Halford & Brough in the Morning - There Can Always Be More Dingers

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

In hour one, guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Josh Elliott-Wolfe look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk the product of Major League Baseball and what the league is doing to make it more entertaining (15:00), plus the boys preview the start of the Premiere League with Sportsnet soccer analyst James Sharman (26:52). 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.

da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da 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 as set for this year and he's not going to be playing on the off-screen. 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. I'm fired up. I am fired up. 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 shirts here we're in uniform i'll 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 Yeah, I never would have said anything. Now I'm looking at it and 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. Alright, Halford & 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 830. 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. 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, Stephanie Wood from Vancouverc 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 eight uh and of course lots to get 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. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? 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 Do you have anything? I saw Drake May make like 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 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 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 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 base is 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 Kenta Maeda 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 uh he puts a man on base then anthony muñoz 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. Baez has been truly terrible. He's been so bad for so long now. But this year, awful. Awful this year for the Tigers. He hits been so bad for so long now. But 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. Oh, awesome. 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. They're just throwing up uncompetitive lineups on a regular basis now.

You look at the offensive numbers for the guys who are in the lineup and multiple guys with an on-base percentage under 300. Tons of batting averages and kind of the low 200s. Even Cal Rowley, 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 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 you know seek out some mariners fans reactions and everything and they're they're at the end

of their rope and And I get it. And 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 where 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 32.5 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 going to be a panic, I'd assume, maybe not from the players, but to an extent from the team of like, oh man, you got to 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 you're three games back of the astros for the for the division lead three and a half games back of the wild card but you still have the red socks 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 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 down there right now. Pirates have lost 10 in a row. They gotta sweep the series here. Yeah, but I mean like 10 in a row. Paul Skeen's pitching. It's the Mariners. Which offense is gonna be worse is what it is. Well, 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, 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, that sucks. Just 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 because you know pirates fans are sitting there like okay we've got skeins going against the mariners we're gonna win you know what i mean it's like just have to get two runs that's right one maybe the 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 at this point, I think it's also worth noting, I mean, the Mariners are only a couple 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 uh 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 uh 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? Are you sure? 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 infield action, like ball in play

action. ESPN'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, 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 you got to stay in there uh and try to finish that uh that inning out again this is not official this is not even like being

officially proposed it's just something that's being talked about behind the scenes. And, you know, 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 1% 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 char Charlie Montoya was like, you know what? Everyone in right field 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 like 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 you're 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 yep and like we just haven't seen that you know 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 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 right and this is an example of that so is the shift i also understand that they need to do something like 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 like insane spike in home runs like 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. If you're a 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. You have dingers right now. Yeah, but you get more – 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 regular base hits and all that. I will say I miss the days of you would watch baseball and it would be 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 gonna 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 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 with your summation of Major League Baseball. Remember the days of Paul Molitor, Robbie Almar, John Ulrich, all hitting well over 300.

I miss those days. Nobody hits for average anymore. And again, the players are just kind of responding to the incentives given to them. 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 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, or 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 and ask us anything here of my own to get everyone started. So 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 in football. 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? Like 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.

Yeah. I still love it. I still think it's great. I mean, 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, that was a tough one. I would also say 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, I like it. Terrible rule. Yes, that's a good one. That's a good one. And not just because it helped the Pats, but also because it helped the Pats. 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 this 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... I'd 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 just... I don't like the way... I don't like the way it is currently, but give me more time. I have to compose my thoughts. I love it. I just don't like the way it is currently, but give me more time. I have to compose my thoughts. 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 bump. 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.

I love when the goalie's out there just doing stuff. I don't know. Alright, fair enough, Josh. You're the only person I've ever heard. That was cool. I love seeing the goalie handle the puck. It's me, Greg Ballack, 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. 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 okay we actually have to run plays now we have to move the ball we have to try these different different things in a way that you didn't see in the late 90s and the early 2000s. So that one, I think, is really underrated and made a huge difference in the NBA. You can

keep yours coming in, whether it's best rule change, rule change. You like the most worst rule change in your lifetime in pro sports. We'll continue to read those. And as a reminder, that was my Ask Us Anything. You can send in your Ask Us Anythings, 650-650 to the Dunbar Lumber text line. Winner gets a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza. The Roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions 70th season.

