Halford & Brough in the Morning - Vibes Are High in Seattle + What We Learned

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

In hour three, guest hosts Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Jamie Dodd are joined by ROOT Sports' Jen Mueller. Jen talks about the red-hot Mariners and the vibes in Seattle. What are the expectations for the Seahawks this season? Plus, the guys tell us what they learned. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

And the next pitch, one got belted, deep to right field, the line shot, and it's gone. Goodbye baseball. There's number 45. And Cal Raleigh didn't waste any time. Welcome back to Halford and Brough. No, Halfer, no Brough.

It's Josh Lai Wolf. Jason. Jason, Jamie Dodd. Oh, you fool. Ah. I always get. I'm extra messed up in the morning. I'll iron it out.

He's in the Jason's chair. That's right. True. I got confused. Anyway. Jay. J.A. I get it.

Yeah. It's all right there. Halford of Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80%. With no more interest, visit sands dash trustee.com. This hour of Halford & Brough is brought to you by Campbell & Pound. Real Estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound.

visit campbell dash pound.com today. We are broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. And guests on Sportsnet 650 call in on the hotline powered by PowerWest Industries. Don't get caught in the dark when it matters most. Visit them at powerwest.com. Today, they keep the lights on. We go to the hotline now and we welcome in Jen Mueller from Root Sports.

I appreciate you taking the time, Jen. How are you? Yeah, well, I'm well after. the homestand-the-mariners put together. I mean, how could you not be? Yeah, it's getting everybody swept up in the excitement. They've won seven in a row, nine of ten this month. How is the excitement level in Seattle around the team right now?

It is electric. I mean, the ballpark was full for Eitro's number retirement ceremony. There have been great crowds, of course, as you guys know, it is the best time of year in Seattle, but it is really been electric. And the number of fans who have messaged me or have come up to me in the ballpark, and say this feels like 2022 when they made the playoffs or the older fans this feels like 95 in 2001 they they can tell that there's something different and it is really fun to be at the ballpark yeah and that feeling of it just feeling a little different i think is uh is a great way

to put it and you reference some of those magical years from the past for the seattle mariners and and part of that is you know the a l looks pretty wide open right now but part of it is the talent on the team and i thought it was really interesting the reports that when each hero talked to the team. He kind of said, hey, guys, like this is the moment, sees the moment. You have the ability here. The path is open. How much do you think internally that's kind of the mantra and the headspace that the team is in that, hey, why not us? We have the ability to go out and do this right now. Yeah, it definitely resonated with the team. And you could see all of them on the top step watching the speech. Now that's to be expected, right? You are honoring one of the

old-time greats in the game, and certainly in franchise history, but they were watching him so intently, and they see each row. And I thought the most interesting thing that he said in that entire address to the team was that in 2001, when they won 116 games, he thought winning was easy. And he kind of took it for granted. And that was the other part of the message. Like, don't take any of it for granted. Don't take the pressure for granted. Don't take the wins for granted. Don't take your teammates. Because this is a special type of year and season. And so you've got to soak all of that in. But when Julio takes that message and really takes it to heart and starts talking about it and Gino, it landed. It is definitely the feeling that they

are carrying into this road trip. We mentioned how hot they've been in the month of August. What's been going right for them since the trade deadline? Just about everything. But quite honestly, it's the depth of the lineup and it's the length of the lineup. There is no chance for an opposing pitcher to catch their breath. And there have been points in the year where that was the case. And certainly early in the year, you know, you're not going to get an accurate sample size because of the way the ballpark plays in April and just kind of the way that people are getting into the season. But they don't have any holes in the lineup. You know, you're looking at JP Crawford batting eighth or ninth. J.P. Crawford had the game winner during this home

stand, right? And he's a really productive at bat. Josh Naylor could be batting a little lower in the lineup sometimes. He's a really good at that. And I think that that, combined with what you expected to see from the starting pitchers, that has made a huge difference. Yeah, and that point about the depth

of the lineup, Jen, I think is a really good one. And of course, when you have not only a deep lineup, but then one that is anchored by Cal Raleigh having, you know, an MVP type of season. I don't know if he's going to win it, considering what Aaron Judge is doing, but certainly in a lot of years, he'd be the front runner for MVP, given what he's doing from the catcher position and his power numbers.

Where does this performance this season kind of rank in comparison to some of the great individual seasons we've seen, especially offensively in years past from the Mariners? Yeah, well, for Cal, he has already passed some of the marks that Ken Griffey Jr. For a number of home runs before the All-Star break, you know, yesterday he ties Johnny bench with the most home runs by a catcher in a single season. he is going to blow past Salvi Perez's mark of most home runs by a catcher. It truly is remarkable. And, you know, I don't know with the way Judge's season is going with the injury,

and I know that he's back, but I don't, I think that there's a really strong case to be made. I think the other part of this Cal Raleigh discussion, and I mentioned this to him on field the other night, not all home runs are equal. And when he homered, and I can't remember which night it is because all of the wins run together, the number of home runs that he has hit to give his team the lead late is astronomical and leads the league by a wide margin. So we're not talking about 45 home runs, but oh, you're just getting the extra runs at the end of the game. No, no, no.

You are the game-changing home run more often than not. And I think that is part of what's going to separate him, that in his work behind the plate, when you start talking about MVP. Yeah, he's having a really special season and I think that informed a lot of what the Mariners did at the deadline and usually the issue with the Mariners that we've seen in the past is like

hey, they have these good seasons but maybe don't go as all in as some fans might want at the trade deadline. It was a different story this season. How much is that contributed to more belief in this team moving forward? 100%. I mean, you could feel it

everywhere and getting Gino Svarez back and I know you look at the number since the trade, he has not been producing at the same level he was in Arizona, you knew that Gina was a streaky player to get his personality back and his leadership back in the clubhouse. And he was beloved here in Seattle, which is a really strong word to use because he was only here for two seasons, right? He made such an impression in two seasons that that was kind of the linchpin.

When that news dropped, everybody in the city went, okay, we're in it. like this is good. You know, we really liked Naylor. Yeah, you needed the extra arm in the bullpen and Caleb Ferguson, but going after Gino, that was the one that signaled to everybody else, okay? Like, we're going for it. And just the presence in that clubhouse now, it's an entirely different feeling with those three. Well, and you talk about him being beloved by the city, right? But I'm sure for the clubhouse and the team to not just get him back, but he really was one of the most high-profile bats available on the market. So you go make that statement by getting that deal done.

That's got to send an incredible message and just give a jolt of energy to the players there that, hey, we're serious about this. The front office has our backs and they went out and showed it. Yeah. And, you know, it is truly how to handle everything down the stretch, right? It is the, it really is the presence that he's going to bring. And, you know, you count on Cal Ron. for a lot of those things.

Kel is being pulled in so many different directions, right? Hitters meetings, pitchers meeting, his own catchers meeting. To have somebody like Gino who's been there who's done that, he is a high energy guy in a very different way than Victor Robles is. He is not going to be the one that is bouncing off the walls, but he is going to bring you the right energy at the right time. That's what fans fell in love with. That's part of what teammates fell in love with.

And you are right. When the front office made that trade a few years ago to unload the South, and then you decide that he's worse that money, yes, it sends a very strong message. So we've talked a lot about the lineup, but looking at how wide open the American League is, when you factor in how deep the lineup is now, combining that with the starters and what the upside is with the rotation, what is the ultimate upside, I guess, for the Mariners this season? well i mean you're half a game back right now from houston in the standings and you know the astros certainly have a knack for turning things on down the stretch but they are looking at winning the division you know if you maintain this pace there is no reason not to believe that you could be playing for the ALCS and then you know have the world series in your sights the one thing i will say is august is a very long month in baseball and so i don't want to temper any everybody's excitement. I do just want to say things are going to shake out quite a bit in the next

couple of weeks because they always do. It is the dog days of summer. The grind is real. You can see the fatigue. Yes, you can see the excitement and the energy, but around baseball, this is a really, really tough time of year. So it's true for every team, which means it's also true for the Astros and for the Red Sox who are right there in the wild card standing. But, you know, the Mariners are looking at the playoffs, but they are eyeing Houston. They are eyeing that division title and something that is more definitive than just kind of sneaking

in or be in that wild card team. Yeah, it's always interesting to see, especially now, I mean, it used to be obviously the division crown and baseball was paramount. It was the thing and it's changed a lot with the playoff format, but it's always interesting to see how teams kind of approach that and address that. And in the case of the Mariners who have had these

really close calls in the AL West recently, but it's been a while since they've won the division how much does the division title the regular season division title mean for this team well the last time they did it was 2001 that was each year and it means a lot and you can't get away from that mantra or that narrative because dan wilson the manager was on the 1995 team that had that incredible comeback and that ended up winning the division and it was jay buner who was in our booth former outfielder who would said you know screw the wild card we want the division

You've got these former players who are part of the best era of Mariners baseball, arguably, certainly for the city and what it did just in terms of keeping baseball in Seattle. That has been their mantra going back years. So it's hard to ignore that now, especially when you have a reminder all the time in your manager. It is Alfred and Brough, Josh Elliott-Wolf, and Jamie Dodd, joined by Jen Mueller from Root Sports. but you also are a sideline reporter for the Seattle Seahawks and the preseason underway for the Seahawks and it felt like the headlines from the last game was the hype

surrounding Jalen Milrow. What were your first impressions of the new QB for the Seahawks? Well, I had the pleasure of meeting Jaylen a few months ago and he is just an incredibly dynamic person. Take football away. he is an incredibly you just gravitate towards him right he is just the leader that walks in the room

and has a presence and of course you know the background of his parents being military you can see that he is extremely respectful he goes out of his way to make people feel seen and welcomed and he just kind of does all of those things right I got to be honest with you the thing that stood out most to me on the sidelines was the fact that they said they were going to run

the ball and they ran the ball. Yep, I love seeing Jalen Milro in the second half. I don't think that there's any debate as to where he falls on the depth chart. I don't think that there's any question as to where they want him to get to in his career progression. But for me to see the starters, or some of the starters, right? You had some of the offensive line starters out there. Running the ball like they said they were going to do, that's what I wanted to see. And that's a great point about just kind of trying to glean what we can about the offensive philosophy and what it might look like because it's such a changing of a guard on that side or changing of the guard, I should say on that side of the ball, right? Obviously with Gino Smith, D.K. Metcalfe, Tyler Lockett

out, Sam Darnold, Cooper Cup, and new offensive coordinator as well. What do you kind of expect the philosophy, the mindset for the Seahawks on the offensive side of things to be this year? I mean, they have consistently said every single offensive player that we have talked to, whether it is an offensive lineman, whether it is a wide receiver or a quarterback. Every single one of them has said, we are going to run the ball. And I've heard that a lot. I've been with the team 17 years on the sideline. I've heard that a lot.

There have been years that we have done that really well. There have been years that that has not been a strong suit. But when you run the ball, I think people assume that it's going to be a boring offense, that you're just going to take handoffs and you're going to run it straight up the middle, right? you are not going to be in shotgun quite as much as we saw last year, but it's the way that everything gets set up off the run. It's the type of running. They're going to stretch the field and defenses are going to get worn out.

They are going to have some play options off of that, and you are not going to know where the tight end is going. The number of times, two tight ends are on the field, it's like mind-blowing with fullbacks. And going back to the whole thing that you said about changing of the guard, the fact that the offense looked in sync, and it's a preseason game. I'm not going to read too much into it, but I will say when you watch training camp practices and you know that this is the second year for the defense under Mike McDonald,

there is a huge difference in what the defense looks like and what the offense looks like in the first year under Clint Kubiak as the offensive coordinator. To watch them go out against an opponent and just be in sync. It is a really complicated offense for some of these guys to learn. like complicated play call. That gave me the most encouragement that things were on the right track. Because sometimes it's hard to tell when you're just beating up on your own guys in practice. Yeah, and it's a big change at quarterback two, moving on from Gino Smith,

bringing in Sam Darnold. What are the expectations for Sam Darnold this season? I think that that's a tough question to answer now, because I don't know that you expect exactly what you saw last year. I do know that in talking to Sam, he doesn't believe that last year was just a fluke because it's not just about the performance on the field. It's how he has grown as a player behind the scene, how he prepares, how he understands the system, how he can see the field differently. And just some of those little things that you have a different vantage point on when you get to be the vet in the room, when you have been on different teams and in different systems and with different coordinators, you know, just kind of. that knowledge that comes with time on task, I think that's where his growth has been,

I don't know, the most evident, but certainly the most impactful. It has led to the results on the field. They want him to execute the offense. He is the leader on offense. And that sounds like a no-dust statement, but he has been in this offense before. He's got a lot on his shoulders. He and Cooper Cup, the guys who have been there before to make sure that this works come week one against the Niners. Hey, Jen, we really appreciate you taking the time. Enjoy the rest of the Mariners season here. Hopefully it goes on for a long time and the Seahawks season as well.

Thank you very much, guys. There is Jen Mueller from Rootsports and Seahawks sideline reporter joining us on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650, Josh Elliott-Wolf, and Jamie Dodd. I do find the Seahawks really interesting this season from a neutral perspective. I guess the NFC West as a whole. just is going to be really interesting to track because you can almost make the case that any team in that like you could slot them in any slot and I would kind of get where you're coming from now as a former Sam Darnold Booster love the guy love the guy

except for two weeks at the end it didn't go so well what is your perspective on Sam Dahl because now correct me if I'm wrong here but the way that Jen was kind of describing how the offense is going to work sounds like a lot of similarities to me Minnesota, right? With the play action and building things off the running game, getting him those kind of open or easier looks as a result of the play action and the under center stuff, does that give you more confidence in the Sam Darnold experiment in Seattle? I think a lot of it, like when I looked at Sam Darnold last season, I was like, man, Kevin O'Connell can do anything. And so I do wonder how much of that is like, okay, now he has the Kevin O'Connell experience that he can transfer over to

Seattle and now it's just with him? Or is it going to be like, this is the Sam Darnold we've seen prior to Minnesota, and because he's away from O'Connell, it's different. I do think that the most frustrating aspect of Sam Darnold's game that I think is going to be something to keep an eye on this season is he holds onto the ball for a long time. And he'll take some sacks. And the Seahawks offensive line. Well, that's the big thing. And I think if you're going to be concerned about anything with Sam Darnold, it's not

necessarily Sam Darnold himself. It's for a quarterback like him, as you said, Right. It was the coach in Minnesota. He's also thrown to Justin Jefferson. They have a good offensive line. So he's in the environment to thrive to succeed. Man, a bad, I don't want to say a bad quarterback, but a non-elite quarterback behind a bad offensive line. Like, that can get ugly in a hurry. And if that is the case, if the Seahawks O line is as bad as a lot of people are projecting it to be or at least as as much of a problem, that gives me a lot of concern for Sam Darnell. I will say that new offensive coordinator, Clint Kubiak and Seattle loves to run his plays under center. Yeah. So you're going to see a lot of handoffs, right? You got Ken Walker, you got Charbonnet, JSN, Cooper Cup, a lot of short routes that could feed into Sam Strings. Yeah, definitely.

It could be a help. And, like, look, I don't think he's going to be as bad, like, even worst-case scenario. I don't think he'd be as bad as he was prior to Minnesota. I just don't know if the upside that we saw, like, last year felt like best-case scenario. for Sam Darnold in any season. And then the other thing is going to be like, if you do make the playoffs, he had no clutch factor.

No. It was tough to watch. And if maybe it's different in Seattle, I don't know, but that's why a lot of Vikings fans were like, you know what? It's okay, buddy. You can go.

Yeah, it was a good run. See ya. Yeah, thanks for the year. But now there's a lot of hopes in Minnesota on J.J. McCarthy. And I think a lot of that is due to what Sam Darnold did at the end of, last season.

Where do you think the, like, if you were to pick right now, where do you think the Seahawks finish in the NFC West? I truly have no idea. I have done zero research into it. But here, I'll say something for you. All right. I'll say third. How about that?

Okay. And I'm not going to tell you which, I'm not going to tell you which two teams are finishing ahead of them. That's a mystery. That's the secret. Fair enough. I think I, I think I may have picked the, I think I picked them to be third too.

There you go. We both did a ton of research and really poured over it and we came to the same conclusion. Third. Because I think I had the Rams now like Stafford has had some like complications and training camp and stuff so that might change. But I had the Rams and the Niners above the Seahawks. But again, I feel like it's going to be a wide open division and anything can happen

in the NFC West going to be one of the more competitive divisions to keep an eye on in the NFL this season. And then we also talk Mariners with Jen Mueller. And again, I legitimately think of any team in the American League, they are the team that if, if as a Blue Jays fan, if the Blue Jays were to go up against the Seattle Mariners, which I hope is like an ALCS match. That would be incredibly hyped. But I would be the most afraid of the Seattle Mariners. I think that's fair with the rotation. And again, you start to try to look for the other options.

Like, no, there's got to be a scarier team. There's no, like, Dodgers in the A. No, there's no elite team. Like, even the Tigers of Scoobol, it's like, okay, yeah, if you can, you survive his starts and you feel pretty good about your chances against the rest of the team. But the depth of the rotation for the Mariners is maybe what pushes it over the edge. Yeah, and the Astros are the team that we'll see how they go into the postseason. But they, again, with their deadline acquisitions, they could be a scary team too.

The Yankees ahead of the season, I would have put in that conversation. Now I'm like, well, they're just going to make five. Man, what an absolute disaster are the Yankees. It's incredible to watch. Yeah. Because they keep doing it. They just keep finding really stupid ways to lose games. The one where Chisholm got like picked off on the pop fly.

It's a tough stuff. And he was like halfway for some reason. What are you doing? Yeah. It's your first time playing baseball. It is incredible. And then like the first base coach gets chewed out by Aaron Boone. It's like I don't I don't even know.

I feel like that's on Chisham, man. Yeah. But like you, it's on both of them. them it's on both of them because you're right like why is the player doing something absolutely insane but if you're the coach and you see your player doing something absolutely insane you're like hey man get back here like the kids you coach wouldn't be doing this well well they would but i'm trying but i'd be telling them to get back yeah you wouldn't be doing what the first base coach is no uh yeah the yankees find themselves only half a game up on the cleveland guardians for that final

wild card spot uh the red sox are two and a half games up on the yankees mariner's three and a half games up. Only a half a game back of the Houston Astros for first in the AL West, by the way. So a lot to keep an eye on down the stretch in Major League Baseball, especially in the American League. 650, 650, Dunbar Lumbert's Exx Line. Keep the text coming in there. We'll get to what we learns on the other side. Before we go, Jam Pro, from waiting rooms to exam rooms and everything in between, Jampro keeps workplaces tidy, clean, and disinfected. For a free quote, visit jampro. dot CA.

It is Alfred and Brough Josh Elliot Wolf Jamie on

SportsNet 650 Now for my favorite now for my favorite part of the show what I say talk to the audience

oh God this is always dead is what we learn time it's what we learn time it's what we learn time it's what we learn time it's what we learn time on the show.

Welcome back to Halford and Brough, Josh Ali Wolf, and Jamie Dodd, filling in for Halford and Brough. Alford and Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn our consumer proposal to get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit sands-trustee.com, and this hour of Halpern-enbrough is brought to by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound, visit Campbell-Dashpound.com today. Wasn't close on that.

A little slowdown at the time. Yeah, I know. You did try to really, like, stretch it out. I was speeding up because I thought I was too far behind, and then I sped up too much, and that's where we find ourselves. You'll be 100% by Friday, and then that'll be it. We won't need it again for a year. You won't have to do this ever again. What we learned is brought to you by AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

Our favorite, the white Vesuvio, featuring roasted mushrooms, house-made Italian sausage, and extra-creamy ricotta only at AJ's pizza online at AJ's pizza or at AJ's dot pizza. There we go. I did it.

Last read of the day. Odd that your favorite pizza is the same as Halford. I know. Isn't that weird? It's the exact same color. It's everyone at the station, I guess. It's our favorite. But it also changes like week to week.

That means it's your favorite, too. And you know what? Tomorrow might be the sauce pie. If it's from H's, I'm eating it. It's all good. That is true. Okay, we'll go around the room. I think we all got what we learned today.

I'm so proud of us. We all had them prepared way ahead of the show. Way ahead of time. Go team. We'll start with Jamie. All right. Mine is what we learned over the weekend. Cam Little, second year kicker for the Jacksonville Jaguars,

hit what would be a record if it was in a real game. but he had a 70-yard field goal in preseason action, which is just unreal to even hear it. And he was like, not bad. It was a pretty comfortable kick, honestly. He's shown videos as well of him kicking, I think, from even a little farther than that. Now that's practice, obviously,

you're on an empty field. So that's different. But 70 yards in a real game for Cam Little. And I think my big takeaway here is we need to make life harder for kickers. They're too good. And I know they moved the extra point back. But once you start, once 70 yards is in the equations, like we got to narrow the goalposts or do something here.

I don't want kicking to be that viable an option. There was a ton of miss kicks last year. Yeah. It's only for like the elite kickers, man. Still. No, but if you look broadly, the rate of successful field goals is way up from where it was like 30 years. So what are your suggestions? Narrow the field, narrow the goalposts.

Oh, okay. What's this is maxi golf? I don't want. He's going to have sirens going off. I like, I don't, who likes a field goal? It sucks. This is one of the least entertaining plays in football. It could be the most entertaining.

Yeah, when they're in 70 yards or when it's a game winner. No, that's not entertaining. Yes, it is. It's anti-climatic. It's a field goal to win the game winning field goal entertaining. I find any play that wins a game, entertaining. That like pins and needles of like, oh man, is this, is this kicker going to hit the field goal? That's a wild take.

So you, like, a walk off box. in baseball. You're like, wow, what a play. Yeah. Like, it's a unique ending, but it's not exciting. It's not inherently inciting. You know what? It's less exciting, but it is still exciting. Where did he kick this 70 year? I'm trying to do the math year. Like, is he at midfield?

Yeah, he was, no, he was on his start. He was on his 40-yard line. Yeah, because I was looking at the video. I'm expecting him to kick it the other way. No, I know. And then it goes a long way. He started his run-up, like, on the 35-yard line. Yeah, it's crazy. And I'd be, I doubt they'll let him try, other maybe at the end of a half or something, like something like that in the regular season.

But when you think about it, if you were ever reliable from like 65 yards plus, that completely changes the dynamic of your offense. So the longest field goal kick in a regular season game is 66 yards, Justin Tucker in 2020. Who is now washed? Yeah, he now sucks at football. Yeah.

I mean, he might be good this year, but he's probably not good. He's probably watched. I love how kicker is like a relief pitcher. I don't know if there's bad now. there's a lot of like bounce back seasons from kickers who's uh who's the raiders kicker daniel jannikovsky oh who this year yeah that's where i was going to who used to be he used to be on the vikings and he was bad and then he went to the raiders and he was like i'm good now so maybe it's just maybe tucker needs a change of i don't know he missed an easy one preseason

so it's over uh okay mucal that alon what do you got so the ufc has uh sold their rights to Paramount Plus in a $7.7 billion deal. It's a seven-year deal. So pretty much if you're in the U.S. now, all you need is Paramount Plus, and you will get all the 13 marquee, which were pay-per-view events, and all the 30 fight nights.

So this essentially kills pay-per-view in the States, which is great. I hate pay-per-view. I don't know about you guys growing up. I love it. It's my favorite thing. The unfortunate thing is here in Canada, we will still have to pay for a pay-per-view for UFC.

Great. I don't think I've ever ordered a pay-per-view in my life. No. Like, if there's ever been an event that I want to go to the bar. Yeah, well, yeah. Or like, go to the bar that's playing it or something. But I've never ordered a pay-per-view. I don't think I have.

Actually, you know what? One of the most exciting days of my childhood was when Canucks games were on pay-per-view, which sucked, but my dad was like, we're going to get the pay-per-view for this game. And I was like, oh, man, what's different about it? It was the same game. I did notice also in the release and all the talking about it, The TKO president was, like, really taking shots at pay-per-view as a format. He was like, what's on pay-per-view these days?

Boxing? Give me a break. Well, even boxing now is kind of transitioning to Netflix and other streaming platforms. So pay-per-view will essentially be dead in a couple years. Yeah. I think it's like WWE still has their big events on pay-per-view. No, I don't think so. They're on Netflix.

Are they on Netflix? Really? Oh, okay. Get up the times, Josh. Well, I thought like WrestleMania and stuff. I don't think so. I don't go into Netflix these days. I saw the the Japanese, you were talking about the World Baseball Classic, Josh.

The Japanese rights apparently are going to Netflix. Okay. And the home run derby. Apparently Netflix is in the mix for that as well. I think the Women's World Cup as well, Netflix, getting the Canadian rights. So yeah, they're going all in. I will say it's divisive, but the Apple TV broadcast for baseball games, I don't know. I think it's pretty well done.

But I'm also like more of a, I like when the visuals are nice. And I like their visuals. I think it's clean. My only concern with this is, you know, usually Dana White has to sell the people. pay-per-view so they make a stack card right is that just out the window now I mean because a lot of the cards recently have been terrible

yeah maybe he's just like I know the cards they're mailing it in moving forward so I'm just gonna I'm gonna sell this to Paramount Plus I mean potentially but I think that's also just like it's been a while since UFC has had like names that stretch out outside I was going to say who's the marquee UFC guy

or woman right now like who's the most famous most exciting who would sell the most paper views if they were still doing it fighter in the UFC like normally you can think I'm not a big UFC guy but normally like oh it's Connor McGregor it's Ronda Rousey or whoever

I don't know but there is that person in the sport right now there might be someone who like you name them and I'm like okay I've heard of them but yeah nobody it is John Jones but he's always in legal trouble so that's an issue classic UFC uh okay mook how that

laddie what do you got well what we learned it might be time you guys to start stocking up on your pickles. I don't know if you've been to the store recently, but apparently Bix is caught up in the big tariff issue, and since

moving their Canadian production to America in 2014, that has caused some issues with the new tariffs coming up, and apparently store shelves across Canada are just running out of pickles. So I actually, I have a personal connection to this, because I don't like pickles, but my wife

loves pickles. I'm a big pickle guy. Really? Okay. Huge. So she only likes one brand though. Okay. It's cloths and pickles. Okay. Which are no longer sold in Canada since COVID. They like, I don't know, they stopped shipping them up here. So we would have to go down to the states often and she would buy like eight jars of pickles. It was insane. I respect that. You really do have a personal connection to this. Yeah, I know. And she would come back up. But now since the tariffs, it's, uh, she doesn't get them as much anymore. So apparently pickles are are going to be completely off the shelves. There must be other pickle manufacturers. We can't soak cucumbers and vinegar here in Canada. Can't we figure this out? But it was funny because I read a story about this in the big sky.

Or actually, no, it wasn't the big sky. It was like the head of like the pickle producers trade association. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is like great. It was basically like, well, we buy all the all the cucumbers come from Ontario. And then we ship them to California. And then we ship them back up. And so it's like, it's a classic example of how stupid this whole thing is.

It's like, yeah, our economies are really intertwined. Things are going across the border in every which way all the time. Maybe we should just let that happen. I feel like there's a solution to that, too. Like you said, if they're in Ontario already to begin with. True. You can probably get them. You're like there's a step they can skip along this process.

I don't know what you guys. This feels like way too much for cucumbers to go back and forth. But anyway, mukhow that. Get the pickles now. Yeah, I got the pickles now before they're gone. There's no way. There's got to be Canadian pickles. I'm going to buy a bunch of pickles and then just be a marketplace scalper.

corner the market on pickles. It's like toilet paper all over again. That's me, but with pickles. Okay, so my what we learned for today, what I learned is that NFL fans are once again convincing themselves after one week of preseason action that all these rookie

quarterbacks are the answer. Shadour Sanders, he's getting all the hype. I think he was good. I'll give him credit. He's actually kind of sick. Yeah, he was fun. I'll give him credit. But again, I don't know if this is going to translate to the regular season. Jackson Dart, Giants fans are like, ah, we have the answer.

Again, I don't know if this is going to translate. And then Jaylon Milrow, to a lesser extent. Seahawks fans are hyped, but I think they're at least more reasonably hyped because it's not, they're not going overboard with it. So I'm, uh, I'm classic. It's classic. I feel like every year. Every year, I see a lot of people talking online about like, hey guys, preseason's

meaningless. Don't read anything into it. Don't make any big assumptions. And then in those same people the next day, it's like, wow. This guy is awesome. This guy is legit. I totally, I was wrong. Preseason's awesome, and it tells us a lot.

I will say we mentioned JJ McCarthy on the show last year in his first preseason game with the Vikings. I was like, he's it. This is awesome. He's the one. He's the new Tom Brady, baby. He got injured and was out for the season immediately. But, so I get where people are coming from, but we got to be, we got to restrain ourselves. So that's my what we learned for today.

Mook, how that. We go to the 650, 650, Dumbar, Lumberstack, fine. print out the humanoid submission. Any that you got ready? Yeah, absolutely. Justin and East Van Texan. Did you have that ready? Well, it wasn't on the tab, but I flagged them.

Anyways, Justin and East Van had texted what we learned this year's Pirate Pack Day and Miracle Treat Day fall on August 13th and 14th, respectively. If everything goes right, everyone on the Halbro show could get Pirate Packs and DQ blizzards this Wednesday and Thursday. dream that week. First of all, shout out to Justin Neesvan for us. Being like, hey guys, you should expect this. I'm going to be devastated now if we don't get it.

If they find out that Halvin' Brough aren't here and they're like, oh, we don't need to send the fill-ins? We don't need to send them. Pirates. If I just didn't even know about it, I'd be like, oh, this is fine. It wasn't on my radar. But now on Wednesday, I am going to stay like half an hour after the show. This is like the perfect storm, but with treats. Yes. I love it. The, there is something, I've had it before doing this shift. And the, like, 9 a.m. Pirate Pack, Triple O Burger really hits different. It's fantastic. The food story I can remember from this early in the morning was when the C's started their season a couple years ago.

Brought in fresh hot dogs at about 645 in the morning. I don't know, but you guys, I'm not so early. I like eating a hot dog every once in a while, maybe at the ballgame, but at 645 in the studio. In your dark. It hit a little different, I have to say. In a positive or negative? In a negative. Did you hear the, because you weren't here.

Did you hear the story about Satyar Shah? Who works here? Yes, I know that. Yeah. And, yeah, yeah. And, yeah, yeah, you've heard of him. Yeah. Yeah, he went to a Blue Jayr's Shaw from Sportsnet 650.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Sometimes on TV. Yep. Yeah. He went to a Blue Jay's game in Toronto. It was a Tuesday. So it was Looney Dog Night.

He had zero hot dogs. Shameful. It is. Shameful. I also went this year. Also on a Tuesday. Yeah. I had seven.

Okay. I feel like maybe there's a medium in between zero and seven, but good for you. That's impressive. No, I was like sat. We were talking about it before. I was like, you got to beat my seven. And he was like, oh, maybe. And then he got there and he was like, they look gross.

Yeah, they're hot dogs. What do you expect? Of course they look good. They're selling them for a dollar. Yeah. That's baked in. You already know that. You don't look at them before you eat them.

No. When was the last time somebody bought a dollar dog and was like, this is better looking than I expected. This is gourmet. They definitely didn't just. pull this out of the freezer and boil it. That looks great. Yeah, that's my honestly, it was, it was fine. They were passable hot dogs. Yeah, I had seven

them. They cost a dollar, so you had seven of them. Amazing. It was awesome. Absolutely fantastic. Okay, what we learned, this kind of piggybacks onto mine from Woodrow the eligible bachelor. A lot of Canucks fans don't watch NFL football as they were confused about Evander Kane's tweet about

Shedura Sanders preseason performance. So, yeah, if you missed it, Avander Kane on Twitter. Let me pull up the exact tweet here. He was on Twitter and he said won't be fourth on the depth chart after tonight and Canucks fans

immediately were like oh man he's talking about like the Canucks lines and he's fourth on the depth chart or whatever he was talking about Shudor Sanders. Yeah the replies were pretty funny. A lot of like what's what does this mean? What's he talking about? Oh he's already stirring up trouble in Vancouver. Like no guys he's watching NFL preseason football

and tweeting about Shudor Sanders. Just just go go ahead and like click on now sportsnet dot caespn.com just see what else is out there in the sporting world sometimes before you jump to conclusions it does help you sometimes you got to unplug from the connect side of things i know we're all sickos we talk we were talking about prospects two hours ago but also at the same time we got to we got to be reasonable ahs in squamish text in with what we learned and this was something that was not on my radar but he says what we learned commiserations to vancouver fc fc of course, from the Canadian Premier League.

Now, 366 days, so just over a year since their last win at home. And he says every league needs its whipping boys. I knew things were not going well for Vancouver FC. I did not know that it was that dire. A year, a calendar year between home wins is really, really tough stuff. They have two wins in 18 matches overall in the Canadian Premier League. They are comfortably at the bottom of the table in that league. Oh, really?

Yeah. You know what? It's not, they're only three points back. It's not even that bad, to be honest. But anyways, they don't have the worst goal differential.

That's Valor. Actually. Wow. Way to go, Valor. By the way, your mighty four JFC is top of the table. Oh,

are they actually? I told you they're a big deal in Hamilton. Mikecafs might have a tough challenge on Wednesday. They're undefeated. They're like the new, what do they call the, the Invincibles, the Arsenal team that went undefeated.

yeah sure it was the invincibles anyways they're the new invincibles um i like so obviously you go a year between home wins that's disastrous that's a long time and especially for a team that's trying to get a foothold in the market i also think this is becoming and about to become even more so a very crowded sports market especially in that kind of tier below the connects right the conucks number one on the pyramid we all understand that but i mean i think it's fair to say there's been renewed interest in the bc lions under Amar Domain's ownership. The White Caps having a phenomenal year just brought in Thomas Miller.

And then you look below that as well with like Vancouver Rise in the women's league in Canada starting this year. The PWHL team coming in, right? There's, we are not lacking for more maybe family, family friendly affordable sporting options in this city all of a sudden. Vancouver FC, I'm sure had designs on being like at the forefront of that. Man, that's a disastrous, disastrous starts and not just start now, but continue of their tenure.

Yeah, they really needed things to go better. That's 366 days. That's tough, man. That's such a long time. Woodrow the eligible Bachelor, what we learned. The Seattle Mariners retired Ichero's number 51 and will retire Randy Johnson's number next season. Has the ship sailed on the Vancouver Canucks retiring Luongo and Kirk McLean's number?

Yes. Yeah. I think they made their decision. They've made their decision pretty clear. I also just think you could just retire Luongo. Yeah, and it'd be fine. You could have done that. Yeah.

They chose not to. Alas. Well, I still would. They're both in the Ring of Honor, right? Like, yeah. They're not doing another Roberto Luongo night. No. You know what I mean?

They already did it. That's, I think it was the wrong decision. I don't want to go another tangent again. No, we don't need to dive into it. But if you are expecting something different, as he phrases the question, has the ship sailed? And I think easy answer is yes. Barring some totally dramatic sea change. I kind of think it would have to be.

be new ownership would have to come in that love Roberto Luwago and then they were also like hey also if you're tired of Florida come on over and this is the this is the I don't think they have to do that I think they just have to mend the bridge Luongo will be here for that yeah has that has that ever happened though that a team has like because lots of teams have this structure or have different ways of honoring players like has a team ever like you know what we're going to promote you we had you in in the second tier one but you know what after second consideration we're going to bump you up. Honestly, though, like, I just don't think it's a thing that's done.

With this Hall of Fame induction, I don't know of too many examples of players that played their prime of their career in a place for more than five years, went to the Hall of Fame and then didn't get their number retired. Like, it's still bizarre to me. Still bizarre. Alas, here we are. Next one from Robin Surrey, what we learned.

What I learned after the weekend is that when the self-proclaimed best team in baseball has to play top-tier MLB teams. like the LA Dodgers instead of AAA teams like the Albuquerque isotopes they look more like the most mediocre team in baseball obviously referring to

the Toronto Blue Jays Rob the Jays really get Rob's eye up the Jays rats I will say I mean it was a big test and I do think the Jays failed said test but that doesn't mean they're going to fail

every test for the rest of the year it's really good pitching toward one run the first two games I actually don't think there's a ton of mystery about kind of what the Jays are I mean I was saying it off the top of the show like yeah they're a flawed team I don't think anyone should be expecting them

to be world beaters right they don't really even have like a team of destiny kind of feel to me but similar to the conversation we're having about the Mariners given how wide open the AAL is you can't count out their chances either and especially depending on what Vladdy does it and that first game like they won one of three

in that series in L.A. in that first game you could say the Jays actually did pretty well. And you look at the underlying numbers from that game. Yeah, they lost 5-1, but they had a lot of hits. Yeah. They did what they do in most games, which they come out on top. And it just didn't work for whatever reason in that first game. You're playing the Dodgers. It's going to happen.

So to call them mediocre is a bit of a stretch. Yeah. The Dodgers are the team that I'm like, I'm still in all of baseball that I'm most afraid of. And like losing... Every team should be. Yeah, seriously. Yeah. Losing a series to them, I'm never going to get too worked up over it. Now, that being

said, if they, if the J's on a skid here, then maybe I'll get a, I'll be a bit more concerned. But right now, I mean, even after the series, it's like every team they were in a chase with also kind of had a bad weekend. So, yeah, the Red So it didn't really affect them at all. So they're still comfortably in first in the ALE East. John and Colwood, as the texters continue to rip on the Jays, what we learned leaving Hoffman in as long as they did when he clearly couldn't find the strike zone is proof.

The Blue Jays don't have the bullpen. They need to be a serious playoff team. I mean, I think part of the issue, now this is, just maybe shifting where the issue and the problem lies for the playoffs is they'd already used basically every reliever. I was going to say that. They used Barland in the fourth. Yeah.

He would have been the guy. Now, that's just kind of pointing the finger at John Schneider. It's like, hey, man, maybe you got to manage your bullpen. You've got to think a little bit different here. So you're not stuck with only Hoffman and Flew Hardy to choose from in the ninth inning. And Hoffman not being able to find the strike zone. I actually like the Varland and Dominguez pickup. So I think you look at that and we'll see, you know, Caniario Rodriguez kind of refine some of that form.

Hoffman's had some great moments and some spotty moments. I think there's the potential for the bullpen to be effective. It's not going to be like an elite. Oh, just get it to the sixth inning and you're fine type of bullpen though. Yeah. I do, speaking of Varland, I do kind of think he's someone with closer upside. Probably not this year. Obviously not this year.

But I wonder if going into next season they make it a bit more of an open competition type of scenario because his stuff has been really good. Yesterday he pitched really well. They really like him. Yeah. They were surprised he was available. They were saying on the broadcast. because he's got so much control left.

Like five more years. Five in control? Yeah. It's a, yeah. It was a wild trade by the twins, but the twins are a fascinating organization. That was, I don't know that I can recall in any sport,

an in season sell-off quite like that. Because there's been like sometimes after a season, right? And it's like, oh, you got salary cap trouble or whatever. Like the Marlins when they won the World Series and they just shipped everyone out immediately both times for whatever reason. Like you see it happen in the off season. But in season,

how many guys did they trade off their roster? 10 guys. Like almost half the team. I can't recall that steep a sell-off from any team across any sport at the deadline. They weren't that bad, right? They're kind of a middling team, but they have pieces. And I don't think teams like that choose to sell off very often. And they had so many options to trade away.

But even bad teams. Like trading five guys is a lot. But there's no one to trade on those bad teams, right? They're not in demand. It was weird that the twins decided to do that. Because they're not really having a horrible year. Yeah. They do what they do.

We'll end with this one from Justin and East Van What We Learned. Today is Mike Halford's birthday. Wow. He's more than twice my age. You looked it up. Wait, what? How old are you? 27. He is not 54. Oh, dude.

I was like, are you 22? Wow. Yeah, no. In my head, I was like, 27 times 2, 44. Nope. Into radio. 22 times 2. Correct.

Stick to radio. Yeah. That's why you were at BCIC. This is why I was at BCIT and not the University of Hawaii. Happy birthday, Mike. Anyway, happy birthday. Less than twice my age. There you got back.

Congratulations on that, Alfred. Happy birthday. I appreciate everyone texting in 650, 650. Everyone listening as well. Thank you to Elon. Thank you to Alatti producing the show. Thank you to my co-host, Jamie Dodd. I've been Josh Elliott-Wolf.

This has been Alfred and Brough on SportsNet 650. I