Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 9/3/24

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, the boys do some make-up Ask Us Anythings including a Brough rant about how there isn't enough good guitar rock these days, they preview the Canucks Young Stars tournament with radio commentator Brendan Batchelor, plus they 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. Team's down, that's understandable. They're not down as bad as that dude on the internet who said he'd eat dog poop out of a solo cup. You think you just get to delete your account? The internet ain't going to forget that, buddy. The rebound, he's going to win it.

He's going to win it. He's going to win it. He's going to win it. He's going to win it. He's going to win it. He's going to win it. He's going to win it. Chester Kobayashi posted personal records,

but the 16-time champion is going to walk away an apparent winner. I want to go medium hard. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This is Alfred. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios

in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good, good morning. Good morning. A-Dawg, good morning to you. Good morning. And Laddie is on vacation, so it's no longer intern Zach, it's regular Zach on the ones and twos today producing. Good morning, regular Zach. Good morning.

Half an Abrupt in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing, service, or parts. We're back now. The kids are back in school. Not quite yet. It's a little early.

And I bet a lot of parents just dropped off. It's so dark outside. Get to school! Champagne popping all over the city. Early bird gets the worm. Get out of the car. You know what else is back? Sponsors.

North Star is back. North Star Metal Recycling is Vancouver's premier metal recycler, and they are bringing you this first hour of this program. They pay the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, what are you waiting for? Kintec. So, we got a lot to get into on the show today. As I mentioned, it is now officially summer over. Let's start getting fired up.

Well, it's supposed to be 30 on Thursday. Summer weather still exists. It's unofficially summer is over. Officially, summer still has a couple weeks. The moment the kids go back to school is when summer dies. They take it out back and they shoot it. Right, but that's, you're not the official.

That's very graphic. They don't do that to the children. They just do that to the summer. So the NFL is back this week. We got Thursday night football. We got Friday night football from Brazil. And of course, we've got Canucks Young Stars in 10 days time and then training camp in 16 days time.

So there's a lot to look forward to here as we get the fall underway. 6.30, Mike Tanier, our NFL insider, is going to join us. We will preview the Thursday night opener between the Ravens and the Chiefs and then the Friday game from Brazil, which is going to be very interesting. And then all the games on the weekend as well, including the much anticipated Monday nighter between the 49ers and Aaron

Rogers and the Jets. So that's at 6.30. 7.30, we are going to be joined by the newest member of the British Columbia Lions, defensive lineman Matthew Betts is going to join the program. He got his CFL campaign off to a good start on the weekend. He was part of the victorious team at Touchdown Pacific

as the Lions exacted some revenge against the Red Blacks. Do you think he was like, why have you guys been having so much trouble? This seems easy. Yeah, he got a sack right away. He got one of the four sacks that the Lions had. So we'll talk to Matthew Betts at 7.30, because now he gets a homecoming game

because the Lions are going to Montreal next week. Oh, that'll be easy. Yeah, 8 o'clock, Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks. We'll start setting the stage for young stars for training camp. Young stars. You can definitely say that throughout the show today. Young stars.

Yeah, that's what the South Okanagan Events Center wants you to say. Our youngest stars. Do you know where the young boys ended in the Champions League draw? I've been off sports all week, so where did the young boys finish? I don't know. I don't follow the young boys. Oh, it's probably good. Finally, before we do our rundown, I need to tell you that we're –

you know how I really know that we're back? We got giveaways. Oh, yeah. Every day this week, we are giving away a four pack of tickets to the Vancouver Canadiens playoff game against Spokane on Tuesday, September 10th at Nat Bailey Stadium. So if you want to see one of the last

Seas games of the year, we're going to, now I already made a mistake. It's not a giveaway. It's a contest. The tickets are going to go to the best of what we learned. It's not a giveaway. It's a contest. The tickets are going to go to the best of what we learned. So send them in now. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. What did you learn over the last 72 hours in sports?

Hashtag it, WWL. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. The winner will get a four-pack of tickets to the Vancouver Canadiens playoff game versus Spokane on Tuesday, September 10th at Nat Bailey. I can't believe the season is over. I feel like for another summer, this is another summer I've done this, I did not go to enough games at Nat Bailey this summer. It always seems that way, but there's still a chance to get to some games.

So if you want those tickets, the weather's supposed to be nice for the next little while, so grab those tickets and go experience Nat Bailey Stadium and the intensity of the playoffs. the next little while so grab those tickets and go experience uh nat bailey stadium and uh the intensity of the playoffs the northwest league playoffs the the most competitive of all the playoffs it's been said uh working reverse on the guest list eight o'clock batch 7 30 matthew betts 6 30 mike tannier that's what's happening on the program today zach let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I 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. You can visit them online at bccsa.ca.

The British Columbia Lions snapped their five-game losing streak over the weekend in rather impressive fashion. They torched the Ottawa Red Blacks 38-12 at the first ever game in Victoria, BC. Of course, that was Touchdown Pacific. Over 14,000 at Royal Athletic Park. Saw Nathan Rourke score a touchdown early, five minutes into the game, and that lead was never relinquished for the Lions as

they snapped the losing streak and got back to their winning ways. And this is my impression of all the Lions fans waiting in the long lines to get into the stadium and for beer. That's my impression of them. Are we winning?