Get your tickets now at bclions.com. James Sharman from the Footy Prime podcast joins us next. We will look ahead to the beginning of the English Premier League here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650. Welcome back to Half and Rough here. Sportsnet 650. Jamie Dodd, Josh, Ellie, Wolf filling in for the guys.

It is a Fiesta Friday here on the show. And Elon knows how to be on theme. That's right. He does. Ben was hit or miss. Wait, it's Fiesta Friday? Oh. This is just what he listens to normally. And that's why we had to let Ben go.

That's why he's no longer with the station. Tough times. We played it off, but now you know the truth. Halvin and Brough brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park.

More room, more product, more awesome details at DunbarLumber.com. Of course, as a reminder, it's an Ask Us Anything Friday. So send your submissions in, 650-650, to the Dunbar Lumber text line. The winner, the best Ask Us Anything, will get a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway in Vancouver. Make sure you include the ticket emoji with your text to be entered to win that. Best ask us anything. We'll get a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway in Vancouver. Make sure you include the ticket emoji with your text to be entered to win that. We'll read more of those as the show goes on. But right now, we're very pleased to be joined.

He's by the host of the Footy Prime podcast. Of course, longtime soccer journalist here in Canada. He is James Sharman. James, thank you very much for doing this today. How are you? I'm doing great, guys. Excited for a new season kicking off later today. Yeah, no doubt about it.

Now, from the top level in the Premier League, do you see this as a two-team race for the title between Man City and Arsenal? It does seem so, yeah. I mean, listen, they were so tight last year with City pipping them just at the death there. And there's quite a gap between them and the rest. If you look at the other teams, have they really improved that much? I'm not so sure. I think it's Arsenal and Man City.

Can Arsenal make the move this season and get back on the top? That's the big question, I think. There's so many questions swirling around Man City this season, who have won four straight championships, came into the fifth. That's never happened before.

It'll be fascinating. I think it's those two teams. Liverpool are interesting with a new manager, but I'm not sure if they can close that gap this season. Is there any other team that you look at as one that could maybe work their way into the top two this year? I don't think so there's good teams astonville is a really good team as we saw last year but they're playing in the champions league for the first time in a long time right that that takes a lot of demands on those players manchester united bounce back season perhaps they

kept their manager eric ten hog and i think last think last time we spoke, we assumed he'd be fired, right? Didn't happen. They stuck around. They brought us new players in. They've looked pretty good in their last two meaningful games, the FA Cup final, which they won, of course. And then last week's Community Shield, which they lost, but they played quite well.

Tottenham, maybe. Chelsea's the one, I guess, that everyone's wondering about. They had a terrible year last year. They fire Pochettino, their manager. They bring in Enzo Moresca, who's a manager who learned his trade under Pep Guardiola. They have about 3,000 players in their books right now. They're doing it their way.

We criticized them last year, the way they did it, you know, with their transfer policy. But maybe it will click, but I don't see it. No, I think it's going to be those top two teams and then a real good battle for the top four. One of the interesting things, I think, about that battle at the top between Arsenal and Man City is there's such a discrepancy in terms of the age of the two sides, right?

Like Man City, you know, starting to get up there in terms of age. Arsenal is still quite young. How much of a concern is the age factor for Man City starting to get up there in terms of age. Arsenal's still quite young. How much of a concern is the age factor for Man City? It's a really good point, right? Because there's a feeling that maybe they're at the end of their cycle, especially with Ted Guardiola out of contract for next season. You know, will he resign? Will that noise loom over this team?

But they are aging. They have youth, of course, and they've got some good youth coming through the system. Oscar Bob is a player who, despite breaking a bone in his leg this week in training, which is just, you know, you have to feel gutted for the guy, I think when he returns he could be a real, you know, part of the future

for that team, but I still find it very difficult, guys, to dismiss Man City despite the age. I mean, you're right, Arsenal, very, very young. I think they may have been the youngest team in the Prem last year, so they're only going to get better under Mikel Arteta. But I have difficulty dismissing City. Fatigue might be an issue, perhaps.

They've played a lot of football the last number of years. Most of those players played in the European Championships or Copa America. Rodri, for example, is out injured to start the season. He's been their most important player the last couple of years. It is definitely a concern, but I don't know.

