shorting it from Don.

What are these kids doing? Elon and Josh are like, dang kids. As each generation progresses, it just gets progressively shorter and shorter. Like 100 years from now, it'll just be like. This is as short as it can go, though. There's nowhere from a letter standpoint. I mean, we've reached the end.

We've reached the end point. I wonder if the cycle will continue and it'll go back to like a super long involved nickname for the generation after Zach. Hey, do you guys want to go to Ronald McDonald's house of cheeseburgers? Yeah, let's go. A hundred years from now. I've never heard it called D's. Have you heard it called D's, Elon? I don't know what that is.

But you like. Don's. Yeah, you call it Don's too. A hundred percent. Okay, cool. See, you guys are on the road to being washed already. I know. It's happening.

You're starting down that road. But anyway. Continue with it. Zach's like, you guys want to go to D's? You mean Ron's? I'm like in the background, you mean McDick's? It's all falling apart. Would you rather only be able to have fast food or only be able to have junk food like chips, cookies, and chocolate?

Easy, fast food. Easy answer, yes. Not even a question. At the older I get... I love sweets, but I'll get sick of that after a while. And they're not going to fill you up. No. Try to get full off a bag of chips.

It's impossible, and you'd feel disgusted. I can also go to McDonald's and get cookies or get ice cream. It's true. They have other things there. Yeah. So that's an easy one. I just find the older I get, the less sweets, candy hold interest for me yeah but I will still crush a fast food burger without hesitation I've got a big sweet tooth but I would still go

fast food for sure I'm even finding that with my cereal like I love sweet cereal but as I start to get healthier with like sometimes I'm just like I just want some raisin bran or something yeah or some dude two scoops of raisin bran? What's wrong with me? I know. What's wrong with me? As I talked about the Halloween candy story last week, you know, I mean, things change. As you get older, your tastes change. And you can't have as much sugar as you used to be able to have. This one asks us anything from Rich.

What is the one thing that you cannot either eat or drink, but you wish you could conquer it and enjoy it? Oh, spicy food for me. I mean, I love spicy food, but like Mr. Dodd over there, I'm an acid reflux bro. And if I have too much spicy food, I pay for it. So my doctor's like, don't do it. Be kind to your body. No spicy food.

So if I could, I would eat the spiciest food possible because I absolutely love it, but I know what it would do to me. Yeah, I grew up having a lot of spicy food, so I'm pretty used to spicy food. I don't think I have to conquer it. But really yeah i grew up having a lot of spicy food so i'm pretty used to spicy food i don't think i have to conquer it but really you grew up with a lot of spicy food that surprises me like no reason but elaborate like they're surprised your family just loves spicy food my stepdad is like super into spicy food all right most of the cooking growing up so i just kind of got used to it and i'm just saying, I would not have bet Josh big and dispensary. He looks like a Vaseline on toast guy. All right.

What? Yeah, you know. I think for me, I've never liked tomatoes. Really? And you hear people talk about like, oh, the joy of like a great fresh. Does this include like tomato sauce and stuff? No, no. For whatever reason, it's like just raw tomatoes.

Oh, okay. Interesting. And the more processed it gets, the better I am with it. Like even like I like sun dried tomatoes. I'm a little like that with mushrooms. Like I don't really like raw mushrooms so much, but like on a pizza or mushroom soup. Yeah. But like ketchup, tomato sauce, like even, you know, like if they're like roasted tomatoes

on a on like a margarita pizza or something, I can enjoy that. But just like a slice of tomato on your burger. We don't have Mojan right now. He would absolutely be loving this. Or whatever. It's for whatever whatever reason i think it's like a texture thing i don't like it but you hear people rave about it like it's like one of the great like pure like oh just so fresh and it's like i've never been able to enjoy that experience take a big bite out of a tomato yeah like a piece of fruit i guess it is a piece of fruit yes exactly like the piece of fruit that it is um mine i i don't, I'm like pretty good with all food.

I can't think of anything that I'm like, I wish I liked that. Maybe like some alcohol. Sure. Like some of it, I'm just like, man, I just don't like that. Josh is like, I wish I could be an absinthe guy. I just haven't worked my way up yet. Tequila. You know what it is?

Like beer. You don't like beer I'm like my next development in life as a as a white guy in his 20s is to get super into beer you've already done the golf I've already done golf right you're speed running I gotta get into craft beer Josh take it from a guy that I'm a big craft beer guy I've been working in the industry a long time now and I didn't I was like you when I was a kid. I didn't love beer. Yeah. But the trick is to find the right beer.

