Halford & Brough in the Morning - Top Five Ballparks + The Presidents Cup

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

In hour 2 Mike Halford and Jason Brough talk all time ballparks with Adnan Virk and get the latest movie list. Plus they talk golf and preview the Presidents Cup with Adam Stanley.  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.

It's time to chat with Adnan, it's Adnan Ferkey's on the show, we're gonna talk some baseball, and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Redman. Yes, and then Fergie joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he's seen. 702 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing,

service, or parts. 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! To the phone lines we go. Adnan Virk, MLB Network, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Good morning, Adnan. How are you? I'm doing great, Mike, Jason. Welcome back to the both of you. Brough was messaging me about my trip to Pittsburgh, so I'm happy to indulge in that, the best parts of baseball. But good to have you boys back here

for this last little stretch of summer. Well, Mike and I used to have a job where we would travel. And we would travel to the Stanley Cup finals and we would travel to the draft and A few winter classics? Yeah, but most, can you just let me talk? Okay. We're already fighting.

But my point was those were in the summer and during baseball season. And when we go to the draft or we go to the Stanley cup finals, I'm sorry, I snapped at you. Okay. Sometimes they played the winter classics at baseball stadiums. We're okay. We're all right. That's me.

That was a me problem. That wasn't a you problem. Uh, and we would see like, we were lucky because there were Stanley cup finals in Pittsburgh and Chicago. Um, there were events in Boston while there was a Stanley cup finals in Pittsburgh and Chicago. There were events in Boston. Well, there was a Stanley Cup finals in Boston. So we went to Fenway. You didn't go to Fenway.

I went to Fenway. We went to Wrigley, and we got to see Pittsburgh, where you just went, and that is, I think for me, the best ballpark in Major League Baseball. Agree or disagree? I think you're right, man. I drove there from Jersey. It's a six-hour drive.

It's a long, boring drive, a lot of 80 East. I thought about stopping at one of these hunting stores and shooting a bear and throwing it in my trunk like RFK Jr., but thought better wise. Eventually, I get there. I tell you guys, when I made that turn, it was like kind of a movie. Like you just see this bright yellow bridge, the Clemente Bridge, and then the shimmering off the Allegheny River of the sunlight is, oh, my God, is this heaven? No, it's Pittsburgh.

I couldn't believe it. I parked the car and I couldn't wait to walk the Clemente Bridge and pictures of Clemente, the statue of Clemente. And, of course, as you're walking, you see PNC, and you go, oh, my God. So I'm blown away by it. I get inside. Of course, the media patch is wherever you want. So I'm sitting like, you know, 10 rows back, first base side. I go, this is pretty nice.

I go, that bridge view was kind of better, though. I go, let me go to the third base side. They're like, okay, it's not bad. This is the only ballpark. The higher up you go, the better it is. So I said, let me go way up to the press box, 6th floor. And I took my breath away. Because I'm like, again, that higher up you go, the better it is. So I said, let me go way up to the press box. Sixth floor and I took my breath away. Because I'm like, again, that backdrop,

that view, you don't get that anywhere in baseball. I mean, it literally looks like a movie set. I go, that can't be real. Quite frankly, the game became immaterial. The Cubs won 18-8. They set a record. They hadn't stolen eight bases in 110 years. I had no idea. I was just transfixed by the bridge

and that view of downtown Pittsburgh. It was amazing. Oh, Adnan, you mentioned that it was like a movie set. Here's some trivia. Where was that, a movie set? Well, I remember the Dark Knight Rises. They shot at Heinz Field. But I don't know specifically PNC Park.

Where was it? Tom Cruise, Jack Reacher. There was a scene there. Remember? Yeah, I have great dis specifically PNC Park. Where was it? Tom Cruise, Jack Reacher. There was a scene there. Remember? Yeah, I have great disdain for Tom Cruise. That's why I wouldn't know it was Jack Reacher. But yeah, it is definitely something you can see out of a movie. And then Primanti Brothers, of course,

which is a pastrami sandwich with coleslaw and french fries on it. Never had it before. Fantastic. Absolute Pittsburgh staple, especially after a long drive. It was worth it. But, guys, I was so enamored. After the game, I walked the Clemente Bridge again. The next morning, prior to checking in the hotel, I walked the Clemente Bridge again.

I was impelled to make a list of greatest bridges. I went Clemente Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Lloyd Bridges, a bridge too far, Bridge of the River Kwai, the Game Bridge. It was amazing. So I'm with you, Jay. At first, I kept stubbornly saying to myself, nothing better than Camden Yards. Camden Yards is the best. As I was driving home, I said, no, I don't

think you can top PNC. I would go PNC number one, Camden Yards two, Oracle three, and you made the best point about Oracle in San Francisco, which is it's too bloody cold. Too cold, man. Too cold. Took my breath away being on the water, and it's gorgeous. McCovey Cove is awesome. But you're right.

In the fifth inning, I wore T-shirt and shorts. I had to go buy a hoodie. You can't tell me the best park is one where you have to spend $75 on a hoodie in the fifth inning. They make a lot of money off hoodies there. I remember in 2011 when the Canucks played the Sharks in the conference final, there were a lot of Canucks fans down in San Jose and some of them decided

to go to the ballpark on, on the off day and they got on the train and the locals were like, where are you guys going? And they're like, we're going to the Giants game. And I was like, you guys are going to die. Like you guys are going to be like really cold there.