It's Pep Guardiola, right? He'll find a way to galvanize that team. Whenever we count them out, they go on a 20-game winning streak, right? And they end up winning it. So I'm still in that world at the moment where I'm not going to root for them, but I think they're going to

find a way to achieve more success again this season. They have that air of inevitability about them, for sure, James. You mentioned Liverpool, new manager. You're not just moving to a new manager, right? You're trying to replace Jurgen Klopp and all

the success he had there at Liverpool, what he meant to that club. How difficult will it be for Liverpool, and also just in general? I mean, we've seen legendary managers leave their clubs before in the Premier League, and it can often be really, really difficult. How difficult is that process for,

will it be for Liverpool, and just generally for teams in the Premier League? Yeah, I mean, we've seen, like you mentioned there, numerous times, you know, Manchester mean, we've seen it, like you mentioned there, numerous times. You know, Manchester United, when Alex Ferguson left, they're still recovering from that, it seems, at the moment. When Arsene Wenger left Arsenal, there was a real downward spiral up until really the last couple of years. So, you know, such a huge presence at the club, Jurgen Klopp had,

and such success, which we haven't seen for probably 30- club, Jurgen Klopp had, and such success, which we hadn't seen for probably 30-odd years under Klopp. So yeah, without a slot coming in, it'll be interesting. What I do like about this is that they're the one team in the Premier League that haven't made one signing yet.

Not one. Now, the window still is open for a couple more weeks. I'm sure they're going to do something at some point, but I like that he's come in with the established players and said, listen, I believe in you guys. You've shown last year how good you can be. I can make

you better. I like that, that confidence he has in his current squad, but it's going to be a stretch, right? The style of football he plays is a little bit different to Klopp, although it's still very attacking and dynamic. It's more possession-based. He said himself, you know, the end of chaos at

Liverpool, and Klopp's teams played with chaos. It was brilliant to watch. So I'm fascinated by how it transpires, but again, they're a pretty young team with some younger players really emerging now and ready for big seasons, I think. So if they can, you know,

find some more energy from the Van Dykes, Virgil van Dykes at the back there, if they can see a young player like maybe Harvey Elliott really find himself and have a breakthrough season, they can do very well. But you're right. I mean, we see it over and over again. Big names leave, and it's a bit of a bedding-in process

for a couple of years. So we'll wait and see. You mentioned Manchester United earlier and Ten Hag staying with the club. What are fair expectations for Man United this year? I really think they're going to be better. I do. I mean, I'm still amazed that they kept Ten Hag. And if you remember his post-FA Cup comments, he goes,

I don't really care what happens. It's up to the owners now. I'm going on holiday. He was so chill and relaxed, and they made him hang on there and wait and wait, and in the end, they committed to him again. They've made some nice signings. De Ligt comes in from Bayern Munich. He's a young centre-back. They need

centre-backs. If you saw the Shield last weekend, once again, Johnny Evans, who is a great old campaigner, but when he's starting big games for you, you have to ask, you know, okay, why? So they've made some nice moves. I like some of the young players coming through there. Ahmad Diallo could be a star

in the making. Hoiberg up top there had a pretty good opening season for United. He's decent. Can Luke Shaw get healthy? So there's lots of question marks still with United, no doubt about it. But I can't see them being much worse than they were last year. I think they're going to be very much in a

conversation for top four football once again. Yeah, and I wanted to ask you about that top four race. If we figure that Arsenal and Man City are going to be there in some way, either 1-2 or at least in the top four mix, who do you see being the teams battling for those kind of final two spots in the top four? I think Villa, like I mentioned before, they've had a really good summer.

In comes Ian Mattson, Ross Barkley, who found his game once again last year at Luton. Jadon Filijin comes in. So they've got some nice players. Anana from Everton has been their best player for years. So they're a team under Unai Emery who can make that next step, I think,

if they can manage the Champions League football, the European commitments. That'll be interesting. Although they did lose, of course, Douglas Luiz in midfield, which is a big loss.

So they're a team that I'm looking out for. Tottenham, under Big Ange, Postacoglu. We've got to say big Ange, you know, we mentioned him cause he's big and he's got a huge character,

but I thought they were amazing last year. They start the season so well. They've been pretty quiet in the window, but Dominic Solanke comes in from Bournemouth and he was brilliant last year. Is he going to be the replacement for Harry Kane? That's a big ask, I think, but he's going to score a lot of goals for them.