Yes. Find the beer that you like. I've been trying. See, I'm not, I'm not like a huge like lager or pilsner guy, but I love like a hazy pale ale or a nice IPA. I love stouts and porters when it's cold out. A nice sour in the summertime, a nice Radler. So, I mean, you got to find.

I think there's too many options. you got to find too many options. You got to find the proper beer. Also, don't like there was I think it's toned down a little bit now. But when craft beer really became a thing, there was a whole craze of like, we're going to come up with wacky beers. All right. All these crazy flavors. And yeah, they still do that. But I don't think it's as much of a thing.

I think I see more now where it's like, we're going to make just a really good pale ale that tastes like beer, but like beer done really, really well. Or a lighter IPA or something like that. It really depends on the brewery too, because some breweries go the mad scientist route and they just get really nuts. And some breweries are like, no, we're going to stick. We're really good at one specific thing. Like we have a really good Pilsner brewery, a really good Lager brewery, or we do it like

maybe like the Czech style or the Bavarian style or whatever, and they stick to that formula, whereas some breweries are just like they're mad scientists. They just go crazy. But I definitely don't drink as much beer as I used to. I've gotten more into wine as I get older. I'm like in the next phase. Oh, man.

You need to conquer beer. And then you can do wine. Once you turn 35, you're going to be like, I'm going to get more into wine. That's literally what happened to me. I've tried wine, and I'm like, ew. Yucky. Really?

I've got to have you over some capsaicin or something at some point. Wine for me, it depends on the pairing, though, because I don't tend to drink wine on its own. Classy man. Laudida. No, no. It's a balier and a cola. Hey, Josh is trying to get down a lager over here.

Are you having a pinot noir with spaghetti? Josh is just giving up at this point. I'm going to stick to hot chocolate milk. No, what'm saying though is like i i'm like i'm not a big wine guy but if i'm like having say like a steak or something i want to pair it with a nice sure or something like that so like that's what i mean by that so i mean wine can very much be about the pairing but my recommendation for you josh would be like yeah fine like try like a pilsner and like a pale ale and just see okay okay. And then just start really, really simple.

And then as a dog said, just find like, okay, what is the right, what is the right beer for me? So far, my sponsors bridge. I actually have enjoyed those.

I kind of like worked my way into this. I have tried my, my strategy so far has actually been drinking a lot of beer until I like it. And then it works. And how it's going. It goes pretty well most times. 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. I think we've got time for one more quickly here.

Ask us anything in honor of AJ's wife. Who would stand the best chance of fighting off a black bear at the Halbro show? Who would have the worst chance? That's from Kevin on the road. Are bear at the halbro show who would have the worst chance that's from kevin on the road are we talking current how i think let's say let's say like classic roster so a dog laddie uh and halford and brough i don't think it would be brough i think brough is too don't think he's too lean like he has the reach advantage but what's that gonna do oh well he's too skinny but you're still just supposed to appear big but i don't think this is like scaring off i think this is like you have to have a physical altercation with a bear

you have to fight off the bear i don't think any of them i think halford i think halford's got probably halford's probably got this is like maybe the strongest i would say of the four of you if i had to guess rough rough works out a lot too although halford dud just could have like a major injury right yeah like injury so i don't know i don't think i don't think anybody any of us would survive i mean if we're being honest i think in terms of like actually scary yeah exactly actually scaring off the bear though i think breath would have the best chance i guess if you were just trying to what bear too because like we talked about this a little okay because yeah like i mean i'd mean, growing up in Lynn Valley,

many a time would see a black bear walking my dog. And honestly, man, if you look at them, they run the other way. Black bears are cowards. They're so, so timid most of the time. So a dog's saying because he has the bear experience. Yeah, I mean, you're just used to them if you live in that area. You see them quite, maybe not regularly, but once in a while you'll run into them. And a black bear is generally, like, unless you're very unlucky

and run into a mom with her cub, which almost never happens, black bears, once they see a human, they're gone. Yeah. I'm still going with Halford. I think he would rise to the occasion. I'm sticking with Broth. He would at least try. He'd get that adrenaline flowing and he'd do his best.

He would rise to the occasion. That's right. This is a playoff game for Mike Halford. Absolutely. It's the Moj. I did not eat four burgers. Yes, it's the Moj. I don't want to go to Winnipeg.

Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. It's the Moj. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. Jim Melania. Yes, it's the Moj. Halpert's fine, but, you know, Brough is just grumpy all the time. Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, final hour of the show. We're almost there. It's almost the weekend. Halford & Brough is brought to you by the

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We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet. What are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Of course, 650-650, the Dunbar Lumber text line. It's an Ask Us Anything Friday.

$100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway is going to the best Ask Us Anything. Include the pizza emoji with your text to be entered to win that. We'll announce the winner at 8.30, but you've still got a chance to send in a dynamite Ask Us Anything that bowls us over and win yourself that $100 gift card. Now is the time to text in 650-650. Before we do that, though, of course, as you heard in the intro music, very excited, as always, at this time on a Friday to be joined by our next guest, the play-by-play voice

of the BC Lions. He is Bob the Moj Marjanovic. Moj, what's going on, man? Slow week for the Lions, huh? Good morning, counselor. Good morning, Josh. Hey, by the way, before we get into the proceedings, I just heard the intro again. And by the way, Adog did such a tremendous job. I don't know if you guys have seen, but Justin in East Vancouver has taken out the Moj part and done a whole – he wants it to be a Vancouver Can I Go song. He's trying to start the movement. Have you seen his tweet?

Yeah, it looks good. I have. Sounds good, too. Did you see the newest one where he's got, like, the clips of you up on the Jumbotron during it? No, I haven't seen that one. You should check that one out. It's good.

You guys want to talk some football today? Yeah, well, as I was saying, I mean, not much to get into with the BC Lions, right? Oh, yeah, just, oh, right, I guess Nathan Rourke came back. So, I mean, we were on air when that news broke, and, you know, instantly we see the reaction from listeners and the excitement.

What was your instant reaction when you found out it's official, he's coming back, Nathan Rourke is back on the Lions? A little bit of shock. I thought he'd probably try to latch on with an NFL team here as training camp wound down, maybe wait to see if there's any injuries, developments, whatever. And I know in talking to a lot of the players, a lot of the players were shocked as well, too.

So that was probably my way or probably my reaction to it was just shocked, surprised that it happened. And, you know, he's back in the lines. Then went to practice on Wednesday. I'm going to, I didn't go yesterday. I'm going today. But I went on Wednesday and he hasn't missed a beat. I think probably if you were doing a completion percentage in practice,

it might have been about 90%. And this one throw that he made to Berryhill on the sideline, he might have had a breadbasket of a target, and he hit it. I mean, he's just – he's back. So I know a lot of people are talking about the transition from the American game to the Canadian game, but I don't think he's going to miss too much of a beat. In terms of the offense,

basically I asked Jordan McSimm at the offensive coordinator. Probably 90% of the stuff that they're running now is the same that they ran when he was here before. They obviously added a few tweaks, a new verbiage, whatever. But knowing Nathan's work ethic, I know he'll get up to speed ASAP. That's kind of been the most surprising part of it to me, to be honest, is that he's getting back into this so quickly. I thought that might give him kind of a week of ramping up before he played

a game, but what are kind of fair expectations, I guess, for him on Sunday? Well, I mean, if this was any other situation where he went to another organization, I mean, you're probably talking about maybe a two- or three-week process before he gets up to speed in terms of knowing the offense. But like I said, he knows 90% of what they're running right now. He knows 90% of the calls. So in terms of his expectations, yeah, he hasn't played a significant amount of live football.

And to be honest, he hasn't even got reps in practice as we saw with the New York Giants. So I think he's just going to be going on instinct when they get into that game on Sunday. I think he'll fare well. And if he goes out there and lights it up, it wouldn't surprise me. I don't think he's going to go out there and have a clunker. At worst, I think he'll give what you call an average

performance at quarterback so as you said you know there's a lot in place for him to be able to hit the ground running right familiarity with the offense with the organization and all of that but you know you can also expect maybe a little bit of a process of him kind of getting acclimated what will it take a little bit of extra time for him to kind of get in the groove again now that he's back in the CFL? Well, I think, you know, Julio Caravaggio always talks about this. It's just getting game speed reps, right? I mean, you can practice all you want.