And you know, in the weather in San Jose was, you know, beautiful. And then all of a sudden you get to that part of San Francisco and it's freezing. Here's a question for you. What makes a good ballpark? So I think you're going to have first is good sight lines. Like I never liked the fact when people try to say Fenway and I said, no, but there's certain seats you can't see what's happening. Like I never want to be able to go on like, you know, StubHub and say, oh, obstructed view. So first thing is, do I have good – is any seat in the house a good seat? Which sounds simple, but it's not always true.

So that's the first thing for me, yes. Again, with Wrigley, it's an amazing park, and I love the history. It's top five, but, like, not every seat's a great seat. It's cramped, et cetera. So is it comfortable seating? Yes. All good silence? Yes. Food is important comfortable seating? Yes. All good silence? Yes.

Food is important, okay? City fields in the top ten, why? Because their food is amazing. Every year they rank, like, top three in, like, ballpark food. So food's important. I think atmosphere is important. You've got to have fans that are into it. You know, I went to Philadelphia Citizens Bank Park, which is a 20-year-old park,

and I didn't know anything too much about the park. But I tell you, the fans are awesome. That was Philly's Yankees, so obviously it's a good game, and their team was the best team in baseball. But the rabid atmosphere, to me, counts a lot. That's where Pittsburgh, unfortunately, loses a little bit because their team stinks right now. But the 20,000 diehards that do show up are special. Then I look at amenities, you know, like how close is the bathroom? And then, of course, what are the special quirks?

What puts it over the top, right? So Camden Yards is this great mixture of the old and the new, right? It's that retro ballpark. I feel like in the 1950s or 60s watching the Baltimore Orioles and yet I'm still in a place where I can have Wi-Fi. So I think you have to balance that. And then for Pittsburgh, again,

what's your signature thing? It's that view. If you told me every ballpark, what's their best thing? So Fenway Park is the monster seats. Oh, sitting atop the monster. Nothing like it. I'm like, yeah, but you're still not beating that deal in Pittsburgh. Like there's nothing else that can beat it.

Yeah. I think every ballpark has to have a hook, you know, Fenway, you mentioned the green monster and just everything green. Like when I went in there, I'm like, you guys must use a lot of green paint. And it was, you know, it's really well, it's just really well maintained. It's an old ballpark, but it's, it's pristine. Wrigley, I think it's the atmosphere. Halford and I sat, you know, we, we went with

Down Goes Brown to Wrigley and we sat in the bleachers and I've never had such a good time at a ballpark. It was just so much fun. And then you look at some ballpark, and one of the things that I maintain that every ballpark should have now is some sort of group area where you can go. If you're going with a group of friends

and you're kind of into baseball, but not really, you need an area to go hang out in. Now, some of the hardcore fans might be like, they might be turned off by that, but I've told this story a few times on this show. We did a bachelor party down to Scottsdale

and we were like, okay, we'll go see a Diamondbacks game. I think we lasted three innings at that stadium. Just because it was like, well, I don't really care about the, I think the Diamondbacks were playing the Cubs or something. I'm like, these teams do nothing for me. We're here to have a good time. And there's like 20 of us. Where can we go? And they'm like, these teams do nothing for me. We're here to have a good time.

And there's like 20 of us. Where can we go? And they were like, nowhere. You can watch the game. I'm like, okay, well, we're going to Old Scottsdale then. We're leaving. And I think every ballpark needs a hook. Have you been to Arizona, by the way? Have you been to the ballpark there?

I have. So I went to the World Series last year. It's the first time I've been there. And I was curious to go. I said, oh my god, here we go. And like you, it was fairly underwhelming. I wanted to go check out the pool, which was a lot of hype for not much. Like, how many people are in that pool in the midst of a game? And

it's just old. Like, for a park that's actually not that old, it felt a lot old. It was a big concrete hunk. The only thing is, if the roof is open, I think it's spectacular, which it was for one of the games that was there. I go, my God, this is amazing. And one of the guys told me, he said, yeah, but this only happens five times a year. I said, come on. He goes, no, it's Arizona. It's 100 degrees

all the time in the summer. So yeah, it looks great with the roof open. It's a similar issue to Rogers Center. Everyone's like, oh, the renovations are so good. I'm like, yeah, but the roof's got to be open. If the roof's closed, I'm like, no, the Rogers Center is just a big hunk of concrete, sterile. It does nothing for me. The roof's open. Yeah, it's great. I'm like, no, the Rogers Center is just a big hunk of concrete, sterile. It does nothing for me. If the roof's open, yeah, it's great.

I see the CN Tower. But you're right about these new parks now having to have something else to do. And they've done that with the Rogers Center. Now, if you don't like the game, no problem. There's a bunch of stuff for kids in the back. You can go sit wherever you want. There's different bars. There's restaurants.

There's certain amenities. So I'm with you, actually. I think for those lousier games, you do need to offer some entertainment. Tickets are expensive, man. If it's 5-0 in the second inning, what else can I do here? Okay, there's a pinball machine. Great, let's go do that. Where's Yankee Stadium on the list?