So I think Spurs are in the conversation for top four once again. United, Spurs, Villa. And for a dark horse, you know, people might laugh at this, but West Ham have had a really good summer under their new manager, Lopetegui, who replaces David Moyes. They're going to be a very different team this time around. They've got Nicholas Fulcrook, if you remember, who came in

in the World Cup and the European Championships. Not many people outside of Germany knew too much about him, but he had really good euros when he came off the bench. He's going to be a real force up front. Now, Crescencio Somerville comes from the League Championship, but starred down there, and a real

creative force. So, I like all West Ham's done. They've retained most of their stars. So they're a dark horse. I mean, the top four is a big ask, right? They're probably aiming for Europa League football, but that's one to look for if you want a real battle, I think, for this top four. James, I wanted to ask you about a potential relegation battle

at the bottom of the table as well. Last year, I believe, all three of the newly promoted teams ended up being the teams going back down, which I don't think it happened for quite a while. Could we see a repeat of that? And is there a bit of maybe a warning sign, right, about, hey, it shouldn't be that difficult once you're promoted to stay in the Premier League for more than one season? Yeah, it's going to be a really interesting battle this year. Now, bear in mind, and this is the one thing to think about,

Man City have a huge court case looming next month. If they're found guilty of the most serious charges for financial irregularities, they could be relegated. So that potentially could happen. I can't see it happening, but we've seen other leagues do that. But just to put that little seed out there, Batman City, but Leicester, Ipswich, Southampton, all coming off really good seasons,

all with excellent managers. Leicester's a team that probably should never have gone down in the first place, but they've come in, they lost their manager Enzo Maresca to Chelsea. In comes Steve Cooper, who's had limited success in the Premier League of Nottingham Forest.

They lost their best player in Kiernan Dewsbury Hall, which is a big loss. But there's experience in that team in the Premier League. I think they're a team that have an absolutely really good chance to stay up. Ipswich is a team that everyone's watching because Kiernan, sorry, Kieran McKenna, their young manager is considered the hottest property outside the Premier League up until promotion. He almost won the Chelsea. They really wanted him. I do have a fear that if a big club fires their manager mid-season,

will they go in and try and get this guy? He re-signed a new contract with Ipswich. I know that. But they play a brilliant brand of football. I really want to see them stay up. And Southampton, under Russell Martin, another good young manager. They've made some really good signings. Adam Milan, the old veteran, returns there to the South Coast.

So these teams, I think, are better than last year's teams that were promoted. They should be okay. And when you look at Nottingham Forest, for example, they survived last year on 32 points. Like, 32 points. It's the lowest ever a team has survived on. There's some teams that could be in danger. Everton, new ownership on the horizon there as

well. They lost to Nona, as mentioned there. They could be in that periphery as well. It's going to be a battle. Often, you know this, guys, that the relegation battle is often better than the title battle, right? There's more teams involved. There's more pressure as well. So I'm really looking forward to that race at the bottom of the table.

Just before we let you go, I wanted to ask you as well about former Premier League manager, as you mentioned, no longer in the league, but Mauricio Pochettino taking over the U.S. men's national team. I mean, obviously relevant to us here in Canada as we kind of eye up the competition in CONCACAF. What do you think about that hire for the U.S.? Yeah, hey, Poch against Jesse Marsh coming up in a few weeks' time. How cool is that? I love it. I'm a huge fan of Pochettino. He did such great work, firstly at Southampton when he first came to

England, and then Spurs. He plays a really dynamic, high-pressing, high-octane style of football. How it's going to work on the international scene? You know, we'll see. It's a different kind of game, right? It's his first time coaching at that level. But he takes a pretty deep U.S. team who have really underachieved in recent

years, although they were pretty good obviously at the World Cup. But at Copa, they were obviously very poor. It'll be interesting. He's a big name. They wanted a big name with the World Cup approaching. His style of football, like I said, is very modern,

but he's very demanding on his players too, right? And maybe that works pretty well in international football because you can escape for most of the year and just come in two weeks here, three weeks here, you know, during the season. But I think it's pretty exciting. And yeah, like I said, that Canada-US game coming up will be pretty exciting. James, really appreciate it.