You can go against air all you want. You can go against seven on seven all you want. But you never get that feeling that you do in a game, that speed that you get in a game. So, again, expectations this week, but I know one thing is the season progresses and as he continues to play more games, I think he'll just get better. As the season progresses, too, they can expect a healthy Vernon Adams at some point. What do you think is going to happen there? Are they going to keep both these guys on the roster all season?

To me, that's a great question. I know everyone's saying all the right things, and they want Vernon Adams to be part of this team moving forward. Man, that's one guy that I feel for, and I'll say that because as much heat as Vernon Adams takes from the public sometimes about his play, I don't know why. The guy was only on route to a most outstanding player type of season.

The guy's so dedicated. Never mind the first guy in, the first guy out. I'm lucky enough to travel with the team, so I kind of see him away from the field. We're on a flight and most of the guys are just chilling if we're going to Regina or Edmonton or Winnipeg and you know vernon's got his playbook out he's like studying all the time you get on the bus and guys are going to game guys will have their

headphones on that are just chilling and here's vernon looking at his wristband and going through his plays i mean he's just he is so dedicated to his craft. And to see that type of dedication and that type of investment kind of, I don't want to say neutralized. I mean, they still feel like Vernon Adams Jr. is a big part of the team, and I'm sure that he's probably going to get some action moving forward. But to see that kind of temper, it's hard. But, hey, Wally Buono one time had a great line. He said, it's my job to find somebody who's better than you.

And if you ask, I mean, it's clear that the Lions believe that Nathan Roark is an upgrade over Vernon Adams Jr. I mean, he might be going from an 8 to a 9 or a 9.5, but still it's an upgrade. So my biggest concern handling this game, guys, isn't really the quarterbacking situation. I mean, the last couple of weeks, of course, has kind of been a little mediocre average,

but man, they've got to improve their run defense this week because if they don't, I don't know who would be a quarterback to be able to guide this team to win. Yeah, it's a good point, Moj, because as much excitement as there is around Nathan Rourke, and for understandable reasons, you know, Vernon Adams early in the season was playing at a very, very high level, but, you know, I know from talking to you, from talking to guys on the Lions, even when they were on that winning streak,

it was pretty unanimous of them saying, look, there's a lot we can tighten up, there's a lot we can improve on. So even with Nathan Rourke on the field now, what needs to improve around him for the Lions to capitalize on his return? Well, first off, let's talk defense. And to me, the game against Edmonton, yeah, they had some injuries. So you can almost maybe give them a mulligan considering some of the personnel that they had in at linebacker and in the secondary with injuries.

But I'm not giving them a mulligan with the defensive line. I saw stuff that I just was appalled. And I talked to the coaches. I talked to John Boehm, and I talked to the coaches. I talked to John Bowman. I talked to Ryan Phillips. And I go, I don't know how you guys didn't lose your you-know-what watching film because I did, right? It was, I mean, here's a card.

I'll give you two examples. Number one, when you're playing defensive line, you never want to turn your shoulders. You always want to keep your shoulders parallel to the line of scrimmage, and you want to squeeze your gap, right? On the touchdown run by Javon Lake, all four, not one, not two, not three, but all four defensive linemen had their shoulders turned. And in football terms, that's called opening a door.

And basically, Leak went through untouched. So to me, it's just getting back to fundamentals. And John Bowman is such a good coach. I was watching him today, or pardon me, on Wednesday. And he was working with the defensive line. And when you squeeze a gap, and what I'm talking about a gap is, you know, center guard, guard, tackle, et cetera, you basically have the outside shade. So you have an outside shade of the lineman.

You want to squeeze that gap. When you squeeze that gap, you squeeze that gap maybe like one or two steps. You don't squeeze it three or four because then what happens, you get washed down the line of scrimmage. And that happened in that game against Edmonton. Guys were getting washed. Guys were getting turned. And, you know, it's those little things.

It's detail. And they worked on that this week in practice. And they have the personnel to execute it. It wasn't like Edmonton were out there and manhandled these guys. And I saw guys getting pancaked five yards from the line of scrimmage. This was just more of a technique thing and just getting back to doing your job so I think if they can really focus on just doing their job particularly with the defensive line I think they'll be they'll be fine they will I mean they got the personnel they just got to go out there

and execute and try not to do too much they've played the last three games as well that they've lost away from home how much should just getting home help them? And I mean, look, that crowd on Sunday I think is going to be very, very excited given everything that's unfolded this week around the team. Well, yeah, I mean, it's a tough stretch. I mean, you look at their schedule.