How are we doing? Are we doing good? Sounds good. People there are cheering. Are you playing the lineups for long? They ran out of beer. Oh, they ran out of beer. Yeah.

It's not good. Yeah, it was a big win for us. Okay, you can stop the music now. Jesus. Keep it going. Keep Jesus. Keep it going. Keep riding. Keep it going. All excitement.

It was very jarring. He was trying to do an impression of a frustrated Victoria CFL fan. Yeah. I actually did have some friends that went over there, and they said, yeah, the lineups were a bit long, but it was a great experience overall, and it looked like a great experience, and it was good that the Lions got this win

because they really needed it. Rourke, 16 of 20 passing for 246 yards and two touchdowns. The Lions had a 25-point lead before the intermission. And they also got 93 yards of running and a touchdown from William Stanback. So the offense was rolling. The defense showed up too. Drew Brown, who I think threw for almost 400 yards in Ottawa the week before, only 206 yards this time. What a loser. And it wasn't just the addition of Matthew Betts that helped the line. I think the lines were embarrassed. It was a few straight weeks of like,

guys, can't you tackle? Well, they started to tackle. TJ Lee, especially, he had nine tackles, which is a lot of tackles. I would be curious to hear from any fans that were over in Victoria or live in Victoria that went to the game, what their experience was like. When you do have a temporary venue,

like the one that was set up at royal athletic park there's always going to be glitches here and there and there's going to be some long lineups but uh i was watching that game and i was like oh it's too hot for there to be long lineups right now i mean i'm glad it was a nice day and everything but if i was there i'd be like come on come on come on i need a drink Having been to and played at Royal Athletic Park, the fact that they were able to do the 14,000 people at that venue, it almost defies logic because it's not big, right? And it's old and it doesn't have the infrastructure.

And I get that people want a certain level of customer service and speed and line movement at professional sporting events. But I think I agree with you on this one. If you're going to do something like this, and there was a certain level of it being experimental. This is the furthest west they've ever played a game. Geography was all off. They didn't know what to do.

They're going to beat that, and next year's game is going to be in Sook. Yeah. Just keep going. How far can we go? They're going to alaska actually yeah so um from uh so from it's cold up here but you know what we're back in the states baby yeah so west we're so west we're east at this point um i want to know from the listeners who went what they thought of it because i only got some sort of anecdotal stuff from jj adams's piece in

the province about what happened or what didn't happen on the field. It's funny, the numbers that you mentioned from Rourke, 16 to 20 passing for 246, that was in the first half. He finished 21 to 30 for 325 yards and three touchdowns. So by far the best game that he's had at quarterback, which is great because you can see the sort of linear path from not good start, better in the second, even better in the third. I don't think there's anyone out there, media fans, maybe a few who have no composure,

but was anyone really worried about Nathan Rourke? His first game, we're kind of like, wow, I can't believe they even played him. They signed him and they put him in right away. I mean, I can believe him because Vernon Adams was hurt, so they kind of had to force him in there. He wasn't very good. The second game, he was better.

And they were like, okay, he'll be fine. The worry all along has been this defense. And the defense was improved. And we'll talk to Matthew Betts about that later on in the show. It is an interesting race in the West. It's a three-team race for first in the West. And I don't know if you watched that Winnipeg-Saskatchewan game. It is an interesting race in the West. It's a three-team race for first in the West. And I don't know if you watch that Winnipeg-Saskatchewan game.

Winnipeg gets a two-point victory over Saskatchewan in the Labor Day game in Regina. But they'll have a rematch in the Banjo Bowl coming up this week. And we don't know if Zach Kolaros is going to be able to play because he had to leave that game with just a minute remaining in the first half after he got a late hit to the head from Saskatchewan defensive tackle Miles Brown, and that caused the Bombers to absolutely freak out as an organization.

They were taking shots at Randy Ambrosio, the CFL commissioner, which I enjoyed. And they were saying, like, the league needs to get serious about protecting the quarterbacks. We'll see if Kalaris is ready to go for that game. The Lions, as Halford mentioned, play in Montreal on Friday night. So that's a real quick turnaround. Yeah, huge game.

It's a huge game. To go over to Montreal, the best team in the league, defending great cup champs. They're 10-1. They've only lost one game this season, although it was a blowout loss to the Argos. So this is another big test. This stretch of games, this Victoria game,

which they badly needed to win, and then Montreal, and then they've got Toronto. It's a huge stretch. It's a test for the team. It's important in terms of the standing, so we'll see how they do. The Vancouver Whitecaps, two bits of news. They played a game, and also they might have another Scottish guy coming to the team.

They do have another Scottish guy going. So let's start with that before we get to the game on the weekend. It sounds as though that Stuart Armstrong, a 32-year-old Scottish international and a longtime player in both the Scottish and English Premier Leagues, is on his way to Vancouver. Now, some people might be asking, well, wait a minute. How are they able to sign a player right now? Because it's September the 3rd, as a matter of fact,

and the August window closed a few days ago. Well, Stuart Armstrong was without a club at the time, so you're allowed to sign any free agent right now across international competitions and international leagues as long as they're not currently attached. It's not a transfer. It's a signing. So Armstrong, I think this is a direct tie to his former teammate, Ryan Gould. I wouldn't be surprised if Gould probably spearheaded the recruiting process. The two played together. Do you know that for sure, or do you just?

I'm just inferring. Oh, okay. They played together at Dundee United for a couple years. And actually, there's a highlight going around on the interwebs where Stuart Armstrong sets up a very young Ryan Gould. And this is almost like, thanks for the pass. Yeah, he's really young in the clip, which is kind of funny. Anyway, for those that don't know Armstrong, he's on the wrong side of 30.

He's 32 years old. He had a quad injury that kind of cost him the tail end of last year with self-empty, which is where he spent the better part of the last four or five years. He was healthy in time to play at the Euro with Scotland, and he has a ton of experience playing in the Premier League, Champions League. He's played at a very high level. He's a solid sort of like box-to-box midfielder. One year he scored a crazy amount of goals,

but he's not really a goal scorer by trade. Whatever the case, he is either on his way or has arrived in vancouver because they teased it yesterday with a yvr flight arrivals board picture and there was a flight from dundee which is a joke because i don't think there's any directs from dundee to vancouver um so anyway he will join the team and it comes at a great time because the whitecaps are about to lose six players to international duty coming up this week, including Ryan Gold. You're going to say they're about to lose six games in a row. No.

Aren't they doing okay? No, they just won. They did. They won 1-0 on the weekend in Austin. If you're wondering why we don't have a ton to say about this game, it's because there wasn't a ton to say about this match. A 1-0 victory. Pedro Vitae scored a banger his first year. The Whitecaps were so committed to having a low event,

and by low event, I mean no event game that they did not allow a single shot on goal in Austin. They played the perfect road. Oh, the fans in Austin must have loved that.

The perfect road, man. Well, good for the Whitecaps who are now good on the road. Weren't they dreadful on the road for the past few years? Yes. And now they're not so good at home. They're meh. They're okay at home. Yeah, but they've been veryful on the road for the past few years? Yes. And now they're not so good at home. They're meh.

They're okay at home. Yeah, but they've been very good on the road. And I just want to point out one thing. This is the hilarity of MLS right now is that that win that they had against Austin was their first MLS match since July 20th. Okay. So explain to me this.

Yeah. Canada and the United States are going to play a soccer friendly on Saturday, right? Yeah. Why is MLS still playing? Like everyone, doesn't all the other, don't the other leagues are all on an international break right now, right? Why does MLS just keep like plowing right through this? They just plow through everything. There's got to be a better way to say that,

but they plow through everything. So the Whitecaps, how do they? They're so good looking. The Whitecaps did not play a league match from July to September, but in that stretch. Because they're playing that stupid league's cup. But also within that. So this is what they did.

They played Wrexham. Remember when they played Wrexham? They just threw an exhibition game against Wrexham. They're like, what if we played an exhibition game in when they played Rexum? They just threw an exhibition game against Rexum. What if we played an exhibition game in the middle of the season? They're like, sure. So Rexum came here and played a game. They played a couple of Leagues Cup games.

Then they got through the group of the Leagues Cup. So they played the League Cup knockout game, which you and I went to. Then they played a Canadian championship game. Knocked me out with excitement. Yeah. Then they played a Canadian championship game against Pacific. Then they go back to championship game against Pacific. Then they go back to MLS regular season and play Austin.

And now where they should have a break, which is this weekend, they're going to play and they start a stretch where they play. I think it's seven games in 25 days. It's the most bizarre

schedule. It's I mean, part of it is the charm and endearing part of MLS is that it's so bizarre. But you're right. No other league is playing games this weekend except for MLS. Okay, I actually want to do this story now that we're on to the soccer.

It was going to be my What We Learned, but I want to do it because I think it's hilarious and hopefully the audio is ready to go here. Everton has had an absolute nightmare start to the season, and you've got to wonder if this is the year they will finally be relegated because they are one of the longest tenured clubs in the top flight of English football.

Haven't gone down since the 50s. I think only Arsenal has a longer stretch in the top flight. And this is a big club. Everton, same city as Liverpool. Liverpool, their big rival, or kind of used to be before Liverpool was like, ah, you're not good enough to be our rival anymore. They are building a brand new, like billion dollar stadium that they're

going to move into next season and they might get relegated. Here's how their season has started. They lost. Hold on. Hold on. Jeez Louise. Here's how their season has started. They lost, correct me if I'm wrong, 3-0 the first game, right?

Yep. And I think they had a red card, and they lost 3-0 on that one. But everyone was like, well, they had a red card. We'll give them a break. Next game, they lose 4-0 to Tottenham, and that was the Jordan Pickford howler where he gave up the ball to Son. Son. Son, my son, stole the ball from him and scored.

Then they come home to Goodison Park, old Goody. I think they call it. They don't. They probably don't they call it. They don't. They probably don't call it that. They don't call it that. They had a 2-0 lead on AFC Bournemouth, and things were going well. They're going to win this game.

Everton finally going to get this win. We're going to go to 1-2, and we're going to turn the season around. And then AFC Bournemouth scores a goal it was either way late in regulation or partly into stoppage it was two to one and then into stoppage time this

happened still Tavernier infield to Sinistera inside the box pushed outside the right side of the area gets the cross in stood up to Lewis Cook! Bournemouth are level! And you did not see that comeback coming!

And who of all people in the back post with the header, but little Lewis Cook! Everton 2, Bournemouth 2 in stoppage time! So, that was bad for Everton. It got worse. There goes the ball to Cliver. Brings it under control. Left side of the box.

Early crossing. Sinisterra! With the header in the back post! Unbelievable! From 2-0 down. Not a shot on target until the 82nd minute Bournemouth are gonna win away at Everton Lewis Sinistero with the header Everton two Bournemouth three well I've never seen anything like this in my life ever so uh I know that a lot of you are probably wondering why this Vancouver show is talking

about Everton. We have a kinship with teams that are making their fans go crazy. Why is that, Jason? I don't know. What does it mean? I don't know. I'm the sad club commission.

I cannot answer that question. I think this is going to be one of the really interesting things to follow uh this season can you imagine if they build this shiny new stadium like it's going to be one of the nicest soccer stadiums frankly in the world and then they get relegated or like we got millwall next week yeah right preston north end coming into town that is the that's the most incredible thing about soccer. I think we have to lower these ticket prices. Well, they're in, I mean, they've already dealt with like financial penalties. They are in.

They're in a bad way. They're in deep doo-doo. I'm sorry to throw you on the spot. What's the capacity of that stadium? Well, the new one will be like 60,000. Yeah. Well, it'll be a big stadium. It'll be really nice.

And of course, England's goalkeeper, Jordan Pick Pickford has been the goalie and he did not did not look at on that third goal capacity 52,888 at the new stadium when they open it up it's it's a by the way that was former Leeds man Luis Sinisterra driving a stake into the heart of Everton there and they're already talking about sacking the gaffer Sean Dyche and three weeks into the season it's just it's. It's the one to watch right now because they flirted with relegation before and he was the one that actually sort of pulled them out of the ashes.

We got our first text into the Dunbar-Lumber text line. Well, not our first, but our first one of these texts. Nobody cares about this crap. Next topic. How about some college football? You like college football? Vancouver sports fan?

Or do we need to reiterate everything that might not, might happen to the Canucks this season? College football, honestly, I love that college football is back.

Yep. I was watching a lot of college football. Brian Kelly, do you remember when he went to LSU? Yes. From Notre Dame

and then like faked the accent? Yeah, like Bobby. He was like, I do declare I'm going to be the best coach of the LSU. This is a very narrow route. Go Tigers! Remember when Bobby Hill

went to New Orleans and he started acting like a southern dandy? That was Brian Kelly in his first press conference. This is Brian Kelly after LSU lost to Big Ten power. USC? Yeah, USC's in the Big Ten now. It's all weird.

This is Brian Kelly after that game. Yeah, I think it's the first time since I've been here that I'm pretty angry at our football team. Coach, is it disappointing when you have Savion Jones kind of really rose up, Aaron Anderson, John Emery, that kind disappointing when you have Savion Jones kind of really rose up, Aaron Anderson, John Emery, that kind of puts you in position? Is it disappointing when those guys perform and you don't get a victory? Hell yes.

Hell yes. I mean, and that's what I said to the team. I said, we had some guys played their butts off tonight, and we're sitting here again. We're sitting here again talking about the same things about not finishing when you have an opponent in a position to put him away that was brian kelly uh very frustrated the most choreographed table pound i was gonna say it was really felt that it might have been more of a visual no but he was like uh it's like it's frustrating and then he just like pounds the table it wasn't quite i'm a man i'm 40 wasn't quite there uh but it was pretty funny and uh

there's a lot of lsu backers that want brian kelly gone um he has not been good for the program um oh to that texture that texted in do you want us to talk about this by any way about the problems that lsu is going through or should we go back to everton's problems Oh to that texter that texted in Do you want us to talk about this by any way? About the problems that LSU is going through? Or should we go back to Everton's problems? Well actually Grimace and Ladder did text in He wants you to skip the College football talk because he is curious about This Everton situation

If you guys could go into detail on that Real detail I just love that College football is back but it's weird. It's honestly weird to me watching UW, USC, UCLA, Oregon in the Big Ten. And there's two teams left in the Pac-12. Apparently they had a merger. They were going to talk merger with the Mountain West Conference.

It's the Pac-2, right? There, like Mountain West Conference. And that fell apart. There's only two teams left. So there's two teams left, Washington State and Oregon State. Yeah. It's bizarre. I mean, college football is such a. I think part of this is the way that we grew up, is we understood that college football was very regional

and very geographical, right? There was the South, there was the East, there was the West, and then there was the Midwest. And we all understood how that worked. And now it's been flipped on its head. This actually started in college basketball a while ago, right? The Big East all of a sudden started including teams in Florida. That's not the same thing.

But now you're looking at it. It's like, I guess we're going to have to come to grips with this brave new world where you don't have geography. Geography doesn't matter anymore, right? Northwestern and USC are now going to be right up against one another. Even though they're thousands of miles apart. Brian Kelly is like, I do declare USC and this is Rutgers in a Big Ten battle? By the way, the energy in that press conference was people are mad at me,

but they can't get mad at me if I get mad at myself. I've done that before too, right? It's where you're like, this one's on me. And then everyone's like, yeah, it's on you. You can't be that mad at yourself. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Okay, my Ask Us Anything actually ties to a tweet that was from like last year, but it showed up on my Instagram.

Nice. And the tweet was, we're about two weeks away from every dad in America saying, quote unquote, big third down here in unison. And it's always a big third down. And this of course is the start of the football season, college and NFL. I realize CFL has been around,

but a big third down in the CFL is usually a punt. Big second down. Big second down. So I wanted to know what you guys, what are some of the things that you guys find yourself saying? Kind of cliche stuff during a game over and over. I'll start with mine because I've actually thought about this. When I watch hockey, I am constantly saying,

got to win that battle. Got to win a battle. That is a good one. Got to win a battle out there. Yep. Like we've got boys, you got to win a battle out there. Yep. Like we've got boys. You got to win a battle out there. The puck is right there.

Do you want it? Go get it. They're not going to give it to you. And then I go on a bit of a rant. Then I'll just be like, guys, you know what? Everyone talks about analytics. They talk about skating and the skill in the game. At the end of the day, if you want the puck,

you got to go get it yourself. It's a matter of will. The one I use in hockey a lot although it's been less and less because vancouver's gotten good goaltending but he's gonna want that one back oh yeah he's gonna want that one back or you know what i love yes just on any play it could be a bad goal or it can't or it could be on a bad play because it makes you just sound so superior it It's amazing. And I know you do it. And you just say two words, can't happen. Can't happen.

Cannot happen. That cannot happen right there. And that's an offshoot of not good enough. And that's an offshoot of got to be better than that. Yeah. All of them are great. How about got to catch that ball? Yep.

Got to make that play. Got to make that catch. Got to make it. Have to. A football one that I like to use, because you talked about big third down here. Need to stop here. Need to stop here, boys.

Yeah, yeah. Need to stop here. That's if you're on the defensive side of football. Also, and this is American college football and NFL only, are we in four down territory Are we in four down territory? We in four down territory? I feel like we're in four down territory. This could be four down territory.

Here's one from Juan from Comox. Shoot the puck. Can't score if you don't hit the net. That is true. I like that. That was me a lot, especially relating to Pedersen on the power play. I was always yelling at Petey,

like, shoot, just shoot it. Oh, you're that guy. You're just a shoot on the power play, I was always yelling at Petey, like, shoot! Just shoot it! Oh, you're that guy. You're just a shoot on the power play guy. I wasn't usually, but this last season I found myself being that guy a lot, especially with Petey. Because he'd be in his spot. I'm like, you're in your spot, Petey. Just shoot it.

And he wouldn't shoot it. It would really make me angry. Don't fall down. Oh, God, this has gotten so much worse. Did you know that you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take? Some very famous Michael Scott book. That is pretty good. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

So Johnny Angel texts in, you win in the playoffs with special teams and goaltending. End of story. Now, we're not talking about things you say after the game or during the game. We're talking about you're watching the game, and you'll say things like again like big third down or can't happen like something that it's usually it's usually something that makes you sound try and sound like superior yep like you've seen it all you know

what's coming next and you know it all and like the people around you don't really understand how big this third down really is you You used to like watching basketball with me because I was always, especially now with the proliferation of three-pointers, every time I went into the corner, I'd be like, shoot it. Got to shoot it. Shoot it.

No, your problem is you would never do that. I'd be like, that's good. Yeah, and then it would clank. That's good. He's a 30% three-point shooter. That's good. That's good. That's a good shot.

Oh, but you know what? The next one might be good. That could be okay. Okay. Who else hasn't asked us anything? I don't. I was just getting really excited on this one. Okay.

Here, I have another one. And I know this is a sports show, but this is an old man. There's going to be more middle-aged man stuff. Okay. So I was watching a lot of nostalgic music over the long weekend. It was a beautiful weekend. The weather was great. I was playing some tunes.

All right. And you stayed inside and watched YouTube videos? No, I walked around sometimes. Well, he had the window open. He had the nice breeze coming in. No, no, no. I was walking around. I was listening to music.

I was even listening to some old ACDC. And then I fell down like a rabbit hole. I'm like, I wonder how they're doing. It turns out they're pretty old. And then I watched an interview with like a young Angus Young, and he was talking about playing the guitar and everything. And it got me thinking. I was like, does anyone play the guitar anymore?

Is it cool to play the guitar anymore? And then I sent a text to the group and I'm sure the group was like, oh, Brough seems busy today. And I said, and I asked him, Zach, young man, are there any young guitarists that are famous?

Right. Like who, like what? I mean, we go back. I mean, so favorite guitarist a dog we were talking about this before uh we we said like prince was underrated as a guitarist uh some of my favorite guitarist angus young that was like the first one as a kid i was like that guy's incredible and look how he's wearing a schoolboy uniform and hopping around the stage on one foot it's incredible so much fun mark Knopfler with Dire Straits.

Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana. And it was like the coolest thing to play the guitar. If any guy brought out the guitar at a party, Swoon City. I was swooning.

I was like, you're so dedicated to that and you're so good at it. Choose me, please. Yeah, I know. Should we go to the beach? But it doesn't happen anymore. Right.

So no, but I'm asking the listeners. Zach, you're young. And I'm going to ask the fellow youngsters who are the three young people that listen to our show live at seven in the morning. We're clearly down on the guitar industry. Is playing the guitar cool anymore? Okay, I did a little bit of research on this.

I don't know if it's a cool factor, as it so much is the time and practice and dedication it takes to become a truly great guitar player, right? Because with a lot of these guys... Because younger people are lazy, that's what you're saying. I mean, I didn't want to go there right away.

I was going to kind of get around to it. You were headed in a pretty straight direction. I think pulling the guitar out of the party, though, has become something of a meme. That's true. By the time I was getting out of high school, I know a guy would do it at a party, and everyone would just roll their eyes.

Can you play the guitar a little bit at all? No, I'm not at all. Not at all. John Belushi ended that in Animal House. When he smashed the guy's guitar. Do any young people know Animal House? Speaking of things that aren't going to resonate with

our young audience. You keep asking Zach and you keep talking instead of him. Zach, how old are you, just for context? 23. Well, these young people need to learn to speak up for themselves. So Zach. Damn it, Zach, say something. Before Halford says something again. You got ramen in your mouth? Spit it out.

Let's go. Zach, is it cool to play guitars at parties anymore? Oh, at parties? No, no chance. Is it cool to play guitar anymore? I think it is still cool to play guitar. It is. I just think that a lot of the popular music nowadays doesn't have as much guitar, so there

isn't as much kind of enticement to learn. Yeah, even like the new rock, like the new pop rock bands of the moment aren't like, I find they aren't guitar centric like they used to be. Like you'll still hear riffs sometimes, but it's just not like, riffs aren't as much a thing for like new rock music anymore, which sucks too because I love a good riff. I mean, isn't that why there was such a push

for a lot of artists to just start making hip-hop music because it was actually really easy and accessible, right? You could download most of the programs, you could have a drum machine, then you could kind of upload your music, your mumble rap. Well, like the last big rock bands, like the stadium rock bands that you're talking about, whether it be like Coldplay or Kings of Leon or Mumford & Sons

or whatever, they obviously had guitar but they weren't like riff-centric rock bands. No, it wasn't like that. And here's the part where there's the guitar solo. Yeah, here's the sweet guitar solo now in the last two minutes. It's just not like... I mean, maybe there's bands that I'm missing that are popularized now that, if somebody in the inbox could correct me, that are riff-centric.

I could think of a lot of really good riff bands that are in the metal genre that are awesome, but as far as radio rock bands, there's nothing that springs to my mind right i'm trying to lobby the canucks on doing an acdc theme night yeah you mentioned that for when they first wear their black skate jerseys and just have a big back in black day just playing over and over and over again no it's just back in black. But I think they do. They're wearing black. They have come out to,

they have skated out onto the ice to back in black when they're wearing their jerseys. I think they have done that, but why not go just all in and just have a back in black night? Shoot to Thrill would be a great goal song. Does anyone know these songs anymore?

That's the problem, right? Yes, I do know Shoot to Thrill. Okay. So there's, and a lot of people are texting in something, a little offshoot of the conversation that we're having, but I think pretty prevalent. The uninterrupted guitar solo in songs, which is what we all grew up with.

Yeah, yeah. That is. Slash on November Rain. That is blue. Where everyone like just leaves the stage for a bit where it goes through. I think that is... I'm going to go get a sandwich while he's eating a guitar solo. How long are you going to do this for?

But that's been obliterated from modern music. I don't know. Well, you know, Mike, you may not have heard this, but Oasis is reuniting. Yeah. A really, really good band. That happened last week. Yeah, yeah. And they like a good guitar riff, so maybe they'll bring it back.

Someone's saying Ed Sheeran is the best guitarist in his quote-unquote musical prime right now. Can you confirm or deny? I can't. I don't really know his stuff. Unfortunately, I'm sorry. I mean, obviously, I know who he is, but I couldn't confirm that. Someone's suggesting Brad Paisley with the country lean. That's interesting.

I guess if you're talking technically proficient as far as popularized, although I don't know if he's a huge artist now, but John Mayer back in the day was like considered to be one of like the best living guitar players. Like he was just so technically proficient. Like he'd play with like jazz combos and he could do like prog rock and like crazy metal stuff. Like the guy is like insane. So, but that was like, again, 20 years ago. Right. So I don't know if he's still like in the forefront.

To the phone lines we go. Brandon Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver's still, like, in the forefront. To the phone lines we go. Brandon Batchelor, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Batch? Good morning. How are you guys? Good. We're not even going to bother doing a Man United, like, gag. No, we're not doing that. We're not going to do it.

We're just going to gloss over it entirely. Big news this morning out of Edmonton, Leon Dreisaitl. He surpasses Austin Matthews. He's the highest cap hit in the NHL. $14 million AAV. It's an eight-year extension. $112 million. Your thoughts on the big deal for Dreisaitl in Edmonton?

Yeah, not surprising, really. Just when you look at the impact he's had for that team, and particularly we got to see him up close uh in the playoffs last year and just how much of a horse he was throughout their run to the to the stanley cup final in spite of battling through uh injury throughout um you could understand why they would pay him that money and why they wanted to keep him there long term but it is going to be interesting because of the the top heavy nature of the way their their cap is sort of distributed with mcdavid at 12 and a half million with a new deal needed in a couple years dry sidle now at 14 million and we keep hearing all the caps going to go up the cap is going to go up um and and i guess it is going up a little bit this year

but um it's going to be interesting to see how things work in Edmonton because, you know, you've got these generational talents who came so close to getting the job done last year but ultimately didn't win the Stanley Cup. The pressure is going to be on them. And there are going to be a lot of people's Stanley Cup favorite going into this season because of some of the other changes they've made down the lineup, like adding a guy like Jeff Skinner to you know sort of complement their their forward depth a

little bit more um but I do still have questions about them on the back end and and to a certain extent in net even though Stuart Skinner was able to backstop them to game seven of the Stanley Cup finals so um Edmonton is going to be another very interesting team to watch. And the Dreisaitl extension, although it doesn't come into effect till next season, not this coming year, is going to be a big part of the talk around that team because it is going to limit what they can do in terms of complementing those guys with players that can help them win. So anytime you talk about Edmonton and the two-headed monster of Dreisaitl and McDavid, it always focuses back here to the Canucks because they're going to be a roadblock in this Stanley Cup window that the Canucks are entering or already in the midst of. And I was throwing something out there just prior to going to break about, no one really truly shuts down McDavid.

I think it's fair to say that. But of the guys that do a good job on him, I think the Canucks have to be thrilled with the fact that they've got JT Miller in their employee because he's one of the guys in the league that does it maybe better than anyone. I'm not too, Jason brought up Barkov as well, which I think, you know, we saw that in the Stanley Cup final last year and I don't have the metrics in front of me, but like anecdotally and I test,

I think I would put Miller in that conversation. Are you of the same mind with that one? When you watch those games, Miller's one of the guys that does a better job on McDavid than others? Yeah, I tend to think so. Now, obviously, there's a bit of bias involved because we watch the Canucks play the Oilers every game, and we don't watch the Oilers play all the other teams in the league,

maybe with the same microscope put on it. But Miller and that line have done a good job. And, you know, you can extend that beyond McDavid and just talk about shutting down top players or limiting top players on other teams in general. And then also add the fact that, you know, the third line with Joshua and Garland and whoever's played the middle with them have been very effective as a complementary shutdown line in a lot of those situations, too. And, you know, as much as you want to be on the front foot and you want to be an offensive team and you want other teams to be talking about shutting down your top players, there are so many great high end players in the nhl that you know you need to have one or two or even three lines if not more that you feel comfortable throwing on the ice against a mcdavid against a dry sidle against you know barkov or whoever you want to list as top players in the

league but that miller line you know especially last season i thought did a really good job in that role and they'll need to continue to do that whether it's against the Oilers or against any of the you know the top level players in the league that are going to come into Rogers Arena this season it's going to be a big key to how much success this team has is you know how much can you be on you know offense and not defending and you know allow them to have success because we saw in the playoffs like you know mcdavid and dry sidle when when they get you hemmed in and they get opportunities you know bad things almost always happen for your team so um you know the more you can be attacking the more you can be transitioning the puck the other way the better

and miller is a guy that allows you to do that. So my hot take is that none of the top players on the Oilers were actually the biggest factor in that series and the biggest factor for the Oilers in the series against the Canucks was their PK which was incredible and it was incredible for the entire postseason and it made a struggling Canucks power play look even worse. Heading into training camp, what do you expect from the Canucks as far as their plans go to fix this power play? I guess you need a diagnosis first, what went wrong, and then you got to figure out how to fix it. Yeah, and it'll be very interesting to see how they go about that because you know we heard words like formulaic used quite a lot and that was a good way to describe it i thought where you know you as compared to edmonton's

power play again like it's maybe not fair to, to compare your power play to a power play that has two generational players on it potentially, but you know, it was so fluid. They had so many options of where to attack you and where to, you know, cut you open. And the Canucks power play at the end of the year certainly did not feel like that. It felt like you, you know, even watching up in the booth, you could kind of predict what they were going to try to do. And, you know, for, for me, a guy that never even came close to playing professional hockey, if I, if I can see that, then certainly opposing coaches and opposing players are going to be able to predict what you're trying to do. So they need to be more fluid. They need to be more unpredictable. I wonder about personnel changes.

Obviously they brought in debrusk he could be an option on that top power play unit um you know they've they've added a guy and this would be more like a conversation about you know the second unit but they've added a guy like daniel sprong who's had success on the power play in the past in his career so they they've got some personnel options or or changes they could look at. But, you know, based based on how much the power play struggle late in the year and how even when it's been a really good power play, it has gone through stretches where, you know, that happens and things like for them. I would be very interested to see if they almost and, you know, there's only so many power plays you can run. So, you know, I'm tempted to say, like, throw what you were trying to do in the trash bin from last year

and and set up a new power play and new plans like there's only so much you can do to do that and ultimately um eventually it just comes down to the guys on the ice having to execute at a higher level than we saw from them late last year. So, you know, maybe they tried some different looking units early in the year. Maybe they try to split some of those guys up and have like a one-two punch in terms of your first power play unit and your second power play unit. But at the end of the day, I think you just have to say your best players have to be your best players, and that's especially true on the power play. And those guys have to step up and have a bigger impact when they get a chance to go to

the man advantage from calling the games though what was the narrative that you had for the power play because early on in the season i remember being thrilled watching the power play it looked loose it looked creative it did look free-flowing it looked like the players were um not in a box not being forced to do you know one thing where you know there was movement on the power play remember all our excitement there's a movement on the power play finally guys are moving um was it just a matter of teams watching video and going we can stop them there and then the Canucks failing to adjust to that adjustment yeah I think that is especially when you talk about how good it was early in the year I think teams adjusted and um and the Canucks for whatever reason struggled to then

adjust to those adjustments for lack of a better way of describing it and um you know at times it looked one-dimensional as i said formulaic um you know i think also maybe a confidence thing comes into play there because you can tell like when that power play is clicking guys are making plays and and whipping the puck around and they create chances and um towards the end of the year it you know guys are holding on to the puck too long they create chances. And towards the end of the year, you know, guys are holding onto the puck too long. They're passing it around the umbrella and not really creating any shooting opportunities. Rick Talkett talked a lot late in the year about needing to attack the net and create a bit more chaos and be more willing to, you know, just try and get pucks on net and

create offense that way rather than always trying to have the perfect play every time and and so maybe that's what it comes down to is you know those guys trying to be perfectionists and always looking the backdoor tap into the pretty passing play when the reality of the modern game in the nhl is that you have to be able to score a variety of ways you can't just have your one or two set plays on the power play that are going to work. So, you know, Talkett banged the drum a lot about that late last season. And ultimately, we never really saw what he wanted from that power play unit. So I'll be interested to see if he can get through to them to a greater degree of having some different voices, you know, contributing to what they're trying to do on the power play makes a difference but that's what i saw as early in the

year a confident power play that had made some tweaks that were working but ultimately teams adjusted to that and they weren't able to answer at the most important time of the season as you point out when they really needed that offense in the second round of the playoffs. Feel like weighing in on the goalie situation? It's just we have so little information on it that I want to wait and see what happens at training camp and see what happens when we actually get to talk to some of these guys and find out their thoughts and feelings on things. But I think at this point we're waiting for training camp

or we're waiting to see if maybe they bring in another goaltender and then that might tell us a lot about any sort of timeline for Demco or where the organization's thinking is on how they're going to manage their goaltending going into the season. Are you heading out to Pentacom for Young Stars? I will be there, yes. Beautiful. What are you looking forward to there? It's always a great way to kick off the season.

You know, sort of a festive atmosphere being back in the rink and all the top prospects from these teams in the same arena. Management often comes and people are on the golf course and enjoying the last opportunity to see some good weather before we get into the hockey season. So all of that's good. And there's always interesting storylines from the Canucks' perspective and players that you wouldn't expect that perform well there and maybe increase their stock. So it's sort of a great way to dip your toe back in at the start of the season. And then it's going to be great this year because training camps in penticton as well so um you know it'll be a good 10 days or so in the south

okanagan uh following this team and then we'll be right back into it out of training camp and into pre-season following that who is one young star that will be there for the canucks that you're particularly interested in watching well i i think the obvious answer there is Lekermackie, assuming that he is there. And we haven't seen any roster announced by the Canucks, but I would be surprised if he's not. So, you know, this is a guy we've heard a lot about over the last couple of years,

haven't seen to a great degree in North America, although I know he's played a little bit with Abbotsford. But this is kind of a season where, you know, ultimately I don't think he'll make the Canucks roster. He'll probably start in Abbotsford, but he's a first-round pick and a high-end prospect that is, you know, going to be in North America this year and going to be a part of the organization directly in one way or another,

whether he's honing his game in Abbotsford and maybe trying to vie for a call-up, or maybe if he comes in and has a great... You remember Elias Pedersen's first year with the organization? He started at Young Stars and ended up, obviously, just a few weeks later scoring in that first game against Calgary and heading off towards a tremendous rookie season. So you never know what can happen. I'm not saying I'm expecting that from Lekker Mackey,

but it's going to be my first opportunity to really watch his game, you know, up close and in person for an extended stretch. And I'm looking forward to seeing, you know, how he performs at Young Stars and then potentially how he can carry that through into training camp. Young Stars just 10 days away now. Batch, thanks a lot for doing this today, bud. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the next little bit. Let's try and talk again before you head up to Penticton. Sounds good. Thanks, boys. Thank you. That's Brendan Batchelor, play-by-play

voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the best of Halford & Brough.