Thank you for doing this for us. Enjoy the game today. Enjoy the season here. Yeah, you too. Enjoy yourselves, guys. Thank you. Thank you. That is James Sharman from the Footy Prime podcast

joining us to break down the start of the Premier League and what to expect going forward here. Yeah, it's Manchester United and Fulham getting going at noon today. First game of the season. First match of the season, I should say. Come on. In the Premier League. You're doing so well. Terrible.

650-650 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. It's an Ask Us Anything Friday. Get those submissions in. Inc include the pizza emoji for your chance to win a hundred dollar gift card to aj's pizza uh josh is there anything yeah worth reading well yeah of course of course we'll start with this one mike the urologist from brockville of course we gotta start with my haters are gonna love this one he says i'm going on a ski trip to argentina next week humblebrag so this

is my last listen for a couple of weeks oh wow so i ask you this what's more euphoric a hot beverage like a hot chocolate on a freezing cold day or a cold treat like ice cream in the midst of a scorcher uh cold treat in a scorcher i'm not i i'm not a big hot beverage guy nor am i even in the winter i'm a nice coffee guy josh exactly what same page 12 months a year ice coffee yeah you guys are weird no i uh it'd be a cold i could be in the arctic circle i'd be like is do you serve ice coffee get me an ice the only the only warm drink i i have is usually like a peppermint mocha around christmas time okay that's so yummy i've seen you drink tea around the office i have tea warm drink I have is usually like a peppermint mocha around Christmas time. Okay. That's so yummy. I've seen you drink tea around the office. I have tea.

I guess I have tea. If I was going to go hot beverage, it would be tea. I guess, yeah, I should specify. Coffee, I generally only have ice, but I'll have tea. Tea is good. I've had this argument with Dom. You've had arguments with Dom before. No, never. We were

talking about ice cream, and I was like, ice cream on a cold day is relatively refreshing, right? Do you mean on a cold or a hot day? Sorry, a hot day. A hot day, okay. And then he said milkshakes are refreshing, and I don't think milkshakes are refreshing. So I love milkshakes, but I've never been like, I'm so hot right now. I need a milkshake to cool down. I mean, they're cold. I guess they'd refresh you.

It wouldn't be my first choice. It's not weird to have them on a hot day. I just feel like it'd just sit weird. No, I've never thought about it as a refreshing cool down type of activity. Exactly. That was my take. I'd rather have a lemonade or whatever. Just an iced drink.

I don't know. A nice hot chocolate when it's really cold outside. You're inside sipping that really nice hot chocolate. That's pretty damn good, man. True. Or like a warm eggnog with some rum in there. Ooh, baby. I'm semi-allergic to eggnog for some reason.

Eggnog's a divisive thing, man. Doesn't give you the chills. I'm a huge eggnog guy. Some people don't like the nog. It's really divisive. See, I love being warm and inside on a cold day. Like, that's awesome.

But for whatever reason, it just doesn't include a warm drink. Yeah. I think I'm like too impatient to drink warm drinks. That's my thing. I just want,

give me the iced coffee. I'm going to down it in like 30 seconds and then I'm moving on. My fiance will like, we'll both have teas. But it'd be freezing cold outside and you'd still be drinking

a nice coffee. 100%. I just hit puberty there. Finally. Congratulations, buddy. Yes. But you would be doing that? You'd be walking around outside

sipping on a cold day sipping a nice coffee? I actually saw this as a movement. I read a while ago that Starbucks year round now sells more than 50% of the drinks they sell are cold beverages. And now it's just not coffee.

They have other types of drinks too. But why would you want a cold beverage if you're freezing? Because it's delicious. Yeah. It's just like I enjoy the taste and experience of a cold drink more than a hot drink for the most part. And also, it's not like I have to sit outside and drink it. I can get the iced coffee and take it inside where it's warm yeah and then it's the same experience exactly summertime uh matt not on the

island ask us anything if you could only talk about sports with athletes in the same shape as you what sports could you talk about he suggests darts and bowling, which is a fair. Hacky sack. Hacky sack. So I'm just kind of like thin. Yeah. But I'm not like, I have no muscle. So what would that be? E-sports.

E-sports would be it for you. Disc golf? Yeah. I mean, I guess golfers are so built now. Yeah now yeah well but like there's still a wide variety of golfers so i think like anybody could like talk about pass for a golfer yes probably you know what i mean but wouldn't be like you know surely he's not amazing but sure he can be a golfer this guy probably doesn't hit it long he needs to hit the weight room he's more of a short game guy i assume i'm trying to think.

I mean, I'm heavier than you, but I just have a very, like, I would say I'm intensely average. That's what I was like. You can do anything, man. But what sport has the most intensely average looking athletes? I guess. Yeah, baseball is the first thing I thought of, too. Yeah. I love baseball. So, I mean, that's a good answer.

Yeah, that's better than esports and disc golf. But even baseball, like, baseball players are underrated as athletes. Oh, for sure. It's easy to joke about. And they don't pop off the page in the same way. They're like, oh, my gosh, that guy looks like a freak, like a basketball player or a football player. But the athleticism required to play shortstop at a really high level is still really really impressive so i don't

want to compare myself to professional baseball players somebody texted curling that's a good one i do love curling you love curling i love curling man curling's awesome even like curlers now have started to get built like especially the guys the worst movement in sports everybody's like oh i need to be an elite athlete but like the people um the the first and seconds who throw the first and second stones and then are like mostly sweepers yeah they have like stacked upper bodies now so they're like to increase the efficiency of their sweeping wow analytics are ruining and it's it's even got to curling no it's great they can do more shots and stuff um i well you know what i'm probably in the same like body type as elias petterson was entering the league so maybe i can talk hockey like i guess it's fine i don't know about that one he's well now he's more built i don't know you look at him entering the league i'm like he

was a pretty still in great shape um are you saying i'm not in great shape elon that's a silence uh this this text came in i want to know have either of the hosts ever been in actual true freezing weather ask us anything what's the coldest weather you've ever experienced i used to live in montreal so we're talking like minus 30 in the winter i mean i think that qualifies as truly cold i've've toured Canada in the winter about 20 times, so I've experienced some freezing. I think the coldest I've ever been actually was in Calgary. I don't know why Calgary, but it was like, you literally are outside for more than five seconds

and you feel like your body's just going to shut down. Yeah, I actually, I think, for me, it might have been the same. Calgary, like, I went to Banff in December and we flew out of Calgary to come back and we were outside in Calgary to come back, and we were outside in Calgary, and that was probably the coldest time I've ever been. I also once, I went hunting in the Peace River Valley up north in BC, and it was late November,

I think, or maybe early November. And it's hunting, so you're up 5 a.m. or whatever. What did you hunt? I think it was... We didn't get anything on this trip. Good vibes. Actually, maybe somebody else did. But anyways, I think it was i think we didn't get anything on this trip actually maybe somebody else did but anyways i think it was deer um but like you're up and out way before the sun's up

it's 5 a.m and you're just kind of like out in the wilderness it's like that was the coldest i've ever been you're as layered as you possibly can you've got the warmers and everything it's like this is cold i've had that moment with fishing as well. Like, my uncle is a big fisher. And one time, I don't know, several times, he'd take us fishing in the wintertime. And we'd get up really early and be super cold out. And I'd be like, why am I doing this? It's always the morning for you.

What is fishing supposed to be enjoyable? This is not enjoyable. This is so cold. I should be in bed. It's 5 in the morning. All right. It's Alfred and Brough, Sportsnet 650. Keep your Ask Us Anything submissions coming in. 650-650

to the Dunbar Lumber text line. $100 AJ's gift card on the line for the winner. Include the pizza emoji in your text if you want to be entered to win. That's very, very important. Do not forget to include the pizza emoji in your Ask Us Anything. We'll do more of that coming

up. AJ from AJ's Pizza is going to join us in a few minutes here as well. Get ready for the ultimate sports fan trip to Michigan from September 27th to October 1st. Experience games at the Big House, Comerica Park, and Ford Field. Contact Neil Chark at neilc at uniglobecarefree.ca for details. We'll talk to AJ. We'll talk to Zach Warden from Sportsnet about the Blue Jays as well in the next segment. Plus more of your Ask Us Anything

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