All of a sudden, touchdown Pacific doesn't look like a good idea, right? I mean, you're basically playing a road game against the Ottawa Red Blacks. I mean, they can say it's a home game, but football – all athletes, never mind football players, all athletes are creatures of habit, right? I mean, when you're at home, you have your habits. All of a sudden, you're going to Victoria.

That's another road game. I'm sorry, but it is. So you've got this game this week against Winnipeg, who are coming off a bye, so they're ready and rested. Then you have the home-and-home with Ottawa, and then you've got to go to Montreal. So this next month, man, it's tough sledding for the Lions. Moj, we've got a couple Ask Us Anythings for you.

This one from Kevin the Traffic Guider. Which CFL stadium has the best food? I'll be honest. Most of the CFL food is mediocre at best. I'm just trying to think. It's not like the NFL where you have a six-course meal waiting for you. But I'll tell you one thing. Montreal, the hot dogs.

Anyone who's had hot dogs in Montreal, they're at a different level. I don't know what it is. They kind of steam them, the buns, all of it. I think the big key is the buns. But Montreal has the hot dogs, and those are to me, top notch. So I would probably go with Montreal and the hot dogs just for that because I love those Montreal hot dogs. They're awesome.

That's why Quebec City should get the Jets. Move the Jets to Quebec City just so you can get the hot dogs. They're awesome. That's why Quebec City should get the Jets. Move the Jets to Quebec City just so you can get the hot dogs. Oh yeah, like I teach anybody who went around in the old days, like the hot dogs in Montreal and Quebec City, phenomenal. What about the poutine, Mudge? Oh, poutine. See, there's

another reason to put a franchise in Quebec City. Ashton's, Ashton's in Quebec City, the best, I think that's where they probably started poutine, but it is the best poutine like anywhere, so again move the team from Winnipeg to Quebec City

everybody will be happier Moj, hating on Winnipeg here, I mean I didn't realize that the hot dogs was an Alouette's thing I thought it was just a Habs thing but it's across Quebec it's a Montreal thing if you go to Montreal and get a hot dog there it was just a Habs thing, but it's across Quebec. No, it's a Montreal thing. Wow. It's a Montreal thing. Like, if you go to Montreal and get a hot dog there, it's just different.

I mean, they just do it differently there. So, yeah, if you're in Montreal, and there are certain places in Montreal. My good friend Gilles Dufour, who's the head pro up at the Harvest in Kelowna, gave me a couple of places to go to, and I still haven't checked them out. But he said, go here. He goes, it's a hole in the wall, but they have like the best hot dogs in all of Montreal. So I got to check that out.

Maybe I'll do that this trip. So I was going to ask you, right, okay, if the food at the stadiums is kind of not, doesn't distinguish itself that much, what just in the cities that you travel to with the Lions covering the CFL, what's your number one food stop that you have to visit when you're in the city? Montreal, not even close. But what is it in Montreal specifically? Is there a specific place or just in general?

You know, Julia and I always have this debate. He's a Dunn's guy. I'm a Schwartz's guy. Right? Schwartz's, smoked meat, you go into their deli, it's a whole, well, it's not a hole in the wall, but it's been around since like 1930. But they pack, Julia doesn't like it because they pack people

when they're like sardines, right? I mean, you're literally sitting to a couple necks from Maine or, you know, whatever, New Hampshire. It's just – it's really tight, but their smoked meat, oh, man, it is so, so good. That's probably – and then, you know, you go to Old Port in Montreal, you go down there, they have just tremendous restaurants in Old Port as well. So, yeah, for me, it's Montreal, and it's not even close.

I was a big Ben's guy. Do you remember Ben's downtown? It hasn't existed for a while now, but smoked meat in Montreal at Ben's was fantastic. That was my go-to when I was in Montreal. You know, they sell actually Schwartz's,artz's i think at costco now oh very interesting but i mean it's different i mean it's not like you know and even talking to to one of my friends there he said that you know it's different it's not the same i mean it's just it comes in a package it's been in the package for who knows how many weeks um but yeah still

smoke me schwartz is the best absolutely hey. Hey, Moj, appreciate the time. As always, enjoy the game on Sunday, man. Should be a really fun one. Should be a spectacle at BC Place this weekend. Yeah, should be a lot of fun. Thanks for this, guys. Have yourself a great weekend. Thank you, Moj.

You too. That is the Moj Lions play-by-play voice joining us here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough.