Halford & Brough in the Morning - We Don't Talk Enough About The Kraken

Episode Date: March 13, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason look ahead to tomorrow's Canucks matchup versus Seattle with Kraken radio commentator Mike Benton (5:43), plus the boys chat with Vancouver Whitecaps FC manager Jesper Sørensen (23:39).   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 a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford & Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Do you have pay a day of loan debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at sands-trustee.com. We're now an hour two of the program. AJ from A.J's pizza is going to join us in just a moment here.

Hour two is brought to by Jason hominock at Jason. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Dom Mortgage. We are coming to live from the Kintech studio. Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech. Guests on Sportsnet 650. Call in on the ABLE Auctions hotline.

Email sales at ABLEE auctions.ca to get your business assets sold and your building cleared. To the Able Auctions hotline, we go. Our next guest is the co-owner and co-proprietor of A.J.'s Pizza, the Empire. You can see it on East Broadway. You can visit them in Tuosson, even down in Florida. AJ joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsN. 650. What up, AJ? What is going on? TGIF. Let's go.

I am excited about today because the World Baseball Classic, we're a World Baseball Classic show now. I love this tournament. I love everything that it stands for. We got a chance for revenge today. Yeah. I, and you know what? Jimmy Asis has the underdog. No. Come on, man. Even I know.

Come on. Aren't the Americans minus 800 to win this game? Jimmy goes out on a limb sometimes. That's a big. limb. We were looking at the odds yesterday and I'm like, and Brough brought up and he's like, man, and I'm like what? He's like, the Americans are minus 800 to win that game. And I was like, yeah, that tracks. Like it's, yeah, yeah. Have you seen their team? They're really good. Well, you know, the worst thing that could have happened for Canada was obviously the celebration of winning the

group and then realizing that the Americans stumbled into second place in there. But also, now they're, it doesn't seem fair. Yeah, now they're angry. Like, they're kind of pissed off and embarrassed. And I got a feeling this could be rough tonight. Yeah, the manager is. is backtracking too. He's like, I always knew that we weren't through. He might be a liar. What a disaster.

Like, you have like one thing to do. I know. And DeRosa wants to get back into baseball. I'm like, brother, whatever you're doing right now is the opposite of trying to get back into baseball.

Anyway, I don't know that you go on the resume. Yeah. Okay. So today is Friday the 13th, which we haven't actually acknowledged it. We're going to try and get past all the weirdness of the 13th

because tomorrow, Jason, is Saturday the 14th. That's 314. That's National Pie Day. Oh, yeah, one of those things. AJ, with that beautiful setup that I've just provided you, tell us what's going on at AJ's. So we got tomorrow.

So all day, it's $3.14. Slice. Any slice, Detroit, Sicilian, 18-inch. And then in-house, 14-inch pies, 14% off. I'm not laughing at you. Adog's eyes just lit up in a way that I've never seen before, especially when it involves math. Listen, there's no limit.

You could just keep eating them. This is amazing. Okay, so it is 14% of 14-inch pies, dine-in only, and slices for $3.14. Tomorrow, Saturday, 3-14. Also, World Baseball Classic Games tomorrow. It's a good time to visit the AJ's Empire, buddy. Right.

Happy hour all day on Sunday, and the White Caps will be on as well, so they need a little kickback there. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for doing this day, but enjoy the weekend. It should be a lot of fun. Enjoy the weekend. Take care. That's AJ for May Day's Pizza on East Broadway,

and Tawson, and of course down in Florida as well if you want to go visit them. Yeah, National Pie Day tomorrow. Andy's working on getting Mike Benton on the phone. We're going to move right to the Seattle Cracken, who quite frankly, we haven't spent a lot of time discussing this year. But right now... Unless we're making, like, back-handed remarks at them.

And when they started winning games, we were just like, okay, let's see if they can get back into the playoffs under first-year head coach Lane Lambert, who, for a time there, was getting some consideration for at least a Jack Adams nomination as one of the top coaches in the NHL because the Cracken for a while there we're holding on to one of the two wildcard spots.

No longer, the Cracken wake up this morning on the outside looking in passed by the San Jose Sharks last night for that second and final wildcard spot. And this recent homestand, which actually started pretty brightly for the Cracken, it was a six gamer, started with wins over Vancouver

and Carolina, but they have really hit the skid since. Loss is to St. Louis, Ottawa, and Asheville. And then last night, a very disappointing and very one-sided 5-1 loss to Colorado, meaning that the Cracken will now take on the Vancouver Canucks this Saturday in Vancouver on the outside of the playoff picture looking to get back in. I believe we're still working on trying to get Mike on the phone right now.

So in the meantime, I will remind everybody, Dunbar Lumber text message, Jim Basket is 650, 650. We just talked to AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway in conjunction with Ask Us Anything Friday. Get your Ask Us Anything's in. hashtag it AUA and put a pizza emoji into your text. That will enter you into the grand price contest. And I'll remind you, it's a contest because the best ask us anything will win a $100

gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway. Okay, we've got Mike on the phone now, joining us next on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. He is the radio host of the Seattle Cracken Audio Network. Mike Benton here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. What are you? I'm doing just fine. Good morning. Thank you.

How are you? we're great. I imagine we're doing a little bit better than the Seattle Cracken are doing right now. And I want to thank you for joining us so soon after last night's game. A disappointing one, a 5-1 loss to the avalanche at home. The Cracken's fourth straight loss at home. And we were just saying they wake up this morning and they are outside the playoff picture looking in. How disappointing, Mike, was last night's loss and then that four-game skid to end the homestand? Well, I think last night was the culmination of a few factors and I think a few issues that had really been building up here.

And I think make no mistake, this is one game that I think a lot of us had circled on the calendar that was going to, I think, be the biggest hill to climb out of the bunch, out of the Olympic break. But I think more in their lives, I think, a deeper rooted issue where you had so many games, I think, to build up some equity where if you come in and face an Avalanche team, that had been rolling. If you lose a couple of points out the table, no big deal because you had winnable games against St. Louis on the table.

Ottawa, yes, who's been better. You know, I go down the list here, Nashville as well, where they had pretty good success. And those were really bankable points that I think were right there to build a strong case for their playoff positioning. All those games, points left on the table. and if you ask anybody, for the most part, in those games, they played well below the bar. I think St. Louis was an execution issue, Ottawa was a no-show issue, and Nashville kind of have a combination of both. So I think when you look at last night, in that you had to really, I think, build up as close to the perfect game as a got for a team that has had to really, you know, live on the edge,

win, you know, live by the margins and win a lot of three, two, and two, one games against Colorado, the first period had to really, I think, produce as strong of a start as it got, and the Cracken just flat out fell on their face. Going down three-nothing, if you spot a team like that, that many goals in the first 20 minutes of play, you're pretty much dead. And then from that point on, period to period three, the Cracken found a way to elevate their game, but you could really sense that Colorado had felt like they had done their damage and they sat back on that lead after that, and which I think really brought on a ton of conversation as far as how ready were the Cracken

after last night to face a team like that, which leaves me here to, I think, the deeper rooted cause here of this, and there's two ways to look at this here. One, there's a glass-half-fold approach where there's still one point out of the cut line. They wanted to be playing meaningful games in March, and they're getting that. There's also optimism baked into the fact that there's still only one point out after last night. And some realization, I think, set in where a lot of players had fallen short of the bar.

And I think that kind of goes back to what Captain Jordan Everly said. I took a bad penalty, quote unquote, in the first period, which there's some accountability. And I think part of that is a realization where you look internally and can turn this around. The glass-half empty approach here is the stark reality. There are two and six now since the Olympic break. Their top line is Jared McCann, Maddie Baneers, and Jordan Eberley, all who have gone eerily quiet for the most part. Ever since that Olympic break, McCann, not the single amount,

but hasn't scored a goal now in 10 games. Their coach called them out the entire group for the second time, really in the last three games. They've been very good at home, but for numerous reasons fell way short of the bar on this six-game homestand, went two and four. And then when this thing goes down to the Bobby McMahon picture, they got him from the trade deadline, and they haven't had a chance to play him yet.

So when this is solved, too, no. So it basically very, very disappointing in how this went from so much promise to the grim realization that the Cracken can't keep playing in no show-like fashion for Spurs like they've had. And it's been kind of an alarming trend here over the last four games. Why have the Cracken had such a hard time scoring goals this season? Well, I think when you look at how they've been built to play, there's, I think, a bit of a needle movement part of this here. And, you know, I kind of go back to the conversation of when Lane Lambert was hired right before the season,

it then goes into the conversation of what is your team identity. Last season, they really tried to, I think, go the extreme opposite in the hiring of Dan Bilesma to try to open the floodgates and produce so much offense. Well, you do that and you leave your defense with. reckless abandon, you're going to have results like they had a lot last year where there was just a lot of sloppy five-on-five play, on-man rushes back and forth and leaving goaltenders out to dry, and, you know, that really became, I think, a glaring issue out of the mouths of many in that dressing room over and over and over and over. With Lane Lambert, you're trying to move the

needle back and they had done so, but, you know, for whatever reason you're seeing now, McCann go dry, Baneers go dry, Eberley go dry, but Baneers are starting to kind of pick his game up here. So It really has been kind of a misifying issue as far as what has been the root cause of this. You know, there are a lot of players who are still on this roster from three years ago who had career highs in numbers. I think if you're looking to bank on that, again, you know, from happening three years ago, that's kind of a tough ask. I think you put it in that kind of sense. But, you know, it's been really, really kind of head scratching here because, you know, we've seen success from McCann, Benares, Everley. He's had a good season, but then there's been a lot of chase and trying to find the right combinations to really open up games here for others, like, you know, Chandler Stevenson getting him out of a dry spell, Ellie Tolvinen.

So, I mean, very, very good question. I think if you were to ask me, would this kind of revisit the issue of trying to add a big piece here for this summer? I think possibly they came pretty close reportedly here with Artemite Panera about roughly a month ago. And that's been kind of the whole issue, is trying to find that. next level piece. So, you know, if you add somebody in like that, it tends to elevate others in their game and then move matchups a little bit further down where, you know, you're not putting so much strain and stress here on Maddie Baneers. But all in all, this has been a team that has been designed to win three to two and two to one games, and the offense really isn't

a big question mark. It's been more of the issue of can they find a way to play within their system and their structure and then lure opponents into, you know, a feeling where where they're not going to get much pasture defense and their goaltending. So the offense really, you know, it's been a talking point, but I would say the issue has been more of the defensive side of things where it's held up so well. But in the last eight games, things have gone by the wayside here and off the tracks.

I want to talk a little bit more about Panarin, and it was reported that he turned down a pretty big offer by the Seattle Cracken and chose the Los Angeles Kings instead, left a bunch of money on the table. what is your understanding of why he made that decision? Well, it seemed like it was going to be Los Angeles or bust. I mean, he wasn't going to go anywhere else here. And I think if you're the cracking,

and what you're trying to do is bring in somebody of that ilk for the first time really in franchise history, teams have to take big swings here at this, whether a player was going to come or not. And I think it was kind of an optics game here with this. So, you know, whether he wanted to come here or not the reason behind that, It's an unknown. But I think in the crack in case, Panarin wanted something that was akin to Los Angeles,

the kind of environment that he wanted where it wasn't going to match up here, I think, unfortunately. But the big picture part of this, I think for me, is willingness to show a fan base that they're willing to take that big of a swing, take that next big step, and take a risk like that to show that they are serious in trying to upgrade their roster. And I think that's part of the bigger conversation for this next summer in that there isn't much available here on the free agent market. So what are you willing here to part with when it comes to trade? And that's going to, I think, be the trigger that they have to pull. Many other teams

have to pull when you're talking about roster upgrades here. You know, listen, Panarin is getting up there in age. You know, whether the money is worth it or not. I mean, listen, that's, that's, that's a great matter of opinion and debate, but I think all in all, would he have helped solve the issue and move the needle? I think certainly there's a box office component of this as well, you know, where I mentioned to others, and I've been told that this team still draws about 2,000 fans, new fans per game to Climbledged Arena. So first impressions certainly mean everything. I mean, the NHL's a box office league, and it's not a TV-driven league here. So, you know, the more that you can kind of add to the component of a box office attraction, that's going to help your bottom line.

And that's kind of the reason why, number one, the hockey side, why it made sense for them. Number two, as well, the business side for them to take this kind of a big swing because they play in a very competitive market, where the Mariners came within eight outs of going to the World Series. The Seahawks are the class of the NFL. They just come off the Super Bowl. The Sonics are back into the chat now. Maybe if the NBA is going to return here very soon. So it's a pretty competitive market as far as those kind of fan paying dollars here.

So this means a lot, I think, for the move on the hockey sense and in the business sense here. And even though Panarin was something that they couldn't do, I think it doesn't shut the door here to them trying to take a good look at somebody else that they can land them, say, via trade coming up here this summer, say, by the draft or by July 1. Let's wildly speculate here. What are some names that Cracken fans are kicking around and saying management should go target them this summer? Well, I wouldn't shut the door on a Jason Robertson situation,

and I think the contract is very intriguing. And what are you dealing with right now in Dallas? I think he's a guy that would, I think, solve a lot of issues for that top line. I loved the fit potentially of Robert Thomas. I know the Blues were asking for the world of them. The good news is the Cracken have a state. able to draft picks here to deal with. They have prospects that they can easily part with, and they have players, I think, who can entertain a different team's approach with their needs

that the Cracken can move off their roster here to make things happen. Thomas is a winner, everywhere he's wet, plays a responsible game, both ends of the ice, and scoring-wise, he basically solves your issue with what he can provide and then move somebody like Baneers down the depth chart, Stevenson, down the adept chart, et cetera, et cetera. I'm curious about Jordan Kairu. I think with the offensive fit, he's had a bit of a down year here, but again, he's that big piece that would, I think, add a lot to what you're asking for from a high-scoring winger.

I heard the name also William Nealander about a couple of weeks ago, and the situation that they're going through right now in Toronto, I mean, listen, you can make a lot of, you know, what his defense is versus his offense, but scoring-wise, it's a need that the Cracken could certainly use. So I think what's interesting is that, you know, there's a lot of names that we're still not hearing about, maybe, and as big as you want to get, who knows? I mean, but I think, you know, from this standpoint, from this last month, you know,

those are at least a couple of names that I wouldn't be surprised if they're kind of kicking around here to see that, even though something didn't work out, you know, this month. might certainly pick up back in June. And really, I think for a different team's case, you know, if there's a glaring issue that, hey, we have to move so-and-so piece out the roster, that's where they might end of the conversation, I think, try to move some assets to bring that kind of player in, because certainly it's my at least belief here that this is now becoming a top priority.

Great stuff today, Mike. We really appreciate you taking the time doing this early in the morning as well. Enjoy the game on Saturday when the Crackiner up here to take on the Canucks. Yeah, I'm sipping the coffee already, fellas. Anytime, though, I appreciate you. I appreciate you as well. Thank you, Mike. That's Mike Ben, radio host with the Seattle Crack and Audio Network here on the Halford

and Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. I am curious to see what happens with Jason Robertson in Dallas. Willie Neelander to Seattle, now that he said, it makes an awful lot of sense if the Leafs. I really hope that this end-of-year implosion in Toronto, punctuated by last night's Austin Matthews Radco-Gudis incident is like the spark to blow the entire thing up. I think it would be, quite frankly, I think it would be better for all parties involved. The players, the Leafs, and the rest of the NHL if this thing imploded and everyone went their own separate ways. It would be a dispersal of talent across the league.

It would free us from having to talk about the core in Toronto. And it would give everyone a fresh start, everyone involved. I think it would be best for the Leafs too. Right. They're not doing anything over the next couple of years. They don't have the assets to make it happen. No, I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, Jason, but I've heard that a lot of the guys on this current Leafs team

aren't well liked in Toronto. There's a little bit of disdain. Maybe. Can we ever use that word for? For guys that play for the team that we cover on a regular basis? No, not at all. I think the young guys, someone texted in, by the way, and he said, you know, the young guys on this team are largely quite likable,

and I would agree with that. And I, yeah. I mean, it is always easier to like the young players before they get jaded by things. But I for the most part agree with that. You know, their play on the ice is inconsistent. It's, well, it's consistent with being young and inexperienced and maybe put in some spots that they're not quite ready for,

but they're getting it because the Canucks are where they are. But yeah, I generally, I quite like the cut of their jibs. It's time now for the one to watch, brought to you by the cut of their jibs. gybs, the collective jibbing. The one to watch brought you by Limitless A.V. Vancouver's Most Trusted Audiovisual Integration Experts. We all know what the one to watch tonight is, right? Five o'clock

World Baseball Classic Canada, USA. Our guy, Mike, please call me Michael Soroka's going to take the ball and take the bump for Canada tonight. I trust of Michael in a big spot. I love Michael Soroka, and I'm going to love him tonight. He got the win in the win in the group stage against Columbia. Didn't

pitch a ton. I think he got through three innings, gave up one earned run. Look, you're not going to get much better from the Canadian rotation of the guy that was an all-star with the Braves back in 2019. Obviously, his career hasn't exactly taken off since then. He's like another Michael tore his Achilles. Yeah, that's right. What is it with Michaels and Taryn their Achilles? I don't know, man.

It's all the elite athlete mics, too. That's it. Anyway, Soroka's got the ball tonight for the Canadians. He's going to need to have a wail of a performance if Canada has any shot of upsetting the U.S. in this one. But it is your one to watch tonight, Canada, U.S., from the World Base Base. ball classic reminder. It's a 5 o'clock start our time. It's brought to you by Limitless A.V.

Specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today at limitlessavv. com. Coming up on the other side of the break, we're going to talk to Ypres Sorensen. Tough result last night for Yesper and his Vancouver Whitecaps a 3-0 loss to Seattle at BC Place in Concaf Champions Cup action. No rest for the ailing white caps, though, because they're back in action this Sunday and a matinee affair against Minnesota.

So we'll talk to Yesper coming up next on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 733 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody.

Halford and Brough, SportsNet 650. Halford and Rub of the Morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Are you getting collection calls? If you are, Sands and Associates can cut your debt by up to 80% and stop those calls. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com.

Still in hour two of the program, Esper Sorensen, manager of your Vancouver Whitecaps is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour two of this program is brought to by Jason hominock at Jason.morgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage,

then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. and Dom Mortgage. To the ABLE Auctions hotline we go. Our next guest, as mentioned, manager of the Vancouver Whitecaps, Yesper Sorensen, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show

on SportsNet 650. Good morning, Yesper. I've been better, but good morning. Good morning, yes. I appreciate the honesty in your answer. We also appreciate the fact that you're doing this not long after, as you kind of alluded to. No doubt of disappointing, quite frankly,

a shocking result. 3-0 to Seattle at home in the first leg of this Concaf Cacuff Cup round of 16 match. I'll just ask the most simple and obvious question right away, Yesper. What happened last night? Yeah, what happened was, of course, that we lost out to a team that was a good team, but also we lost out to ourselves. I think we made some crucial mistakes, and they took advantage of them. And, you know, sometimes we have to, in a competition where there's not much room for error,

we just simply made too many. And now we put ourselves in a very tough and bad situation, but then we have to find a way to see if we can get out of it. You mentioned the mistakes made, and there was one very big one at the end of the first half, when Matthias Laborda's passed back to Yohei Takayoko was intercepted. Seattle scores, they go up 1-0, going into the break. in those moments, how do you as a manager address those type of mistakes, the big, loud ones that result directly in a goal?

Yeah, but it's, it was not, yeah, it's what happens in a game. And, you know, it's not robots. We make mistakes and we make mistakes all the time. And normally we try and build up a structure around the players. so if they make mistakes that we can hopefully fix it afterwards. But I don't address it that aggressively. If everybody knows what happened and saw it, it's not that you have to lie about it or anything.

It's everybody saw the same thing. But when it happens, we have to move on anyways. And that was not the reason we lost 30, but it was one of the things that made it, made us have to be a little bit more, you know, play a little bit more aggressive and it was a little bit more stressful in the second half because we were behind and we were chasing, of course, a goal and a good result. But it was not the reason solely that we lost three zero.

It wasn't. So it was one of them. You know, that also gave Seattle something extra to, They could bring in a lead to the break, but yes, it's, it was not our finest hour of this game we had yesterday. And also reminds us that, you know, we've been doing well for a long time now, but it's not automatic. So we have to be, we have to be sharp when we're playing. Yeah, I was going to ask you, did this kind of come out of nowhere? Were there hints that a game like this might be on the horizon?

Because, you know, you look at the results that you've had so far this season in competition or league, and it's been really good. Yeah, it has been. And I would not say that there was hints to this because I think we started off a little slow in this season, and then it's been, has become better and better. And last time we played, I think it was our best game so far, so I don't think that it was that we got some hints

that now this is you know our performances has been quite good so we have to accept that this is something that happens and it has not happened for a long time for us

but we will have to we'll have to see if we can yeah if we can get out of it and if we can then we just have to then we have to move on but but we're in a tough spot

in this competition now, we have to see if we can take ourselves out. I got to be honest, I was at the match last night. I actually thought there were large stretches where the team and the club, they played well. Like there were long stretches in the second half where possession was pretty one-sided. And the chances, the final third wasn't great, but it wasn't as if Seattle was running it. It felt like every time Seattle had a sort of opportunity to hit on the counter, it turned up very bountiful and fruitful for them. and they ended in the back of the net. And I'm curious, one thing I did notice is, you know,

usually with the way you guys press in the attacking third and the high press and trying to turn balls over, Seattle did seem to play out of it pretty well at times last night. Was that because you guys weren't doing something traditionally that you normally do with the press? Or was that a sort of tip of the cap to Seattle for being able to deal with it well? I think it was a little bit of both.

We tip the cap to Seattle because they deal with it pretty well at times. as you said I had the same feeling in the second half I think two zero for Seattle in the second half if you look at it isolated I think was misleading for what this game was about so I also think that that three zero was you know

it was misleading and we also should have scored some goals in this game we had some big opportunities and had also you know just like a little bit of sharpness in the last finishing moments but also in the last pass to what should lead up to the finishing moment.

So I think in my opinion, our repressure was not at the same quality, and they're not at the same speed as it sometimes has been. And Seattle also did well in a couple of situations, but I can't really remember in the second half then being close to our goal except from the two goals they scored. And I think that's also one. what can happen in a game of football, right?

So it's just, it was not that they were dominating us or anything, but they were very efficient, and we were definitely not. How is this group of players different from the one that you had last year that went to the MLS Cup final? There's some continuation for sure. There's a lot of players that were here last year that are still here. But you also lost some of them, a guy, I think of, like Ali Ahmed, who I remember had some great moments on the way to that MLS Cup.

So how is it different and how are you adjusting to some of the departures? It's always different even though most of it is most of the players are the same because the hierarchies are always moving and it's never the same. Even though it's the same players but when you experience something and you come in again then something new happens and I think the group is, it's very strong with strong leadership and we have a very good, we have a very good core players and then we have some new players coming in. We also have to adapt to how we play and also have to adapt to playing together with the others.

And it's a little bit different. You know, last year we played maybe more with two typical wingers who were going more one-on-one. Now we've played with different types of wingers. We've played with J-van on the winger as well. He's more of a midfield. player and it's it's just it's you know there's

always things are always moving they're never they're never stacked into anything so I think it's yeah it's just it's many of the same players but of course it's still it is a little bit of different group

because you know a lot has happened and and there's always movement and players are pushing in a player like Tate and Jivan and Ralph has pushed themselves and, you know, made the hierarchy a little bit different. We're speaking to White Caps manager, Yesper Sorensen here on the Halford & Brough Show

on SportsNet 650. You did mention that you've got some new players you're trying to work in, and maybe it's a different look specifically on the wings and getting guys' opportunities. I will say this. You haven't been short on opportunities to play players because Sunday's match against Minnesota

will already be your seventh match of the season if you combine MLS play with everything you guys have done in Concaf Cup. Comparatively, the team that you're playing, Minnesota has played a grand total of three matches thus far. So you've already had... They forgot the rules. Yeah, it's an interesting dynamic, especially early

in the season. I suppose there are, there's negatives to having this condensed the schedule, but there also has to be some positives as well, correct? Yeah, of course there is. It is positive that we have games, and it's positive that we play a lot of them because it's good for

the players. And that's, and that's also an opportunity to get a lot of players into the mix and get time on the pitch together with their teammates. And of course, I think it's positive and not negative. Of course, when we are sitting this morning and preparing for a game that comes up in two days, you feel you're in a little bit lack of time, but we'll be ready to face Minnesota the Sunday and it's also a good opportunity now to see something, some other players. And the good thing is that overall we've done well so far so we don't need to, you know,

because we had a setback yesterday, it's not the same as all of a sudden we are not a good team because we were 24 hours ago. We were a very good team and so probably we are still. We just need to fix a few things. Yeah, I heard you say that post-match as well. It was like three hours ago we were a very good team. a very good team and we still are now. And I like that messaging. And I hope it carries forward towards this weekend.

Reminder for everybody listening, the White Caps right back in action this Sunday. It's a matinee 130 at BC plays. Yesper, thank you very much for taking the time to do this this morning. We really appreciate it so quickly after last night's match. Best luck on Sunday. We'll do this again real soon. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Yesper. We appreciate it. That's Yesper Sorinson and Whitecaps manager here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Two notes to pass along. If you want to go to the match on Sunday, it's going to be a good vibe. Apparently already 22,000 tickets sold to Madne, so you get like younger families and kids and everyone going.

The other part of it is Minnesota is coming to town with legendary Colombian international Hymes Rodriguez, who signed with them on a short-term deal. He will be making his MLS debut on Sunday. And he actually talked about like he wanted to do this against Thomas Muller's team because the two of them briefly played together at Byron Munich. So it'll be a very good opportunity for fans to see another one of like the great internationals that have come to MLS. It's crazy right now when you look around the league. It's like Messi, Mueller, Sahn, Rodriguez, Timo Verner's playing in San Jose right now.

It's remarkable the amount of high profile international players that were not too long ago starring in European leagues now playing in MLS. Okay, it's Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford Ambrough show. So let's go into the Dunbar Lembert text line and ask, answer. of your Ask Usana things. Derek in East Van, what's your favorite or go-to sport watching food? Let's say you're going to a game. What's a staple food you enjoy getting? Follow-up question, does it change depending on the venue, like watching from a bar or at

home? It definitely changes with the venue. You can't have anything too big or complicated at a game. Unless you're sitting in a suite, which I prefer. I don't like to be with gen pop But sometimes I have Sometimes I have to go out there And for me

Like if I'm out of game It's a hot dog That's why I'm so passionate About the quality of the hot dogs And let me tell you my friend That last Whitecaps game I went to I had And I don't know why I keep doing it

I just keep going back I had the worst hot dog That I've ever had The gray dog It I don't even know if it was gray Because you want to see It could possibly be worse than the last time

It's like self-punishment. There's no way it could be worse than the last time. It was so bad. It was just awful, but it's easy. So I still ate it. But for me, you know, watching a game at home compared to being at the rank or the stadium, completely different. I love nachos. You know what I don't like?

Sharing nachos. Oh, yeah. I don't like that. I hate sharing nachos. It's always a real competition, right? Sometimes it's a sign. unspoken competition where you got three or four guys sitting around a plate of nachos. I don't like that.

And everyone's hungry, right? Because nachos are usually come out first. Yep. And everyone's going for the cheesiest parts of it. I have often suggested that everyone lock in on a quadrant. If it's like, say, four guys at the nachos. But then you might have a weak quadrant. That's the luck of the draw, brother.

It's better than cross-contamination. Not, mad, I invade all the quadrants. No, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. You get cross-contamination. There's no mercy with nachos. With a finger food where your hand is that close to your mouth. And then you're going back for more. You're basically kissing each other.

At that point, you want to? Do you want it to make-out nachos? He's like, should we kiss? Did we just get nachos? I thought we're going to leave it there. But there's nothing better than having your own plate of nachos? You know where I don't like nachos? It's amazing.

Where I don't like nachos is actually at the game. Oh, the stadium sauce is terrible. I actually had those. The boy got. They're not good. So I got, I got a hot dog and the boy got the, the, the, the, the, the nachos, which is just like the cheese sauce. That's a terrible.

How, the, the, the prices they, they charge for that. I mean, there's like 10 cents worth of food there. You know what I usually go to at the stadium, which is simple, effective and always encourages you to drink more beer is popcorn. It's some nice, salty popcorn. It's not super messy. Yeah. You can share it with someone and like, has no heft, though.

No, it's a light. It's, you can. Convince yourself that it's somewhat healthy with the copious amounts of butter and salt that they put on it. But that's usually what I'll go to. You know what they need to bring back more of at restaurants? Potato skins. Potato skins are so good. We've had this conversation before.

They're unbelievable. Bring them back. You know how the food menus kind of shift over the years? Like, does any place not have a crispy chicken burger now? Like, I'm not complaining. No, no, no. But, you know, this is something that. Everyone's got a natural hot chicken burger now.

Everybody has. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's multiple chicken burgers. There used to be like, you go to a restaurant, if there's a chicken burger, there's one. It's called the chicken burger. Right. Right.

I will have the chicken burgers, sir. You know what I miss? What stadium food I miss? And I'm looking at pictures right now, and it's making me so longing for a more innocent time in my life. What's that, Andy? Dairyland frosted mults that used to be able to get at Pacific Coliseum. I think Rogers Arena might have had them at some point back when they were like GM placed

with the wooden stick. I didn't like the feeling of the wooden stick. That was the best. The sides. Is that, do you know what I'm saying? You scrape the sides? It was like nails on a chalkboard.

It would add cinnamon into the ice cream. It was, oh, so good. I love the frost melts. Colin and Tuasso and ask us anything with today being Friday the 13th, what's the thing you are the most irrationally fearful? Death. That's not irrational. That's very rational.

Yeah, yeah. I think that's the most common fear, if I'm not mistaken. I really don't like heights. I went on that peak to peak gondola. As a tall guy that's kind of funny. I'm not that tall, buddy. No, I know, but it's still pretty funny. What?

It's not. The tall you are you're used to being up high. Yeah. If I fell, I'm not plummeting to my death. Well, let's take a long time for you to fall, though. I went on the peak to peak gondola and had a very quiet. freak out in my mind. They just had a landslide.

Did you see that? Not helping. I did see that. It doesn't help. But I was out in the middle there and I immediately thought we shouldn't be out here. Like this is... Hey, the gondola's a little freaky sometimes. And you look down at the wrong time.

You're like, wow, we're really high up. And the gondola is so slow. You know, you're like, come on. Like, let's get some momentum going. You're always thinking in the back of your mind. I hope that wire is secure. It doesn't look like a great thick wire. I think I'd freak out if I went in a helicopter.

I've been in a helicopter before. Here's, okay, I want to get this. You've segment nicely into mind. Like a plane, like you've got like the glide potential. I know in my mind, right? But I don't know. The gondola scared me. I think helicopter would scare me.

I've got a fear. It's irrational. I don't like heights and I don't, I'm claustrophobic. I don't like closed spaces. Here's the weird thing. I have absolutely zero. So being in a really tall closet would be the worst for you. I have absolutely zero fear whatsoever when it comes to flying.

And I know people who are deathly afraid of flying. I feel you. I've never even had the slightest bit of angeles. anxiety or worry about being in a plane. I don't know why. Yeah, I'm the same. I've never really explored it. I get excited at takeoff time.

Like, I'm like jazzed. Let's go. Yeah. Like, wife next to me is more claustrophobic than anything for me. When I especially go on a long flight, it's like, man, I'm in here and there's nothing I can do about it. Right. That's the thing. Like, I have, I've been claustrophobic before.

Like, I hate small spaces, but I don't find the plane to be that. I don't know why. It's a control thing with bruff. It's a control thing. It doesn't have a control. I want to get out now. No, you can't. Exactly.

I'm a control free. And this is probably not what everyone needs to hear at 7.52 in morning. But sometimes I feel like when you get on the plane, there's like an acknowledgement that if it goes bad up there, like, well, that's it. Right. Like there's no sort of like maybe we get out of this. Like that's how I look at flying. Maybe I'll survive this. You know what I mean?

Like I find that like an inherent part of flying. Wow. Right? I'm like, if you go and you're up there, like if it goes bad, it's going to go. This could be it. It'll be swift. Oh, no, no, no. This could be it.

This is going to be it. Yeah, there's no could involved in the, you know, so it's almost very freeing when you're up there. It's like, you know. Oh, yeah, freeing. That's the word. Yeah, someone take the wheel. I'm not sure who. Yeah, but you got to look at the statistics, though.

I mean, what are the odds? That's part of it. That is part of it. But here's the thing. The percentage of something bad happening isn't zero, and that's what freaks everybody out. Sure. You know? And I mean, I've got friends of mine who are deathly afraid of flying.

Like, have to be loaded up on all kinds. Oh, it's a very common fear. Yeah. Yeah. And I've just personally. Well, some of us just. enjoy that. What?

Getting loaded up? I hate flying. If I have a couple beers and get on a plane, it's a miserable experience. It sucks. The Jimmy legs and I'm uncomfortable and it's not. We're talking about helicopters. Remember we had the Jesus nut conversation a while ago? Yeah, I remember the Jesus nut.

I bet I freaked a lot of people off from getting on helicopters after that. One more. Kevin on the road. I have a loud coworker who we call Mr. Loud, who just moved into the desk beside me. He's so loud that all the people. whom he used to sit by are now visibly happier.

What do I do? Even his keyboard is loud. Kevin, I have a very loud co-worker who just moved into the desk beside me. And they never left. And you never left. Yeah, loud people are... I've been accused of being loud a lot.

Who, you? You have a loud voice. You have a loud voice. Loud voice. I type loud. Yeah, I'm loud. Loudie. They call me loudie.

They don't call me that. But I know loud voice. people than you. Oh. And, yeah. It's a challenge. It's,

it's, did they know they're loud? You know what bugs me is when a loud person like takes pride in being loud? I'm unaware. I'm unaware of my loudness.

Okay, but there are some people who are like, well, that's just me. It's a personality thing. I'm a loud person. I'm boisterous. You're like,

you should shut up then because that's not great. Boisterous. It's part of my personality. I'm just boistered. just boisterous. That's like we can't call people fat. We've got to call them big bone.

That's like you can't say somebody's loud. I'm just boisterous. It's just boisterous. Anyway, we got to go to break. I don't know what to say, Kev. You're screwed. Oh, to answer the question, he can't do anything about it. Hey, Ken.

Fire ants. Fire ants. Litter him all over the desk. Bruff and I... He'll be loud for a brief moment and I'll never talk again. You might, you might consider just being like, have a big freak out and just like, shut up. You're so loud.

Just shut up. You might consider handling this very poorly. Just stop being so loud. Just stop it. Like, everyone in the office thinks you're loud. Look at these people. They used to sit by you. And now they don't.

And they're happy because you're so loud. And if he starts to cry, then you say. Now Mr. Loud is loudly sobbing. Oh, God. Even his crying is loud. All right, we got to go to break. Coming up, Rick Dollywall, speaking of loud people. He's going to join his next.

Oh, no. We can stop. You're listening to the Halpert & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.