Great question, Mike. I would have said prior to the new Yankee Stadium, I would have said the old Yankee Stadium would be top two, top three. It would probably be Fenway, Wrigley, and Yankee Stadium. And now when I did my list, I went PNC 1, Cammy Nerds 2, Oracle 3, Fenway, Wrigley, and Yankee Stadium. And now when I did my list, I went PNC 1, Cammy Nerds 2, Oracle 3, Fenway, Wrigley, there's your top five. And six, honestly, I love Petco. I think

San Diego's ballparks are fantastic. I mean, I adore San Diego. Right downtown, beautiful weather. Again, you've got the Gaslant District and a good atmosphere. So I put Yankee Stadium prior to 7th or 8th, which is surprising in some ways. They're like, oh my God,

it's fabled Yankee Stadium. And what's so different from the new stadium and the old one? Well, it's kind of like what Jay was referring to with the Cubs. You have that great atmosphere.

With New York, it's like that old stadium just had a little more buzz to it. And the Yankees are still second in attendance. It's pristine. It's definitely a beautiful ballpark when you go there.

It's great. And essentially, a replica of the old one. It just doesn't quite have the same oomph as the old one. It's still great. If you've never been to Yankee Stadium and you walk in there and you see the steps and the pinstripes and all the rest of it,

there's definitely grandeur there. Again, as far as a hook, I think Vinyl Park is really cool, honoring those great Yankees. I'd probably have it on the second half of my top 10. Who's having a more impressive season, Aaron Judge or Shohei Otani? I'll go with Judge, but I'll follow Otani first because what he did yesterday to have 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases in a calendar month has only happened a dozen times since 1901. And most recently,

Ryan Klesko did it very randomly in 2001. I think McCutcheon may have done it. Ronald Acuna did it last year as well. But it's something that you wouldn't expect to say with Otani. Prior to this season, what we always talked about was his power and his pitching, and his power pitching, if you want to combine the two. Nobody ever mentioned his stolen bases. Nobody ever said this guy's really fast. I never imagined he had the second most stolen bases in the National League behind Eli De La Cruz, who is known as a premier base dealer.

The fact that he's going to be the first ever 45-45 and could be the first ever 50-50 guy, home runs and stolen bases, is mind-boggling. Now, the late Willie Mays did tell my friend Harold Reynolds, he said that, you know, all this 40-40 stuff, because we could have done that years ago. Like, just nobody cared. But if you told me to do it or Mickey Mantle,

remember, we could have done it. And maybe he's right. It didn't happen until Conseco in the late 80s, and they've had five other guys hit 40-40, including Acuna, you know, Bobby Witt could get there one day, Soriano, et cetera. So I think what Otani's doing, he took away one of his superpowers as a pitcher.

He could only be a hitter. Well, I'm going to be the first ever guy to exclusively play designated hitter and win MVP. That's what a season I'm going to have offensively. It's ridiculous how good he's been, and he's propelled that team. I mean, yesterday, that home run he hit, you know, kind of rump out at the end of the battle. That's not a home run.

Like, he's that strong. He's able to muscle that ball for a home run. It's crazy. But the answer's Aaron Judge, Jay. Honestly, the first two weeks, he was hitting a buck 97, and since then, he's been Barry Bonds. Like, if you look at his numbers and Bonds' best seasons, you start to draw a comparison. It's ridiculous.

His slugging percentage, the power he has, every single at bat, tons of walks, great batting eye. You know, when you look at Soto, you probably give too much talk to how good his batting eye is and not enough to his power. And he set a single-season record with home runs in the season with 36. And with Judge, it goes the other way. It would probably give too much respect to his power and not enough to his

batting eye. Like, he does not swing at bad pitches. He does not chase pitches out of the strike zone. It's just like Fonz. You want to walk me? That's fine. But that one pitch you're going to give me, I'm going to murder it. And he has just been gargantuan for that Yankee Steve.

Like, I don't know what's going to happen come playoff time. And if there's a criticism of Aaron Judge, that's the only one. Playoff time, he's been okay. Like, I look at the numbers. He's actually been in there quite a bit, like 70 at-bats. He's hit maybe 260. He's hit some home runs, there's no question. But he's also struck out a ton.

I want to say, like, 25% of his playoff appearances have been strikeouts. So I don't think necessarily he's got something to prove. I mean, this year is gigantic. He's going to win the MVP again. But I'd love to see Aaron Judge, regular season Judge, turn into playoff Aaron Judge. And, of course, everyone would love to see a Dodgers-Yankees World Series, Otani versus Judge would be epic.

Do non-Yankee fans even hate the Yankees anymore? No. That's a problem for baseball. We need to bring the hate back. Yeah, like I was those yankees red sox series i was in boston a few weeks ago i've got unfortunately a cousin out there and i tell him i said listen i love you but i just can't stay in boston it's contempt for all your sports teams i said you know i i walk around the city and i said oh it's got such nice history etc i just see signs of like bruins and celtics and patriots and red sox They just have such venom.

And we were laughing. I said, do you remember those great, you know, those 03, 04, those matchups? Because there was genuine hate. Like literally, Patriots throwing Don Zimmer to the ground. Like these guys despised A-Rod and Jason Baratek and those matchups. I said, yeah. And now with the Yankees, it's like there's this odd respect among fans. Like people, I think people genuinely love Juan Soto. I don't meet very many baseball people who don't

appreciate how great that guy is. He's basically a guy you can't criticize. He's cool. The Soto shuffled all the rest of it. He's a great player. He's respectful. He's someone you can root for. And Judge is the same way. Judge is very much like Jeter in that he's a little bland. He's not the most colorful guy, but he's

respectful. He's classy, he's great, he does a ton of work for the community. He won the Clemente Award last year, which has given him the player who does the most charitable work and gives back to the game. So, yeah, the only guy you can hate in the Yankees right now is Carlos Rodon. I think he's the one guy, if I ask people, they go,

he's kind of a punk. He's a bit of a head case. Last night, you see him all stressed out. He's frustrated. He got called for a box. He gave up five runs in five and two thirds. He's overpaid, which is something that helps when you want to of a punk. He's a bit of a head case. Last night, you see him all stressed out. He's frustrated. He got called for a box. He gave up five runs in five and two thirds. He's overpaid, which is something that helps when you want to hate a player. He's getting paid too much money. He's not as good with that contract. Typical Yankees overpaying.

He's the only guy. But other than that, I'm like, there's a lot of likable Yankees, which is not something you're used to saying. I'm just remembering that time when Pedro threw Don Zimmer to the ground. I mean, that was over, I guess that was over 20 years ago now. Grabbed him by the head. Which is crazy. Like that whole rivalry. And also it had such a good narrative because the Yankees had owned the Red Sox, right?

And then the Red Sox, the way they were able to break the curse, coming back from 3- nothing down to win that series just all the venom between the two cities it was incredible and we need to get back to that oh yeah i mean i interviewed don sim for years ago and i was kind of fretful about bringing it up i'm like why wouldn't i what else would you ask don zero about like i'm i'm bsing about just his career in baseball these many years as a manager, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, hey, okay, when Pedro threw you in the crowd, let's get into that.

And, you know, Zim actually regretted it. He said, you know, I went at him. Like, everyone looked at Pedro as the villain, but I was instigating, right? I was barking. I was going at him. So I get it. He goes, like, I understood the image of, like, oh, my God,

he just threw this frail old man in the crowd. You get the reaction show, show the blood on his face. But Pedro was reacting. He was coming at me, I went for him now. He wasn't, you know. Looks like a bulldog coming at you too, right? Yeah, exactly. Like, you know, in that moment,

you don't think it was a 70-year-old man. He's got some dudes coming at him. He's trying to play. Okay, fine, dude, watch this. Just throw you down. And I've actually worked with Pedro a handful of times. He's an awesome guy, great dude. Always repping Canada. Whenever I mention Canada, of course, he's very proud of the time he spent in Montreal. He can Pedro a handful of times. He's an awesome guy. Great dude. But always repping Canada.

Whenever I mention Canada, of course, he's very proud of the time he spent in Montreal. And he can speak a little French still. So, yeah, next time I work with Pedro, I'm going to bring him to a two-to-three accident. But, yeah, the narrative was amazing. Again, Boston had not won 86 years. Especially to have it back-to-back years. That 0-3 ALCS was amazing. You know, Clemens versus Pedro.

The Grady Little situation, taking Pedro out with the Yankees rally. My buddy Aaron Boone's walk-up homer. Like, to have arguably the apex of Yankee Red Sox if you're a Yankees fan. And then they have Boston come back. Again, down 3-0. Like, I went back, I interviewed Joe Buck on my podcast, and, like, Buck's awesome. And, like, he really is the soundtrack of baseball those years, obviously.

And you go back, listen to his back to his call on the Ortiz, the Dave Roberts stealing game four, and then the Ortiz walk-off hit, and then Ortiz in game five as well. Brock had some great calls. One of the games was in one of the mornings, so he said, we'll see you later tonight, which is, of course, homage to his dad, we'll see you tomorrow night. And then one of the other ones was on the winning run,

he goes, you can keep running all the way to New York, Red Sox win. And it was for them to come back like that. The only downside to the entire thing was game seven. It was a blowout in 04. Like, that was when you needed, like, a top matchup. And it was, like, 5-0 in the second. And I remember reading Tom Berducci's book. And in the book, you had, like, Yankee players congratulating the Red Sox

before the game. They said, we got Kevin Brown. We got no chance. You guys are going to win. Good luck in the World Series. I couldn't believe the Yankees had so little faith they'd win, and it showed the game. Johnny Damon went deep twice.

It was a bloodbath. Red Sox win. Well, it's what Bill Simmons used to call a dead man walking game, and he used the reference of 1986 because a lot of people think that that series or the World Series was won on the Buckner error. Well, they still have to play another game, right? Correct.

And in that game seven, the Red Sox still had the lead. I believe it was 3-0. All right, here we go again. And still they capitulated and were unable to pull it off. Again, you think of iconic teams, you'll think of the 0-4 Red Sox, but also the 86 Mets. I mean, just hard partying, getting after it, all-time great team. It's a shame they didn't win more World Series, but they were a fun bunch as well.

Seen any good movies lately? Yeah, so I, honestly, the big budget stuff, there's really not much out there. So I watched a couple of indie movies. One is called Sing Thing, which is about the prison. And it's about, Coleman Domingo plays the lead actor. He was in a Netflix movie last year, was nominated about the prison. And it's about Coleman Domingo plays the lead actor. He was in a Netflix movie last year, was nominated for best actor. And he plays a longtime prisoner. What they do is, and I guess this is happening now in more prisons, that they have inmates end up being

involved more in the arts, whether that's visual arts or in this case, it's like a theater troupe. And what makes it interesting is this. We've seen the trope of guy imprisoned and didn't commit the crime, and how do I get out of this? You can go back to Shawshank Redemption, any number of prison movies. But what makes it unique is that a lot of the actors in it are either former prisoners and some of them are current prisoners. So it's got this really interesting documentary

feel to it, because you're like, wow, this really has this feel of authenticity to it that some of these guys either have been behind bars or are currently behind bars and are using art to inspire them. i thought it was a really cool movie i enjoyed it i think domingo mike did an oscar nomination uh because he's really excellent the lead role and i also watched didi which was a really good indie movie that is about a taiwanese american boy uh growing up in fremont california about a decade plus ago it's like right around when you're on facebook and ig messenger all that kind of stuff. And just his coming of age. It was really

well done. And again, I said, why am I going to watch this movie? How many coming of age stories do we need? I've seen Stand By Me, but more. And yet, when you're very specific in these stories, they can end up being really smart and really funny and challenging. And the lead character, he gets wildly alienated. He's in love with a girl.

She's 13. And it kind of goes into that whole relationship and what it's like. But I thought it was really hard-hitting and true to certainly childhood and how challenging it can be, and like I said, funny and amusing, which was really well done. So, Dee Dee and Sing Sing, a couple of late seasons to prizes here. By the way,

Beelgeuse 2, right around the corner. Oh, A-Dog would be excited for that. I like coming-of-age movies. It reminds me of when I used to care about things. Right? That one girl with a small age. Oh, my goodness. It's going to crush my entire week.

Yeah, remember when little things like that? Now it's like, God, if someone doesn't smile at me, I just keep walking past. That's my day. Hey, Adnan, thanks for doing this today, man. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next Thursday.

Great to have the A-team back. Mike, Jay, good chatting to you, boys. Talk soon. Thanks, bud. That's Adnan Virk from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Coming up on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650 at 8.30,

we're going to do what we learned, so get some in. Hashtag them WWL. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know. The Dunbar-Lumber text line is 650-650. All you have to do is hashtag it WWL. Make it good, of course.

It's your chance to be on the radio. That's coming up at 8.30. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions. The Roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at bclions.com. Coming up, Adam Stanley is going to join us for a little golf talk. That's coming up next on

the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. 731 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, bruv, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough 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. Man, I'm just looking at the leaderboard at the Tour Championship.

Scotty Scheffler has got it going on this morning. What's he at? He doesn't even tee off until like 11 a.m. He's already at 10 under. How is that possible, Jason? He's so good. How is that possible? He's having a hell of a year.

This format is more confusing to me than Champions League. You can't start a tournament 10 under. I don't make any sense. Let's talk about this with Adam because they have not found the right format here. Let's go to the phone lines now, as a matter of fact, for more explanation on what's going on. Sportsnet Golf Analyst Adam Stanley joins us now. Not quite.

Not quite. No? Not quite. He doesn't join us now. Now he joins us now. Adam Stanley on the Halford & Brough Show. He doesn't join us now. Now he joins us now. Adam Stanley on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Adam. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing well. How are you guys?

We're good. We were just joking that Scotty Scheffler must have been really good on the driving range because he's already a 10 under at the Tour Championship. Is this format working? Like ish because I don't know how i don't know how else they could do it because they're trying to really like go down the center of hey this is the season-long

race to the fedex cup but also this is the fedex cup playoffs so there's kind of like there's an issue with that right because obviously you know take the nhl playoffs right you got your seeds one through eight you're going to figure it out you're going to play down you're going to award a stanley cup at the end of it all uh the regular season you get a reward but because the pga tour kind of brands this thing as the season-long race well i guess the reward for scotty scheffler winning six friggin times is that hey you get a two-shot advantage on the field heading into the final event of the season so with respect to like how they are trying to go right down the center of this thing it's playoffs and it's the season-long race like i don't really know how else they could they could do it uh if it was up to me i would have i think i i would try to do a bit of a match

play thing like really play for sure off things for sure like you try to do a bit of a match play thing. Match play, for sure. For sure. Like you try to get, okay, if you're going to have 36 holes at Eastlake, let's play two rounds straight up. Let's get the strokes. Let's get the seeds. We'll do match play on Saturday, and then we'll play down to Sunday. We'll try to get the winner of this thing and combine it that way.

That would be the way that I do it. For now, it's still confusing, but I don't think that there's a better way. Is match play tougher for TV because you don't actually know that the matches will go the distance and then all of a sudden you you might be a broadcaster and and you're all you've got is one match and then there's a lot of downtime where guys are not hitting shots i think that i think that's the big issue right like tv rules all the folks that played paid a lot of money uh for the tv rights like you know that's part of the reason why there is no match play event on the on the pga tour schedule anymore right you just see

it is so unpredictable it's only over 18 holes like at the end of the week it could be uh tom hoagie and christian bizayden hoax firing it up for the FedEx Cup late on Sunday, and Scottie might have been, you know, not even in the match play thing. You know, on the other side of that coin, maybe it's Scottie versus Rory on Sunday to win the FedEx Cup, and that would be awesome. But to your point, you know, maybe one of the guys boat races them, and the thing's over with two and a half hours left in the TV broadcast window. So I think just the turbulent nature of it all doesn't make for a good sellable product,

which is part of the reason why we're where we're at right now in men's professional golf. But certainly from a viewership standpoint and from the pure, this is the playoffs kind of standpoint, it would be way better. So is this tournament, are some people considering this the decider for who's going to be the player of the year, either Scotty Scheffler or Xander Schauffele? Scotty Scheffler has a ton of wins, but only one major. Xander has two majors. So some people think it's all about majors and

others think it's all about the complete body of work. Yeah, it's a, it's a great question. And I think what you just said kind of hits the nail on the head. It's supposed to be the player of the year award, not really the player of the summer award. And now Xander Schauffele obviously had a very tremendous year. But if you're comparing it straight up to Scotty Scheffler's year, there really is no comparison.

You add in the gold medal obviously to that for scotty uh you add in just the complete statistical dominance of scotty scheffler as well like i think at one point in the season he was number one in 30 statistical categories i think it might have been even more so straight up top to bottom, the year of 2024 in men's professional golf, certainly on the PGA Tour, has belonged to Scotty Scheffler. Could there be some recency bias if Xander ends up winning the FedEx Cup? Maybe, but I think for the most part, the guys are pretty smart in knowing that this was Scotty's year from start to finish.

Yeah, another guy had a lot of nice wins, but you win six times in this kind of era of the PGA Tour, and no one's going to top that. The money on the PGA Tour right now is incredible. Halford, I'm going to throw you on the spot again. How much money do you think Scotty Scheffler

has won this year? 50 million. Okay. No, not quite $50 million. Okay. No, not quite. $29 million. But that's – Yeah. And if he wins the Tour Championship and he wins a FedEx Cup, what would that bring him to? $50?

Around there, right? Like I actually – Get older. Yeah. It's incredible, and it brings up the latest comments from Jay Monahan about PGA tour and live. And Jay Monahan says, we're going to need patience on this because we're still working out the deal. Is this just BS?

All of this? Like what is going, what is going on here? Like I, I, I still don't understand what it looks like when this is all solved. I don't understand what it means to give players equity on the tour. Do they know what it looks like when all this ends?

Or are they just like, yeah, we have conversations every once in a while. Like, it's just so confusing. It's, it's confusing. And I think the fact that Jay Monahan, obviously the commissioner of the PGA tour does his annual season ending address. And, and he did do the, you know, the complete world's word salad yesterday. And I think that's the big issue problem,

like significant point of confusion, like pick whatever descriptor you want. Jay Monahan is really, really good at saying a lot of stuff, but also nothing at the same time. And yeah, one thing that is completely 100% true, and it kind of reflects your question, is that, you know, the American Department of Justice is involved in this deal. And like, a complete foreign government entity is involved in this deal. And like a complete foreign government entity is involved in this deal. So there's so many just layers of uniqueness and negotiation with no precedent and like all these things,

like all of that stuff is completely accurate. I think what it boils down to from a fan perspective is that the men's professional golf product has been completely diluted and the perspective and focus of it all has really just pivoted to who can make the most amount of money. And that's why, you know, the major championships continue to be so well watched. And so many people are more excited about that is because they are part of the PGA Tour schedule, but they aren't PGA Tour products.

So, you know, you rip away all of the BS around the PGA Tour schedule, but they aren't PGA Tour products. So, you know, you rip away all of the BS around the PGA Tour and you just get people playing for legacy and honor and history and all that stuff. And that's why, you know, Rory brought it up about the Olympics. The Olympics were, no argument for me, the most exciting event of the year and certainly the most exciting event of the year as well. And there was no money to be played for. So, yeah, at the end of the day day a lot of complex parts to this negotiation i think too the the final point just for me on the the competition side of things is like who really

do we care about coming back from live to play a pga tour schedule like Jon Rahm yeah for sure um you know DJ's kind of checked out Brooks for sure and Bryson for sure but that's three guys out of you know there are 50 guys on the roster are we really doing all this for like Bryson DeChambeau to be able to play in the Rocket Mortgage Classic again like that that's kind of the bigger question for me. Like what does it actually look like in 2026 and beyond? Certainly remains to be seen. Just a shot at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Is that the one in Detroit? It's catching strays.

And the only reason it did is because Bryce had won that tournament like four years ago before he went to lift. So it was on top of my head. Let's talk about the President's Cup a little bit because that's coming up in a few weeks in Montreal. The United States has kind of dominated this competition. The last time the international team won this competition, the only time this international team won this competition, 1998, when the President's Cup was down in Australia. Mike Weir is the captain for the international team. What are his chances of breaking this drought?

They, you know, I don't think they're bad, to be honest. Like, you do look at the American side, all six of their top six qualifiers, automatic, they are playing this week at Eastlake at the Tour Championship. So, yeah, it's the best of the best. And it's going to be a tall task for Mike Weir to be able to do this, to put this squad together and kind of see what happens, especially when the top two guys on the American side are Scotty and Xander,

who we spent, you know, six minutes talking about before, but they're, you know, all time seasons. But the thing that I personally think that Mike Weir has going for him from sort of a team and motivation perspective, number one, this generation of guys who are now on the President's Cup have played them before, and they're all hungry to actually do it. They want to kind of go down in history as the team that kind of turns the tide. So they have that going for them.

And number two, you look at the American top six, and they're pretty banged up. Like, Scottie and Xander have played the most golf at the biggest level of any of the guys all season long, and they want a break. Xander firmly came out and even said, you know, I want a break. I want an off-season. Like, I got to go on my brother's bachelor party next week. Like, and I'm not even looking forward to that. So the motivation factor to come and actually play more golf at, you know, an event that the United States has dominated is, I don't think, going to be something that they're entirely pumped about. And Scottie's kind of dropping some hints about this neck injury

that he's had. And Shahid Tagala's wrist is really, really bothering him, too. So the Americans are not going to come in at 100 percent. The Americans are not going to come in, you know, completely 100 percent motivated. And the Americans, a little birdie told me, are not even going to be making a scouting trip to Royal Montreal before the President's Cup at the end of the month. So all that stuff being said, I think the international side has a bit of a better chance than a lot of people are making out as it stands right now. We're speaking to Sportsnet Golf Analyst Adam Stanley here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet

650. Adam, I've got to ask you, how much attention did you pay to the Creator Classic, which of course was the lead-in to the Tour Championship? Yeah, I followed along for a little bit. Mac Boucher is a good friend of mine. He's Canadian.

He's from the greater Toronto area. He has about 500,000 followers on Instagram, and he just does like crazy trick shots. And he's actually very, very good. He used to play on PGA Tour Canada. And just the way that he plays golf is, you know, very, it's not relatable, but it's relatable to the group of folks who are out there following on the TikTok and Gen Z generation. The other side of it is not really for me. I'm not really down the kind

of youtube rabbit hole sure kudos to the pga tour for like trying something it obviously was kind of digitally successful more people were watching the live stream of it yesterday than kind of any live event that's ever happened yeah uh there were certainly some hiccups but they took a group of people who have a baked in engaged audience and let them do their thing. And I don't think that you can knock that. My one thing that I was like, really, like, come on, how can we really do that? Is that Wesley Bryan played in this thing and he was the most under par in the eight holes before they went in the playoff. And Wesley Bryan finished second at an actual PGA Tour event earlier this year.

And he won the PGA Tour event, you know, like half a decade ago. And yet they still counted him as a creator in this mix. And to me, that was a little off-putting. But I thought that the rest of the field, they played well. The broadcast was fine. The golf course was good. And, you know, the audience was obviously super engaged. so it wasn't necessarily for me but it was obviously for someone and they clearly watched it and made a half a nice deal out of it so bref just looked

at me while you were answering he's like you're gonna need to explain to everyone what this is so i guess it didn't catch on as much as we thought that did so it was it was is a golf influencer like i think what did they play nine holes at east lake i think yesterday yeah they played eight they played eight holes at east lake um and the fight the the top four after the eight holes um they went into a playoff to determine the winner and the winner was a guy named luke kwan and he he i can't even believe that this sentence is coming out of my mouth but he was part of the youtube group called good good and they have 1.7 million followers on youtube so again not necessarily my thing but very clearly somebody's thing like guys from dude

perfect were there guys bob does sports that's that's funny stuff that prez yeah like well i mean i he was there sometimes i actually get thinking like, how did this happen for golf? How did this sport, we're, I don't know, what was it like five or six years ago? We were like, this sport is dying. No young people want to play it. Was it the pandemic or was it a combination of the pandemic and some really funny, engaging, entertaining social media creators helping the sport along? I think the pandemic accelerated everything, right? Like Mac, for example, Mac Boucher, who we mentioned a few minutes ago, the Canadian guy with 500,000 followers on Instagram,

you know, he started his account. He moved to Dubai during the pandemic and just, you know, he played golf. He was in New Zealand. He went to Dubai and he just kind of did all these crazy trick shots. And he started his account, 1,000, 2,000, 10,000. And then all of a sudden it went up to 100,000, probably in the span of like a month or something like that. And that was firmly in the middle of 2020. And golf obviously was the thing that you could do when you couldn't really do anything else. So people who played beer league softball, or they got together and played

soccer with their friends in the summer, or they just went to bars and drank, like they couldn't do any of that. So they played golf and they posted about it. And one thing led to another. And now there's, you know, know i'm like how is there space for all these people in these groups and etc but they're clearly you know becoming even even more popular and part of it kind of back to your point just real quick for me is that it reflects everything that we talked about on the on the professional side of things if you're so tuned out by just professional golf and if you've cut the cord on the on cable you don't have cable but you're going to watch youtube like these guys are still uh doing content and girls excuse me as

well they're doing content with professional golfers they're doing unique things that we don't see you know they're playing the forward tees or they're trying to break 50 or they're um you know just just out there having fun they're having fun they're having a lot more relatable yeah having fun it's not it's not a bunch of bs it's just they're having fun. They're having fun. They're having fun. A lot more relatable. They're having fun. It's not a bunch of BS. It's just they're having fun, and they're relatable,

and it's easy to watch and easy to follow, and why not be entertained? And now you can't get a damn tea time. Like that is just like, is it the same all across the country? In Vancouver, it's a competition to get a tea time. Yeah, certainly in Ontario,

it plateaued a little bit probably like last year and into this year but still when when golf canada puts out these numbers like the amount of maybe the amount of golfers has plateaued but the amount of golf that just people are playing i think it was up like 13 year over year from 2022 to 2023, the number of scores being inputted in the golf Canada's app or whatever it is. So yeah, it's a, it's pretty hard. It's not as hard as it was in 2020 and 2021, but it's still pretty difficult. Like if you want to get a Saturday morning time,

like you can't call someone on Friday and figure it out. Like you've got to get it kind of that Monday morning when they, when they open. I just want to ask you one more question about the President's Cup. Taylor Pendrith, I imagine, is going to get the call from Mike Weir. Corey Conner is probably going to get the call from Mike Weir. Will any other Canadians be among the, correct me if I'm wrong here, six more captain's picks for Mike Weir?

Yeah, six captain's picks to round out the team. You're 100% right. Corey finished seventh in the standing, so he's a lock. I think Taylor had the kind of summertime season that all the other guys would have loved to have had. The only Canadian to make the Tour Championship, to be frank, I think he's pretty much a lock. I think Mackenzie Hughes is probably the only other one to have a chance, if only because of his short game. He's literally number one on the PGA Tour in short game total and was in the top 10 in strokes game putting.

Mike's really going to be leaning on the analytics guys, and if they need someone with the short game, you know, Mack is the guy. He's just the best of the best. And I know that it's kind of shocking and a little jarring to not maybe have Nick Taylor on this team. But Nick, unfortunately, through kind of the summertime stretch, just played himself out of the conversation a little bit. Like he didn't make a cut at any major, you know, just kind of his only top 15 finish on the tour by himself.

You know, the last one in the season was the win all the way back in February. And then him and Adam teamed up for a top 10 at the event in Zurich, or excuse me, the Zurich in New Orleans. So if you're just looking at straight up bodies of work, unfortunately, there's a couple guys who played well, a couple guys who just didn't. And, you know, if Mike's trying to put together the best team possible and he's leaning on the numbers, Mack is kind of the only other one that that's really standing out that um that could be there so i would say i would say three is probably going to happen i don't think we're

going to go to four but um yeah mike just it kind of stinks that no canadian actually got in uh in the top six but mike's going to have to make some picks and he's going to have to make some hard decisions for sure adam thanks for doing this today, man. We really appreciate it. No worries. Talk to you guys again soon. Thanks so much. Thank you. Adam Stanley, Sportsnet Golf Analyst here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. JN Calgary takes in a part of the answer for

why the YouTube and social media golf is so popular now is the PGA is stuck up and boring. The live is completely distasteful. That is a good word to describe live. The YouTubers are just more entertaining for Gen Z. I think it's lame, but I'm a 38-year-old data scientist,

says Jay in Calgary. I think some of it's funny. I mean, I don't like- Who do you follow? Bob Does Sports. I can't I don't like. Who do you follow? Bob does sports. I can't remember who the lead guy is there, but I think he's like, I follow him on Instagram. He's funny.

I don't watch a lot of. Bob Mennery? What's that? Bob Mennery? Is that the guy? The guy used to be a baseball player or used to be, he used to work at a hotel, I think. I can't remember.

It doesn't really matter. But there are some, there are some like really entertaining golf guys out there. Say what you will about Barstool, they've really leaned into golf. And I think that's helped the game because Barstool has a major influence in sports media in North America.

I just think they needed to make golf less intimidating to play. And when you've got guys out there and these guys are influencers and some of them like they suck, they're really bad. And, you know, you watch them play and it's relatable. Yeah.

It's totally, totally relatable as opposed to, you know, you, you get invited out to a corporate golf event and maybe you're playing at a nice course and maybe there are a bunch of guys there that play a lot and they're good and they know the rules and they know the etiquette and then you get the invite and you're like, Oh, like you

can relate to that. You just described every golf experience I've ever had. Yeah. But I've always said like, you need to get over that. Like I described every golf experience I've ever had. Yeah. But I've always said like, you need to get over that. Like I had a buddy. It's good advice.

Well, yeah, it is. I had a buddy that just refused to play golf. He refused to play golf. And then the pandemic came along and he's like, fine, I'll golf.

And he, God, Benny, how old are you? 40 yet? And he loves it now. Like he just, and he's kind of mad at himself. Because he's like, I had this like, I had this stubborn attitude towards golf where I just didn't, I didn't want to play. And I think a lot of it stems from like, it's intimidating.

And I don't want to be bad at something. I don't want to be bad at something. i don't want to be bad at something i don't want to be bad at something i don't want to be embarrassed at something i don't want to show up and be dressed wrong you know i don't even know but like now you know it doesn't really matter like you don't have to tuck your shirt in you don't have to you know you can play music on most golf courses now you show up to the first tee you hit a a bad shot. You've seen people on YouTube do it, and you just have to laugh it off. Yeah. Yeah, that probably sums up some of why I don't.

I'm also, I find it too frustrating. That's probably something else I need to get over as well. Yeah, well, it's supposed to be. So you know what Rick Taka would tell you? Embrace the hardness. Before we go to break, I need to. We've got to play that clip. Yeah, we will play it at 8 o'clock. It'll make a lot more sense on the other side of the break. you embrace the hard enough before we go to break I need to we got to play that clip yeah

we will play it at 8 o'clock it'll make a lot more sense on the other side of the break it is time now for the Canadian football report brought to you by Securian Canada the

official life insurance partner of the CFL for today's CFL report I'm focusing exclusively on touchdown Pacific the game isn't until Saturday we know this. But the festivities get underway today at noon from 7 to p.m. today.

There's musical and artistic celebrations at Ship Point, which I believe is in the Inner Harbor in Victoria. Now, there's also open BC Lions practices today and tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Starlight Stadium in Langford. You can get pictures and autographs with the BC Lions players. Maybe Matthew Betts will be there. I don't know. All I know is that practice tickets are free, but they must be reserved through the BC Lions website. So go to BCLions.com

if you want to go today. If you want to check out any of the festivities, go to their website as well. Touchdown Pacific events go today and tomorrow, leading up to the game on Saturday. If you can't get a ticket to Royal Athletic Park on Saturday, don't worry because they are having a big watch party at the adjacent

Central Park on Saturday with a big screen and everything else. So there you go. Touchdown Pacific gets underway in a matter of hours. That was the CFL report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. Coming up on the Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. Coming up on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, Thomas Drance will join us from

the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk right here on Sportsnet 650. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.